A/N: Thank you to all those who have been favoriting and following this story.

Disclaimer: I do not Own Dragonball Z

Chapter 4: A new master!? (Kind of…)

In the final battle zone of the intergalactic tournament, a lone man crept through the wreckage. He had seen the beginning of the incredible and terrifying battle between the Z fighters and the aliens on the big screen used to show the tournament fights, and he had only one thought on his mind… Escape. He had tried leaving the moment he noticed the fighters with the crazy powers were in his tournament, but that didn't work out since the island had already drifted out to sea. Then, the scary blue aliens killed Dosukoi, and he thought he could get out in the ensuing chaos. After all, those fighters from the Cell games were here. They could surely handle anything those aliens would dish out, right? Even if they couldn't, how could he help at all? He couldn't fly or shoot lasers from his hands. But the fans believed in him, and he couldn't just let him down. He was the champ after all.

Hercule Satan arrived in the smoking ruins via the rocket car and tried to surreptitiously make his way to where the main battle was happening. He rolled and jumped behind rubble, making sure nobody could see him, especially not those blue freaks.

"Why oh why do I always have to get into these things?" The champ lamented to himself. As he neared the sight of the battle, he could hardly bare to look. Peaking over a crumbled wall he saw 4 figures laying scattered on the ground. Looking closer he recognized 3 of them from the tournament and the fourth was the alien lady.

"Goh Noo!" He cried, but swiftly covered his own mouth and looked all around him for enemies. Those aliens must have killed those cell game fighters! We're all doomed. He was about to run away, but then he noticed that not only were there no angry alien monsters around, there was no sign of the impending doom at all. There was no explosions or maniacal laughing. Then it dawned on Hercule that maybe the invaders had just left.

"BAHAHAHA! Of course, anyone would flee when they hear that the great Hercule Satan is lookin' for a fight! They must've ran the minute they heard I was coming. BHAHAHAHA!" His laughter was interrupted by a small sound.

"Hey…"

"GYEEEE!" Hercule yelled, flailed, and crouched down, covering his head with his hands. "OH NO! They've come back! I'm sorry I didn't mean it! Please don't hurt me! I surrender!" As Hercule cowered, the voice spoke up again.

"Over here." The voice was weak and didn't sound threatening, so Hercule calmed down. He cautiously made his way over to where the voice was coming from. Lying on the ground and looking pretty banged up, was the green fighter.

"Oh uh, hey there fella. You're not lookin' so good." Hercule looked at Piccolo and stated the obvious.

"Really? *cough* How perceptive of you." Piccolo was not pleased that the one to come to their aid was this fool of all people. It could have been Tien, or Krillin, or even (shudder) Yamcha. But no, the clown had to show up. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. "I need you to listen to me and do exactly as I say." Piccolo stated with all the authority he could muster, which was quite a lot.

Hercule gulped. "Uh ok, whatever you say. But what happened here? Are the aliens still around?" Hercule asked while his eyes darted back and forth as if BoJack was hiding behind a building this whole time.

"What happened was the earth was saved by that kid over there. Again." Piccolo raised a finger to point in Gohan's direction.

"Wait, so the aliens were beaten by that kid? Wasn't he the same one who beat Cell?" Hercule asked looking at Gohan. Piccolo nodded. "That's right, and we will be talking about that later, but right now I need you to get us all to a hospital right away. Can you do that?" Piccolo asked

Hercules mind was racing. The same kid who beat Cell had just saved the earth again. He looked over at Gohan's prone form.

'If that kid talks, I'm history! My reputation, my fame, everything.'

Then he immediately felt ashamed. The kid looked about as old as Videl, and he had already become a greater fighter than he could ever hope to be, not to mention a greater hero.

'This kid just risked his life to protect all of us and her I am complaining about stomach aches.'

What right did he have to take away this Kid's glory? If anybody earned it, he had. Hercule looked back to Piccolo and with resolution said "There's a communicator in that rocket car. I can run back and call for an ambulance, it should be here in 20 minutes, can you all hold on that long?"

Piccolo just grunted in response and Hercule took that as a yes. He was about to book it to his vehicle but then spotted the unconscious form of Zangya.

"What about her?" Hercule asked.

"She risked her life trying to protect Gohan. I don't know if we can trust her but she deserves to be helped as well."

After a quick nod of understanding, Hercule sprinted at full speed to the rocket that he came in and picked up the communicator.

"Hello? This is Hercule Satan. There are some pretty beat up folks over here, and we need your immediate assistance."

