Born to Be King
This story was inspired by the Ox Prince Brings the Family to high school which is unfortunately no longer on the site.
Gohan was sitting in his classroom at school. It was the second lesson of the day yet the teenager couldn't concern trait on the class. He couldn't even sleep through class like he normally did. He was worried for his grandfather; he caught the flu the week before and was having trouble shaking it. While he was sick, he'd been staying with the family instead of in his castle. He could see that his mother was concerned for her father. It was unlike his grandfather to be sick more than a few days.
Gohan was distracted from his thoughts and concerns about his grandfather as Videls wristwatch beeped, alerting her to a crime happening somewhere in the city. He watched as the junior cop ran into one of the office ladies when she came through the door open. The office lady fell to the floor.
"I'm sorry Miss Demetrio." Videl apologised, helping the young woman up.
"That's quite alright, you may be able to help you ... I mean me." She said slightly dazed from not only being barrelled over by Videl but from her previous phone call. The phone call which had brought her to the classroom. "Is Mr Gohan Son currently here?"
"He is; up the back" Videl pointed out.
"Would you like to see Gohan?" the teacher asked, she was rather used to having her classes interrupted.
"I would," Demetrio answered.
Gohan walked down slowly, picking up his books. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be coming back.
Videls curiosity got the best of her. She stayed standing outside the classroom hoping that whatever she'd been called to wasn't urgent. Gohan came out, neither he or the teacher seemed to notice or if they did notice, they didn't care that she was standing there.
"Gohan," the teacher murmured. "We had a call from your mother ..."
"Grandpa, did she say if he's alright?" Gohan panicked, that would be the only reason that his mother would call the school, right?
"He's not good, she asked that you come home as soon as possible," she said confirming Gohan's fears.
"Gohan, do you need a lift home?" Videl asked.
"No thanks, Videl I'll be fine." Gohan managed to squeak out. Videl noticed that he also seemed to be close to tears. The Son boy ran out before Videl had a chance to follow him.
BTBK
Gohan tried to calm himself down. He had to be strong for his mother since she would only call him if things were bad. He looked down at the city below him noticing fire rising up from a building, knowing that had to be the job Videl just got called out for. Without a second thought, Gohan flew down to the city below and into the burning fire. He could sense five ki's from the building. He flew into the room with the strongest two ki's and found a little girl hugging a dog and crying. Gently the young superhero picked up the dog and his young master and flew to the next room where he could sense another ki; this one belong to a bird that looked very close to death. Nursing the dog and the girl in one arm he ripped open the cage with his free hand and made his way to the next area he could sense a ki that seemed to be making its way towards the balcony. Gohan watched as a cat jumped out the window and without thinking jumped after it, realising he didn't have any free hands to catch the feline. He sighed with relief when the cat landed on all fours and ran straight to a frantic man who calmed down once the cat was in his hands.
"My baby!" a lady yelled, reminding the young hero of his mother. Saiyanman gently gave the young girl over.
"And our dog as well." The girl's father smiled, taking the canine from the hero leaving him only with a bird.
"Does anyone own a bird?" Saiyanman asked holding the bird out gently with his free hand.
"Peaty." A girl slightly older than Saiyanman shouted out. "I can believe that you saved him."
"I'm not sure if I saved him miss, there was a lot of smoke and birds aren't as hardy as other animals." Seeing the bird close to death saddened the young hero.
"Whether Peaty lives through this or not I thank you Saiyanman; for attempting to save him no matter how small he was." The girl said through happy tears, giving Gohan a peck on the cheek.
Everyone cheered as a firefighter came out with a young man, sensing the building again Gohan could tell that there was nothing else living in there, be it human or pets.
"Is that everyone officer?" Gohan asked in his superhero voice.
"We believe so Saiyanman," the officer replied. "Everyone who lives here is now accounted for."
"In that case, I'll be off." He flew into the distance and heard shouted requests for him to help put out the blaze and with then the cleanup afterwards. Normally he would but he'd already wasted too much time and had to get home as soon as possible. Today he couldn't help any further like he normally did.
BTBK
Videl arrived just as some girl kissed Saiyanman on the cheek. He had outdone her again! Not only did he arrive first; he saved a little girl as well as a dozen animals, at least, that was how the witnesses were reporting it.
The Satan girl also thought that Saiyanman had the better deal when it came to crime fighting.
A. He had powers.
B. He didn't seem to get hurt too often.
C. And most importantly he didn't have the paperwork that went with it like she did.
Hoping the cops hadn't noticed her, Videl made her way back to school. There was no way that she was going to do paperwork without doing the real work first.
BTBK
"Videl, do you know where Gohan is? He generally comes back when you do." The blond girl asked when after ten minutes Gohan still hadn't shown up.
"He went home after he spoke to the office lady. His grandfathers sick and he was asked by his mother to come home as soon as possible." Videl explained.
