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Gohan woke suddenly and threw his covers off with inhuman speed. A brief look at the clock told him it was already 9:30. He would never make it to school in time for the advanced calculus test!His heart rate slowed and his head stopped spinning as he remembered that he had already done that test, and that today was, in fact, Saturday. Besides, his mother would have been screeching at him to get out of bed hours ago if it had been a school day.He sighed in relief and stretched his arms above his head as he thought about the dream he had been having before his subconscious demanded he get up. The details were blurry and only a vague memory of something Piccolo-related remained.This did give Gohan pause. How long had it been since he'd seen his sensei turned best friend last? Heck, how long had it been since he'd done more than half an hour of training every other evening?Gohan searched out Piccolo's Ki as he got changed and eventually managed to find it at the Lookout. It seemed calm and meditative, so he decided that today would be as good a day as any to visit his Namekian friend. Gohan ran down the stairs into the kitchen to find his mother scolding Goten for attempting to eat the breakfast she had put aside for her eldest son."Morning Mum, sorry I'm up late; guess I stayed up later than I thought last night," he said sheepishly, quickly snatching the tray of food Goten had once again tried to get his hands on."I don't think so!" he chided his younger brother good naturedly, and proceeded to eat the now cold, yet still delicious, food as fast as his digestive tract would allow. Given his Saiyan heritage, that was fast enough to prevent the younger boy from attempting another grand theft food."That's ok, dear," Chi-Chi responded in a voice easily loud enough to be heard over the incessant munching of food and clinking of dishes and cutlery. She was well seasoned at making herself heard over two noisy males. Sadly it had never been three, but she tried to avoid thinking like that, for the sake of her sons' wellbeing. "I know you've been working hard, you had straight As on your last report," she added proudly.Gohan paused long enough to smile in return, and then continued eating as Chi-Chi rounded on Goten. "As for you, mister, I see you've been falling behind in mathematics and reading! You can't run around being illiterate and unable to do basic sums!" She only sounded slightly hysterical.Goten pouted and gave his usual excuse, "But Mummy, that stuff is so boring! Can't we do some training today instead?"Gohan smiled privately. His brother had no idea how lucky he was. Goten was neither pressured to study until he was the top student in classes three grades above his own, nor had he been thrown out into the wilderness with a less than friendly 'Mister Piccolo' for his first taste of training. Gohan was glad his mother seemed to have mellowed with age and had come to see the value of martial arts again.Well, he definitely hoped it wasn't depression or a lack of one Son Goku that had caused it, anyway. After having established with everyone (including his father, thanks to King Kai) that he should not feel guilty, he still tried not to think too much about his father's death these days. The only time either he or Chi-Chi spoke about Goku out loud was when Goten initiated conversation in that vein."Um, speaking of training, is it ok if I go see Piccolo today? I mean, I don't have any more tests until the end of next week," he attempted to justify as he dumped the now empty dishes into the sink.Chi-Chi frowned and looked very much as if she wanted to say, 'definitely not!' However, she did pause to think about her son's mental health. He had been quite stressed lately. Sometimes she heard him up at odd hours, or when she stopped by his door she heard mutterings which sounded very much as though he was reliving the past through his dreams. Perhaps a hard training session would actually do him some good."Alright, but make sure you're back before dinner. I expect you to study something before bed!" she added.Gohan looked surprised that he had managed to win his mother over so easily, but didn't pause to consider it in case the offer was retracted. "Sure thing, Mum!"He reminded Goten to behave before blasting off in the direction of the Lookout. It had been so long since he had flown any distance without Kintoun that making it all the way there was actually rather taxing. As Gohan arrived at the Lookout, he tried to cover his heavy breathing and recover as subtly as possible, which wasn't being made any easier by the thin air at this altitude. He followed the familiar Ki signatures to Mr Popo's carefully tended garden, in which there was an ecstatic Dende running towards him and Piccolo himself slowly opening his eyes in vague surprise. He pulled out of his meditative mind state and stood."Gohan!" Dende exclaimed delightedly. "Good to see you, it's been so long." He smiled and halted before the boy, seeming to be waiting for an explanation. "What brings you here?""Well," he began, "it's been so long since I've seen anyone. You know, with the way my mother keeps me locked away in my room to study." He laughed and scratched the back of his head, a habit most associated with his father. "Guess I missed everyone enough to risk escaping for a while.""Seems you also missed a training session or ten." Piccolo smirked as Gohan continued to laugh uncomfortably, embarrassed. "I barely recognised you.""Yeah well, hasn't been much to worry about since Cell…" He trailed off, avoiding the subject for the umpteenth time that morning.Piccolo picked this up almost instantly, however. Obviously the boy, almost man now, had not dealt with Goku's death quite as well as he would like the rest of them to believe."You know that's no excuse. We'd better rectify the situation," Piccolo more demanded than suggested, before taking off in the direction of the desert where he had first trained Gohan so many years ago.Gohan briefly bade farewell to their latest Kami, and passed on a greeting to Mr Popo, before taking off after Piccolo. He was glad he was at least able to keep up with the Namek, but the amount of effort it took to maintain flight was still embarrassing. He was too busy trying to pretend he was keeping pace with no effort to notice Piccolo's poorly concealed look of concern for both his mental health and physical state.Finally, after a silent trip over, the pair plummeted into the relatively small, lush green area located within the centre of a desert. Piccolo turned to Gohan and began, "Alright, we're making up for lost time. Don't tell me you've forgotten how to fight?" He decided to taunt him a little to try and get Gohan to take him seriously.Piccolo felt the more tired he was, the easier it would be to find out what was still ailing him. Getting him to admit to his guilt would be the first step to abolishing it.Their sparring session was stilted at first, as Gohan became used to moving at speeds to outdo someone beyond an average human again. But he was soon surpassing Piccolo as his familiar Saiyan battle instincts awakened.Several hours later, Gohan finally gave in to his hunger as he realised that it was way past lunchtime. He could have sworn his stomach was attempting to eat itself."Say, mind if I take a break to eat? I'm starving!" he complained, clawing at his own stomach as soon as they broke apart from a particularly fierce exchange of blows. His distraction had cost him, however, if his swelling and bleeding bottom lip was anything to go by.Piccolo simply rolled his eyes at the dramatic gesture and folded his arms, signalling his assent. He hadn't even been required to remove his training weights yet. Gohan just grinned foolishly, grateful for Piccolo's unexpected lenience, and trotted off to find enough food to sustain him until dinner time. Sometime later, Piccolo found himself frowning in mild disgust at the amount of and manner in which Gohan was packing away whatever the thing that he had managed to find for sustenance was. He just sighed and muttered something unintelligible about Saiyan appetites."What was that Piccolo?" Gohan asked after forcing another lump of meat down."I said you're disgusting," he replied, brow knitting together in a familiar way.Gohan simply laughed, once again. "Yeah, well, we can't all survive on water alone. I don't even know what to classify you as. Part reptile and part plant? Do you photosynthesise?" The questions continued coming despite Piccolo's lack of answers, as Gohan thought about the content for his upcoming biology test."Possibly," he replied, not wanting to admit he didn't know what the word meant."It's the only thing I can think of that would make sense, you know," Gohan added thoughtfully, slumping down with his back against Piccolo's side. He was stuffed, and seemed to be getting sleepy instead of reenergised. "I mean, your muscle is similar to ours," this comment was accompanied by a poke to a pink bicep, "and I can only assume your brain is too, so you have to be getting large amounts of energy and building proteins from something other than water."Humans and Saiyans are so similar. I mean, when two organisms can have fertile offspring it's meant to mean they're of the same species, right? But Saiyans still have a tail… and the ability to transform…" he mumbled off to himself, knowing high school biology would never be enough to explain his own body, let alone a Namek's.Gohan sighed as he settled into his own thoughts. He didn't appear to be moving anytime soon. Piccolo was growing increasingly more uncomfortable with the physical contact. Eventually he caved and shoved Gohan enough to break the contact… and cause his inattentive face to smack into the ground."Uh, what was that for?" Gohan complained, slowly sitting back up again and rubbing his head in mild discomfort."You know I dislike physical contact," Piccolo replied, actively trying to not feel guilty for his mostly unwarranted abruptness. "While you Earthlings seem to be content to touch each other and scream your feelings to the world at large, I feel that only a child I hatched myself should be treated in a way that even vaguely resembles that.""Oh sorry, I forgot. Just my instinct, you know? But, Nameks must have relations with each other. I mean, other than with their children. Obviously there is no concept of 'mate', but don't you feel inclined to have a best friend or something?" Gohan questioned, turning over to lie on his stomach and childishly swinging his legs at the knee as he waited for a response. His hands supported his head so he could maintain eye contact."Well I… suppose that is true. I remember, though it isn't one of 'Piccolo's' memories, that those who are especially close will open their minds to each other," he finally answered, uncertain all of a sudden.So much for putting Gohan on the spot about his father."What do you mean?" Gohan asked, tilting his head to the side curiously."You know the rare occasions on which the two of us communicate by thought? Well, Nameks are able to communicate naturally to one another in a similar way; it's used over long distances, or for privacy. But between those who are closer, both thoughts and feelings are completely open. The ultimate honesty, if you will."Gohan stared and then immediately thought of the consequences of sharing a bond like this. Piccolo would see right through his act of all's fine and dandy in the Son house in picoseconds. Anytime he had a bad thought, such as a pang of jealousy or bitterness, it would be out there."Now that," he finally replied, "is weird."Piccolo simply smirked. "Hiding something, are we?"Gohan immediately averted his gaze and said, "No!" both too quickly and too loudly to be natural."Well, that's the idea behind it. You trust the other person so much to not think badly of you, no matter what negative things you may feel sometimes. Without mental barriers, it is much easier to understand another, but it seems humans don't think this way. Everything has to be verbally expressed, which often detracts from the true meaning."Gohan briefly thought this explained Piccolo's stubbornness against and inability to physically express emotion. Perhaps it was time to stop lying to everyone, including himself, and actually do something about the, some days debilitating, guilt."And, um, have you ever wanted to share this bond with a human?" he asked, suddenly hesitant. Maybe he was assuming too much. Why would Piccolo want to know his every thought and feeling?"Well, perhaps with a certain half breed," he replied, watching Gohan's face as the meaning of that remark slowly dawned on him. Honestly, in some ways he was as slow as his moronic father."I dunno if I can. It just seems so…" He made a face in an attempt to explain what he either couldn't or didn't want to put into words. Considering the size of his vocabulary when he actually stopped to think, the former was probably not the case.Piccolo just privately snickered at the look before saying, "And how do you think I felt every time you insisted on trying to touch me when you were a child?""But I couldn't help it 'Mister Piccolo'; you were the biggest and grumpiest eight-year-old I'd ever seen!" Gohan said earnestly, which was soon betrayed by the look of mirth on his face.Piccolo scoffed at this, stating, "Knowing how sheltered you were, I was probably the only eight-year-old you had ever seen." Privately, he continued puzzling over the contradiction he had just been faced with. "You know, it's things like that which make me mistrust humans. Your face says one thing, your voice another and, for all I know, your thoughts something else entirely. But I managed to get used to it… eventually.""Well," Gohan sighed, "I can't make any promises, but I'll give it a try." He sat up and faced Piccolo, mirroring his favoured lotus position. "So, what do I do?"Piccolo released a breath as he focused on Gohan's Ki and spoke to him telepathically. "Well, first we need to establish a connection. Feel around. You can sense the barriers in my mind, yes?"Gohan concentrated on Piccolo's Ki in turn, and made his consciousness spread out a little. He soon found himself encountering the resistance of the Namek's mind, feeling his thoughts almost slide off some kind of rounded wall. If he had to compare it to the physical world he would say he was on the threshold of a weirdly shaped room that he couldn't quite see or get into."Yes," he finally replied, also telepathically."Alright, now these kinds of barriers could be forced down, but that would more than likely lead to madness. So, what you have to do is… leave some kind of hole in your barriers so that the other can get through freely. Opening your psyche to whomever cares to glance into your mind is just as mentally damaging as forcing someone else to remove their barriers to you. So concentrate on only letting me through," Piccolo continued to instruct with words alone. "Here, I'll open up a bit and let you see."Gohan let his hesitancy and general agreement to continue escape, before instinctively closing up his own barriers once more. In response, Gohan could feel Piccolo's surprise at how quickly he'd gotten that far and mild curiosity directed towards the issue of this actually working. It didn't take Gohan long to realise why Piccolo preferred this method of communication. It was succinct and highly informative, especially compared to trying to adequately put things into words.He inhaled and exhaled again, briefly wandering through his own mind and attempting to open things for Piccolo to feel. In his haste he brushed over his feelings about the whole 'Cell Fiasco' and did the mental equivalent of clamming up.Piccolo groaned and rubbed his head as he felt the unpleasant effects of being suddenly and very forcefully ejected from Gohan's mind. He did, however, now know that his suspicions had been correct. Six years later, Gohan still had a problem with what had happened to his father."Um, are you ok Piccolo?" he asked quietly, wondering how much he had seen."I'll live, but all you really have to do is close the 'hole' next time. Even though hiding anything is going against what we're trying to achieve, there's still no need to get so violent." He grimaced. It was much more difficult to maintain a defence against mental violence when his guard was already down."S-sorry…" Gohan muttered, shaking both from the foreign experience and the abundance of unwanted raw emotion he'd just touched upon. "How much did you see?" he wondered, trying to assess the damage.Piccolo briefly contemplated saying he had seen nothing so he would be more willing to try again later, but decided to stick to his own advice instead. Honesty was the best policy. "Enough."Gohan's face fell and he turned away in contemplation. Just as Piccolo was about to say something more, Gohan stood and said more quietly than usual, "I'd better get going home now. Mum told me to be back for dinner.""I'm just trying to help you," Piccolo reminded him as he powered up to take off."I know," Gohan replied almost inaudibly as he took off in the direction he thought his home was in. After a brief pause, he passed back over their desert training field again, cheeks red with embarrassment. Piccolo sighed and wondered how he had managed to survive this long.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
For the whole next week, Gohan threw himself into his studies, trying to ignore the pain he had touched upon during his last meeting with Piccolo. Despite this, he couldn't seem get his 'everything is ok' mask back on. So naturally, on his next Saturday off, he went to see Piccolo again.It seemed his visit was expected, for Piccolo was already at their old training grounds instead of the Lookout. When Gohan arrived, he didn't make his usual ruckus, which would inevitably lead into a session of sparring. He simply sat in front of Piccolo and put his head in his hands.Much to his surprise, he felt a hand rest on top of his head just a moment later, reminding him of how Piccolo used to ruffle his hair when he was younger. But somehow, it was different. He was trying to be sympathetic this time.Piccolo, psychic barriers down, pressed at Gohan's thoughts with a wave of his own emotions. It was a confusing blur of regret, sympathy and a silenced question as to whether Gohan was ready to try opening his mind again.Gohan's response was a hesitant yes, quickly followed by a feeling of wanting to suppress his thoughts on the Cell Fiasco. If he didn't want to look at it, then why would Piccolo?
"It's fine," he seemed to convey. "I shouldn't have poked around so much, so soon, but just remember the point of the exercise. Eventually we'll look at it together."
"I know," he said, returning to moving around his own mind. It wasn't fair that Piccolo was being more open than he was, after all. However, it did not take very much exploring of memories for him to find something else that caused him to, albeit less forcefully than last time, eject Piccolo from his thoughts.
It wasn't just for the sake of his own dignity, but he was fairly sure an asexual being, of all people, would not want to look in on any memories of him masturbating.
"Um, sorry!" He laughed nervously; face bright red and feeling rather mortified.
Piccolo frowned and shook his head. What was that? He repeated the sentiment out loud after realising Gohan had almost entirely cut him off from his thought processes.
"Um, well, you know how Humans and Saiyans reproduce sexually?" At Piccolo's nod he felt compelled to continue despite his discomfort. "Sometimes there isn't a mate to reproduce with, but you still feel like you should be having intercourse anyway. It's especially true around my age, what with all the hormones flying around and how it's socially unacceptable for me to… and, well…"
He found he didn't want to continue, and couldn't quite find a way to explain even if he had been inclined to do so.
"I think I understand a little," Piccolo said vaguely. Now he had experienced this from someone else's point of view, it seemed he at least better understood the relation between two people in the sense of Humans and/or Saiyans.
To think, whole species based their cultures and very lives around the attainment of some pleasurable act. Of course for most this was for the purpose of reproduction, but for others, particularly the staggering amount of humans that infested this world, it seemed to have another purpose.
Gohan had stopped instinctively blocking out Piccolo long enough to hear most of his prior thought. "If you think this is weird, just be glad I'm not trying to explain the concept of homosexuals or transsexuals to you. That doesn't really have anything to do with breeding…"
"Gender just overcomplicates things," Piccolo grouched as he tried to put a lid on the feelings he had siphoned from Gohan's memories. He couldn't even begin to describe something so foreign. Yet he found himself somewhat fascinated by it, probably because of its utter repulsiveness.
But his thoughts didn't linger in that particular vein. He was soon distracted by Gohan's thoughts wandering the outskirts of his recently dubbed Cell Fiasco. Instead of interfering this time, he simply sat back and watched the thoughts take their course. It began with sadness that was expected from the death of a parent, but soon turned into something rather more self-destructive.
The degree of self-blame and guilt was almost overwhelming. A blurry recollection of Chi-Chi's anguished, tear-stained face came and went, along with an irrational sense of inferiority. He felt his father was better than him. He should have died as well, or even better, instead. Piccolo was not only confused by the obscenity of this inferiority complex, but also gravely concerned.
However, he had no skill or tact when it came to emotional support or healing. So he did the only thing that made sense to him. He exacerbated Gohan's anger in an attempt to force his rational and logical side out.
"Yes," he stated coldly, trying not to appear too belligerent, "it's your fault. What were you thinking? Rather, you weren't. Did you ever stop to consider the consequences of playing around with such an opponent?"
"I-I know! It was stupid! Damn it, I'll… I'll never go Super Saiyan again!" he exclaimed, anxiety rising. He didn't seem to notice that the conversation had become entirely verbal again.
"Then what, watch as more people die the next time Earth is threatened?" Piccolo demanded harshly, taking advantage of the way he was riled up so easily. "You just sat there and watched him die!"
"That's not the problem! It's not Dad I'm worried about, it's Mum and Goten! There was nothing I could do to stop him, so stop blaming me!" His voice rose, along with his power level. Despite his earlier sentiment, he would ascend if he didn't control his temper.
Gohan's bipolar tendencies would have to be addressed at another time. Looking at his parents, it seemed to be hereditary in one form or another.
"Perhaps you should stop blaming yourself, then," Piccolo answered in a surprisingly calm and civil manner.
Gohan opened his mouth to roar something in response, but it died in his throat as he thought about what Piccolo had actually just said. His head returned to his hands and he shook from both repressed rage and the sensation of coming down from his brief adrenaline high. His power level also dropped significantly.
"Given the way your banshee of a mother always screamed about these things, it seems she would have been far more upset if you had been the one to die, anyway. Perhaps it's about time you had this conversation with her." He reached out and touched Gohan's head again in response to some unbidden instinct.
This seemed to relax Gohan enough for him to hesitantly open his mind to Piccolo again, in terms of thoughts and the surface of his feelings. Piccolo got the impression that he thought his mother would have killed Goku herself if her husband hadn't brought their son back alive.
Piccolo smirked and conveyed mild amusement toward this sentiment. He allowed his fingers to run through Gohan's wiry Saiyan-like hair before removing his hand from the teen's head. He was confused by the almost warm and fuzzy sentiment this action caused Gohan to feel. Maybe this physical contact thing had a reasonable purpose after all.
Gohan touched down a few feet from the entrance of his home and let himself in. "Mum, I'm back," he called out as he took his shoes off in the doorway.
"Hello dear," Chi-Chi replied from her position curled up on the couch, looking up from the book she was reading as he entered the living room.
Gohan couldn't feel his brother's Ki anywhere in the nearby vicinity. It was unlikely she would get a chance to sit down and read if Goten was home. He decided that now would be as good a time as any to have a talk with his mother.
"What's wrong?" she asked, noticing her son hadn't run straight to the refrigerator to find something to eat, for once. "Goten is just sleeping over at Trunks' tonight," she added, thinking that may have been the cause of her eldest son's odd behaviour.
"Oh, ok. Um, actually I wanted to talk about Dad," he finally responded, sitting down on the portion of the couch Chi-Chi wasn't taking up.
"Oh," she replied softly as she marked her page and put the book down. "You said he said it was ok. You don't have to feel guilty," she added quickly, hating to see her son so unusually upset.
"I know," he murmured, bringing his legs up to wrap his arms around his knees. "I'm more worried about you and Goten than him, though. I know he doesn't have a problem with dying; it's just like another adventure for him. But you were so upset, and Goten hasn't even met him."
"Gohan," Chi-Chi said sternly, "Of course I was upset. But I'm more relieved that my little boy didn't go the same way. I know I tried to make him promise to come back alive, but realistically neither of us thought he truly would. That's why, well, that's why we tried for another child before he left."
Gohan was rather surprised by how blasé his mother sounded about the issue. "So you're not even really that upset?" he asked, trying to clear up his confusion. He wondered if that was the true purpose behind his father's three days of rest, three days of training and three more days of 'rest' scheme. He remembered having been left on the Lookout for the last three days…
She smiled sadly. "For most of my life I've been chasing after that father of yours. I've been infatuated since our first meeting, and yet, he didn't appear to feel the same way. Not that I paid too much attention to that tiny detail when I was a girl." She stifled a surprisingly girlish giggle before continuing, "I remember thinking I just wanted a strong husband, so when Goku beat me with one hit at the World Martial Arts Tournament, I did everything I could to convince him to marry me.
"In the end he went along with it, amiable and clueless as always, and not long after the tournament we were married and had you." She paused to blush as she reminisced about having to give Goku 'the talk' before they could even attempt to have a child. She tactfully decided that Gohan probably didn't want to hear about that.
"Since his brother came to Earth, he's been away more than he's been with me, so I was back to feeling like a silly little girl who was pining after something she couldn't have. Now, I don't think I could bring myself to try and permanently domesticate a free spirit like his. Maybe he'll get a chance to come back to us when he's good and ready.
"But there's no use in worrying about it, just do what you can with what you have," she finished rather vaguely, apparently reaching the moral of her life story. She extended an arm to her little boy, who in only a few years would be a full-grown man.
Gohan responded to his mother by curling up beside her. Pleasantly surprised that her first son still let her treat him like he was her little baby, she steadily stroked his hairline as she continued, "As for Goten, well, he's more like Goku than any of us. All he has to do is look in the mirror to see what his father was like." She laughed gently.
Gohan silently contemplated what he'd been told as he slowly relaxed due to his mother's comforting gestures. She was right, though. His father was certainly unique. He cared about pretty much everyone, not just his own family and circle of friends.
Some people would call it a kind of purity, ultimately moral. He found this to be ironic, since if his father hadn't been practically brain damaged at an early age, he would be just like his older brother. Or even worse, how Vegeta used to be.
"Thanks Mum," he muttered, feeling himself slowly falling asleep. This was only the first step to facing his feelings, but he felt much better for today. It felt like a very large step in the right direction.
Feeling emotionally light for the first time in years, he drifted off, somewhat surprised his mother wasn't yelling at him to go study to make up for all the marks he had lost on the biology test. That's what he got for answering with his own theories and philosophy instead of Darwinian principles.