Break

"YEEEEOOOOOOWW!" The blood curdling cries of a warrior in pain penetrated the hospital. The other patients heard the sound of a tortured being and tried to escape before whatever was happening, happened to them.

"GYYYYAAAAAHHHAHHOOWW!"

"AAYYYEEEEEEE! NOO, NO STOOOP!"

"Young man," A middle-aged nurse reprimanded. "You need to calm down. We are only changing your bandages." She rolled her eyes as she continued to wrap Gohan up in his new bandages.

"I swear Gohan, you are just as bad as your father." Chichi said with absolutely no sympathy for her son.

"But Mom!" Whined Gohan, with tears in his eyes. "It hurts."

"I don't want to hear it. Let these nice nurses do their job. Honestly, I don't understand how you and your father can go through all your training, fight monsters and aliens, but somehow the littlest thing makes you scream like somebody's torturing you." It had been 3 days since the fight with BoJack and the z fighters were recovering faster than the doctors had ever seen before. Of course, Chichi was worried when her little boy first came to the hospital. The only thing that stopped her from going and protecting her son right away was that she had to take care of little Goten. Once Gohan's condition stabilized, however, she was furious that he put himself in that situation at all.

The only thing that saved Gohan was the fact he was injured, otherwise she would give him a piece of her mind. As it was, she settled for stern looks every couple of minutes (which was surprisingly effective on not only Gohan, but Piccolo and Trunks as well). Of course, the other z fighters hadn't escaped her wrath. She had given Piccolo and Trunks a thorough tongue lashing for letting her son get into such a state. She was pleased to notice that with them she didn't even have to use a stern look, since her mere presence caused the two of them to get very nervous. Making the strongest beings on the planet cower gave the tiger mom a sense of pleasure.

The nurses were about to continue changing the bandages but stopped when the door opened.

"Uh, excuse me?"

As soon as the nurses in the room saw who it was they squealed with glee

"KYAAA!3 Mr. Satan!"

The nurses quickly forgot Gohan and where about to crowd around Hercule, but were stopped by the very different reaction of the other female in the room.

"YOU!" Chichi yelled and marched towards "the champ". "How dare you show your face in here, after everything you've done!" Chichi's head seemed to grow 3 times the size while Hercule seemed to grow smaller and pale. As the Son mother advanced on the world champion, he held up his hands in a gesture meant to placate the woman, but that he also hoped she would interpret as a surrender.

"Mrs. Son, I know you must be pretty furious at me, believe me I know I deserve it. But I was wonderin' if it might be alright if I talked to your boy here?"

The nurses were stunned that this woman had the gall to speak to the savior of earth like that, but Hercule knew all too well why she was mad and didn't want to upset her further.

"What do you want to talk to Gohan about?" Chichi questioned, not trusting the big frauds motives. She was incredibly bitter that he had taken credit for defeating Cell. Not to mention the way he denounced her husband and son as fakes. 'Smoke and mirrors? HAH.' She didn't like that Gohan fought Cell to begin with, but she was incredibly proud of her son for saving earth, and he deserved the credit.

"Look I just wanted to apologize personally. I was hopin' I could talk to the kid in private?" Hercule asked hopefully.

"Anything you have to say to him can be said in public, now get out of here!" But before Chichi could throw him out, Gohan spoke up.

"Wait mom, I don't mind just talking with him." Gohan knew Hercule was a fraud and that he should probably be mad that he stole his 'glory' for defeating Cell, but to be honest he really wasn't all that upset. His father never cared about the fame after all.

Chichi looked at Gohan, a little shocked, but turned towards the door ushering the nurses out before turning around and saying with a glare toward Hercule "You have ten minutes." Then she slammed the door behind her, leaving the world champ and her son staring awkwardly at the door.

"That's some mom you got there, kid." Hercule said.

"You have no Idea." Gohan replied chuckling.

The two looked at each other for a moment before Hercule dropped straight to his knees and went into a full on dogeza.

"I am so sorry! Can you ever forgive me?" The world champion was begging for forgiveness from a kid but, what surprised Gohan was that he seemed to be sincere.

"W-what?" Gohan spoke dumbly.

Without raising his head Hercule expounded on his apology. "I'm sorry that I stole your glory for defeating Cell. I know it was wrong. It all happened so fast, and you guys weren't around, so I just figured 'Why not'. But then I saw you in the tournament with all your buddies and I didn't want you to take away my fame." Hercule found it easier to talk the more he went on. It felt like a heavy burden was being lifted away with every word he spoke. "Then I saw you guys on the screen and you were fightin' those crazy aliens and instead of tryin' to help, like the World champion should, I tried to run away. I'm so ashamed of what I've done." He raised his head a little, tears starting to come from his eyes.

