Hey guys, Liz here. This is a new story that I'm so excited to show off! It's a side story to the canon story of the Son Squad, and it can be entirely up to you whether or not you want it to be canon of the overall series. I'm so excited to tell you all this story involving Gohan and Chiyo. It's been on my mind for a few months now, and the art by Snapperoni on twitter is something I've been wanting to show off for a while now. So, what awaits these two? Guess you'll have to find out, now won't you?

For those of you checking out this story and you don't know who Chiyo is, she is Gohan's twin sister in my series, the Son Squad. Basically, that story is a what-if where Goku and Chi-Chi have more kids than just Gohan and Goten, so if you want to take a look at that, go right ahead. All right, here we go!

The Divergent Paths

Age 780

"…And that's it for today, everyone. Don't forget your test is on Friday, and you should be thinking about your papers for the end of the semester."

"Yes, sir."

Another lecture was done, another class full of college students was taught. And all without a single cellphone going off in class. Pretty successful day.

With a suitcase in hand, Gohan walked out of the classroom and out of the old college building. He made his way across the campus and pass students and professors alike at a decent pace. He had finished up his last class for the day and was finally on his way home to his wife and daughter. If he hurried, he could catch the bus and make it home just in time for dinner. As he passed through the prestigious school's front gates, he made his way to the bus stop with two minutes to spare. Taking a seat on the bench, Gohan's phone began buzzing in his pocket, and he pulled it out to find a text from his wife. It read as follows:

Hope u had a good day at work. Dad's coming over 4 dinner. Love u! :) :) :)

Gohan chuckled before typing back a reply:

That's fine with me. See u soon. Love u 2! ;) ;) ;)

The young man smiled as the text sent through, and his wife quickly replied with a bunch of hearts. He felt like the luckiest man in the world to have such an amazing woman in his life. His high school sweetheart always made his heart flutter whenever she looked his way. She kept him grounded whenever he got consumed by his ever-mounting work. Videl was his rock, and he loved her with all his heart.

Of course, there was his beautiful little girl, too. His little Pan was almost two now. She was a lively and excited girl on the verge of speaking coherent sentences. She always smiled whenever she saw him, and her toothy grin was enough to melt Gohan's heart. She was a sweetheart and the apple of Gohan's eye. He couldn't imagine life without his little girl.

After a couple of minutes, the bus pulled up, and Gohan hopped on. He greeted the bus driver with a quick hello before taking his seat in the middle of the vehicle, sliding right towards the window seat as a few other passengers piled in. The large vehicle then slowly rolled down the road and did its best to avoid as much traffic as possible, but this is the city, after all; traffic was a given with a place like this. Still, Gohan enjoyed it. It was different from his childhood home in the mountains. He loved the rolling hills, the serene waters, and the occasional run-ins with the creatures of the wild, but there was something about the city that always sucked him in. He delighted in the hustle and bustle of cars; the thriving movement of people; the constant noise that made the city come alive. It just had this charm over him that he couldn't shake.

He let out a deep sigh as he looked out the window and watched the other vehicles and people that passed him by. They all had places to be and things to do, not stopping for an instant to take in the world around them. In reality, he could be considered a hypocrite for thinking that since he tended to overwork himself just as much as any other busy city goer. He was just lucky to have a good support network to level him out and keep him from being a complete workaholic.

Before long, the bus pulled up to his stop, and Gohan hopped off. As soon as he got off the bus, he could see his house just around the corner. The four-story building with pink walls, red roofing, and a poking spiral center was prodding out from behind the trees that surrounded the house. With his work things in hand, Gohan made his way to his home, walked past the entrances hedges, and made his way to the front door of the building. As soon as he opened the door inward, Gohan was tackled to the ground by a rather large tan dog that went and licked him in the face and caused him to drop his suitcase. Papers flew everywhere as the dog continued to deliver kisses to the young man.

"Bee, cut it out," Gohan laughed behind licks, trying to push the canine off of him.

The dog in question just continued to lick at Gohan's face until he was pulled off the young man. "Bad dog! Bad dog!" A booming voice scolded the dog as he was pried off of Gohan's body.

