Dragonball Z

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 9:

"Gohan, Gohan! Can we train after breakfast?" asked the young Goten.

"Sorry squirt but I can't train you today."

"Why not?" asked Goten with a sad look on his face.

"Because I promised I would train somebody else today."

"Are you having a sparring session with one of your father's friends?" asked Chichi as she put down a stack of pancakes onto the breakfast table.

"Um, well not exactly. I am training a friend from school."

"You're training someone from your school! Please tell me nobody knows about your abilities Gohan. I thought you were trying to fit in at school and be normal?"

"I am, but I guess my secret kind of got out. Someone recognized me when I saved them and I promised I would train them. I don't think they will tell anyone else my secret but I don't want to risk it."

"Wait a second Gohan. Please tell me this person that you saved and that you are training today isn't that Videl girl, daughter of Mr. Satan."

Gohan gave an awkward smile and nodded.

"Ooh, Gohan has a girlfriend. Gohan has a girlfriend," said the now interested Goten.

"Shut up Goten. Yea it is Videl actually, she's just coming over for a little while and she's not my girlfriend Goten."

Chichi gave a satisfied smirk and got to work on cleaning the dishes.

"Did I ever tell you about the first time I met your father. He was so handsome there on that floating cloud of his. Oh we were only children at the time but I knew we would get married one day."

Gohan gave a bored look and interrupted his mother. "Yes I think I've heard that story before, but it's not like that with Videl. She's just a friend who I'm going to teach a couple things to in martial arts."

"Last time I remember you said she was just your classmate, now she is your friend. You know Gohan, there's a thin distinction between friend and girlfriend, especially at your age."

Gohan rolled his eyes not feeling like having this conversation with his mother. "Ok, well I'm going to go and train for a little while before Videl gets here, she shouldn't be arriving for a while."

"Can I train with the two of you? Please Gohan. Please," pleaded Goten.

"Yea I suppose so squirt. Just don't show off your powers okay, I don't want her to know everything about this family and I don't want her knowing what you're capable of doing. I can't imagine how she'd feel if she found out my seven year old brother was stronger than her."

"I promise I won't show off my powers Gohan."

"Okay then, let's go and train."

Gohan and Goten left the house and proceeded to walk down to a hilly valley about half a mile or so away from the house. They did not intend to train at full power so the area provided more than enough room for them to spar. Gohan had taken up the task of training his brother recently. Since Goku was not around to train Goten, Gohan thought that it was his responsibility to do so. It gave the two of them a chance to bond and allowed Gohan to have a sparring partner who wasn't quite so serious like Vegeta. After Vegeta heard that Gohan had begun training Goten, he had concentrated more of his time training Trunks. Since Vegeta could still not defeat Gohan in their sparring sessions, Vegeta thought it was the next best thing if he trained Trunks so that he became more powerful than Goten. As Gohan and Goten started sparring back and forth, Gohan overheard the ever so familiar jet copter of Videl's flying overhead.

"Hey Goten let's take a break for a few minutes. Videl just got here."

The two waited as Videl landed her jet copter at the bottom of the hill and proceeded to walk towards the two of them. She was wearing her usual white dress with black fighting gloves and had her hair in two long pony tails.

"Hey Gohan!" yelled Videl as she made her way towards them.

"Hi Videl. Were you able to find this area all right?"

"Yea, it was easy to spot you guys from the sky. You live really far from school but I guess you can fly a lot faster than my jet copter can."

"Yea, I guess so."

Goten began tugging at Gohan's shirt as he was talking to Videl.

"Oh and Videl this is my little brother Goten."

Videl bent down to speak to Goten. "Well hi Goten, and how old are you?"

"I'm seven years old. Are you Gohan's new girlfriend?"

Videl blushed as she stood back up. "Uh no we're just friends."

Gohan was visibly angry standing behind Videl. "Goten, get out of here. Go play for a while and then come back."

"Ok sure. Bye Gohan, bye Videl," yelled Goten as he started running up the grassy hill in search of something to keep him entertained.

"What a nice kid. You're so lucky to have a little brother. I'm an only child and sometimes I wish I had a sibling to play with, especially when I was younger."

"Well if you want you can have him. I think I've had enough of him for a while."

"Oh come on Gohan, I hope you are joking."

"No he is actually a really good kid. He doesn't have great manners around people though, but he's not really exposed to many people living all the way out here."

"So how did you get such good manners then," asked Videl.

