It has been about a month since Gohan had his breakthrough while meditating with Piccolo, the nightmares have not stopped completely but they are a lot less frequent and not nearly as severe as before. Gohan hasn't gotten any stronger from his meditating sessions much to his distaste, he is well aware Piccolo said it would take him a long time before he perfected meditating enough to actually get stronger from it but he was hoping since he was half Saiyan that maybe it would be different for him. Besides him being Saiyan he has also been doing it every day on and some particularly boring days he would do it multiple times that day, at least until Chi-Chi gave him more work to do to keep him busy. Meditating was no longer enough to satisfy Gohan he now wanted to become stronger so he could protect everyone like his dad had asked him to do, so he decided that he would start going out to training after he finished his homework starting tomorrow because it was already getting pretty late. The next day he finished all his school work and started making a break for the door calling out "Bye mom I'm gonna go into the mountains for a little while. See you later!" and started to take off into the sky before his mom could process what he had said. Chi-Chi hearing this started sprinting out the door as fast as she possibly could and started screaming "GOHAN YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW! I DID NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO LEAVE!" but Gohan was long gone and her screaming was heard by nobody which only made her even angrier then she had already been.
Out in the mountains Gohan started his training by stretching out and going through his basic katas before moving his way up to full on shadow fighting, before too long boulders around him were turned to dust as he decided to transform in to his super Saiyan form about an hour passed as he then decided to stop shadow fighting and start working on his special techniques he still was yet to master. A couple more hours passed and Gohan started to feel exhausted from his training for the day he was also bored and didn't find it fun training alone so on his short flight home he decided he was going to head to the lookout tomorrow and try to convince Piccolo to train him again but that was for tomorrow, for now, he had to head home and hope his mother didn't try to kill him for leaving the way he did. Gohan arrived at the door of his home and as soon as he walked in Chi-Chi began to yell at him "YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ANYTIME YOU WANT TO MISTER! I AM YOUR MOTHER YOU HAVE TO ASK PERMISSION BEFORE YOU GO OUT ANYWHERE! AND WHY ARE YOUR CLOTHES ALL RUINED?!"
"Sorry mom I know I should have asked but I really wanted to go out today." Gohan said feeling a little ashamed about how he just left like that.
"That's okay honey I just worry about you when you're not around, but you didn't answer my other question what happened to your clothes?' Chi-Chi seemed to calm down a lot from Gohans explanation for now at least.
"I was training mom!" He answered her excitingly.
"TRAINING!" Chi-Chi yelled but composed herself very quickly. "Why are you training there is no need for it any more honey you already beat cell?" she asked in as calm a tone as she could muster.
"Dad asked me to be the new protector of the earth in case more people come even though he isn't here, just to be safe I think I should train to get stronger." Gohan answered very confidently.
"But honey your father's old gang can handle it I'm sure. There is no reason YOU need to train. YOU need to study so YOU can become a scholar." Chi-Chi was growing more and more tense with every word that she was saying which was starting to scare Gohan a little.
"But mom I am the strongest one out of all of us right now so I need to be the one who keeps training that way if we do get attacked I will be ready. Besides I won't let it interfere with my schooling I promise I will do all my school work before I go out to train" Gohan said suddenly a lot less confident in himself, he was hoping this was enough to convince his mother but didn't think it would be.
"I guess you can train" his mother replied now feeling defeated "But if you start slacking on your schooling even a little bit you will not be training anymore do you understand?"
"Yes, mother. Thank you for letting me continue training." Gohan answered back feeling really excited that he was going to be allowed to train still, and that decided it, he was going to go see Piccolo tomorrow.
The next day he made sure to get his homework done extra early and made his way for the door and Chi-Chi stepped in-between him and the door making sure to block his way out, "oh no she changed her mind didn't she" Gohan thought to himself.
"Where do you think you're going?" Chi-Chi asked her son in a slightly agitated tone.
"To go train like you said I could yesterday?" Gohan didn't really state it more like asked it. "I already finished all my work so I figured I would just leave now." He said again this time he sounded a little more hopeful that she would let him go.
