Dragonball Z
Gohan: Protector of Earth
Disclaimer:This is a Dragonball z fanfiction. I do not own or in anyway profit from Dragonball z or any of the characters in this story. This fic centers on Gohan, and begins right after the cell games. It is an AU, and reviews are welcome and much appreciated.
Chapter 1:
2 months had passed since the defeat of Cell. Gohan had changed a lot since that day; he had given up his typical 9 hour a day studying routine much to the disappointment of his mother Chichi. At first Chichi had let it slide because of everything that had happened from the Cell Games, namely the death of Goku. After a few weeks though, she became upset with Gohan's attitude. She tried yelling and doing whatever she could to force Gohan to study but he just flat refused. She couldn't force him to study; although she was strong for a human, her son was probably the strongest being in the universe. Whenever she asked him to study, his response was always the same.
"I'll already know everything I'm supposed to, what's the point?"
She had no answer for him. Gohan was obviously a genius and had the knowledge of someone already in College despite being only 11 years old. In the past she would not have given up until he had opened his textbooks, but now she didn't feel like pushing it. Maybe it was her age, or maybe it was the death of Goku. Whatever it was, she was definitely more lenient now than she had been when Gohan was a child. In the past all she had to do was raise her voice and she would send Gohan running to his room in search of his study materials. She had been persuasive enough to send Goku and even Piccolo to driving school in order to get a driver's license for her. But that was then and this was now. For the time being, she decided to let Gohan do what he wanted to, whether that involved training, studying, or just staring at the sky as that's all he seemed to do anymore.
Whatever the case, Chichi had more pressing matters at this point in her life. She was already 9 months pregnant with her second child and was not sure how she was going to raise it as a single mother. Granted Goku had not been the most involved father in the world, he was still there when Gohan had been born and had helped out when Gohan was a small child. Now, though, she was thinking she would have to do it herself. She was not sure what kind of brother Gohan would become. Chichi knew Gohan was a great person with a pure heart and that he would love his sibling, but she did not know how involved he would be in the child's life. If his attitude now was an indicator of anything, she would have her hands full running the family by herself. She had faith though that once Gohan saw his new baby sibling, he would revert back to his old loving self.
Gohan had been so different from what he was since the end of the cell games. He seemed to have lost all the innocence he had as a child. She was surprised he had been as fun loving a child as he was due to all the fighting he was forced to do. Gohan had been happy spending a year living in a forest and learning to fight with Piccolo waiting for the arrival of the saiyan warriors who were going to destroy the planet. He was happy on the Planet Namek with Krillen and Bulma searching for dragonballs despite the presence of the most evil tyrant in the universe Frieza. He had always shown a level of happiness and calmness that could have been matched only by his father. But it seemed after the android and Cell fiasco, the dam had broken. Gohan had lost whatever fun spirit he had remaining from his childhood. He had seen more horrors than most people did in their whole lives and losing his father because of his mistake was just too much for him to handle at times.
Gohan no longer blamed himself for that fateful incident however but rather blamed Cell. It was Cell that had killed his father and it was the villains like Cell that forced Goku to stay in the otherworld. Goku explained this to the z-fighters when they wanted to wish him back. Goku had been sent to Earth to destroy the planet and although he always fought to protect it, many of its enemies came because of him. It was for this reason that Goku chose to stay dead, because he thought it was better for the Earth. After all, Gohan was strong enough now to look after the planet.
Over the past couple months, Gohan would sit by the pond and meditate or once in a while he would fly away and train. Sometimes for only an hour while other times he'd be gone for days. His meditations were anything but peaceful and were filled with confusion as to what he was supposed to do with his life now that his father was gone. When he returned home from his time out his clothes would always be in ruins and he would just throw them onto the hamper and go off to bed. Chichi did not think he was training to get stronger but rather to just vent his emotions. She was right. Gohan would usually fly to an empty space and just yell as loud as he could. He would power up to his super saiyan 2 form and send energy blasts at any mountainous structure he could find. He would do this until he had barely enough energy to make it back to his house in Mt Paoz. He would usually faint from exhaustion and revert back from ascended super saiyan to his normal form. He would then call for the flying nimbus to take him back home as he would not even have enough energy to fly back. Although other times he would just lie there, not wanting to go back. Passing out from exhaustion was the only way Gohan could get to sleep at this point anyway.
As Chichi sat on her chair thinking and worrying about Gohan, she felt a strange sensation overcome her. After looking at the newly made mess on the floor she realized she had just entered into labor.
