I do not own DB, DBZ, DBGT or DBS all rights to the companies that own them and Akira Toriyama.
Year 762, November
Sitting in the hospital room, Gohan was so happy, though very sore, to be sharing the room with her father, considering she hadn't seen him in over a year. Even if he was in a full body cast, he could still talk and listen, even with all her parents' friends around she was happy talking about her training with Piccolo, even if her mother didn't approve of the way things had happened she couldn't deny her daughter was a lot happier than before the Kidnapping incident.
As happy as Gohan was to see her mum, she was not however a fan of all the fussing her mother was doing over her while very pointedly ignoring and scorning her father. She had been at it for hours even when Mr Popo, who lives on Kami's lookout with Kami, had been telling them about the Namek Dragon balls and how to get there, Bulma and Krillin had already agreed they would go, her father wouldn't be able to as he was in the support unit for a few more weeks and a full body cast for the next few months as there were no sensu bean available at the moment. But her mother was making a big deal about how Gohan was way too young and would also be staying on Earth. Gohan couldn't allow that, Piccolo sacrificed himself for her, the least she could do is be part of the team that brought him back, her age be damned.
Finally having enough of her mother's ramblings, even her father had his say about how she shouldn't go especially since he won't be going to protect her, "Enough!" Gohan yelled to the room fed up with all the talking about her like she had no say in the matter, "I'm going to Namek whether you like it or not!" Practically yelling at the top of her lungs.
An eerie quiet settled over the room, Gohan had never raised her voice at her mother before and outside a fight no one had ever heard her raise her voice in anger at anyone. The fact it was directed at her mum and dad made the pair go pale and stare at their daughter of barely 5 years old.
The bystanders watching the scene could clearly see Chi-Chi wanted to explode, so when she asked everyone but Gohan to leave in a creepily calm voice, no one argued and scared out of their minds left quietly and soon the room had only the Son family in it. Still in the creepy calm voice her mother replied, "now Gohan, I know you want to help, it's in your nature just like your father, but you have been gone for a year, the first time I see you after that you're on T.V. fighting monsters, then the first time I get to hold my baby girl again you say you want to leave again for Kami knows how long. Your 5 years old, my baby girl, I don't want to lose you again." The calmness in her voice and the pleading words coming from her mother nearly made Gohan loose her resolve, but too much is at stake and she made a promise.
"I know mum, it has been too long, and I missed you too, but I have to do this." Taking a deep breath to not lose her cool, "Piccolo sacrificed himself for me, I have to repay him, his dying wish was for me to find a way, now a way is right in front of me. With dad stuck in that bed I am the strongest on this planet, age doesn't matter, not in this matter. They need me for this, I have to go, I will go without your permission, but I would prefer to have it."
Just like that a teary Chi-Chi looked at her daughter and though she saw a 5-year old's body the eyes staring back no longer held the innocence that she had last seen in them. Unable to fight her daughter anymore though hating the idea of it still Chi-Chi relented. "Fine, you can go, but you have to come back, I don't care how but please don't be gone for too long."
During the whole exchange between mother and daughter Goku watched on with worry, he too saw the loss of innocence in his daughters eyes, she was far too young to have lost it, but he couldn't argue with her reasoning's either, not after hearing the respect in her voice when she talked about his rival, though if he was being honest with himself he was a little jealous about it, it should have been him that trained her, this was his little girl talking about a man that tried to kill him like he was her best friend, though he couldn't deny the fact he made her strong physically and mentally brought out her inner strength that he had seen a few times bloom over her short years. It didn't mean he was happy about it one bit.
Without any more to say Chi-Chi timidly left the room. Once she was gone Goku didn't have a chance to talk to his daughter alone as everyone else had already started returning. Now all the talk was about how long the party of 3 had to wait before Bulma had the ship up and ready to go.
