Gohan: Development of a Hero
This is a Dragonballz fanfiction. To my eternal sadness, I do not own or in anyway profit from Dragonballz or any of the characters in this story. This fic, as you can guess from the title, centers on Gohan, and begins right after the cell games. It is an AU, and reviews are welcome and appreciated.
Btw, from now on, when characters speak in Saiyago (the Saiyan language), the dialogue will be shown in Bold.
Part 11- A "Brief" Time
Gohan smiled as he landed in front of Capsule Corporation. His training session today had gone very well; Lime was showing a great deal of potential. The fact she was able to create a technique spoke well of her future. All in all, it had been a good…
Two blurs attached themselves to Gohan's legs as he entered the living room. "Save us," Goten begged.
Gohan suppressed a sigh. I knew I should have kept my thoughts less optimistic. "What did you do?" Gohan asked.
"Nothing," Trunks commented as they both looked at him with expressions of pure innocence. Which meant whatever they had done, it was very bad. Gohan wasn't sure exactly how, but somehow a very mischievous streak had appeared in both of the kids. Trunks was the more able of the two; he seemed to have a knack not only for trouble, but also to effortlessly bring a similar streak to the surface in Goten. They were always pulling pranks on everyone around them. This had led to a fairly paranoid lifestyle for Gohan. He always checked soap, shampoo, towels, clothes, everything before he used it. It was stressful at times, but it was better than the alternatives.
"BRATS!"
The roar echoed throughout the building, and both of the kids cringed. Of course; the brats would have to pull a prank on the worst target in the building. Despite his obvious temper and power, Trunks loved to pull pranks on his dad. Still, Vegeta sounded much angrier than usual. Gohan wondered what exactly they had done.
His question was soon answered as Vegeta strode into the room, a look promising murder stamped on his face. He looked fine; Gohan saw no strange colors in his hair, or embarrassing holes in his clothes. The only thing that seemed out of place on him were several tiny flecks of color covering his boots. Vegeta's gaze rested on the two people cowering behind Gohan. "Get out of my way Gohan. The brats have a one way ticket to the next dimension," Vegeta stated coldly.
"What did they do this time?" Gohan asked.
"The Gravity Room is a mess." Vegeta supplied.
"What…" Gohan snapped, as his voice got as cold as Vegeta's. Having put a great deal of time and effort into the room, he was rather protective of it. The kids knew it was one area Gohan tolerated very little mischief.
"The brats have covered the floor in paint," Vegeta explained.
Gohan's gaze drifted down to the two children on his legs. His eyes bored into them, demanded an explanation.
"Hey, that was an accident," Trunks offered.
"Yeah, we were trying to hit Uncle Geta, not the room," Goten chimed in.
"Goten!" Trunks gasped in horror.
A vein on Vegeta's head started to throb, "What did you say," he hissed.
Both of the kids gulped, very unnerved by the glares directed at them. "Um, well, you see…" Trunks began, "We…well…we had balloons set up…but he dodged them."
"I…see." Gohan finally stated. He was more annoyed than angry, now that he knew exactly what the kids had done, and that there was no real damage to the room. Still, knowing the two demons in front of him, the place was probably a real mess.
"Good. Then get out of my way," Vegeta responded. A ball of ki energy appeared in his right hand, and he pointed it right at the boys. Gohan could tell he wasn't really going to do it…he thought.
"Now, now Vegeta. Let's not be hasty," Gohan remarked. Both of the boys breathed deep sighs of relief at his hip.
"What, how dare you…" Vegeta started, but Gohan held up his hand.
"I'm merely pointing out, the GR is a mess right now, and we have two cleaning people right in front of us," As Gohan finished, he shoved the two boys forward.
"What, but…" Trunks stated in horror. He hated to clean, as did Goten. A fact Gohan knew quite well.
"Now much of a punishment," Vegeta grumbled.
"Well, you didn't hear me out," Gohan commented. "If I know these two, the paint will be incredibly hard to get out. And I never said how they would have to clean it…I believe we have two spare toothbrushes, right?"
A very evil smirk came over Vegeta's face as a look of horror came over the boys. "Yes, I think we do."
"DINNER!"
All four Saiyans turned. It had been well established that almost nothing came before a meal, and Gohan doubted this would be an exception. True to form, all four of them immediately ran to the dining room table. Bulma grinned as the came in and took their seats, "Thought that might get your attention," she quipped.