"Hmm, I'm not sure exactly. I spent most of my time as a child studying so I guess that gave me good manners. Goten, on the other hand, takes after our father more than I do. They are both very outgoing people, maybe a bit too much. Neither of them seems to understand the concept of shame very well. Well, anyway, I guess we should get started."

"Yea, that sounds good."

"Ok so first off, you don't know anything about ki right?"

"Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't need training in the first place."

"Ok, ok I just wanted to make sure. Gee this may be difficult; I've never taught anyone how to do this before. I'm so used to being the student rather than the teacher."

"Well just tell me how you do it. It can't be that hard."

"Huh, well I'll try. For me it was more natural rather than actually learning but you shouldn't have a problem. Ok first off try to locate your ki."

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"The first thing you have to do is make yourself completely calm. Then you listen. Listen to the center of your body, until you start to feel a pull. Then you just bring it in."

Gohan displayed this concept to Videl by generating a small energy ball between his hands. He held it there stationary as Videl looked on in amazement.

"There, you see. Now it's your turn to try."

Videl sat on the ground with her legs crossed and attempted to tap into her ki. She sat with her hands a few inches apart and tried to focus her energy to that spot.

"You have to relax Videl or you're never going to get it."

Videl gave Gohan an annoyed look and continued to try and tap into her energy. After a long while of practicing, Videl was finally able to generate a small energy ball.

"There you got it. I guess since you have been doing martial arts your whole life it was easier for you to tap into your power, very good."

Videl nearly fell forward after she let go of her energy ball and then looked up at Gohan with a smile on her face. She was physically weaker after the attempt but eager to continue with her training.

"So do you think I can fly now?"

"Slow down for a second, you have to learn how to control your energy first before you can even think of flying."

"Well how long will that take?"

"I'm not sure exactly. Like I told you this is the first time I've taught this to anyone before."

"What about your brother. Is he able to control his ki?"

"Yea Goten can control his ki pretty well, but I didn't really teach him. He just learned it more naturally; I guess it kind of runs in the family."

"Well let's get back to work then, I want to be able to fly before I go home."

"Ok sure." Wow she is really adamant about learning this. I hope she learns this quickly or I'll never be able to do my own training.

"Before we resume though, I wanted to ask you something Videl. I haven't been to the city since yesterday, what was the fallout?"

Videl's mood darkened a bit with Gohan's question. "Well many of the city's police officers were killed, and estimates say about several hundred people were killed in total. Property damage is estimated to be in the millions. Luckily that part of the city wasn't busy at the time otherwise it could have been much worse. School has been postponed indefinitely because of the event."

"What are people being told about the cause of the disaster?"

"Since there were no witnesses to the event, except for you I suppose, the government is saying it was the work of a terrorist. The space ship was taken so nobody has any idea about what really happened. Don't worry about it though, you killed the alien and prevented a lot of people from dying. It could have been much worse."

"Thanks, I just wish I had stopped him before he had the chance to attack the city."

"Gohan, you did everything you could have. There was nothing more you could have done. Look, if it wasn't for you, who knows how many people would have died and would still be dying? You're a hero Gohan."

"Thanks Videl, well I guess we should resume the lessons."

"Sure."

After another couple hours of practicing Videl was able to control her ki well enough that Gohan felt she was now ready to learn how to fly.

"I think you're ready to start trying to fly. You've mastered your ki faster than I thought. It is truly remarkable."

"Good, let's get started on flying then. How do I do it?"

"Ok well since you're able to focus your ki, all you have to do is force it underneath you. Force your ki below you so that you can levitate up."

Videl forced her ki below her and started to float in the air.

"Videl you're doing it awesome."

"Oh my god I'm actually flying."

Videl started floating higher and higher into the air.

"Okay Videl, lower yourself a bit. This is new to you and you don't want to hurt yourself on your first try."

Videl tried to lower herself but she was so exhausted from learning to fly that she was unable to and fainted from exhaustion, causing her to fall to the ground fast. Before she hit the ground, Gohan sped to her and caught her in his arms.

"Are you okay Videl?"

Videl opened her eyes and saw Gohan's face close up. She was being held up in his arms and was only a few inches away from his face. She was so relieved to see him for some reason that she didn't even answer his question; she just continued to look deeply into his eyes. It reminded her of when she was being held by the Gold Fighter only the day before. She had a crush on the Gold Fighter before she realized that he was actually Gohan. This was different from that time though; the Gold Fighter did not seem real to Videl, he was just some superhero that went around the city saving people from dire situations. But Gohan was an actual person; he was her classmate who most recently became a friend of hers. He had all the same qualities she saw in the Gold Fighter except Gohan was an actual person, one she had come to know and like. All the feelings Videl had felt towards the Gold Fighter had been transferred over to Gohan, she looked at him in a completely different light than before.