Bulma had said she would only need 2 weeks to get the ship checked over and ready for take-off, in that time Gohan and her mum seemed to be tip-toeing around each other. She didn't know what she could say to her mum to make her feel better about her decision nor could she go back on it either, too much was at stake, she just didn't want to leave knowing that her mum was upset at her. So the lead up to the launch Gohan spent a lot of her time finding a suitable wardrobe since all her clothes were now too small and her hair was so wild it was making it hard to study, after about a week of these minor annoyances Gohan finally got the courage to ask her mum for help with her hair and wardrobe, knowing they wouldn't be able to buy her many clothes asking her mothers expert sewing skills to modify some of her outfits seemed like the ice breaker they both needed. Even if Gohan never cared what she looked like, she knew her mother did. It didn't take long for her mothers' attitude to pick up knowing her little girl hadn't grown up so much that she wouldn't need her anymore, which was the main reason behind her sullen and timid attitude around the house. Knowing that Gohan would leave Earth on better terms with her mother she decided to see her father, she knew all his friends would be by his bedside all the time, she didn't feel the need to spend all her spare time (though little as that was) there, but with her leaving in a few days Gohan knew she had to talk to him and clear the air like she had done with her mum, she was a little surprised that he was so against her going to Namek.
On their visit she had informed her mum she wanted to talk to her dad alone, she couldn't help but notice that her mother was acting cold towards her father lately. When they made it to his room and found him sleeping and even more surprising alone, her mother excused herself after waking in and not even greeting her father before leaving Gohan alone with the man she had idolised yet hadn't had much to do with after she was ripped from his grasp over a year ago. They had both changed so much.
"Hey daddy, how you feeling today?"
"Hi, my monkey princess, I'm okay considering the doctors haven't tried to stab me with a needle yet today." Though he said it in his usual cheery voice Gohan still picked up the deep seeded fear that her father had for needles and doctors.
"It's good to see you out of the support unit. You're healing at twice the rate of a human, must be a Saiyan thing." Gohan observed, this was getting awkward, she didn't know how to address the issue. Maybe. "I wish you were coming with us daddy, I have to go I promised Piccolo, but I am a little scared." Gohan confided.
"I know, I'm really upset I won't get to go with you, I have this feeling that I need to be there with you, like something bad is going to happen. I don't get the feeling often and when I do it usually comes true." Pausing for a minute Goku continued, "not that I'm saying this to make you back out, as much as I want you to stay, you're my little girl, from the moment I held you I knew I would do anything to protect you."
"And you have! You already gave your life for me once, just like Piccolo did. I know I'm still young but..." before she could finish Goku interrupted her.
"But it's my job, I never thought about being a daddy before you came along, hell I thought marriage was food not something where you live with another person and turn into each other's family. But then you came along, and it was like I had a new purpose, you going away to Namek and hearing all the stories about the time I was gone, it's made me upset, upset that I didn't get to do these things with you and if I'm honest, a little jealous, at least I think that is the emotion I'm feeling I never felt this way before and when I talked to Bulma about it she said I was feeling jealousy. You managed to turned one of the most toughest and feared men in history into a caring man, even if it is only for you. You can't blame a father for being scared and proud at the same time. I have so many emotions I've never felt before let alone feeling them all at once. It has been that way since you were born."
"I know father, I have some of those mixed feelings too." No more words needed to be said as Gohan gently as she could, hugged her father one last time before leaving to find her mother and head home to finish her packing, her mother was trying to get her to pack everything including a bowling ball. It was an argument that almost undone all the work they had accomplished bridging the gap between them these past few weeks, luckily Gohan had won and resigned herself to 2 suitcases and a stack of homework.
Year 762, November 20th
The day of take-off finally arrived, everyone was at Capsule Corp waiting for Gohan and Chi-Chi to arrive. When they finally got there everyone was shocked at the little girl who got timidly out of the car. Gone was the wild long-haired beauty they had known over the last year replaced with a well put together little girl with a very straight Hime cut in the front with straight hair to the middle of her shoulders, in a plaid skirt and blazer (think Private school girl). The over all look was simply adorable, this just didn't fit with the Gohan they had come to know. Not wanting to waste any more time the team boarded the ship ready for take-off. Seeing how light everyone else packed Gohan was glad she convinced her mum to pack how light she did, though compared to everyone else it was still 3 times as much.
Throughout the month it took the small group of 3 to get to Namek, even with the few pit-stops, Gohan couldn't fault it. How many 5-year-olds could say they went into out of space and to other planets, during the adventures to Namek Gohan was thankful for all the training she did with Piccolo had paid off.
