Disclaimer: My name is not Akira Toriyama. Therefore, I do not own Dragonball.
Narrator: Garlic Jr.'s grand schemes have come to an end, like a dream within a dream, thanks to the power of Goku and the others. Goku thought about whether he should tell Chichi about how he had been saved by his son, Gohan…
Goku looked down at his son, clasped to his knee on the nimbus. Gohan looked up, and grinned at his daddy. Goku smiled back, but inwardly, he was worried. 'Garlic was way powerful, stronger than me and Piccolo together. I didn't know it was possible to be so strong. I'll have to train that much harder, in case someone like that comes again.' Goku glanced back at his son, and wondered at his power. 'Gohan is so strong, and he doesn't even know it. Chichi would never believe that he saved everyone today. He doesn't even remember it himself.' Goku knew he had to start training gohan, but he would never get chichi to agree, unless…
"Absolutely not, Goku! We've been through this already, and you agreed. Our son is not going to be a fighter; he is going to be a scholar!" Chichi yelled at her husband when he brought up the idea of training Gohan over dinner that night.
"Come on, Chichi. You saw how strong those guys were. And their boss, Garlic, was stronger than me! I'm not going to make him a fighter, but he needs to be able to take care of himself incase someone strong like garlic shows up again." Goku laid out his case, quickly and calmly. He was not going to fight, but he was not taking no for an answer.
"That Garlic fiend was an exception. You even said Kami told you he'd been planning his revenge for 300 years. What are the odds anyone like that would show up again?" Chichi had caught on to Goku's attitude, and if he thought he could win her over just by being calm, she could play that game.
"It wasn't just him, though. Even his goons were strong enough to challenge me. I won't feel safe unless Gohan," here Goku sighed, bringing in the final part of his plan, "and you are able to defend yourself from monsters like them."
"Wait, you want me to start training again, too? No way, I have too much to do already. I have to keep up with Gohan's lessons, clean, cook for both of you. There's just too much to do for me to train too."
"Well, I could help with the cleaning. I'm not much of a cook, though. But Gohan spends too much time studying, anyway. I stopped in Orange City on the way home, and I found out some things. Did you know that kids normally don't start going to school until they're five? You've had Gohan studying since his third birthday. They also spend eight hours a day, five days a week in school for about eight months out of the year. You have Gohan studying twelve hours a day, every day. It's too much. If Gohan cuts back his studying to normal, then you won't have to work so hard keeping up with his lessons. Here's a deal. He studies eight hours a day, four days a week, all year. You both train with me for two hours on those days. The next day, you both train with me for eight hours. The day after that we all take off. The last day we train again."
"How many times do I have to say no!" Chichi began getting angry again. She couldn't imagine Gohan not studying. "Gohan needs to study so he can get into a good university. We don't have the money to send him, so he has to get a scholarship. I don't like pushing him so hard, but if he's going to be a doctor, he has to work hard."
"Chichi, calm down!" Goku snapped. He had had enough of her pointless worrying. "We still have nearly a million zenni from the 23rd budokai. The new stadium is going to be finished within the next few years. And get this. Not only are they doubling the prize, but there will also be a second place prize. Even if I somehow don't win, I just have to make it to the final round, and we're set for years again. Money won't be an issue. And if you start training, we'll have 2 chances of winning the prize, and we might even get both prizes." Goku took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to say. "Chichi, I'm through with this argument. Gohan is going to start training, and that's that. If you don't want him to train, then you have to get strong enough to stop me from training him."
Chichi stared, dumbfounded. Goku never pushed this hard for anything. It finally began to sink in just how serious this was for him. "Fine. You can start training us, just like you said before. But as soon as the two of us together are able to beat you, that is it! You hear me?"
Goku laughed, and scratched the back of his head. "That's all I even wanted."
Master Roshi was watching one of his favorite exercise videos, when he heard a thump coming from upstairs. He climbed the stairs, and found Krillin packing a knapsack with a few sets of his gi. "So, you're leaving? I figured you would, after today."
Krillin looked up at the old hermit, and sighed. "Yeah, I can't stand being too weak to do anything. I'm the third or fourth strongest fighter on the planet, but Garlic was way out of my league. Even his goons were stronger than me! It's just not right."
"I understand," the old master responded. "It's not easy seeing others pass you by. In fact, I think I'll start training again, too. Although at my age, I doubt it will do much good. I'm about capped out. But you're young, you can get much stronger. So, where will you go?"
The short monk shrugged, and turned back to packing. "I was thinking about heading to Korin's tower, and seeing if I can get an audience with Kami. He trained Goku; maybe I can get him to train me. If not, I'll go to Baba and ask her where I should go. At the very least, I can get a good workout in her tournament."
Roshi nodded his head. "Sounds like a plan, but I have one suggestion. Go to Baba's first. Then, if she says to go to someone besides Kami, you haven't wasted a trip all the way to Korin's tower."
"Good idea. I'll do that, instead." With that, the bald man picked up his sack, tied it to his head, and jumped straight out the window into the ocean, swimming north on his latest adventure.
Author's note: Hi all. Thanks in advance for reading this fic. A few things I want to get straight from the very beginning.
1. This is a manga-based fanfic. As much as I love the old Funi dub anime, it does not do justice to Toriyama's work. So, for example: Goku was over 8,000, not 9,000. In fact, I have him at 8,320 during the fight with Vegeta.
2. As of now, I will include the following movies in the plot. Cooler's Revenge, Bojack Unbound, and Wrath of the Dragon. These movies do fit fairly well into the main canon timeline, and assuming this story stays close to that timeline far enough along, they will be featured. Obviously, the premise of this story is what would happen if the Dead Zone movie actually occurred, and Goku & Co. had to face a Raditz level opponent before Raditz came to earth.
3. I have my own theories and ideas on many aspects of the series. I try to stick as closely as possible to what is given in the manga, but I don't put much stock in other sources, so what happens in this story may not be exactly what you expect to happen if you've read a bunch of Dragonball fanfics or been on a Dragonball discussion forum for any length of time.