Hey guys, Liz here. Guess what? This is the 50th chapter of the story! That's right; chapter 50! I never thought that this story would get this far. In March, we'll be celebrating a year with this fanfic and I just….I might start crying. If you asked me back in 2012 when I originally came up with these characters that they'd get this much attention, I'd say you're crazy. (Also, gosh, I'm old! 2012?! Really?!) Anyway, thank you all so much for your continued support. It means a lot to me, and I'm so glad you all are enjoying the story.

Last we left off, Chiyo finally achieved super saiyan after she stopped comparing herself to Gohan. Will Gohan be able to catch up to his sister? Find out now.

The Son Squad Ch.50

Month Three

For the past month, Chiyo had been doing her best to master going in and out of super saiyan. It took her a while to get the hang of it, but she was making progress, albeit slow progress, but progress none the less. She thought she was getting pretty good at handling it, all things considered. She was more able to go into the transformation without too much issue, but she was nowhere near the same level as her future siblings or her father. Still, the idea that she had even broken the barrier to begin with was enough for her.

Gohan, meanwhile, was still struggling to ascend into super saiyan. He did not lack much in the anger department, but he certainly was missing something to push him over the edge. He was happy that Chiyo had been able to go super saiyan, sure, but he was now the one starting to feel useless by not being able to access the transformation. There had to be something he was missing, but what?

Halway through the third month in the chamber, Gohan and Goku were going at it one-on-one for their training. At the same time, Daichi and Chibi were helping Chiyo better control her super saiyan transformation. As the two future siblings had Chiyo focus on her breathing to control the transformation, Gohan was phasing in and out of the golden aura, growing closer and closer to becoming super saiyan. He was close to it; he could feel it in his bones. Well, he could also feel the exhaustion coming on from the training, but that's beside the point.

After being punched to the ground for the umpteenth time, losing the golden aura once more, Gohan gasped as his Dad went in for another strike. "Dad," He yelped as the attack came his way, causing Goku to stop his advance and smile down at his son.

The father of five knew that Gohan was close to becoming a super saiyan. He knew that going super saiyan would push his son closer to becoming stronger than him, but Goku also acknowledged when to call it quits. He extended his hand down to Gohan for him to take. "Okay, Gohan, let's take a break," Goku suggested to his son. They had been going at for at least four hours now. A break seemed like a good thing for the both of them.

Gohan looked at the hand extended before him and then turned his gaze to momentarily look over at Chiyo, Chibiko, and Daichi. Chibiko and Daichi were both now charging at Chiyo at the same time as super saiyans. The younger girl blocked most of their attacks and sent them flying back with a surge of super saiyan energy before going to deliver her own set of attacks to them. She showed no signs of stopping any time soon.

Seeing his twin sister like this somehow stirred a resolve inside Gohan. He couldn't stop now, not when he was so close to becoming a super saiyan. There was no time to rest. Instead of taking his father's extended hand, Gohan got up on his own and squared up against his dad once more.

"Hey, easy now, Gohan," Goku commented at how quickly the boy got up. He noticed how his son's eyes were now narrowed for combat, ready to go another round with him. Guess that was a no on the break, then.

Without saying a word, Gohan powered up as much as he could, jumped into the air, and went to deliver a kick down on Goku. Goku dodged out of the way Gohan came down and quickly countered by trying to deliver an elbow to Gohan's back. However, Gohan promptly caught Goku's elbow and used this as an opportunity to try delivering a kick under his father's chin. This is Goku, though, and he quickly dodged that no problem and went to sweep Gohan's feet out from under him. That did the trick, and Gohan landed on the ground. However, the oldest of the Son kids quickly jumped back to his feet and fired a small energy ball right at his father, who promptly swatted it away.

Goku smirked at his son. He was getting better with each day hat passed, just like he hoped he would. Goku thought he'd actually start breaking a sweat soon if things kept up like this.

Gohan, however, wasn't finding much enjoyment out of this. Actually, to be honest, he was getting a bit frustrated. "You know, back when I was training with Piccolo, he said you wouldn't be a very good teacher," Gohan told his father. He was slowly charging up another energy ball attack. He never really overthought about what Piccolo had said to him and Chiyo before. Now, though, he was starting to take what his master had said about his father into perspective. He observed all the telltale signs Piccolo had pointed out to him about his Dad going soft, and knew this wouldn't get him any closer to going super saiyan.

