XIII: Wow, so much love from you guys for that first chapter. I truly appreciate it. I think this one will be a great fan fiction so let us start the show!

Son Gohan: Champion of Earth

Chapter One: The Tournament

It had been one months since Goku's passing and Gohan's oath in the rain and so far, Gohan had made good on his word.

He had resumed training but it had been slightly hard at first due to Chi-Chi's understandable concern…

Flashback

"Absolutely not! I will not allow you to train! Haven't you seen what it has done to your father?! I will not allow that to happen to my child!"

Gohan let a small sigh leave his lips as he gazed upon the angered eyes of his mother.

He knew that what he was asking was pretty bad, especially due to Goku's absence for the same reason but he didn't shy away from this stern glare. If anything, he merely looked at her with caring but sad eyes.

"Mom…Sit down for me," Gohan told her gently with a small smile on his face. Chi-Chi stared at him for a moment before nodding and sitting down on the couch next to him where he took her by surprise by hugging her gently which she returned immediately.

"I know mom…" He whispered softly against her chest with a small smile "….I know you do not like the idea of me training or fighting…Father did that far too much and in the end, he traded basic social skills for his powers but I won't do that to you. I'm not going to allow myself to become like that...Like him."

Pulling away from his mom, he took her hand and gazed into her eyes and said "I'm not training just to be training, I'm doing this to protect you and my unborn sibling from evil but rest assured mother, I'm not going to give up my studies either. I will not sacrifice all that you taught me. I give you my word as your son that I will study as hard as I train"

Gohan then laughed.

"Besides, I need to keep my wits if I'm to support you two."

End Flashback

It was those words that convinced his mother to let him continue training but there was a small problem with his training.

Piccolo had decided to retire as his sensei due to him believing that he was no longer suitable to teach Gohan due to the child learning everything from him except Namekian specific techniques.

But thankfully, the Namekian told him that he would always be there to help him no matter what because he was just a thought away and Gohan believed him.

Despite the rough meeting they had, Piccolo had protected him since he was four years old. He saved his life and even gave his life for him so why wouldn't he believe his words?

Despite this surprising setback, this didn't deter Gohan from his quest to become stronger because he knew exactly where to go for training.

His friends.

He decided that if he was going to protect everyone that he cared for, he might as well learned from them and to his surprise, all of them agreed to train him as best as they could.

But with Piccolo retiring as his sensei, Gohan needed someone his caliber to train him once again and found that in the prince of all saiyans.

Unfortunately, Vegeta was not himself…

Flashback

"Unbelievable…The spawn of Kakarot, the savior of the world is asking me to be his sensei…How strange…"

Gohan looked at the depressed saiyan prince with a hint of sadness in his eyes but he dared not show it. He was in Vegeta's home and he was asking for this man to train him and Gohan was not going to show pity to the downed warrior.

"Vegeta, I know it's hard to believe but…I always admired your will to become stronger with the tools you are dealt…I know I should be the last person to ask this of you but I…I need help," Gohan responded with a bowed head.

Gohan watched as Vegeta's tired eyes glanced at him in thought. "Why not ask the Namekian?" Vegeta asked him.

"Because he feels that he can no longer teach me because I have surpassed him in power and because I learned all I could from him," Gohan replied.

Vegeta turned his head and stared up at the ceiling above and then asked "Why do you wish for me to train you

Taking a slow breath, Gohan found himself saying with a bitter tone in his voice "I wish to not only show him what I can accomplish without leaving everyone behind to their own devices…But I wish to fight and defeat him with all that I've learned. Not only to show him that he can become stronger without the help of otherworldly warriors….But because he abandoned me and my mother when we needed him most…"

Gohan knew that Vegeta would be surprised by his slow resentment of the man he called "father" and why shouldn't he be?

At one point in time, Gohan would always sing the praises of his father and his prowess as a warrior but since he left, he made sure to leave Gohan with the responsibility to not only protect the entire world but to also protect his mother and his unborn son.

It wasn't because of the responsibility that made Gohan slowly resent his father, it was the fact that he left and didn't feel any sorrow from doing it and because every single night, he listened to his mother cry out for him in her sleep or when she thought she was alone but his resentment was also due to what would happen in the future.

Gohan knew that once his sibling was born and could speak, those familiar questions of "Where's daddy?" or "Will he come see me?" would begin to pop up which would no doubt upset his mother as well as himself and the child.

His father would be missing all of the holidays, birthdays, anniversaries that would be shared between the fatherless family which would no doubt change the excitement of these days into a somber one.

And for what?

Some skewered sense of responsibility and training.

But the worst part of it all was that all Gohan had ever wanted to be was a normal child. He honestly didn't want all the things his father unceremoniously pawned off on him.

He wanted to enjoy his childhood with his family and friends but now that he was responsible for the world and his family but instead of being a child, he was forced to become a man at the tender age of thirteen.

Protecting the world and protecting his family should have been his father's responsibility, not his son's! But despite how all of this was pushed on him, he would not shy away from it because no matter how difficult it would get, He couldn't pawn off his responsibility on anyone like his father had done to him.

