The Power Within

(Hey! Back with another chapter! This one took a little longer than it should have. Please bare with me, I'm getting to the interesting stuff soon. This chapter gives some clarity, I hope, but the other chapters will explain everything. Hang on, guys, and enjoy the chapter!)

"What!? Mr. Shu!? When I called him, he told me his name was Mr. Luu! What a liar! I'm going to strangle him for hurting my baby's feelings! Why, I ought to—"

"Mom, it's okay! It's done now!"

"And crush him into the—"

"Forget it, mom!"

"And rip his intestines—"

"Mom!"

"Gohan! No yelling in the house!"

Gohan sighed in defeat. He'd come home and told his mother about the terror tutor expecting her to laugh, only to hear her immediately begin to yell and curse. He kept forgetting how feisty she could be when she was angry.

"Anyways, mom. I was wondering…" he began, twiddling his thumbs. Chichi, now done with her rambling, gave him her full attention.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Can't I just learn at home?" he asked. "I'm pretty sure that like my other studies, with a lot of practice, I might be able to learn how to play eventually."

There. That was it. The hybrid felt guilty about lying through his teeth, but he didn't want to tell his mother what had happened at Mr. Shu's house. At least until he had a talk with Piccolo about it. How he was going to ask for permission to do so, he didn't know. Chichi was very sensitive when it came to visiting his mentor, and he didn't think he could handle another lecture right now.

As expected, Chichi smiled and said, "Of course you can. I don't want any more tutors corrupting my poor baby. You can learn under me." She put her hands on her hips. "But remember: aside from the piano lessons, you still have plenty of homework to do! So from now on, I'm going to be limiting your training sessions and your meetings with Piccolo."

Ouch. That wasn't expected.

"But mom!"

"But nothing!"

Gohan felt the pent-up anger from earlier slowly surface again, but he tried to push it down. "If I study all the time, how am I supposed to stay fit?" he whined. Chichi glared at him.

"Scholars don't double up as superheroes! Besides, I'm not going to prevent you from playtime entirely; you can play, but under my supervision. Understand?"

"Mom! I'm eleven years old! I think I'm old enough to have a say in my life," he snapped. Gohan had wanted to get that off of his chest for a while, and he felt a bit of satisfaction in doing so. From where that satisfaction came, he didn't know…nor did he care.

"Don't you dare talk back to me, mister!"

"Mom, please, listen to me! I need to—"

"You need to study, Gohan!"

Gohan had had enough. "If I don't train, how am I supposed to save the Earth? Dad did that, and he's dead! Dead! That was dad's dying wish! What would he say to you if he saw you holding me back?"

Shock covered Chichi's face, followed by sadness, hurt, and grief. Suddenly, Gohan's rebellion didn't feel so good anymore. Tears filled his mother's eyes, and she bowed her head to cover them. A palpable tension filled the room. When Chichi finally spoke, her voice was like steel.

"Go to your room."

All of the fight left Gohan then, and he decided to obey his mother and quietly walked up the stairs to his room. He opened the door and collapsed on the bed, burrowing his face in the pillow.

'Stupid tutor, stupid piano, stupid mother, stupid studies, stupid everything!' he thought angrily, tightening his grip on the pillow. 'It's all their fault. I didn't do anything…did I? I'm innocent…aren't I!?'

Mentally tired from his fight with his mother and his encounter with his former tutor, Gohan fell into a fitful sleep.

(In his dream)

SPLASH!

Gohan fell into a huge puddle of…something, he couldn't tell. He groaned; now he was sopping wet, and his dream hadn't even begun. Sighing, he peeled himself off of the wet mud and stood. The hybrid looked around, expecting to see waterfalls, shining trees, chiming leaves, and hell, even a unicorn if things continued the way that they were going. What he saw, though, was unlike anything that he had ever thought.

'W-what!?' he gasped.

Everything was black. The water was black, the trees were black, the leaves were black, even the clouds were black. The entire place was silent, a huge change from the beautiful music that used to play when he came to this dream world. The scariest thing, though, was the colour of the sky.

Red. Blood red.

Gohan—on instinct—immediately glanced down at his wet clothes, only to realize that they were soaked in blood. He shuddered and looked around again, feeling a sense of danger in the area. But…there wasn't any danger in sight, aside from the strange scenery. Gohan was confused and scared; what was with the change of environment, and why did he feel this way?