Not that he would tell his mother Piccolo had anything to do with it.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"Gohannn!" the young, hyperactive boy exclaimed joyously as he threw himself at his older brother's bed with unrestrained delight. Chi-Chi had told him to go get Gohan up. He would be late for school if he didn't hurry.Gohan, reflexes as sharp as ever, sat up and caught Goten mid-flight. He groaned and placed his brother on the floor. It was far too early in the morning for this."I'm up, I'm up!""Hey, hey, last night I heard you saying something about Dad. Were you talking to him? Why doesn't he ever talk to me?" Goten managed to say in the same breath, all before Gohan could even begin to reply."No, he wasn't talking to me. I must have been dreaming again," Gohan began as he reluctantly got up. "Dad's kind of absentminded, so I don't think we'll be getting a 'call' from him anytime soon."Gohan faintly felt the mental equivalent of a scoff from Piccolo. 'He isn't absent because of his mind, it's his mind that's absent.' However, Gohan was too distracted by his brother to answer.Goten just shrugged and smiled. "Mummy says he has as much focus as me. It only exists when it comes to eating and fighting!" He laughed, undoubtedly picturing the look on Chi-Chi's face when she had said so.Gohan smiled in return, glad Goten wasn't upset by Goku's apparent negligence, and shooed him out of the room so he could get changed into his school uniform in relative peace.Lately, school had him even more stressed out than usual. The entrance exams to Orange Star High School were coming up in just six weeks, so he was being pressured by both his teachers and his mother more than ever. Even though Orange Star was even further away from his home than his current school, he wanted to be accepted because it provided a better chance of entering a good university.He abandoned this train of thought and sped down stairs after remembering that his brother and his breakfast were probably alone together in the same room. Chi-Chi was obviously elsewhere if she wasn't yelling at him about tardiness yet. He burst into the kitchen and dived across the room when he realised Goten had finished his own breakfast and was already eying up the other tray.When Goten noticed his older brother, he snatched the tray and crawled under the table, giggling madly the whole time. Gohan, well used to the early morning contest that was breakfast time, rolled across the table and landed in a crouching position on the other side, nose to nose with his mischievous little brother.He smoothly took the tray and began to stand up normally. But his victory was falsely assumed. Goten hadn't given up just yet. He dived at the back of his brother's knees so that they buckled a little, almost causing the precious food to go everywhere."Why you little," Gohan began, placing his breakfast back on the table and rounding on Goten, a challenge glinting in his eyes.Goten noticed the change and clumsily attempted to back away under the table again, but Gohan was still too quick for him. He grabbed Goten's ankles and pulled him back out into the open. He squirmed and thrashed his legs, attempting to escape from what he knew would be coming next.But unfortunately for him, he still wasn't strong enough to match up with his big brother, especially since Gohan had been training more often over the past month. He trapped Goten's leg under himself and slowly began to peel the sock of the trapped foot off."No, don't!" Goten yelled between childish giggles, still attempting to use his free leg to kick his brother away. But it was futile; Gohan seemed to be bent on vengeance this time. He looked over his shoulder and smirked at his younger sibling before expertly running his fingers over the most ticklish spot his brother's foot had to offer.Goten shrieked, unable to stifle his laughter anymore. He continued to struggle, but simply grew weaker as his brother continued to elicit laughs from him."S-stop!" he gasped, stomach aching dully from his unrestrained show of mirth. Gohan was merciful, as usual, and immediately released his younger brother before returning to his breakfast. He quickly finished it off before Goten could fully catch his breath and attempt another theft. They were late enough without another distraction to slow them down, as their mother soon found fit to remind them."Gohan, you should have left fifteen minutes ago! Goten, I told you to get your mathematics book! Hurry up, we don't have all day!" Chi-Chi yelled, setting a mound of dry washing on the couch and placing her hands on her hips.Gohan shot a guilty look over his shoulder and quickly dumped his dishes in the sink before speeding over to the door. He hated to abandon his brother at such a time, but she would only become more riled up the longer he was at home."Ok, bye, see you when I get back!" he called, snatching up his bag and blasting out of the doorway. He thought of the high-speed flight as a training exercise and managed to make it to school in half the usual time. It wasn't until he was sitting in class, panting to get his breath back before the teacher came in, that he realised Kintoun could probably fly faster than him any day. As the entrance exam approached, Gohan found his anxiety increased and his mood became more volatile. He felt what he needed was a hard training session with Piccolo, but he simply didn't have the time to fly out, actually train, and then come all the way back again. There was no way his mother would let him take a whole day off when he could be studying.Every day he got up at 7 a.m. and went to bed at 10 p.m. At least ten of those fifteen waking hours were spent sitting in his room, at his desk studying. The rest seemed to only be divided between hygiene and eating. Needless to say, it was driving him mad.He wasn't just restless whilst awake, but even more so when sleeping. He was plagued by dreams that were either completely ridiculous, or were some kind of horrific reflection of his past experiences. The latter may have only left a few vague memories in the morning, but a sense of unease usually remained with him throughout the rest of the day.It was just one week from his examination when he had a particularly vivid dream about killing Cell Juniors. Goten was the first to notice his brother's odd behaviour when he was woken by a rapidly increasing power level in the middle of the night. He got up to investigate, but found his brother's radiant Ki was holding the door to his room firmly shut. If it rose much more, there might not be a door at all.It didn't take long for Chi-Chi to notice what was happening. Her room was located further down the hall, but she was soon up and pulling Goten away from the door of his brother's room.Gohan's power level often fluctuated to ridiculous heights in his sleep, (Vegeta and Krillin had stopped turning up expecting a fight years ago) but it was never usually to this extent. Chi-Chi had to drag Goten downstairs in case her eldest son did end up breaking something.As they entered the kitchen and living room area, Piccolo walked into their house as though he too had lived there all his life, and made his way up to Gohan's room. To be honest, Chi-Chi never thought she would be so relieved to see him. Little did she know, Piccolo had been probing Gohan's subconscious for the past ten minutes already, trying to get him to realise it was a dream and to wake up before he hurt someone."Gohan, you're dreaming," he stated bluntly, mostly using his thoughts and feelings to convey the message since he didn't want to break down the door to his room just to get close enough for him to be able to hear. "You have to wake up before you hurt someone."It didn't seem to have any immediate effect. Gohan still had various forms of Cell flashing through his mind and, according to his current perception of reality; he needed to increase his power more in order to get rid of them all.Piccolo sighed and pressed harder with images of a frightened Goten and Chi-Chi he'd encountered downstairs. "Enough, the only reason they're unsafe is because of you, this time. Wake up!"This seemed to be rather more effective. Gohan did indeed wake up a little more in order to assess the situation. As soon as he was awake enough to realise Piccolo was telling the truth, his power level plunged and he shot out of bed. He opened the door in a manner almost violent enough to rip it from its hinges.He was sweating and his heart was still racing. He hunched over a little to catch his breath, looking up at Piccolo and using his mind to communicate. Was his family all right?Piccolo beckoned for him to follow and come see for himself. He immediately complied; too worried to be embarrassed by the fact he was only wearing underwear."Mum, Goten!" he called, worry evident in his voice as he shot down the stairs."Are you alright dear?" Chi-Chi asked, still holding Goten protectively in her arms.Gohan bit his lip, feeling guilty because he had put his family in danger. They really were afraid of what he could have done while he was asleep. Piccolo was again concerned by his beginnings of self-destructive thoughts and communicated this through their connection.Gohan studiously ignored this for the moment and said out loud, "I'm sorry." He started making his way towards the door, as though he were about to leave."Gohan…" Chi-Chi murmured, upset by the look of anguish on his face. It wasn't his fault he'd blown up like that. If anything it was hers for putting so much pressure on him, and she acknowledged this with regret.Oblivious to the mood as ever, Goten giggled and called, "Where are you going Gohan? You're still in your undies!"Gohan snapped out of his reverie as he suddenly realised that what his brother said was true. He turned back and blushed. He noticed his brother didn't seem to be afraid of him. In fact, he was regarding him in the way he normally did."I think I just need to get out of the house for a bit before I go completely nuts," he replied sheepishly. His hunched posture still exuded shame and he couldn't quite bring himself to make eye contact with anyone."Let's go." Piccolo sighed and used his conjuring powers to give Gohan a gi like his father's. He didn't need to be a mind reader to know Gohan wanted a good sparring session."Alright, but you can't give up on your exams now. I expect you to be back and ready to study in two days!" Chi-Chi exclaimed, reverting back to her overbearing self now that the immediate crisis seemed to be over. She wasn't sure how else to deal with it.Gohan simply smiled, glad that nothing seemed to have changed despite the earlier incident. "Sure Mum, I'll be ready for them," he assured her before making his way outside."Thank you, Piccolo," Chi-Chi added quietly as he walked past her. She quickly turned away to put her younger son to bed before Piccolo could respond.He simply nodded at her retreating back, before following Gohan outside. As soon as they took off for the mutually agreed upon desert training ground, Piccolo felt the full force of Gohan's restless energy and mindset. If he survived after taking this 'examination' of his, then Piccolo would demand he come train with him at least once a fortnight from now on.Gohan's amusement and agreement brushed Piccolo's psyche as he did a barrel roll through the air for fun. He had a break over the summer, after his entrance exam, of course. Then he would start his senior high school education. It would only get more difficult from there.Piccolo barely had time to wonder about Gohan's sanity before they reached their destination. Gohan wanted to begin straight away, so they did, with gusto. Piccolo was caught between being frustrated and relieved that Gohan was already far outstripping him, even though he'd hardly been training regularly lately.Gohan sensed Piccolo's annoyance and began taking the brunt of some of his beams of Ki. This, of course, only made Piccolo more annoyed. He became more aggressive, causing Gohan to retaliate with a searing Ki blast of his own, in order to regain ground.Many burns and bruises later, they eventually dropped down to the ground and sat next to each other. As they caught their breaths, they watched the sunrise. Once Piccolo and Gohan had both adequately recovered enough to make a fairly lengthy flight, they made their way to the nearest river.Gohan discreetly peeked over his shoulder to make sure Piccolo wasn't looking at him, before removing what remained of his clothes and getting in the river further down-stream from where they had been drinking just a moment ago. He didn't know why he bothered, since Piccolo probably wouldn't think anything much of nudity.He crouched down, trying to submerge as much of his body as possible. Sure, summer was coming soon, but first thing in the morning was not the best time for a bath if you weren't a fan of the freezing cold. He shivered as goose bumps rose on his skin, but he would rather be uncomfortably cold than sweaty and stinking to high heaven.Piccolo communicated his amusement as he too got into the water. With his thick skin, he barely felt the cold that seemed to be bothering Gohan so immensely. Gohan turned in surprise; usually Piccolo refused to join him in 'stupid human activities'.He found he still couldn't make sense of Piccolo's physiology. The multiple colours of his skin had him under the impression that Piccolo was still wearing clothes. It was… weird."You're the weird one," Piccolo said, carefully stepping further into the water.Gohan was unable to cover his feeling of surprise when he noticed that Piccolo had nothing between his legs. He may have blocked his thoughts instinctively, but the sentiment was still written all over his face. Nor could he resist asking…"Piccolo, how do you excrete?"Piccolo snorted in response and folded his arms as he sank into the water. "If I'm in such a desperate situation that I need to eat food in order to get water, it gets rather uncomfortable. I believe you humans have a rectal tract of some kind. It's probably similar to that," he finally responded."So you're like a bird? You urinate and defecate at the same time? Well, when you have to defecate, that is," he wondered aloud, nursing the Ki burn on his cheek with cold water. Piccolo was lucky he could just regenerate and get rid of the pain more quickly."Maybe," he responded, not entirely sure what Gohan was talking about anymore. He wished he would stop using scientific terminology and blocking him out at the same time. It was impossible to understand him."Weird," he mumbled again."Like I said, you are."At this pause in their banter, they both attempted to properly re-establish their mind connection again. Once they had succeeded, Gohan followed Piccolo as he thought about some impressions he had picked up from carelessly guarded teenage minds during a session of meditation. Humans didn't seem to bother constantly keeping the barriers to their minds up, since few even thought the psychic planes of reality even existed, let alone actively used them.Piccolo soon found himself almost shying away from the thoughts of sexual attraction. He could have sworn breeding was all humans ever thought about.Gohan laughed and put his hand behind his head. Male teenagers were probably the worst demographic if he was trying to avoid thoughts like that. But he soon realised the reason Piccolo had done it was to try and understand him better."Maybe you'd learn these things better from a book," Gohan conveyed as he washed his armpits. He should have thought to use antiperspirant before coming out here.Piccolo rolled his eyes at his ex-student's antics and apparently random thought process. "Where do you think I would have learnt to read?" he demanded, scrubbing at his recently regenerated skin with his fingernails, subconsciously checking for any failures in the process.Gohan frowned. He hadn't thought of that. "I can teach you, if you want?"Piccolo shook his head sharply. "No, I know enough to get around. That's all I need wasting space in my brain." He returned to what they had been talking about originally. His thoughts wandered to the memories he had gained from Gohan over a month ago, now. It seemed he still didn't understand masturbation."Piccolo," Gohan exclaimed, mortified, "stop thinking about that!" His face heated up and he turned to Piccolo, affronted. He was embarrassed that Piccolo could remember his memory so well that he now knew what he looked like naked. There had been no need for his covert nudity after all.But Piccolo was more confused than ever. Why would he be angry or embarrassed about that? Didn't stop him from thinking about it all the time."Yeah, but that's me thinking about me. If you think about me like that it's…" He trailed off again, hindered by his embarrassment."And how do you propose I think about myself like that?" Piccolo asked derisively, still not understanding Gohan's problem."Well, it's a private thing, ok? At least to me it is. It should only be between me and my, uh, 'mate'," He tried to explain, "Since I don't have one of those yet, it's just for me."For some reason, he also seemed to be ashamed of the fact he wasn't mated. Personally, Piccolo thought he would take a long time in choosing carefully if he had to mate with someone and raise a child with them for at least two decades. He didn't think he would ever understand human culture at this rate.Gohan got out of the water, raising his Ki to keep him warm and to get dry faster. Without needing to be so much as thought at, Piccolo conjured him another gi."Well, you understand that already, maybe you'll get it one day," Gohan encouraged, jumping up and down on the spot until he dried off properly and he stopped losing body heat to evaporation."Not likely. My people aren't exactly nudists either," Piccolo corrected, sceptical as ever."Say, how do you conjure stuff like that, some kind of particle rearrangement? Or is it more of a summoning thing? What about causing some kind of interdimensional travel?" Gohan questioned, forever curious. Not to mention, easily distracted.Piccolo didn't restrain his confusion this time, finally admitting that he was just not as well educated. Though, he preferred to think 'not educated in the same way.'"Gohan, shut up," he said shortly.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The chief exam supervisor's voice cut through the tense hush and frantic scribbling of desperate students, "Your time is up. Please put down your pens immediately and remain seated until all of the examination papers have been collected and accounted for."Gohan silently cheered and dropped his pen onto the desk, stretching his arms above his head in relief as his student ID was checked again, and his paper was collected. He was confident he'd at least passed, and that he got most of the biology section right."You may leave," the supervisor finally announced.When Gohan was finally able to run outside, he jumped into the air from pure relief. It was a little too high to be normal, but he was too distracted by post-exam euphoria to care. He ran into the car park where his mother was waiting eagerly for him to return.'Good job kid, but I can't believe you're going back for more of that in just a few months,' Piccolo thought at him. Gohan's sudden burst of joy had been more than enough to distract him from his meditation session.Gohan just laughed and thanked him before returning to the physical world in order to speak to his mother."So, dear, how was it?" she asked as she pushed away from the car bonnet to approach her son. She had used the three and a half hours of examination time to buy various foodstuffs from the huge Orange Star shopping centre. She still studiously refused to refer to the place as Satan City."I think it went well. I guess I'll find out for sure in a few weeks," he answered with a stupid grin on his face."That's my boy." She smiled in return, putting an arm around his shoulders. Or she would have, if she could still reach them. "Let's go home. I'll make you a special meal tonight-"She was cut off as Goten stuck his head out of the open car window and called, "I knew I smelled food!" He grinned in a similar manner to his brother, pleased, and bounced up and down on the seat. He had opted to see Trunks while they were here, instead of going with his mother."Oh, thanks Mum!" Gohan replied. "Can I go see Piccolo before dinner? I haven't seen him for ages and all.""Last week is not ages ago." Chi-Chi only hesitated for a few seconds after her sharp retort, before answering. "Sure, Gohan, if it makes you happy. Take your brother so he doesn't try to eat dinner faster than I can make it." She adopted a teasing tone, ruffling Goten's hair. "I've also invited Grandpa; he hasn't been by for a while.""Great!" he said as he got into the car beside his brother so that Chi-Chi could drive them home.'It never occurred to you that I would be otherwise occupied?' Piccolo asked. Despite his annoyed tone, Gohan could feel Piccolo's Ki heading in the direction of his house. At this rate, he would beat them there.Gohan gave the impression he regretted his impolite actions, but he also joked that he didn't think Piccolo had much of a social life. He tried to think in more focused constructs, like the way Piccolo was able to make him interpret his thoughts into specific sentences with no ambiguity, but he still struggled with it over long distances.'Yes, because I have so many friends,' Piccolo answered dryly."Hey, hey Gohan, Mummy bought us a new house today!" Goten proclaimed, successfully distracting his brother from his thoughts once more. He still seemed to be bouncing up and down on the car seat with barely contained energy. "She said we get to share a room now!"Chi-Chi glanced over her shoulder in an almost guilty fashion before taking off on a course back to their home in Mount Paozu. Of course Gohan knew that his education and lack of employment were draining their remaining money, not to mention the amount he and his brother ate. He'd been expecting his mother to sell some of their assets for more money for ages now.However, a more pressing concern arose in his mind: what if he powered up in his sleep again? It hadn't happened again yet, but the potential that it could still worried him, and this time Goten would be in the same room."You better not snore too loudly!" he joked with his brother, covering his concerns for now. When they arrived, Gohan immediately got changed into his gi and got both himself and his brother out of their mother's way. Since Goten hadn't learnt to fly yet, Gohan sprinted in Piccolo's direction with him lagging behind."Come on, is that as fast as you can go?" Gohan teased, grinning at his brother over his shoulder."No!" Goten quickly answered with a pout, before a look of determination overcame his face and his speed slowly increased until he was abreast with his brother.Gohan was surprised by this immediate turnaround in both ability and attitude. If he didn't keep up with training once school started again, Goten could very well surpass him in just a couple of years. It was a little frightening to think, but what could he expect when the little tyke resembled their father in every other way as well?Soon enough they reached Piccolo, who had been waiting by the stream that ran near their house in anticipation of Gohan's need to train."Hi!" Goten smiled innocently, looking every bit his father's son. However, this was the first time he had actually spoken to Piccolo, so he was a little shy. Rather, a lot shy, hiding behind his brother's leg after giving his surprisingly bold greeting.Gohan just laughed. "It's ok Goten; you don't have to hide from Piccolo." He bent over slightly and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, encouraging him to step forward."Hello, kid," Piccolo answered somewhat grudgingly at Gohan's silent request."Do you want to do some Ki training with us, or just play around?" Gohan asked his little brother, kneeling down to his level.Piccolo privately snickered at the fact Gohan was giving his brother a choice. He was as bad as his father when it came to being ridiculously nice to the people around him; he was a pushover when it came to just about everything. However, Gohan was also ridiculously hard on himself.Goten looked up at Piccolo and quickly looked away again, nervous. "Um, I think I'll just play over there for a while," he mumbled.Gohan followed his brother's gaze and suddenly remembered just how intimidating the Namek was when you only came up to his knee. "Ok, just let me know if you need anything. Don't go too far," he added, worrying as ever. He probably would have been less worried if he saw how well Goten fought when training with Chi-Chi."…kay," he mumbled, running off to climb up the tallest tree within a fifty meter radius.As soon as Goten left, Gohan noticed that Piccolo was feeling rather disconcerted. Goten's appearance seemed to have triggered a memory that belonged to his 'father'. It was the last one he had, in which Goku sealed his death by running him through with his entire body.Gohan was surprised by this. Usually his father didn't kill. He didn't even end up finishing Frieza after everything he had done. Then again, Tien's life was being threatened at the time.But Piccolo ignored Gohan's train of thought in favour of his own. He thought about the purpose for which he had been brought into this world: killing Son Goku. Then about actually fulfilling this purpose by killing Raditz and Goku, who was now an adult; the way Gohan had always known him. Finally, Gohan saw his first meeting with Piccolo from his previous mentor's point of view."Wait, you ultimately took me away to train in order to use me in your plans for world domination?" Gohan asked, somewhat surprised. It was a small wonder he was the only one who thought 'Mister Piccolo' had really been a nice guy beneath his rough exterior."Yes, and look at who ended up being used," Piccolo replied ruefully. "To think, between your education and my common sense, we would have been unstoppable."Piccolo was beyond belief when he realised Gohan even felt guilt about this. It was a joke, that was in the past now! He shook his head and pushed Gohan, not really expecting it to achieve much. But Gohan either allowed himself to be pushed away, or he wasn't paying enough attention to do anything about it, since he fell onto his backside. Yes, definitely a pushover to an unhealthy degree.He finally realised that with this action Piccolo had been trying to lighten the mood again and not get caught up in the past. As he stood he commented, "Don't tell me you're still thinking of world domination, Piccolo?""Oh yes, I would definitely succeed if I tried now," Piccolo replied, rolling his eyes. "In fact I like watching humans cower in fear so much I save Earth from the tyranny of others on a regular basis."Gohan laughed, slowly brushing the dirt off his pants. "How things have changed."Piccolo smirked, before pushing Gohan back onto his backside. "And stop being such a pushover; I thought I taught you better."