Disclaimer: DBZ belongs to Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation.

Chapter 1

Vow of a Warrior

'It was all my fault,' he thought to himself. He kept repeating that mantra in his head until he fell into a sleepless slumber. When he awakened, he noticed that he was in the middle of his room. Reaching up to his face, he found stains of dried tears and memories of the previous day flooded back into him. He was barely capable of holding back more tears as his hair flashed a golden blonde.

'Damn, if only I listened to him! None of this would've happened,' he cursed himself. Slowly and lazily picking himself off the floor, he walked to the bathroom to do his usual morning routine, except this morning was going to be different. Usually after he finished his business he was greeted with the smiling face of his beloved father. Now, when he awakened, he was greeted with the tearstained face of his mother. Seeing her this way only brought on more guilt to the young boy. Gohan gritted his teeth to block out the painful memories, but failed miserably.

"I miss him so much, Gohan," his mother admitted.

Gohan nodded his head in agreement and broke down in more tears. 'Again, I've hurt another loved one by my stupid decision. I don't deserve to live,' he thought guiltily to himself.

"Gohan? Why are you still in your Super Saiyan form?" Chichi asked confused as to the state her son was currently in.

"Huh?" he asked in bewilderment before he realized that he hadn't dropped back down to his normal form. He heaved a sigh and powered down so as to return the golden locks back to the midnight black they were originally.

Wiping the few remaining tears in her eyes, she set about the day's chores. "Sorry Gohan, but I'm afraid that you'll have to wait a little longer before you can have your breakfast."

Gohan nodded slightly and said, "I'll be outside training."

"Okay, I'll call you when breakfast is ready," responded the heartbroken woman. She had broken down just as bad as Gohan had the day before and had ran out of theirs to continue to weep. Right now crying was the least of her worries when she had her son to feed.

Gohan nodded again and left the room, walking into the outdoors to begin his training. The moment he stepped outside, he was greeted with a small gust of wind. Raising his ki slightly to shield himself, he closed his eyes until he felt the wind no longer blowing in his face. Once he was certain the wind was out of his way, he glanced up into the clear blue sky. Looking up into the sky brought a slight pang of guilt over him. He used to always go to the park and stare at the sky with his father whenever he had time, but now, it was different. His father died to protect the Earth due to his selfless acts and he cursed himself for doing so. It seems that every time something goes wrong, it was his fault. Gohan gritted his teeth and once again his hair flared a bright gold before the light died down revealing a SSJ 2 Gohan.

He stood there, staring into the blue sky with tears threatening to escape through his eyes. He blinked a few times in hopes of suppressing the tears. After standing there for 5 minutes, 32 seconds, and 12 milliseconds, he turned his gaze away. He had come to a conclusion, his father wanted him to live and protect what's left of Earth's inhabitants. As a lone tear found its way down his face, Gohan hurriedly wiped the tear away. Quickly his form dropped down to his regular Super Saiyan state for the ascended level required too much energy for the young boy to generate.

He still missed his father greatly and regretted his actions. Remorse and anger were the only emotions flooding through his body. His father sacrificed his life for the sake of his son, so now he is standing in the middle of the field, alone. Gohan cursed himself as he felt his knees weaken once again. 'The least I could do to repay my father is to protect the Earth he grew up on and loved so much.' Slowly bringing himself to his feet, he stood steadily and suppressed any oncoming tears threatening to spill down his face.

"I Son Gohan, has sworn that from this day on, I will protect the Earth to the best of my ability and never leave this form in honor of my father. I will train as much as possible to reach my full potential to defend the Earth from any foes that may terrorize the Earth."

After reciting the vow, Gohan opened his aqua green eyes to gaze upon the sky once again. "I won't let you down, dad."

"Gohan! Breakfast is ready!" his mother's voice called. Her voice held some pain and anguish in it as she called her only son to the table.