The food was quickly brought out, in enough quantity to feed an army…or four Saiyans. Though Gohan was quite hungry, he made no move towards the food, nor did the others. It had quickly been established that when Bulma cooked, she had the first bite. This might seem chivalrous, but really, it was practical. If she didn't say it was bad, it was probably okay to eat. This had become a tradition in the house after a certain mishap (Gohan shuddered as he recalled that time. It was the only time in his life he threw up from food).
Such was not the case tonight however. Bulma took a bite, and said, "hmm…not bad. Maybe next time I'll…" whatever she said was lost as all four Saiyans attacked their food. Though they used proper table manners (Bulma had firmly drilled them in it), all of them were too intent on eating to make any attempt at conversation. This to had become an unspoken tradition, and so Bulma made no comment on it. Finally, when even they were satisfied, conversation became possible.
"So, how was it?" Bulma asked.
"I ate it," Vegeta pointed out.
"It was good," Gohan supplied. He found the need to supplement Vegeta's complements at times, to avoid the confrontation that would ensue otherwise.
Bulma beamed. She always hated that she was nowhere near the cook that Chi…she had been, and so was constantly trying to perfect her skills. Unfortunately, while Bulma was a genius technically, she had no culinary skill. Still, she sometimes lucked out, as tonight proved. "I'm glad to hear it," Bulma remarked. "With my parents in Europe, it's nice to know I can handle it."
Both of the boys had been fidgeting, and finally Goten asked, "Aunt Bulma, can we be excused."
"Please mom," Trunks added.
Bulma glanced at them, "You ate well…which isn't surprising. It's fine with me,"
"Yah!" they both exclaimed. They immediately started for the door.
"Wait," Gohan interjected. As they turned to look at him, he reminded, "Don't you have some cleaning to do?"
Both their faces fell, "But…" Trunks began.
"Brats," Vegeta interrupted as he stood up. "Follow me, and I'll get you started. I have training to do soon, and I won't let you slow me down,"
As Vegeta dragged the two boys off, Bulma grinned, "Another prank. What was it this time?"
Gohan sighed, "Paint bombs of some sort. They wanted to get Vegeta, but I guess they have bad aim,"
Bulma laughed, "Too bad, that would have made a great picture. So, did you have fun today?"
"Yeah, I did," Gohan remarked.
"What did you do?" Bulma asked.
"I just kind of flew around, you know," Gohan commented vaguely. He always was vague in his answers. Partly, it was because he wanted to keep Lime a secret. But Bulma hated vague answers, and it was kind of fun to make her mad, a fact Gohan learned from Vegeta.
Bulma locked gazes with Gohan, who kept his expression bland. Finally, she snorted and said, "You were much nicer before you hit the teenage years. Come on, you can help me with the dishes."
Gohan nodded, and stood up immediately. He actually enjoyed the dishes sometimes; it was a commonplace activity that allowed Gohan and Bulma to just…talk about random things, or just hang out. While Gohan was acutely aware that she wasn't…her, he still enjoyed spending time doing things with Bulma.
The time passed as Gohan and Bulma's dishwashing activity dissolved into a discussion about the latest work related project. This always happened; no matter what they were doing, sooner or later the discussion would turn towards some sort of project. It didn't matter how much time they had spent working together during the day; it was almost a ritual for them. Currently, Gohan and Bulma were working on an advanced communications chip that would revolutionize the telecommunication industry. If they ever got it to work.
"What if we boosted the output through these circuits," Bulma suggested. Their discussion had quickly degenerated to a need for diagrams, and they were currently both looking at one in front of them.
Gohan shook his head, and said, "I'm telling you, the problem isn't hardware. It's in the software."
A pained look came over Bulma, "That's a lot of code to go through," she pointed out.
"I thought you liked a challenge," Gohan countered.
Bulma was spared from answering as Trunks and Goten staggered into the room. "Did you guys get it clean?" Gohan asked.
They both shuddered, and Trunks nodded, "Yeah…we did,"
Goten walked forward, and said softly, "I'm sorry big brother."
"Me too big brother," Trunks repeated.
Gohan suppressed a smile. It always happened like this. No matter what prank they pulled, Goten and Trunks always apologized to Gohan. Even if the prank wasn't directed at him, they both seemed to feel a need to find forgiveness in Gohan. He wasn't sure why, and he didn't actually care for the reason; it was kind of cute that they did it.
Gohan crouched down, until he was level with both of them, "It's okay guys. I know you didn't mean to hit the Gravity Room. Have you learned your lesson?"
"Yes big brother," they both chimed.
"Good…between you and me, I would have loved to see Vegeta covered in paint," Gohan whispered conspiratorially.
Goten and Trunks laughed, and Gohan smiled. "Come here," Gohan mock growled. He pulled both of them into a hug, and they both started to squirm, "Well, Squirt, Shrimp, I've got you. What are going to do now?"
