One day later
It was another idyllic day at Mt. Poazu, where the resident demi-Saiyan was fishing.
Now fishing, for members of the Son family, involved swimming in a lake of giant, man-eating fish and beating them up.
One by one, about a half dozen massive fish burst out of the water and landed on the shore. After them followed a ten year old boy.
"Alright, that should take care of dinner," Gohan said, satisfied with his effort.
Things had been complicated since his father died and decided to stay in the afterlife for the sake of the planet. The biggest complication had been the discovery of his mother's pregnancy. Initially both Chichi and Gohan had been horribly depressed over his father's passing, but soon attention turned to preparing for the new life on its way. So, when Gohan wasn't busy studying, he focused on doing household chores and helping his mother.
The boy was halfway back to his house with his catch when he felt two familiar power levels coming towards him.
"Hmm? Wonder what they're doing out here?" Gohan asked himself as he hurriedly ran back to his house to drop off the fish before leaving to meet with the two fighters in private. They might just have been stopping to visit but then again, there might be trouble and Gohan didn't want to put his mom under any more stress.
In the distance, Gohan saw the two human figures flying at him at high speed. Gohan jumped up and flew out to meet them.
"Kuririn! Tenshinhan!" Gohan called out, waving at the two fighters.
"Gohan!" Kuririn called out, waving back.
The three met up several miles and thousands of feet above the Son house.
"It's been awhile guys!" Gohan said, greeting them
"It sure has! How ya been Gohan?" Kuririn asked in a friendly manner.
"Pretty good, it's been busy though," Gohan said.
"It's good to see you Gohan, have you been keeping up on your training?" Tenshinhan asked, serious as always.
Gohan massaged the back of his head. "Afraid not, like I said it's been pretty busy. Mom found out she's pregnant so I've been doing a lot of the house work."
"Pregnant?! Chichi!?" Kuririn exclaimed. "You mean . . .?"
"Yeah . . . probably right before the cell games," Gohan said, blushing. Gohan had read enough about biology to understand perfectly what had happened, He just didn't like thinking about it.
"Jeez," Kuririn said, flabbergasted. "I guess I should pop in and give my regards. . ." He said, not sounding like he wanted to face a pregnant Chichi. Gohan couldn't blame him.
"Gohan," Tenshinhan began, still serious. "The reason we came today is to test the fruits of our training."
Now that caught Gohan's attention. Gohan tried to feel for their ki but both the fighters were suppressing it to an amazing degree considering they were flying.
"You want to spar? Sure, but why me?" Gohan asked.
"Are you kidding!? You're the strongest guy on this planet, maybe even the universe!" Kuririn said; gushing. "Besides I don't really want to test my luck sparring with Piccolo or Vegeta if you know what I mean."
Gohan laughed. "Mr. Piccolo might be a little intense but he wouldn't cripple you in a sparring match."
"Well, I guess you would know," Kuririn remarked. Gohan knew Piccolo better than anyone else on Earth.
"Well if it will help I guess, but let's take it away from the house. I don't want to disturb mom." Gohan said. More than that, he didn't want her to know he was out sparring with his father's friends.
Gohan lead Kuririn and Tenshinhan into the mountains in the north east where no one lived. they could fight there without disturbing anyone.
"How's this?" Gohan asked, looking over the mountain range.
"Perfect!" Kuririn
"Gohan," Tenshinhan began, "We need to test the fruits of our training against overwhelming strength. Please show us the power you used to fight Cell."
Gohan blinked; surprised. "Tenshinhan, I can hardly control that form. I haven't even tried since the Cell games."
"Please Gohan," Tenshinhan asked.
"Don't worry Gohan; we've been training really hard," Kuririn said, though Gohan thought he heard some nervousness.
"Well, alright . . ." Gohan said. He clinched his arms and started to concentrate. His power rose rapidly. In an instant he was a super Saiyan. The air vibrated as he pushed past the initial state to its maximum. Gohan clinched harder, he struggled to push passed the last barrier. He concentrated on his rage and feelings of loss. Finally, after what seemed like forever, his aura exploded around him and his form jumped with electricity.