Goku didn't reply to Gohan's comment as the young boy narrowed his eyes at his father.

"You're too nice!" Gohan suddenly shouted before throwing the energy ball right at Goku.

Thinking quickly, Goku threw the attack back at Gohan, who jumped to dodge it and then deliver a kick to Goku's head. Goku blocked that attack and threw Gohan back, but the boy still advanced.

"He said you were too gentle, especially with us kids!" He jumped back to avoid a swing from Goku's fists. Gohan continued to glare at Goku, clenching his fists as he thought about the training he had endured with Chiyo under Piccolo's command. Comparing that to the training he endured for three years with his Father and Piccolo, he could clearly see the difference. His father never went all-out with him, Chiyo or Chinku, while Piccolo was the one who always pushed them to the point of near collapse. Rarely did the Namekian hold back on the kids, unlike Goku, who showed constant restraint. The thought of that seemed to get under Gohan's skin the more he thought about it. It was like his Dad had been babying him or something. "Now, I can see what he meant!"

The shouting grabbed the others' attention, and they watched as Gohan relentlessly tried to push Goku to fight him all-out. The contempt in Gohan's voice unnerved Chiyo. Even when she had sparred with her Dad, she didn't attack him verbally. She nervously watched Gohan continue to fight Goku, and she could feel her brother's anger continue to rise again.

"Man, he's really laying it into Pops, huh?" Daichi asked as he watched the fight between Goku and Gohan. He didn't expect Gohan to get so heated with his Dad. He didn't think Goku was holding back on Gohan and Chiyo, but then again, he could understand Gohan's frustration with wanting to finally go super saiyan.

"I'm not too surprised," Chibiko stated, placing her hands on her hips. "Gohan just wants to prove himself to Dad, and this is his way of pushing Dad to see him as a worthy opponent."

You two don't see what I see, Chiyo thought to herself as Gohan shouted at Goku to go all out with him. He had tears in his eyes as he glared at his Dad, wanting Goku to push him, even if it killed him. Chiyo clenched her fists in anticipation as Goku charged into super saiyan and threw Gohan back just with the sheer force of the transformation. Each passing moment brought back that uneasy feeling she had had before whenever her brother lost his temper. She wanted him to go super saiyan, but she feared what lay underneath the surface of Gohan's rage. Gohan.

Goku pulled no punches as he charged up a Kamehameha directed right at Gohan. The young man watched as the attack became bigger and bigger, and he prepared himself to catch it head-on. There was a moment when it seemed like he would back down from this, but then he just pushed himself to think past that fear and focus on what he needed to do to become a super saiyan.

Suddenly, Goku fired off the Kamehameha directly at Gohan. The young man faced the attack head-on, using his own energy beam to try and deflect it right back at Goku. For a few seconds, the beam and Gohan were at a stand-still, and then Gohan began to be pushed back by the attack. It was barely noticeable at first, but it became apparent that Gohan was being moved back by a few inches, causing the onlookers to become nervous.

I gotta be strong, Gohan thought to himself as he did his best to hold his ground. Everyone's counting on me. I can't let them down. Something about that last thought hit him hard. He couldn't let everyone down, not again. Time seemed to slow as he dwelled on it all.

Like against the saiyans. Heremembered hiding in fear from them while Chiyo fought back.

Or the Ginyu force. He recalled throwing everything he had at them, only for his attacks to be thrown back at him.

Or Frieza! He called to mind seeing Chiyo get stabbed through the stomach by Frieza's horn and then Krillin being blown to pieces right before his eyes.

Whenever my friends and family need me most, I was always too weak or scared to help them. He looked over to see Chiyo watching the fight intensely. Seeing her worried expression sparked something in him. He was her big brother, and he almost let her die once. She reacted when he froze-up, and it almost got her killed. Never again! I've been letting them down my whole life!

Suddenly, Gohan was utterly engulfed in the Kamehameha. It wasn't looking good from where the others were standing! "GOHAN!" Chiyo shouted at the top of her lungs as she saw her brother's form disappear into the beam, fearing the worst.