"I hope his grandpa is ok," Erasa stated sincerely.
BTBK
Gohan ran through the front door of his house and upstairs, his mother was crying in his bedroom, his grandfather he couldn't sense his grandfather's ki, the older man was also to still for the Gohan's liking.
"Grandpa, no he's ... this isn't possible, he only had the flu," Gohan stuttered.
"Gohan, my baby. You're home at last." Chi Chi screamed and grabbed her oldest son in a bear hug. "My daddy's gone, and there was nothing I could do! It's all my fault! I should have taken him to a hospital." She sobbed.
BTBK
It was hours later and everyone in the Son family had red puffy eyes and streaks of tears down their face. Gohan was up in his room looking out the window, holding a textbook which he'd tried to use to distract himself; which had only succeeded in making the book soggy with his tears. Gohan's mobile phone rung, in a zombie-like mode he picked up the ringing device.
"Gohan, is your grandpa alright?" The voice on the other end asked.
"Videl?" Gohan managed to whisper out. He was amazed at how croaky his voice sounded when he said her name.
"Yes it's Videl, is everything alright with your grandpa?
"He's gone, I was too late. He was already gone when I got back. I shouldn't been faster travelling home. No, I shouldn't have gone to school today. Then I would've been able to spend a few more moments with him." He managed to sob, he continued rambling on.
Videl was in shock, Gohan was crying on the other end of the phone. She'd never heard him cry before and worse, it sounded like his grandfather died before he was able to get home. Her kind classmate was blaming himself for not getting there in time to not finding a cure or realising that he was that sick. She didn't know what to do so she just sat there listening while Gohan got it all of his chest.
"I'm sorry about your grandpa. I'll let Erasa and Sharpener know at school tomorrow if that's okay with you."
"Sure Videl, thanks for listening." Gohan managed a smile as he hung up the phone. He felt a lot better after talking to Videl, he turned to see his little brother standing at the door.
"Gohan, can I sleep with you tonight?" The younger boy asked, his eyes read, tears and snot streaking down his face.
"Sure," Gohan smiled as his brother ran and gave him a hug and started sobbing.
"Mummy said that we can't use the Dragon Balls to wish grandpa back." The young boy cried, hoping that his older brother would tell him that their mum was wrong.
"No, we can't." The older brother confirmed. "Grandpa died of natural causes, he can't come back."
"But why can't the dragon bring back people that die of natural causes?" Goten cried. "I want my grandpa!"
Gohan just held his brother till he cried himself to sleep, before leaving the younger boy curled up on his bed. The son boy made his way downstairs, a capsule on the table which contained his grandfather's corpse.
"Gohan, are you hungry?" Chi Chi asked her oldest as he stood in the doorway.
"Not really," Gohan replied, making a move to sit next to his mother. "What happens now?"
"I'm going to have to return to the Ox Kingdom and let everyone know what happened." Chi Chi answered. "Someone is going to have to take over as ruler of the Ox Kingdom."
"Who was next in line for the throne?" Gohan dumbly asked.
"I was, but I stood down from my responsibilities a long time ago. I'm not sure if I'm still in line for the throne or if you are." Chi Chi responded.
BTBK
Bulma had chosen Gohan's costume well for Saiyanman. It was a tradition for the Ox family to wear a costume of some sort and a helmet. His mother was wearing a helmet which looked like it had a fin on top, a white cape with a purple dress. Looking at older photos of his mother he was glad that she was wearing a dress since it seemed like when she was younger, she wore a bikini with the cape and helmet instead.
"So we just go out there and announce to the world that grandpa is dead?" Gohan managed to squeak out.
"Pretty much," Chi Chi answered fussing over her sons Saiyanman costume. Wiping away imaginary dust and fluff. She's already removed everything that was legitimately their a long time ago.
"Princess Chi Chi, may I interrupt?" A butler by the name of Renji asked. He'd worked for the family for a number of years.
"Of course," Chi Chi replied.
"This is Miss Videl Satan. She has been hired as protection." Renji introduced the last girl Gohan expected to be at his grandfather's house.
BTBK
Videl couldn't believe it, she gets a job to protect the Ox Kings family and who does she find already there Saiyanman. She didn't want this job if it required working alongside Saiyanman to protect the royal family.
"I'm quite capable of looking after myself. I don't need this child looking after me!" Chi Chi snapped.
"Who are you calling a child, old lady!" Videl snapped, covering her mouth hastily. She couldn't believe that she had just called the Ox Princess, an old lady.
"What about your son, he may need protection?" Renji asked he didn't seem to keep up with the media so wasn't aware the Ox Prince was also known as Saiyanman to the public.
"I think I can look after myself," Gohan replied. Not believing that Renji had suggested Videl, the girl he was always rescuing from danger should be protecting him.
