I do not own Dragon Ball Z, any of it's characters, and any other property.
Chapter 1
As the sun rose over the beautiful mountainous region of Mt. Paozu, the rays of sunshine highlighted and enhanced the landscape. The water glistened within the lakes and ponds around the area. Majestic birds flying in their flock across the bright blue cloudless sky above the forest that contained many types of animals. Rabbits scurrying across the ground, squirrels crawling among the trees, and predators such as the sabretooth tigers and dinosaurs that reside here looking for their first meal of the day. This area of Mt. Paozu is the definition of serene and splendor and anyone lucky enough to be there, their mood would be lifted immediately.
The only house for miles within the area is the exact opposite of happiness. There's an aura of sorrow around it and the usual warmth within its walls is gone and replaced with an iciness that would send chills down the spine of whoever walked through the front door. While the rest of the world is celebrating life itself and praising it's "World Savior", the two who live on Mt. Paozu are grieving. The legendary warrior Son Goku has just recently sacrificed his life to protect a world that is oblivious to the real heroes and has decided to stay in Other World.
His son Gohan, has just awoken from a restless sleep filled with nightmares and memories of his mistakes. The sound of birds chirping and the cool autumn breeze flowing through his open window does nothing to lighten his mood. 'Hopefully, some training will make me feel better.' Gohan thinks to himself. He then gets up out of bed and gets ready for the day, slowly pulling on his purple gi that is a replica of the one his mentor Piccolo wears, without any of the energy this young boy usually possessed.
As he walks down the stairs his sense of smell is hit with an aroma of delicious food his mother Chi-Chi, is preparing for the both of them. "Good morning mother," Gohan says as he walks towards the table ready for breakfast.
Chi-Chi glances at him and looks him up and down before replying softly, "Good morning dear, breakfast is about done.". She sets down the piles of different food and Gohan starts digging in while Chi-Chi picks at her food and eats at a snail's pace.
As Gohan finishes up and tells his mother he is going out for training with Piccolo, he's stopped before he can go any further by his mother. "No, you will not," Chi-Chi states firmly "no more training for you.". Gohan turns around and looks at her with an obvious expression of confusion on his face.
"What why not?" he replies. 'She can't be serious, can she?' Gohan thinks incredulously. 'Without dad here I'm the protector of this planet. He trusted me with this role, and I can't just ignore it. What, does she want to place our trust in Vegeta's hands to save us all? He has a family now, but he still acts like he did when he first came here most of the time.'
Chi-Chi looks into his eyes and shows the most emotion since the fateful Cell Games ended. "Training and martial arts have done nothing good for this family and you need to become a scholar and spend most of your time studying to prepare. I will not have my son become an irresponsible delinquent who spends all day fighting and nothing else!"
"Ir-irresponsible? Nothing good?! We've saved the world multiple times because of our strength. We even saved an entire galaxy from an evil tyrant! Dad even earned money that supported us through competing and winning tournaments." Gohan replies. He stands there stunned by what his mother suggested, waiting for what she'll say next.
"You're not training and that's final!" Chi-Chi gets up from her chair and continues while clearing the table of dishes, "You are going to spend most of the day studying and are only allowed a couple hours outside, martial arts is too dangerous, and you can get seriously hurt or even worse out there. I'm doing this with your best interests in mind and you'll understand when you're older."
Gohan's eyes widen realizing what she's implying. "Get hurt? The only thing that could hurt me is some super-powered villain coming to destroy Earth and that's the exact reason why I need to keep training!"
Chi-Chi glares at him and Gohan shrinks away, watching carefully just in case she brings out her frying pan. "Don't talk back to me young man! Go upstairs, change out of that gi of yours seeing as you won't need it and get to studying and finish any assignments you have left. I'll order more textbooks and hopefully, they'll get there here soon. I'll be sure to check up on you occasionally, to make sure you're focusing on your work."
His shoulders slump down and heads back upstairs without saying another word. Changing into a white button-down shirt and black pants, he sits down at his desk and stares despondently at all the homework his mother provided for him. 'This is absolutely ridiculous. I have the power to protect this world and she's taking that away? Does she think studying is more important than saving the world?'.
