Gohan stood on top of a rock formation in a lonely desert. The harsh sun continued to beat down on him, threatening to damage and redden his pale skin. Powerful gales blew past him, blocking his hearing. Many similar rock formations were nearby, although none as tall as the tower he had chosen as his training space. This place may have been lonely and hot, but that was of little consequence to Gohan.
He had spent many long weeks training at this cruel location with Piccolo, but right now he was on his own. He couldn't waste time waiting for his mentor. He had to start now. He needed to use all the time at his disposal to improve, as quickly as possible. Any longer and it would be too late; another threat would make itself known and he would find himself unprepared yet again.
Gohan sat cross-legged on the warm ground and made himself comfortable. He had learned to always prepare his mind before training his body. He calmed himself until he felt ready to achieve zen.
Minutes passed with no disturbance and Gohan was beginning to feel at peace. He sat, ignoring everything around him but simultaneously still aware of his surroundings. He sensed something behind him but didn't pay it too much attention.
'It's probably Piccolo,' Gohan thought before forgetting about the disturbance and continuing in silence.
When he finally lost track of time and felt at one with his surroundings, Gohan his eyes open. Suddenly, he felt acutely aware of everything he could see in ways that would have been challenging to describe before he had begun meditating.
He stood up and glanced around, ensuring he was alone. When he was satisfied, he stepped over to the edge of the giant brown platform and shot a Ki blast at a smaller rock, shattering it into pieces and making a spot he could stand within the dense field of stones. He leaped from his vantage point and landed where the rock had been moments earlier.
He targeted a tower half the size of his own and examined it for weak points. After locating a few target areas, Gohan power up to Super Saiyan with a loud kiai. He flew towards the rock and slammed into it with a sidekick. The stone cracked, weakening enough that he could break it entirely with a strong punch.
He turned to a nearby and used a similar tactic, cracking it with a roundhouse kick and destroying the formation with an elbow strike. He continued in this fashion, using different combinations each time to test himself. Soon he had shattered enough rocks to make a clearing big enough to fit a few large houses. As he stood back to admire his work and assess his progress, he heard a familiar voice behind him.
"Hey, Gohan! That was amazing!" Goten's voice rang out. Gohan turned to see his younger brother flying towards him.
"Hey, Goten! What are you doing here?" Gohan asked.
"I wanted to come train with you," Goten explained, much to Gohan's surprise.
"Don't you normally just train with Trunks?" Gohan wondered. He was not opposed to the idea, but this was a rare occurrence. Although his training sessions were sporadic, whenever he did step out to stretch his legs, he wasn't interested in playing games like the two smaller half-Saiyans.
"Trunks is training with his dad," Goten said with a hint of jealousy.
"Couldn't you join them?" Gohan suggested. Goten was like a little puppy; nobody ever wanted to see him upset about anything.
"No way! Mr. Vegeta's really mean. He makes us work too hard," the young Saiyan complained.
"And you think I won't make you work hard?" asked Gohan. He wasn't that bad of a trainer, was he?
"Not as hard as Vegeta. After I trained with him once I could barely walk," Goten said, gesturing towards his legs for emphasis.
Gohan chuckled at that. 'If only he knew what I have to go through with Piccolo.'
"Alright, you can train with me," Gohan sighed. He needed to make sure he didn't stagnate as a martial artist, but he couldn't refuse his brother.
Goten let out a whoop of joy and landed on the ground next to his older brother. "What do I do?" Goten asked.
Gohan thought for a moment. He hadn't thought about the fact Goten would need someone to instruct him. He took a quick look around before seeing a rock like the ones he had just broken a few feet away. It wasn't too big but it would work.
"Hey, Goten, how about you break that tall rock over there?" Gohan suggested to the young Saiyan.
"Like you were doing?" Goten wondered, eyes widening in surprise.
"Yeah, can you do that?" The older Saiyan asked with a hint of nervousness. 'What if I'm asking him to do something too difficult? No. He's stronger than I was at his age. He can do this.'
"Of course I can!" Goten nodded confidently.
Gohan smiled and watched as Goten's hair turned golden and his eyes turned teal. The child took off towards the rock and hit it with a flying punch, breaking it clean in two. Goten backed up a bit and prepared to perform a kick.
Unknown to them, the top half of the stone tower started to fall towards the two warriors. It started slowly, so much that neither of them noticed it until it was picking up speed at an alarming rate.
Gohan gasped as he realized it first.
"Goten, watch out!" he yelled. His brother froze and turned to him in surprise.
"What is it?" he asked. Gohan didn't even need to respond. The youngest Son looked up and noticed the shadow that the falling rock had cast on the ground. He shouted in fear before rapidly backing away from the stone.
