Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, or anything else related to the Dragon Ball universe, or any of its characters. They are all owned by Akira Toriyama.
Gohan awoke in a bit of a daze. Light from the morning sun had begun streaming through the mouth of the cave and landed directly on his face. Evidently, he had slept like a rock.
Gohan, having finally been roused from his slumber, lazily sat up, and let out an exhausted yawn. Fully opening his eyes, he glanced around the inside of the cave. It was relatively small, having only one entrance, and he estimated it to be about ten meters across, with a relatively low ceiling about two meters high. It was large enough for him to comfortably stand in, but was small enough to retain heat relatively well. The fire he had managed to get going last night was enough to last him through until morning comfortably.
He had lucked out finding this place yesterday. Having finally decided to leave the clearing Piccolo had left him in, he had made for a forest that he noticed in the distance, in search of shelter. After entering the forest, it had only taken about twenty minutes to find this place, despite it being dark outside at the time. He had had more than enough time to get settled in for the night before falling asleep, and despite having some difficulty, he even managed to get a fire going.
He slept hard. Which made sense, especially after everything that had happened to him yesterday. But he had come to terms with it all, and his current situation. He had found a reason to survive, and a reason to fight. It had taken an exhausted hallucination to do it, but the method didn't matter to him in the end.
Standing up, he made his way over to the front entrance of the cave. Today was an important day for him after all. He was in an unfamiliar location, alone. He had eaten both of the apples that Piccolo (he assumed it was Piccolo anyways) had given him yesterday and was now without food. That was the first problem that he needed to solve. That, and finding a source of drinkable water. He needed to explore the forest if he wanted to find these things.
He glanced in the direction of the sun and closed his eyes, reveling in the warmth that it brought. He felt like a completely different person than he was yesterday. He didn't feel afraid anymore. He didn't feel like crying anymore. He didn't feel overwhelmed, or confused or angry…. he knew what he had to do.
He had a goal. He wanted to stand alongside his father and the others to help defend the Earth in a year. He was a long way off from it, especially since he had never trained in his life. But he had a power in him, just waiting to be unlocked. He had seen it himself.
He turned back towards the cave and entered it again. He couldn't get too far ahead of himself yet. He couldn't start training until he had gotten used to living out here by himself.
It was pretty warm outside at the moment, and it would only get warmer as the day progressed. Looking down at his clothes, he noticed that he was still wearing both his old clothes, and the gi given to him by Piccolo. Double layers helped him yesterday because it was night time and it was cold. He didn't need two layers during the day.
Deciding that he would wear his new gi, he got changed, and placed his original clothes in the back of the cave. This place was too good to pass up. He would make this place his permanent residence, so he would leave his clothes here for now.
He picked up his sword and strapped it over his shoulder. Hopefully he wouldn't need it until he settled down and started learning how to use it properly, but he would take it just in case. Taking one last glance at the cave, he turned and headed out once more.
Stepping out into the morning sunlight, he started to formulate a plan.
He needed to be careful when he was exploring. If he was going to use this place as his new home, he needed to make sure that he didn't get lost, or lose sight of the path he came from. He would have to familiarize himself with the surroundings as much as possible.
Everything else depended on what was out there. Food and water needed to come first. He glanced around the small clearing in front of the cave, trying to memorize as much as he could, while also trying to pick a direction to start off in.
Finally satisfied with his observation, he started off in his chosen direction. Today was the first day of his training.
He didn't believe for a second that it would be easy.
He needed a basket.
After a few hours of exploring he had stumbled upon a goldmine of fruits and berries, and promptly stuffed his face. Yesterday, he had only eaten breakfast, and a pair of apples, so he was incredibly hungry.
He finished eating his fill, only to discover that he had barely scratched the surface in the sheer quantity of fruits that were in this section of the forest. Since this place was a good distance away from the cave, he had to take as much fruit back with him as he could, so he needed something to carry it all in, hence the basket.
This was the first food source that he had found since he started exploring, and it was several hours away from his cave. He didn't want to have to come all the way back for every single meal.
He knew how to weave a basket from scratch, he had seen his dad do it once, and he had read a book about it, he just needed to find the basic materials and he would be good to go.
He glanced around the area and found what he needed. Some large sticks, and strips of a specific type of bark that was extremely flexible. The sticks would form the frame of the basket, and the bark would be intricately woven between the sticks to tie them all together.
Gathering his materials, he got to work.
He had found a food source that would last a long time.
