Commitment and Dedication

by SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan

Gohan and Goku left the Hyperbolic time chamber early. What would have happened if they stayed? Would Gohan have become a Super Saiyan two, or maybe even three? Would Goku still have died? How would the fight with Cell have gone and just what would have been the consequences of it? Read and find out.

6. Or Is It

Disclaimer – I don't own Dragon Ball/Z/GT all I own are my original characters and plot twists.

'Talking'

"Thinking"

"Telepathy"

*expression*

Flashback

Chapter 6 – Or Is It

It was a few days later when Chi-Chi gave birth and Son Goten was born. Despite the foreboding threat hanging over their heads, everyone couldn't help but be happy, even Gohan. However, less than a week after, despite his words back up on the lookout, Gohan was back to his blank state, he now ate much less than normal and trained only for an hour or so a day, choosing to spend almost all his time meditating, trying to think of some solution to their problem. Piccolo would frequently mediate with him in silence, keeping his thoughts a secret, but desperately hoping he would never need to use his plan.

Gohan woke each and every day, annoyance building up every time, as he realised he still didn't have a way to fight against Cooler. As Gohan came down for breakfast one day, Chi-Chi made a request of him.

'Gohan, sweetie, could you please pop by Chazke Village and pick up some groceries for me?' Requested Chi-Chi, as she tried to feed the struggling Goten, who was the spitting image of his father.

'Sure mom.' Said Gohan, with a curt nod.

After Gohan finished eating, he grabbed the list from Chi-Chi and headed off. Chi-Chi sighed in sadness at seeing her eldest son so frazzled.

'Goku, is there anything we can do? There has to be something right?' Asked Chi-Chi desperately, hoping for a miracle.

'Sorry Chi-Chi, I really don't know what we can do.' Said Goku sadly.

"All I can hope for is that Gohan comes up with something…or all of us are finished." Thought Goku grimly.

-line break-

Gohan eventually touched down on the outskirts of Chazke Village.

'I remember the last time I was here.' Said Gohan nostalgically.

Gohan remembered the feelings he felt at the time and desperately wanted to reclaim them now: hope. While Cell had been a strong opponent, things were not as hopeless as they seemed. Gohan did not have to wrack his brains over how to beat Cell, as Cell, while powerful, was not immortal.

Gohan sighed in sadness, before hearing footsteps behind him.

'Hey, who are you?' Questioned a girl, with brown hair tied into two braided pigtails, and wore red overalls over a yellow shirt.

'Just someone looking for some supplies.' Replied Gohan, with a small smile threatening to appear on his face.

'Well how did you get here then? Chazke Village is the only village around this general area and the other three and more than a day's walk away, so where did you come from?' Asked the girl.

'I flew.' Answered Gohan.

'What? A kid like you can't fly a plane or helicopter, no way! I don't believe it.' Retorted the girl.

'Why are you out here anyway, it is not like it is safe wondering around the forest all by yourself?' Asked Gohan.

'I'll have you know that I can look after myself just fine.' Retorted the brunette with a huff.

'Yet I seem to recall needing to fish you out of the river when you tried to get an apple.' Said Gohan, with a smirk.

The girl blushed suddenly at the memory, before realising something.

'Hey, how did you know that? There was only one person who knew aside from me…' Said the girl, before trailing off, as Gohan quickly turned into his Full Power Super Saiyan form, before deactivating it.

'Gohan! How?' Questioned the girl gobsmacked.

'Like I said, I flew, did you forget that I could do that, Lime?' Asked Gohan, with a small smile.

Lime paused for a moment, before blushing and then yelling at him.

'Yeah, and I remember you grabbed my chest you perve!' Shouted Lime, causing Gohan to fall to the ground face first comically in surprise.

'What?' Asked Gohan from the ground.

'Yeah, that's right, when you fished me out of the lake, you grabbed my chest, did you forget? Do you just go around grabbing the chest of every girl you meet?' Accused Lime, pointing her finger at Gohan menacingly.

'What, wait a minute I didn't do that on purpose!' Shouted Gohan, as he jumped back to his feet, quickly waving his hands in front of himself.

'Liar, you didn't even try to move your hand away when we were back on land, you meant it, I know you did!' Continued Lime.

'I seem to recall you were the liar at the time, besides I was making sure you were alright and able to stand, you were struggling a lot in the water, remember, I just tried to get you out of there!' Defended Gohan vehemently.

'Well if that is the case, then why did you never apologise for it afterwards, huh?' Pressed Lime, having fun at teasing Gohan.