"Wow," Kuririn said, sucking in a breath.
Gohan took a deep breath. The form was still hard on him. There was a rage, and the energy was still too much for him, but the power couldn't be beat.
Tenshinhan nodded to the young demi-Saiyan, and took a stance. "Kuririn, you ready?"
Kuririn took a matching stance. "Here goes nothing."
The two human clenched and begin powering up. Gohan was surprised when their power shot up several times higher than it had been at the Cell Games. But what was really surprising was the very slight red aura they both projected.
"Kaioken?" He asked, mostly to himself. It looked a little like Kaioken, but was much more subdued. If Kaioken was like a super nova than this was like a very small star.
"Are you ready Gohan?" Tenshinhan asked, looking him square in the eye.
Gohan nodded. Their power was really high, but it was still far below a super Saiyan. As long as his guard was up their bows wouldn't even hurt.
The three stood off for a few seconds before both Tenshinhan and Kuririn disappeared
Gohan's eyes widened and he turned around to block a blow, careful not to break Tenshinhan's arm in the process. But it was his arm that gave way.
"Wha?!" Gohan asked before a kick sent him flying into the ground, sending rock and earth flying into the air.
Slowly Gohan dug himself out of the mountain side. Now his clothes were all dirty. It would suck explaining that to his mom. But more importantly; "for a moment, he was as strong as a super Saiyan . . ."
Gohan looked up at Tenshinhan. The three eyed warrior looked neither exhausted nor worse for wear. Gohan was confused, for a normal human to exert that kind of power they would have to burn through their ki or tap into their life force.
Suddenly Gohan's attention was diverted to his right where Kuririn rushed in with a flurry of punches and kicks. His power was also massive, forcing Gohan temporarily on the defensive. Blocking with his legs and right hand, he drew back his left and formed a small ki blast which blew the former monk away.
"Jeez", what kind of training did you two go through?" Gohan asked before turning and repelling Tenshinhan.
After a quick exchange of strikes, Gohan drove Tenshinhan away with a kick. He was certain now. Both of them were coming in with quick bursts equal to that of a super Saiyan. In terms of power that was about half of what he could bring, and there were two of them, if he wasn't carful he could actually lose!
Gohan rose back up above the mountains. He could only keep his 2nd form for so long before it exhausted him.
"Alright guys! I'm going to go all out! Watch yourselves!"
Gohan pushed his power to its absolute max; surprisingly it was still somewhat beneath what it was during the Cell games. Gohan started to worry.
Kuririn and Tenshinhan joined back up. "You feel that Kuririn?"
Kuririn was sweating, not from exertion but from Gohan's overwhelming power. "How could I not?"
"There's no way we could last long in a melee against this," Tenshinhan observed.
"Speed and distance then?" Kuririn asked.
Tenshinhan nodded. "We'll have to go all out."
"Heh, I'm already doing that. That power of his will shatter your bones if you let your ki drop," Kuririn said, chagrined.
"Win or lose, we've gotten what we came for." Tenshinhan said.
Kuririn nodded. They had proved their method. In less than a year they had reached a level where they could challenge a super Saiyan, and almost half of that was spent refining their concepts.
Gohan finished powering up, and then seemingly vanished as he rushed the two human warriors. Kuririn and Tenshinhan both went full power in order to dodge the young Super Saiyan.
At once both humans began lobbing ki balls at the preteen, each one packed an incredible amount of power, but the demi-Saiyan just flew about, batting them aside.
Kuririn broke off his attack, flew upwards and began charging the turtle schools signature technique.
"KAMEEEEEE, HAMEEEEEEEE," Kuririn focused on the energy ball, causing the attack's core to pulse. The blue ki ball turned red and flared up. "HAAAAAAAA!"
The red ball of Ki sped towards Gohan, who was still battling away lighter ki attacks. Gohan turned towards the Kamehameha in alarm. Quickly, he sped away, dodging Tenshinhan's ki blasts as he flew. Kuririn compensated, adjusting the attack's course to keep it on target, and Gohan couldn't get out of the way in time.
