Chapter 7: Father vs Son

Later, when all the numbers had been drawn and all of the members of Earth's Special Forces that would be competing in the tournament were standing in a group, Goku looked to his son, his typical cheerful smile spread across his face.

"Looks like you and I will be fighting in the first round, eh 'Saiyaman'?" Goku said as he gave his son a playful light jab in the chest with his elbow.

Gohan nodded as he rubbed his elbow with a slight wince. "Looks like it dad, you must have become something else what with all the training you've done in the afterlife."

"Sure have," Goku said with a nod. "Though you must have REALLY become something these last few years yourself right Gohan?"

"HehHeh." Gohan rubbed the back of his head as he gave his father an awkward smile. "About that, dad I-"

"Please Kakarot, what your son is trying to say is that he's allowed himself to become soft and weak these past few years. Of course, I could easily be mistaken. After all, that school of yours DOES have a gym."

Both Goku and Gohan gave Vegeta a shared look of annoyance, which the Prince of all Saiyans brushed off as he walked off with typical Vegeta indifference.

Looking back to his son, Goku could see that Gohan was clearly hurt by Vegeta's words.

"Hey, don't let Vegeta get to you like that son." Goku rested his hand on his son's shoulder. "I'm sure you must have done some training right?"

Gohan didn't look him in the eye as he spoke. "Not really. Mostly just studied and help mom out around the house. I did train a lot at first but the years just went by and well…." Gohan couldn't help but turn his face away from his father, a look of shame written across his 17 year old face clear as day.

"Hey,." Gohan felt the solid hand of his father land and rest itself on his green clad shoulder. "I understand Gohan. Really, I do." Goku paused as his face lit up in his typical sunny smile. "You always did have a stronger affinity for learning and reading than you did fighting anyways, even with all of your massive potential."

Gohan was now looking at his father with a half worried, half curious expression. "So you're not upset, or disappointed then?"

"Gohan, if being a scholar and going to high school and living a life like anyone else on the planet is what makes you happy, then the least I can do is support that decision. And just so you know, I'll always be proud of you no matter what you do with your life."

"I..." As much as he tried to help it, Gohan couldn't stop just a few tears from running down his face. "Thank you, father. That means a lot to me, it really does."

Goku could only shrug in response. "I was never the best of dads when I was alive, so it's the least I can do. All I ask is that you do at least try do a little bit of training, if anything like Cell or Freeza attacks the Earth, it'll be up to you and Vegeta mostly to save the day."

Gohan chuckled and then gave his father a cheerful grin. "Fair enough Dad. Though, you do know that I'm probably not going to give you as good a match as you might want, right?"

Goku gave him another one of his infectiously optimistic grins. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you, it'll just be like our spars while we were training to fight against Cell. Sound good?"

Gohan nodded. "It does, actually."

DBZ

"Come on Chi," Trunks said in a whining tone of voice. "Don't you want the chance to compete against your father?"

Chi shook her head. "Not really, no. Besides, I've used up most of my energy fighting Marron anyways." Chi had never been a fan of the taste of Senzu beans and had thus declined to take one when it had been offered to her. "So if you'll excuse me, I'm going back for some more ice cream. See ya Trunks."

Trunks let out a sigh as he saw Chi walk off. First Time had refused his idea, now Chi. He'd ask Marron, but the "Junior Champion" was currently suffering from a very nasty stomach ache and belly bloat and hardly looked to be in fighting condition. So she was out.

And if he couldn't convince any of the other kids, there was no way in hell he'd be able to convince his sister, given the bad mood she seemed to be in (Dad was no doubt involved somehow, when Bra was in a bad mood, dad was always the reason why, at least that's how it seemed to Trunks).

"So much for my chance at competing with the grown ups I guess…" He kicked a nearby empty soda can and shoved his hands roughly into his uniform's pockets. Trunks sighed, at least there was always his dad's fighting to look forward to, if nothing else.

DBZ

"FOLKS, IT LOOKS LIKE WE ARE IN FOR A SPECIAL TREAT, FOR THE FIRST ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT, LONG TIMER COMPETITOR AND WINNER OF THE 23'rd WORLD TOURNAMENT SON GOKU IS FACING OFF AGAINST NEWCOMER, THE GREAT SAIYAMAN!"

"Hey Gohan?"

