Oh, The Humanity!
Prologue
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ
He huffed and puffed, taking long, leaping strides. Thoughts of his son ran through his head. Unlike himself, his son was a normal boy. He didn't have a tail and he wasn't naturally strong. Though, he had done something rather impressive during his fight with Raditz...
"I kinda feel bad for Gohan. It's not like having a tail is the best thing in the world, but it is pretty great. I still miss mine sometimes. At least Chichi was happy; she said tails are strange."
He shook his head, slapping his cheeks, "Focus, Goku! Everyone's counting on you. I have to get there fast or else…"
He increased his speed, hopping along the long, winding path. His eyes narrowed, "There's no time to waste. Only a year and they'll arrive. No, less than that. How long have I been up here? A week?"
He ran and ran, but it was just so boring! How was he supposed to concentrate when everything looked the same. He was gonna go nuts! Orange clouds, white path. White path, orange clouds. Over and over and over.
As he was about to jump, one of the spikes on the side of the path nearly tripped him. He waved his arms frantically to regain his balance. He kneeled, sweating up a puddle beneath him. "I just can't keep up this *hah* concerted effort for so long. If I don't rest, I'll fall off!"
He fell back onto his butt before sprawling out as much as the path would allow. "I wouldn't have lost my balance if I still had my tail," he complained. He felt safe lying down because nobody else was on the path... except that guy with the street cleaner, but he'd probably hear it coming a mile away.
"Whew! Man, I'm tired. I could really use something to eat. Buuut I guess I'll have to settle for a nap," he said, talking to the air. He crossed his arms behind his head and lay back; eyes closing slowly, "I'm not wasting time. Once I'm fully rested, I'll be able to make up all the time I lost… and then some," he told himself. His mind drifted off to sleep.
Goku and Chichi were out for a stroll with Gohan. He was so small sitting in his car-shaped stroller and he seemed excited to be outside. Chichi held onto Goku's arm as they walked, speaking to him quietly. Everything seemed to make Gohan happy; a bug landing on his hand, a bird flying by, the chittering of a squirrel, or just the sight of his parents peeking their heads around to make sure he was okay. Or, in Goku's case, to make funny faces.
Chichi pointed out a family of birds and Goku became distracted watching them. He unknowingly let go of Gohan, and the stroller rolled away. Neither of them noticed as he gained speed, flying across a ravine. When they became aware, it was too late; he was heading for a tree. They ran after him, but neither was fast enough. He crashed into the tree and…
Goku shot up, eyes fluttering open. He rubbed at his face as his heart tried to leap out of his chest, "No, no. That's not what happened. Just a bad dream. Gohan's just fine," he reminded himself. In truth, Goku had noticed Gohan rolling away pretty quickly. He caught up before the ravine and managed to stop him. Gohan was even laughing, having enjoyed the ride.
Goku inhaled deeply, looking at how snake road disappeared into the distance, "Keep going or try to sleep again?" he asked himself. "Am I just going to have another bad dream? I do need to rest, though…"
Goku went back to sleep.
Goku walked through the forest, the trunk of a large tree held on his shoulder. Patchy bits of sunlight filtered through the leaves, dotting the forest floor. He turned back to check that Gohan was following him properly.
"Haha! Whatcha got there, bud?" Goku asked.
Gohan grinned, hefting the branch he was carrying over his shoulder, "Firewood!"
"Copyin' your old man, huh?" he asked, smiling broadly. Gohan nodded happily.
They made it out from the canopy of trees, warm sunlight shining down on them. Arriving at the house, Goku set his log down with a heavy thud, chopping it into manageable pieces with his hands. Gohan tried to copy with his branch, "OW!" he yelped.
Goku took a quick look at his hand, noticing the redness on the side. He smiled at his son reassuringly, "No big deal. We'll put something on it for the pain and in a day or so you'll be right as rain!"
Gohan nodded. The front door burst open and Chichi flew out, coming to a stop before Gohan. She grabbed his arm, "Oh, poor baby! We need to go to the hospital right now!"
"Now, hold on, Chichi. He's just fine; right, Gohan?"
Gohan looked at each of them, blinking away unshed tears. He swallowed, then nodded, "I'm okay, mommy. It doesn't hurt," he said. Chichi looked uncertain, but listened when Goku asked her to get some of the numbing salve he had made the other day.
Gohan looked at his father curiously, ignoring the fact that his hand did hurt, "Daddy? How did you do that?"
Goku raised a brow, "Do what?" he asked. Gohan looked at the stack of logs. "Oh, that! It just takes some training, that's all."
"Wow! Can I train, too?"
Goku's grin nearly cracked his face, "Of course you can, Gohan!"
Goku's eyes opened once more, "Now that's a good dream!" he thought. Not long after Gohan was born, he and Chichi made a deal. If Gohan asked for training by the time he was four, then he could train. However, he had to promise not to coerce him. It had to be something Gohan asked of his own volition. Perhaps you can imagine how happy Goku was that it had actually happened.
"I don't see why Chichi was so set on him being a scholar. What do they even do?" he wondered. He pushed himself up, "Alright! I'm all rested now so let's get going!" he said with resolve. He took off once more.
A/N: So there's the prologue. Hope you enjoyed it! I'm not sure how much I want to say about the story right now... It's AU. I'm planning to make some pretty big changes to each arc. I'm not sure how long it'll end up, but it's definitely going until the Buu saga; I'll decide whether to continue into Super... at some point in the future. Oh, also it's GohanXVidel.
What do you think of the cover-art? I took a screenshot from the bojack movie and traced Gohan out, making the lines sharper and colors brighter, etc. The background isn't really an aura (I tried making an aura, but then I realized I would have to completely change the shadows, which would be very difficult for me), it's just something I threw together because it looks better than a solid color.