Then, just as all hope seemed lost, Gohan let out a shout and forced the Kamehameha back at Goku, sending the beam into a ball-form. Goku moved out of the way just in time, and the pushed back attack went flying by Goku's head and crashed not too far away, causing a massive explosion as soon as it hit the ground. Looking back down at Gohan, Goku saw that his son had reached super saiyan, with the golden hair, green eyes, and golden aura surrounding him. He was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists as his hair waved wildly around him.

Slowly, Goku descended to the ground and smirked at Gohan. He knew he had it in him from the beginning. "I told you you could do it," Goku told Gohan as he came down from the air above.

Gohan's reply to this was a continuous growl as his power was all over the place. He wasn't thinking clearly as his power fluctuated up and down. It was like being on a rollercoaster but on hyper-drive or something.

"That's good, son," Goku sternly told Gohan as he continued to remain in this state of super saiyan. It lasted much longer than Chiyo's initial state of super saiyan, and it slightly concerned Goku. "Now, calm your mind and focus. Bring your energy under control."

Gohan didn't seem to be listening to his Dad as his energy kept fluctuating. This didn't look good. Gohan could hear a voice whispering to him in the back of his head: Fight…Fight!…FIGHT! It repeated. You're strong now. Show them your power. You won't fail again! This was the first time Gohan had heard this voice. It sounded like his own, only more menacing. He never thought he could sound like that. Something about it was unnerving. And yet…there was also this allure to its commanding words. This power did feel good. In fact, it made him feel invincible- like he could do anything. Was this what it truly meant to be a super saiyan? Was this why his Dad loved to fight so much? If so-

Gohan, A soft voice cut through the haze. It was so quiet that Gohan thought he was hearing things. It didn't belong in this euphoria of power whatsoever.

Fight! Fight! Fight! The previous voice repeated, bringing Gohan back into that state of adrenaline. It was pulling him away from the softer voice and dragging him closer to this complete feeling of dominance.

Gohan, The soft voice repeated through the harsh words. It lightly tugged at Gohan and tried bringing him back towards a place of calm.

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! The harsh voice now hissed. The feeling was like something tugging at his soul, trying to consume him entirely.

Come back, Gohan, Chiyo's soft voice cut through the mantra of the menacing voice, grabbing hold of Gohan's thoughts and bringing them away from the dark.

Coming out of his head, Gohan glanced out of the corner of his eye over to Chiyo and saw the worry in her eyes. The voice in his head started fading more and more as he saw Chiyo with her hands clasped together like she was praying, and tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

FiGhT! FiGhT! FiGhT! The voice tried to drag Gohan down once more, but its power was obviously dwindling.

Breathe, Chiyo called out through the haze once more. Just breathe.

Suddenly, Gohan could think clearly, and the power left his body, causing him to fall down on his knees. His eyes and hair returned to normal, and he did his best to catch his breath through his pants. Chiyo instantly ran over to Gohan's side, just as he had done for her, and sat on her knees by his side. Daichi and Chibi followed right after her. "Gohan?" Chiyo asked as she sat there next to him.

Slowly, Gohan lifted his head up to look at Chiyo and their approaching Dad. Sweat trickled down his face as he tried to recall what had happened. His head was swimming in pain while his body ached. He slightly recalled his voice echoing out the word FIGHT, but he also recalled hearing Chiyo telling him to just breathe Still, he was more focused on the fact that he fell out of super saiyan. He realized he had a long way to go before reaching full control of it all.

"Good job, Gohan," Goku remarked, catching Gohan and Chiyo's attention. "You did well for your first time."

"But… it's hard," Gohan said in between pants as he shifted to sitting down on his butt. "I-I couldn't hold it."

"Hey, don't get so worked up about it," Goku assured Gohan. "These things take time. You just need more practice."

"… I'll help you," Chiyo suddenly chimed in, placing her hand on Gohan's shoulder. He turned to look at his sister and saw that she was smiling at him, her eyes closed as she flashed a grin at him. "You and I can practice together starting tomorrow, okay? We'll work on controlling it together." This would be the best way for her to keep an eye on him.

Gohan tiredly nodded and smiled back. "Yeah, okay."

"Speaking of control, how about we give you a haircut, Gohan?" Goku suggested to his son. "Your hair is getting a bit wild back there."

