Gohan jogged along the sidewalk in the early morning light. the little five year old carried his messenger bag filled with newspapers in his arms so it wouldn't drag along the ground. Steven rode along behind him on his bicycle. It was Gohan's fifth day of training, and his father had set him up to do the entire newspaper route for beach city this morning. Goku was tracking him from above in the nimbus to make sure he didn't hurt himself or get lost. Steven remembered having to do this, so he decided to tag along as well to cheer the little half Saiyan along.

Gohan actually wasn't doing that bad. Although Goku had made him deliver to the door like with Steven, he didn't make him run while doing so.

Gohan had stopped at several houses so far, including Mayor Dewey's and Mr. Smiley's. Next was the Pizza's. The little half Saiyan ran up to the door and knocked on it. "I'm coming!" Jenny called as she walked towards the door. She opened the door, half awake and crabby. "Ok, what do you wa...Huh?" she said looking down. The little Saiyan boy was standing at her feet and panting.

"Paper for you, miss," he huffed as he held one up for her.

"Oh...Thanks…" she said, taking the paper from him, "You're the little guy that hangs around Steven, right?"

he nodded. "Yeah, My name's Gohan. Nice to meet you," he replied, having caught his breath.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine. I'm just still getting used to the training program my dad set me up on," he assured, "I better get back to it. Have a good day!" He then ran off to the next house. Jenny frowned as she watched him.

….

A few months later….

Chichi opened the door, surprised to find not Sour Cream standing there, but Jenny Pizza. "Jenny? What are you doing here? I asked Sour Cream to look after Gohan this morning," she said. Goku was busy with Steven today and Chichi had to fly to Bulma's this morning and couldn't take Gohan with her. He needed to sleep. Vegeta and Goku had taken him out the previous night to practice controlling his Oozaru form again. She didn't like the idea of her baby boy staying out so late doing something so dangerous, but if he didn't the only other option would be to cut off the boy's tail. She couldn't do that to him.

"Sorry, but he woke up with the flu this morning so he called me up instead. I don't mind. It beats sitting through the morning shift at my dad's shop!" she joked.

"Ok…" Chichi accepted tentatively. Although she prefered Sour Cream looking after him while she was away due to his family's connections to the Z fighters, Gohan would probably just sleep the entire time, so Chichi supposed it wouldn't matter who was looking after him. "He's taking a nap right now, so don't wake him up unless absolutely necessary. Just call me if anything goes wrong. Both my cell phone and Bulma's number should be on the fridge. Speaking of which, if he wakes up hungry, there should be plenty you can warm up for him, Alright?" she explained as she stepped out the door.

"Got it!" Jenny said with a mock salute and a nodded before shutting the door behind her. She then walked a little down the drive before hailing the flying nimbus and taking off.

Jenny flopped down on the couch and pulled out her phone. She pretty much had the house to herself. She smiled as she thought about how easy this was going to be. She was going to be paid ten dollars an hour just to make sure the kid was still sleeping in the house! This was like free money. It was so much better than having her dad on her back all the time at work. Having a sister was the worst! Her dad was constantly comparing her to Kiki. Why he couldn't get that she wasn't like her sister, she'd never understand. As She relaxed and texted her friends, she looked around the room. There appeared to be a turtle shell lying in the corner along with a box of training gear. On the desk beside it was a stack of heavy text books. Jenny tilted her head curiously at it. Was one of Gohan's parent's going back to school? Interesting.

Suddenly, Jenny heard a yawn and footsteps as the little half Saiyan stepped downstairs. "Mom?" he called, "Mom, can I have a glass of water?" He walked into the living room and rubbing his eyes, his blanket draped over his shoulders. When he walked into the living room, there was an awkward silence as the two stared at each other. "Where's my mom?" he finally asked.

"She's out right now. She told me to look after you," Jenny explained.

"Oh…" Gohan said, still half awake. There was another pause before he spoke up again. "Can you get me a glass of water then?" he asked.

"No problem, kiddo," She said as she passed by him on her way to the kitchen. As she did, she got a good look at the little boy. "Jeeze, kid are you feeling alright?" she asked. His hair was a mess and there were dark circles around his eyes. "Do you need any medicine?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just really tired. I didn't sleep last night," he explained.

Jenny gave him a concerned look as she filled a glass at the sink. "What happened to you? Did you have a nightmare?" she asked.

Gohan shook his head no. "My daddy and Mr. Vegeta took me out for special Saiyan training last night," he explained sleepily, "We were out all night and just got home at dawn."

Jenny nearly dropped the glass. "What did you say?" she asked, "That's crazy! No wonder you're half dead right now!" "Wait, aren't you like, five? Why are they having you out so late when you're only five?" she asked.

Gohan shrugged. "Dad says it's for my own good. It's not so bad. This isn't the first time we've done this," he explained, "And I took a nap before hand, so it's not like I didn't get any sleep. And Vegeta said he started this kind of training when he was four."

"Ok…" she said with a nod, but she didn't fully believe him.

She then heard a loud noise coming from the kid's stomach. He looked down at his stomach for a second before looking up again. "Can I have something to eat too?" he asked.

….