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Gohan reprimanded himself for chewing on his fingernails, but continued to do it anyway. It didn't make him worry any less, but he liked to think it did. Nor would it change his exam results.Chi-Chi was also worrying for him. What if the other kids had worked harder or started earlier? What if there were a disproportionate amount of genius kids this year? If he couldn't get into this school, she wasn't sure what his chances for a prestigious university would be. That was what he wanted, right? To become a scholar, perhaps conduct research in biology. He always loved biology.Gohan was sometimes able to be distracted by Goten when they played games that would help with the younger's training and schooling. However, Goten was a source of worry for an entirely different reason. Gohan hadn't slept very well for the past few days because he was unable to guarantee that he wouldn't start powering up in the middle of the night.Gohan's constant anxiety eventually bothered Piccolo so much that he decided to pay the Son house yet another visit. It would be the third one in three weeks. He wondered if Chi-Chi would explode at him this time.As soon as Gohan sensed both his intention and approaching Ki, an odd calm came over him. Piccolo was always able to help. Somehow, he did the appropriate thing even though he really had no idea how to deal with depression or other 'useless human things'. He smiled fondly. Piccolo might not do things in a conventional way, but it was the thought that counted.Gohan closed the laptop Bulma had given to him a few years ago to help with research. Well, that was the excuse she had given Chi-Chi for handing her son the biggest distraction known to student-kind: internet access.Gohan changed into his gi and exited the house as Piccolo touched down outside. Chi-Chi didn't question where he was going because she knew he needed to do something to work off his pent up anxiety."Be back before sunset," she simply stated as he walked past her, slaving away in the kitchen as ever."Sure Mum, I wouldn't miss your cooking for anything," he replied, feeling he should thank her in some way for always working so hard. If she wasn't cooking or doing dishes, she was usually cleaning or teaching Goten.She was somewhat surprised by his remark, but she smiled, pleased by his thoughtfulness. She just hoped he wasn't trying to butter her up so he could get away with something later, like Goku often tried to do."You want to spar, right?" Piccolo asked as Gohan made his way over to him. At Gohan's nod they headed into the mountains, hoping the altitude and treacherous terrain would give them both more of a challenge."Yeah, I'm gonna go all out today. I can't stop thinking about it," Gohan replied, annoyed that actively trying to not think about the exam was making him think about it more.Piccolo wasn't worried by this. He knew that 'all out' in Gohan's terms meant possibly turning Super Saiyan later. Without a dire situation, he would be unable to stop himself from holding back most of his true strength.They paused and nodded at each other when they decided they were far enough away from the Son household. They landed on some relatively flat ground and Gohan did a few warm up exercises so that he wouldn't end up injuring himself. There was already a large crater here, so they wouldn't have to worry too much about causing conspicuous damage unless they got a little too enthusiastic with Ki beams."Ok, ready!" Gohan called, flying toward his ex-mentor, who immediately threw a round house kick when Gohan was close enough.Really, he should have seen that one coming. Piccolo didn't muck around. As soon as he said he was ready, the fight had begun. In his childhood, sometimes the fight began before he was ready.As he recovered from the kick, which hardly hurt but still managed to send him flying a fair distance, he sent a beam of Ki in Piccolo's direction before quickly shifting behind him. Piccolo also shifted too quickly for the naked eye to see, effectively putting Gohan in the path of his own attack. Gohan ducked as soon as he realised what had happened and his Ki sailed by, barely missing him."That was stupid," Piccolo said bluntly, sending a kick into the back of Gohan's head. However, his foot simply passed through an afterimage. He heard Gohan exhale loudly and whipped around to block the kick that was aimed at his temple. Another immediately followed, and was blocked, before Gohan's left leg came at his floating ribs. But it didn't stop there: a flurry of back fists, straight punches, and knife hands to the neck were added into the barrage of kicks.Piccolo was beginning to have a hard time keeping up, so he used his eye beams to distract Gohan long enough for him to get away and remove his weights. But Gohan was unforgiving and sped after him. He had had the chance to remove them before their spar had begun, after all.However, he wasn't about to catch Piccolo off guard. He soon found the cape and shoulder pads flying in his direction and blocking his view of Piccolo. He rose above them, only to have the weighted turban hit him in the face, instead."Piccolo!" he complained, touching his nose gingerly. But he soon found it wasn't broken, just a little sensitive. Well, if he wanted to throw weights around, he'd just have to fortify his body to be able to take it!Gohan's aura immediately became visible and his hair and eyes changed from their usual pigment. He still wasn't sure how his body did that either, but he could investigate it another time. More importantly, he was stronger and better fortified now.However, he knew Piccolo was as likely to wait around for him to transform as he had been to let him take off his weights. He immediately aimed an axe kick at the top of the Namek's head, but just ended up throwing himself forward into an afterimage. As he predicted, Piccolo was behind him, ready to strike him between the ribs.Gohan whipped his feet over his head, actually managing to hook them under Piccolo's armpits, and threw him down toward the ground as he made a complete vertical turn. However, he did not anticipate that Piccolo would use the multiform technique at this point of the battle.This time he was successfully kicked in the back of the head, plummeting toward the ground in a slight daze. The other half of Piccolo caught himself in mid-air and threw a ball of Ki at him. If the multiform allowed them to both be at full power, this may have been enough to get a decent hit on him. As it were, Gohan managed to pull himself together to deflect the relatively weak blast, calculating it to rebound and hit the half of Piccolo still above him.To his surprise he actually succeeded, so he retaliated against the one hovering below him with a shortened version of Masenko. But he wasn't lucky twice. Piccolo disappeared from his line of vision. Before he could do anything about it, Piccolo joined to form one being, once again.Gohan slowed his fall and touched down gently. He folded his arms and cockily stared up at Piccolo. He had willingly given up the high ground just to see what he would try next.Piccolo ground his teeth, hating the way Gohan behaved when he was caught up as a Super Saiyan. He knew that, realistically, there was nothing he could do to faze his previous student all that much. But you didn't need to be a genius to see that a massive ego could be just as damaging as it was protective. It would be risky, but he was determined to take him down a peg or two.He stared thoughtfully at the weights he had discarded earlier before charging his Makankosappo."Really, Piccolo? Pretty sure I could just stand here and take that!" Gohan goaded, completely lost in the fight. Well, at least he wasn't worrying about his exams anymore.Piccolo flew closer as he felt his attack was just about ready to be fired. He smirked as the yet unnoticed third part of his earlier multiform threw his shoulder pads at Gohan, using the cape to block his view of Piccolo once more.However, it didn't work as well as it did last time. Gohan used his unreal energy reserves to simply fire something resembling a wall of Ki at the cape. This not only disintegrated the training weights, but also effectively blocked both Piccolo's attack and his other… third.His other third was knocked backward by the shockwave from the blast alone, landing back in Piccolo. He groaned as the injuries caught up with him, but didn't show weakness as he darted back into the fray again.Gohan hadn't expected him to rebound almost instantaneously, so in his panic he sent out another blast like the previous one, but it was slightly less intense. Piccolo tried to dodge the attack, but a twinge of pain in his left leg caused him to lose control of his jump at the last second. By the time he used his Ki to control his flight the attack had already hit his left side.This time he was more worried about his injuries, so he paused to check them. Gohan was lucky he was so durable, or he would have also felt guilty about forever crippling one of the best friends he had. His obvious loss of limbs was more than enough to make Gohan snap back to himself."Shit," he began, raking his hand through his now short, black hair. "Are you ok?"Piccolo didn't answer, but instead concentrated on gathering the little energy that remained to him. He did, however, open their mind connection back up again now that the spar was done with. He was rather blasé, hoping to make Gohan not feel guilty for once in his life. 'It will heal as soon as I recover the energy.'He smirked up at his student, trying to reassure him in as many ways as possible. Gohan's mind seemed to be everywhere as he came down from his adrenaline high. He slowly accepted the fact Piccolo would be fine and that he shouldn't add this to his list of worries. Actually, he had had a lot of fun. It had been quite an exhilarating battle, despite the fact he outclassed his opponent so severely in terms of strength.'I'm not useless you know,' Piccolo seemed to grumble in the background of Gohan's thoughts.Gohan smiled at him warmly and placed a hand on his uninjured shoulder. "Here, you can take my Ki, right?"Piccolo radiated gratitude before opening the channels to accept Gohan's offer. He didn't take all that was being offered; otherwise Gohan would definitely feel it in the morning.Finally, Piccolo was confident enough to attempt a regeneration of such a scale, and ripped the remaining material of his pants away from the stump of his leg. He yelled loudly as he forced the energy out and the cellular division to begin. Gingerly, he moved his new fingers and toes to check the process had gone well. As usual, it was perfectly fine.He smirked again and promptly fell back to rest on his elbows. He would not be moving very far for quite some time.Gohan sat down and stretched his legs apart, and began a warm-down once he was certain Piccolo would be all right. He felt a warm sense of amusement when Piccolo smirked like that. But he didn't seem to do it very often, especially when other people were around.He recalled one of the first times Piccolo had been so openly kind. It had been when he’d died at Nappa's hands. He was so glad his best friend had stayed since then.He looked up when Piccolo began doing warm-down stretches as well. He looked at Piccolo's new leg, which he noticed was a slightly different shade of green to the other. He moved his gaze upward, looking at his pectorals. They were probably the most human muscles he had."I'm fine, really," Piccolo said, misinterpreting his gaze and curiosity. When Gohan realised that he was indeed looking for the sake of looking, and not out of concern, he became confused and automatically shut himself off again. What the hell was wrong with him? Maybe going Super Saiyan had messed with his head or something."Um, ok, that's good. I'd better go now mum said…" he mumbled and never finished the sentence as he absentmindedly flew away. There was still plenty of time left before sunset, but he had to get away and sort out his feelings. Alone.He felt Piccolo's Ki flare and move toward the Lookout. He felt guilty for not helping him in his injured state, but for some reason he felt too embarrassed to be around him right now. He landed on the windowsill of his and Goten's room, grabbed the laptop off the desk he usually studied at, and flew off into the forest. Eventually he found a place that was both secluded and had decent reception, before he placed the laptop on a rock and began to do some research.First he looked up the hormones he knew he had been releasing during the spar. Adrenaline, noradrenaline… it wasn't until he moved on to dopamine that he found something pertinent. It was some old research, which explained that releasing high levels of dopamine could cause feelings of romantic love.Given how much fun he was having during their spar, it was plausible a rush of dopamine was causing him to feel different, or maybe just more openly. But why was he attracted to an alien, and an asexual one at that? Sure, he was humanoid, but really…He sighed and let his thoughts wander as he flew back home. It was now about the normal time he returned after spending a day with Piccolo. Inevitably his thoughts returned to thinking about the way he smirked at him, whether it was in triumph, or a reflection of actual sincerity. He shook his head sharply. Why was he thinking about that?But his mind seemed to be off on its own course. Images of Piccolo's bare leg and then pectoral muscles came back to him. He also found something attractive about the shape of his trapezoids.Not thinking straight, he entered his room through the window again. He didn't quite feel comfortable in his clothes. He ran out of his room and poked his head around the doorway into the kitchen."Hey Mum, I'm just going to have a shower before dinner," he called, before retreating into the bathroom. Chi-Chi was slightly perplexed by his behaviour, but let him go without any questions. Why hadn't he just come in through the front door?He turned the shower on and stepped under the freezing cold water, trying to get rid of his thoughts. He rested his forehead against the cold tiles and sighed loudly. He wasn't sure how he could let Piccolo back into his mind with thoughts like this. Undoubtedly it would just freak him out and he'd never look at him in the same way again.After an unusually quiet dinner, he went to bed early. He kept a firm wrap on his thoughts to ensure nothing would slip out. Occasionally he would feel Piccolo's questioning presence, but he didn't answer him. When Gohan woke up the next morning, he was somewhat confused when he felt the Ki of three people in the kitchen. One was his mother and the other Goten, of course. But he was surprised when he realised the third was Piccolo. He was even more surprised that Piccolo and Chi-Chi were actually getting along.Well, she was allowing him to be in the house, anyway.He quickly got changed and decided to face the music. Obviously Piccolo was concerned if he had come this far out of his way just to check up on him."Morning Mum, Goten… Piccolo," Gohan mumbled as he entered the kitchen. Chi-Chi visibly relaxed as her son entered the room."Gohan, I'm taking your brother to the library today. I'll have to teach him to read by finding something he enjoys, I guess. I have to get more food, too, so we'll be back around mid-afternoon. You can take care of lunch, right?" she explained, doting on him as ever.He wondered if she was leaving later than usual because she didn't want to leave Piccolo in their house unsupervised."Ok, see you later then," he replied, sounding unusually disinterested. He sat down at the table with a bowl, a box of cereal and a carton of milk. He found he couldn't quite bring himself to look Piccolo in the eye as he lined up his first bowl of cereal.Chi-Chi and Goten soon left the house, leaving Gohan and Piccolo sitting opposite each other at the table. Piccolo shifted uncomfortably and Gohan continued to eat, not knowing what to say."Look, I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry, ok? Just tell me what's wrong and I won't do it again if it upsets you this much," Piccolo eventually ground out, sick of waiting for Gohan to say something or open up to him again.Gohan finally looked up and gaped at Piccolo in surprise, his spoon falling from his now limp hand. He was surprised by both his apology and that he had led him to believe there was something to apologise for."I, um, I'm sorry Piccolo. It's not anything you did. I just don't think you want to know what I'm thinking right now," he added vaguely, catching the spoon before it could clatter obnoxiously on the table.Piccolo just sighed and rolled his eyes. "Look, I still don't think you get the point of this exercise. I don't care what it is, you're one of the few people who,” he paused and tried again, “who actually has my respect.”Gohan decided to put him out of his misery of having to word things, and opened their mind link again. He still covered the ‘lustful’ part of his thoughts, but it was better than being cut off completely. He didn't know what to think of that, let alone trying to explain it to Piccolo.The first thing Piccolo got from Gohan was a very warm and comfortable feeling, as well as an implicit apology for overreacting. He was curious about this feeling and wanted to learn more about it. The word 'love' seemed to float around Gohan's brain before he quickly quashed it.He flushed and turned away, dumping the already empty cereal box and milk carton in the bin and rinsing his bowl and spoon in the sink. Piccolo frowned, noticing the tenseness in Gohan's shoulders. Despite these warm feelings, he could tell Gohan felt something was missing, as though he wasn't entirely happy. Again, a word seemed to stand out in his thought process: 'reciprocate'.This kind of love emotion had something to do with mating, didn't it? He actually hated to see Gohan feeling unfulfilled, and beating himself up for his feelings. But he just didn't know how to reciprocate the feeling, or fully understand the purpose behind it.Gohan seemed to answer him subconsciously, pretty much against his will if the constant thought quashing was anything to go by. He connected the feeling to physical contact. Running a hand through his hair, wanting to be physically closer, 'hug'…He slowly approached Gohan, not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable. He leaned back against the bench, folding his arms, and stared determinedly until Gohan looked up at him."I don't know what you want me to do," he said as he rested a hand on Gohan's shoulder, "but I'm willing to try it if it'll make you stop moping about."Gohan looked away again, before changing his mind and turning to Piccolo to wrap his arms around his torso. He buried his face in his chest, embarrassed.Piccolo hesitantly put an arm around Gohan's shoulders and put his hand on the back of his head with the other. His hair had always fascinated him because Nameks didn't grow it."Well, you see, um," Gohan began, trying to explain the why part of Piccolo's earlier question. "I guess this romantic love, or whatever you want to call it, exists because species like humans need to form an attachment so they'll stay together and raise some kids. I guess an influx of hormones is causing my brain to form an attachment with you."Piccolo remained silent for some time, trying to process what Gohan was saying. He thought about how he could produce offspring on his own, so he'd probably never understand. But then, he didn't want to hurt him more either.Cell had already done a number on his mental state. First by exacerbating his bipolar tendencies and causing him to be depressed, then by probably having had a hand in the sudden and utter personality switch Gohan underwent when he transformed. Sometimes he wondered who had truly won that battle."Don't worry about it too much. Apparently there are three different mindsets: attachment, romance and lust. You might be taking up all three right now, but it's possible for me to have each one allocated to a different person," Gohan added, speaking out loud because he was still more comfortable that way."All three?" Piccolo questioned, wondering about the last part.Gohan blushed and pulled out of the somewhat awkward embrace, laughing nervously as he put the almost-dry dishes away. "Well, um, is there anything else you came for? I really need to, um…" He paused when he realised that just when he needed a convenient excuse, he didn't have any study obligations.Piccolo took Gohan's sudden reinforcement of a particular mental barrier as a 'yes'. Instead of taking the hint and leaving, he carefully stepped around and back into his personal space, trapping Gohan in the corner that the bench formed. He watched with mild amusement as a blush engulfed his face and he began to stammer timidly. Nothing was really holding him there other than his own lack of assertiveness.He leaned over him, subconsciously using his intimidating height to his advantage. He was actually trying to be comforting though, so he attempted to do this in human terms by placing his hands on his shoulders. "You don't have to hide from me.""I-I, look, it's nothing you've done. I've barely come to terms with it myself," he stuttered out, staring down at the hands gripping his shoulders, rather than the Namek's eyes. "Besides, I'm only fifteen, well, turning sixteen soon I guess. I might think about doing it but that doesn't mean I'm actually ready to, you know. Not that I'd even know how- with you I mean- um." He tried to move and put more space between them, feeling mortified enough for one day."If you want me to leave you alone, you just have to ask. After putting up with me for so long I thought you'd be rather more assertive," Piccolo added. He didn't move, despite the fact he knew very well that Gohan wished he would. He needed to learn to stand up for himself."Why do I need to be assertive? I can just tell you what I want with my thoughts," he reasoned, looking up and frowning."Just because you've been trodden on by your mother's overbearing attitude since birth, doesn't mean you should bend to others so easily. There's a difference between anger and assertiveness, you're only good at the former, it seems," he answered.Gohan just looked away again, wondering when Piccolo had become so sagely."Fusing with Earth's Kami has its advantages. I guess I technically have the life experience of four people now. You'll start realising you're missing out on the things you want if you don't be more assertive. I don't want you to realise that when it's too late to do anything about it," he said, pushing Gohan again.He promptly fell on his backside, again. He tried to avoid hitting his head on the bench, but it was impossible since Piccolo had him backed into a corner."You can start by grounding yourself physically," he said, rolling his eyes and turning to leave the house. Gohan just laughed quietly. It seemed Piccolo wasn't all that mature after all.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Gohan inhaled sharply from nerves and checked to make sure he had everything in his bag again. Two weeks ago he had found out he had received a perfect score on his entrance exam. He had been the first person to be allocated a place at Orange Star High School, and some universities were already looking at his academic record.Today would be his first at Orange Star. He was nervous about attending a new school because it would be much larger than his previous one. But this time he was determined to make friends and not spend every waking minute studying. His mother also seemed to be pressuring him less. Perhaps he had finally proven himself to her?Finally he stood and picked up the school bag he'd been fiddling with for the past thirty minutes. He would be late if he didn't leave soon."I'm going now, Mum. See you later on tonight," he called as he made his way over to the door and put his shoes on."Ok, good luck!" she called from the laundry.Goten ran up to him before he could leave and tackled him around the waist. "Mummy said it's your birthday on the weekend. You should ask her to make ichigo daifuku!"Gohan just laughed at his brother's antics. "Hey, she said it's my birthday, not yours! But I can ask if you want. I have to go now, though.""Ok, see you later then!" he called as he ran back into the living room to at least pretend to continue with whatever academic task Chi-Chi had set him. Gohan arrived just as the first bell signalling students to get to class tolled. He quickly powered down to normal before stepping into a teacher's line of sight. He didn't want to be late, but he couldn't have just let some bank robbery occur when he was there to stop it…"Ah, Son Gohan I presume?" the elderly man said, beckoning him over. "No other student makes their way to form quite so quickly as a new student on their first day," he said in answer to Gohan's unspoken question. Most of the other students would have moved directly from Orange Star Middle to Orange Star High, after all."Oh, right." He smiled and scratched the back of his head, reprimanding himself for unwarranted paranoia. After feeling Piccolo's concerns for his mental wellbeing, he had been looking up symptoms of various mental illnesses. Paranoia was something he should work to avoid.He followed the man into the massive building as he introduced himself. "I am Itou, and I teach science. I hope you will settle in well with the students.""Me too," Gohan mumbled, shifting his gaze downward and to the side as he fell into step with Mr Itou.'Gohan, that is not assertive behaviour,' Piccolo decided to remind him.'Shut up,' he thought in return, trying not to show any physical signs that he was having this conversation. They really would have a reason to think him crazy, then."This is your form class. I'll step in and ask you to enter in just a moment," the teacher explained before entering.Gohan leaned against the corridor wall as he waited. He heard the class quieten down and the teacher give a few announcements about grades and study programs.'Don't be afraid to tell other people to shut up, too,' Piccolo said, sounding hurt but for his mocking tone. Gohan smiled before conveying that Piccolo should come over on the weekend for his birthday. Chi-Chi probably wouldn't try to chase him out of the house on that day.Before he could get a response, Gohan gently shut him out as he heard the teacher say his name. School probably wasn't something he should be distracted from, nor something Piccolo would want to 'sit in on'.He entered the classroom and greeted everyone formally, before being directed to a seat next to a girl called Erasa. There wasn't any homework or further administration to do on the first day, so the students were given a chance to speak with each other for the next fifteen minutes."Hi!" Erasa smiled in a friendly manner. The boy and girl sitting in the same row also turned to face him. "I'm Erasa, and this is Sharpener, and the famous Satan Videl!" she adopted a teasing tone and giggled after saying this."Nice to meet you," he replied, and racked his brains for any famous people called Videl, or whom had the family name Satan. He couldn't think of anyone. "Sorry, but famous?"Sharpener leaned forward in his seat and openly gaped. Videl looked confused by his ignorance. "Um, the world martial arts champion and saviour of the world from Cell is my dad?" she tried.Suddenly, it all fell into place. "OH! Right, of course!" he replied, his hand reaching for the back of his head. He'd forgotten that only a select few of the population knew Earth had actually been saved by a nine-year-old boy."Ha, not very bright, are you?" Sharpener chuckled, flexing his muscles slightly. Gohan ignored his preening."Yeah Sharpener, the guy who got a perfect score on the entrance exam isn't very bright," Videl said, rolling her eyes.He leaned across Erasa, as if to get a better look at Gohan. "Well, he's still a wimp. I can tell just by looking."Gohan slowly began to sweat from the pressure of absolute irony. Luckily he was saved from having to respond by their English teacher entering the classroom. He took out his textbook and turned his attention to the stern, blonde woman. Gohan looked over his student planner with some apprehension. He'd only had three periods so far, and already he was running out of room on "Monday" to write his to-do list. It was mostly just assigned reading and note taking, but it seemed like a big deal when he hadn't done any schoolwork for weeks.Erasa peeked over his shoulder curiously. She wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but who was Gohan to judge? She was probably particularly good at one subject… they just hadn't had that class yet. Gohan was always thinking positively of others, whether it was warranted or not.'Piccolo, I thought you were going to leave me alone at school,' Gohan thought, recognising this inner criticism for what it really was. Piccolo was trying to keep his nose out of things, but Gohan was far too attuned to his presence.'I was just checking. You seemed really worried this morning,' was the gruff response."You don't have to do all of that in one night, you know! The English isn't due until Wednesday and only half of the maths problems are due tomorrow," Erasa unknowingly interrupted.Gohan expressed that Piccolo didn't need to worry. He'd just been nervous. He then returned to the present situation, trying not to appear too distant or become confused. "I prefer to try and get it done as soon as possible. It isn't that much, yet," he answered kindly.Erasa smiled and shrugged before she reached under the desk to get her lunch out of her bag. Somehow, she reminded him of Bulma's mother."We'll see if you still think that at the end of the day. Mr Maruyama always sets a really hard philosophy assignment we have to do over the first two weeks," Videl added in a serious tone, also taking her lunch out."I'm sure it'll be fi-" Gohan began, but was cut off by a loud beeping.Videl's attention snapped to the communication device on her wrist. She urgently spoke into it as she ran out of class, forgetting about her lunch completely."Hmph, is that seriously all she was going to eat today?" Sharpener wondered aloud, staring at the single round of sandwiches. "How is she so strong when she lives off next to nothing?" he added, digging into his own protein packed lunch.Gohan shrugged, putting away one empty lunchbox and grabbing another. Unfortunately he couldn't possibly take all the food he wanted to eat for lunch and remain incognito. Videl's apparent lack of appetite also mystified him.Videl returned at the end of the lunch break, and classes resumed as if she had never left. As Gohan would soon learn, this happened even if she left in the middle of a class. The rest of the week followed in a similar manner. Gohan didn't encounter another crime in the city until Thursday afternoon. This time it was a car chase that was causing police to have to drive too fast and far too dangerously to keep up effectively. Gohan transformed before landing in front of the car and using his strength to bring it to a halt. They slowed to a stop before the next intersection. He had to do it over some distance so the car's momentum wouldn't cause him to just punch a hole through it.Gohan was about to take off again when he heard a helicopter overhead. As it came in to land, he saw Videl was piloting it. Gohan looked down, realising he was wearing his school uniform and still had his school bag. He took off as fast as possible and hurtled over to Bulma's place, before Videl could connect the dots.He hadn't been to Capsule Corporation for a long time. He thought he would be able to ask Bulma about a disguise while he was there. The more he helped with crime, the more likely it would be that Videl would figure out who he was.Gohan landed in the grounds of Capsule Corp. As he approached, he heard the gravity simulator power down. By