This fic was born from a sudden idea I've gotten while I was swimming, and I wanted to write a story out of it so badly. So here we go, enjoy! =D

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z, or any of its characters.

A Hero's Legacy

Prologue

Cell, the most powerful adversary to have ever walked on planet Earth, had been thoroughly defeated.

The people were busy celebrating their hero's - Mr Satan's 'victory' over the bio-android, without knowing the truth that it was not the man who had saved the world. Nevertheless, to their utmost joy, their loved ones, be it their parents, children, siblings or relatives who were killed by the monster had been revived. It was probably due to Mr Satan's victory that this very miracle was able to take place, was what most of them believed...

Somewhere else...

A lone boy, looking no older than eleven could be seen flying in the sky. About 4'8'' in height, Son Gohan was currently heading towards his home in Mount Paozu. It was getting pretty late in the evening, so he decided to pick up speed, chuckling to himself as he occasionally avoided flocks of birds along the way and ended up leaving the winged creatures in a swirl of their own feathers.

Before long, the sea of towering trees slowly opened up, revealing a familiar clearing with the welcoming sight of home appearing within Gohan's field of vision. Still airborne, the boy's well-honed senses twitched in delight at the sight of grayish-white smoke rising up steadily and out from the building's chimney. A grin tugged at the corner of his lips as he picked up the mouth-watering aroma of sausages, mixed vegetables and freshly-steamed fish wafting from his mother's kitchen.

'Heh heh, I'm starving!' A loud growl from his nearly-emptied stomach just proved his point. 'Come to think about it, I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast!'

His brown boots landed almost noiselessly just a few steps in front of the moderately-sized structure. The house was simple, but yet it provided the Son Family with all the warmth and comfort they needed throughout the years.

Gohan wondered how he would tell his mother about what happened to his father as he neared the door. Telling her the truth directly would most probably end with her fainting in shock, but the preteen could not think of any better way. Sighing, he took a deep breath, steeling himself with the much needed courage before tapping the front door lightly.

"Mom, I'm ho-"

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

The eleven-year-old's sentence was left hanging and before he knew it, the door before him was flung open with enough force to make the entire house shake for a moment, surprising him while setting off his balance slightly. From within, a feminine blur rushed out with ninja-like agility followed by a bigger-sized figure trailing behind her. The feminine figure, who was none other than Son Chi Chi, had a look of intense worry on her usually cheerful face as she rushed like a mad woman towards her son.

"GOHAN!" she screamed, almost shrieking, causing Gohan to back away instinctively. In a blink, his slightly watery-eyed mother had her arms wrapped around him and pulled him close in a bone-breaking hug.

Completely unprepared, the startled boy almost yelped as the action came with unexpected force that his feet had been lifted a good distance off the ground as a result. A few tears rushed down her cheeks as she continued babbling endlessly while unknowingly, squeezing the life out of her son.

"Thankgoodness!Iwassoworried!Areyouallright?Areyousureyoureallyokay?Are…."

The woman talked so fast that only few of the words could really be deciphered, even with a Saiyan's sense of hearing.

"M-Mom…" Gohan forced out the words a few seconds later. "..C-can't b-b-breathe...h-hurt-s..."

The boy in question gasped for air, squirming in her grasp as his face turned several shades of blue from the lack of oxygen. For even a split second, Gohan could have sworn that the destructive power of the hug could almost rival Cell's, with the only difference being that this one was not meant to injure him. It was then Chi Chi finally realized that she had been hurting her son and released him, dropping the poor boy onto the ground gently with a thud.

Quickly taking in several deep breaths to regain his breathing, Gohan felt relief when the normal rush of air was back in his lungs. His mother could really do some devastating damage if she wanted to. As if realizing it herself, Chi Chi looked at him worriedly, "I-I didn't break anything, did I?"

"Well, uh…I guess not," Gohan slowly, almost shakily got back to his feet, using his elbows as supports and massaging his slightly sore ribs and back in the process. Inwardly, he was amused by the question. 'One more time and you just might, Mom.'

Shrugging away his thought, he did a few more swift stretches to rid the soreness, and scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner. Gohan struggled for the correct words, unsure of how to rectify the situation but decided to spill the first thing that crossed his mind.

"S-Sorry for making you worry, Mom."

"Gohan, you did great!" Ox-King interrupted from behind Chi Chi, grinning proudly from ear to ear but his daughter's fiery death glare gave him all the warning he needed to 'stop saying this nonsense or suffer the consequences'. As she neared her son, the woman's eyes visibly widened in slight alarm as she took immediate notice of the eye-catching, dark splotches of dried blood decorating the dark purple tatters of what used to be Gohan's gi top.