"I'm telling you guys, there's something weird going on with that kid," she explained, "They had him stay up all night working out! He's only five! On top of that, his mother has him looking over grade school level text books right now when he's barely out of preschool."

"Woah…Talk about a tiger mom," Buck commented.

"I know, right? I thought I had it bad with my Dad getting on my case about school work!" Jenny exclaimed, "But if it was just that I wouldn't worry. There are plenty of parents who are pushy about grades. He's doing so much else on the side, though." "So get this. I found this fifty pound turtle shell in the kid's house, right? Kinda a neat decoration, but it's not a decoration," she said, "His dad plans on having him carry that on his back in a few years while he does his morning paper route! Can you believe that?!"

Buck's sun glasses fell a little as he looked at her in surprise. "You're kidding right?" he asked. Jenny shook her head no. "That's messed up," he said shaking his head.

"Actually, it's not that crazy…" Sour Cream finally said, grabbing their attention, "At least not for them. Aside from the school work anyways."

"I'm sorry, but what?" Jenny asked.

"I mean as Saiyans they kinda do things differently. When I was little, My mom would hang around his dad and Vegeta. They'd get into some pretty intense training. Mom used to say it kept them from going stir crazy. And I remember a story Goku told me where one of his teachers used to have him lug a turtle shell around while delivering milk. He use to have to forge rivers with that thing," he explained, "And I remember Steven lugging that thing around when he used to do the paper route. I'm not saying I agree with it, but I don't know if we have the right to judge, ya know?"

"Ok but what about the midnight training thing? That kid was practically dead by the next morning," Jenny argued, "That can't be seen as normal. Who takes their kid out all night for a workout?"

Sour Cream frowned. 'Maybe because if they didn't, the kid might destroy the town on accident…' he thought to himself. He knew how dangerous the Oozaru state was. He recalled the time he first learned about it when he snuck out of the house as a kid and followed the two Saiyans on their "secret midnight training". He had been going through an "I want to be a ninja" phase. He loved watching them train at the time and wanted to see what kinds of awesome secret moves they would be practicing. His mother had always told him no and the two Saiyans had even a stronger stance on against letting him watch. That of course, had only made pre-teen Sour Cream want to see what was going on even more. What he found had been less amazing than he thought and more horrifying. They hadn't hurt anyone in those monstrous forms, and they never caught him, but it didn't stop him from not being able visit the two aliens for a while. "It's…a cultural thing…" he half lied, "Just leave them be about it. Trust me, it's not something we should get involved in."

His two friend stared at him for a second. "If you say so…?" Jenny said, more worried than before. There was an awkward silence between them. Then Jenny spoke up again. "So...how's the new mixtape coming?" she asked, lightening the mood.

….

She knew Sour Cream had told her to leave well enough alone, but Jenny wasn't about to give up just yet. Maybe the kid could handle this, but he was still a just a kid. He shouldn't have to work this hard. She wasn't going to barge into his house and yell at his parents or anything like that, but she could do little things like this. She drove up the hill to where she knew his paper route ended. As she saw him running down the hill as he headed back home, she waved at him. "Hey Gohan!" she called cheerfully, "Need a ride home?"

The boy stopped and hesitated. "Um...No thanks," he said, "I have to finish up this part of my training. Thanks for the offer, though."

"Aw, come on!" she said, "You've been working so hard that you need a little break. Come on, I have some leftover breadsticks in the back if you want 'em."

Gohan stopped to think for a second. He looked around for anyone watching before nodding and hopping in. Jenny smiled as she handed him the bag of breadsticks, which he immediately dug into.

"That workout must have made you hungry," she noted, "So you do this every week?"

Gohan nodded. "I deliver newspapers on Sundays and then my dad takes me on a three mile hike in Mount Pizao on weekdays," he explains.

Jenny eyes widened. "Really?" she asked, "That sounds rough...though I guess the scenery must be nice." Gohan nodded. "You know…" Jenny continued, "You don't have to do all this training. I'm sure your parents would understand if you asked them to ease up on you or push it off until you're older."

"I know," he said as he finished up on the breadsticks, "But I like training with my dad."

Jenny slammed on the breaks as they reached a stoplight. "You actually like this crazy workout routine your dad has you on?" she questioned.

"Yeah. It's what I asked for my birthday," he said, "It's difficult, but I get to spend a lot of time with him and Steven, and I can't wait until he teaches me some martial arts techniques." "My mom doesn't want me to be fight monsters, and I kind of don't want to either, but I want to be strong like him one day," he explained, "But I appreciate the break. Running back to the temple after this is always the hardest."

"No problem, kiddo," she said.

"Hey can you drop me off a little ways away? My dad might be a little upset if he finds out I kind of cheated in my training," he explained.

"Sure," she said as she pulled up to the beginning of the boardwalk. She dropped him off there and waved him off. "See ya, kid!" she said, "Let me know if you ever need another ride, or more breadsticks, ok?"

"Ok!" he responded, "See ya." he then headed off back to the temple. Jenny smiled. Maybe Sour Cream was right. That kid's life wasn't normal, but then again, neither was he. And if he could handle all that then she could handle dealing with her own problems.

Sorry for the sudden filler after last chapter. I have one more chapter of filler after this before I get into the plot of the story. Tomorrow: Ocean Gem.