True to Chi-Chi's word she checks up on Gohan to make sure he's doing what she said. As the hours pass by and lunch has passed, she goes back up to his room. "You can take a break, honey. In a few hours come back for dinner and then after get back to studying."
'Thank you, Dende you're the best!' Gohan says internally and bolts from his chair as quickly as possible to leave the house. Before he steps out the door, he hears his mother yell to remind him of no training and his mood instantly drops. 'Crap, I totally forgot!'
As he walks through the forest near his home, not noticing the lovely nature surrounding him he also doesn't the green and purple blur that lands nearby.
"Hey kid, I thought you wouldn't leave your room all day." Gohan spins around to see his mentor and friend, Piccolo.
"Oh, hey Mr. Piccolo. Yeah, I was trapped in there. I'm only allowed to be outside for a few hours a day now." Gohan replies. Piccolo tilts his head to the side and asks why. Gohan sighs and decides to tell him all about what his mom said.
"Hmmph, your mother always did seem a little crazy," Piccolo says with a smirk. "You know, you could train out here with the time you got. "
Gohan sighs and says "Yeah I was thinking about that too. I don't want to disappoint my mom, but no training is out of the question, I can't just get weak while I have a job as a protector to do. Although I'm wondering what I could do to hide it…" He puts his hand to his chin and starts thinking of ways to train without his mother noticing. "I've got it!" Gohan exclaims.
He looks at Piccolo seriously, "Piccolo, I need you to teach me the most important technique you've ever developed."
Piccolo thinks of what he could be thinking and asks, "The Special Beam Cannon?"
"That would be nice, but no."
"Hellzone Grenade?"
"Nope."
"Spit it out, kid."
Gohan smirks and says "Clothes Beam."
Piccolo looks at him weirdly and asks, "Clothes Beam? That is my most important technique?"
"Yup! It's perfect, materializing any type of clothing you want. That's how I can do some training without my mother noticing. I can leave the house with my normal clothes, and when I get out here, I can form a new gi so I can start and then when it's time to go back I can just form my original clothes." Gohan says cheerfully. The thought of being able to train, even for a few hours a day, is able to bring him some happiness.
"Alright kid that's a good idea. I'll give you a gi now and I can start teaching it." Piccolo materializes a purple gi for Gohan and takes flight, leading him to his favorite waterfall he spends time meditating at.
Once they land Gohan looks around at the surrounding area and then turns back to Piccolo, "I'm ready Mr. Piccolo!" Gohan says. Piccolo nods and sits down and motions for Gohan to do the same,
"Now we need to start with some meditation." Piccolo begins lecturing. "This technique takes mental power more than anything and a lot of focus. You need to first visualize in your mind what exactly you want. Imagine the clothing you and want and it would look like on you. Then pool some of your ki in your finger and point it at yourself and release."
Gohan does as he was instructed and begins to focus and a thin blue aura envelopes him. He imagines the gi his father was always wearing. Orange top and pants with a blue undershirt, blue sash, blue wristbands, and boots. He starts to gather ki within his index finger and visualizes what he would look like wearing it. 'Alright, I think I'm ready to try it out, here goes.'. He releases the ki held in his finger and shoots it towards himself and a white light covers him.
As he does this Piccolo keeps watch on Gohan to see how he does. When the light dies down, he lets out a small chuckle, something no one other than Gohan would ever hear, and tells Gohan to open his eyes and see how he did. Gohan lets out a breath and opens his eyes and looks down at himself and almost falls on his back. Gohan didn't utilize the technique correctly and sees he's wearing nothing but his boxers.
"Heh, looks like I'll need some more practice with this one," Gohan says sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. He looks up to the sky and notices where the sun is and stands upright. "Oh man, my free time is already up. I need to get going, its almost dinner time and I don't want to make my mom angry."
