Only four months had passed since the end of the Cell games, and since the death of the noble Saiyan Kakarot.
Passing on the mantle of responsibility, his son is now in possession of the fate of the entire Earth. With his hidden power finally unlocked, he is now destined to protect the Earth from any and every threat that rears it's ugly head. Many obstacles face the young warrior, some easier than others to overcome. His mother being one...
"But mom!"
It was another day in the East District, and the Sun was just beginning to reach the center of the sky over Mount Paozu. At the edge of the bright green dense forest was where the Son family lived, and it seemed another argument had broke out between the recently widowed Chi-Chi and her teen son Gohan.
"No butts young man!" She began, "You promised me! You promised me after the Cell games you would stop fighting and start studying for good!"
Gohan was currently sitting at the kitchen table, sandwich in hand, while his mother stood behind the sink washing dishes.
"That was before dad died though... He passed the responsibility of the entire Earth on to me! I can't just turn my back on it!" He argued.
She turned to face him, "Well you can't just turn your back on your studies either!"
Sighing, Gohan finished his sandwich. "I can't just give up training! I have to keep training! Please mom! Not only because it's the best for the Earth..." He got quiet for a second, barely whispering the next part, but it was still loud enough for her to hear, "But also it's because it's what he would have wanted."
It got quiet in the kitchen, but it was not an awkward quiet.
Chi-Chi looked down at the floor, her eyes reflecting on her thinking deeply about something while Gohan stared off into space, which had become alot more common since Goku's passing.
"Alright Gohan... I tell you what."
He looked up at her, hopeful.
"You can train. But, you have to study EVERY WEEK DAY, all day, only taking a break to eat and sleep."
"I already do that though-"
"Let me finish!" She sighed. "You study every week day, but on the weekends, you study for an hour, and then you have the rest of the day to train. Deal?"
Gohan smiled genuinely for the first time in what seemed like months, finally, he would be able to do what he's wanted to do for months - he would be able to live up to his promise to his father and protect the Earth. But still, only weekends? That's not enough... But he would have to work with it, that or find out something he could do about it.
If anything, his father is probably training all day EVERY day...
So that was it, then. From that point on, Gohan studied each week day, and on the weekends he retreated from home to go seek out Piccolo and train with him, or sometimes meditate with him.
Such a thing was happening right now.
It was a pretty bland location which seemed to be the type of place Piccolo preferred - Barren, dusty, boring... But it was also the type of place he could think clearly in, no distractions, he could sit there in the middle of the land for hours on end in silence.
Currently, he did so.
The sun barely rising, and Gohan had already sat out, instantly he picked through several high power levels and found Piccolo's familiar Ki signature, and then flew off in the direction of it. Not surprising to him, he was meditating in a grassy plain.
Wordlessly, he landed next to him and assumed a meditative pose as well.
For what felt like hours, the two sat in silence, but from the subtle shift in Piccolo's energy, Gohan could feel he was glad he was there.
Gohan dedicated most of his meditative sessions to practicing and mastering the Super Saiyan 2 transformation. Gohan managed to master the Super Saiyan 1 transformation in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber by keeping himself in the state and staying calm for an extended period of time, but Gohan didn't have the time to train for that. If he returned home with blonde hair again, his mother would die.
But recently, Gohan found the need for an emotional trigger to transform into the Super Saiyan 2 gradually subsiding, and he could almost transform at will anytime he wanted now. Gently though, Gohan brought himself slowly into the Super Saiyan 1 form, relaxing himself and keeping his body as calm as he could as the energy spread through him.
Once he had assumed the Full Power Super Saiyan state, he began focusing on his inner power - Bringing his Super Saiyan 2 form out.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaa..." He began as his hair started twitching and sparks of energy began arching off his body "Haaaaaa..." His hair became spikier and his energy increased rapidly as he transformed slowly into the Super Saiyan 2 state.
After a few moments, he was done. He was a Super Saiyan 2.
Last time, Gohan managed to stay Super Saiyan 2 for about 6 hours before it became to stressing and he lost control of the form. This time, he was determined to go past that.
"You're getting better at that." Piccolo commented, breaking the silence in the air.
Gohan was surprised, as Piccolo normally didn't speak to him during these sessions, but was glad to reply. "Yep."
Silence took place once more as Gohan relaxed his power.
"Do you think you can master the Super Saiyan 2 similar to how you did the first one?"
Gohan took a few minutes to respond, as he was both thinking and focusing on keeping his power regulated. "No. Not really. Honestly right now, I'm more focused on just getting the transformation under control. I think I can negate alot of the negative effects of the form by prolonged exposure, but that won't really be good enough. I've come to a realization."
Piccolo's eyes opened and he looked at Gohan. "And what would that be?"
Now, Gohan's aura relaxed slightly and his hair didn't stand so on point, but his Ki still was maxed out in the Super Saiyan 2 form.
"Well... I've been thinking... And I think my dad has come to this conclusion by now too... It IS alot more efficient to not focus on Super Saiyan forms, but to focus more on your base level... It's easier, plus you don't have to worry about the stress on your body brought on by the Super Saiyan form. If you get your base high, that makes the regular Super Saiyan form strong too. Plus, I've already gotten the Super Saiyan mastered, and so has he."
Piccolo was quiet for a moment. "Are you saying you believe your father has already become a Super Saiyan 2?"
"Yes."
Goku, a Super Saiyan 2? In this short amount of time?