Suddenly, an eerie laugh began to fill the area. It was nothing like the happy, teasing laughter that he used to hear. Gohan growled.

'Who's there!?' he asked.

The laughter rose quickly in volume. Gohan put his hands on his ears and stumbled forward. It felt like it was suffocating him, pressing in on all sides. He felt as if he couldn't breathe anymore.

'S-stop it!' Gohan called desperately. The laughter increased. Black dots swirled in front of his eyes from lack of oxygen and he feared that he would faint. Just before the darkness overtook him, however, he heard a sentence from a voice that sent chills up his spine.

"Hello, Gohan."

"AUGH!"

Gohan woke up in a sweat, his sheets tangled around him. With a start, he realized that he had fallen asleep in his day clothes and shoes. Now wide awake, the hybrid glanced at his clock. The time 7:00pm glared at him, seemingly accusing him of wrongdoing.

'Whoa…I've been out for 4 hours…what a nap,' he thought, sitting up in bed. Gohan sighed and rubbed his temples. He could still hear the laughter that had plagued his dream.

'What was that?'

He sat in bed for a couple of minutes, trying to make sense of his wild dream. He now knew that these dreams weren't something that he could just ignore. And that one voice…

Hello, Gohan…

He shuddered, hoping it wasn't a ghost or something. Gohan suddenly remembered the fight he had with his mother, and decided to go apologize to her. The black-haired boy got up to change, readying himself for the lecture he was sure to receive when he went downstairs.

Chichi busied herself with chores, as she was known for when she was tense; it helped her to relieve stress. As she threw another broken dish in the trash, her thoughts drifted back to what her son had said to her earlier.

'He's dead!Dead! That was dad's dying wish! What would he say to you if he saw you holding me back?'

She tried to hold back another fresh batch of tears. Goku was gone, and she knew that; Chichi just couldn't handle as easily as the other Z-Fighters had. She also knew that although Goku had told Gohan to protect the Earth, the young boy couldn't replace his father. Why couldn't Gohan see that? Chichi broke another dish and sighed.

'I'm going to get wrinkles if I keep worrying myself to death like this,' she thought, tossing it away. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise, though, Gohan's words had stung her a lot. Footsteps suddenly broke her out of her trance.

Speak of the devil.

Gohan entered the kitchen, a sheepish look on his face. He walked up to his mother and bowed his head. Chichi turned off the tap, dried her hands, and turned to face her son. They both waited for the other to say something, until finally Gohan spoke up.

"I…" he began, fiddling with his shirt. "I'm sorry."

Despite her anger at his behaviour earlier, Chichi took a step forward and enveloped him in a hug. Gohan looked up at her.

"Y-you're not…mad at me?" he asked. Chichi gave him a small smile.

"Oh, honey…I should have known that you wouldn't stop training. Even if I put those limits on you, you'd eventually find a way to go visit Piccolo and train. It was silly of me to think that you'd just drop everything and obey me. And for that, I'm sorry," she said, kissing him on the forehead. Gohan left the hug and stared at her.

"What are you saying, mom? It's my fault. I shouldn't have yelled at you," he said. Why wouldn't she let him take the blame? Chichi just laughed.

"You were right about what you said earlier. You're a big kid now; no matter how hard I try to convince myself that you're my little baby, you've matured. But I accept your apology." She turned back to the sink and rolled up her sleeves again. "Now, I want you to practice some piano and finish your math homework; you can visit Piccolo when you're done."

Surprise covered Gohan's face. "What? Really?" Suddenly in a good mood, he jumped in the air and pumped his fist. "Yeah! Thanks mom! I'll get right on it!" He ran out of the room to get on his homework, looking forward to visiting his teacher. Chichi smiled and soaped up another dish.

'Oh Goku…I wish you could see your son now. He's grown so much,' she thought, turning on the tap.

A while later, when Gohan was done his math homework, he walked into the living room and sat on the piano stool. The hybrid numbly flipped through the music sheets before closing the book and sighing; he didn't really feel like learning any notes. Instead, he placed his fingers on the keys and closed his eyes, hoping another miracle would surface.