The first few days seemed fine Gohan focused on her studies, she had managed to work her way through over ¾ of it only needing help from Bulma for a small portion of the science section her mother had given. Bulma was super shocked at the advanced problems she was working on, apparently she was doing work that Bulma didn't touch until high school and Bulma was considered a genius and quite advanced for her age at that stage, and Gohan was doing it rather easily at the age of 5.
By the second week Gohan had started to feel claustrophobic luckily Krillin had a solution he'd picked up during his training with Kami, Mental spars, like meditation but you focused on linking with and attacking your opponent/partner mentally, so it was only your brain sparing and not the whole body. The pair would spend hours each day working on the technique, Gohan lost most of the time when they first started, she was good at meditating, but she was still a beginner in most of this stuff, by the 3rd week she would beat Krillin almost every time.
Finally, after a month they found Namek. Almost immediately after evacuating the ship they felt some seriously powerful being coming towards them. Next thing they knew their ship was a smouldering wreck having just been blown up by an energy beam. Luckily, Gohan and Krillin managed to lower their power levels enough to hide behind a boulder with Bulma watching the fiends pass by that's when they noticed the scouters, they wore similar outfits to the Saiyans that attacked them, though these people were clearly not Saiyans or humans. Just like that, the team was stranded on what is starting to feel like an unwelcoming planet with no way home. It didn't help that both Krillin and Gohan felt some tremendous power levels coming from multiple places across the planet, they all felt evil compared to the other powers that were saturated throughout the planet which they guessed were the native Namekians. During that time, they also felt Vegeta land on the planet.
They managed to salvage some essentials from the ship and locate into a small cave. As Bulma was setting up the cave to make it more liveable and try to communicate with her father back on Earth, Gohan and Krillin went off to look for the Dragon Balls using the scouter.
After finding 4 clumped together moving to a fifth they decided to go and check it out, what they ended up finding was something they never thought they'd see. A massacre of an entire village of Piccolo look-alikes. The fiends, one fat pink person, a tall green one that walked like a model and the most powerful evil power Gohan had ever felt in her short life, a lizard like person in a floating seat, they were attacking the defenceless villagers and were the ones with the Dragon Balls. Krillin came up with the plan to observe and take the Dragon balls later when they are unguarded, but Gohan couldn't sit by any longer after watching two children no older than him running, watching the first one get shot down something in Gohan snapped, she charged in full power punching the pink monster in the face so hard he flew into a hill. Krillin came rushing in behind picked up the remaining Nemekian child. Gohan using a Solar flare towards the group and the monster in the hill as he was getting out and took off after them trying to gain as much distance as possible.
Luckily the Purple one attacking was unable to get to his senses in time and the rest were too blinded to be able to follow giving the group some time to gain distance and lower their power levels again.
"I think we're safe now, we should get back to Bulma, can you fly little green?" Krillin started once they were out of trouble.
"Yes, and my names Dende, who are you?"
"Nice to meet you Dende, I'm Gohan and this is Krillin, we're from Earth." After a slight pause Gohan continued. "I'm sorry about your family and friends. Did you want to follow us to our friend Bulma? We have shelter, plus we need to think of a strategy to avoid Vegeta and that monster that called himself Frieza."
"I guess I have no where else to go now." Together the 3 flew towards the cave as undetectable as possible. Once there Dende got really confused when he was introduced to Bulma and were hiding inside the capsule house within the cave.
"Gohan," he started shyly not wanting to offend, "why are there lumps on that person's chest?"
"Huh? You mean the breasts? All woman have them they grow as they get older, so that they can feed the baby humans when they are born. Are there no female Humans here on Namek?" Gohan answered with more questions.
"No, I've heard other species that have a male and female but Namekians are only male, this is the first one I've met."
"Technically she is the second, I'm also female, just very young, I'm only 5 Earth years old."
"Oh, well fair enough then."
The conversation ended a little awkwardly but luckily Bulma came in and started explaining their situation and the good news that Goku would be here with a new spaceship in 6 days.