"Imagine, a bunch of nobodies, and a child to boot, savin' the world while the champ sits back and complains about fake stomach pains. Now look at you, stuck in a hospital all bandaged up. It's no wonder your mom wanted to kill me. If anyone had done to my little girl what I did to you, I'd throttle em. I don't deserve to be the champ. I called true fighters fakes and magicians just cuz I couldn't do what yall could. I don't deserve to be called the savior and I can't tell you how sorry I am." As Hercule finished his apology he waited for the response. After a full minute, none came and Hercule couldn't resist raising his head to look at Gohan. To his surprised the boy was stunned.

The last thing Gohan expected to see today was a grown man crying and groveling at his bedside. It wasn't like he held a grudge against Mr. Satan.

"It's ok." Was all he could think to say.

If Gohan was stunned by Hercules apology, it was nothing compared to how Hercule felt at being forgiven so easily.

"B-but I took your glory." Hercule insisted. "I stood by like a coward while you protected earth, twice. Aren't you mad at me?"

If Gohan wasn't so immobilized by bandages he would have scratched his chin.

"Well, I wasn't fighting for the glory or the credit. Cell was a monster, and he had to be stopped. It was never about getting famous. It was the same thing with BoJack and his men. They tried to hurt innocent people and I was there to stop them." Gohan continued to think about all the stuff Hercule apologized for. "As far as hanging back to let us fight the threat goes, well, don't take this the wrong way but you wouldn't really have been any help anyway." Gohan hoped he didn't sound rude when he basically called Hercule a weakling.

"But… but I still should have tried to help instead of hidin' behind a rock. I am the peoples champion after all, I should have done something."

Gohan just laughed at that. He laughed so long that Hercule was actually getting a little offended that the kid thought so little of him. Gohan finally stopped laughing and said "Mr. Satan, you did help. You brought me and my friends here, which may have saved our lives. Even during the cell games, you helped out."

"I did?" Hercule was beyond confused now.

"Ya, don't you remember throwing android 16's head? Well that one act changed the tide of the battle. So, you really did save the earth in a sense. I really, honestly do not mind you taking the credit, and as long as you don't say things about my dad and friends being fakes, then I'd say we're even."

Hercule couldn't believe his ears. He had tried to give the credit to the boy and he didn't even want it. In fact, he seemed to be ok with him continuing the charade as long as he didn't slander his friends.

'Wait a minute, that means I can keep being the champ! Nobody has to know and I can keep bein' a hero!' But that last word put a stop to his inner celebration. 'Who am I kidding? I'm no hero. This kid just saved the planet twice and doesn't want anything in return. He just wanted to do the right thing.' Now Hercule had made up his mind.

"No, I can't keep lying like this. The reporters have been hounding me for details about what happened with the aliens but, I didn't want to talk with them till I spoke to you first. I'm gonna tell them the truth about what happened. How you save the earth. I'm also going to fess up about the Cell games." Hercule stood up. "That probably means I'm gonna be hated, but It'll be worth it if it means the Earth knows who it's true champion is."

Gohan was touched and didn't know how to respond. Fortunately, he didn't have to, as just then, two green men and a teenager with long white hair appeared floating through the window. Hercule remembered the tall ones but had no idea who the little green one was.

"Piccolo! Dende! Trunks!" Gohan shouted his friends name in joy. He hadn't actually been able to see his friends since coming to the hospital, and was overjoyed to know that they were ok.

"Hey kid, I snuck out of the hospital to get some senzu beans from Korrin, but he was all out. Fortunately, we got something even better." Piccolo gestured toward Dende.

"Hey Gohan!" Dende hailed his friend with enthusiasm, then looked down in sorrow when he noticed how bad off Gohan was. "Sorry I didn't come sooner. I had no Idea how bad it was. Piccolo came and asked if I would mind coming down to heal you and Trunks if that would be ok?"

"Oh wow! That'd be great! Thanks Piccolo! Thanks, Dende!" Gohan was relieved that he wouldn't have to spend another month in the hospital.

Dende set to work Healing Gohan. A faint green glow emanated from his hands and soon surrounded Gohan entirely. Within minutes Gohan was back to full strength and taking off his bandages.

