I do not own Dragon Ball Z, any of it's characters and any other property.
Chapter 2
-Three months later-
"Hiyah!" Gohan yells out while throwing a counter-attack at Piccolo. Both of them have continued training together with the time they have. Piccolo has been getting Gohan to focus on defense more than offense. Trying to keep any signs of training to a minimum they both decided to put more emphasis into dodging and parrying attacks than charging head on and trying to keep the offensive. Wanting to allow his opponent to attack but keeping the upper hand by reacting to their movement accordingly.
Blocking his attack Piccolo crouches down and sweeps his leg attempting to trip Gohan. Acting quickly, Gohan front flips over Piccolo and roundhouse kicks him sending Piccolo flying to the side into a tree. Recovering, Piccolo rushes at Gohan and throws a flurry of punches and kicks. Gohan raises his ki a bit to increase his speed and dodges most of the attacks while having to block a few. Noticing an opening, Gohan throws an open palm strike at Piccolo to create some instance and phases out of sight. Piccolo uses his heightened sense of hearing and his ki sensing abilities to try and locate Gohan. He's too late as he notices Gohan coming down from above with a double kick aimed at his chest, causing Piccolo to skid across the ground leaving a small trail starting from where Gohan is currently standing.
Breathing heavily, Piccolo stands back up and ends the training session there. "Good job Gohan, we should end it here."
"Ok, Piccolo. I really needed this today. Being stuck inside so much is annoying as it is, but with mom's mood swings it's been worse." Gohan takes a deep breath and stretches his muscles a bit. Before he leaves, he materializes the same clothes he left with and waves goodbye to Piccolo.
'He's doing better than before. Learning he was going to be a big brother helped his attitude, he isn't as sad anymore.' Piccolo flies back to the Lookout and as his feet touch the white tile, he sees a small Namekian wearing a white robe walking towards him with a wooden staff.
"Welcome back, Piccolo. How's Gohan doing?" The Guardian of Earth, Dende, asks.
Piccolo looks over and moves towards Dende, "He could be better, there's an improvement, but after all he's been through, I'm not surprised he's like this still." Hearing how his friend is doing, Dende nods and stars walking back towards the palace.
"I hope his mother realizes soon that she's hurting more than helping. Someone like Gohan with all his potential shouldn't have his hobbies taken from him." Dende says, but before he can go any further, he's stopped by Piccolo.
Piccolo grunts and says, "I doubt it, the only way for that to happen would be for Gohan convincing her otherwise, but as she is now that doesn't seem likely." He starts walking alongside Dende then turns his head towards him and continues, "You've done a good job so far since you took over as Guardian, but you still have much to learn. Let's get started on your training."
Dende looks up and smiles, "I'm ready, I don't want to let anyone down."
-Three months later-
Usually, during their sparring sessions, Gohan would defend himself while Piccolo attacks, but today is different. Gohan seems agitated, most likely from not training as much as he wants. Attacking relentlessly, Gohan throws a wide combination of punches and kicks trying to land solid hits on his opponent. Gohan sends a kick straight into Piccolo's gut pushing him back a few feet before quickly flying around Piccolo's back, unleashing a Masenko wave point blank. Gritting his teeth in pain and stands back up quickly, getting into a stance.
'Hmmph, the kid is really putting in effort today. Wonder what's got him all riled up.' Piccolo thinks to himself as he throws another punch infused with ki to increase his power at Gohan. As he gets ready to block and go back on the offensive, they both hear a shrill voice shouting, echoing through the forest.
"Gohan, get back home, dinner is ready!" Chi-Chi yells out, getting her son's attention.
Losing his focus, Gohan can't put up his guard effectively and takes a hit to the face, bruising quickly from the force his mentor put behind that attack. "No! This is really bad; I didn't notice how long we've been sparring!" As quick as he can, Gohan changes clothes and flies back and lands before entering the clearing where his home is. Since he doesn't notice the bruise on his cheek, he goes straight inside to the table where the food is. Luckily, he starts eating and behind the mountain of food, Chi-Chi can't see his face,
Gohan finishes up and leans back rubbing his now full stomach. "Thanks, mom, that was great!" He gets up and while turning his head, his mother looks up to respond.
"You're wel- what is that?!" she practically yells out. Gohan looks back at his mother confused about what she could be talking about.
"What is it mom, did I spill anything on my clothes?" He asks innocently and proceeds to look down at his shirt to try and see what would cause his mother to yell.
Chi-Chi, with fire in her eyes says, "Don't play games with me young man you know exactly what I'm talking about, that bruise on your cheek, where did you get that from?!"
"A bruise?" His eyes widen and moves his hands to his cheek and winces when he comes into contact with it. Realizing that's exactly where Piccolo landed a punch right before he left, he tries to think of a cover story. Never having been a competent liar, he tries anyway, "This, um well you see, I was walking around I was distracted by some uh deers, and I wasn't paying attention and tripped on a tree root and um landed on a rock." Gohan stammers out. Praying to his friend Dende she'd buy it.
Unfortunately for him, she doesn't. "Listen here Gohan, don't you dare lie to your mother. I know, you probably got that from training with one of those ruffians you call friends. Even worse you were probably hanging around that monster Piccolo!"
Gohan, who is getting frustrated with his mother calling his mentor and friend a monster tries to reply to calm his mother down but gets cut off before he can continue.
"Since it seems I can't trust you to listen to me I will have to cut down on your free time. You will now only get an hour a day of free time and I will be doubling up your school work to make up the extra time you'll spend on that." Chi-Chi says sternly.
Shaking his head, Gohan begins to speak up and make his case, "But mom I already spend most of the day inside I can't just-" and he gets cut off again.