the time he'd reached the front door, Vegeta was standing in front of him."What did you do?" he asked bluntly."Eh?" Gohan asked ever so eloquently as he tried to figure out what Vegeta was actually accusing him of. He was also somewhat surprised by how much he'd grown over the past few years. Vegeta didn't seem very impressed that he had to look up to another person, especially one whom was technically his subject.His brow creased with impatience, deepening the many lines of stress that had been carved into his face from an early age. "Why did you turn Super Saiyan? Why are you here?"Gohan finally understood. Vegeta thought something was wrong because he had gone Super Saiyan and then come here, as if seeking help with something he couldn't deal with alone. He ducked inside before changing back to normal, in case someone was watching."No, Mum just wants me to remain incognito. I had to stop a dangerous driver, so I changed. But I think someone recognised my school uniform," he said, ducking beneath the window as he passed it in order to stay out of sight. "I was going to ask Bulma about a disguise or something.""Or you could just let the pathetic law enforcement handle it," Vegeta answered sharply, now disgruntled that his training had been interrupted for no good reason. He did not seem to be at all affected by Gohan's strange behaviour, however. Goku was much worse.Gohan looked baffled by this. How could he not help other people who obviously needed it?Vegeta rolled his eyes at the look on Gohan's face. "The woman is probably in her lab, not the garage part. I didn't hear any engines today, anyway. I'll be training Trunks if you have something to say that isn't idiocy," he added gruffly, moving through the expansive house."Ok, thanks!" Gohan smiled, ignoring the insults. It seemed he'd caught Vegeta on a good day.He managed to remember his way to the part of the expansive house where Bulma spent all her time working on her latest projects. He knocked on the door as gently as possible. If he knocked another one off its hinges this month, Chi-Chi would give him a ‘bollockin’.A few moments later, Bulma came out of her lab holding a white coat and safety glasses in her left hand. "Oh, it's you Gohan! I haven't seen you for ages. What can I do for you?" she asked, gesturing for him to follow her. It seemed she had finished work for the day."I hate to seem rude, only showing up when I need something," he began, bringing his hand up to his head nervously.She just laughed, "It's ok Gohan, I wasn't having a go. I've been dealing with Goku since before you were born, remember." Gohan was led to the laundry as Bulma dumped her lab coat and glasses for cleaning.As Gohan explained his predicament and need for a disguise, Bulma listened silently and made them both some tea.She lit up a cigarette and inhaled the smoke contemplatively for a few moments. Suddenly her eyes lit up and she pulled a few objects out of the cupboard under the sink. "Can I have your watch please?"Gohan handed it over and tried not to wince as Bulma began ripping it, and a spare capsule, apart. After a few minutes she had both items assembled as one. She nodded, satisfied."Here you are, try it out!" She smiled encouragingly."Thanks Bulma!" Gohan said enthusiastically, putting his watch back on before pressing the button as directed. There was a typical capsule sound and he was suddenly dressed in the best super hero costume he'd ever seen.He poked the visor of his helmet, before turning around to look at the red cape. Bulma giggled at his childish antics. He looked like a puppy that had discovered its tail for the first time."It's great, Bulma!" he declared, placing his hands on his hips and sticking his chest out proudly."Oh, my dashing hero," Bulma teased, still trying to suppress her laughter. "Have fun and try not to hurt anyone too much," she added as she put her tools away.Gohan looked at his watch, suddenly remembering he was supposed to be on his way home by now. Luckily, it was still able to tell the correct time. "Thanks again Bulma, but I'd better get going now. Mum will be expecting me to get home soon.""All right, see you later then. We might come up on the weekend too," she added, reminding Gohan that he still had a conversation with Piccolo that needing finishing."Great, see you then!" he called, before running out of the house and taking off in the direction of home. He had to hurry if he didn't want Chi-Chi worrying. Piccolo flew beside him on his way home, wanting to speak in person. This slowed him down, but Gohan didn't really seem to mind, anymore. "So, it's your… 'birth day' on the weekend?" he asked, seeking an explanation."Haha, yep. I guess we get to celebrate that I was born, and that I've managed to survive this long," he added sombrely."And does your, uh, clothing have anything to do with this?" he asked, once again feeling that he would never understand humans."Oh not really, Bulma made me this so I could fight crime in the city without being recognised. Isn't it great?"Piccolo's brow twitched, but he chose to remain silent. His thoughts expressed his opinion clearly enough. He looked at the lake below so that he didn't have to look directly at it.Gohan laughed at his expression. He decided they were far enough from the city now, so he pressed the button on his watch and changed back into his school uniform. "Mum would freak out if she saw some stranger fly into the yard," he explained.They landed some distance from the back door a short time later. "Well, I guess I'll see you on Saturday," he said, waving over his shoulder. He looked in the direction he was walking in when he felt something collide with him. He found an irate Chi-Chi, who had been knocked on her bottom upon contact."Sorry! Are you ok, Mum?" he asked urgently. He didn't know his own strength anymore."I'm fine!" she yelled, still managing to intimidate Gohan and make him cringe from her position on the floor. "Where have you been? It's nearly dark out! I've been worried sick!" She peered around Gohan's legs and sent a scalding glare in Piccolo's direction, as though it were his fault."Sorry! I had to see Bulma about getting a disguise for fighting crime and we got a bit caught up…"Chi-Chi finally took his offered hand, and pulled herself up, since Gohan was too terrified to actually pull on her arm. Piccolo tactfully left as Chi-Chi continued her rant. To his surprise, it wasn't so much about missing study opportunities as it was about her paranoia of city folk.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Gohan stretched, relishing in the fact he was able to sleep in past 6am on weekends. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to remove the sleep from them. Before his brain was fully functioning again, Goten was racing through the door of their shared room."It's about time you woke up! Mummy is making the ichigo daifuku, but she won't even let me get close!" he lamented, taking a seat on his brother's stomach."I wonder why…" Gohan mumbled good naturedly, rather impressed that his mother had kept Goten at bay for so long, even though she was entirely human. He imagined that if he hadn't restarted his training earlier this year, even he would have trouble keeping up with the little ball of energy."Mummy also said Grandpa is coming. She wants to know if the big, scary, green man is coming, too!" Goten continued, not registering his brother's teasing.Gohan coughed, trying to cover his laughter at Goten's description of Piccolo. He felt Piccolo's response soon after. 'Just because you will never be green and scary…' he seemed to think, also somewhat amused. 'Oh and congratulations, you survived another year.''Thanks… I think…' Gohan focused as hard as he could on giving a precise message that could easily be translated into words.'I can sense… something. It's not a Ki signal, more like a precognition,' he added as Gohan extended his range for sensing Ki and held his brother a little closer. 'I'll try meditating for a few more hours before I come and see you. I think some kind of danger is approaching, but I can't be sure yet.'The familiar weight of dread settled in Gohan's stomach as he thought of the implications of this. And his father wouldn't be there to clean up his mess if something went wrong this time."What is it?" Goten asked, leaning forward until his forehead bumped against his big brother's. Surely it would have concussed a lesser person."Nothing, yet… Yes, Piccolo is coming. Maybe we should leave Mum be and just eat breakfast for now, huh? Mum will let you eat them later on today." Piccolo landed in the yard in time to see Chi-Chi berating Gohan for breaking the leg off one of the outdoor tables he was supposed to be setting up for the birthday lunch. "I told you to do it GENTLY! I hired these especially, so you'd better find a way to fix it!" She didn't need to say she couldn't afford to pay for the damage at the moment. Her stress and screechy voice spoke volumes."I'm sorry, Mum!" Gohan quickly replied as he fruitlessly bumped the table leg against the underside of the table where it had once been, as if hoping it would magically repair itself.So of course he nearly jumped out of his skin when the area between the table and the leg began to glow and a fixture appeared in its place. Gohan sighed with relief, more curious than ever about how that particular power worked. "Thanks Piccolo!" He smiled as Chi-Chi turned on her heel to fetch some of the food from inside."Listen," Piccolo began, leading Gohan away from the relatively fragile tables. "I still can't get any more information on what it is that's coming for us. But I have the feeling that I'm going to die, again, in about six months.""W-what?" he forced out, the dread in the pit of his stomach hardening into resolve. No, he wouldn't die for him again. He didn't notice the slight artificial wind that had picked up around him."Also," Piccolo continued, feeling it would be better to get all of the bad news out of the way at once, "I'm not sure that any of the Dragon Balls will be able to be used to wish me back. I mean, my instincts are screaming at me to reproduce. It's usually best to listen to them."Gohan's eyes rested on Piccolo's stomach area before he realised what an idiot he was being. Nameks reproduced by orally laying eggs… asexually."If I have a child now," he ploughed on, ignoring Gohan's weird thought train, "I can accelerate his growth and we can raise him to be a warrior as well. I know my race can take DNA from our surroundings; we wouldn't have genetic variation otherwise. I'm not sure it will work with something so completely alien, but I want to try and mix Saiyan DNA," he said all of this very quickly, as though afraid his idea would be deemed stupid. He only vaguely knew about the science of it.Gohan was perplexed by this. "But how does that even work!" he demanded, baffled. Was it even, well, allowed for a species to have such an obviously superior evolutionary path available?"I don't know how, I just know it does, ok? I remember taking the superior chloroform of a tree for one of my children, but the egg was destroyed when that tyrant landed," he seemed to be too angry about this to vocalise essential details, but Gohan knew he was referring to Frieza. "Or rather, it was Nail, on planet Namek. I know it works, anyway, just not to what extent.""Ok," Gohan nodded, "if you think it might work, I'm willing to help. We just need to get Vegeta in on it too, since he's the only pure blooded Saiyan left on this planet."Piccolo's brows twitched as he thought of the implications of this. Much yelling about the pride of the Saiyan race and probably a fight seemed to lie in that direction. "Human-Saiyan hybrids seem to be stronger. Call me optimistic but perhaps we should try that mix out first?""Oh right!" Gohan nodded and blushed a little. Piccolo noticed the build-up of mind barriers, but didn't comment."I only need a few cells," he reminded the boy. "There are sufficient cells in a hair or something of the sort." He searched Gohan's thoughts for the appropriate word. "Gametes are not needed. In fact, they would probably be more of a hindrance.""Right, so when are you – ow!" he complained, rubbing the spot where the hair had promptly been plucked from his scalp."No time like the present." Piccolo replied, ingesting the precious cells immediately after speaking. "I'll know if it worked by tomorrow. The glands in my throat and chest will do all the work."Gohan grumbled something about consent and consummation before turning back to the house to see if his mother needed a hand. He saw Goten carrying a platter that appeared to be bigger than he was, across the lawn. He watched his brother hesitate as he came to the table, unsure of how he was going to actually get the platter up there.He looked around for something to climb on, but the chairs hadn't been set out yet. He knew that if he tried to jump, he would probably spill the food everywhere, which would not make his mother very happy. He shut his eyes tight and concentrated on lifting his Ki. Goten didn't have much control yet, but he determinedly made himself hover until the platter could be slid onto the nearest table.Extremely pleased with himself, Goten dropped suddenly and proceeded to bounce up and down on the spot. "Brother, brother! Did you see? I figured it out all by myself!" he called, waving his arms at Gohan as though they were miles apart instead of meters."Wow, well done! You should come and train with us one day and we'll teach you how to fly properly." Gohan replied as he and Piccolo approached. That was another thing that bothered him now. The kids would have to be taught to defend themselves properly as well. Suddenly six months seemed to be too short a time.As if to chase the gloomy thoughts away, a hover car landed in the corner of the yard and the Son boys' gigantic grandfather carefully extricated himself from the cramped space. "Aha, there you are!" he boomed jovially, putting the horned helmet on his head now that there was enough room for it.He flung an arm around Gohan's shoulders before Goten barrelled into them head first. "Hi Grandpa!" he said in a slightly muffled voice because his face was still pressed into Gyumao's side. He laughed in response, but still glanced over at Piccolo uneasily.But Piccolo wasn't paying much attention. He was too busy being surprised by the sudden appearance of Vegeta's Ki.Chi-Chi seemed flustered by the sudden arrival of her guests and quickly ran inside to fetch chairs and the drinks. She returned with a few chairs just in time to see Vegeta come to a sudden halt in the middle of her yard.He slowly put Bulma down, who seemed to be torn between yelling her lungs out at him and preventing herself from throwing up. "Dammit Vegeta, can't you come to a reasonable stop instead of throwing the contents of my stomach everywhere!" She gave him an ineffective push and tottered away unsteadily.Vegeta sighed and muttered something about pathetic humans, but grabbed one of Chi-Chi's chairs and set it out for her, anyway. Trunks, on the other hand, was grinning. "Hey Dad can you teach me to fly that fast later?" he asked enthusiastically.He was answered with the usual noncommittal grunt. Trunks retained some hope, since it hadn't been a flat out 'no'. He and Goten soon stuffed their faces, and then quickly ran off to play-fight and get away from the boring adults.Krillin, 18 and their toddler arrived last, explaining that Roshi had stayed behind to look after Turtle. "Oh, isn't she just precious!" Chi-Chi smiled, and even Bulma perked up a bit at the sight of the little girl. 18 looked embarrassed, but Krillin was as proud as punch."Isn't she? This is Maron," he introduced now that everyone had got over the shock of seeing him with hair.Everyone over the age of six soon sat down for lunch, except Piccolo, who sat down because he simply knew that something significant was about to happen. And just ten minutes later, he wasn't disappointed."Hellooo, can anyone hear me?" Goku's voice called from Otherworld. Given the way everyone jumped, to varying degrees, it seemed he was coming through loud and clear."Dad?" Gohan asked. He stood and looked around, even though the voice had seemed to come from inside his head. Various murmurs of 'Goku?' and 'Kakarrot?' followed."Hey Gohan, how are things?" he answered cheerfully, "Why is everyone there?"Gohan deflated a little, "It's my birthday, I'm sixteen today.""Huh, already? Well, Happy Birthday! I just wanted to let everyone know that I can have twenty-four hours back on Earth. I hear they're going to have another World Martial Arts tournament soon, so I was going to come back for that."A stupid grin plastered itself across Gohan's face, but his rejoicing was cut off by his mother. "What? You come back for a stupid tournament, but not the birth of your second son!" she raged, shaking her fist at the sky."Um, second son? So it worked then, you did get pregnant?" he asked, at first uncomfortably but then more excitedly.Chi-Chi rolled her eyes in exasperation. Of course he had just been off doing his own thing and not watching them. He didn't seem to realise just how long he had been dead, either. Chi-Chi suddenly realised that Goku wouldn't have aged at all over the years. At once she became very aware of all the wrinkles and grey hairs she had gained in the meantime. What if he thought she was too old now?"Well anyway, King Kai says I've taken long enough. I'll see you all in about half a year, ok?" Everyone could practically see the smile in his words. It was contagious.Even Vegeta was smirking, "Right, we'll see if anything has changed when he gets back." He made as if to leave and start training on the spot, but then he noticed the look Piccolo and Gohan were sharing."Didn't you say you're going to die in six months? Does this have something to do with the tournament and Dad coming back?" Gohan asked sharply."Possibly. As I said, I'm not exactly sure on the details yet. I may not be able to see anything else, so we should prepare for every possibility while we still have time."Vegeta was quick to pick up on the direction of their conversation, as usual. "We should all enter the tournament and keep a look out. Splitting up during such a time is just asking for trouble."Gohan hesitated, not particularly wanting to fight people if he didn't have to. Besides, the tournament was bound to be held in Satan City. What if his classmates saw him? Wouldn't Videl compete as well?Gohan did not yet realise that he would be practically forced to compete by the very girl he was thinking of.
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Gohan finally put down the human biology dictionary his grandfather had bought him for his birthday and turned to the clock. He saw it was no longer his birthday, the day having officially changed just five minutes ago. He turned out the light and went to bed, even though he was keen to explore the book further.To his dismay, he was woken up again only six hours later. Piccolo's persistent mind connection had fully grabbed his conscious attention."Gohan, I don't know if the DNA mix was successful or not, but the egg is developing normally. I should actually lay the egg in about two days. I've only accelerated his development by about half of what I was." Gohan vaguely got the feeling that Piccolo didn't want to put his child through the same thing he went through."Great," he thought tiredly and therefore a little incoherently. "Let me know if you need any help with anything," he added, before drifting back to sleep for a few more hours. There was still plenty of homework to get done on Sunday, and then it would be back to school on Monday. Once again Gohan was glad he had left for school early. The frequency of crimes in this city was slightly disturbing. However, this time there was an emergency. The kind that involved faulty brakes on public transport.He dropped out of the sky, cape snapping behind him as he rushed downward. The bus, which was approaching an intersection at a dangerous speed, took up the entirety of his focus. This was why he didn't notice Videl watching him from her helicopter.Gohan swooped under the bus, his face mere inches from the bitumen whipping past below. He raised his Ki upwards until both he and the bus were soaring. He gradually came to a halt in mid-air so that the people inside wouldn't be thrown out of their seats. The wheels took a great deal longer to stop turning than he thought they would, but eventually he was able to safely set the bus down on a much quieter street.He peered through the window to make sure no one needed immediate medical attention. By the time he turned away, Videl had landed her helicopter and was approaching him on foot. Suddenly he was very glad he had his disguise.Videl came to a halt in front of him and folded her arms. She tapped her foot impatiently, awaiting an explanation."Um, hi!" he blustered as he backed away, trying to put enough distance between them so that he would have time to safely take off without damaging their surroundings.Videl, however, continued to advance sharply. "I might not know who you are yet, but I'll find out at school! Shall we go together?""School? I don't know what you're talking about!" he claimed wildly, sensing that if he retreated any further, he would be backed up against a wall."Humph, suit yourself. I'll find out eventually," she caved surprisingly quickly and turned back to her helicopter. Gohan took the opening and sped off in order to beat her to school so he wouldn't have to risk changing in front of her. Gohan was fairly distracted by worry throughout the morning classes, so much so that he wasn't able to take his usual notes or finish all the assigned questions. He was almost thankful when the sport period rolled around. It might not be physically taxing for him, but at least it was an excuse to spend time outdoors.Gohan still didn't fully understand the rules of this 'baseball' game, but he must be getting better because he was one of the first to be picked for a team this time. Videl eyed him suspiciously as he stood in line next to her. They were on the same team, so there would be no avoiding her for the next half hour or so. She glanced at him out the corner of her eye again as she ran a hand through her long hair."Um, hi!" he said nervously, hoping she didn't suspect him of being The Great Saiyaman.This greeting, along with the day's events so far and a few impossibly high jumps and fast pitches, was all it took for Videl's suspicions to be confirmed. She confronted him after class before he could disappear into the changing rooms."Oi, Gohan," she called."Er, yes?" he asked, continuing to slowly inch towards the changing rooms. He had to get away from her. What if he did something that made her suspect him?"Look, I know it's you, alright? Let's skip the denial and get onto you teaching me how to fly," she added when he opened his mouth to protest.He sighed, wondering how she could have possibly figured it out. "I don't have time for that right now," he admitted. He would need all the time he could get to train both himself and however many children happened to be running around at the time."Nonsense," Videl insisted, not wanting to give up potential flying lessons, or the opportunity to spend more time with Gohan. Not that she would admit that aloud. "We can train after school tomorrow, and on weekends. The World Martial Arts Tournament is coming up soon!"Gohan still exuded discomfort and reluctance."If you don't teach me how to fly, I'll give away your identity," she threatened. "Don't you want to match up against me in the tournament?""Not really," he sighed, "I don't particularly like fighting unless I have to." He cringed as he thought about the battle against Cell for the first time in ages.Videl failed to notice this and continued to hold the only blackmail she had above his head. "Right, I'll see you tomorrow. We can train for the tournament together... or else."Gohan agreed, not seeing any other option. After school the following day, he tried and failed to slip away unseen so that he could visit Piccolo and the egg before he started training with Videl. He ended up having to explain himself, and had a hard time convincing her that he would meet her there, and not just run off once he got away."We can't start training straight away; I need to see a friend about something important first. You know where the Mountain district is, don't you? Just wait in that area and I'll come find you." Again, he was trying to back far enough away from her that he could take off quickly without damaging anything or anyone.She still looked sceptical, but she finally conceded to these terms. "You said you'll be training your brother too, right? Well, you'd better show up!" she added hotly, stomping to an area open enough to throw out her capsulized helicopter.Once she was gone, Gohan quickly changed for his flight and sped off to the area he could sense Piccolo's Ki in. When he concentrated, he could sense another Ki right next to it. It was small and very faint, but it was there. He found himself grinning like an idiot at the thought of a baby Namek.He landed beside Piccolo, who was sitting at the river's edge, wringing out the top and sash of his usual attire. It appeared to be covered in some sort of sticky, green mucous. The Namek glanced at the bundle of material from his cape every three seconds or so. Upon closer inspection, Gohan realised that it contained a somewhat lumpy egg that was off-white in colour, and splattered with the same green mucous.He looked at the size of the egg, and then looked back at Piccolo rinsing out his clothing. "How the hell did this come out of your mouth?" he blurted, reaching toward it curiously.Piccolo lashed out with surprising speed and strength. His grip on Gohan's offending wrist was solid, preventing even the tiniest movement. "For Kami's sake do not touch it!" he both hissed and violently impressed upon Gohan mentally. His glare had something of Chi-Chi in it, and that alone sent Gohan reeling backwards in shock."Alright, alright, you just had to ask!" he replied, waving his free arm around as he landed on his backside, head aching from the mental lashing.Piccolo narrowed his eyes even further before slowly releasing his captive. "The shell hasn't solidified fully yet. I managed to get it out because it was rather more flexible about half an hour ago. It should fully dry out by tomorrow and hatch sometime soon after that." He held up the gi, which now only had a small mucous stain left on it. "As you can see, its passage was also well lubricated."Gohan slowly leaned forward again and noticed Piccolo watching his every movement. His ears and antennae appeared to twitch in anticipation as his muscles coiled, ready spring at any moment.It seemed Gohan wasn't even allowed to breathe on it. Piccolo noticed this upset Gohan for some reason and tried to console him mentally.'I'm just jumpy around anyone and anything that has a larger Ki than me. I'm hypersensitive to this kind of thing at the moment, so with your blinding strength I have to restrain myself from flying to the opposite side of the globe with it- him.' Gohan also got a brief insight into Piccolo's current state of mind. He backed away from them both after the intense feeling of paranoia abated."Sorry, should I just come back tomorrow evening?" he asked, not wanting to interfere. Other than his hair being used, this had nothing to do with him."That would probably be best. Once he hatches and I know he formed properly, my paranoia won't be quite as irrational. When the fact you're here to help protect my offspring registers, it should all be fine again."Gohan smiled weakly and slowly began to hover. He was taking off slowly and gently so that he wouldn't send so much as a minor shockwave in the egg's direction. "Alright, I'll see you then," he said before departing.Now that was done with, he set about trying to find Videl's Ki and keep up his end of their bargain. Or extortion, whichever term was more appropriate. As Gohan headed back home, he found Videl waiting impatiently. She was surprisingly close to his house. He didn't realise she had a GPS or any other number of locating and tracking devices.When Goten felt his brother's Ki, he burst out of the house, suddenly confident enough to see what the other weird Ki was doing so close to their home. It seemed to be weak and not at all hostile, but Chi-Chi wouldn't let him venture out alone."Hey, Videl," Gohan called. Goten popped up next to him just moments later."Who is that?" he asked as he hid behind his brother's leg, suddenly shy again."Hey, remember when I told you I was going to teach you how to fly properly? Well, Videl is here to learn, too.” His voice dropped as Videl approached so that she wouldn't hear him say, "Remember to be gentle, she's not like us.""She's like Mummy?" Goten asked at normal volume, not getting the hint."You could say that," Gohan answered quickly as Videl narrowed her eyes at them."What are you whispering about over there? Is this kid your brother or something?""Yeah, this is Goten," he answered, feeling something of Chi-Chi in yet another gaze that wasn't hers. At this rate there would be no point to returning home at all."Anyway, I'm just going to get changed and then we can start," he added. He had found out early on that training in his school uniform was not the best way to get on his mother's good side.
How will I afford another if it gets damaged or stained!
