Here's another story that had been rotting in the big folder filled with all my handwritten stories. Enjoy!
His Father's Son
"Daddy!" a frightened Gohan yelled. "It's too fast! I'm gonna fall!"
"Don't worry, Gohan. I gotcha." Gohan tightly gripped his father's arm. Goku chuckled softly as Gohan whimpered in fear. The two of them were riding on the Kinto'un to Master Roshi's House for a friendly reunion. Goku hadn't seen his friends for five years, and he wanted them to see how his life had been for those past years. After much begging to Chi Chi, she agreed to let Gohan go.
After a few minutes of riding, with no other sound than the wind whistling past their ears, Goku spotted an island with a single house on it. On the roof were the words "Kame House."
"There it is!" Goku cried. "There's Master Roshi's house!" The cloud sped up towards the island. As it passed over, Goku, holding Gohan in his arms, jumped off and landed on the island.
"Hey!" Goku called inside the house.
"Goku!" He recognized Kuririn's voice immediately.
"Hey, Kuririn!" Goku called back. Kuririn came running out of the house, followed by Bulma. Both stopped immediately at seeing the little toddler in his arms.
"Hey Goku," Bulma said, "what's with the kid?"
"You baby-sit, Goku?" Kuririn asked. "There's a new twist." Master Roshi came out and also spied the small child.
Goku's already-big smile widened. "This is my son."
"WHAT!" Everyone looked at the small boy, who Goku placed on the ground.
"Say hi," Goku instructed.
"H-hello," Gohan said timidly. Everyone returned with a slight bow.
"Everyone," Goku said, "this is Gohan."
"Gohan?" Master Roshi asked. Goku nodded.
"Goku. . . with a kid. . ." Kuririn said, his voice filled with surprise. "Miracles DO exist."
Master Roshi's turtle came out of the house and went up to Gohan. The four-year-old, who was scared of just about everything, clung to his daddy's leg.
"It's okay, Gohan," Goku said. "He won't hurt you." He lifted his son and put him on the turtle's back. Then the turtle dragged itself around, Gohan laughing all the way.
"So, how old is he?" Bulma asked.
"He's four."
"Really? He seems awfully polite for four."
"Yeah, well, Chi Chi teaches him and stuff."
"Who does he play with?" Kuririn asked.
"He doesn't play, really," Goku replied. "Chi Chi has him too wrapped up in book lessons, and stuff. She won't let him do anything else."
"Oh?" Kuririn asked. "I feel sorry for Gohan." The small boy walked towards the retreating waves of the ocean. When it came towards him again, he gave a little yelp and he ran behind the turtle.
"Man, Goku," Kuririn said, "he's nothing like you when you were a kid."
Gohan had heard Kuririn's remark, and felt a little hurt. He wanted so much to be like his father, and thought he was, until now. He was like his father, wasn't he? And if he wasn't, would he ever be?
Gohan hit the ground, hard. Every bone, every muscle, every nerve, every thing hurt. He couldn't move. He just wanted to lie there and never move.
"Get up!" Piccolo's hard voice reached his ears.
"I can't!" Gohan complained. "It hurts to move."
"Do you think the Saiyans that are coming will care if you're hurt?" Piccolo asked, the hardness as strong as ever. "NO, they will KILL you! Now get up!"
With all the strength he could muster, Gohan slowly got to his feet. He panted a bit, then looked at Piccolo.
His mentor smirked. "Good." Then he disappeared. Gohan, who still couldn't sense ki like Piccolo could, looked around for his teacher. Just then, he felt a burning sensation spread all over his body. He fell to the ground, unable to move.
"You call that defense?" Piccolo's voice was behind him, and Gohan knew that his mentor had electrocuted him from behind. . . again.
"I can't do this," the small boy whined.
"I'm not asking you to do this, I'm telling you!" Gohan cringed. He didn't like Piccolo yelling at him. His mother and father never yelled at him before.
Piccolo looked toward the sun sitting in the horizon. "We might as well stop for today." Gohan let out a relieved sigh. He hated training. He didn't see why he had to do this.
