Endless, Nameless

Prologue

Things were looking desperate at the Cell Games arena. After Goku's sacrifice, everyone thought they were finally free from the nightmare. Gohan had still been standing in the arena, too dumbfounded to do anything. His father had had to sacrifice himself because of his arrogance and stupidity. Tears were flowing down his face as he kept the SSJ2 form, his body otherwise motionless. When Cell reappeared much stronger than he had been he toyed with Gohan, whom he now easily overpowered, even in his SSJ2 form.

He landed several kicks and punches at Gohan's body, who just stood in the ground, too shocked to muster any kind of reaction.

"Aw, are you crying little boy. Better run off to daddy. Oh wait, that's right, he's dead. You killed him" Cell snickered as he landed another blow to Gohan's body, forcing him to kneel as he could only cry.

On the mountain nearby, the Z Fighters watched in shock as Cell made a mockery of their only hope, more than that, of their friend. That was too much for Piccolo to stand. He reviewed on his mind everything he went through with Gohan, from when he trained him to the battle with the Saiyajins, through the fights at Namek, until the present. He had been the one to open up the former Demon King to friendship, the person he liked most in the whole world (AN: No this is not a PiccoloxGohan yaoi, so better stop that rain of thought immediately. Nameks are asexual, period.) He powered up, went into a fighting stance, and prepared to take off.

"What are you doing Namek? Do you want to get yourself slaughtered?" Vegeta blasted. He too had watched the fight in horror, but he knew there was nothing he could do to help.

Piccolo just ignored Vegeta and he jumped into the battle ground, shooting a ki-blast at Cell. It simply deflected off the monster's skin. Cell turned to him with irritation.

"What are you doing worm? Think that could've possibly have hurt me? Here, open the way to hell for your little friend" Cell yelled as he shot a ki-blast that opened a hole in Piccolo's chest, and sent him flying into a nearby mountain, leaving his motionless body on the floor.

Gohan watched this in horror. He had already lost his father to that monster, had to witness all the destruction he caused without being able to do anything to help. Now it dared to touch the only person he liked almost, or maybe the same as much as he liked his family. The fear, the hopelessness, the loss were replaced with only one feeling: anger. The anger of a Saiyajin warrior. His power began to rise as he relived all the destruction Cell had made. His hair began to grow until it reached about knee-length, his forehead became slightly protruded and his eyebrows disappeared from his forehead. His body became sore from handling the power from the transformation, but he knew he had to handle it. To kill Cell, and to avenge all the deaths.

Cell, watched the transformation dumbfounded, but he was not one to show his surprise. Or fear. He began attacking Gohan, after he could stand on his feet due to power of the transformation, but to no avail. Each punch and kick met only air, as Gohan was easily able to dodge Cell's attacks.

"I'm not going to make the same mistake twice Cell. This time, you're going straight to hell. MA…" Gohan lifted his hands as he began powering up for the attack.

"You're not getting away with this kid. I'm not over yet. Kame" cell too began powering up, using Goku's trademark attack. Gohan just smirked.

"SEN…"

"hame…HA"

"KO…HA"

The two ki-beams connected midair, and seemed even for a split second. However, Gohan's quickly began to gain ground on Cell's, while the monster could only watch, as his ki-beam was quickly cancelled by Gohan's Masenko, which continued in its deadly way until it hit Cell's body. It tore it apart, not leaving a single atom, much less a cell, from which it could regenerate. Gohan powered down immediately and flew off to where Piccolo's body laid. He touched his face while shedding a tear, while uttering the word "Goodbye sensei".

Piccolo's body began to shudder, as his voice was heard: "It would take more than that to get rid of me kid". However, he let out a moan of pain after uttering these words.

Gohan couldn't believe it. His teacher, mentor and best friend was not dead. However, he knew he had to act quickly. He powered up to SSJ2 and flew at top speed towards the lookout, carrying Piccolo. The Z Fighters, after a brief moment of hesitation, left off and followed him, trying as hard as they could to catch Gohan, but in his SSJ2 speed, he arrived way ahead of them to the lookout.

Before even setting foot in it, he was yelling Dende's name. The little God ran towards him, and knew what he had to do when he saw Piccolo's wounded body. He extended his hands and began the healing process. Right after that Gohan collapsed due to tiredness.

(A Few Weeks After the Cell Games)

Gohan sat sulking near a waterfall. He worse his trademark Piccolo-like outfit, except for the turban, for it couldn't possibly contain it his unruly hair. He still felt the sorrow of having lost his father, but worst of all, of the fact that he did not want to return. He did not blame him, he knew his father did that with only the best of intentions, but still it hurt. He was better now with the time though. His father would talk to him telepathically through King Kai every other time, and that made him feel as if Goku, in a way was still there. He knew he talked with his mother too. And he had another reason to go on. His mother had just told him she was expecting a child. He knew he would have to be there for his brother. He slowly got his body into position and began meditating, his tail wrapping around his waist. Yes, because, due to Dende going a little overboard in healing, his tail had grown back, much to the displeasure of a certain Saiyajin prince who was still bitter at the loss of his own appendage. Gohan had decided to keep it as a reminder of his father, since there was no moon anymore, and as a Super Sayajin he could control his Oozaru transformation anyways, and over the last few days had managed to train it in a way to make it invulnerable to squeezing, as his father had himself done many years ago.

