Hello! kawaipai here.

I'm taking a pretty big leap, publishing this story... mostly because I have no idea where it's going. But hey, YOLO! May as well bite the bullet and have fun with it, right?

Enjoy!

Son Gohan was curious- very curious.

It was this curiosity that drove the three-year-old to follow the strange, scary green man that lurked in the forest around his house. Chubby, shoed feet padded lightly against the soft grass, not really trying but still somehow managing to be rather quiet, and whenever the strange, scary green man stopped walking, Gohan would hide behind a tree to remain unseen. After glancing around as if to observe his surroundings, the stranger would start walking again, and the process would repeat.

The young boy had been following him for quite some time now; Gohan didn't know it specifically, but it had been over half an hour since he'd started his little adventure.

So the green man stopped once more, and the toddler suppressed a giggle as he darted behind the nearest tree. He was having a lot of fun, playing this game. The taller participant was not as amused, however, and portrayed such by sighing deeply.

"Quit following me," the green stranger's deep and rumbly voice spoke into the air, a mean growl contrasting the peaceful environment. "Or I'll make it so that you won't be able to."

Gohan pouted. His cover was blown! He huffed, peering out slightly from behind his tree. The green stranger's eyes met his own. He smiled while the stranger frowned.

"What's a brat like you doing all way out here?" the green man inquired, folding his arms. Gohan's grin grew even wider.

"Live here!" he chirped. The stranger tensed up in surprise, but quickly sneered,

"In that case, go home before I kill you."

Gohan ignored the green man; instead, he skipped right up to him.

"Name!"

"...Name."

"Yes! Mine is Gohan!"

"...Gohan?" the green stranger repeated as he glanced down at the three-year-old, seeming to understand.

"Yes!"

There was a pause of silence.

"...Are you Son's kid?"

"Son?" Gohan tilted his head in confusion. The green man clicked his tongue, and his long and sharp nails dug deep into the beds of his hands.

"Son. Goku. Is he your father?"

"Oh! Yes!" the toddler nodded vigorously, obviously excited at the mere thought of his father. The green stranger looked visibly repulsed,

"In that case, get out of my sight," he scoffed.

With that being said, the strange, scary green man began to walk away, his arms folded in a manner that practically screamed "hmph". Gohan didn't know it, but the stranger was hoping his feelings would be hurt and he would run away crying, as he didn't want to be bothered any futher. However, this isn't what happened.

"Name!" the toddler demanded, repeating his original question while following him once more. The stranger stopped walking. Gohan followed suit.

"I do not need to give it to you," answered the green man.

"Aw... please?" pouted the young boy.

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"...If I tell you, will you stop bothering me and go home?"

"...'Kay."

The strange, scary green man sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "My name is... Piccolo."

"Clo...," Gohan tested the name out on his tongue, falling short of two-ish syllables. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Clo!"

Piccolo clicked his tongue in disgust.

"Alright, you know my name now get lost!" he yelled in frustration. Gohan nodded once.

"'Kay! By Mr. Clo! See you later!

And with that the tiny boy took off running, away from his new friend.

"Gohan! Where are you?!"

Son Goku fought back tears as he soared above the forest on Nimbus, desperately searching for his son. He had only looked away for ten seconds so that he could toss his shoes back inside the house (it was such a gorgeous day that he felt he didn't need them) and when he turned around, Gohan was gone.

Well, that had been nearly an hour ago, and naturally now he was starting to panic. He fought the tight, constricting feeling in his chest, instead urging Nimbus to fly faster.

"Gohan! Where are you?!"

The call was repetitive, but with each time the words came out of his mouth they sounded more and more frightened. He was about to lose it completely when suddenly his sensitive hearing caught something.

A noise. No... a laugh. A childish laugh.

Goku told Nimbus to stop. The cloud froze, and the young father listened intently.

There it was again!

Nimbus flew down, into the forest and towards the laugh. When they got close enough to see the source of it, Goku's heart skipped a beat.

It was Gohan! He was leaning over the cliff of the huge waterfall not far from their house... Goku gasped. He was losing his balance... he was going to fall over the edge!

"Gohan!" Goku screamed, jumping off of the golden cloud and hurling himself towards his son. The toddler's head whipped up at the sound of his father's voice. He looked like he was about to speak, but any words he might've said were replaced by a yelp as he lost his balance completely and toppled over the edge of the massive cliff.

Goku hated the sound of his son's terrified screams, but they didn't last long. The boy was only free falling for a mere couple of seconds before he caught him. Then they both fell for a few more seconds before Nimbus caught them, and soon enough they were safe, floating in the air almost as if nothing'd happened.

Gohan, being three years old and consequently scared half to death by the events, started crying and buried his face in his father's shirt. Goku felt like crying himself, feeling both still terrified and also relieved, but didn't and instead opted to comfort his son instead. He carded his fingers through Gohan's silky black locks, glad to have the boy safe in his arms.