'C'mon, Gohan, you can do it! Just think of a song…' he thought to himself, closing his eyes. A calm melody made its way into his head and he wasted no time moving his fingers to the tune. A beautiful song emitted from the piano, and Gohan smiled. It seems like he'd gotten control of his songs already. His mother was taking a well-deserved nap, so the black-haired boy didn't think she heard him playing. He was grateful for that, as he didn't want to have to explain why he could play so well; he didn't think he could explain it himself.

Gohan's fingers flew left and right of the keys, and he realized with a start that this was the most relaxed he'd ever felt since his father's death. He could slowly feel his energy levelling out, a big change from the jumpy energy he used to have after his transformation to Super Saiyan Two. After his transformation, Piccolo had noticed that Gohan's energy always spiked at random moments: when he was sad, when he was mad, and when he was frustrated. He'd constantly talked Gohan into meditating to control that energy, and when that didn't work, sparring. They'd tried everything but his energy hadn't calmed down. Now, though, playing a simple song was doing what Piccolo and Gohan had tried but failed to do. It was giving him a peace of mind and controlling his energy.

The half-Saiyan's song finally came to an end, and he sighed contently. Opening his eyes, he got off the piano stool and headed to his room to change. He had to go see Piccolo about this.

As usual, Piccolo was meditating by his waterfall. There was an aura of concentration about him, yet his face showed no contortions. Gohan landed behind a bush, trying to sneak up on him, but before he could jump out and scare his teacher Piccolo called out.

"You know I can sense you, right?"

'Darn,' thought Gohan, walking into Piccolo's view. He'd really tried to suppress his energy that time. Piccolo opened one eye and smirked at him. Gohan smiled back.

"Hi! How was your meditation?" he asked. Piccolo closed his eyes again.

"Great, until you interrupted it," he replied coolly. The hybrid floated up beside Piccolo and sat cross-legged in the air, imitating his mentor's pose.

"Can I meditate, too?"

Piccolo gave a small nod, and Gohan closed his eyes and began his meditation.

"Hey, Piccolo?"

"…"

"Piccolo."

"…"

"Piccolo—"

"Damn it, Gohan, you interrupted my meditation again!"

Gohan broke his meditation and stood. "Sorry. It's just that I have something on my mind."

"What's that?" Piccolo asked.

"Well, it's about my energy…"

Piccolo sighed and broke his own meditation. "Kid, you're going to be the end of me," he said. Gohan just laughed nervously and sat on a rock by the waterfall's edge. Piccolo sat down beside him and crossed his arms.

"Okay, now what's this about your energy?" he asked. Gohan sighed.

"Um, you know how we tried everything to get my energy to even out?"

Piccolo nodded and instinctively began to sense out Gohan's energy level. Surprisingly, it was…calm. "Yes?"

"And if you sense it now, you can feel that it's even, right?"

"Yes?" he said again. Piccolo had a good idea where this was going.

"Well, it became like that when…"

"…and that's the whole story."

Silence befell the two. Gohan had told Piccolo everything except for the voice he'd heard at the end of his third dream. Piccolo sat in thought for a while and then spoke.

"And this is a problem…because?"

Gohan frowned. "I don't know how this happened! And the dreams…I just don't understand."

The Namekian thought some more. "It could be that your dreams are trying to tell you a way to control your energy. You say that the music you heard beckoned to you, right? It may be your body's way of telling you to play the piano. Seems like it helps." He gazed at the sky. "And that other dream of yours..." He looked back at Gohan. "That may just be a representation of the anger you felt today, warning you to watch your energy."

Gohan was surprised. He'd never thought of it that way.

"Hey, thanks, Mr. Piccolo!" he said, getting up. Piccolo smiled a genuine smile.

"You haven't called me that in a while."

"Huh?" Gohan asked, confused. "Oh, Mr.? Heh, old habits die hard."

He gave a final wave to his mentor and took off for home, since it was getting late. Piccolo, since he was never expected to, didn't wave back. He sat on the ground, troubling thoughts entering his mind. Although Gohan hadn't told him about the last part of his dream, Piccolo had snuck into his mind when he wasn't paying attention and derived that little tidbit of information. He didn't tell Gohan, though; it would have troubled him. The Namekian decided to keep a closer eye on his pupil from now on.

'I won't let anything hurt you kid, I promise,' he thought, returning to his meditation.

Well, there you have it! Ooh, who's that strange voice in Gohan's dream? You'll find out soon! Review please!