Chapter 1

Greetings #Dragonball fans and welcome to a new What If suggested by Chandler Kinney, where the Young Goku has an altogether different kind of revelation at the hands, and maybe fists of the man that would have been known as Grandpa Gohan.

#DragonballZ #WhatIf #GrandpaGohan #Kakarot

In this series the main character of Dragon Ball, Z, GT, Super and the occasional movie and video game will follow on the back of the Dragon Ball Minus and recent Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie. He will be the product of a different version of his mother and father. Gine, for one, seems fairly kind hearted and Bardock was merely suspicious, as opposed to prescient in regards to Frieza's motives.

Connection

When Master Gohan first found the strange, strong and somewhat simian boy, bouncing around in what to him was a mere 10th of a G, he was rather amused. The trip home with said boy was something that truly tried the old man's patience.

After a few weeks of chasing, being chased by and gently defending himself against the aggressive little monster, Master Gohan had had enough. Ahead of them lay a dangerous ridge, one that almost claimed the struggling boy the last time they climbed it.

This time though, exasperated with his constant fighting, struggling and worst of all the biting, Master Gohan sets the boy down and faces him. If he wants to fight so much then here we are! He's ready to fight, is the boy?

He finally utters his first works in the common tongue and accepts the challenge as any fighter should!

Up to now the boy had thought he was having some manner of success against the old man but now, try as he might, he simply cannot lay a finger on the old Master. The second time he speaks, after missing for the dozenth time is to complain that constantly dodging is not fighting!

"Well," the old master says, "if you can't even hit your opponent, what kind of fighter are you then?"

The boy stares at the ground, remembering the confusion when his parents shoved him in a pod and it lifted off into the sky. He knows now why they sent him away. He was weak, so they had cast him out into space to prove himself strong or die trying.

"Well?" Master Gohan asks. "Do you want to fight or not?"

"Yes!" He shouts, he does want to fight. He wants to prove to his parents that thrown him away that he was good enough to be a warrior!

"A warrior huh? Then listen here, my little monkey boy," Master Gohan starts to say, but stops at the sudden angry glare from the boy.

"We're not monkeys!" He shouts. "Don't call me a monkey!"

"Then what should I call you?" Gohan asks.

"Kakarot."

"Oh?"

"My name is Kakarot and I am a Saiyan, from, um, vvv, I'm from, um."

"OK Well then, Kakarot from Vvv, I am Master Gohan, from Earth and if you follow my rules, to, the, letter, I will teach you all I know about fighting." He smiles at the look of hope in the boy's face. "Who knows, maybe someday you might even be able to hit me!"

Little Kakarot looks to the sky for a moment, searching for something now lost to him, then back at this Master Gohan, who, for reasons the boy could not fathom, had fed him and cared for him like his mother and even now offered to train him to fight. He was offering a way to show his parents just how strong of a fighter he can become! An offer quickly accepted.

The next few years pass in a blur for Kakarot and the old Master Gohan alike. Days filled with the routine of training and learning and listening. While Kakarot has little interest in written words and numbers, he made a promise hadn't he? He was determined to learn everything this man had to teach, and to finally land a blow.

They would rise early and train each morning, then eat. Boy would they eat. OK so maybe just the boy would eat. It quickly became apparent that Master Gohan's appetite paled in comparison to Kakarot's. Fortunately the boy proved more than capable when it came to game hunting.

Nothing was beyond his ability or stomach, though the old master was sure to teach the basics in that regard too. You need to cook your food, boy, cook it properly! Who knows what you'd catch otherwise, especially being from outer space!

There are 3 things the boy truly lives for. Fighting, eating and exploring the mountain. On their long treks, they would talk. The old master would expound on the virtues of kindness and helping those around him and Kakarot would constantly question why?

"Why waste time helping the weak? Why not crush them!"

"Because then they would have nothing to offer and could never be able to improve, to offer a better challenge next time! And of course, even the weakest can teach you things. Look at the birds. They are so weak and easy to catch and kill, but from them, you can learn to see, to hunt. Not that you need help with that, eh?"