"Hey, hey, it's alright," he soothed. "You're okay... it's okay..."

After a minute the boy calmed down, and Goku felt a little bit more at ease, too. The three-year-old pulled away, looking up at Goku with big, teary eyes and a snotty nose.

"How'd you know, daddy?"

"How'd I know?" Goku repeated his son. He smiled softly, "I always know. It's my job. That means I'll always save you. So don't be scared. Okay?"

Gohan nodded yes and sniffled, and Goku inwardly cringed at the amount of snot he heard the boy inhale. Then a curious look took over the father's features.

"Say, Gohan... where've you been this whole time, huh? I was looking for you, you know." Not to mention worried as hell, but he would forego telling him that.

"Oh... I was playin' with Mr. Clo!"

"Mr... Clo...?" Goku's eyebrows furrowed in alarm. Had his son been with a stranger this whole time? "Who's Mr. Clo?"

"Mr. Clo is my friend!" Gohan grinned, all his previous troubles now forgotten at the thought of his new friend. "He's a hundred feet tall and- and wears a cape! Oh! And he lives with the trees! No house or anything... just trees."

Goku couldn't help but smile back at the boy. So he was playing with an imaginary friend... that was good, right? It meant that he was imaginative, or something like that (at least he figured).

"Oh, really?" the young father decided to prompt his son further. Gohan grinned widely, nodding vigorously.

"Yup! Clo is cool!"

"Cooler than daddy?"

At this Gohan vigorously shook his head in denial. "Nope! No way!"

"Good," Goku smiled teasingly, ruffling the boy's hair. Although, he really didn't want anyone taking his place as number one in Gohan's life... imaginary or not.

At that moment the three-year-old's tummy growled quite loudly, a reflection of the fact that it was already past noon and he hadn't eaten lunch yet. The young father chuckled,

"Hungry much?"

Gohan grinned. "Very."

"I thought so. How about we go home and make ourselves some lunch, yeah?"

"Lunch! Yay!"

So Nimbus took off, with Goku holding Gohan safely in his lap as they flew through the bright blue summer sky.

Goku held his son closely as he hopped off Nimbus. Gohan was silent, resting his head on his father's shoulder and fisting his orange shirt. Goku could tell the toddler was going to need a nap right after lunch.

The young father smiled to himself as he walked over to the front door and entered the house. He fought back the stab of pain that the emptiness of the small building caused... but there was no reason to dwell needlessly on the past. Goku chose instead to focus on his current mission: lunch. He carried Gohan to the kitchen, placing him on the kitchen counter next to the sink, and the toddler began to swing his feet back and forth.

Goku began to wash his hands, looking up at his son while he did so.

"So whatcha hungry for?" he inquired.

"Mm... not sure," Gohan shrugged. The three-year-old watched as Goku opened the pantry, perusing its contents. It was well stocked, full of good food to eat. The young father kept it this way after quickly finding out (much to his amusement) that his son was just as enthralled by the prospect of food as he was... so the hardest part was not a question of finding something to eat, but what to eat. And, being a single father, he had learned fairly quickly how to cook a good meal (it was either that or eat burnt food for the rest of his life). So there was no trouble as he scanned all of their food.

Eyeing the rice, and remembering there were peas and carrots in the fridge, Goku smiled widely. "Alright!" he cheered. "Let's make some lunch, yeah?"

"Yeah!" Gohan cheered with his father.

The sun was setting, dipping down underneath the horizon. The top half of the sky had given up its struggle with the sun; a few stars were just barely visible in the indigo strip, whereas the orange, bottom half attempted still to cast a golden glow on the calm earth.

The son of Piccolo, Piccolo Jr., was unbothered by the sky's turmoil, totally still and totally silent as he floated in front of the rushing waterfall, meditating deeply.

Okay, scratch that- he was really just deep in thought.

That boy... he really was Son's kid. He'd followed the tyke around after he'd ran off, somewhat surprised when Goku showed up. It was somewhat shocking that such a coincidence had occurred. Or... was it fate?

Regardless, Piccolo had unknowingly stumbled across a golden opportunity. He hadn't known anyone inhabited the forest he chose to spend his time in, but as he was walking he found himself accompanied by the kid...

Gohan. The son of his greatest enemy.

At first he wanted to kill the kid, or at least literally drop him back off at his house, wanting nothing to do with the brat. But as soon as the child had expressed interest in seeing him again, a scheme formed in his mind. And dammit, was it brilliant. It was perfect, just perfect.

An deep, evil chuckle reverberated in his chest, and his lips twisted into a wicked smirk.

"Just you wait, Son. Just you wait..."

Hooray! The first what-if I added is, "what if Piccolo trains Gohan sooner than after Raditz comes to Earth?" as well as "what if Goku was a single father?". We'll see how these changes go...

Thanks for reading, friends! :)