Piccolo raises a finger and points it at Gohan and shoots a beam of ki at Gohan and in a white light the clothes he was wearing before materializing on his body. "You're close kid, maybe another day or two and you'll get it down. I'm heading back to the Lookout, Dende still has some things to learn as Guardian. I'll be back tomorrow for training." As Piccolo lifts off the ground and leaves, Gohan waves bye and begins heading back home.
As soon as he's able to see his home he hears his mother call out for dinner time. Gohan runs over after realizing how hungry he was. When he gets inside Chi-Chi asks if he had fun outside. Gohan nods and starts devouring his meal. As soon as he's done he goes back upstairs and plops down on his chair.
'Back to more homework huh.' Gohan lets out a deep sigh and gets down to work. After a while he looks out his window and stares at the stars shining like gems across the sky. 'If only you were still here dad. I understand why you stayed, but that doesn't mean I like it.'.
It's been a few weeks since his mother told him to stop training. Gohan continues to spend his free time with Piccolo to train. He learned the Clothes Beam so some days that Piccolo wouldn't go by he'd still be able to train by himself. Gohan started to become worried about seeing his mother throwing up each and every morning. As soon as breakfast is done he asks if she's alright.
"I'm fine dear. I wanted to head to Bulma's to have a quick check-up just to make sure though." Gohan nods and gets ready to visit Capsule Corp. When they leave the house Gohan calls the nimbus cloud and his mother hops on and starts their journey there. They travel together in silence, but Gohan is able to feel a bit better. The sun shining brightly and a cool breeze flowing across both. Flying has always been one of his favorite things to do and being cooped up In his room most of the day doesn't give him much to enjoy this simple pleasure.
When they arrive Gohan rings a buzzer that's next to the door. Above it, a screen flashes to life and see the blue-haired genius herself, Bulma Brief. She smiles widely and welcomes them in "Oh hey you two, I haven't seen you in a while come on in.". The screen goes black and the door in front of them slides open. As they walk through the large complex that is Capsule Corp. they come to the residential area and into the living room.
When the mother and son duo sit down on the couch they see Bulma walk in with a cup of coffee in hand and asks, "How are you guys doing, what brings you here?" afterward taking a sip of coffee.
Gohan smiles at her and his before his mother starts talking. "Oh, we've been doing just fine Bulma thank you for asking," Chi-Chi says and smiles at her. "Although I do have something to ask of you.". Bulma looks at her curiously and Chi-Chi continues. "Lately I've been throwing up in the mornings and was wondering if you could help me out."
"Not a problem, we can head over to the medical wing and give you a quick check-up. I've had to keep state of the art medical equipment around here because 'Mr. Prince of all Saiyans' can't go a day without training." Bulma replies.
"Where is Vegeta, is he in the gravity room?" Gohan speaking up for the first time getting there.
"Yeah, Vegeta practically lives there, if you want you can go there and spar while your mother and I go and see what's up," Bulma replies, but before Gohan can respond his mother beats him to it.
"Definitely not Gohan remember what I said, no more training," Chi-Chi says quickly. Bulma looks at Gohan who was looking down smiled sympathetically at him.
"Well, then I guess you could look around at some of my prototypes I've been working on while I go help your mother." She says and immediately Gohan perks up and smiles widely at her gives his thanks.
Bulma then leads his mother to the medical wing and Gohan decides to do what Bulma suggested and check out her prototypes. Gohan's amazed at all the different type of gadgets and inventions that are a work in progress. One thing that Gohan is interested in as much as martial arts is science. Seeing everything here gives him the thoughts of one day doing work similar to Bulma or even working with her at Capsule Corp.
After an hour passes by, Bulma enters the room with a bright smile on her face and tells Gohan they're done and has some big news for him. She leads him back to the living room where his mother is back in and they sit down. Gohan, who's been wondering what the news could be, finally asks, "What's up, is mom okay?"
"Yes I'm perfectly fine, but there's something I need to tell you." Gohan nods in response and Chi-Chi smiles and says, "I'm pregnant! Isn't that great dear, you're going to be a big brother soon!".
Gohan can't believe it. He's always dreamed of having a sibling and spending time with him or her. After taking a few seconds to process what he's been told and thinking of all the things he and his sibling can do together, "That's amazing!".