Fearing that his brother wouldn't be able to react in time, sparks of lightning began to crackle around Gohan's body as he gathered energy in his right hand and held it up to the rock. He floated up for a better perspective and fired.
After a moment of silence, the blast no longer clouded Gohan's vision. To his surprise, Goten was levitating a few metres higher and comfortably holding up the weight of the rock with both hands as he smiled happily.
"I got it!" he announced as he bounced the large rock on both of his palms in excitement. Gohan breathed a sigh of relief.
"How was I?" Goten asked after disposing of the rock by way of throwing it into the horizon.
"You did great! I didn't expect you to catch that boulder," Gohan admitted.
"Why not? It was easy." Goten furrowed an eyebrow in confusion.
"Well, those things are heavy," Gohan said, knowing from personal experience that lifting one in the air was no mean feat when you were a six-year-old.
"Nah, not really. It wasn't hard at all." Goten puffed out his chest confidently. Gohan raised an eyebrow skeptically but allowed Goten to escape with a simple nod.
"So… what's next?" Goten wondered.
"Why don't we spar for a bit?" Gohan suggested. He knew Goten had a relatively small attention span, which limited their options and he'd be able to test whether Goten's previous words were just empty bravado.
"Alright!" Goten nodded enthusiastically.
With a slight grimace, Gohan powered down into his base form. He still hadn't mastered his ascended form and reasoned that it was probably overkill for a simple spar with his little brother.
"Okay, we have a nice ring already from all the rocks I destroyed so let's do it here," Gohan said. He stepped away from his brother, giving them space to fight.
"Ready?" Gohan asked before assuming a fighting stance. The younger boy nodded, entering his own fighting stance in response.
"Let's go!" Gohan shouted, leaping into the air and flying towards his brother. He extended his arm for a strong punch. Goten blocked it with his forearm before roundhouse-kicking him in the side.
Gohan was pushed back an inch by the blow. Goten took advantage of this and connected with Gohan's gut, knocking the breath from him and causing him to gasp suddenly. He responded in kind with a crescent kick that hit Goten in the side before following up with an elbow to the side of the head.
Goten yelped and jumped back a foot to compose himself. Seconds later, he returned with an overly-telegraphed hook punch that Gohan blocked.
The child continued, multiple punches connecting with a larger hand at high speed before a sidekick sent Gohan sprawling backward.
Seizing the advantage, Goten flew behind his older brother and kicked him upwards. He raced ahead and slammed a double hammer into his opponent's gut, knocking Gohan back down to Earth.
Gohan erupted into a series of coughs, having been winded by the attack. He shouted as his body rammed into the ground hard. He was unable to stop Goten's attacks no matter how much he wanted to.
He opened his eyes, glaring at his younger brother. Letting out a snarl of frustration, his aura flared a brilliant gold as he decided to take things up a notch.
He stopped himself in midair and righted his body. Flying upwards, he kneed Goten in the side with a crescent before smashing the back of his hand into the boy's head.
He kicked at Goten's gut with renewed vigour, sending him crashing backward into the air. The older Saiyan grinned. He was getting closer to victory with every connecting hit.
He watched as Goten stopped himself seconds before he crashed into a rock and assumed a defensive stance.
'Now this is a fight again,' Gohan thought as he wiped a trickle of sweat from his forehead.
He soared towards Goten at a speed faster than he'd flown in years, left arm cocked back, and launched his fist at his brother's face. To his dismay, it was blocked at the last moment with crossed arms. Gohan smiled before lashing out with an elbow toward his brother's gut.
Goten was knocked back, but not by much. The child responded instantly with a kick to the chest and a punch to the gut for good measure. Surprised by the ferocity of the counterattack, Gohan was launched back, stopped only by a nearby rock.
He groaned in pain as he pushed off the rock. He faced Goten again, ready to return in kind but he was too slow; Goten side-kicked him back into the rock he had managed to free himself from just moments ago.
Gohan was breathing heavy as he struggled to push off the rock again. The scrapes and bruises he had amassed were starting to sting and the adrenalin that has masked them thus far was beginning to fade. He wasn't going to be able to maintain Super Saiyan for much longer - it was already draining his strength.
He struggled for a moment, allowing Goten to charge a Kamehameha in his hands. The young Saiyan unleashed the blast with a loud scream and fired it at Gohan. The older Saiyan struggled to block the blast as it singed the hairs on his crossed arms, grunting in pain.
Gohan barely made it. The blast's force was absorbed by his guard and he was able to call on enough strength to get out of the rock. His hair flickered black and his aura gave out as he reverted to his base form.
He gasped for breath as he prepared to attack again. He needed to keep fighting. Goten was probably almost as tired as he was. A little more time and they'd be even.
