'Thoughts'

Flashbacks

"Speech"

Prologue. The Begging of the end.

Gohan took a moment to compose himself as he stood lamenting at the door for his first class, on his first day of school. Wondering if he had made the right decision to cut back on his training and possibly further himself mentally and possibly even physically by interacting with people his own age. He chuckled for a brief moment when he recalled the look on his mother's face when he brought up the idea of going to school.

" Gohan, are you feeling well? Did give yourself a concussion during training!?" Chi-chi gasped. "You ate out of the compost pile again didn't you? Don't you remember last time you ate scraps out of the compost pile?!"

"WHO THROWS AWAY PERFECTLY GOOD … Eeep!" Gohan stopped mid-sentence noticing the vein on her temple throb and her hands deep in the drawers looking for what he suspected was one of the things he loathed most on this planet. Deciding that he didn't want to start this particular morning off with a throbbing skull, he decided to get back to the point of the matter. "But, I promise mom, I am telling the truth no joke! I actually want to enroll…"

He drifted off after seeing the narrowing of his mother's eyes.

"Are you sure there are no other hidden agendas here Gohan? Because I will not have a member of this family going to jail for any sort of delinquencies, because for the last 6 years you have been training and refusing to do anything but train!"

"No mom, I just hit a plateau in training and I want to see if a new challenge… Could help bring me out of this funk I have been in." Gohan finally vented while whispering the last part.

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes softening at the young demi-sayain, He had been working so hard to fill his father's footsteps, and she had been noticing his behaviour changing over the last few months. He had become frustrated and moody, more so than a hormonal Sayian-Hybrid normally should be. Initially she thought his depression was returning after five long years of accepting his father's choice to stay in the other world. He wanted to fufill his promise to his father, a promise he couldn't fufill moping in the woods.

He would do anything for this planet and would do anything to protect it, even if that meant sacrificing his own life to save billions.

He is just like his father.

She sighed; He was also just like his mother. He needed to find a new reason to continue his training, to continue being prepared for what might lie ahead. More than just an obligation, more than just a promise whispered into the air to follow his fathers' wishes to protect the earth and all her inhabitants. No, he needed something more, maybe friends?

A wife?

A child?

Something meaningful and true to his own heart to fight for and protect, something to push him past his previous limitations.

"Gohan…" She Sighed once again. "Get changed and grab a coat, let's go to Bulma's and see about registering you for classes."

Gohan smiled as he turned and walked up the stairs. 'Well that was less difficult than I thought it would be to convince her.' He changed and grabbed a coat, scooping up Goten along the way; Gohan ran a hand thru his hair and walked out the door to join his mother.

'Gosh, I hope this isn't a bad situation I'm getting myself into, I guess we'll find out!'

Gohan stepped thru the threshold and into the classroom, he slowly arched an eyebrow. Everyone was starting at him, he could hear the whispers and the judgments being passed around the class.

'What the heck? Do I have something on my shirt?' Gohan looked down to inspect his clothing.

He was wearing a tight black undershirt with a black and white long-sleeved flannel, a pair of loose jeans, a black belt and some nice looking sneakers with a gold stripe running along the sides. Deciding that there was nothing from breakfast on him to warrant the stares from the class, he decided to listen in on a few of the students' whispers.

"Ohh such a cutieeeee!" and "WOW do you see those arms?!" And other nonsense from the girls.

Gohan Blushed.

"What a dork, the kid looks like a total loser." Gohans' head zeroed in on the offensive comment. "Whatever Sharpener just makes you seem jealous." A girl with black hair and pigtails lazily commented.

Gohan Smiled.

"Well son, would you mind introducing yourself to the class?" chirped.

"Of course!" Gohan bowed. "I'm Son Gohan, I'm excited to be attending Orange Star High."

Gohan turned to the teacher and give him a small smile signifying he was done with his introductions to the class. He was then handed a syllabus and a text book and told to sit wherever he could find a spot.

Gohan looked around seeing at least three open seats, now the choice of what seat to choose entered his mind. In the middle of his deliberations he was interrupted by an overly cheery voice which he assumed Mrs. Briefs would have sounded like as a teenager. Annoying.

"YOOHOO! Hey Cutie there is an open seat right here!"

Gohan nodded at the cute blonde girl with his goofy grin plastered on his face and proceeded to climb the stairs till he was three rows from the back. He excused himself as he passed two people to get to his newly appointed seat. He sat down setting his book bag at his feet, taking pencils and a composition notebook from out of his bag where he sat them neatly in front of him. He wanted to be prepared for any notes he would have to take.

As he was gatherimg his courage to make friends with the blonde girl next to him, he felt a light tap on his shoulder and turned to see the blonde girl staring at him with her eyes shining with anticipation of making a new CUTE friend!

"Hiya! My names Erasa! With an E'! and these are my best friends Sharpener and Videl!" Erasa proudly exclaimed, the shy Demi-Sayain after getting a good look at Erasa, bent forward over his desk to see her friends and commit their names and faces to his memory.

Gohan smiled, "Hello.." it was shy and polite. "Nice to meet you both."

"Whatever NERD-boy." Sharpener turned his head and scoffed not wanting to waste his precious time with the new loser that was getting crushed on by his ditzy blonde headed girlfriend. Videl on the other hand had a scowl on her face that Gohan thought that would have made Vegeta jealous.

'Why is she glaring at me like that? I don't think I have ever done anything to her to cause her to be in a foul mood?. She does look pretty familiar tho…. OH! I know, she was the pushy girl from the bank this morning, maybe she recognizes me or something.' Gohan stewed in this new revelation of his, hoping that she didn't see him power down from SSJ. 'There is no possible way she could have I made sure that no one was around!'

"Oh Gohan." Videl coolly remarked, snapping her fingers to get his attention.

"Ye-yes Videl?" Gohan Stammered.

"Witnesses say that the Gold fighter from the bank this morning was wearing, lets see, blue jeans… and a black shirt…and some pretty fancy looking sneakers with a gold stripe running down the side… Sound familiar?" She made sure to take pauses to capture every muscle twitching in his face. "Wellll?"

'Crap.'