"It has been a while since I got it cut," Gohan figured as he looked back at his locks behind him.

"A while? More like three years," Chiyo poked fun at Gohan, earning a chuckle from him and Goku.

"Well, what about you, Chiyo? You haven't gotten your hair cut in a while either," Gohan poked back, earning a blush and chuckle from Chiyo.

"How about I give you both haircuts, then?" Goku chimed in.

"Sure," The twins both replied.

"I'm in," Daichi said, joining in on this. He was due for a trim, too. His hair was in a small ponytail at this point and was getting a little hard to maintain. "I could use a trim of the old mop-hair."

"All right; guess we'll take a break for haircuts, then," Chibi said with an eye-roll and her arms crossed over her chest. "It's not like the fate of the world is at stake or anything."

"Hey, we still got a good nine more months to go," Goku spoke up, smiling over at Chibi. He could tell she was joking along with everyone else. "Besides, maybe Vegeta and Trunks will take care of Cell all on their own."

"Somehow, I doubt that," Chibi remarked, earning some laughter from the others. (If you can't tell, she's still a bit bitter at Vegeta).

"Come on; give Trunks more credit than that," Daichi jabbed at Chibi, who knew exactly where this was going. She saw the mischievous look in his eyes, and she hated it. "After all, he practically is your boyfr-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Daichi received a sucker-punch to the gut that sent him down to his knees. The look of absolute pain was on his face as he fell over and clenched his stomach with comedic tears running down his face. "It's not Trunks I'm worried about," Chibi said through gritted teeth as Daichi's soul was leaving his body. The whole thing reminded Goku of Chi-Chi whenever she lost her temper, except her face was a bit more red than Chi-Chi's would've been. "Knowing Vegeta, he'd do something stupid and let Cell get the jump on him or something."

"….Sounds about right," Gohan and Chiyo simultaneously stated. It seemed like something Vegeta would do. They had known him long enough to know he'd let his pride get to his head.

Goku nervously chuckled. It was a possibility, and he too expected Vegeta to pull something like that, but he kinda hoped that Chibi was wrong about the assumption. Wouldn't it be nice to go out and not have to worry about saving the world again? Best case scenario? Vegeta beats Cell, and the two of them could duke it out to settle things once and for all. Worst case scenario? Goku has to step in once again and take care of Cell.

Later that "day", when everyone was getting ready for bed, Chiyo asked her Dad if she could talk to him for a minute. They walked out a bit away from the resting area so no one could hear what they were saying, and Chiyo got straight to the point: "I'm worried about Gohan."

"It's only Gohan's first time going super saiyan, Chiyo," Goku stated to the young girl with the now almost bowl-style haircut. He had cut it a bit too short and nearly messed up the whole thing. Luckily for him, Chibiko stepped in and saved Chiyo's hair. (Everyone say thanks to Chibi from keeping Chiyo from a bad haircut). "I think-"

"No, that's not what I mean, Dad," Chiyo interrupted her Dad. She looked around, making sure no one else was eavesdropping in on their talk. "This…this is different…You remember when Gohan went all-out and almost hurt Piccolo when we were training to fight the androids? Or our first day of super saiyan training?"

"Yeah?"

"…Every time Gohan charged up like that, I got this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was like….I don't even know how to describe it. It's like, this energy is there that just….well, it scares me." Chiyo slightly twirled at her shorter hair, finding it a bit weird how she now had such short hair. She didn't want to think that Gohan was dangerous, but what she felt was just off-putting. Gohan always had a temper, but this was something else entirely. "I did the mind link with Gohan to calm him down, and it took me a few tries before he settled down again."

"…I get your concern, Chiyo, and I promise I'll keep an eye on Gohan," Goku assured Chiyo after a brief moment of silence. He wasn't too sure what she was going on about, but he wasn't about to dismiss her entirely. Goku knew Chiyo wouldn't bug him about this unless she thought it was important. Still, it seemed that all of this was too much of an issue, at least, not right now.

"…Is something wrong with Gohan?" Chiyo dared to question, feeling guilty for even bringing up such an idea. A part of her wished to take it back the moment it left her mouth, and she quickly covered it with her hands after asking it aloud. Earlier, when she was trying to reach Gohan through the psychic link, she thought she would throw up from the deep and disturbing presence she encountered. Was something actually wrong with her brother, though? Or was this all in her own head? What if it was nothing and what she was actually feeling was jealousy?

