I hope you guys like this. It's my first attempt at writing here, so be gentle. Comments and (hopefully constructive) criticisms are welcome.

This is a flashback

"This is Gohan thinking"

Chapter 2: An Experiment

"You and my dad can both go SSJ blue," said Gohan. Vegeta harrumphed and began walking toward the kitchen area. Gohan followed him. "But you never underwent the ritual. How can you use god ki?"

Vegeta thought for a moment, then began. "During our initial training with Whis, rather than training in a transformed state we used our base forms. This intense training vastly increased our natural ki reserves. Then, while we sparred, Whis forced us to raise our ki internally. When we did that, ki flooded our bodies until we could hold no more without it leaking. And then… it happened. When our punches collided, the ki that filled us to the brim was compressed. Under that pressure, it changed. That was our first glimpse of SSJ blue".

Gohan's brow furrowed in confusion. "So all you had to do was… compress your ki?"

Vegeta nodded, reaching into the fridge. "Most of Whis's training seemed simply to be meant to get us to increase our ki reserves, then to learn to compress them". He pulled out an enormous load of food and began walking. Gohan grabbed his own wheelbarrowful. "As far as I can tell, the only difference between normal ki and god ki is that god ki is more dense". He set his food down on a table. "Question time is over". He dug in.

Gohan didn't argue, instead setting down his own spread and shoveling food into his mouth. As he did, the expression on his face was unusually thoughtful for a Saiyan during meal time.

…

After dinner, or breakfast, or whatever meal that had been, Vegeta settled in for a nap, claiming it would be the first uninterrupted bout of sleep he'd had since the birth of his daughter.

Gohan had no complaints. Vegeta had given him plenty to think about. He walked out into the white void, footsteps echoing endlessly. He stopped when he figured he was far enough away to avoid waking Vegeta. "Thanks to the Elder Kai, I'm a bit stronger than a SSJ 3 if I power up in my base form, so I should have plenty of ki. If what Vegeta says is true, all I need to do is raise my ki internally".

He settled into horse stance, clenching his fists. He grunted, and began raising his power. Wisps of ki rose from his body, but he pulled them back inside. He groaned at the strain as his power continued to rise. "This is actually really hard!" His power continued to rise, and sweat began to drip from his brow. The power began to burn. "Vegeta didn't say anything about it hurting, did he? But I guess he's not the sort to mention that, and I don't feel like I've reached my limit yet". He kept going. The ki was really starting to burn him now, but somehow he kept increasing it. He realized he was yelling, his muscles bulging.

Suddenly, he heard an enormous crash of thunder that seemed to come from all around him. He was falling. Someone caught him, was yelling at him. "What did you do, you little idiot?!" Gohan's awareness faded into darkness.

…

Gohan groaned. He had a splitting headache, and every muscle in his body ached. He forced his eyes open. He suppressed another groan at the brightness, and squinted into the light. "I'm… home. What happened to the time chamber?" A memory tugged at the edges of his awareness, but he couldn't quite grasp it. He looked around. Videl was next to him on the bed, half asleep. She looked over as she noticed his motion. "Gohan, you're awake!" she cried, enveloping him in a hug.

"Ow, ow ow!" said Gohan, wincing in pain.

"Sorry," said Videl. "I'm just so glad you're OK".

Gohan smiled at her, then frowned. "How long was I out?"

"You've been in a coma for three days since Vegeta brought you out of the chamber, and Dende only knows how long before that. I've been worried sick! And Pan has been too".

"Where is she?" asked Gohan. "I'd better tell her that her daddy's alright".

"She's off on the lookout right now; Piccolo's taking care of her".

"Nice of him," said Gohan. Suddenly he noticed there was someone else in the room. "Oh, hey, Dende!"

"Nice to have you back with us, Gohan," said Dende. "And to answer your question, Videl, Vegeta said he pulled Gohan out when you wouldn't wake up after two days." He looked to Gohan. "He was pretty mad you didn't get any real training in". He paused for a moment, looking serious. "Listen Gohan, I don't know what you did in there, but… I'm afraid there may have been some permanent consequences".

That was ominous. "What do you mean, Dende?"

"Well… I healed you up as best I could, but…"

"What is it?"

"Your energy is gone," said Dende quietly.

"What?!"

"No one can sense it. I've tried everything, but there doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with you. You just… don't have ki anymore".

Gohan frowned in confusion. "But… I'm a little sore, but I don't feel that bad. I feel strong, actually," he said, opening and closing a hand. To Dende's shock, he easily formed a small energy orb in that hand. "You're telling me you can't sense that?" he asked.

"No, not at all," said Dende, eyes wide.

Gohan looked to Videl in askance, and she shook her head. "You don't think-"

"God ki," said Gohan. "I just remembered. When I passed out, I was trying to figure out SSJ blue. But something went wrong; I never ran out of space to compress my ki".