"You're the Ox Prince?" Videl was in shock and the young Ox Prince was nervous because he knew it wouldn't be long until everyone found out that Gohan Son, Saiyanman and the Ox Prince were, all the same, person. Heck, he didn't even know he was the Ox Prince till recently. "Saiyanman is the Ox Prince?"
"Um yes," Gohan replied, knowing that Videl would work it out very soon who he really was especially since he hadn't used his superhero voice once since she had been there.
"Renji, may you please leave now. Miss Videl can stay." Chi Chi said sounding just a little bit sinister.
"Now who are you and why do you want to protect us?" Chi Chi questioned once Renji was gone.
"Because the police from your Kingdom suspect foul play with your father's death and wants to protect you from whoever hurt your father. Plus it's my job to protect people." Videl replied.
"My father died of natural causes. There was no foul play involved at all, I was with him when he passed away." Chi Chi replied with a cold tone. "And I don't believe that the police would send a little girl to protect people."
"Do you have any idea who I am?" Videl snapped.
"Should I?" Chi Chi snapped.
"Mum, this is Videl, who I go to school with. She is Mr Hercule Satans daughter." Gohan replied. He was about to reveal his real identity in a few minutes to the whole world, so he thought he may as well get Videl out the way since she was already there. Besides she might come out onto the balcony where the announcement was being made and who knows what she would do, but one thing he did know was, she would be angry.
Videl stood in shock, Saiyanman just said that he went to school with her. But she still had no idea who he could possibly be. Unless he was the boy at school whose, grandfather had died that week.
"Gohan?" Videl stuttered.
Saiyanman just nodded his head.
A maid had entered the room while everyone was standing in silence. "Miss Chi Chi, Master Gohan, the press conference is about to start."
The maid also confirming that Gohan was, in fact, Saiyanman and the Ox Prince.
"Thank you Miruku," Chi Chi replied.
"Now Gohan, do you remember what you have to say?" Chi Chi asked her son in a motherly tone.
"I do," Gohan gulped, he hated the idea of public speaking.
"Videl, can you make sure no one comes through this door?" Gohan asked he knew that if he didn't say anything, his mother would kick her out and then he would have to deal with an annoyed Videl next time he spoke to her. "Thank you for listening."
BTBK
"May I introduce Princess Chi Chi and her son Prince Gohan." The spokesperson for the palace said as Gohan and Chi Chi walked onto the balcony.
A lot of gasps were heard, not many people were aware of the fact that Princess Chi Chi had a son and the fact that her son was already a grown man and the superhero Saiyanman. This had many wondering how she had managed to keep him a secret and why the connection between Saiyanman and the Ox Prince wasn't made sooner within the Kingdom.
BTBK
Sitting in front of a TV in West City where twins Erasa and Sharpener whom Gohan went to school with.
"There is no way that could be nerd boy? Is there?" Sharpener asked his sister.
"I always joked that he was a prince charming and Saiyanman. I never thought I was correct. Who would've thought our nerdy little friend was a hero and a prince." Erasa replied. "Do you think he will still go to school with us?"
Sharpener shrugged.
BTBK
"Poor kid, he never liked publicity," Yamcha stated to his friends from his years of playing baseball.
"Yamcha, is Chi Chi, the bossy little princess girl who married Goku?" A blue haired woman by the name of Launch asked him. He'd found her entirely by accident in a pub one day.
"She is," Yamcha replied.
"You knew the Ox Princess?" One of the members of his old team asked him. The other's started laughing.
"I actually asked her to marry me," Yamcha laughed at the memory. He had thought that Chi Chi was going to kill him so he had asked her to marry him. "Back in the day when I was still a Desert Bandit."
BTBK
Gohan looked at the crowd of people and with his Saiyan hearing could make out the occasional comment about the Ox Prince being Saiyanman and other whispers wondering where the Ox King was.
Gohan took a deep breath before he started his announcement. "I Son, Gohan prince of the Ox Kingdom and my mother Princess Chi Chi are here today to inform you that 2 pm Wednesday afternoon my Grandfather the Ox King passed away due to illness." Gohan paused as he let his words sink in for the crowd. It seemed surreal; his mother had broken down crying which was why she was unable to give the speech herself. Every time she practised, she would break down in tears. Goten was currently at Capsule Corporation with Bulma and Trunks watching the broadcast on TV.
After Gohan had finished speaking a spokesperson from the Palace informed the public that the coronation of the new ruler would take place after soon after the public funeral. The spokesperson never announced who the new ruler was going to be, they were currently working out who would take over from the Ox King due to Princess Chi Chi having stepped down from the thrown years before.
BTBK
"Are my mum and big brother really a princess and prince?" Goten asked as he watched the broadcast.
"They are indeed, and you're a prince as well," Bulma told Goten.
"How come I didn't know?" Goten asked.