"Gohan, its happening," Chichi yelled. "Get out here."
"What mom?" Gohan responded.
"I'm about to give birth! Get out here now! We have to go to the hospital."
"I'll be right there. Just stay where you are."
With that, Gohan interrupted his meditation session and rushed out of his bedroom towards where his mom was standing. Once outside of their small house, Gohan summoned the flying nimbus with a loud yell. With Goku gone, the flying nimbus was now Gohans to control. It was one of the new responsibilities Gohan assumed as the man of the Son household.
"Ok nimbus, be careful with my mom. This is very important. We have to get to the hospital, but not too fast now."
Chichi stepped up onto the magical yellow cloud. She had ridden the thing a hundred times before but every time she got on it she halfway expected to fall through. She was as scared riding the cloud now as she was the first time she got on it, when she had just been a child and had met Goku for the first time. Goku helped her then get Master Roshi who put the fire out engulfing her and her father's castle. It had been then that Chichi knew she loved Goku and that someday she would marry him and start a family. Although the cloud scared her to ride, it also reminded her of her husband and all the great times they had together.
As the nimbus cloud flew the nervous Chichi to the nearest hospital (which was about 400 miles away) Gohan carefully flew next to the cloud just in case anything happened. Since his mom did not know how to fly, he had to be ready to catch her in case she fell off.
As they approached the hospital, Gohan began to wonder if he was going to have a new baby brother or sister. He was hoping for a brother, because he did not know how he could relate to a sister. He could always train with a brother but he did not know what he could do with a sister. Gohan had never really been around girls much, aside from his mom the only girl he knew was Bulma, but she was more of a motherly figure. If all girls were like his mom and Bulma, Gohan could just imagine what his household would be like. One overbearing personality was enough he thought.
Gohan sat in the waiting room as the doctors attended to his mother. Most of the z-fighters had not even known Chichi was pregnant. They had all flown back to their respective homes after the fight with Cell and either resumed their training or decided to settle down and live normal lives. Yamcha had resumed his baseball career, deciding he didn't have to worry about getting stronger now that Gohan was so powerful. Yamcha believed any future threat could be easily handled by the half saiyan warrior who defeated Cell. This also allowed him to live a more comfortable life, getting paid exceptionally well for being the greatest baseball player ever.
Tien and Chaiotzu had left for an unknown mountainous area to train, not because of any impending danger but because they found joy in improving their fighting skills. It was all they had ever done since childhood, and it was what they enjoyed doing the most. Tien realized long ago he would never catch up to Goku in strength or even Gohan for that matter. Tien trained for the fun of it now, and because he could still claim the title as the strongest human on Earth.
Piccolo also continued to train and as well decided to live on the lookout. He used it as an opportunity to help Dende with his new role as the guardian of Earth. Piccolo after all did fuse with Kami, the previous guardian of Earth, so he had a lot of experience in the role. As for Krillen, the last time anyone saw him he had been pursuing android 18, who did not seem to have much interest in the bald headed monk. Or so it had seemed to Gohan, although he could not claim to know much about the opposite sex.
The only person Chichi had told about her pregnancy had been Bulma. Chichi considered Bulma to be her best friend; they were both around the same age and were both strong willed women married to saiyan men. They had been through a lot over the years and found it easy to relate. Now that Chichi was about to have a second child, they would also both be mothers of young half saiyan children.
Bulma had told Vegeta the news about Chichi's pregnancy although his response had not been overly enthusiastic about the matter.
"I don't have time to care about the birth of Kakkarot's third class saiyan son. I have important training to get to woman."
Bulma gave her usual annoyed grunt as a response and left Vegeta to his training as usual.
Vegeta spent even more time training now than before the androids had arrived. Now there were two saiyans of lower rank that were stronger than him and he refused to allow that. Even though Goku was dead, Vegeta knew he was training in the other world, and Vegeta wanted to be ready if Goku ever did return to this dimension. He never had a chance to prove to Kakkarot that he was indeed the superior fighter. Hours on end Vegeta would train in the gravity room, in hopes that he could achieve the level of super saiyan he witnessed Gohan achieve in the battle against Cell. He had caught up once before to Goku years earlier by transforming into a super saiyan, and he believed with enough work he could achieve the ascended level as well. He was after all, the prince of all saiyans.
As Gohan sat in the hospital's waiting room thinking about everything that had happened over the past couple months he noticed a nurse start to approach him.
"Are you Gohan Son?" the nursed asked.
Gohan nodded.
"Please follow me then, your mother has just woken up."