He would become strong enough to protect the earth; his family and friends far better than his father could but he would not let protecting the world consume him like it did his father.

He'd find a way to balance his duties as the savior of the world and the duties to his family at any cost.

"I see…" Vegeta said after a few moments of silence, a hint of understanding in his eyes.

"Boy, you have the spirit of the saiyan race within you," Vegeta told him with an arrogant smirk. "Very well, I will train you but there are two conditions to this…"

Gohan looked at the prince with his undivided attention but he was not prepared for Vegeta to stand up off of the bed he was laying on and walk towards the window, slowly clasping his hands together behind his back.

"If I am to train you, fully train you, I will not only train you to hone your skills but I will train you in the way of the saiyan. Everything that I have learned in my life I will pass on to you but I need you to know…This will not be easy," Vegeta warned

"I will push your mind, body and spirit to their breaking point and then beyond it. I will not only cram down all of the fighting techniques of the saiyans. I want you to give it your all. I want every single drop of your best in this. Anything else and I will kill you…"

"I'm willing to do anything to protect my family and friends….You have my word that I will put one thousand percent behind my training from you…" Gohan responded with a bow of the head.

"Good…The second half of this training is more personal. I…I learned from Trunks that I died fairly young in his life," Vegeta started in a small murmur.

"He was barely one years old when the androids killed me In his timeline….I didn't get a chance to teach him all he needed to know to become a saiyan warrior but despite that, he managed to copy the ideals of your alternate version…It has made him powerful but I regret that I wasn't there to teach him what he needed…"

Gohan was surprised.

He never knew that Vegeta had this kind of side to him.

He watched as the saiyan turned around to face him and said with a serious look on his face "During this time, I will teach you all about the Saiyan race. From the humble beginnings to its final day. You will learn all there is to know because If something should happen to me and I am unable to come back with the Dragonballs…I want you to pass down all that I have taught you during our sessions together to him."

And without hesitation, Gohan gave a brisk nod and replied "Understood Teacher."

And while Gohan wouldn't bring attention to it, He saw a bit of life appear in his new teacher's eyes.

End Flashback

And boy was Vegeta right.

Gohan had never been so thoroughly worn out in his life from Vegeta's lessons in both brutal training and a draining history lesson but despite his exhaustion, he continued to put one thousand percent into his training with not only the saiyan prince but his friends as well but that wasn't all.

Like he had promised his mother, Gohan also continued his studies and put his all behind that as well but unknown to Chi-Chi, Gohan was trying to find himself a job to support her and his little brother.

His father never knew this and never bothered to know this but she had a job in the recently named Hercule City as a chef and it showed every night she cooked him dinner but he knew that once she began to show, she would have to leave her job until his sibling was born.

But to his annoyance, there weren't a lot of jobs that a thirteen year old boy could have.

Even if he was the savior of the world.

So after a long study session, a beat down Gohan fell to the couch in the living room and flipped on the TV to see if anything interesting was on to watch and after a few channel flips, nothing of interest caught him until he happened to flip on a channel that made his eyes widen in surprise.

"Hello everyone, my name is Hercule Satan, the Hero of earth!" a tall muscular man with a black mustache, a large black afro, a five o'clock shadow, brown Gi, a pair of baggy white pants and a white cape said in a loud, goofy tone, causing Gohan to close his eyes in anger.

"Oh god, not this guy," Gohan said with a heated tone in his voice. Just a month ago, Gohan had found out through watching the news that Hercule had claimed that he was the one to defeat Cell and Gohan was furious at this. Who was this piece of shit to claim the victory which cost him the life of his father and nearly everyone that was there?

He was aching to find where he this guy loved to publicly beat and humiliate him because of this lie but Chi-Chi had talked him down from it, telling him that the world was better off in believing a lie due to her wanting privacy and also for other reasons that made sense to him but it still pissed him off to no end.

But little did he know, the news that his buffoon of a man was going to announce was going to make him grin.

"We need two hundred martial artists to sign up to compete in the first annual "Intergalactic Championship Tournament!" The winner of the tournament will face off with me, the world's strongest man to not only win my championship," Hercule held up a large belt with a two golden plates on the side of a large golden plate that had a golden bat etched on it.

"But you will also be able to win One hundred million Yen but remember, you'll have to get through the world's strongest to obtain it so come downtown to the newly christened Hercule City to obtain your form to defeat me!" Gohan let a large smirk form on his face as Hercule let out a loud boisterous laugh on the TV screen.

Defeat two hundred men, defeat this buffoon all to win one hundred million Yen?

"Mother!" Gohan yelled out, grabbing his white coat from off the coat rack as he opened the door.

"I'm going downtown to Hercule city! I'll be back in ten minutes!"

Twenty Minutes Later

Hercule City

'This is really stupid….' A super saiyan Gohan thought to himself as he landed near the downtown area of the newly christened Hercule City. He had to admit that he shuddered heavily when he flew passed that sign. He really hoped this would be the one and only time he would come to this pathetic place that hailed a liar as a hero.