The preteen, upon realizing what his mother was staring at, inwardly sighed as a feeling of panic gnawed at his heart. 'Ooops, should've asked Mr. Piccolo for a new gi before I left... Mom's probably gonna freak out now...'

But surprisingly, she did not.

Instead, Chi Chi knelt down to eye-level before the boy seconds later and began palpating his body meticulously for any tiniest signs of possible injuries, starting with his feet, and coming up. Gohan gulped nervously, feeling a bit of pink tint came across his cheeks as he fought off the urge to scratch the back of his head like his old man always did. The woman's eyes stopped fearfully at Gohan's arms, particularly, his left arm.

As she started tapping, prodding and applying pressure on parts of the mentioned limb to locate any internal damage, her flashing memory made her to unwillingly recall that the aforementioned arm was broken the last time she saw it from Baba's crystal ball. Her reaction was immediate.

Worriedly, she asked her son, who in turn was still a little flustered under her scrutiny, trying his best to refrain himself from giggling due to the ticklish sensation from her checking touches, "Gohan, y-your left arm... Does it still hurt?"

Gohan was surprised by the sudden question, but a slight shake in the head was all he needed to do as a reply.

Albeit from the outer look of his perfectly healthy skin, the preteen looked completely healed, but Chi Chi was not convinced due to her over-protective nature. She resumed her checking for any damage. Finding no broken bones and nothing, and not even a single scratch or scar on her son, the Son matriarch closed her eyes as a few more tears of relief and joy rolling down her rosy cheeks. In an awkward silence, Gohan wanted to say something, anything to comfort her - but the words just seemed to stuck within his throat.

Flashback At Son Residence

Son Chi Chi almost had a heart attack when she saw Gohan's wounded state from the fortune-teller's crystal ball. She quickly took notice of the nasty-looking wounds, ranging from minor scrapes and deep cuts to burns and bruises seemed to mar every inch of Gohan's skin which was left unprotected by his already torn gi, with some leaking thin trails of crimson. Sudden gusts of hot wind whipped against her son's exposed skin, sending burning sensations and more dust into his wounds. Chi Chi bit her lips, daring herself to peer closer into the magical sphere.

Hands covering her mouth in horror, she could see that the boy's left arm had been severely wounded at the shoulder, with globules of blood tracing down the limb in rivulets, intermingling with sweat and dripping off the boy's fingers.

Chi Chi's eyes followed the bloody trail, and grew even paler at the sight of a growing crimson puddle on the sandy ground near her son's feet. Tremulously, Gohan struggled to remain standing, favoring his mangled limb while clenching his teeth in an attempt to desperately ward off the pain.

From his precarious, limping posture, the boy had one of his eyes was half-closed in a mixture of fatigue and pain, as a semi-thick sheen of perspiration coated his figure, but that was not all. Cell's evil chuckles were heard as the abomination looked at the boy's weakened state. The monster looked sickly pleased at the sight of the blood which continued leaking down the boy's arm, before glancing down at the rest of it on the ground. Seeing her son constantly grinding his teeth in pain was one thing, but being unable to help him was another.

She heard Gohan wince, obviously in agony as his already lopsided balance was set off slightly, consciousness steadily slipping away probably due to the pain or blood lost, Chi Chi was not so sure. Painful though it might be, the preteen determinedly held on, trying to dull the agonizing feeling with courage, just like Goku.

"G-Gohan…my...baby.."she finally gasped out, as her vision blurring from all the shock and she remembered she did the only thing she could do at that time - fainting on the spot with her father catching her.

End of Flashback

"M-Mom... Mom?" the woman's attention was brought back to the present time as her son's voice knocked her out of her wandering thoughts. Gohan waved lightly in front of her eyes, trying his best in making a cheeky grin to change her sour mood.

Chi Chi could easily tell that behind her boy's grin was an intense look of concern, but she just smiled warmly back. Her son was a lot more mature than he looked, having had gone through a lot of experiences no ordinary boys did, with fighting and ended up to actually beat Cell was definitely among the top of the list.

"Don't you worry. My arm's all fixed up! See?" Gohan continued grinning, patting his left arm on the shoulder area for emphasis while moving the appendage in circles without any trouble at all. He had Dende to thank for the limb's full recovery; they were running out of Senzu Beans back then, and if it were not for the new Earth Guardian's healing ability, the preteen doubted that his arm would ever heal properly. Heck, and even if it miraculously did, it would probably leave behind a messy amount of scars.