"Is everything okay? I mean there were no problems, right?"
"Don't worry." The nurse told him in a caring tone. "Everything went fine. You have a healthy new younger brother and your mother is doing great."
Upon hearing that he would be having a new brother instead of a sister, a smile crossed Gohan's face. He would have been happy with a sister but he felt more comfortable about having a brother. Now he would have someone to train in the area or martial arts.
As Gohan entered the hospital room, he saw his mother with his new brother in her arms.
"How are you feeling mom?"
"Fine, Gohan. Just fine. Here, say hello to your new baby brother."
"What's his name?"
"Goten. I think that name fits well. Goten, brother of Gohan, son of Goku and the beautiful Chichi."
Gohan chuckled at that last statement. "I think that's a good name for him."
As Gohan reached to pick up his brother, he looked him in the eyes. Goten's eyes reminded him so much of their father. He could see the happiness and joy in Goten's eyes and remembered the last time he had seen his father like that. Right before he used instant transmission to save the planet from Cell, Goku had given a smile to Gohan and told him he did well in his fight. Although he was about to die, Goku had looked as happy as he did when he would fish by the house with his friends.
Looking down at his brother, Gohan remembered what his father had said about him the last time he heard his voice on the lookout.
"Gohan's so strong now I have nothing left to teach him"
Gohan knew his father felt the Earth would be safe under his protection. Goku had after all risked everything at the Cell game's by relying on his son to beat the monster most thought was invincible. Gohan came through for his father in the end.
It was difficult for Gohan to accept. He was not sure he could be like his father and always be there to protect the planet. Gohan thought about this every time he meditated and every time he tried to go to bed. Gohan was the strongest person in the world, perhaps the universe, but could he handle this responsibility? In the last two months, that thought kept going through his head and he could never reach a conclusion.
Gohan then glanced down at his new brother and once again gazed at the innocence in his eyes. A terrifying thought then hit Gohan. If Cell had won those months ago the Earth would have been destroyed. Then Gohan would not be standing in this hospital room holding his baby brother. His mother would have been killed along with everyone he had known and loved. How could he have been so selfish these past couple months? With his father gone, Gohan had to be the protector of Earth. He had to defend those that could not defend themselves as his father had always done. It didn't matter whether he was too young for such a responsibility or whether he wanted to do something else with his life because the fact remained that he was the strongest the planet had to offer. Goku placed all his faith in Gohan as the earth's savior by refusing to be wished back to life. He owed it to his father to take the responsibility of being the hero.
Gohan vowed at that moment to resume the path his father had forged for him. He would train as his father had done, to protect everything he loved from the villains who wanted to take it all away. He would do this for his brother. He would let his brother live the peaceful childhood he never had. Hopefully Goten would not have to experience the death and destruction he witnessed throughout his life.
As Gohan handed baby Goten back to Chichi, she noticed a slight smile on Gohan's face. It was something Chichi hadn't seen for quite a while and it was quite a relief for her. She had hoped that when Gohan saw his brother for the first time it would bring back his joyful personality.
"He's amazing." Gohan said. "He looks just like father did. Even though he's only a baby I can tell they are alike."
"Yes. He definitely takes after Goku. Only Goku ever had a smile that wide." Chichi joked.
The next day, Goku and Chichi left the hospital and headed back home with a new member of the family. On their way back Chichi asked
"So now that I see you're finally in a better mood after all that has happened, you can start resuming your studies again. I ordered away for some new textbooks and they should be arriving any day now. I was thinking you start off with some advanced chemistry and then you can learn multivariable calculus. Oh, I'm sure you'll find it so rewarding to start studying again."
"No mom, I'm not going to be studying much anymore."
"And why is that?" Chichi quickly retorted. "I know you're smart Gohan but how long can you go without studying before you fall behind?"
"No, it's not that mom. With dad gone, I'm the only one who can look after this planet. I know you've never approved of me fighting before but I think with dad gone that it is my responsibility now. I've been doing a lot of thinking over the past months and I've realized I have to do this. I hope you can accept that."
With that Chichi looked down at Goten and started caressing his hair.
"I wish you would continue with your studies but I know you're right. There's too much danger in this world and although I wish somebody else would serve as hero, you are your father's son. I respect your decision. But I still want you to study a little bit. I think a couple hours a day would serve as a good break in between your training sessions."
Gohan smiled. "That would be fine mom."
With that they looked off into the distance as they past over a small mountain and approached their house. There would be a new addition to the Son household now. It was the only reason any of them had to be happy in a long time.