'Hercule City…What a pathetic place'

Landing on the roof near downtown, Gohan leapt from roof to roof all the way to the ground, not caring who would see him and walked towards town square where a large crowd of people stood in wait. 'Really?! All of these people?!' Gohan exclaimed in his head with a sad sigh following behind it.

Taking a deep breath, Gohan trudged through the crowd of people which was quite easily when he manipulated his Ki to blow anyone beside him away from his personal space. Once he got to the front, he felt something vibrating beneath his feet, causing him to quirk a brow in confusion but that confusion changed into irritation when someone screamed "It's Hercule!"

Looking up, Gohan saw a large stage rising out of the ground with Hercule standing on top of it with a white cape flapping in the wind behind him and the worst part was, there was a song playing in the background that was terrible catchy.

"Attention everyone! The champion of Earth has arrived!" Gohan heard Hercule scream to the crowd around him a large goofy grin on his face.

Gohan had to cover his ears due to the loud repeating screams of "Hercule!" going on around him from the crowds, quickly causing a look of irritation to form on his face, further making him hate the man on the stage but what really astounded him was that he could see fireworks high in the sky above the man, who had his right hand pointing to the sky.

'All of this for this liar?! Where's the damn justice in that?!' Gohan shouted in his head angrily while glaring at the man with heat in his eyes.

He had half of the mind to get on that stage and beat him until he screamed the truth but his mother wouldn't approve of such an action. He had to try and keep himself calm so he could get through this ordeal and leave as quickly as possible.

"Alright everyone, quiet down," He heard Hercule say into the microphone standing on a stand in front of him and like good puppies, the crowd immediately calmed down for the "Hero" of earth.

"Now I know everyone here wants to sign up for my tournament and we will certainly get to that but I just want to thank you all for that warm reception. It truly warmed my heart."

Gohan had no choice but to roll his eyes at this but what really made him face palm in shame was when he heard random people in the crowd talk about how humble or how sweet he was and truthfully, it made him even more annoyed. 'Just get through this Gohan…Don't cause a scene,' He thought to himself repeatedly.

But as he heard Hercule explain everything about his little tournament, Gohan found his ire rising to its limits.

Not only did Hercule keep deviating from the main reason Gohan was here by bragging about himself and his skills, but he continued to calm himself those words.

Champion of Earth.

This lying son of a bitch kept using the phrase that belonged to his father as well as himself and to hear Hercule constantly throw the phrase around was pissing him off greatly.

Goku had basically sacrificed everything, from basic social skills, his family and even his life in the end to protect the earth and he himself have already saved the earth by defeating Cell and seeing this man taking his victory while also dishonoring the "sacrifice" his father had made for him and to make matters worse, these people were so ignorant that they praised him.

They were not only praising a liar but they were praising a coward!

They were praising a man that basically hid behind a rock the entire time of the battle after his humiliating battle against Cell and the only time he barely showed that thing called "Courage" was when he bought Android Sixteen's head to Gohan when he was at his weakest and even then he could barely stop shaking.

And knowing that this coward of a man had taken his victory for his own was making him sick.

Despite himself, Gohan let a slow smirk form on his lips.

Maybe Vegeta had been on to something when he said that a saiyan's pride was worth more than anything.

After twenty-five more minutes of listening to Hercule's bravado, a truly enraged Gohan had to wait in a long line to sign up for the tournament and once it was his turn to sign the waiver to enter it, he paused.

Should he really do it?

Should he really fall into this idiot's tournament that looked as if it was promoting himself instead of everyone else?

He knew that his family will need the money since his mother was on maternity leave but his pride was telling him that he shouldn't allow himself to be a cog in the self-serving man's plan but in the end, he had to push aside his pride. Not only because of the money that he needed for his family but because this was the perfect chance to completely humiliate the man.

There was no way he, a demi-saiyan who saved the earth, could lose to anyone in this tournament.

After signing his name on the waiver, Gohan walked off to the side and quickly flew off into the air…

Not aware that a girl with a long pink dress, short black hair and crystal blue eyes had seen him fly into the sky.

Later that night

Satan Hercule

"Hey dad, guess what I saw today!"

Hercule, who was currently surrounded by his butlers and maids who were helping him get ready for a ball tonight glanced down at his fourteen year old daughter who had a wide grin on her face.

Hercule shook his head and turned his attention to the beautiful red haired maid who had discreetly placed a kiss on his cheek before she ran off but Hercule still regarded his daughter with a "Daddy is busy sweet pea, can this wait until I come home?"

"No way! It's really important," his daughter told him with a stern look on her face that instantly reminded him of her mother, who was currently sleeping in their bedroom upstairs.

Turning his head, Hercule pushed all of his helpers away and kneeled down to his daughter and asked her "Alright then, what is it that you want to tell me?"

But little did he know that she was going to drop a huge bombshell on his nearly perfect life as a champion of earth.

"I saw a blond boy flying in the air!"

XIII: And that's all for the second chapter of this fic! What will happen next? Find out on the next chapter of….Son Gohan: Champion of Earth