'Thanks, Dende. I really owe you one. Wonder how Mom found out my arm, though.' Gohan found himself recalling what happened back then for a moment. 'Didn't the cameras break down halfway during my fight?"

Running a hand over her slightly puffy cheeks, Chi Chi nodded, before she circled around the boy, making one final, scrupulous inspection at the his condition from all angles. Gohan once again stiffened slightly from her intense gaze, which felt as if it could drill a hole straight through his very being. The preteen's overworked muscles were still feeling quite sore from all the fighting earlier in the day, but he ignored the feeling for the moment, not wanting to worry his mother further. A good night's sleep added with his Saiyan healing factor would make the soreness go away in no time, he mentally told himself.

Eventually, several sighs of dismay were all Gohan could hear as she inspected his torn clothes closely. For the very first time in her life, Gohan's gi was damaged to such a degree, while normally after a battle or sparring, the most she could find were just a few nicks and tears on the material, not like this.

Obviously, the piece of clothing had seen better days as there was dried blood as well as dirt and grime on the purple material. What was worse, the entire left half of his gi top was missing, while what remained of it was a dingy, violet pool of tatters above his waistband. If one were to see close enough, the torn garment was barely hanging by loose threads, littered with tears and singed at the edges. Though, Gohan's gi pants were still in relatively good condition, dotted with a few holes with the worst ones at the knee areas. Ironically, the only things managed to survive intact after his long battle with Cell were his brown boots, which were said to be braided from some tough pulps made from the Ajissa trees responsible to give Planet Namek its beauty, according to his Namekian mentor.

"I swear, once I get my hands on you Goku, I'll-" Chi Chi said, her focus shifting away from her son and scanning for her spiky-haired husband, with a familiar frying pan held firmly in her left hand. However, the man was nowhere in sight. "Goku? Where are you? Stop hiding and come on out!"

Silence was the only reply. "Goku?" Chi Chi repeated, and was greeted with the same result. A strange feeling of uneasiness flooding over her senses as realization struck the Son woman like a bolt of lightning. She had been too worried about her son, and failed to notice that her husband was not even there with them right from the start. Something was wrong, and she knew it.

"Maybe that's why Dad doesn't want to come back," Gohan chuckled softly, his eyes looking warily at the cooking utensil Saiyans were so afraid of.

"Gohan, this isn't funny! Where's your father? And why isn't he coming back?" the panicked Son matron looked at her son, who now had a saddened look etched on his face. Gohan hung his head low, finding it difficult to meet his mother's gaze. Judging from his favorite grandson's reaction, the Ox-King, who had been keeping quiet all this while, had a knowing look on his face; he had a pretty good guess concerning what had happened to Goku. Chi Chi lowered her tone and her expression softened. "What happened?"

"M-Mom, the truth is…" the preteen took another deep breath, before carrying on. His muscles visibly tensed with worry. His mother was not going to like it. No way. Gohan just hoped she would not take it too badly.

Somewhere far away, inside a secret laboratory

It was a dimly-lit room, with various unknown designs of what seemed like robots or androids lying around the floor. The air was still and dry, the only few light sources were the weak blinking lights of the nearby machinery. Tools and metal parts littered the concrete floor, and thick wires protruded from all sorts of places, with some snaking through different machines while others disappearing into random holes on the walls. Outlines of huge glass vats, containing unknown liquid and wired to each other could be seen at one of the darker corners of the room. A single metallic, white pod at the size of a adult could be seen right in the middle of the room, a, with cables connecting its sides from all angles. Humming noises from the nearby machinery were the only audible sound, aside from a few occasional 'beeps'. The entire setting resembled a hidden laboratory of some sort.

"Repair work, one hundred percent completion. Good evening, Doctor Gero," said a mechanical voice, which seemed to belong to a large machine- a supercomputer with most of its wiring connected to the pod. With these said, dark red lights of the computer turned green, the cables connected to the metallic container suddenly popped out of their sockets, their work no longer needed. Slowly, the cover of the pod slowly slid open.

A pair of eyes fluttered and opened up suddenly. A figure, who was non-other than the supposedly deceased Dr Gero slowly sat up from his lying position. The mad scientist looked exactly the same like before he was destroyed by Android Seventeen, and clothed in similar attires as well. Checking himself over to make sure the systems of his new robotic body is working perfectly, he stood upright, before started giving orders.