Piccolo and Gohan made their way to the mountain they slept on. While Gohan gathered wood for the fire, Piccolo sat and meditated. Gohan had a fire going, then sat down and watched his mentor meditated.
"Hey, Piccolo?" The green warrior opened his eyes and looked at Gohan. "Why do I have to keep training?"
"I've already explained it to you before. We are training to fight the Saiyans that are coming here."
"But why do I have to do this?"
"You possess great power that will prove useful in the battle."
"But Piccolo, training's no fun."
"We don't train for FUN! We train to become stronger. Training is WORK!"
"I still don't like it," the small boy pouted.
"I don't care if you don't like it. Just do it."
"But. . ."
"Quiet!" Gohan inched back, as though Piccolo had just slapped him. The green warrior gave the boy a disgusted look.
"You're nothing like your father," he said as Gohan rolled over to sleep. Piccolo's words echoed through his mind repeatedly.
"Maybe he's right," Gohan thought. 'I'm not like Dad at all. Dad loves to train. How come I don't? Why am I so different from Dad? Please, I wanna know. . ."
But Gohan heard nothing except the cackling of the fire. No one answered his prayer for the answer to his longing question. Gohan closed his eyes and fell asleep, his dreams far less than peaceful.
"HAAAA!" Gohan's screams ran through empty space, mixing with the heat and gravity. His energy created an aura around him, as he searched for more energy from within. The ground cracked slightly, then pieces of if broke off.
'More,' he thought. 'I still need more!' He powered up to his full potential, as the aura around his body began to create a swirling vacuum. It stopped, however, when Gohan dropped to his knees.
"Come on, Gohan." Gohan heard the seriousness in his father's voice, and could tell he was somewhat disappointed.
"I can't, Dad," Gohan said.
"Sure you can," Goku said, his voice filled with encouragement. "Just try it again. Think of something that will make you really mad. That's the key to becoming a Super Saiyan."
"Okay Dad." Standing up, Gohan did his best and powered up all the strength he had left. Images came in and out of his mind, all of which were enough to make anyone angry.
His mind traveled back in time, to when and some other were on the Planet Namek, they were fighting Freeza. Freeza had just transformed into his final stage and powered up, firing a ki blast. It zoomed past him, past Kuririn, past Piccolo, and past Vegeta. Past all of them, but instead, hitting a little Namekian boy, a friend of Gohan's, Dende. The blast created an explosion, and when the smoke cleared, Dende was dead.
The scene switched to when Freeza fired a blast at Goku, just when everyone thought Freeza had been killed by the spirit bomb. The blast almost hit Goku, who was too weakened to react. But Piccolo pushed Goku out of the way, the blast going right through his chest. Piccolo fell, close to death himself.
The last picture was of his own father. The Super Saiyan was already out of luck, as the planet Namek was going to explode. The lava shot up out of the ground in columns. Goku screamed in anger as he didn't know what to do. The planet thinned out with pressure, and Goku continued to scream as the planet finally exploded.
"HA!" Gohan yelled, his scream echoing through the emptiness. He felt a surge of power jolt through him, his long black hair turning upward and becoming golden for a split second. It turned back to normal as the power left him and he fell to his knees.
He tried to catch his breath, then put out his hands down on the ground to catch himself from hitting the floor.
"Sorry, Dad, I can't do it." Gohan felt tears form in his eyes as he knew how big a disappointment he was to his father. He wouldn't blame Goku if he got angry.
Instead, Goku put both hands on Gohan's shoulders. "Gohan." The sound of his name made Gohan look up at Goku's smiling face. "It's okay, Gohan. You're trying your best. You'll get it eventually. I know you will."
Gohan angrily shook his head and pulled away from his father. "No, I won't. You don't get it, Dad. I'll never become a Super Saiyan. I'm not like you, Dad! I'm not like you at all! I never was, and I never will be!" Gohan slammed his fists into the ground, creating a small dent. Tears let lose from his eyes, and Gohan made no attempt to wipe them away.