"Masenko-HA!" the demi-Saiyan crossed his arms and unleashed an attack of his own. The two forces collided. The Kamehameha was seemingly stronger and pushed through the Masenko, but the beam struggle moved Gohan out of the way and the ki attack missed him.
"SHINKIKOHO!" Tenshinhan extended his arm and unleashed his signature attack, adding a small amount of his life force to his amplify his ki, he instantly unleased an attack even stronger than the Kamehameha. His attention still on the previous beam struggle, the lightning fast attack hit Gohan head on.
Kuririn felt Gohan's power drop, but not as far as he hoped given the hit he had just taken. "That hit would have killed me, but he just shrugs it off. . ."
A kick from behind sent Kuririn straight into the ground. Tenshinhan turned only to see Gohan coming straight at him. Using his full power and both arms he blocked Gohan's first blow, he went to parry the second but it turned into an after image. Turning, he blocked a kick just like the one that took out Kuririn, The hit shook his whole body and he surmised it would leave a huge bruise on his arm. Gohan back pedaled a short distance and raised one arm,
"Masenko. . . HA!"
Tenshinhan dodged to one side, He tied to block the follow up kick but it penetrated his guard and sent him hurdling to the mountain below.
Tenshinhan managed to land with only minor damage to the land. Unlike Kuririn his power had been raised when he took Gohan's hit. Kuririn, for his part was currently digging himself out of a twenty foot crater.
Gohan landed near Kuririn's hole. "You OK?"
"Did you get the number of that bus?" The ex-monk asked as he finally pulled himself out. "Well, I don't think anything is broken. . ."
"That was impressive Gohan." Tenshinhan said as he landed nearby.
"Gee, thanks. But you two were amazing, you're nothing like you were back during the Cell games!" Gohan bushed. Personally, he realized how out of shape he was compared to a few months before. "Was that the Kaioken you were using?"
"Not exactly," Tenshinhan explained. "It's a new method we developed based on the Kaioken. Instead of using it as a battle technique, we're using it as a training method."
"A training method?" Gohan asked curiously.
"Yeah! We use it at a real low level over an extended period," Kuririn said, chiming in, "over time we get used to controlling the amplified ki"
"Kinda like the training dad and I did with Super Saiyan," Gohan said
"That's where we got the idea!" Kuririn said, nodding. "Well, that and Kami's library, but it was mostly Kaioken and your dad's ideas."
"It still has some drawbacks though," Tenshinhan admitted. "It doesn't really strengthen our bodies; it just gets us use to controlling and generating large amounts of ki."
"Still! That's awesome!" Gohan said. "I hate to admit it, but I didn't think humans could get that powerful."
"Hehe, don't underestimate us!" Kuririn bragged.
"There's still a lot of work to do. We've only developed the basics. I won't be satisfied until I surpass you Gohan." Tenshinhan said.
"Heheh," Gohan laughed nervously. "I'm still growing you know, don't think I'll stay at this level!"
"I look forward to it," Tenshinhan nodded. "I suppose I should pay my respects to your mother before I leave."
Gohan winced. "I supposed that would be polite . . ."
Kuririn gulped.
In the distance, a green figure hid himself and listened to the conversation.
Piccolo smirked. "So that's how they did it," He said. "Looks like I owe Dende a little visit."
Chapter 2 end
Author's notes:
So there is the second chapter. A few things worth mentioning: I am not using the more localized spellings and instead opt to use the more accurate ones. I know many people are very used to the "Krillin" spelling but I don't like it.
I would also like to remind people that the power scaling has never been . . . terribly consistent in Dragon Ball, so while I am keeping cannon in mind, that doesn't mean everyone will like how I do it. Just go with it.
I would also like to thank everyone who left a review. It really helps to know what people think of my work.
Thanks,
Gedaemon
update 2/10/18 fixed Gohan's age to be closer to cannon. He is 9, physically 10 at this point