'I didn't even know why you were angry, I wasn't paying attention to where my hands were, besides, why were you so focused on where my hands were, when I was just trying to save you?' Retorted Gohan.

'You saved me and then didn't let me go, what was I supposed to think?' Huffed Lime.

Gohan breathed out heavily.

'Look, if it makes up for it, then, I'm sorry, alright.' Said Gohan, with a small bow.

Gohan kept his head down, as he heard Lime walk over to him before she squatted down, so she was in his field of vision.

'It's ok, I knew you didn't mean it, I was just having some fun with you.' Said Lime, with a big smile, before they both stood up.

Gohan chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

'Oh good, I was worried for a minute there.' Said Gohan nervously.

'No need to worry, I was just having some fun. So, what are you doing here?' Asked Lime, assuaging Gohan's worries.

'Oh, I just had to pick up some supplies for my mother, this is the only place I could be sure would have what I needed.' Explained Gohan.

'In that case, follow me, I'll take you to Grandpa's store and you can get what you need.' Said Lime, with her index finger extended, arm straight in the air.

'I have a better idea, close your eyes.' Said Gohan feeling mischievous.

'Why…you better not be trying to get a chance to grope me again?' Said Lime accusingly, causing Gohan to slap the left side of his face in exasperation.

'You said you knew I didn't do it on purpose.' Replied Gohan weakly.

'True, but it has been about a year, a lot can change in that time.' Pointed out Lime.

"You have no idea." Thought Gohan grimly.

'Alright, alright I get your point, but just trust me this time, alright? I'm telling you to close your eyes, because if you don't, you might feel weird.' Explained Gohan.

'Wait a minute, what do you mean by that?' Asked Lime, even more suspicious than she had been before.

'Oh forget this, just don't say I didn't warn you.' Said Gohan, before he quickly placed his hand on her shoulder.

'Hey, what are you-' Started Lime, before she saw a flash of light.

'Doing.' Finished Lime, gobsmacked at seeing that she was now out the back of her Grandad's store, where he did his woodcutting.

'See, I told you to close your eyes.' Said Gohan, with a sigh, as he saw Lime clench her stomach with her right hand uneasily.

'Uh, but how did you get here…how did we get here?' Asked Lime confused.

'Hey, if I can fight toe-to-toe with Cell, don't you think I can do something like teleport?' Asked Gohan jokingly.

Lime didn't reply, as she was still feeling a little nauseated from the abrupt jump.

'Well, I still do need those supplies, so I suppose I'll give you a minute to recover first.' Said Gohan, as he proceeded to enter Mr. Lao's store and get the stuff he needed.

'Hey wait a minute.' Said Lime, after a minute or two, before realising Gohan was in front of her again.

'Wow, you really zoned off there for a minute.' Said Gohan in surprise, now holding the supplies he needed with his left arm against his chest.

'How did you do that?' Asked Lime, almost shouting, as she pushed her face up into Gohan's, causing him to step back and adopt an uneasy expression.

'Uh, well, I just sense the energy of a destination, usually focusing on a life form in particular and use their energy as an anchor for my own, allowing my energy to relocate to that position. I needed to focus on people before, but now a single blade of grass is enough for me.' Explained Gohan, puffing his chest up at the end a little.

'So does that mean if I went to the Moon or something, you could feel that I was on the Moon and teleport there?' Asked Lime curiously.

'Well, yeah, I could, why do you ask?' Questioned Gohan in confusion.

'Why didn't you ever come visit me then, if you could come here in an instant?' Asked Lime, with a downtrodden expression, as she looked down slightly and kicked the ground.

'Oh… sorry Lime…I guess that was a bit rude of me. You see, after Cell was defeated, some people came to Earth and wanted to show us a planet that they were working on and after that I, well, I kind of went off exploring space for almost a year. So, uh yeah, if it helps, I wasn't even on Earth to visit you.' Said Gohan awkwardly.

Lime continued looking at the ground for a bit, before nodding her head, coming to a decision.

'Alright, if that is the case, then from now on you have to visit me every week!' Demanded Lime with a pout.

"Wha-what is with this girl?" Thought Gohan in confusion.

'Shake on it.' Said Lime, as she put her right hand out.

'But…' Started Gohan only to be cut off.

'Hey, no buts, unless, you don't want to be my friend that is.' Said Lime, with a narrowed gaze.

'No, I didn't mean that…alright fine.' Said Gohan in resignation at the end, as he grasped Lime's hand and shook it.

'Alright, now as punishment for not visiting for so long, you have to go home now and wait until next week to come over.' Declared Lime.

'Huh?' Questioned Gohan, leaning his head to the side.