Once he was free from the pooch's crushing weight, Gohan sat up and pulled his glasses off his face to clean them. He pulled out a rag from his pocket, wiped his lenses clean, and then put his glasses back on to find his Father-in-Law holding the large hound in question in his arms. "I'm so sorry about that, Gohan," Hercule apologized as he held the dog in his arms. "Bee was just excited to see ya is all."

"It's all right, Hercule," Gohan insisted as he got up off of the floor. He reached over to grab the papers scattered around him and organize them. Luckily, he wasn't carrying too much today compared to other days. Most of the paperwork wasn't too important, just formalities from coworkers that allowed for a paper trail in case of emergencies and whatnot. After picking the papers all up, he put them back in the briefcase and closed it up before picking it back up. "There we go."

"I told ya you should start hitting the gym," Hercule stated to Gohan after putting Bee down. The dog excitedly wagged his tail before trotting off to the living room. "If a dog can knock you down, then you're a pushover."

"I see your point," Gohan remarked as he dusted off his clothes. "Maybe I should start running or something. Videl has been bugging me to join her for a morning jog with Pan."

"Nah, you need more than that, string bean," Hercule chuckled, slapping Gohan hard on the back and nearly knocking the young man's glasses off his face. "You need to start weightlifting with me. By the end of the month, you'll be lifting hundreds of pounds."

Gohan laughed at Hercule's over-the-top performance. His Father-in-law was always so boisterous. Being the world martial arts champion seemed to go to his head, but there was no harm in thinking he was the best. "I'll have to think about it. I've got a lot of work to do this semester."

"Oh, you work too hard, Gohan. You need a vacation. May I suggest taking Videl and Pan to Penguin Island? It's the perfect spot for you to catch the perfect tan."

"I'll talk to Videl about it."

Walking into the dining room, Gohan found Pan on the floor playing with her toys while Videl was busy in the kitchen whipping up dinner. As soon as Pan saw her Dad walk in, she dropped her toys and smiled at her Father with her toothy grin. She jumped to her feet and began waddling over to her Dad as quickly as she could. "Dada! Dada!" She squealed as she made her way to her Father.

"Pan!" Gohan smiled before dropping to his knees as Pan came to him. He spread his arms out to scoop up his little girl and hugged her close to his chest as she giggled. "You weren't causing trouble for your mother, right, Panny?"

"Don't let that cute face fool you, dear," Videl commented from the kitchen. She turned down the oven flames and made her way over to her husband and young child, lightly kissing Gohan on the cheek as she approached him. "She was cranky after you left for work, and it was almost impossible to get her down for a nap."

Pan babbled some backtalk to her Mother, but it didn't seem like she meant any harm from it. She snuggled up against her Father's chest, and the scene could melt any heart.

Videl rolled her eyes but followed it up with a chuckle. "She's got you in the palm of her hand, Gohan," Videl teased her husband. "I hate to see what that'll be like when she's a teenager."

"Well, that's a little way off, Videl," Gohan laughed, following his wife as she walked into the kitchen to finish up dinner. "Let's just get through these first few years, then we'll talk adolescence."

It didn't take long for Videl to complete the meal and serve it to her family. They all sat at the dining room table with Bee sitting right under Pan's highchair to catch any bits of food she threw down to him. Gohan then discussed his day in the lecture hall, talking to his class about ancient history and things like that.

"It's amazing how many students don't know the differences between one century and the next."

"They can't all be geniuses like you, dear."

"Besides, the books will only get you so far, Gohan," Hercule stated after taking in a piece of steak. "You gotta be street-smart, too, or you'll never make it in this world. I mean, look at me: world champion and still going strong. And I didn't even finish high school."

"Dad, not this again," Videl sighed, face-palming at where this was going. She knew her Father would go off on his "greatness" spiel about how he got to be world champion and all that. She had heard it so many times growing up that she practically knew the story by perfect memory.

Gohan, however, often humored his Father-in-law and allowed the older gentleman to make an argument for his situation, much to his wife's chagrin. As Hercule went into his epic backstory and rise to stardom, Gohan tuned him out and just took in everything around him. He couldn't believe how lucky he was: he had a good job, a beautiful wife and daughter, a lovely house in the city, everything he could have ever wanted. It made him wonder how he could be so lucky to get all of this, almost like he didn't deserve it. It almost seemed too good to be true. Almost.