"Hm... I can't say I agree with that, but I am inclined to agree with you on the base form theory. But what are you saying?"
Gohan continued, "Well, my dad has all the time in the universe to master all the Super Sayian forms he wants, and to increase his base ki level... But I don't. I only have weekends." Piccolo grunted, Gohan had told him about his mother's deal with him. And while he didn't agree, it was better than nothing.
"I don't have that time to train my base level that much... So, I'm going to focus primarily on reaching the higher levels of the Super Saiyan form. And I think already know how to get past the Super Saiyan 2." Piccolo detected a bit of arrogance in the last statement, but he was very curious.
"How many forms after the Super Saiyan 2 do you think there are?"
Gohan thought a bit.
"I don't know" He responded truthfully "All I know is, right now, I can FEEL there's something more than the Super Saiyan 2. Maybe if I go past the Super Saiyan 2 and into the next state, I can see if there is something more than that too..."
"So," Piccolo smiled "You're saying you think you know how to break into this 'Super Saiyan 3'?"
Gohan chuckled. "Yep. There's a problem with that though - I have a theory about the transformations. With each progressive transformation, it becomes less and less effective and harder to control and remain in the state. Plus. I have to make sure my body can handle it. I don't know how much time I can hold onto the higher Super Saiyan forms... That's why I'm trying to hold on to the Super Saiyan 2 form right now, but it's not going as well as I'd hoped. I guess I'll have to just defeat whatever villain is threatening Earth as fast as I can. Plus I have to worry about how long it takes to BECOME higher Super Saiyan forms."
Piccolo shut his eyes and stayed deep in thought for a long time, so long Gohan thought he was done talking for now and shut his eyes and focused on controlling his energy. And, it seemed he was doing a good job as his aura had vanished completely and his hair was relaxed and no longer glowing, just a bright blonde color, similar to his Full Power Super Saiyan.
"Your theory sounds pretty good. And I agree. So are you going to transform into higher Super Saiyan forms, master their transformation so you can do it quickly, and move on, training your base level as suited so you can handle it?"
Gohan smiled, "That's the idea."
"Alright... Show me this Super Saiyan 3 you have been talking about."
"Gladly."
Gohan flew up into the sky, while Piccolo stood from his position and watched, arms crossed.
Slowly, Gohan felt deep inside of himself, reaching through all his power and energy - Farther than he ever did before, and then after a brief moment he found it - A wild, untapped, untamed energy hidden inside of him. And from the looks of it... There was more than that, it seemed he was only scratching the surface.
Tapping into that energy, he began letting out a wailing scream as his aura rapidly began to spike again.
He had to be careful - This transformation was going to be really messy.
The Earth began shaking as he began screaming, pulling out the energy inside of him - Deeper than the Super Saiyan, deeper than the Super Saiyan 2, he felt it, grabbed it, and began charging.
His Ki began rapidly growing, as did his hair - sparks of energy shooting off him like an unstable electricity generator - the Earth shaking harder with each passing minute.
"Amazing..." Piccolo muttered. Gohan was becoming stronger with each passing second - At this rate he would be WAY more powerful than his Super Saiyan 2 form... And to think, Gohan said there was an unknown number of these transformations... There could be hundreds of Super Saiyan transformations, each making the user more and more powerful.
Gohan struggled, trying to release the energy without destroying everything around him, and then there - He felt it snap into place - He did it. He had transformed into a Super Saiyan 3. Excess Ki shot off him, blowing the clouds away like paper.
Piccolo had to cover his eyes from the rapidly flashing light his energy gave off, and suddenly everything was calm. Slowly he opened his eyes and his mouth went agape from the sight before him.
Gohan's hair had grown to an extreme length, past his torso, and his aura was... Relaxed in a way, more tame than the Super Saiyan 2, but not exactly like a Super Saiyan 1. Energy sparked off the boy like before, only this time more extreme.
"There we go." He smiled, feeling a level of power he had never felt before course through his veins.
He phased infront of Piccolo. "What do you think?"
Piccolo chuckled. "Impressive. So this is a Super Saiyan 3?"
"Yeah... And already I feel it's limitations. My energy is rapidly decreasing. But that's okay... I think I can try to negate alot of the problems with this one like I did before in the other forms."
"And then?"
"And then I move on to the next."
Piccolo's eyes widened. "So you can feel it, then? You can feel another level past this one?"
Gohan hummed as he searched his power, and then nodded. "Yeah. I felt alot of untapped power when I was using it to transform into this one... And it seems there's alot left. More actually. Hm... This could mean there are... Unlimited transformations."
"Unlimited Super Saiyan transformations?" Piccolo was astounded at the powers the Super Saiyan form granted it's user, and felt a slight twinge of jealously even...
Now, the Sun was setting, and it would be dark soon. Tomorrow, Gohan would return to the same spot, and practice transforming into the Super Saiyan 2 form, and then once he was satisfied with the speed of the transformation, he would work on toning the destructive transformation of the third one, and then move onto the next Super Saiyan form. He'd do this over and over again for each form he'd find, so the Earth would be with a powerful protector.
Power Levels(For fun :3)
Gohan - 100,000,000
Gohan(SSJ2 Semi Mastered): 12,500,000,000
Gohan(SSJ3): 40,000,000,000
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Piccolo: 4,250,000,000
I can't write Dragon Ball at all xP please give some pointers in the reviews.