Goku patiently waited until his son clamed down. Then, he said in a firm voice, "Gohan, look at me." Gohan did as he was instructed to do. "Gohan, you shouldn't give up. You have to keep trying. No matter how bad a situation seems, you have to keep going. The real strength is inside."
Gohan felt better after his father's words. He felt a new courage, a new hope flowing inside him. Wiping the remaining tears, Gohan stood up and looked at his father.
Goku smiled. "That's the spirit, Gohan. Whaddya say we take a break for now and try again later?" Gohan nodded and both of them headed back towards the dorm.
'Soon,' Gohan thought, 'soon I'll be a Super Saiyan, just like Dad.'
'Soon.'
"Come on, Goten. Take this a little more seriously, please."
"I DON'T WANNA!"
"Come on, Goten."
"NOOOO!"
"Face it, Gohan, this stinks!"
"I didn't ask for your opinion, Trunks."
"Well, you're getting it anyway!"
Gohan sighed. Training two children wasn't easy. Now he understood why Piccolo got so frustrated when he was first training with him. Trunks and Goten just weren't interested in the martial arts. Being the kids they were, the wanted to play. Though five years old, Trunks was quite the smooth talker, and usually talked his way out of training. Four-year-old Goten usually whined his way out. Being as soft as he was, Gohan usually let them off. But not this time. He had to teach them something at least.
"Come on, you guys. Training isn't that bad, is it?"
"YES!" they said simultaneously.
Gohan actually agreed with them, but he didn't want to give them the satisfaction of being right. "Com on, we have to do this."
"Why?" Goten complained.
"Just in case."
"In case of what?" Trunks challenged.
". . . Just in case."
"That's lame, Gohan."
"I can't say what's gonna happen. We're training to prevent it.
"Prevent what?" Goten asked.
"Evil."
"But training is so boring," Trunks said.
So Gohan decided to see if they would listen to this. "Goten, have I ever told you how our father died?" Goten shook his head.
"Well, you see, we were fighting and evil being called Cell. He was really strong, stronger than Dad. But Dad forfeited and I had to fight Cell. After we engaged in combat, Cell began to gain the upper hand. But when he attacked Dad and the others, I turned Super Saiyan 2 and fought Cell once more. Soon, I was able to destroy half of him."
"What happened after that?" Trunks asked, eager to find out what happened.
"Since Cell had the ability to regrow himself, Dad told me to destroy Cell once in for all. But I made the mistake of not listening. Cell regrew himself, and after I. . . made him really angry, he made it so that he would blow up the planet. But Dad teleported him somewhere else. However, he wasn't able to get away in time, and died in the explosion."
Trunks and Goten were silent. What could they say? Gohan continued.
"If I had listened to Dad, he wouldn't have died."
"So," Goten said after awhile, "are. . . are you saying if we don't listen to you, then. . .?"
"Well, maybe it won't be that drastic. But I'm just saying listen to me, and trust me that we should train. Then we could be prepared for anything. Understand?" The two kids nodded. "All right, let's get going."
So for two full hours, Gohan did his best to train the two boys. But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't use their ki, not even to fly yet. After a while, the two boys couldn't go on.
Gohan watched as the two boys lay on the grass, trying to catch their breaths. "Why don't we call it a day?" Gohan suggested. The two boys could only nod. "You two play when you're done resting." They nodded again.
Gohan walked away from them, into a forest. The cliff were he was just at had a nice view, but there was something about the forest that enchanted him. He felt a gentle breeze flew by, and he welcomed it. He like the forest, nice and quiet.
Suddenly, the silence was shattered by a sound Gohan heard in the distance. He couldn't describe it. It sounded like someone was fighting. But it was only one person. Gohan didn't feel any ki, so it wasn't anyone he knew. But the voice was so familiar. . .
Suddenly, he knew. He didn't know how, but he knew. The voice gave it all away. . .
He ran towards the place he thought that he heard the voice was coming from. Whether it was real mattered not, he just had to get there. He ran until he came to an empty place. He moved some branches to see, but to his dismay, no one was there.