When he finally finished weaving his new basket, roughly an hour had passed, and he needed to carry it on his back. It was much too large to carry by hand. It was almost as tall as he was, and was shaped like an inverted pyramid.
After testing it to make sure it wouldn't drop anything inside, he filled it to the brim with a variety of different kinds of fruits and berries, and strapped it to his back.
He quickly ate a small lunch before finally deciding to head out again. He had a few days' worth of food on him now, and he had the directions to this location more or less memorized.
He didn't have to worry about food for a good while. Knowing this, he left the clearing with a smile on his face.
Finding a water source was a lot easier than finding a food source. He didn't have to keep his eyes fixed on every passing tree and bush. Instead, he just had to listen to the sound of running water.
He heard the river far sooner than he saw it, so he had headed in the direction of the sound.
In front of him now, was a sizeable river that contained fish as big as the ones that lived in the rivers around his house.
Each one was a potential meal themselves.
After taking a long drink, he placed his basket and sword down, and took off his gi. Once he was undressed, aside from his boxers, he dove into the river to try his hand at fishing.
His father had made it look so easy. He would always be in and out, with a fish in hand, in seconds usually.
He had no such skill. He had gone fishing with his father in the past, but he had always depended on his dad to do most of the work. He was on his own out here, and fishing by hand was a lot harder than it looked. It took him almost half an hour to grab a fish, and toss it onto the riverbank. And when he finally did, he was exhausted.
He needed to start getting stronger as soon as he could. Now that he had a feasible food, and water source, as well as a shelter, he could start learning about his power, and get to training.
He got dressed, and planted a large tree branch that he had found, into the mouth of his catch, so that he could carry it back to the cave. He hoisted it over his right shoulder. It was heavy. Especially with his basket full of fruit, and sword on his back as well. It made it extremely difficult to walk and keep his balance.
It wasn't so bad, he supposed. He needed the workout.
After confirming that he had everything that he needed, he trudged back in the direction of his cave.
By the time he returned to his cave, the sun was beginning to set. He had been out for the entire day.
Shuffling into the cave, he dropped his catch, and his basket, before face planting on the ground, and letting out a groan. He was dead tired. His back and legs were especially sore.
The day had been a long and exhausting one, and it still wasn't over. He still had to cook his dinner.
He collected the remains of his fire from the previous night, and took them out of the cave, before returning with new firewood.
He managed to get a fire going after a few minutes, and started cooking his fish.
All in all, the day had worked out perfectly. The two notable locations that he had found may have been a few hours walk away, but he no longer had to worry about finding food or water for the foreseeable future. Since he knew exactly where the two places were, he could run straight there and make it in much less time.
He had managed to solve two of his most important problems in his first day out here. An achievement that he was proud of.
All that he had to do now was do something about his sleeping situation. The previous night had been uncomfortable to say the least. He had slept on the ground, which was made out of rock. The fire he had lit had kept him warm, but the ground was hard. He needed to make a bed.
While his dinner continued to cook over the fire he headed out into the woods while making sure to remain in earshot of the cave. He had an idea for a bed design that was simple. He only needed two logs, a bunch of tree branches, and some leaves.
Being in the middle of a forest made it quite easy to find all of these materials. He had to make a few trips between the cave and the forest to transport everything, but in almost no time at all, he had everything he needed in his cave.
He placed the two large logs parallel, on the ground a small distance away from the fire. One for his head, and the other for his feet. His bed would be close enough to the fire so that he could keep warm during the night, while being far enough away so that it wouldn't catch on fire. That was the plan at least. He then placed the thinner, yet longer, tree branches on top of the two logs, perpendicular to them, to form a makeshift mattress. The large pile of leaves on top finished the design. At the end, he had a relatively comfortable, all natural bed that was raised off the ground. A good thing that it was too. He had read that you lose body heat incredibly quickly while sleeping outdoors if you sleep on the ground directly.
Tonight should be a lot more comfortable than last night. Now if only he had a blanket.
'Oh well…' He'd just wear double layers again for now.
After eating his meal, he immediately went to bed. He was exhausted.
His fire continued to burn, and his sword was placed an arm's length away, just in case something happened in the middle of the night that required it. He was back to wearing both his gi, and his other set of clothes underneath, to keep warm.
His bed was surprisingly comfortable. It was far better than sleeping on the ground directly at any rate. If things continued to go as smoothly as they did today, he could start training really soon.
He could hardly wait.
A/N: Please excuse any grammar and spelling errors, as I have no beta reader at this time.
- LeviTamm