Disclaimer, in case it wasn't obvious. I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or really any other property. Thank you.

The Long Road

Chapter 7: Disgrace

It'd not taken long for Gohan to take off. Being insulted so openly and disrespected so thoroughly, he really didn't want to be around. What did Vegeta know? His words still rang through his head.

"Being a Board Member, means that Gohan, the scum that he is, licked enough boot and kissed enough ass of Frieza's to be promoted through the ranks to lord over his fellow warriors. Its a disgrace that any saiyan-"

"I never served Frieza! I served-"

"Served some other lizard? You disgrace, you dare call yourself a saiyan? Have you no pride?! Were it not for Kakarot I'd kill you where you stand!"

That had really only been the beginning of it, and Gohan knew he had to remove himself, quickly, from that situation. Firstly, he had thought of killing Trunks, the heir apparent of Vegeta's, in response for the insults, this would have been extremely bad for him, given he doubted Kakarot would have very much liked it if he killed Goten's best friend.

That fucking bastard, insulting me like that. He has no idea what I had to go through to get to where I was! Short sighted arrogant, blue blooded shit.

His body blasted through the air as a golden aura burst around him, too angry right now to hold back his new form.

"Hey."

In mid flight, Gohan turned his head to see the Namek, Piccolo.

What do you want?

To say Gohan was excited to see Piccolo was certainly a lie.

"You look angry, and I'm looking to train," Piccolo told him bluntly, before smiling. "Besides, I think getting some of that aggression out would help, don't you?"

He's attempting to be nice to me, yet he doesn't fear my power, and he's not related to me. I don't understand this planet at all.

Gohan however, smiled quietly, nodding to Piccolo after a few moments.

"And why would I want to train with you, Namek?" Gohan scowled. He'd not exactly forgotten what Slug had done to him.

"Because you aren't anywhere near strong enough to be a challenge to me, or Goku, or Vegeta. And if you'd calm down for a few minutes, you'd realize that if you train with me, maybe you'll actually learn something," Piccolo smirked.

The fact he's right bothers me.

"Probably good advice," Gohan admitted. "Where are we going then?"

"Down there," Piccolo gestured his arm.

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Breathless, that was how Gohan would be best described at the moment.

"So, what was bugging you enough to go flying out of the forest like a golden firecracker?" Piccolo asked, looking much less fatigued than Gohan.

"Vegeta," Gohan sneered, readying himself for another round, looking furious and ready to fight again just at the name. "He spat on me and called me less than a saiyan. I decided to leave before I took... unwise action."

I should have killed his brat in front of him.

The two figures came to blows again, Piccolo blocking Gohan's punch perfectly, before landing one of his own, sending the super saiyan back.

"You're still sloppy," Piccolo growled, causing Gohan to growl right back.

The Namek was good, very good, perhaps as good as his father was. When he sparred with Kakarot, it wasn't the same, he always felt Kakarot holding back more, trying to save his feelings even. The only one who pushed his super saiyan power was Piccolo, and he'd come to appreciate that. It was strange, given the first moment he'd met the Namek he'd tried to kill him. It was yet more remarkably surprising to him that Piccolo hadn't held a grudge over it.

"So, why'd he spit on you?" Piccolo asked, dropping a kick towards Gohan's side.

Blocking the blow, Gohan scowled. "Because I was on the Board of the Planet Trade. He called me a boot lick, and claimed I kissed ass to get there," the words came viciously, as Gohan's punches became more intense.

It didn't do much, as Piccolo dodged around them, finding a weakness and slamming his own hand into Gohan's ribs.

Finally, Gohan fell to his knees, breathing heavily.

"Tell you what," Piccolo finally said, standing above Gohan, looking down at him. "That dad of yours is too soft on you to train you. You wanna learn how to fight, and fight well, you train with me," Piccolo offered. "I'm sure it'll help keep that head on your shoulders."

A smile slowly crept over Gohan's features, he was offering to mentor him.

"So, am I supposed to call you teacher now?" he almost mocked in return.

Piccolo smirked. "Piccolo is fine, we'll try this again tomorrow."

"Same place?" Gohan asked.

"Same place, besides, I want to see the look on your old man's face when you land an honest punch on him."

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Satan City:

The city glowed in the dark, street lamps shedding light on those on the street, Gohan included. So far he'd managed to get a change of clothes in the city. It was raining heavily, the downpour washing over him, making the more 'normalized' clothes he was wearing absolutely soaked. Long sleeved shirt and jeans basically summed up what he was wearing, attempting to emulate the local males.