"Man, that feels great!" Gohan said stretching his arms and legs. "Let's get out of here before mom gets back!" The others nodded quickly, not wanting to risk Chichi making them stay even though they were fully healed. Gohan then turned to Hercule. "I'll see you around, Mr. Satan. Really, don't worry about anything. In fact, I would really rather not people knowing it was me that beat Cell and BoJack. I'm about to go to school after summer and it would be a huge hassle if everyone thought I was some kind of celebrity." Gohan grinned and waved as he flew with his friends out the window.

"Hey wait!" Hercule yelled as he ran to the window. "What am I supposed to tell the Press!?"

Just then Chichi walked back in "Alright times up…OH NOOO! DID HE JUST LEAVE!?" She ran to the window and spotted her son and his fellow escapees. "SON GOHAN! YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Gohan looked back and said "What was that mom!? I Couldn't hear you!"

"She said-" Dende started but was shushed by Piccolo and Trunks.

"See you back home!" Gohan yelled to his mother.

"How come you shushed me?" Dende asked.

"Situational awareness kid." Piccolo said. "What Gohan doesn't hear, won't hurt him."

Dende was still confused but he figured it was an earth thing.

"Oh wait!" Yelled Gohan. "We forgot that alien girl back at the hospital."

"It's alright Gohan. I already took her to the lookout. Mr. Popo is taking care of her."

"Oh…That's good." Gohan was a bit surprised that he didn't have to convince Piccolo to help Zangya. Oh well. You never can tell with some people.

"The Lookout is a much more secure place for prisoners anyway." Piccolo explained.

"Oh… Right." Gohan nodded. 'Yup. Same old Piccolo.'

Break

Later that day, a press conference was called by the world champion himself, Mr. Satan. Every major media outlet had made a point to be there for what they were sure was going to be a thrilling tale of the battle between the Earth's greatest champion, and the evil alien invaders. None of them could have guessed what the real story was going to be.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, I would like to thank you all for coming out today." Hercule was actually nervous. For the first time in his life, he felt conflicted about what he would give the reporters for their stories.

"Mr. Satan, are you finally going to tell us how you defeated the extraterrestrials?"

"Champ, over here. Why haven't you called a press conference sooner? It's been 3 days."

"Is it true that you saved the lives of the other three finalists and that's why they didn't share the same tragic fate as Dosukoi?"

Hercule was sweating. He wanted to tell the whole truth but changing his story after almost a year wasn't that easy. Plus, the kid said that he didn't want to be known. After thinking about it, he decided on a compromise.

"That's right folks, I am here to tell you all about what happened during the invasion." Hercule began. "But to take all the credit for myself would be a gross miscarriage of justice." This caught their attention. "The fighter's I found at the sight had fought bravely trying to defend our planet. Without them we would surely be doomed. But the most impressive feat I saw was a kid fighting alien monsters twice his size and win. The boy in question asked me not to say his name but he is a great hero. He was the same boy who fought Cell in the Cell games."

A reporter interrupted him "Mr. Satan, your statements seem to imply that you didn't defeat the aliens. Could you please clarify?"

"No, I didn't." a collective gasp swept over the press conference. Hercule paused for a more dramatic effect as he smirked. "That Honor belongs to somebody with the potential to become far stronger than even myself." The reporters were now on the edge of their seats. "So, without further ado, let me introduce you all to…MY NEW APPRENTICE!" Hercule put one finger up high in the air. "YOU KNOW HIM FROM THE CELL GAMES, A HERO IF I EVER SAW ONE! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE GOLD FIGHTER!" With these words, a giant poster unrolled revealing the picture to be a super Saiyan Gohan.

At the revelation the crowd went nuts with questions. Hercule stood there with his fists on his hips and smiling.

'I sure hope they're ok with this.' Hercule thought to himself. Afterall he was trying to do right by the kid and not reveal his identity at the same time.

'Heheh, OH YEAH, this idea was pure genius!'

Break

The following morning the Son family was sitting down to breakfast. Gohan was eating his 7th helping when he saw something in the morning newspaper that made him spit out all his food.

"Gohan!" Chichi reprimanded. "What in the world has gotten into you!?"

Gohan showed the article that had made him nearly choke. On the front page was a picture of him in his super Saiyan form and purple gi, with the headline above reading "The Champs' New Apprentice: 'The Gold Fighter.'"

Chichi stared at the headline for a full five minutes before she calmly said "Well… That was unexpected."

End of chapter.

A/N: Alright I hope y'all don't freak out too much. I just thought this would be a great set up for future hilarity and shenanigans. Sorry there wasn't really action in this chapter. I will make sure there are a few good training scenes soon. review to let me know what you think. I always appreciate the feedback.