"Yea dad?" Gohan asked as he bent down in a fighting pose.

Goku smiled. "Best of luck son."

"Thanks," Gohan said, returning his father's smile with a grin of his own.

With that, both father and son bent down into fighting poses and waited for the Announcer to allow their match to start.

"BEGIN!"

Goku was the first to go on the attack as he flew at his son, an arm raised back in a punch, which he threw at Gohan's face when he quickly came within reach. Gohan blocked the punch with one hand and countered hastily with a strong blow to his father's stomach with his knee. The resulting blow sent the halo crowned Saiyan flying high into the air, the wind having been knocked out of his lungs in the process.

Gohan shot up in the air after him, a flame of white aura appearing around him as he increased his flying speed. In a matter of nanoseconds Gohan had flown past his father and, lifting his arms above his head and grasping his hands together, waited. A second later he saw his father's orange clad body come rocketing towards him, waiting only a half a second longer Gohan a delivered smashing doubled handed blow to Goku's back.

The resulting whack! sound of hands connecting with spine reverberated in the air for a few moments as Son Goku's seemingly unconscious body crashed back down to earth, and more importantly, the arena.

Gohan frowned as he lowered himself back down to the ground, crossing his arms together when he reached the ground moments later. "Get up dad, we both know that you aren't going to be taken out by moves like that."

"I know.," Goku said as he pushed his body face first off of the ground and hopped back to his feet, brushing his orange gi off in the process as he did so. "I just wanted to see for myself what level your skills were at, not bad, considering you've had, what, a few weeks of intense training at the most to re-sharpen your abilities?"

"Something like that dad…" Gohan said, his face flushing a slight shade of pink for whatever reason even he didn't know. "Want to get serious though?"

"I'm ready when you are son," Goku said as he began winding an arm around like a windmill in an effort to stretch it out.

Gohan nodded and crouched down in the fighting stance of the Demon style that Piccolo had taught him over ten years ago. Goku went with his tried and true Turtle style stance and there was a brief moment of tension between father and son. But the moment of tension passed as the two both leapt forward at one another and began trading off furious punches with machine gun-like speed.

This went on as the seconds passed and it was when Gohan finally managed to slip past his father's defenses that he was able to land another blow on him, this one a right hook that sent the dead Saiyan sailing back a few more feet towards the arena's edge.

"Not bad," Goku said to his son, his typical 'battle' grin spread across his face. "But now it's my turn. Kaio-Ken times two!" With that a sudden burst of red aura surrounded Goku's body as his power doubled in strength.

"Oh come on dad, that's cheating!"

Goku could only give his son an impish smile. "Hey, you said no going Super, you didn't say anything about moves like the Kaio-Ken."

"I-Well…Alright, if that's how you want do it then dad, Masenko!"

The sudden gold beam of ki that shot forth from Gohan's hands had come quick and spontaneously. It was only with the help of the training he had received in the afterlife, coupled with the boost of the Kaio-Ken, that Goku had dodged the attack at all, bending upwards so as to avoid the audience as it shot off harmlessly into the clear blue sky. In the split second, that his son was busy maintaining the attack Goku appeared beside his son and delivered a powerful kick right across Gohan's face.

Unable to block the blow in the slightest the Great Sayiaman was sent hurtling into the wall, where he crashed to the ground, dazed, moments later. The Announcer declared Goku the winner, and the long absent father went over to help his son.

"You did pretty good for yourself Gohan, considering the restrictions we had on us. Once the tournament is over would you be up for a real spar?"

Gohan could only moan, his eyes now circling spirals. "Let me get back to you on that dad- As soon as those birds and stars circling my head go away that is."

And so we have the first of the adult matches, with Goku being the winner (see Gohan, this is what happens when you slack off!). Also, this week it seems we have another reviewer with us, a person by the name of NatNicole. I'm glad you're liking Chi's character, is there anything in particular that you thinks unique about her when compared to some of the other "Goku and Chi Chi have a daughter" characters out there, or do you just like her in general? And sadly this chapter will have answered your question on the whole Mighty Mask deal, which is to say that no, I'm not doing it for this fic. Also, in the off chance anyone was confused, Gohan didn't forget his disguise like he did in canon, and thus none of his friends will be making the connection between him and any of his superpowers until the more heavier and serious squeal.