A few hours later, the house was quiet. Pan was put to bed, Hercule had gone home, and Gohan and Videl relaxed on the couch. Gohan had his feet up on the coffee table with a book in hand. It was a one on a lost civilization that had only recently been discovered within the last ten years or so. Gohan hung onto every word the author wrote, describing the clues about this city's life and culture. Videl, meanwhile, was sitting next to Gohan, crocheting together a blanket she was planning to give to Pan for the winter. It was never too early to start on one, and she rather enjoyed the quiet process.

Finishing up the target chapter for the night, Gohan placed the book down and then reached for the TV remote to see what was on the evening news. After being powered on, the TV flashed to life and showed a reporter finishing up a segment on the economy or something. "Coming up next, we'll take a look back and remember all those lost to the terrorist, Cell," The reporter stated into the camera.

Hearing that name immediately caught Gohan's attention. Could it be that time of year already? It didn't seem like it could be possible. A wave of nausea overtook Gohan as memories flashed in his head of his Father's sacrifice to stop Cell. He didn't realize it, but his fists were clenched together, and his teeth were grinding in his mouth as it all came flooding back to him.

Noticing her husband's distress, Videl took the remote and quickly changed the channel to some sitcom on TV before turning to her husband. She placed a gentle hand on his right shoulder, drawing his attention from the floor over to her. She gave him a saddened smile as she put her other hand to his cheek to calm him down. "It's all right, Gohan," Videl told Gohan.

Taking a moment, Gohan took in a deep breath through his mouth and then out his nose. He hated how worked up he got any time someone mentioned Cell and all the damage he did. Who could blame him? After all, Cell had done so much to the world, but more importantly, he was the one who took his Father from him when he was only a boy. "Sorry," Gohan apologized, placing a hand over his wife's. "I hate getting so worked up about this."

"Gohan, no one's blaming you for being upset," Videl assured him. "You have every right to be. Cell took someone important from you."

"He took someone important from a lot of people," Gohan corrected Videl, leaning back against the sofa. "Dad just stopped him from taking more lives, but at the cost of his own."

Videl sighed and leaned her head on Gohan's shoulder, trying her best to comfort her husband.

"…I still miss him."

"I know, dear. I know."

They stayed like that for about an hour or so until Videl was sleeping with her head in Gohan's lap. By this time, Gohan had calmed down. He didn't think he'd get that upset over one little report about Cell, but he did. (He made a mental note to himself to check on his Mother the upcoming weekend to see how she was doing). Cell and the terror he wreaked on behalf of the Red Ribbon Army was devastating to the world, resulting in hundreds of thousands of people dead, millions injured, and billions in mourning. Nothing like his attacks left the world as vulnerable before that point in history. It only stopped when his Father and a brave band of soldiers found where he was and took him down. Of course, this was not without sacrifice. Cell claimed one more victim in a blast that was secretly televised to the world: Gohan's Father, Son Goku, the only casualty in the mission to take down the terrorist of the Red Ribbon Army.

Thinking about it more, Gohan couldn't help but wonder what might have been had his Father survived. After all, he had missed so much after his death: Gohan's acceptance into a prestigious private school; Gohan's first academic decathlon; his graduations from high school and college; Gohan and Videl's wedding; Pan's birth; through all of that, his Father was absent from his Mother's side. Of course, Gohan held no ill-will towards his Father for dying. After all, he was doing it to save the world. Still, a part of Gohan wished his Father had been selfish and had come home like he promised he would.

Noticing the time, Gohan realized how late it was getting and picked Videl up bridal style to carry to bed. He laid his wife on the opposite bedside before lying next to her and throwing the blanket on her and himself. He quietly snuggled under the covers and took off his glasses before lying his head down on his two pillows to try and get some sleep. He had a big conference to start preparing for tomorrow. For now, thoughts of his Father would have to wait for another time.