'Yep, you heard me, off you go mister, shoo.' Said Lime, as she gestured for Gohan to go away.

'Uh… ok then, see you next week.' Said a confused Gohan, as he took off into the air.

'And don't forget to come back, or you'll be sorry Gohan!' Shouted Lime through cupped hands, as Gohan started to fly away.

'Don't worry I won't.' Said Gohan with a wave, before bursting off through the sky.

Lime stayed there for a while, looking at the spot she had last seen Gohan. After some time, her grandfather came and stood next to her.

'Is something the matter, Lime?' Asked Mr. Lao.

'I don't know, maybe. Did he feel different to you grandpa, like, not as confident as he seemed before he fought with Cell?' Asked Lime curiously.

Mr. Lao hummed in thought and for some time, there was silence between the two, as Lime stared up quizzically at his face, while he thought about what to say.

'Well, I don't think it is a matter of confidence, but rather of spirit. It felt as though something has broken his spirt. What could break the spirit of a young boy that strong, I shudder to think of.' Said Mr. Lao seriously.

'Do you think there is anything we can do to help?' Asked Lime, a little saddened at what she heard.

'I don't know, however, I think you made the right choice by trying to force him into coming back here every week, he seemed to be fairly happier when he was talking with you and dealing with your antics. All I can say is, just be yourself, it seems to be helping him more than he knows.' Said Mr. Lao thoughtfully, earning a nod from Lime.

'Will do.' Said Lime happily.

-line break-

Gohan touched down just outside the Son residence, his bag of supplies held against his chest with his left arm, as he used his right to open the door.

'I'm back.' Said Gohan, to no one in particular.

'Hey Gohan, that took you a while, have trouble finding things?' Asked Goku cheerfully.

'No, I just had a chat with Lime and Mr. Lao. Remember, that village with the greedy man trying to exploit the people and take their money, using their fear of Cell?' Asked Gohan.

'Uh, maybe, not sure.' Said Goku in thought.

'He had hired Tao.' Prompted Gohan.

'Oh yeah, Mercenary Tao, geez, I wonder what happened to that guy? He always seems to get himself in trouble.' Said Goku in realisation, before ending on a thoughtful note.

'Where's mum?' Asked Gohan, after there was a lull in conversation.

'In here Gohan!' Shouted Chi-Chi from the kitchen.

'Hey Gohan, wanna have a little spar? I'd love to see how strong you are now, not to mention, I haven't been slacking off either.' Said Goku, with a smile.

'Sure dad, it might be fun, let me just go and put these things in the kitchen.' Said Gohan with a small smile, as he walked past Goku and into the kitchen.

"Wow, Gohan looks happy for once, I don't believe it." Thought Goku happily.

'Alright dad, I'm ready.' Said Gohan, reappearing now without the groceries.

'Let's go then!' Exclaimed Goku in excitement, as he put a hand on Gohan's shoulder and they teleported.

-line break-

'Vegeta, come out of there already!' Shouted Bulma, through a monitor that dropped down into the Gravity Chamber.

'Woman I am not coming out of here until I am finished and neither you, nor anyone, is going to make me!' Shouted Vegeta, as he continued to do one-handed elevated push-ups in three hundred- and fifty-times Earth's normal gravity.

'Fine, if you want to be like that, then you can get your own food!' Retorted Bulma, thinking she had won the argument for sure.

'There are more important things in life than food!' Shouted an exasperated and annoyed Vegeta.

Bulma's jaw dropped at that statement. As far as she knew, Saiyans prized food the way Humans prized money. To hear Vegeta say that was shocking and Bulma didn't know what to say. The screen wordlessly disappeared, leaving Vegeta alone once again to train in silence.

'Foolish woman, I am not stopping for food until I am ready, the only thing that will make me stop any earlier than planned is when that scumbag shows up on this planet, so I can rip that smug alien's face in half.' Muttered Vegeta.

Vegeta was brought out of his musings when he felt two signatures appear in the room with him.

'Kakarot, what are you and your spawn doing here?' Questioned Vegeta in annoyance, as he continued doing his push-ups.

'Oh, well I asked Gohan if he wanted to spar and he said yes, so I figured this would be the only place that could handle something like that.' Rambled Goku.

'Fine.' Said Vegeta, as he somersaulted back to his feet.

'I will spar with him first.' Said Vegeta demandingly.

'Aw come on Vegeta, I asked first.' Whined Goku, with a pout.

'Well this is my training area, so tough!' Shouted Vegeta.

'Better yet, how about you both take me on at the same time?' Said Gohan, with a cocky smirk, not unlike Vegeta's.