It'd been a difficult decision to not return directly home, but he needed to try and avoid the scenario at least for a while. There were too many damning questions waiting for him there, thanks to Vegeta's outburst. Much to his own disappointment, he knew his parents would overlook the crimes Vegeta had accused him of, but they'd still ask him about it, they'd still want to talk about it. To be quite frank, if he was going to be stuck on this planet, he didn't want to talk about the last thirteen years, both good and bad.

None of them knew what it was like to be promoted to arguably the second most powerful position in an entire galaxy wide organization. After having suffered broken bones, lost limbs, terrible scars, betrayals, loneliness and fear his rewards were well deserved. He'd had a hope that Prince Vegeta, the only other saiyan alive to have served in the organization, would at the very least respect his accomplishment. Instead he was a traitor, a less than saiyan, worthy of only more contempt.

"Somebody help!"

The words rang out over the horizon, making Gohan roll his eyes. So, these humans attacked one another fairly routinely then? He guessed as much given this wasn't the first time he'd heard this call out in the last-

There was an explosion now, far down the street near the city core, it was big too. Chemical in nature, not a fighter's energy but explosives, it was clear from the nature of the fire. Well, it was time to see what exactly was going on.

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There were dozens of people everywhere, both of police and of the suspects. Civilians at the location were scattered and running through the rainy night.

Three unconscious fanatics lay around Videl, she was breathing heavily as she looked ahead towards their leader, he was big, very big. Probably a man in his early 30's, and clearly seasoned in combat. Slowly, her head turned back to find the police who she'd initially come to help, were in flight or as the office building behind them was bombed. It'd all been set up to disable as many of them as possible.

Turning her head back towards these terrifyingly strange men and women, Videl just tried to grasp what they were even about.

"Why? Why are you doing this!?" she finally demanded.

They'd yet to even state their goals, but they clearly weren't the normal breed of criminals she dealt with in Satan City.

The leader just seemed to grin.

"Because we are sending a signal to our master, the Saiyan who came here to heal this world of humanity! Just as they did fifteen years ago. They came to teach us to abandon modernity, to embrace ourselves and our warrior spirits. We know, we've all seen it, we've been touched by it."

These people thought the saiyans came to earth to elevate humanity?

Great, they worship the people who blew up East City.

"You have defeated three of our legion, please, Videl Satan, daughter of Mister Satan, we would be more than happy to-"

To Videl it was all gibberish, they wanted her to join some crazy saiyan worshipping cult, who blew up the police and wanted to destroy modern society? Thanks but no thanks. It was when he opened his palm, and a strange golden light burst from it, that she began to listen more intently.

That's... like Cell?

But that was all just tricks, wasn't it? No, it had to be.

From the sky, a figure landed in front of the criminals. Videl looked up immediately to see where he'd come from, rain getting into her eyes. Her wounds weren't severe yet, just a few bruises and scrapes, but they stung in the rainwater. What was worse however, was the fact that she saw nowhere for this mysterious man to have come from.

Looking towards the newcomer, standing to his left, the first thing she noticed was the scar over the left side of his face. It looked extremely painful to have received, though she'd had no idea just how terrible it'd been. His stature, just the way he stood, was almost like a block of ice. The serious look on his face didn't help with that impression either. The main thing that caught her attention however, was the fuzzy brown belt... just... like that huge bald saiyan had. When the belt moved on its own for a brief second a moment later, she realized it was no belt at all.

He... he's... he's a saiyan.

Turning towards the fanatical leader and his cronies, Videl tried to put pieces together. Was this guy right? Was she insane for even thinking that for a moment?

"M-Master," immediately they all bowed. "We've been waiting for you for so long to teach us!"

The lack of response from the saiyan said it all, before he sneered.

"Teach you what? How to blow up buildings? I was enjoying a perfectly rainy evening on this planet and you idiots had to draw my attention over here. You're lucky I don't kill all of you for that."

It was just like the old records said, violent, angry monsters. Pulling herself forward, Videl charged towards the alien, preparing to drive her leg into the side of his head. She couldn't even see when his arm came up, blocking the blow. Without even looking at her, she could feel him beginning to assess her.

"Girl," he remarked bluntly. "Are you one of these idiots?"

"N-no! I'm-"

"Good." with that, he shoved her away effortlessly, sending her flying back, hitting the side of a wrecked police cruiser.

"We've tried to build the world we knew you'd want, master saiyan, please we only-"

The saiyan disappeared in a flash of motion, and bodies started to fly in all directions. The sound of bones cracking and cement splitting were the chief amongst these. The leader fell to his knees, looking agonized as he held his stomach.