He pulled on the blue and red gi she had made for him after hearing about the tournament and approaching danger, before heading back outside. Goten, however, still refused to wear anything that wasn't largely orange."Ok," he said, not noticing the way Videl's cheeks reddened when she saw his exposed arms and chest. "Flying is pretty simple, really. You just need to gather your Ki and move it the way you want to move through the air. Just concentrate on going straight up at first."She snapped back to herself in time to reply. "Um, what do you mean by Ki?"Gohan stared at her blankly for a while before realising she was being serious. "Wait, how do you do martial arts if you don't know anything about Ki?" He scratched his head, sincerely baffled by this.Suddenly she was angry again. "What weirdo nonsense are you talking about?" she demanded, seeing Goten float into the air out the corner of her eye."Look brother!" he called gleefully. He bolted in another direction, zooming around joyously. "You're right; this is easy when you know how!""Be careful!" Gohan called, knowing his worry wasn't really necessary. He still watched his brother for signs of faltering all the same.He turned back to Videl, only glancing in his brother's direction every now and then."Alright, alright, if you seriously don't know then this is going to take a lot longer than I thought. Just ignore Goten, he's been practicing with Ki pretty much since before he was born. Today we should focus on finding and gathering Ki, but I might not be the best teacher. I barely remember learning how to do this." He didn't add that he learnt to do it on the spur of the moment as he was sailing toward a messy death on a sheer cliff face.He was glad Piccolo didn't test him like that anymore."Ok," she accepted this and nodded, determined to learn. "What do I do?"Gohan sat down cross-legged as he replied, "First I'll show you what Ki is and what we're trying to achieve today." He focused on a point between his open hands and a ball of Ki began to take form almost immediately.Videl made a noise of surprise and dropped to her knees, leaning forward to take a better look at the yellow glow of energy. Her utter fascination just confirmed her lack of knowledge in this area, making Gohan wonder how long this would really take. It could be months, and he needed his weekends to train the kids."So first you need to look inside and find your well of energy," he instructed, still watching his brother occasionally zoom around above the tree line out the corner of his eye.Videl sat back and tried to do what he said. She wasn't entirely sure what he meant by 'well of energy', but a few minutes later she guessed she had found hers. "Ok, I think I see what you mean.""Good, now you just need to reach into it and focus it at a point between your hands," he added somewhat absently, showing her once more what it would look like when she achieved it.The ease with which the boys did it annoyed her to no end, but she was determined to become stronger and more capable. After another several minutes of deep concentration, the only thing that had formed was sweat on her brow.She swore and huffily folded her arms across her chest. She had been trying to concentrate so hard she had given herself a headache, but she still didn't seem to be getting anywhere.Gohan took pity on her and turned his full attention to her now that his brother was back on the ground. "Maybe you should try to imagine you're pouring your energy in between your hands instead?" he suggested.She set back to work and found this visualisation to be much easier to comprehend. As she felt warmth on her hands, Videl opened her eyes slightly to see a small, faint ball of golden energy. She was so surprised by her small success that she lost concentration, and the ball vanished."Great!" Gohan praised, relieved he'd found something that worked for her so quickly. "Next time try to keep it out with your eyes open, then practise moving it around like this," he sent his own quickly formed ball whizzing around their heads. "Start off slow, though," he warned."Alright," Videl nodded, "I think I can practice that on my own." She stood and brushed the dirt off her bottom. "Thanks for helping me today," she added, fingering her hair and turning red again as she looked at him."Sure," Gohan replied, suddenly realising that evening was rapidly approaching. He could hardly believe they had spent so long on what he considered to be such a simple exercise. "Oh yeah, I was just thinking, you should probably cut your hair," he added."Huh, you think I'd look better with short hair?" she asked as a poor attempt to flirt. Not that it mattered when Gohan was her target. She'd have to hit him in the face with a sledgehammer to get his attention."You're entering the tournament right? It'll just be a nuisance if it's long, and someone might try to use it against you or something," he added.Videl was embarrassed when he didn't respond as she had hoped. "… I'll see you tomorrow!" she snapped before using her favourite capsulized helicopter to get home.Gohan shrugged, kind of used to wild mood swings. But that didn't bring him any closer to understanding why she had up and left in such a huff. He sighed and headed indoors, hoping he could train more constructively tomorrow.
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"Gohaaan!" Chi-Chi called, displaying her impressive lung capacity. Her sons and Videl were in the forest training together again. Personally, Chi-Chi had her doubts about the usefulness of spending time training that girl. She was related to that Satan man, after all…Chi-Chi was not very good at sensing Ki, but she knew her sons’ better than anyone else. She felt Gohan approach at high speed, seeming to just appear in front of her a short time later. "Are you ok, Mum?""Yes, but Bulma is calling me on the communicator. Apparently Vegeta wants you and Goten to train in the gravity room with him and Trunks. He said that whatever weight training you're doing can't be as good as that room," she replied, glad to have an excuse to get rid of Videl. She was sure that girl had her eye on her son. Then again, her family did have money…"Uh, ok, I guess we'll be over in about half an hour then. I'm still trying to explain to Videl about moving her centre of Ki." Gohan hadn't actually been doing any weight training in particular. He wondered if Vegeta would notice."I think you should stop wasting time training that girl, Gohan. We only have half a year, remember?" She began to fret a little."I don't have much choice, Mum. She said she'll reveal my secret identity if I don't.""She what?" Chi-Chi demanded shortly, seeming to bristle with rage. "I'll deal with this! You just take Goten and go!" She would have rolled up her sleeves if she had any. She did, however, march out of the house in the direction of Goten's energy.Gohan kept up well with his mother, and tried to placate her. "You don't have to worry! It should only take one more weekend for her to be ready to learn on her own.""Oh, I worry about it all right!" she exclaimed, waving her arms in the air. "You have more important things to be concerned with right now!"When their mother confronted Videl, Gohan and Goten quietly left. Various accusations flew forth, and the bickering mostly consisted of Videl becoming extremely embarrassed. But she was hardly a pushover, and continued to defend herself.Gohan decided to just leave them to it. "What took you so long?"Ah, just the greeting Gohan would expect from Vegeta."Hey Goten, I bet I can do more laps around the gravity room than you!" Trunks challenged, even though he was already sweating from being in there earlier.Gohan let the boys go and just grimaced in response to Vegeta's question, "Oh you know, women…" He was too embarrassed to explain properly.To his surprise, Vegeta seemed to accept this as a viable excuse. "I see. What have you been doing over the past few days? Surely sparring the Namek is hardly a challenge for you anymore.""Piccolo is," he started to defend, but realised it was a pointless nicety to someone like Vegeta. "Well, honestly, no. He makes me think, but it's pretty easy to just overpower him with a transformation or two.""That's what I thought." Vegeta nodded, following the boys into the chamber, who were still playfully arguing about who was better. "We'll work on technique, then finish up with a spar outside. Something tells me Bulma will refuse if I ask her to fix the room again this week."Gohan was surprised by this kind of openness and usage of people's names, but knew better than to ask what was on his mind. If he didn't want to say anything, asking certainly wouldn't sway him."Right," Gohan agreed as he watched Vegeta activate the simulator. The next thing he knew, he was struggling to stay upright. His immediate instinct was to transform, but Vegeta spoke before he tried it."Don't change. If you train the base form, the others will improve. If you train in Super Saiyan form straight away, you'll just burn out your energy reserves. You already have control, at least in the first stage, so you should concentrate more on the base form this time."Gohan hadn't really noticed this phenomenon before. Suddenly he missed his father. He might not be educated or mean enough to train him properly, but he did miss this kind of advice about his Saiyan side."Dad, it's too much!" Trunks complained, struggling to keep himself from being pushed to the floor."Hey Trunks, just do that cool trick and it gets easier!" Goten exclaimed, transforming into a tiny Super Saiyan before the elders' bewildered eyes."Oh yeah!" Trunks laughed, also changing up. He ran after Goten, seeming to have forgotten the complaint he made already. "I'll win for sure now!""How long have you been able to do this?" Vegeta demanded as his son ran headlong into him. They didn't realise that other people could also move that fast. Goten tripped over Trunks' prone body, not noticing what had happened until it was too late."I dunno," he shrugged, looking to Trunks for confirmation, who also shrugged. "It just happened while we were playing one day."Vegeta quickly wiped the shock off his face and became stern again, "Didn't you hear what I said just now? I'll turn the gravity down a bit, but you need to stay in your base forms!""Oh alright…" Trunks sighed, looking disappointed that the others weren't impressed anymore. Not that the boys' egos needed to be inflated any.The gravity was turned down, to Gohan's private relief, and they all resumed with basics. It was incredibly harsh, but also effective. Vegeta whacked any limbs that were out of place, and occasionally threw a hit at them to make sure they weren't slacking off. "No!" Vegeta exclaimed again, watching Gohan's crescent kicks as the boys took a break. "Don't swing it around stupidly on the way up, just go vertically upwards, then across. It's too slow and weak otherwise!"Gohan grit his teeth and tried not to retort angrily. He had been doing the kick this way since he was five! How was he supposed to instantly break a habit that old?'Vegeta used to be in an army, right? Of course he expects you to have the discipline to start doing it properly. Just pretend you're learning a different kind of kick.' Piccolo advised unexpectedly. 'I didn't want to interrupt, but my offspring has hatched and appears to be healthy. I might not try to kill you and run if you come later.''I'll be there,' he thought, before trying the kick again. Piccolo was right, of course. Once he thought of this kick as something separate to his normal crescent kick, it was easier to take the advice on board. It really was faster and stronger this way, if only by an amount of time that was inconceivable to most.Still, if whatever was coming this time had the potential to kill Piccolo, then every microsecond would count. He just wished there was something more he could do."That will do for today, I suppose," Vegeta interjected as Gohan finally performed the kick as desired. "Fifteen minutes to rest and rehydrate, then we'll head into the mountains to spar." He shut off the gravity and moved toward the kitchen, which was on the other side of the house."Hello boys!" Mrs Briefs chirped as the exhausted and ragged bunch entered her domain."Grandma, I'm hungry," Trunks replied, edging on a whine. Goten nodded fervently in agreement."Ok, here we are!" She smiled, watching their faces light up with delight as she placed a batch of cookies and a container of fruit salad in front of them.Gohan bit into a strawberry as he waited for Vegeta to finish with the water bottle. Noticing this, he turned back to the fridge and threw a second one at Gohan. Due to the stuffy room causing them to sweat profusely during training, they completely drained both bottles before deciding to fly out.After training, Vegeta sat down next to Gohan and began to indirectly account for the strange mood he'd been in all day. "You know, on planet Vegeta it would have been an absolute honour for you to be training with me, of all people. Now my closest living relatives are my half-caste son and some third class' brats."Gohan wasn't entirely sure how he was supposed to respond to that. "At least Frieza's tyranny is over now. And you have Bulma and Trunks… and me!" he joked."Yes, you know how to lift your Prince's spirits," Vegeta said with all the sarcasm he possessed, knowing how bad the Sons were with social skills. But Gohan was sure he saw a flash of a smirk first."Hey, you started it! Trying to kill us and all that," Gohan replied, remembering a time when he was terrified of Vegeta. Even his father had had trouble in that battle."Hmm, good times, good times…" he replied, wiping away a line of blood which appeared to have come from his nose sometime during their spar. He was simultaneously pleased and annoyed by Gohan's abilities. How was he able to pop his blood vessels with radiant Ki alone? That was before he transformed, too!Vegeta sat up straighter and rubbed the stump that used to be his tail. Yes, he had a few reminders of that battle, despite his phenomenal recovery rate."Remember that time I fooled you into thinking the Dragon Ball radar was a clock?" Gohan laughed.Vegeta's earlier grimace changed into a scowl. "… No," he said after a lengthy pause.Gohan laughed again before standing. "Well anyway, I need to get going. Thanks for today, I learnt a lot.""Right, no more slacking off. I expect to see you again tomorrow. You can also come here after you've finished in the education institution, but I don't know why you still bother going," he answered as he stood up as well."I guess I'm hoping I'll be able to pick it up again where I left off, once we save the world," he answered shortly, before taking off in the direction of Piccolo's Ki.Vegeta watched him leave, apparently in deep thought, before returning to his home. 'Gohan?' Piccolo asked as he felt a massive Ki approaching him. Even after all the time he'd spent training, he still had plenty of energy to burn.'It's just me. I'm going to land next to you, ok?' he replied as he halted and hovered over the two Nameks.'Yes, it is.'Gohan dropped out of the sky and crouched next to Piccolo, who was once again sitting on the riverbank. His small child was wrapped in the material from his cape again, gripping the front of Piccolo's shirt as though his life depended upon it. Seeing the way he looked at Gohan, he probably thought it did.Piccolo stroked his head and murmured something in what Gohan assumed was Namekian. The small one looked like an ordinary Namek as far as Gohan could tell. "Do you think it worked?""I would assume so. He keeps telling me he's hungry, anyway," Piccolo grumbled. He was the one who had to hunt for him at the moment. He peeled away the white material and turned the nude baby over. "Luckily it seems he also inherited your digestive system and rectal tract.”Gohan rested his chin on Piccolo's shoulder as he wrapped the child back up again. "Have you named him yet?" he asked, attempting to touch the baby's cheek. He, however, shrank away from his finger whenever it moved closer."Make a mental connection with him first. He doesn't believe me when I say you're harmless." Piccolo smirked before adding, "Well, I'm not sure. I was going to call him Piccolo as well.""Won't that be kind of confusing?" he asked as he lowered his mental barriers to this new Ki."Not for much longer," Piccolo answered grimly.Gohan felt the oddly intelligent mind of the child explore their connection, and eventually open to him in return. Despite the language barrier, they were able to manage reasonable communication.'Hi, I'm Gohan. Just because I have a lot of Ki, doesn't mean I'm gonna use it to hurt you!' he attempted, before receiving some doubt. But then the younger thought if his parent trusted this person, he could too. That had seemed to be authentic grief toward his father's imminent death, as well."I'll teach him to speak Common as soon as I can, and it's going to be a few days before he's old enough to start training properly." Piccolo turned his head away; their proximity was starting to make him uncomfortable.Gohan tactfully leaned back again before continuing their conversation. "How does he know Namekian?""I had to grant him some of my memories. Namekian seemed obvious, no- necessary- but I didn't even think about Common." He sighed, feeling like a moron. Truthfully, he was exhausted. "As soon as he realises the whiny brat in my memory and you are the same person, I think he'll start trusting you more."Gohan nodded thoughtfully. "It will really only take a week for him to be ready?""Yes, he's very smart. He has a lot of my memories from my various lives, and he seems to have inherited my brains, thankfully."It took Gohan a second to realise what Piccolo was getting at, "Hey!"“My point exactly,” he muttered, wondering if things would really be ok when he was forced to leave. "I did, however, leave out the parts about evil and world domination. Wouldn't want someone smart and strong to get any ideas now would we?"Gohan looked up ruefully and noticed how low the sun was already. "I've got to head home now," he began, but Piccolo spoke over him."Wait, while you're here, can you teach him a bit about finding his own sustenance? Not only am I absolutely exhausted, but I detest watching him eat these creatures." His nose wrinkled at the thought."Sure!" Gohan smiled, reaching for the baby. The child was still tense, but he wasn't actively trying to escape.Gohan decided to show him how to fish first, since it seemed to be mess and blood that Piccolo detested the most. At least, the more dominant parts of him detested carnage. He felt destruction was another matter entirely.They walked downstream until Gohan saw the insect he was looking for. "See, the fish that live around here love eating these insects." He knelt near the river so that the boy could take a closer look.An image of the insects buzzing around the nearby flowers popped up in Gohan's immediate thoughts. Did the insects live around those flowers?"Huh, I didn't even think of that. Yes, it looks like they do. So you know how to find good fishing spots easily, now! You need to be fast and stealthy when it comes to these. Don't make too much noise or cast a shadow over the water and you should be fine."He seemed to understand all of this. Piccolo hadn't been joking; the boy was bright and observant. With a little training and battle experience, he would be able to strategize with the best of them.They returned to Piccolo a short time later, who was still a little tense. He'd been watching and listening to them the whole time."He should be able to fish for himself now. But I really have to get going. I need to make sure both Mum and Videl are still breathing." He grimaced, hoping they hadn't become violent. When he returned, much to his surprise, he saw Videl and Chi-Chi laughing and cooking together. "I can't believe he eats so much!" he heard Videl exclaim as he took his shoes off in the doorway."I know, it's ridiculous! But at least I'm never bored!" They both laughed.Gohan stood in the doorway a little longer than usual, completely baffled by this transformation. What the hell had happened since he left?"Is that you Gohan?" Chi-Chi called out a moment later, sticking her head around the corner so that she could see the entranceway properly."Yep, I'm back," he admitted somewhat hesitantly."Oh dear Videl, you can't put the eggs on yet or they'll be done before the pterodactyl! What kind of food do you usually make for yourself?" she said all at once, turning back to the kitchen.Now he understood! His mother felt sorry, and somehow responsible, for her because she didn't have a mother of her own."Um, I don't cook very often. We have a chef…" he faintly heard Videl reply over some strange hissing noise."Has Goten come home yet?" he asked as his mother frantically tried to save the eggs, which he supposed were responsible for the hissing.Videl saw him standing in the doorway and immediately became embarrassed that he had seen her make a mistake like that. Not to mention, he was in his gi again."Yes dear, he came back quite a while ago. What kept you?""Vegeta wanted to spar, and then I had to see Piccolo." He wasn't sure whether it would be appropriate to tell his mother about Piccolo's son yet, so he stopped at that.Chi-Chi pursed her lips in disapproval, but she didn't say anything about Piccolo. "How did it go?"Gohan sat at the table and rested his chin on his folded hands before replying. "Vegeta was as merciless as ever, but you know what my Ki is like." He tried to remain vague so that Videl wouldn't grasp exactly what they were talking about.She looked relieved. "I'm glad to hear that. You need to be able to look after your little brother. But when he and Trunks are together, it seems they don't have a problem looking after themselves," she mused."I couldn't believe it Mum, they turned Super Saiyan today!" Gohan blurted, too excited to think about what Videl would make of it.Videl frowned. "What's a Sup-?" she began to question, but Chi-Chi saved them from having to answer."Quick, put the eggs back on now! See how the meat has changed colour?" She and Gohan smiled sheepishly at each other when Videl was successfully flustered and distracted. They would have to be more careful around her from now on.
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"Goten, get back here this instant!" Chi-Chi hollered as her youngest son got closer and closer to the edge of the Lookout, egged on by Trunks. She knew he could fly now, but he had only learnt recently. What if something went wrong?Goten was barely able to hear her over everyone else's chatter, so didn't obey her as he would normally. She did relax a little when the genie, who also lived up here, walked by the boys with his magic carpet ready.Meanwhile, Bulma made a sound of annoyance in the back of her throat as everyone continued to ignore her. She stood at the head of the table, slowly leaning further forward and pressing her hands more firmly against the table top, as her muscles tensed with her growing rage. She was just trying to get them organised this time. Surely all this doom and gloom could be avoided with a proper plan!Unable to take the noise anymore, she resorted to banging her fists on the table everyone was haphazardly sitting or standing around. "Shut it, you lot!" she screeched.Everyone jumped, both at the noise and the way half the electric lanterns fell off the table due to her unexpected show of violence. Even Trunks and Goten quietened and returned to the table."Hmm, I think your power level might have jumped all the way to seven just then," Vegeta snickered, well used to Bulma's tantrums. Usually they were directed at him, anyway."If you have all quite finished," she began, glaring at Vegeta for being a smartass, "I think it's time we started this meeting. I'm sure Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu would rather not hang around you lot for longer than they have to.""Right," Tenshinhan agreed bluntly, folding his arms. He'd already made it perfectly clear that they would only join the fighting as a last resort. He didn't want to put Chiaotzu in that kind of danger again. Not to mention, the only effective attack he had would kill him if used more than a few times."So," Bulma continued, turning to the giant piece of paper she had pinned up on an easel behind her, "what do we know already?"Everyone turned to the three Nameks, who were the only ones who knew anything about what was coming. At Piccolo's nod, Dende spoke up for the all of them."The only thing I've managed to divine is that this power level is nothing like we've ever seen, not even from the Saiyans. The Ki seems to be child-like and easily influenced, but I can tell there is something more sinister about it. There is also a very strong relation between the date of the tournament and this thing's appearance.""So we only have five months," Piccolo added, and his son, who was sitting on the table in front of him, nodded.Bulma slowly nodded in response as she took notes about what they were saying. "Well, at least it's not smart as well. We'll have to be the first to get to it; surely it wouldn't take it upon itself to run rampant if it's so childlike," she mumbled."I think energy is also very important here, but I'm not sure how," Dende added hesitantly, frowning at Gohan."Ok," she nodded, tapping the end of her marker against her bottom lip. She was thinking hard, trying to piece what little information they had into a workable plan."Obviously those of us who are willing and able to fight must stay together for the duration of the tournament," Vegeta repeated his previous suggestion, folding his arms, also in deep thought. "Those who can't fight," he looked to Bulma, Chi-Chi, Oolong, P'uar, Dende and, briefly, Yamcha, "will need to hide out somewhere safe. Up here is probably the best place. You may need to be the ones to intercept this thing and convince it to not destroy the planet.""I can get a vehicle for us up here, but what about the kids? If it's beyond Super Saiyan 2, then as strong as they are, they probably aren't going to be much help if worse comes to worst," Bulma interjected."We can be very dippelmotic," Goten stumbled over the word, speaking up for a change."It's diplomatic, stupid!" Trunks rolled his eyes, "We're strong too, Mum! We can fight if we have to.""Me too," Piccolo's son added, "I can help coordinate the attack.""As long as you all stay away from me, no one else should die," Piccolo added, frowning at Gohan as well."What?" he blurted, uncomfortable, "I didn't say anything!""I'm just quelling the inevitable objection from you," Piccolo replied, sounding more tired and exasperated than ever."I'm not just going to stand around and watch you die again!" Gohan forced himself to calm down, not wanting to get into an argument in front of everyone. His behaviour would embarrass his mother as well as Piccolo. "There isn't a discussion to be had. We're fighting together."'So now you learn to be assertive.' Piccolo's own frustration was apparent in his thoughts. 'Now is not the time, kid.'Gohan folded his arms and set his jaw stubbornly. They were saved from answering questions about their seemingly silent communication when Goten and Trunks' stomachs made an obscenely loud rumbling noise. "Mum, can we have dinner now?" they both begged, also in synch.Bulma sighed. "Fine, fine, we can't really figure out anything else until we have more information. Meeting adjourned!" She forgot she wasn't in a work conference and slapped one of her palms down on the table again, toppling the rest of the lanterns."You're too noisy, woman," Vegeta complained as he stood to go hunting with the boys.Gohan nodded when he was directed to gather firewood, hoping his bout of moodiness would dissipate over time. Eventually they had a bonfire set up and had a feast of fish and buffalo ready. Piccolo sighed as he watched the Saiyans and his own offspring tear into the meat at a ridiculous pace. He turned to stare determinedly back at the sky in an endeavour to hide his disgust, bemusedly noting the absence of the moon.At some point he caught himself watching protectively as Trunks and Goten started getting a little rough near his son. He couldn't keep this coddling up forever. He had to learn to look after himself, and quickly.Bulma and Chi-Chi walked by him as they returned to the makeshift campsite from the bathroom. "Boys, that's enough!" they yelled together, hands on hips, as soon as they spotted their brawling sons.The boys, as well as Gohan, and perhaps even Vegeta, all flinched at the combination of the two women's voices. If only their enemies would be so easy to faze.18 returned next, rather more stealthily than her wholly human counterparts. "Just what are you doing near my daughter?" she demanded sharply, suddenly behind them. They turned to look at her from their position on the floor, limbs still tangled from their impromptu wrestling match. She punted them away with apparent ease.Whine as they might, everyone knew she hadn't done any real damage to either of them. Maron fell over sideways from giggling. She didn't fall completely to the ground because she landed on Piccolo, or Junior, as the others had taken to calling him for the moment."You wanna fight, huh!" Trunks said bravely, bringing up his small fists."Please," 18 said, flicking her hair and deciding to indulge them for a change. Krillin's shoulders shook as he tried to repress his laughter, pleasantly surprised by her antics. "As if a brat like you would last more than five seconds against me." She knew it was ironic that she would goad Trunks of all people, but this was a very different world to that one."Then both of us would make at least twelve seconds!" Goten proclaimed, pointing in a dramatic fashion."No stupid, you're not supposed to agree with her! Besides, five plus five is ten!" Trunks whispered loudly, embarrassed once more by his companion."I know that! If you would last five seconds, then I would last… seven!" he added after a brief pause to figure out how many seconds were left over.They flew at each other again, but this time it was at a safe distance from the younger children. "There we are honey, if you grow up to be like Mummy you’ll have nothing to worry about. Just don't be timid like your father!" 18 murmured as she picked up her sleepy little girl. Krillin looked a little shame-faced, but didn't comment, somehow proving 18's point.'It's hard to have a good balance of confidence,' Junior observed, speaking via mind link in Common, which he had picked up at an astounding rate. 'Too much and you're stupid, not enough and you're pushed around.''Yes, try explaining that to Gohan.' Piccolo answered, rolling his eyes.To his surprise, his offspring took this literally and walked over to Gohan, who was currently arguing with Vegeta about the best way to use his reach in battle. Gohan had shot up another few inches over the past month, and was having more trouble than usual adjusting to his new height."Gohan," he said softly, poking the seated teen just above the elbow for good measure."What is it?" he asked, bringing the small one into his lap, currently too annoyed with Vegeta to argue constructively. Usually among Saiyans this would result in a fistfight, but Vegeta now better understood how much of a pacifist he was. Instead he decided to just walk away.Gohan felt warmth in the young one's thoughts. His father didn't quite understand his needs when it came to things like eating regularly and physical contact. At just over fifty centimetres, he was now considered to be old and large enough to behave independently from the parent, so Piccolo no longer had any of his own physical contact instincts."You will benefit more if you balance your confidence levels," he stated, looking very serious. A little too serious, considering his size and age."Your dad put you up to this, huh?" he replied, laughing a little.The small one frowned, before changing the topic. "Why am I so different to him? I know how we reproduce, so it doesn't really make any sense. Was I fused with someone else's DNA?" he asked as he further inspected the memories he had been granted."Yeah, with mine, actually," Gohan admitted, scratching the back of his head. "We didn't think it would work, but here you are." He smiled reassuringly."I'm a freak?" he asked, raising his brow-ridges."Hey, I'm not that bad!" Gohan exclaimed, poking him in the ribs. The little one squirmed, but couldn't help the smile that made its way onto his face. "There's nothing wrong with being unique! I used to have a tail, you know.""Yes, I'm glad I don't," he returned, folding his arms.'Piccolo's picking on me!' Gohan pretended to complain, bringing the adult Namek into their shenanigans.'Am not,' Piccolo answered with an air of amusement."It's hard not to," the younger one added. They still hadn't quite perfected sharing the mind connection between three people, but his father was within hearing range so it didn't matter too much right now.Piccolo decided to come closer so that the three of them could communicate more easily. He toed a bit of what had been someone's dinner out of the way before sitting cross-legged."What's that supposed to mean, huh?" Gohan demanded, reaching in for another tickle attack. Junior had been expecting this, however, and rapidly escaped from the position he was in. He dropped his Ki low, but Gohan could still tell he was hiding behind Piccolo."I'm too close for you to do that! I know you're there!" he said, lunging forward so he could look over Piccolo's shoulder. "I can see you," he added, not appearing to notice his proximity with Piccolo as he reached down to scoop the Namekian child up.Before he could so much as lay a hand on him, Piccolo had fisted Gohan's gi and pushed him away. He rocked back a little, but managed to recover this time. When he settled back into a stable position, his face was inches from Piccolo's."You're not going to get me with that one twice - er - thrice!" Gohan quickly admonished, seemingly pleased with himself anyway."… Took your time," was the delayed response. The boy curiously poked his head around the side of his parent's body. He looked so small next to Piccolo's seven foot stature, even when he was sitting down. It was hard to believe that in five months they would all be fighting for their lives.Everyone savoured the night spent together. They knew it could very well be their last.
