As I walked through the convention alongside my best friend, we both stared at the stalls and people all around us. I, in particular, loved the look of the different cosplay costumes people were wearing, wishing that I had one as well. Since I had always loved anime, I really wanted to be able to have a costume of one of my favorite anime characters, but I didn't have the money to buy one or materials to make them. However, my friend interrupted my thoughts.

"Hey, check out that stall over there!" He exclaimed, tugging on my arm. "They're selling actual glass replicas of the Dragon Balls over there!"

"Oh, really? Let's go check it out!" I agreed. We both ran over to the stand and started looking at the orange glass orbs sitting in front of us. There were multiple sets of all seven balls, all of them absolutely beautiful. You could really tell that someone put their heart and soul into making these replicas. However, the price tags also reflected that effort, my face whitening when I saw the numbers.

"Hey, man, don't worry about it, let's just keep going. We knew coming here that we were just gonna be looking at stuff," Matt said, noticing my expression. "Let's go see what else they have in a different area."

"Y-yeah, okay," I replied, tearing my eyes away from the replicas. We then continued walking around, trying to figure out what else we could look at. Eventually, we ended up at the stage where someone was speaking. I didn't recognize the woman who was speaking, but I did recognize her voice from somewhere. Matt and I both stood there, listening and trying to remember where we'd heard her before.

However, as we stood there, the ropes suspending one of the stage's spotlights snapped. I heard the strange sound and looked up just in time to react. Pushing Matt out of the way, the spotlight slammed down onto my head and shoulders. Falling to the ground, I groaned and tried to get up, but the spotlight was sitting on top of me. Looking up, I saw Matt tearing up as he tried to lift the spotlight.

"Help! Someone help me!" He screamed. Several people who had noticed what happened ran over and began lifting the spotlight. I could feel the weight no longer crushing me, but I could tell that something was wrong. When I once again tried to get up, my body wouldn't respond. I then noticed the blood trickling down my face. Matt was now sobbing, realizing that I had pushed him out of the way.

"H-hey, man, it'll be alright," I said weakly. "I-I'm sure it's not as bad as it l-looks. Doctors will have m-me patched up in no t-time."

Matt nodded and tried to smile, but we both knew that wasn't the case. Blood was now pooling around me and my vision started going dark. I smiled one last time at my lifelong best friend, not regretting my choice to save him. And in that moment, everything went black.

* * *

"Congratulations, it's a healthy baby boy!" A man said loudly. His voice hurt my ears and the bright lights above blinded me. Once my eyes had adjusted enough to see, I noticed that I was in a hospital room.

I thought I died at the convention, I thought. But I guess they were able to get me to the hospital in time after all.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

I then tried to call out for my best friend. But when I went to speak, all that was heard was crying. Confused, I looked down at my body and saw a sight I couldn't believe.

I-I'm a newborn baby! I thought in shock. Panicking now, I started screaming, but it once again was just crying. The doctor holding me just laughed and passed me to the woman lying in the hospital bed.

"Well, at least his lungs we know for sure that his lungs are healthy," the doctor said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, he's pretty loud," a man standing next to the bed said. "Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised since he's my boy."

The man then laughed boisterously, filling the room. Turning to look at who I assumed was my father, I saw a tall, broad-shouldered middle-aged man with a buzz cut and a scraggly black beard. His eyes peered down on me with love and affection, and I could tell that he cared a lot about me, his newborn son. Turning to look at my mother, who was currently holding me, I saw a young woman with long blonde hair. She smiled and tapped my nose, though her movements were a bit slow and weak.

"Now, what will the boy's name be?" The doctor asked, placing a tablet in front of my father. The large man leaned down and began tapping while responding.

"His name is Charles, a strong name for a strong boy!" Father exclaimed.

"Sounds excellent, Mr. Wheaton," the doctor replied. "But please keep your voice down, it'll be better for both your wife and your son if you do so."

"Right, right, sorry, I'm just a loud man by nature," Father said with a laugh. He then handed the tablet back to the doctor before sitting down in the room's recliner. The doctor turned and left the hospital room, closing the door behind him.

"Honey, do you want to hold our baby boy?" Mother asked.

"Yes, of course! Hand him over!" Father replied. Mother passed me over to Father, whose large hands were rough on my soft skin. He grinned at me and began tickling my stomach. "Who's daddy's little boy! Who's daddy's little boy!"

The tickling caused me to giggle, and I grabbed onto his finger to try to get him to stop. However, Father just chuckled and pulled his finger free and began tickling me again.

"Arthur, starting pestering him!" Mother chastised. "He looks tired and you're tickling him!"

"Aw, come on, it'll toughen the boy up!" Arthur replied. He then stopped tickling me and tossed me into the air. I sailed upwards, starting to feel nauseous. Arthur caught me in his strong hands, where I proceeded to vomit. The contents of my stomach went all over his beard and shirt, but he didn't get upset. He just chuckled and stood up, handing me over to Mother. Father then grabbed some paper towels, wet them, and began cleaning himself up.

"See, Arthur, you made him throw up! You need to treat him gently," Mother said.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so excited to be a father! I'll try to be more careful, Vanessa," Father replied with a sheepish smile. He then walked back over to us. "Sorry, Charles, I'll be gentler in the future."

I burbled in response, trying to speak. However, of course, since I was a baby, I was unable to. But as I was trying to figure out how to make some intelligible sound, a blue translucent window popped up in front of me. My eyes widened in surprise and I cried out, shocked by what I saw.

Calming down, I then read the window in front of me.

[Daily Quest: 1/5]

[Contents: make controlled movements with all four limbs]

[Rewards: +1 Strength]

Well now, this is interesting, I thought.