"Your big brother didn't know either," Bulma answered. "When your mum gets home I'm sure she will tell you why she didn't tell you."
BTBK
Gohan collapsed once he was back inside and away from the media and broke down in a fresh stream of tears. His grandfather was indeed gone. It hadn't felt real before, but it felt real now.
"Do you need me to get you anything?" Videl asked Chi Chi and Gohan.
Gohan shook his head no while his mother requested a glass of water.
BTBK
It had been decided that Gohan would be the one that would take over from his grandfather and he would need to start preparing for his coronation and his duties once he became King. All the preparation had to be done around school since Chi Chi wasn't going to let him leave.
"You're going to need your high school diploma." Chi Chi argued with her son.
"But mum, all the kids at school are going to pay attention to me," Gohan complained. "Can't you homeschool me again?" Gohan begged.
"No, you are going to high school whether you like it or not mister" Chi Chi scolded her son.
Gohan grumbled about the fact that he would still have to go to school, even though he loved learning new things he hated going to school.
He smiled, him fighting with him mum without either one of them breaking down into tears felt so normal and relaxing.
BTBK
He got stares when he did return back to school a week later. Everyone was whispering about what they'd seen on TV. He walked to the back of the classroom where Sharpener and Erasa were already sitting. He was most nervous about how his friends were going to react.
"Hi Gohan," Erasa greeted him with her cheery voice and clung to his arm like normal. Sharpener's greeting was also normal. "We saw the broadcast on TV. We're sorry about your grandpa. Are you alright?"
"Thank-you. I will be" He replied smiling at the blond before him.
He was happy that his two blond friends were still treating him the same as before. Videl was treating him slightly different than before, but it was more to do with she didn't know how to deal with knowing his Saiyanman identity and stuggling with seeing Saiyanman and Gohan as one person since she had dealt with Saiyanman as a seperate person for so long. He was still expecting an eventual grilling from her once things had settled down and his grandfather's death wasn't so fresh.
Everyone else in the class treated him very differently. Worst of all even the teacher was different around him. He had people that had never given him the time of day before trying to suck up to him. Thankfully, Sharpener and Erasa both had years of experience with Videl that they were able to weed out those people who meant him harm. He was grateful for his three friends.
"So how come you never told us you were a prince." Erasa playfully asked him during the lunch break.
"Yeah, it would've made Videl less suspicious if she knew you also came from a famous background." Sharpener laughed.
"I didn't know I was a prince until the other day," he replied sadly. "I thought my grandfathers' title was just a martial arts fighting name."
Sharpener laughed hard. "So oblivious. Didn't you read the history books for class? Your grandfathers mentioned several times. Your mothers even mentioned directly as the Ox Princess."
They all turned when they were blinded by a flash. Videl was the first one to react, pulling a camera out of the photographs hand and smashing the camera to the ground.
"You aren't allowed on school property." The Satan heiress yelled.
"We're not allowed on school property to take photos of you, there is nothing against us taking photos of young Prince Gohan."
"You'll find that my mother's rather strict when it comes to taking photos of me without permission," Gohan told the photographer. This was why he didn't want the credit from the Cell games. He hated publicity as did his mother.
Unfortunately, it was the first of many incidents with the media. They only got more cunning the closer the funeral and coronation came.
BTBK
The private funeral was held with close friends, family and staff of the palace. Gohan looked around at the people he knew all his life. The people who truly knew his grandfather and not just his title. He squeezed his mother's hand as she gave the eulogy. His mother and grandfather have always been close, he'd known his mother had only grown closer after her own mother, his grandmother had passed away when she was a young child. Chi Chi cried and sobbed during the whole eulogy, everyone was silent and understanding at her tears. Everyone here knew how much losing her father meant to Chi Chi, it meant more to her then losing his dad, Goku which was saying something considering how fiercely Chi Chi loved her husband.
Once his mother had finished, friends and family came up to them speaking kind words. Goten and the other children looking lost. This was the first time any of them had been faced with true irreversible death.
"Gohan, your grandfather was a great man and king," Krillen told him. "He lost his way for a while, but found it again and was a better person as a result. I know you will make him proud, that you will be a King that the people will look up to, that the Kingdom will continue to prosper under your rule. Besides you're the smartest strongest kid, I know."
"Thank you Krillen." Gohan smiled. His father's friend always knew how to make him smile.
"Now you just need to find the perfect woman to be your Queen." Krillen teased.
Gohan sighed and Chi Chi perked up at the mention of a wife for her son.
"I already have someone in mind." Chi Chi grinned. Telling everyone about the boisterous girl the police chief from the city had sent out to 'protect' them. Gohan groaned as the teasing started, but managed a smile seeing how happy his mother was. They'd always miss his grandfather, but he wouldn't want them to mourn him forever.
He looked up at the clouds. "I'll make you proud grandpa after all, this is a job I was born to do."