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Gohan breathed in sharply as Goten came close to kicking him in the face once again. His roundhouse kicks had improved exponentially over the last month; it was getting hard to predict them accurately all the time. While it would be embarrassing if his younger by ten years managed to land a hit on him in sparring, it would also be relieving to know he had an effective defensive option available.He was confident that Goten and Trunks would be able to hold their own in just a month's time. Too bad if they couldn't because that was all the time they had left to train. Trunks dived out of the bushes he had been hiding in for the past twenty seconds and attempted to take out Gohan's knees. If Goten's Ki blast had been fired a moment sooner, it might have been a good enough distraction to allow him to succeed.As it was, Gohan was still impressed by the way the boys were able to synchronise, even though they didn't have any form of mental link to consult each other."You have to do it faster next time!" Trunks called as he took up a defensive stance next to his fighting partner."It's not like I can read your mind," Goten replied, childish pout in place.They both suddenly tensed as though they were about to start fighting each other again. "That's enough," Gohan called as he shifted out of his own fighting stance.They had to learn to get along a little better. He wouldn't put it past them to start fighting each other at a critical moment if something went wrong."Stop blaming each other when you're the one who has to improve something! You have to learn to work together all the time and compensate for each other's mistakes. When you can do that properly, you'll be able to beat me," he added, hinting at a challenge so they would be motivated to follow his advice.By the time the day was out, the boys had managed to get Gohan to lose his footing and burn a sizeable welt into his forearm. It looked bad, but he thought it would be ok again by tomorrow. His Saiyan recovery rate was easily enough to deal with these kinds of wounds overnight. It was only broken bones and severe internal damage they really had to worry about."Good job today, I'm proud of you. Since you're starting to work together now, we can go see Piccolo and Junior tomorrow. We need to get used to fighting alongside each other," Gohan said as they all sat around panting in an attempt to get their breath back. "Try to take deep breaths when you're recovering," he added, rubbing his arm. After Gohan had assured his mother for the hundredth time that his arm was perfectly fine, just a little red, he and Goten flew towards the desert training ground. He could feel the Ki of two waiting Nameks as they approached. Trunks was also on his way.Goten landed next to Junior, who was currently using his claw-like nails to remove the scales from a fish he had caught. "Ugh, don't eat it raw!" Goten exclaimed as his brother landed a few meters away, next to the older Namek."I know you accelerated his growth, but I still can't believe he's nearly as big as Goten already!" Gohan exclaimed. The young one was looking more and more like his sire every day."I'm surprised too. I didn't think it would be accelerated this much, but now I'm kind of glad it was. A month, that's all.”"Piccolo, it's not like you to roll over and accept what you've been told. Come on, every bit of training counts, right?" he challenged. He stood with his feet slightly apart, fists raised.Piccolo rolled his eyes. 'Of course not, but this is a gut instinct, not some doomsday prediction.' He couldn't resist going up against his student anyway.However, he found he could barely keep up with him anymore. Gohan's speed had jumped up again; even his base form was too difficult to contend with. "This is just getting ridiculous now," he commented as they broke apart for a brief rest. Piccolo looked around to see his son kick Goten in the stomach, and Trunks yelling advice too late to be helpful."Yeah, so, we should stick together during the fight, right? We should take advantage of the mind link to work together," Gohan tried to reason with him.But ultimately it failed. "Wouldn't it be more advantageous if one of us stayed with the non-fighters and the other with the fighters so that communication is guaranteed between both parties?""…No," Gohan replied, even though he knew Piccolo was right. "Who is going to stay with them then? I'm not!""I don't want to either. I guess that's where sensible plans fail and selfishness takes over. Fine, I'll stay with you if it makes you stop pestering me." As soon as he said this and meant it, the weight of his own convictions seemed to lift. Did that mean he wouldn't die if they stayed together? Or was it just that he was focussing less on his psychic abilities right now?"I dunno Piccolo; you must be getting pretty old if you can't even keep up with my base form anymore," Gohan teased. He was also able to feel the way Piccolo's gut instincts had changed. "Don't tell me I have to protect you this ti-"He was cut off as Piccolo landed a punch in his unprotected gut. "Don't tell me we have to go back to basics and teach you to see what's in front of you again," he answered, angered by Gohan's blatant disrespect, even though it was just harmless teasing.Luckily his punches were now considered fairly harmless by Gohan's body, as well. Even unprotected he'd only been winded for a few moments."Ow… seriously though, please don't do anything reckless. I know we can all make it out alive this time. Everyone's ready!" He looked down to see Goten and Trunks arguing heatedly once more. "Well, if we can get those two to stop arguing with each other long enough to fight the enemy, that is.""Hmm, it’s about time we taught them something today. Teamwork is as good a lesson as any," Piccolo conceded, beginning to head toward them."Hey, do you two want to learn something cool?" Gohan called down when they were close enough to be heard. Both of them looked up keenly as Junior continued his kata behind them."Yeah!" they both called and flew up to meet them."Ok, if you can learn this you'll both get a lot stronger. We're both going to fight you. If you can't keep up, you fail!" Gohan explained briefly as he and Piccolo stood side on to them and back to back.Trunks and Goten nodded at each other before splitting up. Trunks stayed in front and Goten moved behind. Gohan and Piccolo darted forward together. While the boys had the right idea about strategizing based on power levels and surrounding targets, they had moved too far apart. By the time Goten started attacking from behind, Trunks had already been overwhelmed.Piccolo kicked him away and they gave the boys time to reunite and rethink. "Remember, the enemy probably isn't going to be this lenient!" Gohan called. He and Piccolo turned so that Piccolo was the one facing their opponents. Gohan seemed to be useless at the moment since they still had their backs pressed together.The boys saw this as an opening; they knew Piccolo was the weaker one of the two. If it was just him they'd probably be able to take him down together relatively easily.Trunks formed a kick and Goten a punch, and Piccolo ducked at the last second. Gohan, who had already turned around, blocked both hits at the same time. Piccolo simultaneously performed a foot sweep. The boys both lost their balance and turned over in mid-air as they tried to right themselves. Both Piccolo and Gohan sent a weak Ki blast into each of the boys' backs."We are just as aware of our weaknesses as you are!" Piccolo said roughly as the boys inspected each other's wound. "Figure out your own strengths and each other's. Use them when our weakness is truly exposed."They backed off further and huddled together, whispering. "I can hear you!" Piccolo added, rolling his eyes.The boys stopped talking and frowned at each other. All of a sudden Goten threw a roundhouse kick at Trunks, which was blocked. He retaliated with a Ki blast, which Goten seemed to deflect with ease.Gohan sighed in frustration, "You're supposed to be fighting us, not each other!" he reminded.This seemed to be enough of a reminder, for they immediately parted and tried to pincer attack again. However, this time Goten flew directly at Gohan, and Trunks at Piccolo. Trunks managed to get Piccolo on the defensive, since he was still clad in training weights. Goten kept Gohan fairly preoccupied with a series of quick and powerful kicks.Gohan's mental discipline still wasn't good enough to maintain a coherent connection in this situation, so he had to physically check on Piccolo somehow. But as soon as he took a quick peek over his shoulder, Goten sent a roundhouse kick into his temple. His vision blurred for a moment, but he was still able to feel his brother's whereabouts and push him away with a Ki blast.The next thing he knew, a surprisingly large mass of Ki was hurtling down towards them. Piccolo and Gohan quickly broke formation to let the blast pass between them, but they couldn't snap back into place because Goten was between them."Hah!" he yelled and went to kick his brother in the ribs.Before the kick could connect, Piccolo hauled Goten away by the collar and sent him plummeting to the ground. "Interesting," he smirked. "There are brains rattling around in there somewhere after all. They weren't really arguing just then."Gohan just smiled and shrugged as his brother righted himself in the air. "I guess they know each other better than they think."Trunks floated down to hover next to them and Goten soon made his way back up again. "Well? Can we learn the cool thing now?" Trunks demanded, backed up by Goten's vigorous nodding."What? Turns out you already know it!" Gohan exclaimed, unable to keep himself from smirking at the looks on their faces.They both groaned at the lame theatrics Gohan insisted on, not admitting they wouldn't have believed they could have done what they just had otherwise. As the day came closer, Gohan took the last three weeks off school, feigning a serious illness. Videl came to check up on him when she heard, claiming she was just worried about him being too ill to compete in their match properly. Chi-Chi smiled knowingly and left them in the front yard. It was evening, so Gohan and Goten had just come back from yet another rough training session with Vegeta."W-why haven't you been at school?" she asked, not completely acting like herself. Gohan was usually so adamant about attendance; it had her worried when he let something keep him away for so long."Um, well, it's kind of hard to explain," he stalled, wondering if he should tell the truth and whether or not she would believe it."Try me," she said, folding her arms and leaning forward. She was in his personal space, looking directly into his eyes. For some reason it embarrassed him to no end.He found his face heating up as he stammered, searching for an excuse. "You remember what Cell was like, right? Well, something even more powerful is coming during the next tournament. We all have to train to defeat it," he blurted."I'm sure Dad can defeat it. How do you know it's coming anyway?" she asked, stepping forward and glaring at him in suspicion.He brought his hand to the back of his head before answering, "I've got a few, erm, psychic friends…"He could tell she was about to yell about that being impossible, but she seemed to pause and consider this carefully. "Well, I thought flying was impossible until I learnt how. Anyway, I guess I'll see you at the tournament?" she questioned, looking straight down before bringing her eyes back up to his. He noticed she was turning red. Did she actually like him?"Yup, I guess I'll see you there."She smiled and left, returning home to study for the mid-year exams. But Gohan was troubled by his realisation. Did he return the feelings? Wasn't he attracted to Piccolo?'Yes Gohan, aren't you attracted to me?' Piccolo teased. 'Shouldn't you mate with someone of the same species and opposite gender?''I, well, if I want to have kids…' He sighed and tilted his head. 'I don't know. I'm just going to focus on the fight for now.''That is probably wise,' Piccolo replied, in a tone that was a shade gentler than usual. 'Just don't forget that one day we need to leave people behind to defend Earth in our place. Trunks, Goten and Piccolo are just the beginning.''I'll think about it,' he promised before walking inside. His stomach rumbled. Food was more important to him than breeding, for now at least.
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Gohan couldn't sleep. Their six months was already up. Tomorrow was the day they had all been preparing for. Between dreading Piccolo's death and being excited for his father's return, his mind was far too busy to rest. He wanted to be in tiptop shape for tomorrow, but his thoughts still refused to slow down.It became apparent that Piccolo was having similar issues when he invited Gohan to join him at their desert training ground. Gohan wrote a note explaining his absence, which he left on his pillow, in case his mother woke to find him missing and worried herself sick.He arrived minutes later, not wanting to waste any time. Currently they were both very aware that these may be their final hours of peace and privacy in each other's company.'My son is sleeping up on the Lookout,' Piccolo answered Gohan's half formed question.He nodded and they stood shoulder to shoulder, staring up at the night sky. Of all the planets this thing could have happened upon, it had to be Earth. Again…"Piccolo," he said quietly, not knowing what else to say. But that was fine when they had other ways to communicate.Piccolo put a hand on Gohan's shoulder in an attempt to console him in a way he was familiar with. Gohan shuffled closer until their sides were touching, and let down all of his mental barriers. Every single one. Out poured his guilt about the Cell incident, his survival urges, battling feelings of joy and melancholy, and much more that could not easily be pinpointed or explained with words.Piccolo started slightly at the weight of Gohan's emotions, and the instincts that were whirling around, making his chest tight, should he…? The pressing emotions died down a little as Gohan seemed to realise what he had done, and erected his basic barriers again.'That is what I was referring to,' Piccolo stated. He felt a little unbalanced by the outburst. He put his hand on the back of Gohan's head and pulled him into an unpractised hug.'That was the goal of all the mind connection exercises?' Gohan sought clarity, though he thought he knew the answer.'Yes, that is intimacy to a Namek,' he answered as he felt one of Gohan's hands on his back. The other reached up and rested on his weighted shoulder pads.Gohan seemed amused by this. 'So I haven't scarred you for life and sent you running in the opposite direction yet?' he asked, slowly leaning closer. He went slowly in case Piccolo started displaying signs of discomfort.'Well, when you have the emotion to go with your feelings, it begins to make sense.''Good, because that didn’t,' Gohan replied, standing on his toes so they were the same height. Even after his many growth spurts, they still weren’t eye-to-eye. But it was much closer than eye-to-knee.He placed his hand on Piccolo's jaw, noting the strange texture of his skin in a way he’d never had a chance to before. After ensuring Piccolo was still comfortable with things in every way he could, he pressed his mouth against the corner of his… mentor's? Friend’s? He still couldn't think of an appropriate term, but that it didn't really matter right now.Piccolo tightened his grip on the back of Gohan's head in surprise, tugging on his hair a little. 'Wh-what are you…?' His thoughts were muddled. He came to understand again when Gohan opened his mind up as completely as he had before.'You know I can't do that for you,' he stated as Gohan pressed closer and shifted so the kiss was fully on his mouth.'Yeah, I know,' he thought in response as they parted, placing his head on Piccolo's chest. 'I'm sorry, I just had to…''You don't have to apologise, dolt.' His callous reply was contrasted by the gentle way he ran his fingers through the younger warrior's hair. He breathed out through his nose irritably when Gohan's hair somehow found its way into his left nostril.Gohan laughed at this, finding it much more hilarious than he would normally. Not only was he taller, but his hair was longer than it had been all those months ago when they had hugged in the kitchen. Now that it was slightly longer, all but one clump of hair insisted on standing vertically at all times. Perhaps it had something to do with the Saiyan hormones racing around his body when he transformed."Guess I'll try to get some sleep. I'll see you at the tournament, ok?" he muttered as they parted.'Of course,' Piccolo answered, watching him fly away. He even managed go the right way this time. Chi-Chi held Goten's hand, much to his embarrassment, and stood on her toes. She was searching for her husband, but it was difficult to see past her older son and Piccolo. "Can you sense him? I don't know his Ki well enough," she asked anyone who was listening."No… Wait! I think he just came back!" Gohan replied, now also standing on his toes to try and see him. Not that it would be that hard for him to find them. Their group had always stuck out like a medley of sore thumbs.Finally the familiar orange-clad figure became visible in the crowd. He waved to them enthusiastically. The group had congregated at a relatively quiet place, so they would have some space of their own. "Hi everyone!" he called as he approached, oblivious to people staring at his halo as he passed.Chi-Chi was the first to latch onto him. In her excitement she didn't even notice that Goten had stayed behind. "Goku!" she cried, pressing her face into his neck.He was taken aback by this because usually Chi-Chi considered public displays of affection to be inappropriate and embarrassing. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, his thoughts not lingering on it.Gohan gave them a few moments, but was soon running up to his parents and hugging them both around the shoulders. Unanimously they turned to look at Goten, who was standing near Piccolo as if unsure as to what was going on. He came when Chi-Chi beckoned and made a high pitched noise of surprise when Goku picked him up under his arms."You're Goten, right? I'm your dad, nice to meet you!" Goten looked a little unsure, but their resemblance was undeniable. Still, he only had a vague idea of what a dad was, and already he could see that his was nothing like Vegeta.Goku brought him close for a hug and ruffled his hair. An uncharacteristic look of sadness passed over his eyes, but he was soon back to his normal, cheery self. "Sorry I haven't been around for you, but I'm glad you're all safe," he said, putting Goten down.Gohan wasn't sure what to say to that, so simply said, "You’d better go sign up over there. It's closing soon.""Oh, right!" He nodded and made his way past Vegeta and Bulma."Son, I can't believe it!" Bulma called and gave him a quick and graceful hug. He looked slightly perturbed by this, but smiled good-naturedly anyway."What's wrong Bulma? Not going to complain about my hygiene?" he asked as she tried to compose herself again."Bad hygiene or no, I'm glad you're here." She smoothed her dress and kept glancing over to the children."Relax, Woman. Surely there isn't anything that can challenge a Saiyan, anymore." Vegeta's tone was hard, but Bulma stopped fidgeting at his words. "I hope you're ready, Kakarrot. As soon as we're done with the monster, you're next.""Hmm, I'm sure I've heard that one before…" He frowned as though sincerely trying to remember if he had. As he thought, his eyes wandered over the kids and he spotted Trunks. "Trunks, look at how little you are!" he said, kneeling next to him.Trunks seemed to puff up with indignation. "I am not little. I'm nearly seven, you know!""I guess it runs in the family!" He had, perhaps deliberately, touched on a sore point for Vegeta, who scowled and became tense.Bulma placed a hand on his arm. "Save it."He turned his scowl upon her, but simply shifted his folded his arms."Stop picking on the vertically challenged and go sign up already!" Krillin reprimanded and whacked him over the head playfully. If Goku had been standing up, he wouldn't have been able to reach."You can grow hair?" he asked, suddenly mystified by this new distraction."Of course!" he exclaimed. "I've always had eyebrows!""Hurry up!" Chi-Chi interjected, "They're closing the sign up booth!"Goku immediately jumped up and ran over, apologising to the coordinator and basically begging them to wait another minute."How do you do it, Mum?" Gohan asked, smiling at Goku's immediate response. Chi-Chi didn't answer, but just smiled a little wider herself."It's all in the timing and tone," Videl spoke up as she approached, glancing around the strange group in confusion."Hi!" Goten said loudly and waved at her with both arms."Hi," she replied, trying to make her face as blank as possible. She didn't want to seem rude around Gohan's family and friends, but they were all so weird. It was hard not to stare.There was an announcement over the PA. "Would all contestants for the adult division please make their way to the red area. Those participating in the children's division, please assemble in the main ring.""Let's go guys!" Goku called enthusiastically."Who's that?" Videl asked. "What's with the halo?""That's Dad, he's dead," Goten put in before anyone could stop him."W-what?" she spluttered."Um, what he means is, um, he's come back for the weekend! It's like he's back from the dead!" He ruffled Goten's hair a little more roughly than needed, completing the unconvincing lie.Videl's eyes narrowed. "Um, right…"Piccolo snorted in amusement as he began walking to the so-called red area. "Right Gohan, I don't know how she sees through you either."He coughed and pushed the sunglasses up his nose. He was embarrassed, but mostly he was worried he would be recognised. But, it didn't matter quite as much if he was found out anymore. They had bigger problems for today."Anyway, that's not important. Have you seen anyone suspicious?" he asked.The group split into two. The kids and the people not competing went one way, and everyone else followed Goku's lead. Gohan noticed Bulma kiss Vegeta's cheek before she left, which made the Saiyan blush and turn away from her sharply."Apart from you guys, I haven't seen any unusual or unknown competitors. I guess we'll have an easier time finding anyone like that in the finals," she replied."The people not fighting need to keep their Ki senses open as much as possible. We know it happens at the same time as the tournament, not that this thing is here," Piccolo reminded as they moved."Especially you," 18 said, touching Krillin's elbow. "You can see furthest and pinpoint the most reliably."He nodded, looking more anxious than ever. He looked over his shoulder to see Chi-Chi holding Maron's hand as the other group moved to drop off the boys and find seats."She'll be fine. You told me they've all been through this kind of thing before. And Bulma has the Dragon Balls in a capsule.""I know, I know, but back then we were actually able to keep up with the baddies," he said miserably. "Humans and magic, fine. Aliens and robots, not so much…""Just don't go picking up any more chicks in the middle of battle, or I'll be the one to finish you!" she said, lightly punching him on the arm. It still made him stagger sideways a little."I can't make any promises; you know how much of a chick magnet I am," he teased, but his heart wasn't really in it. 18 was trying to calm him down so he could focus, but he already had the wrong mentality.Everyone's anxiety grew as they spent half the day waiting in line to punch a silly machine. Some of the group were growing bored from waiting, whilst others were exhausting themselves with worry.After breaking multiple machines between them, they were finally paired up for matches and came face-to-face with some competitors who were both unknown and seemed suspicious. They looked ill, as if their strength came from something ultimately harmful, such as steroids, and each of them had an M painted on his forehead."I recognise their names, but their faces don't match," Videl commented as she adjusted her gloves. Her fight was with the larger one."Be careful, I mean it. Pull out if he does something unusual. They might have been made to fight us." He didn't say she wouldn't stand a chance if that was the case. It would only make her angry."I know."But she did not end up heeding his warning. Gohan winced as blow after blow landed. His hands gripped the low wall the spectating fighters were leaning against, and Piccolo kicked him in the shin when plaster started cracking off. He managed to restrain himself from powering up any further.“It’s her decision,” Piccolo reminded.Gohan folded his arms instead as he watched her fall. But at the last moment, Videl managed to use the hovering trick he had been teaching her. While he was proud, he mostly just wished she had hit the ground and been disqualified.He gripped his arms more tightly when he saw the blood begin to trickle out of her mouth. What was worse, she wasn’t even putting a dent in her opponent’s defence. And while so many of the people around Gohan got a rush from being in situations like this, having to see people suffer like this was what made him hate fighting.This wasn’t something to strive for.The audience gave a collective gasp when Videl was finally beaten out of the ring. Gohan vaulted the wall, not caring for propriety at this point. “Senzu!” he called as the paramedics carefully shifted her onto a stretcher.The man and woman gave him confused looks, but Piccolo handed him what he’d asked for as they passed. As they entered the first aid room, Videl was lowered onto a bed and the paramedics returned to the ring while a doctor checked her over. “Make sure your friend stays still, young man. I’ll need to fetch special equipment for this,” she explained, worry creasing her brow.Gohan nodded and waited for her to leave before running over and making Videl swallow the bean. He gently rubbed her throat to activate her swallowing reflex, and didn’t relax until she slowly sat up, rubbing her head. A moment later she was perfectly fine, even smiling at Gohan. He knew she wouldn’t listen if he told her she was being stupid, so he chose to remain silent."I still can't believe people like you exist," Videl said as she sat on the hospital bed and swung her legs impatiently. She was ready to leave already, it seemed.He glanced away uncomfortably and turned to leave, not sure how to answer that. "Well, my match is coming up soon. Stay safe."But Gohan’s progress was impeded by none other than Mr Satan. He was trying his best to look large and intimidating, but Gohan could see the man would be lucky to be able to match up with Roshi. He smiled when he saw his daughter was fine, but quickly glared back at Gohan."Who are you?" he demanded. "If you want to take my Videl on a date, you have to be able to defeat me first!"Gohan blushed and swiftly stepped around him. "Later, we're in the middle of a tournament right now," he replied hurriedly, mind still on the day ahead. He would need to save his strength for later.Mr Satan spluttered incoherently as Gohan continued to walk away. He did his fake laugh before stating, "Kids, eh? He thinks he can beat someone like me!"'Gohan, you need to come here right now,' Piccolo's thoughts suddenly overrode his own.'What's wrong?' he asked, panicking. He wasn't supposed to leave Piccolo's side today! He jumped up and flew over everyone's heads, somehow successfully navigating the winding corridors at breakneck speed.'I'm not in danger,' he clarified, 'but we know what's going on now. We need to use you as bait so we can find out where this thing and its master are hiding.''Bait?' He frowned, 'What do they want with me?' He figuratively slammed his brakes on and came to a sudden halt in the finalist's area, nearly knocking Piccolo over in the process."What do you think they want?" At his blank look, Piccolo sighed and continued. "Your masses of energy, your Ki. They're trying to revive some monster, but to do so they need to feed it energy.""It is not just some monster, it is Majin Buu! It was nearly impossible for us to seal him away the first time," a short, purple man added.Gohan frowned, wondering who he was. It sounded like he'd lived for a long time, but he still looked young, and as far as he could tell his power level wasn't very impressive.The short man suddenly smiled and shook his head. "I am known as Kaio-shin. Yes I am still young, but I will probably live longer than you can fathom. As you can probably guess, I have powers unlike your commendable amount of Ki."Gohan's frown deepened and he grabbed the sides of his own head as though expecting to physically feel the god's presence. He certainly couldn't mentally feel anything unusual, and yet he seemed to be able to see through both natural and purposeful barriers."As a god I can use a different method to you. Do not worry yourself." He looked to the tall, red man standing beside him. "I believe the next match involves you and Kibito. Just power up as you did before and we should be able to lay chase to Buu's location."Gohan was not the one who had a problem with this plan. Surprisingly, it was Vegeta who complained. "I knew being in a match with this moron straight up was too good to be true.""We can fight after we've dealt with this thing," Goku replied from his position on the floor. He was massaging around his knee, frowning every time the patella shifted. "I didn't know it could do that," he said, poking it again."I don't think it's supposed to at your age. But you are dead, so who knows," Gohan humoured him, right before he was called to fight next."I'm sure your time will be up before we get a chance to fight properly," Vegeta replied offhandedly as Gohan walked up to the ring."Well, aren't you glad you never got that wish for immortality?" Goku answered and then jumped to his feet. "I sure am!"Vegeta sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before readying himself for what was about to happen.