"There is always a trade to be made. You help, maybe this time they just thank you or maybe they feed you? Yeah, I thought you'd like that one. Maybe they can teach you something else. Something you didn't know! Something about them? Something about their challenge? Perhaps even something about yourself."

On things Master Gohan didn't know, little Kakarot didn't have much to offer, but he remembered some of what his parents had taught him. One glaringly obvious thing that came up early in these walkie-talks, as he called them, was bits and pieces about the Saiyans and more specifically, their tails and how they related to a full Moon.

While Master Gohan was sceptical at first, he decided to take the boy at his word for now. He wasn't a normal boy, that was certain. He'd never before heard of a boy born with a tail, and certainly not one possessing such incredible strength. The way he'd bounced around in that crater while trying to reach the edge. It was as if he was 10 times too strong to walk normally. Maybe there was something to the tail as well.

The first full moon proved VERY informative as a decent chunk of the forest fell victim to the rampaging Ozaru as it was called. Well, OK then, obviously something to be avoided eh? Unfortunately Kakarot had no idea it was ultimately a controllable thing, so as he was dead set on his commitment to become the strongest and most capable fighter he could, his promise to avoid looking at the full moon was taken to heart.

Visitor

One day, while Kakarot at least, thinks they are sparing lightly, they are interrupted by something noisy, and smelly. When the car pulls up, Kakarot leaps to defend against this strange new monster and before the exhausted Master Gohan can tell him to stop, the car is upside down, windows shattered, tyres bent and broken.

The ungrateful little girl that crawled out of it, fires on Kakarot but hits nothing but air as he effortlessly dodges the tiny pellets.

After Master Gohan manages to call a halt to the proceedings, Bulma introduces herself and tells them of her quest for the Dragon Balls. Giving it to her would almost make up for her wreck of a car!

Unfortunately these are not something either of them are familiar with. There are no Dragons on this mountain. Kakarot here would certainly know, and probably have eaten a few of them by now.

Master Gohan heads inside and comes back with a dusty capsule of his own. Perhaps this will make up for the car? He clicks and tosses the capsule. What appears is not at all what Bulma had expected. An ancient, dilapidated old clunker with bits falling off! While it's probably an original, an actual model 1, if anyone saw her driving that thing around, she'd be laughed out of school!

The bumper gets taped up, but it wont even start. Oh dear. Master Gohan then says that the least they can do is offer her a nice home cooked meal and a bed for the night. Kakarot here went fishing just this morning so there's plenty to share!

Once inside, it doesn't take Bulma long to spot what she's actually after. There on a shelf is the 4 star Dragon Ball! Oh, that, that's what she wants! Curious as to what it is, Master Gohan asks her to explain and she fills them in on the Dragon Balls and the mighty wish granting Dragon that can be summoned when you collect all 7.

Unsure of her motives, Master Gohan feels it only appropriate that he test them. Just what will her wish be? Oh, strawberries? That's not so bad, but this is a girl and they can be fickle. Can he trust her wish to remain so innocent? Her attempt to entice them both with a peak at her undies does not do much in her favour.

Maybe if she tried that on his much older master she'd have more luck, but Master Gohan is not so easily swayed. Kakarot meanwhile shows even less interest in it as he does the maths tables that Master Gohan makes him study every other day. She wears light clothes under her outer clothes. All very boring. At least the maths stuff lets him plan where to hunt during what seasons.

Master Gohan has long sensed Kakarot's desire to see more, to know more. He had, after all, encouraged it in the boy. Learning all there is to see and know. At least how it pertains to martial skill, but he was also well aware that he was running out of things, let alone the strength to teach. It wouldn't be long before his usefulness would be over, especially now, in his later years.

He will grant her the use of his Dragon Ball, on one condition. Kakarot here, will accompany her to collect the ball once the wish is granted. A wish is a powerful thing after all, so it just wouldn't do to have them freely available for just anyone to have and wish for whatever they want.