Meanwhile in the Lookout, Piccolo too was meditating. He knew that now with Goku gone, he had to take responsibility over Gohan. It was the least he could do for his formal rival turned friend. He knew from his nearly daily visits to the boy that his grief was slowly but surely healing. Gohan was still young, and Piccolo had grown much wiser after his fusion with Kami. He knew the boy would pull through. He left the meditating position and took off to where he felt Gohan's ki.

At Capsule Corp, Vegeta was taking a break from his usual training to do a little reflection. His pride had hurt when he was surpassed by Kakarot's Spawn, as he so affectionately called Gohan, and he trained for days without stop after that. But his reason eventually kicked in. He knew that maybe he would never be able to surpass Gohan, and while pondering over it, realized the foolishness of it all. This wasn't Vegeta-sei anymore, and he was the prince of a nearly extinguished race. He wasn't going to be less respected here because he was weaker, and while he would never stop training, he began to realize there was more to life than that. Lifting himself, he made his way onto the bedroom.

"Onna, are you awake", he said with a teasing grin on his face.

Piccolo had finally reached Gohan's meditating spot. He had greeted him, noticing the slight change in the boy's demeanour, which wasn't so grieving anymore, but more resigned, with some signs of happiness already showing. He smirked slightly at this.

"How are you doing today kid?"

"I'm fine, Piccolo, thanks. I realised there is no point in living in grief. My father is there watching over me, and I know he wants me to go on. I will" Gohan smiled slightly.

"That's exactly what I want to talk to you about. You need to train your new SSJ3 form, and we're going to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber at the Lookout to do just that."

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to mention that Piccolo." Gohan smirked. "But you're right. Now that my dad is gone, I need to train to be able to protect the Earth from whatever menaces it may face. But first I got to go ask my mom."

Piccolo sweatdroped at this. 'The most powerful warrior in the universe and he still needs to go ask for his mom's permission to train.' He sighed. He knew there was nothing he could so about that, so he just nodded and said "Meet me at the lookout when you're done" He proceeded to take off.

After dropping his mom at Capsule Corp, since she did not feel safe being alone while she was pregnant, Gohan took off for the Lookout. Piccolo was waiting near the door to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. After greeting Dende and Mr. Popo, Gohan joined him and entered the room. Once they were there, Piccolo sat in meditating position, motioning to Gohan to stay up.

"Can you reach the third state at will?"

"I've never tried it after the fight with Cell, but I'll see what I can do." Gohan revived the pain he had felt at the Cell Games, shortly replaying the whole event in his head, and went through the several stages before settling on level three. Piccolo was overwhelmed by the power he displayed, but he knew Gohan still was very inexperienced at dealing with this form. He wandered at what he could do with it once he had achieved full control of it. He motioned Gohan to take a meditation position.

"It may be possible to be able to master that level of Super Saiyajin by endurance only, but that would be much long and enduring than my ensuring mind control, and if I may say so myself, less fruitful. Now let's begin by simply trying to power down, remaining in that form…"

Several months later, in Hyperbolic Chamber Time, Gohan was sitting meditating while Piccolo was watching. The Namek too had made great progress in his power level, but knew he was still no match for Gohan. He didn't care though. He felt very proud of his student. Gohan could not withstand the third level for several days in a row. But he still couldn't remain in that form as long as he wanted. However, as he was now hovering above the floor meditating, he knew he was very close. He felt as if he were approaching a hidden source of great power, as he delved in the depths of his mind as he never did before. This power had been the one that, in an "alternate timeline" (AN: Actual DBZ) the Old Kai had released with his Mystic Power Up. With one last fit of mental strength, he unlocked that energy, and a sudden wave of power overtook his body. He felt it as it worked with the SSJ3 energy, complementing it and unleashing what felt to Gohan as an unlimited power. He knew the SSJ3 form was now completely under control, with or without this mystic energy, which he could use independently of his Super Saiyajin power, but was only at full potential when combined with Super Saiyajin 3. As he continued to power up, a crack began to open out of thin air, and a black void began appearing on it. Gohan felt a force drawing him and Piccolo to the hole, and was eventually pulled before he had a change to react. Piccolo followed behind him.

They came out of the wrap on a wasteland, a land of red dust that neither of them knew. Looking to the sky and seeing two suns, they realized they weren't on Earth. Piccolo turned to Gohan, who had powered down while travelling through the wrap, and said "Your power level rose so quickly and so high, that it must have opened a whole between dimensions. Who knows where we are now kid." He felt around for power levels, and found a few that were high, for the norm, but that still were no match for his power at fractions of its full, much less to Gohan's. He quickly materialized a new of his trademark outfits for Gohan, since his old one had become quite damaged from his power surge, and then proceeded "We better split up and look around for someone who can tell us where we are. If you find someone, raise your ki and I'll be right there. I'll do the same"

Gohan nodded and they both flew off in opposite directions.

On another corner of that planet, Bardock's crew had been ambushed by Dodoria and his men, on Frieza's orders. The four Saiyajins were trying to fight back the henchmen, but they were severely outmatched. They knew their captain would never arrive in time, and began preparing to die as Dodoria started walking towards Toma, the one he deemed would be the first to die…

To be Continued

Author's Notes

This Fic has a few small differences from cannon, notably the fact that half-breeds are able to attain SSJ3. There's nothing else major, so that's it for now. BTW, this name is kinda officious; I'll be holding a context to help me title it on the review box. Make your shot. Also, English is not my first language, so if you find any mistake, please feel free to berate me in your reviews.