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As soon as he transformed, Gohan felt two fighters approach. Something stabbed between his ribs. He clutched at one of his assailant's arms until he heard something crack. But it was too late to do anything, and he blacked out a moment later, his energy leaving him with frightening speed.Piccolo and Kaio-shin leaped into the arena just as the henchmen jumped out of it with the container of Gohan’s energy. Goku and Vegeta blasted off after them, but stayed at a distance to make the attackers feel safe. This way, they’d lead them right to where the creature was lying dormant. After a moment's hesitation, Krillin followed them as well.Meanwhile, Kaio-shin placed his hand on Gohan's chest, which caused him to sit up, gasping, just a moment later. He took a handful of Piccolo's cape to steady himself. But it was only a few moments before they and Kibito left the ring as well.The announcer was rather stunned by this rapid chain of events, but he'd seen stranger things in his career. He kept the tournament rolling, announcing a double knockout before introducing the next match, since there were no competitors left in the ring.Gohan relied on Piccolo to direct him. He shook his head and rubbed his temples in an attempt to regain his bearings more quickly."They're getting away!" He heard his father complain in the distance. Goku was dying to chase after them properly. Being covert was about as foreign to him as table manners."That's the point, idiot. If they think they got away they'll fly directly to wherever this thing is being kept." Vegeta reminded impatiently."Don't worry Goku, I can still sense them. Actually, they seem to be slowing down already." Krillin added, with a look of deep concentration.As they slowly began to move forwards, a small ball of purple and green flew into them, gasping for breath. Junior clung to Gohan and put his weight on him, as he couldn't fly properly when so exhausted."What's wrong?" Gohan asked, supporting him even though he was having a bit of trouble himself."We know where it is! I need to take everyone back to the Lookout." He gasped, small body shaking. "I guess I can't handle flying so fast…""Alright, they're just down there,” Gohan said, pointing down at the stands around the arena for the children’s tournament. “We're about to chase down the people responsible, so don't worry. Look after everyone, ok?" Gohan replied, rubbing his back."And yourself…" Piccolo added, awkwardly patting him on the head. "There's no rush right now, so don't go exhausting yourself. You may even have to fight, yet."Piccolo’s son nodded before detaching from Gohan and shakily floating down to the stands. Gohan's body was quickly recovering from shock and adjusting to the energy Kaio-shin had given him. As they continued to fly, he steadily felt more normal. Soon he only had a lingering pain between the ribs on his left side to remind him of what had just happened."Between Krillin and Dende, we can't lose them now. Let's go!" Piccolo grunted and sped off, not particularly caring if he wasn't followed. Of course, Gohan was not very far behind him, and everyone else followed their lead just moments later.They caught up to the men in a matter of moments, now in range to sense another two relatively weak power levels. The group of fighters landed opposite the henchmen, who were handing the container of energy to a small, wrinkly… man? Gohan gasped when the two men were struck down by the mage, and automatically leaned back when he and his demonic looking friend turned to face them."Kaio-shin, what is it you think you can achieve here?" the mage demanded, waving his staff as if to emphasise a point."I will stop you, Babidi. One way or another," Kaio-shin replied smoothly. The demon chuckled, staring at the medley of warriors contemptuously as his master inspected the amount of energy that had been gathered. "Do not let Dabura spit upon you; you will be turned to stone," Kaio-shin explained.Krillin gulped and took a step back. "I know I said I could handle magic, but this is going a bit far!""Well, I guess the weaklings are up first!" The demon exclaimed, sending wads of spit in Krillin and Piccolo's directions. Only Kaio-shin paid much attention to Babidi's disappearance.Gohan had been highly strung since the encounter began. He pulled Piccolo out of the line of fire with speed that almost wrenched his arm from its socket. Krillin leapt back and quickly kicked off his shoe when he realised it had been hit. It became a brittle kind of stone and smashed upon impact with the ground.Goku darted forward and punched their assailant in the gut to give Krillin time to get away, and he immediately took the opportunity. He headed directly to the Lookout so that he could meet up with and inform the others of the situation. They were expected to be up there by this point in time.The demon was flung back several meters by the unexpectedly powerful punch, only to be stopped upon collision with a jagged rock face."Are you ok, Piccolo?" Goku asked, carefully watching Dabura get back to his feet. He continued to hold his position with an unusually serious expression.There was a thump as his weights hit the ground, followed by a worrying crunching sound as Piccolo relocated his shoulder. But he didn't seem too fazed by it. "Of course, just be aware of his magic. We don't know the extent of his demon powers.""I thought you might know, being part demon and all," he replied with a smile. He became serious again as Dabura approached at speed. He was stronger than he let on."I told you, I don't do that anymore," Piccolo answered, kicking his weights out the way. "I went to a tournament and didn't get the urge to kill a single person. I have to admit to wanting to kill this guy, though."Dabura appeared to pause as though considering something, before he vanished from sight. "Where did he go?" Gohan asked, trying to look and feel in every direction at the same time."He's not here anymore," Piccolo began, being rather more thorough and disciplined with his own search. "He ran off for some rea- arrgh!" He was cut off by the overwhelming presence attempting to forcibly enter his mind. He groaned again and hunched over, instinctively clutching at his head.Gohan winced in sympathy and tried to communicate. He didn't know if he could do anything to help. 'No, just, ah… I need to concentrate…' But Gohan could see he was losing the struggle. The other person, who and wherever they were, was just too sharp with his mental attacks. Piccolo yelled again and curled in on himself more.Suddenly his struggling ceased and an odd calm overcame him. Piccolo shakily stood up straighter and slowly staggered toward Kaio-shin. His power level was rapidly rising beyond anything Gohan had ever seen from him. He had changed.Gohan automatically shut himself off from the foreign presence in Piccolo’s mind. What were they supposed to do now?"Stay away!" Kaio-shin warned as he took a few steps back. "Babidi has possessed him! Do not let him damage you, or Buu will be reawakened sooner than expected."Vegeta frowned as he rapidly considered and discarded options. Why had the Namek been chosen? Now that Krillin had left, he was the weakest one there. But still, they couldn't just attack him either. Gohan would probably put himself in the way of any attack, which they did not need."Where is this Buu thing? Can't we just kill it while it's 'sleeping' or whatever?" Vegeta asked, inspecting the ship."We could, but we have to get to it first. That ship goes underground a fair way. Undoubtedly Babidi is prepared for us attempting this," Kaio-shin replied, watching Piccolo's continuing, yet unsteady advance. His hands slowly came away from his head to reveal the tell-tale 'M'.Vegeta snorted, "If Dabura is his strongest henchman it shouldn't be a problem for me to get down there alone."Kaio-shin cringed as he felt a presence attempting to enter his mind. He realised it was Piccolo, who had a surprising aptitude for the feat. However, he didn't fully understand Kaio-shin's mind let alone his defences, so it was only a minor threat."Do not be ridiculous. I will handle this. Take Kibito and the other Saiyans into the ship with you," Kaio-shin replied. It would be difficult, but his power was still able to match up with the green alien's."I'm not going anywhere," Gohan replied, appearing in front of Piccolo. To his surprise, this sentiment was echoed by his father. "You go defeat Buu and Babidi. I'll try to get Piccolo back to normal."Kaio-shin wanted to protest, but they were running out of time. A decision had to be made and action taken now. "Alright, fine. If you feel that it is your responsibility I understand." He turned and followed Kibito and Vegeta into the ship.Piccolo made a quiet sound of distress before sending his fist out. Gohan caught it before it could collide with his throat and held it firmly in place. Goku moved closer, wondering what Piccolo was doing in his head. It felt kind of funny."I don't get it," he said, folding his arms and screwing his face up in confusion. "Why is he in my head?"Gohan stared for a moment before attempting to enter his father's mind himself. It was completely unguarded, since he didn't feel as though he had anything to hide. At the same time, it was impossible to do anything sinister, such as control or influence him."I think he's trying to either debilitate or control you," Gohan replied slowly. "But your mind is really weird. You shouldn't be able to function like that.""Is this to do with falling on my head again?" Goku frowned and shrugged. "Come on Piccolo, you're stronger than this! You said you wouldn't do this kind of thing anymore.""A part of me… has always… wanted…" Piccolo tried to speak, but it seemed to take too much effort. Gohan could see his body was slowly destroying itself the longer he stayed like this. The energy had to be coming from somewhere, perhaps the very matter he was made up of.Gohan opened his mind in an attempt to communicate that way, but all he could see was a montage of vivid memories. Most of them involved killing and destruction. He thought he even saw Goten once, before realising it was actually his father.Piccolo violently shook his head from side to side before pulling away from the two Saiyans. 'I am not my thoughts.' He staggered into the ship. They followed him closely, in case he was trying to go after Kaio-shin again. They jumped down two levels before encountering both the villains and their allies.Kibito was nowhere in sight. Kaio-shin was staring at a huge Ki burn mark on the floor, while Vegeta fought Dabura in his Super Saiyan form. Babidi was gaping open mouthed at his display of power. He began cackling with glee. Gohan suspected that meant this fight was somehow helping his plan to come to fruition.Piccolo began gathering his seemingly limitless energy as he slowly approached the magician. Goku joined the fighting, much to Vegeta's annoyance, but this only caused Babidi to become more pleased. He vanished again, but both Gohan and Piccolo could sense he was only another two floors below them."Have to… kill…" Piccolo managed. Gohan nodded and blew a hole into the floors below so they could drop in on their opponent.But by the time they got down there, it was too late. Two halves of a sphere lay on the ground, and the room was filled with a strange gaseous substance.The gas formed a fat, pink being before their eyes. Gohan gaped, but Piccolo was on the warpath. His only goal in that moment was to prevent someone more powerful from being possessed. He continued to power up and approach Babidi, then brought up his hand and fired the blast. It disintegrated the wizard, but unfortunately it also left him open to an attack from what seemed to be Majin Buu.The pink thing flexed its fingers and laughed in a high pitched voice as the Ki beam seared Piccolo's body despite Gohan’s best efforts to reach him in time. It was like Nappa's attack all over again."Ha! And Buu's not even warmed up!"Gohan growled in frustration. Even after all his training, the thing was still faster than him! He closed the rest of the distance between them and placed his hand over Piccolo's chest. He was relieved to feel it moving up and down, even if his heart beat was erratic."Take him to Dende!" Goku's voice suddenly cut through Gohan's daze of shock and anger. He nodded jerkily in response as a yellow and orange blur went by. He took his opportunity while Buu was distracted and blasted back up through the underground structure. He transformed so that he could fly faster. The other two Earth Nameks ran forward as soon as they reached the edge of the Lookout. "Over here, quick!" Dende called, diagnosing Piccolo's state as they approached.Gohan gently laid the Namek on the stone tiles of the Lookout. Piccolo shuddered and his breathing became irregular. "Can you help him?" his son asked Dende.Dende didn't reply, but simply got to work. His powers were even more impressive than when he was a child. Gohan could feel Piccolo's Ki stabilising and could see him being forced to regenerate before his very eyes."Alright, you're definitely stable, "Dende said, now that Piccolo seemed to have regained some consciousness. “But I don't think even I can make it so that you're ready to fight again today."'Hurry up and get back in there, Gohan. They need you,' Piccolo reminded mentally, mostly because he didn't dare risk damaging his airway in the middle of a healing session."Alright… I'll see you all soon," Gohan said as he stood to leave. But he was still rather worried.Junior put a hand on his forearm, and Gohan turned back to look at him. “Maybe fighting it head on isn’t the way to go here. It behaves like a small child, right? Maybe you can convince it to stop destroying things.”"I think you’re right. We can’t solve all our problems by punching them," he joked weakly, before turning away again.'Oh,' Piccolo interrupted before he could get too far. 'Scaring them off with your Saiyaman costume doesn't seem to be working, by the way,' Piccolo added, which only made Gohan realise he was further along the road of recovery than he’d thought.Gohan paused to pull the tunic off over his head and drop it next to Piccolo's prone form. "There we go; something to remember me by." With that said, he flew back toward the raging battle. However, when he returned, the battle did not seem to be raging at all. Buu was standing by impatiently with his hands on his hips. He was waiting because Goku and Vegeta were arguing about something. 'Where have I seen this before?' Gohan thought despondently."You can't go blow yourself up! I've been learning a fusion technique. If we fuse we can easily win!” Goku exclaimed."We don't have time to perfect a new technique! Look, that thing isn't going to wait around forever. I can destroy it, I know I can!" Vegeta snapped."That's what you said about 18 and Perfect Cell -""Enough!" Gohan yelled. Surprisingly it worked better on the adults than their children.He could feel his power rising as his temper became hotter, and he didn't bother to try and restrain it. He needed any strength he could get. "That thing formed from a gas, so there's no point in trying to blow it up that way. Not unless you want to try splitting atoms, which I would not advise."The older men stared at him dumbfounded. Gohan was usually so timid and positive, but now Goku saw his son didn't just look like Chi…"Have you forgotten what Bulma said? It doesn't have a master now, so maybe we can try and befriend it!" He turned to the creature and tried to look as non-threatening as possible, which was difficult when he was already ticked off."No, Gohan, he's too powerful! Cell was nothing compared to…" Goku trailed off when he recognised the stubborn set of his son's jaw. Oh Kami, he had left him with Chi for far too long."Buu sick of waiting!" the monster complained in its almost painfully high-pitched voice."Buu, is that your name? I'm Gohan," he began, hoping this would work. Otherwise he'd look like an idiot again. "Why are you trying to destroy everything?"Buu seemed to consider this for some time. "Buu told destroying is fun. Like a game. Look, Buu can also make stuff chocolate!"A strange beam came out of the appendage on his head and a section of the ground nearby turned into a lump of chocolate. The pink being chowed down on it, but soon turned his head away in disgust."Rocky chocolate yucky! Make it from people next time!""Woah, wait a minute!" Gohan exclaimed, waving his arms frantically. "It's not really nice to destroy people or their homes, you know? You should probably stop it!""Hmm! Why should Buu listen to you?"Gohan honestly had no idea how to answer this. He imagined Piccolo would probably put it down to his self-esteem problems. He decided to put on the mask again, even though he only had the spandex suit of his costume left."Don't you know? I'm a hero of Earth." At this point he was flailing in the dark for something to say, anything that popped up would do. "People like heroes! Don't you want to be one too?"It seemed he'd managed to hit upon the creature's instincts in a positive way. "Yeah! How Buu be hero?"Gohan was about to make something up when an obnoxious voice boomed from the helicopter flying overhead. "Hear ye, beast! The great Mr Satan, hero of Earth, will destroy you!"The speech was followed by the usual fake laughter. A rope ladder was thrown out of the helicopter and an obviously scared silly Mr Satan began his slow decent."That's another hero?""Umm… yes! Mr Satan is the greatest hero! You should ask him all of your questions!" Gohan blurted, retreating from the scene. The bushy-haired man was a better actor than he would ever be. He turned his head to see his father and Vegeta were still staring at him as though he were a dragon ball short of immortality."Maybe we should leave and make a plan now? I'm sure Satan can handle this for a while," Gohan said quietly. They cautiously nodded and left when they saw the man was now sucking up to the monster instead of trying to fight him.