"Update me with the recent happenings."

"Acknowledged, Doctor. Information downloading will commence in five seconds. Commencing countdown. Five, four, three, two, one…"

The scientist closed his eyes as a surge of information was being transferred into his very being through the microchips embedded inside his bionic brain. For the first part, he seemed to be pleased that Cell, his ultimate creation was actually smart enough to travel to this time to achieve perfection by absorbing the android twins, Seventeen and Eighteen. The stream of information continued, and he saw how the perfected Cell dominated against powerful fighters such as the Saiyan Prince Vegeta, Demon King Piccolo, and even forcing his most hated enemy, Son Goku to sacrifice himself to stop him. And not only that, Cell returned to the battle field, stronger than ever. The evil genius carried on, and his eyes snapped open, a mixture of shock, stun, disbelief, rage and finally hatred started filling in every fiber of his being.

"Are you sure all these info's 100% accurate?" he hissed towards the supercomputer, hoping that there would be a mistake of some kind.

"Positive, Doc-"

"What is the meaning of THIS ?" Dr Gero shouted in frustration, slamming his fists down onto a nearby lab table and destroying it. "Impossible! My ultimate creation.. defeated by a mere CHILD ? How could that Son Gohan brat have such incredible powers? This is absurd!"

Silence dawned inside the laboratory for a good ten seconds. The scientist unclenched his fists, and then calmed himself down.

"Damnable Saiyans," he cursed. "I'll make you REGRET this!"

"Wonderful words, I agree with you completely," a new voice cut in from behind him, alerting Dr Gero of its presence. "Those Saiyan monkeys must be… eradicated. And to do that I'd need your brilliance, my good doctor." The unknown visitor seemed to pronounce the word 'Saiyan' with indescribable malice.

"Who the hell are you? And how did you get in here unnoticed?" the moody Red Ribbon scientist turned around, his enhanced vision catching the shadowed figure levitating at the end of the room, just beside the entrance. From this distance and due to the poor lighting, all he could see clearly was a red, glowing left eye of the mysterious figure. 'Did my alarm systems fail me? No, that can't be. This person… isn't ordinary.'

No response, except for a few chuckles. Chuckles which held a certain level of madness.

"I'll give you five seconds," Dr Gero held his right hand up, with the palm facing the figure and started charging up with pinkish bolts of energy. "Identify yourself."

"Why, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself," the unknown intruder continued to chuckle darkly, not feeling threatened even for a second. Instead, he approached the Dr Gero at a leisurely pace, "I'm a fellow scientist like you. Back in Planet Tuffles, I'm best known as…. Doctor Raichi."

Back at Son Residence

"...and that's the whole story Mom," Gohan ended, looking at the shocked looks his mother and grandfather were giving him. "I'm sorry. I really am."

Chi Chi stared at her son with disbelief. Fisting her right hand on the remnants of Gohan's threadbare, tattered purple gi top while gripping her other hand tightly on Gohan's left shoulder, Chi Chi leaned her head against her son's chest, hugging him closer, and did one thing Gohan least expected for a strong mother like her - she cried her heart out. Her sobs grew louder by the second, her body shaking uncontrollably with mixed emotion, sending goosebumps down her son's skin. The Son mother was happy that her son had survived the fight, but heartbroken about the death of the only man she had ever loved in the world.

In return. Gohan placed his hand and patted his mother's back in comfort, wanting to assure her that everything was going to be okay, but no matter how hard he tried to say something, the words just twisted and tangled in his throat, not quite escaping. A dark, wet blotch grew on the purple material of the boy's torn top as Chi Chi's tears continued to come unabated.

"D-don't cry, Mom... You're gonna make me cry too..." Gohan stuttered, biting back a choked sob himself and trying his best to fight the slowly forming tears that began to sting the corners of his eyes. The strength in his voice slowly receded with guilt and regret. "I.. I'm sorry.. It was all my fault.. I-"

The Son woman loosened her grip on the boy, looked at him with her tear-streaked face. She took immediate notice of the depression and guilt in his normally lively eyes, making him look incredibly vulnerable right now. Chi Chi and forced a weak smile; she had to be strong for her son, who was still only a growing eleven-year-old boy yearning for love and attention despite his power. 'What would Goku do in this sort of situation? …That's ...right, he'd asked us to cheer up, not crying like this. Not like this.'

"Gohan, listen here sweetie.. it wasn't your fault. You're never the one to be blamed for this mess to begin with," Chi Chi wiped away Gohan's tears with her hands, and shook her head. "If it's anyone's fault, it's Cell's. You're alive, and that's what matters most to me right now."