"No, nothing's wrong with him," Goku assured Chiyo once more, noticing she was starting to shake. To be honest, though, he didn't know what it was that Gohan had within him. To him, he thought his son just had a power inside him that gave him more potential than he had. Still, he knew this was something he had to look into more, so he'd make sure to keep an eye on Gohan. He put a reassuring hand on her head and rubbed it. "I've got it under control, okay? You just focus on training. I'll make sure to look after Gohan."

"Okay," Chiyo sighed with slight relief. She gave her Dad a small smile and a hug around the waist. "Can you promise not to say anything to Gohan until we know for sure what's going on? I don't want to scare him or anything if it's nothing."

"Of course, Chiyo," Goku stated, rubbing the top of her head once more. "We'll keep this between us for now."


Month Four

By this time, Chiyo had helped Gohan to control the super saiyan transformation. She didn't sense that foreboding thing inside of him like before, which made her more at ease. Maybe she truly had been overreacting earlier in regards to the whole thing. Still, she kept an eye on her brother, who was completely unaware of what she was looking for.

Having Chiyo help Gohan with the super saiyan transformation also sped up the training for everyone. Now that all five of the Son family members could go super saiyan, training became more intense. Some days would be free-for-all spars between family members to see who would come out on top. (It was always Goku, but that was to be expected since he had more years of experience under his belt). Other days, the kids would pair off while Goku went off to do his own solo training. Today was one of those pairing days as Gohan was facing Chibiko, and Daichi was going toe-to-toe with Chiyo.

Taking the fight to the air, Gohan was throwing punch after punch Chibiko's way while the young woman kept dodging him. However, unbeknown to Gohan, it took a lot of Chibi's energy to keep from being hit, so it wasn't a cakewalk for Chibi that Gohan expected it to be. All Gohan knew was that Chibiko kept dodging his attacks and he would have to step up if he wanted to catch up to his future sister. He then jumped back in the air and fired a powerful energy beam directly at the young woman. Chibi ducked out of the way and then fired a volley of energy directly at Gohan in retaliation. Gohan saw it coming and waited until the last possible second to dodge the volleys when they tried hitting him from all sides.

As the smoke settled, Chibiko lost sight of Gohan. She frantically began looking around, momentarily forgetting she could sense him out. Gohan used this as an opportunity to catch Chibi by surprise. He flew out of the clouds in the blink of an eye and took Chibi by surprise, sucker-punching her under the chin and sending her upwards. However, she quickly caught herself, massaged under her chin, and smirked down at Gohan. "Not bad," She cockily remarked as she wiped a small drop of blood from her slightly busted lip. "I almost felt that one."

"Well, there's more where that came from," Gohan cockily remarked before charging at his sister. He struck Chibi's arm as she put it up to block his attack, leaving the two at a stand-still.

"All right, Gohan. You wanna play hard? Fine. Let's play hard." With that, Chibi powered up a bit more in her super saiyan state and pushed Gohan back before delivering a kick that sent him flying through the air. Chibi quickly dashed behind Gohan and used her hands to slam him down towards the ground. However, Gohan turned and used his momentum to push himself off the ground and back up towards Chibi.

Meanwhile, down on the ground, Daichi and Chiyo were exchanging blows between each other. Chiyo had more speed compared to Daichi, and she was able to better dodge his attacks. However, she knew she couldn't play the dodge game forever, so she had to come up with something soon if she wanted to win. "Come on, Chiyo; you afraid to punch?" Daichi teased Chiyo as she continued to dodge.

As if to make a point, Chiyo caught hold of one of Daichi's incoming punches and held his fist firmly in her hand, taking Daichi off guard. "No," she stated with a smirk. "I was just waiting for you to mess up." She then used the opportunity to knee Daichi in the stomach and then kick him across the face, sending him skidding across the ground.

Realizing his mistake, Daichi quickly jumped up and readjusted himself. As he now skidded across the ground on his feet, he cupped his hands together and fired a quick Kamehameha Chiyo's way, and Chiyo tried countering with a Masenko. The two beams clashed for a few moments before Daichi stopped, jumped into the air, and fired a volley of energy at Chiyo. Chiyo barely had time to dodge and counter back with her own energy volley that filled the air with smoke.