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"You cannot be serious." Vegeta sighed as he watched Goku perform one ridiculous movement after another."And that's how fusion works!" he continued to explain, deaf to Vegeta's criticism, as usual.Goku was currently leaning to the side and pointing in that direction with both hands, as if expecting someone to mirror his position. "Lucky we're about the same size now, so we should be able to pull it off."Goku nodded and stood up straight again. But this time everyone else seemed to share Vegeta’s opinion."Does it really work?" Trunks asked sceptically as his father's eye twitched."Sure! Why don't you and Goten try to do it as well? Just remember you have to mirror each other and match your power levels exactly.""Humph, yeah right," Trunks said, rolling his eyes. "Where did you find this guy again?"Goten laughed a little guiltily. He didn't want to insult his own dad, but Trunks had a point. They hadn't felt anything from him beyond Vegeta's level yet.Goku just smiled, remembering he’d had a similar opinion of Roshi when they had first met. He had to get the boys to listen to him somehow."What are you two laughing about? I bet you I can raise my power level higher than Vegeta's!"The only reason Vegeta participated in the childish escapade was to see for himself just how strong his greatest rival had become. They quickly shifted up into their Super Saiyan 2 forms. Vegeta continued to push himself, aura glowing brighter, so Goku was forced to push his power higher as well. He could see the boys couldn't distinguish them yet, so pushed himself into Super Saiyan 3 for just a couple of seconds.The gap between them was obvious even to someone who couldn’t sense power levels. Vegeta growled in frustration. "What the hell was that, Kakarrot?" he demanded, though he had an inkling."Hehe, Super Saiyan 3… But it uses life force, and I only have a day left. I'd rather avoid it. Fusion would be stronger, anyway," he explained. Goten and Trunks weren't the only ones gaping in shock at the display.Vegeta appeared to be angered by the ongoing gap in their power. Eventually he replied, "Then we had better hurry it up. That thing could go on a rampage at any moment."Goku nodded enthusiastically and the boys watched them practice, copying them closely. Gohan turned away from the odd display and went to sit next to Piccolo. The Namek was technically back on his feet again, but he wasn't in any condition to fight."So… things turned out better than expected?" Gohan began, wondering if the solution would really be this simple."Well, not being dead is a plus. But there's still something bothering me…"Gohan revisited their meeting on the Lookout from Piccolo's perspective. Piccolo's focus had been on what he remembered of Dende's words. 'I think there's a more sinister side to it too…'"Don't let your guard down just yet," Piccolo answered out loud.Gohan was distracted from this serious contemplation by a sudden bright, white flash. Where Goku and Vegeta had previously been, an unbelievably powerful Saiyan stood. He smirked and stretched as though he'd been stuck in a cramped place for a long time."Interesting," he said in a strange mix of Goku's curiosity and Vegeta's arrogance as he flexed his hand experimentally."Well, we'd better go see how Mr Satan is… doing…" Gohan trailed off as he felt a sudden surge of Ki in the distance. It was massive, like Buu's, but there was still something vastly different about it. As he further investigated the area, he realised that Buu's original Ki was much smaller than before, and this new thing was making up for the rest of it."Looks like that thing had some kind of fusion of its own," Piccolo stated, causing the fighters to look at one another nervously. Except for the new combination of Vegeta and Goku. He simply took off in the direction of the large Ki.Gohan waved to everyone before following and, to his surprise, Android 18 went along with them. Krillin probably would have followed again, but he hesitated as 18 looked back at him meaningfully. He held his daughter a little tighter and reluctantly nodded in response.18 turned her cool gaze upon Gohan, as though expecting him to protest."What? I'm not going to pick a fight with someone with unlimited energy if I don't have to," he replied almost conversationally, even though his heart was pounding from nerves and anticipation.She smiled before focussing on the fused men that were leading them into battle. "You wouldn't pick a fight with anyone if you didn't have to," 18 answered, before speeding up in an attempt to keep up with the impossibly strong Saiyan.-- They arrived only to find Buu fighting with himself. They had to assume the other bubble-gum pink thing was what had come from inside it, anyway.Without further ado, the recently dubbed 'Gogeta' kicked the monster in the back of its head. The other Buu couldn't do anything to prevent itself from flying through the air for just a few moments. But this was time enough for it to hit the ground and skid a fair way before coming to a halt.Gohan and 18 landed near Mr Satan and the beaten up Buu. It seemed they would both at least live to the end of this encounter, so they focussed their attention on the other fighters. Gogeta was hovering in the air, staring down condescendingly at his opponent.The other Buu slowly picked himself up and shook out his limbs, popping back into his normal shape. "That was interesting," was his only comment."I'm only just getting started." Gogeta smirked confidently, despite the overwhelming power emanating from the being before him."Buu hate you!" The monster's high pitched counter-part exclaimed, shaking in apparent rage."Don't worry, he'll be defeated," Gohan said, hoping it would be true. If it turned out that the fusion technique couldn't stand up to him, he felt confident that this time he could at least deliver the finishing blow...Gohan transformed at the same time the cocky fusion did. He felt the familiar slip on control, but it wasn't as pronounced as when he entered the second stage.'Don't transform any further,' Piccolo warned through their familiar link.'Why?' he asked as he watched the fused Saiyan's punches simply bounce off the monster. He shot off Ki blasts next, but any damage done was immediately shaken off.'Just don't. Something bad will happen if you change again, trust me. I'll explain when you're less preoccupied.' Gohan nodded once. At this rate it didn't look like he and 18 would be needed, anyway.Gogeta powered up a ridiculously strong Ki blast, yelling something indecipherable, which sounded like a cross between 'kamehameha' and 'big bang attack'. Gohan stared in disbelief as the thing began to pull itself back together. The way the pink goo moved about as it reoriented itself was actually quite disgusting.Gogeta simply smirked in satisfaction and raised his arms above his head. "It'd be boring if defeating you was that easy!" he yelled, gathering what could only be some kind of Genkidama. But this wasn't going to work as well on this thing as it had on Frieza. The other version of Buu curled his body into a ball and flew at the fused pair.Gohan saw the danger and immediately bounded forward. He wouldn't be too slow this time! Before the pink blur could come into contact with his opponent, Gohan booted him away as hard as he could."Keep your nose out of this, kid!" It was then that Gohan fully came to terms with the fact this person was neither his father nor Vegeta. He bit his lip at the hard glare being sent his way, suddenly glad the stranger was already distracted by powering up an attack."Oh sure, like that wouldn't have at least broken your concentration," 18 said from her position hovering slightly above them. "We'll distract it. You gather enough force to obliterate it."Gogeta turned his glare upon her, but didn't make any further moves. This seemed to be their go ahead.Gohan checked on Satan and Buu before leaping into battle. The larger pink thing appeared to have recovered, but Satan was trying to convince it to not enter the fight again. He glanced over his shoulder with that same scared silly expression, and his eyes briefly met Gohan's. There was recognition and disbelief, but Gohan had no time to think about that now.He turned a split second later and charged at the thing he had been training for the last six months to defeat. He easily swerved between 18's Ki blasts, which she was using to try and corner their opponent, since she couldn't draw up enough strength at once to do any real damage.Gohan instantly took advantage of 18's effort and sunk his fist into their enemy's gut. He was hoping to affect its respiration, but was instead caught off balance as his fist literally did sink into it. Usually it hurt to punch powerful opponents because their defences made them hard, but this thing was different. The give in the surface of its body put him off balance long enough for it to throw him into the ground.The evil side of Buu really was ridiculously powerful. Gohan felt the ground give beneath him until the downward force could no longer overcome it. He rolled over groggily and rubbed his temple as both 18 and Piccolo yelled, "Move!"He didn't question them, just blasted into the air as the crater he had just been in exploded in a flash of pink Ki. 18 continued to fire distractions, but the evil Buu seemed to have realised that these blasts would barely scratch him, and just allowed them to hit. Gohan flew back in anyway. He knew what not to do now and should be able to hold a longer exchange of blows.'Piccolo, how long has it been since Dad fused? When will the Genkidama be ready?’ he thought.Given the long distance and his current activity, Piccolo was surprised by the clarity of the thoughts his student was able to get across. 'Bulma said she's timed it at just over twenty minutes so far… If I had to guess, I'd say they should fire it at the last second. For once, there's still plenty of life on Earth, so they should be able to gather sufficient energy in the time left.'Gohan’s blows didn't seem to be doing much harm, but that wasn't really the point of their confrontation anyway. An unexpected burst of Ki threw him back, but he managed to pull up before slamming into 18."You have to make sure they fire the Genkidama before they turn back. Dad said they only have half an hour, remember?" he quickly got out, but it didn't matter because the other Buu was just grinning at them instead of coming in for an attack."Ok, seven minutes and forty-two seconds left." She nodded. Her robot side was obviously very aware of time increments. The monster tried to attack her before she could fly down to their other unwilling team member, but Gohan deflected the Ki blast. He almost pushed up to stage two, but then balked at the memory of Piccolo's warning.A part of him was frustrated at Piccolo for some inexplicable reason, but he ignored that for now. It was easy to get confused in fast paced battles, and right now he really had to concentrate.Neither of the furious fighters could gain an edge. A flurry of blows and Ki blasts were exchanged for several minutes before they broke apart. It seemed neither could focus for much longer.Gohan noticed the wind pick up briefly and felt the sting of a few cuts he had managed to gain. They both had tears in their clothing, but already the other Buu's burn marks were fading. The monster cackled now that it was becoming clear who the winner would be.Gohan smiled in return and wiped the sweat off his brow. This thing was extremely powerful, but it didn't have any allies. Heaven knew what they'd do if there was more than one. Actually, it wouldn't, that was the whole reason the thing was here in the first place…"Gohan!" 18 called and held up one finger. As well as giving a message, she had also distracted their opponent from Gogeta, now that she was standing away from him. He guessed she was indicating the transformation would only last for one more minute.Gohan dropped out of the sky and 18 quickly followed. Gogeta flew upward and threw the Genkidama. Now that it was locked on to an energy signal, there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.The evil being struggled to hold onto its life force, but energy from every one of Earth's inhabitants was just too much for it to overcome. Towards the end of the desperate struggle the fusion broke, and Goku and Vegeta fell to the ground, flickering back to their base forms on the way down.Goku rolled onto his side and managed to sit up a little to watch the ball engulf the unfortunate being. Sadness and happiness used his face as a battleground until the light had faded. He turned to Vegeta, who was panting heavily in an attempt to regain his strength. Despite his weakness, the man was very much alive, and for that he was grateful."Well, we can see who… did all the work," Vegeta muttered, raising a shaky hand, only for it to drop back to his side."Right." Goku smiled, not bothering to say he was in better shape because he was stronger. "Now about that fight…""Shut… up," he forced out, finally managing to move his hand up further to rub his shoulder.Gohan leaped at his father, giving him a bone-crushing hug. "Ow! Ow!" Goku complained, "Change down first, you're killing me," he gasped. They might have laughed if he hadn't been speaking literally."Sorry," Gohan muttered as he changed back. "We should get you up to Dende now."Goku hung off his son's back, and Gohan and 18 balanced a barely conscious Vegeta between them. It seemed a lot of the energy in the Genkidama had come from their bodies.They overheard Buu and Satan confirming their friendship, before they left. "Buu will help people so no one has to lose their puppy like that again!" he exclaimed passionately, and Mr Satan took what goodwill he could get. "So," Gohan began as the dragon vanished and everything returned to normal once again. "There's something you needed to tell me?"Piccolo nodded as they moved away from the others. "I don't think you've noticed, but when you dropped your mental barriers for me last night, I saw that you have an alter-ego."Gohan stared at him blankly for a moment, "Huh?""Don't you notice how you radically change when you turn into a Super Saiyan? It probably began with your natural tendencies towards fear and anger, but it seems to have developed into something rather more sinister since then.""Well, no, most of the time I barely know what's going on around me after I change.""Yet you are lucid and focussed when fighting. It's not your instincts, Gohan, it's your alternate personality. Frankly he is not the kindest of souls, so I suggest you either find a new way to transform, or accept the fact you can never transform again."Gohan looked away to think. He really was crazy…'We're all mad here,' Piccolo reminded mentally, and watched the corner of Gohan's mouth turn upward in response. Goku's grin was a mile wide, beaten only perhaps by his wife, who was seated next to him. He was here in person because he had had a human lifespan granted in return for the sacrifices he made to protect the universe. He still made Chi-Chi look like a cougar, but for some reason she didn't seem to mind that anymore.Their relatively small group of guests were seated in front of them. Vegeta grumbled about the weirdness of the human tradition while Bulma told him to shut it. Even Chiaotzu and Tenshinhan had come out of the woodwork for this.Bulma added to the light chatter as they waited for the bride's party to arrive. "We should have a ceremony," she said, and immediately burst out laughing at the look of horror on her husband's face. It had been hard enough to get him to sign the registry after they found out about Trunks. Bulma still hadn't said anything about registering him as an immigrant, either.Gohan continued to look around nervously, and adjusted his glasses. He still wasn't exactly sure when he'd decided to get married, but in just eight and a half months, he and Videl could have a little bundle of joy. Satan had insisted they get married as soon as possible to protect his family's reputation, and Gohan didn't have much of a problem with this. Except…'For crying out loud Gohan, just be happy with what you have.' Piccolo mentally sighed. He was technically best man, but he was observing from a distance in case some form of paparazzi crashed their wedding and his similarities to his father caused a stir. Even without that, this kind of event was hardly his idea of fun.Gohan smiled at the brusque tone, and knew Piccolo was right. They loved each other in a way that couldn't be properly translated into human terms, and he was ok with that. It was time for him to raise a family, at least, if he could ever shift his focus from academia. He was due to graduate next year, but was already keen to reenrol to do his masters and doctorate.Finally the last of the guests entered and the crowd hushed as music began to play. Erasa stopped adjusting her bridesmaid gown and waved at him cheerfully. He smiled despite himself, before turning to watch his bride-to-be enter the room.She really was stunning, and he could feel her Ki flutter from nerves as she approached him. He felt the still-forming life of their child hovering inside her energy and found his smile beginning to enter the range of his parents'. Videl's father winked at him and Gohan found he was relaxing. It seemed Satan was just glad his daughter was marrying someone strong.With that, Gohan looked away from his past and began to look forward to what had yet to come. He just knew this kid was going to be quite the diligent one.
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"Thanks for explaining the different types of RNA to me again, Mr Son." A young, red headed girl smiled up at Gohan as he nodded and continued to put his lecture notes away. He couldn't remember this young girl's name for the life of him, but this was about the third time she'd asked him to explain something she already understood well, if her test scores were anything to go by."Any time, just remember you don't have to get full marks on every test. If you're concerned, look for errors in your exam technique. I think you understand the class material well enough."He didn't mean to be rude, but he was keen to get back to his research. Piccolo had grudgingly agreed to come in today so he could take some samples. It would also be the first time they had seen each other in about six months."Oh, ok… Can you help me with that?" she asked, twirling her hair around her index finger.He sensed Piccolo's familiar Ki approach the building he was in. He was already running late. 'I'm sorry, I'll just be a minute.'"I don't have time right now, but the people in the Communications Centre will be more than happy to. It's a free service the university offers, you know," he answered, picking up an unusually large stack of folders. The girl looked surprised, but of course the weight was nothing to him."Oh, ok, thanks again for your help!" she said brightly, before sliding off her seat and moving to the doors at the front of the lecture theatre. This happened to coincide with Piccolo hesitantly entering the room through the same door. The girl jumped and quickly moved out of the intimidating figure's way."Hey Piccolo, can you give me a hand with these?" Gohan asked, attempting to balance the boxes of test papers from his smaller, more advanced morning class on his other arm.Piccolo obliged, taking the whole lot with both arms. "How do you navigate this mad place without flying?" he asked, staring at the large, empty room. The amount of chairs made him shudder at what it would be like when full. Cramped, noisy, smelly…Gohan laughed at that vision and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "It's not quite so bad when you're giving the lecture. I have plenty of room, and if they want to pass their exam they'll shut up eventually."The labs and my office aren't too far from here. It took a while but I got used to being around a lot of other people." He shrugged and they exited the building, crossing a wide paved area before entering another.Piccolo repositioned the boxes as they walked up a few flights of stairs. They walked down the narrow hallway until they came to a door with 'Dr Son Gohan' written on it. He fished around in his pocket for a key and awkwardly opened the door with one hand."Gohan!" someone called from behind them. Piccolo looked around sharply to see a man only a few years younger than Gohan running up to them. "Have you marked my paper yet?"Gohan sighed and backed into his door to open it. "No, I've only just finished teaching for the day! I've got research to complete and then a family to go home to. I know you get anxious, but can't you just wait for the results to be posted online like everyone else?""But… can't you just tell me how I went on question 10?" he pleaded.Gohan looked as though he were about to relent, but Piccolo stepped in. "You probably failed, now go away. He's busy." He turned to Gohan and said in a slightly kinder tone, "I don't have all day, Gohan. If you always make such allowances for everyone else, I'm surprised you family gets to see you at all."He got a feeling from Gohan that perhaps he didn't spend enough time with his family as it was. Videl had been yelling about it last night and little Pan had wanted him to train with her for the past two weeks. Eventually he nodded and straightened up."I told you, all final results will be up on Monday. This test was only worth five per cent, surely it doesn't matter that much. Now, I've got work to do." He finally strode into his office and Piccolo followed, firmly shutting the door with his foot.He dumped the folders on his desk and sighed. Gohan pushed his glasses onto his head and pressed his palms into his eyes. Piccolo put the boxes in the only unoccupied corner and stood opposite the desk."Alright, I suppose we should get this over with…" Gohan began, stretching and blinking his eyes open."I thought your eyesight was bad before, but how do you get around now?" Piccolo asked, wondering what he'd do if he lost his glasses. It was a simple matter to view things as Gohan did through their mental link."I can still see!" he protested, glaring at him to prove his point. "I just can't read without them, and details are a little blurry.""Well, make sure you have them on before you start trying to chop bits off me," Piccolo replied, rolling his eyes."I'm not going to do anything that drastic!" Gohan assured, replacing his glasses and leading them out of his office and into the lab he used.Piccolo cringed at the smell of disinfectant as Gohan pulled one of the white coats over his blazer and ensured his tie wouldn't get in the way. Piccolo's frown became deeper than usual as Gohan also snapped on some plastic gloves before preparing some swabs."Don't worry, I'm a professional!" he found himself teasing lightly at the look on his friend's face. He held the cotton ball in a pair of tweezers and Piccolo opened his mouth. Gohan swabbed each cheek and sealed them away for inspection at a later date.Next he pulled out a wad of something that resembled pliable plastic. "Can you bite into this so I can see your dental structure?" he asked. Piccolo complied, mentally complaining about the taste of the substance as he did so.Things continued on in this manner and he even managed to wheedle a urine sample from the increasingly irritated Namek. The only reason he put up with it was because Gohan’s research was contributing to a greater understanding of Nameks. And that meant Piccolo’s son might one day be able to make his way through the world like a normal person."Ok, that should be enough data to work with for now. Do you want to stay with us for a while?" he asked, removing the gloves and coat."You mean I have to be subject to more of this unusual treatment?" Piccolo deadpanned, not exactly looking forward to his next visit. "If it will keep you from sleeping here, then I will stay for as long as I can stand this claustrophobic feeling.""Good, the suburb I actually live in is much quieter than this, don't worry."They walked off campus and found a deserted street to take off in. They flew at a leisurely pace and arrived at Gohan's place in less than ten minutes. He knew any other method would take over an hour at this time of the day."Is anyone home?" Gohan called, trying the front door handle. It turned easily and he entered to find Pan sitting at the dining room table, trying to do her homework. Then he noticed Videl doing the dishes and talking on the phone at the same time."Dad's back early!" Pan cheered and leapt at him from across the room.He let out a small 'oof' as her enthusiasm nearly knocked the wind out of him. "Hello!" He smiled, kneeling down to hug her properly.Videl gaped openly and the phone slid from its position between her shoulder and ear. Gohan sped forward and caught it before it could fall into the water. She looked apprehensive as she dried her hands on her pants. She took the phone back and wandered away to finish her call.Gohan looked disappointed that she hadn't said anything, but continued to talk to Pan anyway. "What have you been up to?" he asked."Mum said I have to finish my homework, and then she said something about moving some of our stuff…""Pan, why don't you take your homework to your room? It's quieter there," Videl suddenly spoke up as she put the phone down in the usual spot. She didn't speak again until Pan had raced off. "I wasn't expecting to see you until tomorrow," she continued. "Today I decided to do something about us, so I'm going to move back in with Dad for a while. You obviously don't have time for us right now."Gohan frowned. "But why so suddenly?" He knew there was no point in trying to convince her to change her mind once she had decided. "Are you saying I can't even see my daughter anymore?""No, when you have time in your busy schedule you can still visit.""Are you seriously angry with me for working to feed this family?" he demanded, moving away from her as he felt his control on his temper slipping. The last thing he wanted was to hurt anyone or damage anything."It's more than that! If you went and got a proper job you'd get paid more than pennies for the hours you put in," she protested. "You always do above and beyond what's required for others, but we always get pushed to the back burner. What's the point of claiming we live in the same house when you're never around? Part of being a father is actually being there!"He thought back to his own father as his fists clenched in growing frustration. He couldn't blame Videl, she probably didn't realise the relevance of what she'd just said."I know that! Between the age of nine and sixteen I didn't have one! I've never exactly known the perfect role model for this kind of thing!" His breathing became more rapid. "It's my fault my brother didn't even know what a dad was until he was six…"Videl paused as though shocked, probably remembering when he'd admitted his father was dead at that tournament. But she was already determined to be angry."Look, I'm not saying this is a permanent arrangement. Maybe we both have some sorting out that needs to be done. We're going tonight, alright?""No, it's not," he muttered darkly before exiting the room at such a speed that Videl didn't even see him leave. Piccolo sighed before following him, feeling his timing was impeccable. It seemed he would have been bothered by Gohan today one way or another.He felt Gohan transform twice before he came into view. Once they were over empty fields he stopped and began emitting waves of energy that prevented Piccolo from getting any closer. His thoughts seemed to slide off his shielded mind. In fact, his mind was shielded suspiciously well. He knew at that moment it wasn't really Gohan he was dealing with anymore.Piccolo felt Goku approaching them both at a ridiculous speed next. He stopped in mid-air beside him, black hair blowing wildly in the artificial wind."What is it? What happened?" he yelled in order to be heard over the rushing wind.They both backed off a little so an explanation could be given. "He and Videl had an argument. I think she hit a few nerves about being a good father," he replied, watching Goku's frown deepen in thought."Ok, I'm going to change and try to talk to him."Piccolo nodded and put a fair distance between them so he wouldn't get caught up in the storm of Ki. He saw Goku push his way through the waves of energy relatively unharmed. He grabbed his son by the shoulders and appeared to be yelling something at him.All at once the wind died and the bright glow faded. He was still transformed and his mind barriers were still in place, but no one seemed to be in immediate danger anymore. When Goku changed back to normal, he assumed it was safe to approach."I know you're hurting, but this isn't fixing that. And Piccolo's just trying to help you. I know you don't want to think about this right now, but I'll be back in a few hours. I guarantee your mother will want to talk about it then, so just try to calm down."Gohan slowly nodded, staring at the ground. His father patted his shoulder one last time before using his instant transmission to get back to Chi-Chi. Even though they were relatively close by, she would be fretting."Piccolo," the one who had hijacked Gohan's mind spoke. He turned to glare at him. "I've been meaning to have a chat with you.""Oh?" he replied, glaring in return. There wasn't much else he could do. Fighting and running were both out of the question."Yes, about how you've been trying to get rid of me. You nearly did. Too bad he was pushed to transform at such an inopportune moment." He phased in front of him, green eyes hard. "He's asleep at the moment, so there's no point in trying to get through. Not that you could," he continued, grabbing Piccolo by the front of his gi."He's not asleep, he's just let you push him aside. He thinks that's a part of the transformation to the next stage of Super Saiyan," Piccolo said through gritted teeth."Well, he's further gone than usual. I have so much control right now I could probably kill you and he wouldn't notice… this time."Piccolo's heart rate increased, but he forced himself to focus. He'd learnt a variety of interesting tricks from Dende over the past years. One of them was how to enter someone's mind without driving them mad. He could break through with ghosting. He just needed to concentrate in order to do it properly."Well, since you insist on getting rid of me, it looks like it's either you or me. I don't think I'll get a better opportunity than this. Any preference for which rock you want your brains smeared over?" He twisted Gohan's face into a sadistic smirk before speeding towards the ground. Piccolo was being forced downward head first.Piccolo grunted but he knew struggling was futile. He still thought it would have been more efficient to just use a Ki blast to the head. That would be enough prevent any attempts at regeneration. He focused on making his mind intangible in order to slip through the defence.To his relief he managed it, all but colliding with Gohan as he solidified again. The unexpected blow to his consciousness caused him to wake and collide with his alter ego. In the confusion, Piccolo flipped them over so that Gohan's body would take the brunt of the blow. He could take what Piccolo's skull could not.As they crashed into the ground, the alter ego screamed, more from rage than pain. "You can't beat me!" he yelled and started drilling into Piccolo's defences instead of holding up his own. Physically it hurt like hell, but battling with minds did not depend on Ki, so he still had an edge.He forced himself to ignore the pain and be still. He felt the attacks pass right through him as he was able to ghost again. The alter ego seemed to catch on to his disadvantage and instead rolled on top of Piccolo and started gathering enough Ki to wipe him out."Stop!" Gohan yelled. He was slowly regaining control of his own body as he began to realise just what was happening. He was pushed aside again, but retained control of his other hand and arm. He gathered a Ki blast of his own, but pointed it at himself.'What are you doing? You'll kill us both!' his alter-ego cried disbelievingly.'I don't care! At least they'll be rid of you! You're mad… I'm mad.' His thoughts trailed off, but he pressed his hand against his throat. They could see into each other's thoughts clearly, so if one died, they all would.'Fine,' the alter ego surrendered control of his hand and Gohan harmlessly dissipated the gathered energy.He rapidly returned to his base form and collapsed. Both Piccolo and Gohan breathed heavily for a few minutes before they had recovered enough to talk properly."Well, that was stranger than usual.""Here I was thinking it was just an average day for you," Piccolo replied, flicking his old student's temple."Ow! Stop that! I'm old and squishy now," Gohan said, sitting up and rubbing his head.Piccolo rolled his eyes. "No, you're just lazy.""Oh yes, so lazy my wife left me because I work too much," he answered in a tone more bitter than he intended."Alright, not lazy then," Piccolo admitted, to Gohan's surprise. "You're just directing your energy to the wrong areas of your life. I would suggest less to your students and more to your family. The training part is optional…"Piccolo pushed himself into a sitting position, expecting Gohan to get off him. However, he only sat there and stared at him contemplatively. His hands suddenly made their way to gently rest on his chest."Gohan?" he asked uncertainly.He suddenly adopted a pained expression. "I can't believe Videl did that…""I don't agree with her methods, but I think a bit of space will benefit both of you," Piccolo said as he watched Gohan stand up."You're probably right,” Gohan conceded as he held out a hand to help Piccolo get up. “Thanks, Piccolo.”