"Videl, Videl are you alright. You nearly hit the ground before I caught you."

Videl moved her finger to cover Gohan's mouth and stopped him from talking. From here she put her hands around the back of Gohan's neck and moved her face in closer to him. She had wanted to do this to the Gold Figher after he saved her the last time and now she wanted to do this to Gohan. Gohan was surprised by Videl's actions but did not back away at her advance. He kept his head steady and awaited what he knew was coming. As their lips approached each others to the point where they could feel the other persons breath they were about ready to engage in their passion before they were stopped by the oncoming presence of a young child.

"Gohan look what I caught. Isn't it big?" yelled Goten as he ran up to the two teenagers while holding a large frog in his hand.

Videl and Gohan jerked their heads back awkwardly as the young boy ran towards them. Gohan looked at Videl for another second before releasing her from his embrace. Videl took a step back and faced Goten, the young boy had taken her out of the trance she had been in just moments before.

"Oh hey Goten, that is cool, what a big frog you caught," said Gohan, who was embarrassed from the situation his brother had just caught him in.

"What were you two doing?" asked the naive Goten.

"Oh I was just teaching Videl how to fly. She really is a quick learner. She was able to fly nearly twenty feet in the air."

"It wasn't that good. I wasn't able to bring myself back down."

"Why were you holding Videl in your arms?" asked Goten.

The two teenagers looked at each other and blushed before Gohan turned back to Goten to address his question.

"Well I couldn't let her drop to the ground. I just caught her to make sure she didn't hurt herself. That's all."

"Okay, Gohan it's time for lunch, let's go and see what mom's made," said Goten as he made his way back towards the house.

"Sure thing squirt. Videl would you like to join us for lunch."

"Sure, that sounds nice. I haven't met your parents yet."

The three of them started walking back towards the house and arrived outside a few minutes later. Chichi had been expecting Gohan and Goten to make their way back for lunch and was somewhat surprised to see Videl walking beside them. Chichi had never seen Videl before but judging by the looks of her father, she was very surprised Videl was as pretty as she was.

"Hey mom, wow lunch looks great."

The two boys took their seats at the table and started digging in to the massive amounts of food Chichi had prepared.

"Well my sons have no manners but I'm guessing you are Videl. Gohan has told me a lot about you."

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Son, you have a lovely home."

"Well thank you, but please call me Chichi."

"This is a lovely area out here. It must be nice living out here in the middle of nature and not being surrounded by people all the time."

"Well that's why we live here. I don't care for the crowds of the city to be quite honest."

"Hey I was just thinking, did you know you have the same name as the Ox King's daughter?"

"That might be because I am his daughter."

"You're the Ox King's daughter? Gohan he's your grandfather?" said a surprised Videl.

"Yea, did I fail to mention that."

"Yea I think I would have remembered," said Videl. "Wow that's incredible, so you're the princess Chichi then."

"Well I suppose so, but I haven't gone by that title since I was a little child. I don't like it when people make a fuss," said an enthused Chichi. Although she didn't want to mention anything, Chichi was flattered to be so well known.

"But I heard the ox king and his daughter died a long time ago, from the fire on Fire Mountain?

"No we had some help and were able to put the fire out. That is actually where I met Gohan's father."

"Wow. That is really incredible. So Gohan, where is your dad? Is he at work or something?"

The jovial mood of the table was squashed with Videl's last statement.

"Gohan's father isn't around anymore," said Chichi.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you two get a divorce."

"No! No he died seven years ago actually."

"Oh I am so sorry Chichi, I had no idea."

"That's okay, you didn't know. Now who wants more food? Gohan, Goten?"

Gohan and Goten instantly raised their hands up as Chichi fetched them more food from the kitchen.

"I wished you would have told me Gohan so I would not have made a fool of myself."

"Sorry Videl, I didn't think to mention it."

Videl gave Gohan an annoyed look and continued eating her plate of rice. After lunch, Gohan and Videl resumed their flying lessons while Goten continued playing off in the distance, in search of more large reptilians to show off to his brother.

"Okay, do you think you're ready to give it another go?"

"I'll be fine, I feel better after lunch and I won't have a problem this time."

"Okay, give it a try then."

Videl started to levitate in the air like before slowly rising. As she got about ten feet in the air she started to fly forward and make turns.