Gohan sighed and walked back to his home. Upon approaching the table, Chichi wondered why her son had decided to remain in his Super Saiyan state. Ignoring the annoying golden hair, Chichi set down an immense plate with enough food to feed five men.

"Gohan, why are you still in your Super Saiyan state?" she asked worriedly as something might be troubling her son.

He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat his food quickly when he heard his mother's question. He swallowed the mouthful of rice and answered her query. "I've made this vow, to protect the Earth by all means necessary, even that of death."

"I understand that honey, but why don't you change back to normal?" Inside she was hurting. She was in agony because her baby had vowed to protect his home, even if he died while doing so.

Realizing that one answer wouldn't be enough to satisfy his mother, he put down his chopsticks and replied calmly, "I have also vowed to never change from this state to honor father's death. As long as I am like this, I will never forget him and remember that his sacrifice was not put in vain."

Chichi nodded in understanding and gestured for her son to continue his meal. Soon after his first serving was finished, Chichi dished out another plate with a bigger amount for the demi-saiyan.

"Would you like me to train with you after I wash the dishes?"

Gohan shook his head and cleared the table. "No, that's alright. In fact, I want to train with Piccolo since I believe he has some methods that could help me more than you could."

Chichi's eyes fell downcast and she nodded. "Piccolo may train you to become stronger and gain more strength, but he doesn't have much to do with skills and stances. Anytime you need to work on your skills come to me alright?"

He nodded his head, abiding to his mother's wishes and vanished into his room to find a gi. Wearing a gi would be much more comfortable than the street clothes he had on, which consists of slightly baggy jeans, a white t- shirt and a navy colored light jacket. Choosing to wear his father's favorite colors, he quickly dressed himself. After securing his boots on, he looked in the mirror. He looked exactly like his father, except for the fact that he was younger and his hair was slightly different. Gohan sighed and exited his room where he informed his mother of his departure. Once he was in the air, he closed his eyes to enjoy the simple task of flying. Everything reminded him of Goku. How he missed him!

Opening one aqua colored eye, Gohan realized that he was close to the Lookout. He opened both eyes and flew faster until he reached his destination.

Piccolo sat in his meditative pose until he felt a very familiar ki. Pulling himself out of his trance, he landed softly on the tiled floor of the Look out and dusted himself off. Sitting around in the same position after a while did attract a little dirt and dust. He waited for his former pupil to land.

"Piccolo," he started out.

Piccolo approached the young demi-saiyan and replied, "Yeah kid? Is there anything you want?"

Gohan nodded and explained his little vow earlier that morning, calmly leaving out about the part about death if necessary to protect Earth.

"So, you want my help in your training? Fine, I have no problem with that. I'll be struggling a little to keep up with you though. We may start anytime you desire."

Gohan walked over to the edge of the plateau and answered, "Let's start now." He quickly flew off the edge and into the sky at a very fast speed.

Piccolo soon followed in suit and flew at top speed to catch up with the young saiyan boy.

"Don't look with your eyes! Sense it!" Piccolo screamed as he launched forward at Gohan with his multiple selves from one of his attacks.

Gohan gritted his teeth and tried to concentrate on the moving target, but had difficulty when he was knocked off balance while trying to defend himself. Not to mention the fact that his hair was in his eyes. Gohan tried to ignore the stinging sensation of having his hair come in contact with the cornea of his eye. He needed to get a hair cut. When his hair was up in his SSJ 2 state, he didn't really have to worry about it, but now that his hair was down and grew since the last time he had a hair cut, so he desperately needed one.

Piccolo veered upwards and gave a roundhouse kick to the poorly guarded boy. "Come on Gohan, you can do better than that!"

"I'm trying my best, Piccolo!" Gohan hissed through clench teeth as he attempted to defend himself from another onslaught.

"Gohan, I told you not to look for your target all the time, but to sense them!" Piccolo paused from attacking to observe the bruised and slightly battered boy. "Let's take a break."