Sadly, Goten wasn't going to wait for his brother to make the first move. The next thing Gohan knew, he was being swarmed by a barrage of punches. The first few were easy enough to evade but then he had resort to lazily blocking them, betting that his experience would outdo Goten's exuberance.
Gohan knew he couldn't keep this up much longer; he was too slow to block many more of these. A small fist almost pierced his defense unnoticed but was swat away at the last second by the tired Saiyan.
'If he were smart, he wouldn't waste his energy on a weakened opponent.' Gohan could only hope his brother wouldn't come to that realization and would subsequently wear himself out too.
Goten threw another punch. It was missed by Gohan and landed square on his chest. The pain rippled through his body in waves, forcing him to try and catch his breath. Goten granted him barely a moment of reprieve before kicking him into the air.
Gohan flew upwards, hearing the wind blow past his ears once again. He fell back down to Earth, picking up speed as he went, and landed on his back. The wind was, again, knocked out of him, leaving him dirty, beaten, and gasping for air.
He barely noticed Goten land next to him, smiling. Gohan didn't address him, not wanting to waste precious breath. His younger brother didn't bother him and lied down on Gohan's right, staring at the sky.
Gohan heard his brother breathing heavily. He turned his head and saw sweat pouring off Goten's red forehead. His shirt had a small tear in it, showing a bruise from battle. His hands were bleeding and were littered with a variety of different cuts and scrapes.
Gohan realized he must look much worse due to the beating he had taken. He glanced down at his body and saw his training jumpsuit was torn in several places. He shifted his body and felt dirt touch his exposed back. That time he spent in the rock had done a number on his clothes and exposed body. He held up his hands and saw that they made Goten's look like those of a prince.
He finally was able to sit up after a few moments of rest. He looked over at Goten and smiled. "You did well," he said.
"Thanks," Goten replied, sitting up. "What now?"
Gohan laughed and shook his head. "I think we're done for the day," he suggested. He was impressed by Goten's enthusiasm.
The older Saiyan pushed himself to his feet and dusted off his clothes, grimacing as grazed skin made contact with the rough ground. He held out a hand to Goten who gladly accepted. He pulled his younger brother to his feet before running through some quick stretches.
"Gohan!" a familiar voice called out. Gohan's head snapped over to the direction the noise had come from. To his surprise, he saw a tall green Namekian wearing a white cape and turban, standing on a tall rock nearby with his arms crossed.
"Piccolo!" Gohan cried out in surprise.
Piccolo floated down from the rock he was on top of. He faced Gohan now, his face keeping the stern look.
"Gohan," Piccolo repeated, "how did Goten beat you in that sparring match?"
Gohan gasped in surprise. 'He's been watching me get beat up by my brother?'
"W-Well, you see… he's stronger than… I mean at my age I was never that strong… he just…" Gohan stammered.
Piccolo shook his head, disappointed. "That should not have happened. It will never happen again.I'll make sure of that."
"Sorry," Gohan mumbled.
"Don't apologize. This is a wake-up call for you," Piccolo said. "You've lost so much strength that now even your younger brother can beat you!"
"That's why I'm training with you!"
"And that's why you'll have to train harder. What if this had been Frieza? You'd be dead now. You can't just let this happen."
"I will, Piccolo. I promise," Gohan said. He bowed his head lowly.
"Alright. I'm going to hold you to that promise, kid," Piccolo said with a malicious grin. "You should be ashamed of your performance today."
"I am, Piccolo." Gohan nodded quickly.
"Good. Now, go home and rest. I want you here at the crack of dawn tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do," Piccolo ordered before muttering to himself in disbelief and taking to the skies.
"Wow, Piccolo was really mean. You did your best," Goten said once the scary Namekian was out of earshot.
"Sometimes your best isn't good enough," Gohan sighed as he began to levitate in the air.
"But it's your best, how can you do better?" Goten wondered, furrowing his brow. He followed his brother as the adolescent began the long, shameful journey home.
"You can always do better," was all Gohan said in response. Piccolo was right. He should be ashamed. He would have never lost to his younger brother if he had never slacked off with his training.
"Are you going to train more often now?" Goten asked.
"I have to. Piccolo doesn't sugar coat things, but he was speaking the truth. I've lost too much of my power. I need to keep training, harder and harder," Gohan said in self-reflection.
The two flew in silence until Goten finally spoke.
"Will you ever be as strong as Dad?" he asked.
"No, not now. Maybe someday, once he stops training, I suppose."
"Then never?" Goten asked. He smiled at his older brother, eyes twinkling.
"Until he dies." Gohan chuckled along with his brother.
"Not even then!" the young Saiyan exclaimed. "He'll just train twice as hard in Otherworld."
The two brothers shared one final laugh in the sunset, their intense spar all but forgotten for the moment, before picking up the pace and heading home.
…
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