"Do you think it has something to do with the Elder Kai's potential unlock?" asked Videl.

"It might," said Gohan. "Maybe I should ask him about it". An enormous menacing growl filled the room. The other two looked to Gohan. He chuckled, a hand rubbing the back of his head. "Maybe a bite to eat first…"

…

As Gohan flew over to Goku's ki signature, he marveled at the speeds he was achieving. "And I'm barely powered up at all! I feel like I did when Elder Kai first unlocked my full power!" He laughed with unrestrained excitement and corkscrewed through the air. In no time at all he was touching down next to Goku.

Goku jumped in shock. "What the-! Gohan, I didn't feel you approaching!" His eyes narrowed. "Actually, I still don't feel you. It's almost like… you're an android".

Gohan chuckled. "Dad, I'm not an android".

"Well, how do I know that? If you really were my son, I should be able to sense your energy!"

Gohan smirked. "Transform into SSJ blue".

"Why would I-"

"Just do it, dad. Trust me, you won't regret it".

Goku smiled back. "All right, but if you are an android just know I won't let you get away with impersonating my son!" He clenched his fists and blue light erupted out of him. His eyes widened with shock and he reverted back to base. "No way… Gohan, you have god ki! In your base form! How?!"

…

"And you need me to take you to Elder Kai's place?" asked Goku.

"That's right," said Gohan. "I need to ask him if the potential unlock he did for me a while back would have interfered with my going SSJ blue".

"Alright son, grab on," said Goku, placing two fingers to his forehead. Gohan grabbed his father's shoulder. "Hey, I really need to ask dad to teach me that move some t-" The father-son duo disappeared.

"-ime." Gohan looked around. They were on the sacred planet of the Kais. Supreme Kai and Kibito were nowhere to be seen, but Elder Kai sat leafing through what appeared to be an old porno magazine, chuckling pervertedly every so often.

"Elder Kai," said Gohan. "I have a que-"

He was cut off as the old man screamed and jumped into the air. "What's wrong with you, sneaking up on an old man like that?! You could've given me a heart attack!"

Goku chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, and Gohan mirrored him. "Sorry, Elder Kai. We're here because my son wanted to ask you a question".

"Oh? A question, is it?" said Elder Kai. He gave them a sly look. "I'll answer your question… if you do something for me, first".

"Ahh come on, Elder Kai," whined Goku. "We've saved the universe multiple times now!"

"Multiple universes, in fact," said Gohan.

"Fah!" said Elder Kai. "Always bringing that up, aren't you?" He began speaking in falsetto. "Ohh, I'm Goku, look at me, I'm so great I can talk with the Omni King like he's my best friend, never mind the fact he can erase all of existence!" Gohan's mouth tightened as Elder Kai unknowingly echoed Gohan's own motivation for getting stronger.

Goku clasped his hands together in a childlike begging pose. "Oh, come on Elder Kai! Pretty please? We came to ask you because we know you're the most knowledgeable of all the Kais!"

Elder Kai huffed, not looking entirely displeased. "All right, fine. What was the question?" he rasped, looking to Gohan.

"Well, do you remember how you unlocked my potential a few years ago?"

"Of course I do, what a rude child! I'm not that old! I can still remember just fine!"

Gohan raised his hands in a placating gesture. "I wasn't trying to suggest that, Elder Kai". He straightened. "Let me ask you this: can you sense my energy right now?"

The Elder Kai scowled angrily. "Of course I can, you boo-" His jaw dropped in a comically shocked expression. "You have god ki! In your base form! How?" "And," he muttered more quietly, "how did I not notice before? Maybe I am getting old…"

Gohan explained the events of the hyperbolic time chamber. "And I think the potential unlock you performed for me interfered with my ability to go SSJ blue, and somehow gave me god ki in my normal state".

The Elder Kai mused with a hand on his chin. "Hmm… you may be right. The purpose of my potential unlock is to allow you to access your full power without transforming. Normally, the Saiyan body requires a transformation to use god ki, but in your case, my technique forced you to access that power from your base form. Rather than giving you a temporary form, like SSJ blue, the god ki subtly changed your body physically so you could handle its use. That was likely the source of the pain you felt".

Gohan nodded. "I suppose that's as good an explanation as any. Do you think there'll be any negative side effects from this process?"

"No idea," said Elder Kai. "I've never seen anything like this before; my technique wasn't meant to be used on those with god ki".

Goku stepped up. "Those questions are all well and good, but you forgot the most important one!"

Gohan quirked an eyebrow. "And what's that, dad?"

Goku grinned. "How strong are you now? Let's have a fight, son! What do you say? Please?!"

Gohan took a deep breath and clenched and unclenched a fist. It would be a good idea to get a measure of his new strength.

"Alright dad, why not?"