"But I-"

Chi Chi ruffled the boy's black spikes affectionately, trying to imply to her son that he should stop apologizing and drop the subject for the moment. The eleven-year-old seemed to get the message.

"….Thank you Mom, I don't know what to say." Gohan looked at his mother, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"You don't have to say anything Gohan. I understand," Chi Chi cleared the tears away from her own eyes, smiling as well. Regaining her normal, more cheery voice, she added, "And I believe Goku'll always be watching over us, so make him proud, all right?"

Her son's familiar Son grin was all the response she needed. As for Gohan, he felt glad his mother took the news just okay, and not fainting like she usually did. The mother and son stayed still for a few moments, all silent and watching one other. It was all quiet except for Ox-King with an occasional sniffle at the touching scene.

Gently, Chi Chi dusted away some dirt and debris from Gohan's skin and what remained of his gi top, as she patted his shoulders, "It's pretty late now, young man. Go take a nice bath, and make sure you change out of that gi or you'll catch a cold."

"Sure, okay."

"Oh, and dinner's almost ready! Hungry?"

"I'm starving!" Gohan chirped happily, with another large grin in place trying to add in to the now more cheerful mood inside the house. As if agreeing to its master, his Saiyan stomach chose this time to gave a loud growl, causing the entire Son house household to be engulfed in waves of happy laughter by their favorite eleven-year-old's antics. They would live on to the fullest, just like what Goku had wanted them to.

Chi Chi watched as her son made his way up the stairs, without a doubt heading straight towards the bathroom to clean himself up. The boy looked so much like Goku. Sometimes, she could not help but to admit that all those physical trainings over the years did help her Gohan quite a lot. To begin with, her son now had a healthy, muscular body most boys his age would kill for, and he had really sharp reflexes too. Not only that, he had grown into a more confident individual, and was no longer the timid child who used to hide behind his father. Sure, Gohan could still be shy from time to time, but he was steadily improving. The Son woman sighed mentally, finding herself unable to deny that all the hard work the eleven-year-old had gone through were what keeping him physically fit and strong all this time.

Looking at Gohan now, she felt slightly ashamed of herself as she thought back to the years; she had been making boy study almost all the time since he was barely four years old. True, she was doing this for her son's future as a scholar to become a reality, but did she ever consider his feelings on the matter? What if Gohan never really want to become a scholar? What if instead, Gohan wanted to be like his father, fighting to to protect the others? Chi Chi was starting to doubt her her decisions now. Had she been doing the right thing all this time? What if...

'Maybe I have been too strict on his studies all this while?' The Son woman's thoughts began to wander once again. 'Maybe I should let Gohan train more often? You'd be happy if I do, right... Goku?'

A gentle breeze swept through the house, and it was all the answer she needed. A smile slowly spread across her lips; she had made her decision. And somehow her gut feeling told her that it would be for the better.

As for Gohan, a determined gleam sparkled across his eyes when he was out of sight from his mother and grandfather. 'I'll train extra hard and toughen myself up. Next time, I'll protect all of us without anyone having to lose their lives again. I promise.'

"But as for now, a cold shower and good food come first, is what Dad would say!" the boy grinned to himself, voicing out his thoughts. And he did just that.

Later at night, taking place at the ruined Cell Games Arena

Amidst the silence of the night, two dark portals were slowly forming out of thin air, right in the middle of the crater where the final, fate-deciding Kamehameha duel took place. Sizzling with bolts of unholy energy, the portals finally stabilized themselves to the atmosphere, and two figures emerged. Both figures' features were hidden by the long black cloaks they were wearing, completed with hoods which revealed absolutely nothing in the dead of night.

"So this is Earth…" the first figured chuckled darkly. "Not quite what I've been expecting but not too shabby. Keheheh.. I wonder how an Earthling's blood taste like…"

"Hn. Let's get going before someone sees us," the other figure, who spoke with a much younger tone, looked at his partner. "We've got a lot of work to do."

"Tch, I don't care even if anyone found us here. I'll just … consume him," the first snapped back, licking his lips in anticipation of tasting blood.

A cold glare was the response.

"Fine, fine, let's go then! Seriously, learn to take a joke will ya?"

"…"

With that, the unkown duo vanished in the thin air in two swirls of black feathers...

End of Prologue

So, how was it? Good? Bad? Be sure to leave some comments and tell me about it! Critiques are always welcome. =)