While Bulma is unsure of this, she remembers how easily this strange boy had wrecked her care. Maybe having a bodyguard of sorts would be OK. Sure he's a bit intense, but he seems nice enough once his stomach is full. Her interest is certainly peeked when the boy emerges from the hut the next morning wearing some strange ribbed body armour under his clothes from yesterday. It has these truly silly looking arm pads and waist flaps.

The Quest Begins

The evening of the day they depart, his usefulness is more than proven. A pit stop goes horribly wrong when a pterodactyl decides that she'll make a good snack but her shriek is cut off abruptly as the Dinosaur collapses backwards with a long red stick poking out of its eye socket. While she sits, recovering from the brief shock, Kakarot inspects tonight's dinner.

"Yes, yes, this will do nicely."

Setting up camp, Kakarot is only slightly shocked by the appearance of the Capsule House. He'd seen the car his Master had produced so apparently it's a fairly common thing. The TV though is just terrible. It's so noisy and all the flickering images and people doing silly dances. Why would anyone want to watch that, let alone listen to it?

Luckily for us, and Bulma, Kakarot is not above a bit of self care. Master Gohan's many lessons have fortunately included those basic things like bathing, not to mention the whole boys and girls thing. He'd never met one before now though so his curiosity does end up with a face covered in soapy water and a hairbrush launched his way for good measure.

When he wipes his eyes with his tail, Bulma remembers what the old man had said. He's not from here. A Saiyan was it? From the comfort of her bath, and with him safely NOT in the room with her, she asks him about himself.

If the story prompts tears, they are mercifully lost in the steam and bubbles of the bath. That poor boy, dumped in the woods by his parents, because he was weak? Jeez, he's anything but weak. Just ask her car. And that Dinosaur. Maybe it's because of his tail? No, all Saiyans have tails. Hmm, she's never heard of Saiyans before yesterday. Where could they be from?

The next morning, Kakarot is less than pleased to find that his armour has been WASHED! It lays there, limp and large on top of the dryer. It's ruined! Bulma can only apologize. How was she to know it was supposed to be hand washed! There was no tag!

He had been so proud to have an excuse to put it on for the training quest his Master had given him, but now? He finds himself in a bit of a funk, so Kakarot heads outside in a huff to do his morning exercises.

While flipping boulders up above the trees and air punching or kicking them into oblivion, he inevitably runs into Turtle. A turtle? He's never eaten a Turtle before! While he'd rather have his armour, maybe there is something new to learn today! Before the thing meets its untimely demise, Bulma says that there's no way he's eating that.

"It can talk!"

But that Pterodactyl had talked and she'd not complained. She'd even had some! Yeah, but he was going to eat her, so that was its own fault!

When Turtle asks if they could just return him to the sea, Kakarot can't help but recall Master Gohan's lessons. He had spent so long living by those rules that he had barely to consider them before agreeing to help. What this Turtle could teach him, he couldn't say, but there's always the chance. A chance to learn something new to use against an enemy.

As he runs along the road to the ocean, they are set upon by the bear bandit, who also wants to eat the Turtle. Willing to humour the bear, Kakarot quickly sees that he has nothing to gain here. Well not exactly nothing. Lunch will be bear steaks. It even came with its own knife. How convenient.

Once at the beach, Turtle says to wait there while he goes to collect their reward. The old man that returns on Turtle's back has the same underlying grace as his Master Gohan. However his chosen reward is less than successful. The Flying Nimbus it seems can see into Kakarot's heart and finds it not entirely pure. Just as this Muten Roshi guy cannot ride it, Kakarot too falls through to the sand.

End Chapter 1

And with this we will bring part 1 to a close.

The young Kakarot has made his home on Earth and while his Saiyan nature remains intact, he has spent years strictly adhering to his Master Gohan's lessons and rules. As a result, this version of Goku is not exactly like either of them would be. He is neither a hill-billy, nor a destructive ball of a planet conqueror.

Can Kakarot make do without the use of the Flying Nimbus?

What will he learn from this Bulma girl? She is certainly adept with these ground vehicle things.

Hopefully Oolong's journey won't end prematurely in Kakarot's stomach.

Find out next time on Dragonball, What If: Grandpa Gohan got Through to Goku.