"I don't want to catch you doing this kind of stuff again. My job wasn't to heal the planet, or any trash like that. My job was to kill everyone, just like the last batch of saiyans. Be grateful my plans were postponed," with that, his leg came about cracking across the large man's face, sending him back into the wall with a terrible crunch.

Videl couldn't believe what she'd just seen, slowly pulling herself up as he approached her.

"You were too weak to deal with them." the saiyan remarked bluntly to Videl.

It was now that he was staring directly at her she got a good estimation of his features. He was young, perhaps as young as she was even, but his eyes were old. The two black orbs that tried to pass for eyes were of someone who'd clearly been around. Then the smirk came, and she narrowed her eyes, expecting somehow for him to attack.

If he wasn't trying to destroy the world, and wasn't scarred across his face, he'd almost be kind of cute.

"Come on," the saiyan said, offering his hand to her. "Somebody needs to show me around this city. Or to fight me, whichever one is more interesting."

What do I look like, a tour guide?

She looked back towards the unconscious bodies around them, hearing more sirens. This had been a complete disaster. If she didn't stay, then they'd think-

Suddenly her thoughts were cut off and she found herself... flying?

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Chi-Chi had been so mad she could have killed Vegeta. In fact, if it weren't for the ocean of power difference, she very well may have. He was an spiteful little troll who came uninvited and insulted their son. It made her sick to her stomach watching Gohan bow in front of Vegeta like a trained dog, looking for approval from the man who moments later would strike him down and insult him.

Their entire trip had been... quiet, the lack of Gohan being there weighing heavily on Goku and Chi-Chi.

Even now inside their home, the night's sky out, she felt the absence of her son, just like the first day they'd lost him.

"He'll be back," Goku said from the hall. "He's just blowing off steam, I felt him and Piccolo going at it before. I don't think we'll see him tonight or maybe even tomorrow. He doesn't want to face us right now."

Turning her head, Chi-Chi felt a kind of anger she didn't know she had.

Face us?!

"Why not?" she asked, her voice upset, but not loud, not wanting to wake Goten or Trunks, who was sleeping over.

Chi-Chi couldn't fault Trunks for his father's doing. The little boy had even been embarrassed the entire time after as well, and reluctantly she assured him it was alright. There was no reason to ruin Goten and Trunks' day, just because Vegeta was an asshole.

"Because he's embarrassed," Goku said honestly. "He's worried we'll judge him more, he's afraid we'll see him like Vegeta does. At least that's my bet."

"I don't even understand why Vegeta would consider him a traitor. What does that even mean? Didn't they even work for the same people!?"

"Yes," Goku answered quietly. "But Vegeta was always treated as a grunt, he was never one of Frieza's right hand men. Apparently Gohan was more popular than Vegeta."

That's clearly not hard. So he's angry that Gohan-

"Gohan was very important. I think he may have been one of the top people in charge of the whole organization," Goku admitted. "So, Vegeta is angry because the Planet Trade destroyed Planet Vegeta, and wiped out almost all our kind and enslaved everyone left but me. He sees Gohan becoming more important as... well, as traitorous."

Chi-Chi just looked out the window again, quietly wishing Gohan could come home so she could tell him they didn't care about any of that.

"I wish he'd come home."

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Gohan sat back, his arms behind his head as he looked towards the city lights, resting against the side of a service entrance on the roof of a building, standing across from him was a rather shocked looking woman. Who evidently kept on thinking it was a good idea to fight him.

Well, the last few minutes had been more than entertaining...

"Put me down right now!"

"Okay."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH"

As if blinking back to reality, Gohan realized he was being talked to.

"Why are you here?" The girl demanded, trying to look intimidating, she'd have normally succeeded if he didn't know she was a weakling.

She was easily amongst the stronger humans he'd met so far. The teenager smirked at her in response, before looking towards the city.

"Right now? Blowing off steam," he said simply.

"You came here to kill everyone, just like the saiyans before, didn't you?" she asked.

The rain was still pouring down from above. Clearly she knew about the previous attempt to purge the planet. There was no reason to hide, it was just kind of the facts. Briefly he appraised the drenched girl, trying to think back to the last time he'd been around a beautiful girl who wasn't a prostitute, victim, or running in fear. Sadly, that would have been, probably never.

"Why the hell are you staring at me like that?" came her sharp response to his stare.

Hah, she's got a great backbone to boot.

Standing up, Gohan smirked, walking towards her.

"Yea, I did originally come here to kill everyone," he admitted, before putting his body into a fighting stance. "And I can tell based off earlier, you wanted to do something about it."