"Wow Videl, you're doing great."

"Thanks Gohan," yelled Videl from the sky.

After continuing to try out some of her new moves for a while Videl returned to her take off point and landed next to Gohan.

"I have to say that was impressive. I can't believe you've mastered flying in only one day. I don't think there's anything left for me to teach you really. Just continue practicing and you should steadily improve over time."

"Thanks for all your help Gohan. I know I didn't really give you a choice when I said you were going to teach this to me but I do appreciate your help."

"Don't mention it. Now you should be much better equipped to fight crime, alongside the Gold Fighter of course," said a smiling Gohan.

"Haha," said Videl as she playfully hit Gohan in the arm.

"Gohan, do you mind if I ask you something kind of personal?"

"What is it Videl?"

"I didn't want to ask you in front of your mother but what happened to your father? You don't have to answer it if you don't want to, I would understand."

"No that's ok," said Gohan in a somber tone. "He was killed fighting Cell. You already know that I was the young boy who defeated Cell. Well my dad was the one who fought Cell before me. He was the golden haired man who first stepped into the ring with that monster."

"But I don't understand. Everyone that was killed by Cell came back to life, so why didn't your father."

"My father was a great hero, but he also carried a great burden. He saved this planet more times than I can count but he felt that his mere presence on this planet presented a never ending threat. Bitter enemies always seemed to come back for revenge. After I defeated Cell, he felt that I was strong enough to protect this planet and that he was no longer needed."

"It sounds like you talked to your father after he died. I don't understand; how could you possibly know how he felt?"

"It was not a miracle that all those killed by Cell came back to life. It was the work of the dragonballs."

"The dragonballs, but isn't that just a myth."

"No they do exist. They are the reason everyone came back to life after the Cell Games, except for my father."

"Wow Gohan, I had no idea. No wonder your mother seemed so upset when I mentioned this. I should have known the man from the Cell Games was your father, you look just like him."

"Yes, but I think my brother resembles him even more. It was a difficult time after the Cell Games but when my brother Goten was born, he seemed to change everything. My mom and I were sad for some time after the Cell Games, it was hard to deal with the loss of my father, but when Goten was born we had a reason to be happy again. This is a lot to take in. I hope I am not burdening you with this."

"No, it's fine. I can't say I've seen as much as you, but I've seen my fair share of horrors and miracles. If something like Cell can come into existence, there are not many things that can surprise me. There's just one more thing though, how are you able to do what you do. How are you so strong and how were you able to defeat a monster like Cell?"

Gohan looked at his feet and was visibly nervous.

"I might as well tell you, I've told you everything else thus far. Videl, I'm not exactly entirely human."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, my mom is the daughter of the ox king, which is where I get my half human side. My father was not born on this planet though. He was born on a distant planet and came here as a child. He was a saiyan, although they look just like the people on Earth, they were far stronger. That is why I am able to do things most people on this planet aren't even capable of doing."

Videl looked in awe at Gohan. She knew he was different when she discovered he was the Gold Fighter but she had no idea he was part alien. She had never met an alien before nor even believed they existed, yet her friend, standing right in front of her had just admitted to being one. After everything she had heard though and the events that had transpired over the last couple days she had no reason not to believe him.

Gohan turned to the side and looked up with a disappointed look on his face. "I knew I shouldn't have told you so soon. I hope this won't make you look at me any differently."

Videl walked up to Gohan and turned his head towards her. Her hands now laid on the side of Gohan's face.

"Gohan, do you think after everything you've told me and everything that's happened over the last couple days that this is going to change anything between us. I don't care where you're from or what you are, and frankly after what I've seen you do I can't say I am that surprised."

Gohan looked down at Videl and smiled. He lowered his head and placed his hands around Videl's waist. Videl's head stayed stationary as Gohan's lips connected with hers, finishing what they had started earlier. There was no Goten to interrupt them this time as their lips locked and the two passionately kissed. Gohan had never experienced anything like this before, he had fought numerous battles for his life but he had never been as scared as he was when he initiated his first kiss. After another minute of kissing, Gohan moved his head back and looked down at Videl's face. It had seemed like hours since Gohan first made his move. Gohan continued to look down, gazing into Videl's eyes, until she suddenly disappeared from site. Along with her, all the trees and grassy hills of nature disappeared until Gohan was surrounded by nothing but a vast expanse of white.

Gohan turned around to see a familiar face looking back at him.

"I hope you didn't think it was over. This is only beginning."