Dende feeling that these Earthlings don't want the dragon balls for malice intent, told them about the Namek Elder, after they sensed Vegeta flying in the direction Dende had pointed to, Krillin and Dende head off hoping to get there before Vegeta with the intent of - if they could get one than that would stop Vegeta and Frieza obtaining all of them.
While they were doing that Gohan noticed a Ball sitting all alone, she flies off to retrieve it with the same premise as Krillin and Dende, on her way back she senses Vegeta coming towards her, thinking quick she hides the ball and lowers her power level as much as she can, unfortunately Vegeta had already sensed her and knew she was there.
"Well, the daughter of Kakarot, I should of known it was you I sensed your energy it's so different to the rest of the idiots on this planet and even on your home planet it stood out, I just came from your friends, they were kind enough to give me this," Gohan noticed the Dragon ball in his arms, "now I have all 7 of them and will get my wish to be immortal." Gohan stopped listening to Vegeta's ego rant when she knew she had one, 'good thing I hid it before Vegeta came, alright I get it, you're going on about mercy to me, hurry up and leave.' She thought. Coming back to the conversation she realises Vegeta has landed in front of her, trying not to show how startled she is by his closeness.
"Where is your father? Is he here?"
"No, he's not I don't know where he is"
"Letting a little girl run around the Galaxy alone, tsk, too bad, your father and I are the last of a great race that also includes you, you may end up pretty when you grow up." Gohan is trying not to show her fear and trembling as Vegeta almost caresses her hair, "we should be sticking together."
Suddenly Vegeta knees Gohan in the stomach hard enough to wind her leaving her on the ground as he turns to fly away, he calls back to her, "go home you shouldn't be here, once I'm immortal it won't matter when I become the last Saiyan in existence."
It took Gohan a few minutes before she was able to breath properly after Vegeta left but she couldn't help smiling at the fact she stole one of his Dragon Balls, flying as fast as she could back to Bulma and the hide out, she rushed in "QUICKLY! We have to find a new place to hide, Vegeta will be back soon once he finds out I took one of the Dragon Balls he collected." Gohan was so fearful after she felt Vegeta's Ki spike in rage, that everything went by in a blur, Krillin was talking about taking her to see an old man so he can unlock her or something, either way Gohan found herself standing in front of the biggest Namek she had ever seen.
"H-hello Mr. Guru? Krillin mentioned you can awaken my hidden potential?" Gohan asked as respectfully as she could.
The old Namek placed his hand on her head suddenly she felt an intense pull from her core, it felt like it took a long time to unleash, though when it was done Gohan couldn't help but marvel at the power flowing through her now. She heard Nail the warrior protecting Guru ask Guru why he hesitated and that it didn't normally take that long to unlock someone's power especially a young child's. Gohan didn't hear the reply as she was preoccupied with the scene Vegeta was making outside, she could only hope that this was enough for the battles ahead that seemed to be brewing.
"Uh it you! How did you get so strong in such a short time?!" Vegeta demanded once Gohan stepped outside, before she could answer he continued "it doesn't matter now, the Ginyu force is coming, I need the Ball you stole from me so I can become Immortal and defeat them and Frieza!"
Next thing Gohan knew they were fighting some random people that sang and danced like idiots, the Dragon Balls they had collected were now in Frieza's hands, as the big Purple man known as Captain Ginyu had taken them before they could make a wish and then she was fighting a short green man with 4 eyes and the ability to stop time. Once she had figured out how to evade Guildo's technique, it gave her the opening to beat him, though she didn't have the conscious to kill him, Vegeta stepped in and decapitated him with out a second thought.
Next up was Vegeta against a big redheaded idiot, it was a pretty eventful fight that Vegeta seemed to be winning. Eventually Vegeta was overpowered and knocked into the dirt head first, as the redhead now known as Racoome was about to finish him off Gohan and Krillin jumped in Krillin with a surprise attack and Gohan moving Vegeta out of the way, "Why, why would you save me, you should of attacked Racoome instead not waste your energy on me." Vegeta scolded with what energy he had left.