Did Gohan imagine that? Did he imagine that he heard his father's voice? Yes, that had to be it. It was only his imagination. His father hadn't been there, of course not. It was impossible. Yes, his imagination had gotten the better of him.
Gohan turned around and walked back. Even though it was his imagination, it had sounded too real to be just that. He shook it off, thinking it was guilt or something. The horrible battle came back to him. If only he had listened to his father, and killed Cell, Goku wouldn't be dead. He was responsible for Goten and himself being fatherless. He was responsible for his mother crying herself to sleep every night. It was his fault.
Gohan was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Trunks call his name. He stopped walking. Was Trunks in trouble? Or was he just playing a joke? Trunks had a desperate tone in his voice, but the son of Vegeta was known to fake it. Even at five, Trunks was a big troublemaker.
"Gohan!" Trunks called again, his voice cracking somewhat. The desperation was as strong as ever. 'No,' thought Gohan. 'He's not faking it.' He ran to find the lavender-haired youth.
He saw the boy sitting on the ground, looking lost and confused. His head was facing the ground, his blue eyes on the verge of tears. But. . . where was Goten?
"Trunks?" Trunks' head shot up, then say Gohan.
"Gohan!" Trunks ran up to him.
"Are you all right?" Gohan asked. "And where's Goten?"
"I'm fine, but Goten. . ." Trunks trailed off.
"Trunks, where's Goten?"
"Trunks!"
"I'm sorry!" the young boy sobbed. "Goten and I were wrestling, when I pushed Goten off me. He hit his head hard on a rock. . ."
"Where is he?"
"He kinda rolled off a bit. I didn't know we were so close to the edge of the cliff, otherwise. . ."
"He fell off the cliff!"
Trunks nodded. "His clothes snagged on a rock, and now he's dangling. I can't reach him unless I go down there myself, and then I couldn't bring him back here. And the rocks might slip under my weight."
"Show me where he is, Trunks." Led Gohan over to the edge of the cliff. There, Goten was hanging limply, his belt snagged on the rocks. Trunks couldn't reach him because he was too small to try. But Gohan couldn't reach him unless he could grab Goten's hand.
"Goten," Gohan said. "Goten, wake up."
Slowly, Goten came to. After regaining his consciousness, Goten saw that he was hanging over a cliff. He yelped, then began to struggle.
"Goten, stop! Don't move! The rock might become lose and you'll fall!" Goten stopped struggling immediately. "Now, Goten, listen to me. Grab onto the rock to your left with both hands."
Goten grabbed onto the rock with both hands firmly. Then, doing his best, Goten pulled his belt loose from the snagged rock.
"Okay. Now, Goten, just grab my hand."
"I can't! I'm gonna slip!"
"No you won't. Goten, just grab my hand. You'll be alright. Come on."
"I can't do it! I'm too scared!"
"Goten, listen to me! I won't let anything happen to you! Grab my hand!"
Goten tried to let go of the rock, but clung on tightly when he felt himself slip. Finally, he was able to use on hand to reach for Gohan. But since his arm was too short, he couldn't reach.
"Come on, Goten," Trunks persuaded. "Just stretch a little more." Goten stretched as far as he could, his fingers just barely feeling the tips of his older brother's. In his desperation, Goten's foot pushed against a rock. The stone became loose and fell. The rocks supporting Goten also became loose and fell, bringing Goten along. He screamed as he went down.
Standing up, Gohan jumped off the ledge, much to Trunks' surprise. Using his size and weight to his advantage, Gohan was able to fall towards the bottom of the cliff faster than Goten was. Using his ki, the teen stopped himself just before hitting the bottom, a big cloud of dust covering both him and Goten.
Trunks, at the top, couldn't see anything because of all the dust. When it settled, however, a frightened Goten in his arms. Trunks let out a relieved sigh.
Gohan slowly flew upwards, Goten's arms wrapped tightly around his brother's neck. Gohan couldn't help but smile at how Goten reminded him of himself when he was that age.