Man, she's fast, Daichi thought to himself as Chiyo steadied herself again. The two glared each other down for a moment before Daichi made the first move and charged at Chiyo. He weaved and bobbed as Chiyo fired her own set of energy volleys at Daichi. He had figured out part of Chiyo's pattern of attacks.

Just as the battles between the pairs were ramping up, Goku came out from the pantry with some food in hand. "Gohan, Chiyo, Daichi, Chibi!" His voice echoed throughout the chamber. All four half-saiyans stopped where they were and turned to look over at their father. "Come on! It's lunchtime!"

"Lunch!" Daichi cheered before rushing over to the scene. He could feel his stomach gurgling just at the mention of food. Or maybe that was his injury.

"I could go for a break," Chibi stated before following after Daichi, but at a much slower pace.

"Race you there, Chiyo," Gohan shouted before rushing to where his Dad was.

"Hey, no fair, Gohan!" Chiyo laughed as she gave chase.

The four soon made it to their father and found that he had two large strips of meat in hand. "All right, time for a break, guys," He proclaimed to his children. "Who's turn is it to cook?"

"Gohan's!" Chiyo, Daichi, and Chibi all stated at the same time. It was a rotation for all of them. Last time was Chiyo's turn, so now Gohan has the honor of cooking up the meats.

Once it was confirmed who would be cooking up lunch, Goku threw the meats into the air, and Gohan fired a light blast at them to cook them up. It happened in a flash, and they smelt pretty good when Goku caught them. "Nice work," Goku remarked after catching the meat by the bone. However, just as they were about to all dig in, both strips started to produce some smoke. Then, in the blink of an eye, both strips erupted into flames and disintegrated, along with the bones. Nothing remained of the food, and Goku's face was covered in soot while a small flame of fire burned in his hair.

"Uh, Dad, your hair," Gohan pointed out, horrified that he had accidentally burnt both sticks of meat.

"I guess you need to work on controlling your power a bit more, huh?" Goku laughed, not yet realizing his hair was on fire.

"S-Sorry," Gohan stuttered, feeling embarrassed that he didn't get it right on his first time. He thought he was getting better, but it seemed like he needed to get more work done with Chiyo.

"Okay, but Dad, your hair," Daichi said, pointing to the flame that was growing some more. At first, he thought it was funny and tried to hold in his laughter. Now, however, it seemed like this could be a real fire hazard.

"It's fine," Goku insisted, thinking that it just had a lot of soot on it. "I'll go wash up in a minute."

"No, Dad, you don't understand!" Chiyo shouted, pointing up to his head. She wondered how he couldn't feel the flames growing on his hair-spike.

At this point, the flames were spreading a bit more to the upper portion of Goku's head. Goku quickly caught on that something smelt funny in the air as smoke now rose from his hair. "Hey, what's burning around here?"

"YOUR HAIR!" Chibiko shouted, frustrated at how dense her Dad was acting right now. She was now starting to believe Bulma's stories about how clueless her Dad could be at times.

At that moment, Goku understood what his kids were trying to tell him because he instantly felt heat emanating from his hair. "HOT HOT HOT!"

"Grab some water!" Daichi shouted, running into the living area to get some water.

"Stop, drop and roll!" Chiyo ordered her Dad as he frantically tried to put the flames out.

It was a mess, but at least this would make for a good story later.

Well, Gohan is a super saiyan now, but there's definitely something wrong with the transformation. What could it all possibly mean? You'll find out soon.

Thank you all so much for continuing to come back to the story. It means so much to me. I know I say that all the time, but it really does. In some other news, there's a poll up on my profile for a major plot point going down in the future that you can vote on. Also, I'm actually thinking of doing a separate story from the Son Squad that doesn't involve the main timeline. I'm not sure when it'll come out, but I'll say that it's been sticking with me for a while now. It's a mainly Gohan and Chiyo story that I'm still working out the details of, so stay tuned for that.

Anyway, I've ranted to you enough, and I'm sure you all want to get on with other things, so this is where I sign off. Have a good day, guys, and remember to wash your hands!