Day 10 of this forest training seemed to be nothing compared to Day 1. It seemed relatively easier compared to the first day. Chiyo did her best to focus her breathing and steady her heart rate under the beating waterfall. Every ounce of cold water that poured out onto her began to dull in its icy sting as she tried to shut it out from her senses. Her goal was to remain focused and ready while also allowing the water's icy bite to not even phase her. Tune out the world, and tune into yourself, Chiyo repeated in her head as she took steady breathes in and out. Each one slowed her heart rate more and more as she sat there.

After a while, she opened her eyes and deflected an energy beam sent her way. The young woman turned upwards to see a familiar Namekian warrior floating above her in the air. He smirked down at her, and she slowly rose out of the waterfall, her clothes and hair dripping water down her body. However, she let off some energy that completely dried her off in the blink of an eye.

"Is that all you got, Piccolo?" Chiyo questioned her mentor, a smirk on her face. She threw back her long black ponytail over her shoulder, and she cracked her neck a bit as she and him locked eyes. "I know you can do better than that."

Piccolo chuckled to himself. "Just making sure your senses are still up to par, kid," Piccolo cockily stated. "You know how to deflect, but let's see if you can dodge."

Chiyo let out a brief laugh before jumping back just as an energy beam came at her again. It missed her by a few hairs, but that was no big deal. After all, this was just a warmup. Chiyo blocked a fist from her mentor and then tried kicking him under his chin. Piccolo, however, was too quick for her and simply moved back to where Chiyo couldn't get him. The Namekian warrior then went in for a punch to Chiyo's gut, but his pupil dodged by releasing his still-captured fist and moving out of the way just in time.

The two exchanged blows between each other, and if you were watching from afar, you would assume that they were evenly matched. Each attack made contact with each other and let off a force so strong that it sent shockwaves in every direction for up to two miles. Neither relented as their warmup transitioned into a full-out sparring session. This was something the two had started doing together for close to six years now, only now these sparring sessions had become more intense within the last two. I mean, a god of destruction and his powerful mentor coming to Earth, threatening to blow up the planet, and kill everyone they cared about would do that to a person. Chiyo wanted to make sure she was at the top of her game if another threat came to harm her home. She promised her Father she would do everything she could to protect Earth.

As their sparring session dragged on, Piccolo came to entrap Chiyo in his signature Hellzone Grenade attack. There was nowhere she could run and no way she could block all of the blasts that were sure to come rushing at her as soon as Piccolo gave the command. Sweat trickled down her face as Chiyo tried to figure out her next course of action.

"You got distracted, Chiyo," Piccolo remarked from a spot on a cliff not too far away. "I expected more of my student. You need to be prepared for anything."

Then, as quick as a whip, Piccolo unleashed the hailstorm of attacks onto Chiyo, creating a large cloud of dust as the attacks hit their target. It temporarily blocked Piccolo's vision, but he was reasonably sure Chiyo hadn't gotten out of the attack unscathed. If anything, he expected her to be covered in scratches and on the verge of collapse by the time the dust settled. However, Piccolo gasped at what he saw instead: the dust cleared and revealed Chiyo was unscathed. Not a scratch was on her body as a flaming red and orange aura surrounded her now slightly thinner body. Her hair was different now, too, showing off a magenta hue instead of a black one, and her ordinarily black eyes were now red as she looked down on her teacher. Her face held a blank expression as she floated down to meet her mentor at his eyes level.

Piccolo smirked as he saw Chiyo in this form. He crossed his arms over his chest as the young woman said nothing while floating in front of him. "I see you've been working on that new form of yours," Piccolo commented to Chiyo. "How far have you pushed yourself with it?"

"…Not far enough," Chiyo commented. She looked down at her left hand before clenching it. "I'm still not at the level I need to be even with Beerus when he comes back for his rematch. There's still much I need to do to further understand this god ki within me."

"Then I guess we'll just have to keep pushing you, now, won't we?"

Seeing where Piccolo was going with this, Chiyo slightly smiled and nodded before putting herself into a proper fighting stance. She just needed to be pushed a little further. That was the only way she would be ready for whatever else was to come. Piccolo made the first move, and Chiyo dodged each following attack with ease. It was like she didn't even think as she moved. She waited and watched, looking for an opening to strike, and soon found one. When she went in for a hit, she hit Piccolo directly in the stomach, sending him down to the ground. It went a few feet down into the ground below and left a crater the size of a small building in its wake.