"But you're forgetting something aren't you?" Chi-Chi asked this time with a small smile on her face. Before Gohan could answer her she pulled out a capsule and said "I packed you a lunch. I can't have my baby going hungry especially after a hard day of training." Chi-Chi said in as she hugged Gohan goodbye.
"Wow thank you, mom!" Gohan was smiling from ear to ear with the thought of food now in his mind. Chi-Chi moved out of the way so Gohan could leave and Gohan not wasting a second ran right out the door and started to fly off into the sky before he heard his mother call out to him "Make sure you're back before dinner or else!"
"Of course not mom! I wouldn't miss dinner for anything in the world!" he called back to his mother while laughing at the same time. Wow, mom is really letting me train! She would never let me do this any other time, dad dying must have really affected her more than I noticed. Gohan was talking to himself out loud on his way to the lookout. Now that I think about it she hasn't really let me out of her sight since he passed. Maybe she's scared that I might not come back like dad. At that thought, Gohan started to feel really bad about just leaving her yesterday without asking her. He saw the lookout in the distance and decided to put all the thoughts into the back of his head for now and deal with them later.
As he landed on the lookout Piccolo and Dende were already out there to great him, Dende ran up to him and grabbed both hands to shake them while Piccolo just nodded to him. "What brings you here kid?" Piccolo asked in his usual monotone voice.
"I just wanted to come by to ask if you would train me again?" Gohan asked while bowing to his former master hoping he would take him back.
"You're not ready yet I told you it takes a long time to be able to train through meditation." Piccolo said a little annoyed that Gohan wasn't being patient.
"I know but I just don't want to wait that long besides I don't mean show me how to get stronger through meditation I want to actually train!" Gohan said with pure determination in his voice.
"if that's the case I'll help you but I'm not sure I will be much help with the gap in our power being as wide as it is, at least for now that is." Piccolo replied in a serious tone.
"Maybe we can start with that attack you launched at me the first time I came here asking you for help?" Gohan asked his mentor smiling from ear to ear with a hand behind his head in the signature Son pose.
"It's called a Masenko" Piccolo answered him with a smirk.
They spent most of the day teaching Gohan the attack he wanted to learn, it was getting later in the day when Gohan decided they should do something else for now.
"Hey, Piccolo you want to spar? I mean I really wanna learn this attack but I also want to spar and its getting kind of late." Gohan was hopeful that the Namekian would agree to his request.
"I told you last time there would be no point when we know the outcome already." Piccolo answered.
"Oh come on you don't know what the outcome will be besides even if I am as strong as you think I am how would you get stronger without fighting me?" Gohan was doing his best to convince his friend to fight him.
"Fine, on one condition you save the form you finished Cell off with until the end of the fight that way it isn't so fast." Piccolo smirked as he gave him the one condition "Besides I guess I need to fight you anyways to know where you're at now." he continued explaining.
"Not a problem, I don't even know if I can reach that form anymore I haven't tried since Cell." Gohan felt ashamed to admit it but he was scared of what might happen if he went into super Saiyan 2 again, as if he was reading his mind Piccolo started to speak up.
"WHAT!? WHY NOT!?" to say Piccolo was shocked would be an understatement "With the amount of power that you showcased without ever even training in that form! It could become unstoppable if you actually tried to maintain it like you did the first form." Piccolo was getting angry that Gohan was willing to just throw all that power away like it was nothing.
"I know all that Piccolo but I didn't like the way that form made me feel. I became cocky and arrogant, not to mention more aggressive. I felt like I was out of control." Gohan was trying his best to explain himself "but I know that was all a big mistake I just need to learn to control it, I felt the same way when I first became super Saiyan." he finished talking and eagerly waited for Piccolo to break the silence. Which never happened as Piccolo just nodded in reply to Gohan then dropped himself into a fighting stance, Gohan smiled then followed suit and dropped into his own fighting stance unsurprisingly similar to his mentors with only subtle differences.
Authors notes
I really wanted to fit the fight in this chapter but I didn't want to carry it out longer than it already has been but I already have the fight wrote and will upload it next weekend if everything works out the way I want I will be posting every week but no promises. I want your feedback do you like the length of the chapters? Should I make them longer, shorter? I am also having a little trouble with how I want to format them talking I think I found something i like but any tips would be helpful.