Gohan not surprised by his response just replied, "You're welcome." Turning away and joining Krillin in attacking the big idiot, they managed to beat him badly, though he got a few hits on Krillin knocking him down near Vegeta who was trying to pull himself up to finish the fight, he saw Gohan power up in rage at seeing her friend hurt so bad, and pounded on the redhead over and over, eventually, her power started to fade and with a slip in her attack Racoome kicked her in the neck so hard Gohan's world erupted into pain as her spinal cord was damaged, paralysing her, falling to the ground. Slowly her life force was leaking out she could feel it slipping as she laid there unable to move, watching and hoping, life seemed pretty grim, unsure how much time had passed only having Vegeta and Krillin's cries as Racoome pounded them. Finally, she felt her fathers Ki landing on the planet, she just prayed he was quick enough, not that she thought it would help her as her life kept fading, she just wanted the others to survive and her father to be strong enough.
"I knew things were bad," Goku says to himself as he finds Gohan lying with her neck at an odd angle luckily he could still feel a life force though it was nearly non-existent. "Here princess daddy's got a sensu bean for you." Goku gave her a caring smile he reserved only for her, she was fully healed and could feel the rest of her body now. Goku continued to give sensu beans to Krillin and Vegeta while the remaining Ginyu force watched on annoyance and in astonishment at being ignored.
Gohan could only watch as her father beat each member with ease, as the short red one fled Vegeta went around killing the big idiot one and the big blue one much to her fathers annoyance. When the small red monster returned it was with the Captain of the group, noticing that Frieza's power was also flying away from the ship Gohan and Krillin proceed to retrieve the Dragon balls that have been left unattended. The next thing Gohan knows is her father is flying towards them with the short red alien and a scouter on his face and sounds nothing like him which she soon finds out its because it's Captain Ginyu in her fathers body and her Father is in the Captains body with a hole in his chest and she is forced to fight her fathers body beating it to a pulp, then Vegeta steps in has his round of fighting the Goku body that is Captain Ginyu, when suddenly Goku is back in his body and so is Ginyu and Vegeta is killing him easily with the hole he put into his chest. Things move swiftly from there, they put Goku into one of those healing pods, Vegeta gave Gohan and Krillin some new armour and went off to take a nap. They find Dende on his way to them and proceed to summon the dragon before Vegeta wakes up, they get their first 2 wishes being one bring Piccolo back to life and two bring him to Namek before Vegeta wakes up and storms out in a rage only for Frieza to show up as well when the dragon Porunga dies before the third wish can be made. In a rage at not getting his chance to be Immortal Frieza proceeds to fight the group, none of them are a match though Vegeta and Gohan are fairing okay, next thing she know Vegeta is goading Frieza into transforming into his second form and going on about being a super Saiyan or something, if he was hard to fight before he is more powerful now. As Frieza is charging them he goes to attack Dende, luckily Krillin knocks him out of the way though ended up being speared through the chest by Frieza's horns on his head.
Thinking Krillin was dead Frieza threw him to the ground licking the blood that had dripped down his face from Krillin, Gohan unable to stand by and watch anymore. "YOU ANIMAL!" She yells, while her power skyrockets, attacking Frieza head on with a combination of punches and kicks making it impossible for Frieza to counter, knocking him to the ground she follows with a energy beam Piccolo explained to her but wasn't able to show her, a mix between the special beam canon and a nuclear bomb, designed to pierce Armour and explode from the inside out, resulting in a world shaking explosion, putting all her energy she could into the beam, the bright red beam thin like the special beam canon though felt more intense. Vegeta was beyond stunned, every time he meets this child, she would continue to get stronger and stronger hell in the space of hours her power had been doubled and now this show of power even Vegeta was loath to admit would take a lot for him to do, if he wasn't careful she would soon overpower him, regardless if Saiyans stay in their prime for decades longer than humans she would still be more powerful and fearsome if he wasn't careful, it wasn't just her father he had to continue to beat now it seemed.
When they looked down, Frieza was still there, either Gohan's aim was off or Frieza managed to move last second, the result ended up blasting a hold in his upper leg wounding him but sadly not fatally. Hurry up dad… was all she could think as she watched Frieza slowly stand yelling and preparing a counter attack, as he was going to attack Piccolo finally showed up.
The rest of the story happen like in the show, next Chapter they all show up back on Earth and story continues from there. Hope this was an okay chapter. It's harder to condense things than I thought while trying to get as much background as possible.