"Let us go," Trunks demanded.
"Yeah," Goten added.
"Well, I don't know," Gohan pretended to consider.
"If you're going to let them go, do it upstairs. It's their bedtime," Bulma pointed out.
"Yeah, story time," Goten shouted. Effortlessly, he broke free of Gohan's hold, as did Trunks. They both ran over and hugged Bulma.
"Night Mom,"
"Night Aunt Bulma,"
"Night boys," Bulma replied fondly. They then shot upstairs. She watched them go, and then turned to Gohan, "Story time was a brilliant idea Gohan,"
Gohan grinned, "Thanks, I kind of like it myself."
"Well, get going Story Master," Bulma joked as she mock shoved him.
Gohan bowed, "Yes ma'am," and then ran upstairs. He found both Goten and Trunks sitting in bed, waiting eagerly. Gohan paused at the door to take a look around. When Goten was a baby, he refused to sleep more than a few minutes outside of Gohan's presence. As he got older, this had translated into a desire for Goten to sleep in Gohan's room. No matter where he had started, Gohan had always found Goten curled up somewhere in his room every morning. Trunks had started to get lonely at night, so he started to follow Goten's lead, a rare case. Finally, Gohan had accepted the inevitable, as had Bulma and Vegeta. They'd converted a large room in the compound into a giant bedroom, one Gohan shared with Trunks and Goten. It gave him almost no privacy, but Gohan didn't mind. Truth be told, he kind of liked it. They were both pretty much his brothers, and he found them…peaceful. Plus, they both solemnly swore never to touch any of Gohan's stuff in this room, as a condition of staying here. A fact Gohan greatly enjoyed.
Gohan settled himself between their beds, and asked, "Now, where were we?"
"The two warriors had just defeated the giant bug, and were getting ready to go back to their planet," Trunks instantly supplied.
"Yeah, and they beat him good," Goten added.
"Oh right, now I remember," Gohan remarked. "Now then, the two young warriors had faced the giant evil, and they were…" as Gohan talked, he watched looks of utter fascination come over both of their faces. They loved story time; after all, it stared two young warriors who were very similar to them. A fact that made sense given Gohan planned it that way. Each night Gohan made up more of the story, and even he wasn't sure where it was going. But he liked telling it.
Finally, both boys nodded off, and Gohan's voice faded. He gazed down at them, and grinned. Took less time than normal, Gohan observed. I guess all that cleaning really wore them out.
Gohan stood up, and stretched. He glanced over at the clock on the wall. 1030pm. It wasn't that late, but Gohan knew very little would be going on. Well, little he wanted to see. Gohan still shuddered as he remembered the time he walked in on Vegeta and Bulma doing their 'nightly activity'. The sights he saw burned themselves into his memory, and would probably take a great deal to remove. Still, Gohan had no desire to repeat the experience. Besides, he had other things to do. Gohan settled himself into his bed, and began to reach out for Dreamscape.
It was time to train.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Hey guys. Here is part 11. I just noticed this is my longest story ever; both in word count and in part number. Anyway, 150 reviews, very cool. I hope you guys liked this part, given there was little action. I just wanted to give you guys a view of life at the Briefs. Now, on to other things.
Jumper Prime: I just noticed the fact the last chapter was mislabeled. I apologize; I try and get these parts out as quick as possible, which leads to spelling mistakes and errors like that. Thanks for pointing it out to me. It should have been posted as Part 10. I'll probably go back and fix it.
Great Saiyaman: I will be bringing Goku back soon, and he will have a role to play. But while he is the main character in DBZ, he will only be playing a supporting role here. I'm sorry, but this story centers on Gohan, and eventually Videl. Other characters are involved, but they will never have the same level of writing ascribed to them as Gohan and Videl will. I hope you can keep reading the story knowing this, but I understand if you can't.
Samurai of Cherry Blossoms: As to your comment in part 9, I guess this story is part Gohan torture. I'm stealing a few quotes from people, which help to explain why. I believe realistically, heroes are forged in adversity, not peace. They need to have pain and heartache in their lives in order to become the strong heroes they can be. Therefore, Gohan's life in this story will not be all roses and happiness. Honestly, I found his reactions to things in the show unrealistic, and kind of weird. I hope these reactions are more realistic. Anyway, I am a huge Gohan fan, and while I hate to torture him, it is a necessary evil for my story. You can rest assured though I have no intention of giving him anything less than a happy ending.
Anyway, please continue to read and review. I'll get the next part out as soon as I can.