She tensed her own frame, putting her weight on her back foot and preparing her arms.

This'll be fun.

"I'm going to stop you then," the girl declared.

Gohan felt himself get the feeling of the predatory fighting instinct he had in so many battles, when fighting against idealists like this. Thousands of warriors had said the same thing, from the time he was 4 until only a few weeks ago. There was something exciting about fighting a weaker opponent. He'd not hurt her of course, he'd promised earlier not to kill any humans, he hadn't even killed those crazy saiyan worshipping idiots down in the streets before.

Heh, maybe I can use her to unwind.

It'd been months since he'd found anything worth chasing. Besides, it was just one of the locals, what was the worst that could happen?

With a rush towards him, lightning streaking across the sky just as she pounced, the human girl with pigtails was at him.

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Two black eyes stared down from the side of the lookout, before giving a huff of half disgust.

To his side, Dende walked over, looking up at the older Namek.

That kid is as stupid as Goku, at least in some respects. He has no idea what he's doing. Blowing off steam all night by fighting random thugs and now sparring with a girl in the middle of a storm on a rooftop, what does he think he's... well, that's even dumber then I thought.

A smirk appeared however, walking away from the edge and rolling his eyes. "Teenagers," he muttered.

"What was it Piccolo?" Dende asked.

"Hm? Oh nothing, I was just watching someone make their life more of a mess. I'm just hoping he isn't late for training tomorrow," the namek said with a glare looking forward.

"This is Gohan then?" Dende asked.

"Yea, its Gohan."

"... And you are training with him regularly now?" Dende asked.

"Yea, I don't think he's much of a threat to the Earth anymore," Piccolo said with a smirk. "That kid's too much of a momma's boy to try and destroy the earth," he cheekily added.

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It was almost impossible to stand at this point, Videl tried to catch her breath as she looked at the saiyan. Her body was tired, exhausted, and she was cold. There was no way he was this fast, or strong, or tough. His body was scrawny compared to most of the guys she'd ever fought. But when she kicked him it felt like she was kicking a piece of steel.

He'd not laid a hand on her yet, but she knew why, he was toying with her. How could anyone be this strong?

They blew up East City.

Suddenly she felt very, very exposed. The belief she'd been approaching her father's strength began to become a shaky one. Worse yet, the belief that all Cell and the Saiyans had done were 'tricks' was quickly being exposed as being untrue.

In the last hour she'd succeeded in doing nothing. She noticed him looking serious, except for the occasional playful smile when he thought she wasn't looking. Where as before she only got angrier, not she felt...despair.

What have you gotten yourself into, Videl?

Her legs almost gave out from exhaustion. Her arms were already trembling from being in the rain now for hours. There was no way to get away from him, she'd never make it to the door.

"What's wrong?" the saiyan asked.

"What's wrong?" she repeated back to him. "I can't lay a hand on you, and I feel like I'm... I'm..." she tried to stay up, finding a second later he caught her before she could fall.

Her head fell against his soaking shirt, almost sticking to it for a moment. Almost immediately she felt the back of the exit from the roof against her back. Looking up she saw her alien counterpart smirking.

"You look a lot cuter when you are mad."

What the hell is he-

Her thoughts were cut off, feeling him kiss her a second later. Her arms, exhausted and weak pushed against him for a second, before lamenting. She heard his own breathing a second later. Her heart started to race, confusion ran through her body and mind. There was a sudden burst of adrenaline, just as when she'd been fighting him.

He's kissing me?!

Finally, their lips broke apart as she felt on of his hands tracing down the wet fabric of her shirt around her side and then over her leg.

"Wh-" she couldn't get another word in before he'd already started to kiss her again, forcing her back against the wall for leverage as he gave almost an animal like growl.

With a tired arm, she slapped him, though all that seemed to do was make her hand hurt.

His body was so warm, with the new burst of adrenaline she tried to push back again, pressing her hands against his chest to no avail. Finally, she felt herself almost relaxing again, her heart starting to race even more quickly. The furry tail around his waist slowly unfurled, before moving over around her waist, pulling her into him more, leaving only her shoulders against the rough concrete.

Finally she had a moment for air as he broke the second kiss. Words were becoming hard to find as she stared at him looking intently at her, she felt his hand press against her cheek and neck roughly, as the other held her leg up, pulling it against his side.

There is no way that just happened. Why... why would... but...

"We fought, I won," he told her, his voice sounding primal and excited. "You are far too exciting however to just get away with a little spar."

"You... you..." she tried breathing. "Jerk! What the hell is wrong with you!? Are you out of your mind!?"