Gohan panted slightly and dropped to the ground. Fighting three Piccolos was harder than fighting his dad. At least when he was fighting his father, he needn't worry about being attacked at the same time by other copies. He wiped the sweat from his brow with the sweatband on his wrist.

"Listen kid, it's starting to get late so you better get home. We will continue this tomorrow," Piccolo stated as his other selves vanished, leaving one Piccolo standing in front of the panting boy. Piccolo picked up his discarded weighted training gear and flew sluggishly through the air.

Gohan stood up shakily and nodded his head in agreement before flying back towards his house. When he walked through the front door, Chichi immediately noticed his cuts and bruises.

"Rough day training with Piccolo?" Chichi asked observing a massive bruise on his left forearm which was starting to produce blood from a slight cut.

Gohan nodded slightly and plopped down on the couch.

"Looks like I'm going to need a full bag of senzu beans per month to keep you in good health with the way you're training," she said as she reached into a drawer to retrieve a brown pouch full of magical green beans.

Gohan chewed the bean, resenting the bitter taste of the juice that emerged from within the insides. Once he swallowed, he immediately felt the cuts and bruises disappear from his pale skin.

"Gohan, you better be careful when you're fighting. Sparing or a real fight, I want you to take good care of yourself."

He nodded dumbly and leaned his head on the back of the couch to stare into the blank white ceiling.

Chichi grabbed Gohan's arm and said, "Come one, dinner's ready."

Gohan slowly picked himself off the couch and made his way towards the dining room where a large plate of food was awaiting him. Immediately picking up his chopsticks, he began to devour the food set out in front of him.

Chichi watched her son eat and couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. He had lost his father at a young age and was still blaming himself for Goku's death. She gave her son one last glance before turning towards the small plate of food in front of her and began to eat.

After the meal, Gohan cleaned off the table and finished off his daily homework assigned by his mother. Right now he was currently in the level of a junior in college, at the age of eleven. That was a great feat for someone his age to accomplish. If he had keeps up his studies for another few years, it'll be no time when he obtains enough knowledge to get 10 or more degrees.

"Mom?"

Chichi turned away from her book and looked up at her son. "What is it Gohan?"

"I need a hair cut," he replied simply.

Chichi observed his hair and decided that it wasn't too long, even though the amount of hair on his head was certainly large. "Do you want a trim?"

Gohan shook her head. "Actually, I want my hair to be shorter than that, something like this," he explained as he ascended to the next level. "My current hair style keeps getting in my eyes and I don't want to power up every time I want the hair out of my eyes."

Chichi nodded in understanding and watched as her son reverted back to the normal Super Saiyan state. "Let me get the scissors and razors." She stood up from her chair after marking the page she was on. After a few minutes of rummaging through the closet, she emerged with a barber set of succors. "Sit down on that chair," she ordered.

Gohan did what he was told and seated himself. He waited for his mother to start cutting his hair. By the time she was done, there was a huge mass of golden hair on the floor, which flickered and reverted back to black. Chichi brushed off the scraps of hair on her son's shoulder and announced that she was finished. Gohan held up the mirror and was not surprised to find that he looked just like he was in Super Saiyan 2, except his hair was a lot shorter. Noticing that all his hair was pointed straight up, he decided to pull down a bang to attain the image of an ascended Super Saiyan. "Thanks mom." He swiftly stood up from the chair and headed towards the bathroom.

She watched her son exit the room to go take a shower and sighed to herself. "It just isn't the same without you, Goku."

So, um… What do you think of this? Is this good or bad? Please give me your opinion for it is greatly appreciated. Keep in mind that this is first actual Dragon Ball Z story considering my other one was just a practice piece to help me get an insight of the actual feelings, emotions, and characters.

Please excuse any grammatical errors for I do currently have a slight cold and a headache.

Next Chapter (If I decide to continue): Goten is discovered. Will Gohan live up to his vow?

Next Next Chapter: Gohan has finally reached the age to attend High School. Yay! Enter Videl, the incredibly stubborn and vicious daughter of Mr. Satan.