"Oh where did I go wrong?" Chi-Chi says dramatically, "My baby boy won't even obey his mother anymore, oh Goku I wish you were still here."
Gohan grits his teeth and heads back to his room. Trying to cool down after hearing that he'd have even less time to spend outside. He reluctantly finishes up the school work he had left to finish and decides to meditate afterward. By the time he's done, it's night time and stars are littered across the sky, easily seen with no light pollution. Gohan changes and gets in bed. Before he falls asleep his thoughts are centered around how his life might be different if his dad was still alive.
-Three months later-
The area of Mt. Paozu is picture perfect. The weather is incredible, clear skies, and a cool breeze sweeping through the air. A day like this promises great things to come.
Its been months since Gohan has been forced to stay indoors for even longer. Sitting at his desk, he closes one textbook and slides it to his right. Looking over to the left he sees the next one he has to get through. Sighing, he moves it closer to him and begins studying. Occasionally he would look out his window longingly, as someone with Saiyan blood running through his veins, not being able to fight more than what little he can makes him restless. It's been getting harder to fall asleep now, still having boundless energy needing to be unleashed, but being stuck inside has made it lay dormant, just waiting to be relinquished.
Gohan gets shaken out of his reverie once he hears his mother calling him from downstairs. He moves leisurely down the stairs, not looking forward to a possible lecture about how important studying is. It's not that Gohan doesn't understand the importance of school work, but he knows that she's going overboard with how much work she's making him complete. He's far surpassed other people his age.
"Yes, mom, what is it?" Gohan says, but as he finally reaches the kitchen, he notices his mother taking deep breaths and leaning against the counter.
Chi-Chi breathes in and out deeply before responding. "Honey I need you to help me get to Bulma's. I think the baby's ready." Gohan nods and gathers any and all essential items from his mother's room and goes back down. He then leads her outside while she leans against him and he calls out for Nimbus. In just a few seconds a bright golden blur shoots through the sky and stops in front of them. While holding his mother he easily gets on the cloud and instructs it to fly them to Capsule Corp.
As the mother and son duo land, Gohan rushes to the door, enters the passcode into the keypad and waits for the door to slide open. Immediately as the door opens wide enough, he bursts through calling out for Bulma. Bulma rushes to them wondering what's going on, but when she notices Chi-Chi she doesn't need to ask and leads the two to the medical wing.
Once Chi-Chi is situated and Bulma had called for her personal doctor for assistance, goes out of the room to talk to Gohan for a second. She informs him it'll take a few hours and that he should go spend his time doing whatever he wanted. "I know your mother must hound you about homework, so I won't tell her if you spend the day here doing anything but homework." She winks at him and Gohan smiles at her warmly.
"Thanks a lot, Bulma. I'm getting pretty tired of all the work she makes me do." Gohan replies.
"Don't mention it, kiddo. You need to have time for your hobbies once in a while. Now I should go back in and help your mother, I'll call for you later." Bulma then turns around and walks through the door to help his mother through giving birth to her second child.
After a few hours pass by, Gohan leaves Bulma's lab and heads toward the living room. As he's walking through the halls, he senses a high ki level headed towards him and crosses paths with Vegeta.
"What the hell are you doing here brat?" Vegeta questions him. He crosses his arms and stands in front of Gohan, blocking his path.
Gohan answers, "I brought my mom here since her water broke. Now I'm just waiting to see my baby brother or sister."
Rolling his eyes, Vegeta responds sarcastically, "Great, another spawn of Kakarot, exactly what this world needed." Glancing at Gohan to see what his reaction is. Vegeta's been training every day but without a powerful opponent to test himself against he's progressing slower than he'd like. Seeing Gohan get angry, he smirks and tries to goad him into a fight, "What's wrong brat, don't like when someone disrespects your father?".
"Get out of my way Vegeta, I don't want to start anything right now," Gohan says tiredly. Vegeta hasn't changed much since they met, and he's still as arrogant as ever.
Vegeta's smirk widens, "Come on then, why don't you make me? Too scared to fight me, not surprising, while you're wasting your time doing nothing, I'm training and getting stronger by the day."
Gohan shakes his head before saying, "You know I'm stronger than you. Don't get cocky and start a fight you can't win." Hearing this, Vegeta laughs in his face and starts walking by.
"You won't be stronger than me for long brat. As the days go by and you are getting weaker and your techniques become sloppy, my strength will increase, and my skills will be refined. I am Saiyan royalty, I will achieve that new transformation of yours and when I do, expect the fight of your life so I can stake my claim as the strongest warrior in the universe."
The hours pass by and while Gohan is watching T.V in the living room he sees Bulma with a big smile on her face. "So Gohan, you want to see your new sibling?" she asks excitedly. Gohan nods his head vigorously and follows Bulma to where his mother is.
When they get to the door Bulma opens the door for him and Gohan walks through. There on a bed, he sees his mom holding a bundle and she seems exhausted. She notices Gohan standing a couple feet from the bed and motions him to come closer. "Gohan do you want to hold your baby brother?"
He walks up to his mother's side slowly and holds his arms out. Being careful, she hands him his baby brother, and Gohan makes sure to hold him securely. He gasps when he finally lays his eyes on his brother. "He looks exactly like dad," Gohan says, his eyes welling up a bit from pure happiness. With spiky black hair going in different directions just like their father, he looks like a clone of a baby Goku. "What's his name?".
"Goten." His mother says. A smile forms across Gohan's face hearing his brother's name.
"Hey there Goten, how are you?" Gohan asks although not expecting an answer. Hearing his name, Goten, giggles and reaches out for Gohan. Seeing this, Gohan smiles brightly. 'I'll protect you with my life Goten.' thinking to himself. 'I'll make you proud dad, I'll make sure he gets to live a life full of happiness.'.