The eyes looked into hers and almost silenced her, it was a combination of fear, bewilderment, and excitement that made her freeze in place. Roughly, he grabbed the front of her shirt, tearing down and exposing skin.

Now, now the fear began to join the mix of other emotions.

There is no way this is happening.

Grabbing the shreds of her shirt and pulling it back behind her arms, the rain now coolly directly splashing against exposed skin, the saiyan roughly grabbed her sides, feeling her skin instinctively.

"The fighting part is over, I won," Gohan stated bluntly, as if somehow that was something somehow important to the current situation.

With one last try, she tried to pull back, only to find herself between a rock and a saiyan. Her hand tried punching him once, only finding it was like punching a steel wall. Her fingers hurt from the impact alone.

"Stop."

Gohan froze in place, not making another move as soon as the word came out.

It was finally her chance to catch her breath, catch her thoughts. She was on a roof, becoming increasingly naked, with an alien who wanted to destroy the world. This had to be a dream of some kind. She could see him becoming increasingly frustrated.

What do I do?

He'd stopped when she asked him. She felt one of his arms move to support her, staring into her eyes. Excitement, anxiety and terror ran through her blood, but mostly terror.

"... Well?" the saiyan asked, leaning towards her again with a cunning, yet dark, smile.

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Well, that wasn't bad at all.

Gohan was laying back against a warm, comfortable bed in an apartment that didn't appear to have any tenants. Looking over at the state of the sun in the sky, he determined it was probably late morning.

Shit, that Namekian is going to be pissed if I show up late.

About to pull himself from the bed, he felt two exhausted arms still holding his arm. That was certainly a new experience.

Yesterday ended up being pretty good, the only thing it lacked was perhaps some kind of substance to dull or enhance his senses. He got to train and fight Piccolo, he got to beat up some weaklings, and he had fun with fornicating with one of the locals, after letting her take more than a few swings at him.

Hell, in the light she looks even better.

Quietly he turned towards her, brushing her pigtail back and examining her face. She'd be out for hours. It'd been months since he'd found anything that even remotely looked like a saiyan to chase after, the fact she'd wanted to fight him so badly only added to the allure. Well, at least he got that out of his system.

Well, have a good one. If I end up seeing you again, which I doubt, I hope you've not lost those pig-tails.

Gohan really wasn't looking for love last night. He was looking to blow off steam. He was looking for something physical. It'd bee good enough for her to provide him with several hours of that, though he doubted she fully understood that. That wasn't entirely his problem however. Were he back at the Planet Trade he'd have had a lot easier time finding a body to entertain himself with, but this excursion had been much more entertaining than usual. He'd been right as well, this had helped him unwind after that debacle with Vegeta.

Didn't break my promise either, I didn't end up killing any humans so far either.

Carefully, he pulled his arm out of her grip, before slowly rising from the bed, stretching briefly in front of the window. Turning back he briefly cleaned himself up in the abandoned shower, before throwing on his still soggy clothes.

Not much time, I've got to meet with Piccolo.

Stopping at the window as he opened it, his head turned back briefly to look at the woman sleeping in the bed. There was something that was urging him not to go. To be honest they hadn't really exchanged names.

Whatever, I'm sure she'll be fine.

Every other sexual encounter he'd ever had ended this way. What was the worst that could happen?

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A/N: Gohan is really kind of a shitty person. But make no mistake, he makes his life and the lives of those around him consistently worse for a long time. I promise :P

Gohan will stumble as he walks his road. He'll make mistakes. Sometimes he'll be able to fix them, sometimes they'll be too painful to fix.

Reviewers:

horacioquinter0: I'm happy your enjoying it.

Jordino: Gohan can become a Super Saiyan at will, but its very difficult.

Ky111: I hope you feel that way about this chapter XD

SSJInferno: Future Gohan never came to Earth, at all. Or if he did, he was killed by the Androids. Either or.

Eveline: Gohan knows the fate of Planet Vegeta. Gohan however, is a survivalist. Avenging a dead world is pointless in his eyes, better to save your own skin.

Sirius Potter2: Gohan and Vegeta will have ups and downs, but I don't think they'll carry animosity towards one another forever.

Wild-Dog84: Answered via PM. But thanks for the review. I also think this Chapter somewhat answers your inquiry XD

Aizou: Gohan's change will not be linear. He will do good and bad things, as evidenced in this very chapter even. He is self absorbed, and needs a reason to do good things without reward, or without desperation on his side.

Full Power: Welcome, oh, and I appreciate the review :)

Aquestra: This chapter should answer some of those hopes for you :D