Slowly, Chiyo floated to the ground as Piccolo got up. It took him a moment to actually stand up, though. He hadn't expected Chiyo's attack to be as impactful as it was. He had underestimated what this godly form could do and thought he'd be sick from the single strike alone. As he got up, he wiped a small stream of blood from his lips. "Not bad, kid," Piccolo grumbled. "Your punch is unlike anything outside of your god form."

"We can stop if you want to, Piccolo," Chiyo told her teacher, holding out a hand for him to take. "I could seriously hurt you if I'm not careful."

"You think one punch is going to be enough to knock me down?" Piccolo chuckled as he fully stood up. "Don't underestimate me, Chiyo."

Chiyo was momentarily taken aback by Piccolo's reply. She was at the power of a god; she could kill him if she wanted to. And yet, he was basically telling her to go all out and fight him with everything she had. A small smile came to her face. "Yes, sir, Piccolo."

The two continued like this from the afternoon and into the hours of sunset. Chiyo pushed her body as far as it would go. She had to be prepared. Beerus wanted a rematch someday, and she had to be ready for when that day comes. The god of destruction wasn't too big a fan of Chiyo. Still, he begrudgingly admitted that she was one of the few fighters out there that gave him a decent workout. He put a lot of pressure on her to keep pushing herself further and further, especially after the near-loss against the fighters of Universe 6. She, Piccolo, Chinku, and Krillin won by the skin of their teeth. She almost lost to Universe 6's last fighter, Hit, but she squeaked by, and actually managed to impress Hit with her skills as a warrior. (She also garnered the attention of Cabba, who complimented her not only on her skills as a fighter, but her beauty as well. He had no idea he was barking up the wrong tree with that comment, and Chiyo wasn't about to correct him in front of everybody watching).

As the sun bathed the land in an orange-yellow hue, Chiyo thought it was best to call it a day. Her body was crying out for her to take a break from using the super saiyan god form. She had been using it for hours now. It would probably be best to rest before causing her body to short out. Chiyo collapsed to the ground in exhaustion and took to staring up at the sky as her muscles screamed in pain. She lost her magenta hair and red eyes as she went back to her base form. Piccolo came to sit next to her, trying to keep her from guessing how much pain he was in after the intense training.

"I think…I'm getting better with handling this form," Chiyo panted to Piccolo as she laid flat on her back.

"You've improved considerably since our tournament with Universe 6," Piccolo commented as he sat next to his pupil.

"Well…I hope I have," Chiyo panted once more before she sat herself up. "I mean, there's Beerus to worry about in the future, and then that little guy they called the Omni King said something about having a tournament between all the universes in the future. I don't even know what to think about that."

Piccolo smirked and let out a laugh after hearing that, catching Chiyo's attention. He then turned to look at the young woman. "You are not your Father, that's for sure," Piccolo remarked to Chiyo. "He would probably jump at the opportunity to fight in such a tournament."

"Knowing Dad, he probably would," Chiyo nodded. She could see her Father absolutely thrilled about fighting strong opponents from another universe. If he and Vegeta were still around, she could see the two pushing each other to get stronger and stronger just so they could see who would do better in the tournament. Chiyo chuckled at imagining that. "…I hope I'm making him proud."

"I think you're making him exceptionally proud, Chiyo," Piccolo told the young woman.

"Well, hopefully, I can still keep up and balance my painting career. I was hoping some of this training would give me some inspiration, but I've had artist block for a month straight, and the big art exhibit is next month." The young woman ran a hand through her hair as she tried to figure out what to do for her next art piece.

A sweatdrop formed on the back of Piccolo's head after he heard this. He was not a good judge when it came to art unless it involved the art of battle, so he had no real advice to give Chiyo on how to handle it. He'd be there at her next gallery opening, sure, but when it comes to helping her decide on what to paint next, he was not the person to talk to.