He landed at the top of the cliff front of Trunks, gently placing Goten down. Goten was still rather shaky, but was fine now that his feet were on solid ground.
"You okay now, Goten?" Gohan asked softly. The black-haired boy looked up at his brother and nodded. "Good. Um. . . how 'bout we keep this our secret, okay you two? Mom'll slaughter me if she finds out." The two boys nodded. "Let's go home. It's time for lunch."
As the three walked back to the Son house, Goten was the first to break the long silence.
"Gohan, I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
"For what just happened."
"Wasn't your fault."
"Yes it was."
"No, you were just having fun. It wasn't your fault."
"Yeah," Trunks said, "it's mine."
"Don't you start, Trunks. It was nobody's fault."
"But if we were like you, Gohan," Goten argued, "and were able to learn all that ki stuff, then we wouldn't have been in trouble."
"You'll learn someday."
"No we won't," Trunks quipped glumly. "We'll never be strong enough."
Gohan stopped walking and bent down on one knee to look at the two kids. "Listen to me, you two. You can do it. You're trying your best."
"But our best isn't good enough!" Goten said. "Maybe it never will be."
"That's not true. You can do it, but you have to keep trying. No matter how bad a situation seems, no matter how much you want to quit, you have to keep going. The real strength is inside."
Trunks and Goten looked at each other, then at Gohan. A smile formed on their lips and their eyes glittered with happiness. They nodded, then ran ahead of Gohan back to the house.
Gohan stood up. Had he really said that? Had he really said what his father had said to him years ago. Apparently, he had. But the real question was, why had he said it?
Gohan sat under the shade of a tree in the forest near his house. Goten and Trunks were (forced) to take a nap, leaving Gohan to contemplate in the quiet of the forest environment.
The teen could only think of the words he had said to Trunks and Goten. The words of his father.
"Dad," Gohan whispered. Just then, a strong wind blew, and a column of dust raised before him. The dust prevented Gohan from seeing anything, but the a familiar silhouette was seen, even through the column. Thought the dust cloud was thick, the hair was recognizable.
When the dust cleared, there stood the visible figure. His orange gi and the navy blue shirt, the boots, the halo, all was real. Gohan thought at first that this was a dream, but felt a rock scratch his hand, proving this was as real as it could be.
There, in front of him, was his father.
"Gohan," Goku greeted warmly, a warm smile spread across his face. Gohan was speechless, his voice was lost.
"Gohan, I'm really proud of you. You always thought that you were so different from me, but over the years, you have shown signs of me in you, in strength, to how you treat other people."
Gohan shook his head. "No, Dad. I'm not really like you. You would have known to kill Cell when you had the chance. I didn't, and you died because of my mistake."
"Don't blame yourself, Gohan. You didn't know that Cell would self-destruct, no one did. In fact, I'm the one to be blamed for my death."
"I don't follow, Dad."
"Cell's creator was Dr. Gero, a man I had met when I was younger. I had defeated Dr. Gero's army, but I let the doctor escape. He then built the androids and Cell just to kill me. If I had just killed Gero in the first place, he wouldn't have been able to create those monsters."
"But Dad, you didn't know either. It's just your nature to be nice, and you just did what your heart told you to. Non knew that he would build them, and no one's blaming you, either."
Goku thought it over. "I guess." Then he smiled. "You see? You're more like me than you thought."
Gohan thought it over and smiled. He did do a lot of things like his dad, and people say a lot of his best traits were from his father.
Goku's smile widened. "I should be going now. Bye, Gohan."
"Wait, Dad? Before you go, tell me something first."
"Sure, son. Shoot."
"Earlier today, I thought I heard your voice in the forest. Was that really you?"
Goku smiled. "You think Gohan. Unlike me, you have the ability to think. Try it now." And with a wink, Goku was gone.
Gohan didn't have to think anymore for that answer. He had just found it out. He also found out that all these years, he had been like his father after all. And form this day forward, he could finally say with pride that he was indeed his father's son.
The End