Standing up to stretch a bit, Chiyo put her arm behind her head and stretched it out before doing the same to the other side. "Anyway, I should get going. I gotta get home and get something to eat. Who knows; maybe inspiration will strike before I got to bed."

"Same time tomorrow for training?"

"Maybe. I think I'll take a break tomorrow. But we can pick it up in a few days." Chiyo waved to her master one last time before heading for her apartment in West City. She got there just as the sun completely set behind the horizon. Deciding that it would be nice to walk home, Chiyo stopped flying around the edge of the city and walked the rest of the way to her apartment. The city was alive with life as street lights, store lights, and other lights lit up the city under the full-moon sky. Most of the people out now were young couples and others getting off of work. No one paid much attention to the woman walking around in a slightly torn gi since they were more focused on getting where they needed to go.

Turning one more corner to get to where she needed to be, Chiyo passed by Capsule Corps. She stopped by the front gate and thought about popping in for a quick minute to see how Bulma and Trunks were. The young woman wondered how the two were doing all these years after Vegeta's sacrifice to stop Majin Buu. Even when she was younger, Chiyo thought Vegeta's whole talk of pride was just that: all talk. After Cell's defeat, she could tell that he had slowly become content with a peaceful life on Earth. He may have had a lapse by allowing Babidi to control him. Still, Piccolo had told Chiyo that his sacrifice was for his family and the Earth, proving to Chiyo that he cared about something more than pride.

After staring at the yellow building for a while, Chiyo took up walking again until she came to a large apartment building with twenty floors. It was a lot better looking than you'd expect for an apartment building- being one of the newer ones in the city- and it almost seemed to glow in the city night-life. Chiyo walked through the front door and greeted the desk clerk before heading to the elevator to head to the sixth floor, where her own apartment waited. Once the short elevator ride was over, Chiyo made her way to room 606 and used her apartment key to get inside her two-bedroom, one-bath apartment.

Just as she opened the door, she was hit by the smell of stir fry. Chiyo walked entirely inside to find her 19-year-old sister, Chinku, finishing up cooking on the stove. She was still dressed in her uniform from the police academy with all the bells and whistles that came with it.

"Hey, Chinku," Chiyo greeted as she closed the front door.

"Hey, sis," Chinku greeted back as she got two bowls down from one of the kitchen cabinets. "Hope you're hungry for some stir-fry."

"I'm starving," Chiyo remarked as she sat at the little counter that connected her to the kitchen. Chiyo liked having her younger sister staying with her, even if it was only until she was done with her training at the police academy. Chinku was only a few months away from graduating at the top of her class, and to save on room-and-board, Chiyo allowed her to live at her tiny apartment as long as she kept out of trouble, which she did.

"How was your training today?"

"Good." Chiyo gladly took a steaming bowl of stir-fry from her sister and a pair of chopsticks to eat with. "Tomorrow will be a day off for me, though. I need to rest up my muscles a bit."

"Lucky. I have a dumb physical fitness test at 8am. On a Saturday, too!" Chinku sat down on the stool next to her sister with her own steaming dinner in hand. "It's so dumb that I have to do all this. I'm more than qualified for the job."

"Just try and grin and bear it, Chinku. You're almost done."

"I know, I know. You sound like Mom when you say that."

Chiyo laughed when she heard that. The two women ate their dinner together and talked more about their day before Chiyo went to get a nice, warm shower and then plopped herself right onto her bed. As she relaxed under the covers, she glanced at the different art canvases she had hung on her walls. Each one was a painting she had done to decorate the room and liven up the dull walls. She turned off the lights and dozed off to sleep, with the last thing on her mind being what to paint for the upcoming art exhibit and how it would top the previous piece she had made, which was a landscape painting of planet Namek.

So, that's chapter one for ya. I hope you guys liked it. I'm really happy with how this first chapter came out. This idea has been bouncing around in my head for a while now. It's still a work in progress, and it probably won't have a consistent update schedule like my main story, but I thought I could do something fun on the side. I can't wait to show you all what's really going on here. But what do you guys think? Do you like this side story with Gohan and Chiyo? And what are your predictions on what you think is going on or what will happen? Let me know in the reviews below. Have a good day, everyone, and remember to wash your hands!