'Please, two full blood Saiyans against a half blood is hardly fair. Even if Kakarot is a low-class clown I am a Saiyan elite.' Retorted Vegeta.

Gohan wordlessly powered up to his first Super Saiyan form and charged Vegeta sending him flying with an uppercut, before quickly spinning on his foot and giving Goku a roundhouse.

'It wasn't a suggestion.' Said Gohan.

Vegeta roared in anger and quickly transformed, before lunging at Gohan. Vegeta threw a series of quick jabs at Gohan's face, all of which he dodged by tilting his head slightly to the side. Vegeta growled, before quickly smirking, as he threw a right punch, which Gohan predictably leaned away from, after which Vegeta opened his right hand, grasped the back of Gohan's head, and slammed it into his right knee, which he raised to meet Gohan's face, causing a sickening crunch.

Gohan quickly jumped back, cradling his face, before another snap was heard, as Gohan wedged his nose back into place.

'You still have a lot to learn brat, you might have power but I have experience.' Mocked Vegeta.

'Well let's just see how your experience compares against this.' Said Gohan, as he went to charge up a Masenko, before finding himself trapped in a full nelson.

'Not so fast Gohan, I don't think it would be smart to let you start throwing energy blasts around.' Said a transformed Goku, as he started putting pressure on Gohan's head and neck.

Vegeta quickly ran at Gohan and launched a left uppercut right into his gut, before following it up with a kick to his ribs, sending him quickly to the right, as Goku released his hold on him just prior to the kick.

'Now this is more like it.' Said Gohan, as he wiped a bit of blood leaking out of his mouth, onto the back of his right hand.

Goku quickly teleported to Gohan's right and started launching fast side-kicks at Gohan, which he dodged by flipping backwards, only to find Vegeta above him and then proceeded to get smashed in the torso, by a double handed hammer fist on his ribs and gut, sending him crashing into the floor and causing spittle to fly from his mouth. Gohan quickly rolled out of the way of the following elbow strike from Vegeta, only to get a reverse roundhouse to the side of his head from Goku.

'Fine, I guess you two are more than a match for me together now, however, how about now?' Asked Gohan, as he transformed into his Super Saiyan two form, with a small grunt after saying however.

Both full blooded Saiyan's charged once again, but this time, Gohan was too quick for them, easily blocking Goku's kick and Vegeta's punch, with one hand for each of them, before slamming them into each other. Gohan jumped back and charged up a Masenko, which he launched at the crumpled mass of their bodies in an instant, causing a small explosion.

From the dust kicked up in the attack, Vegeta charged at Gohan, right fist raised. Gohan prepared to duck and get inside Vegeta's guard, before feeling Goku teleport behind him and kick him in the back, sending him flying towards Vegeta, before the Saiyan Prince slammed his fist into Gohan's jaw. Gohan disappeared quickly and appeared behind Goku, before slamming an axe kick down onto his shoulder dislocating it, causing Goku to scream in agony, before following it up with a fly-kick, sending him into the wall of the Gravity Chamber, face first, which silenced his screams and caused him to drop out of his transformation, knocked out.

Vegeta blinked and Gohan was suddenly right in front of him, launching a knee into his gut. Vegeta bent over Gohan's knee in pain, before Gohan followed it up with an elbow drop right at the back of Vegeta's neck, knocking him out as well.

'Hmm, what to do now… I know, I'll go see Piccolo and see if he wants to spar.' Said Gohan, before teleporting and leaving two fully grown and unconscious Saiyans alone, in a gravity chamber still at three hundred and fifty times normal gravity.

-line break-

Piccolo was meditating intensely on the lookout, a blue electric glow was emanating from his being, as he tried to marshal his thoughts, levitating a metre in the air.

"It seems this is the only way, I know it will work and our chances of success are reasonably high, since we will be prepared for the search, however… I can't help but shake this nagging feeling that doing so would be bad. Really bad." Thought Piccolo, as he furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance.

'Hey Piccolo, up for a spar?' Asked a voice, breaking Piccolo out of his musings.

The glow around Piccolo started to fade and he slowly descended to the ground. Piccolo straightened out his legs and slowly touched down onto The Lookout, as he opened his eyes.

'What are you doing up here, Gohan?' Asked Piccolo, in his gruff tone of voice, slightly annoyed at being interrupted.

'Well, I was wondering if you want to have a spar or something… or a mind battle. Actually, now that I think about it, where is Broly?' Said Gohan in a chipper tone of voice, surprising Piccolo.

'Uh, I think he his gorging himself at the moment, you Saiyans really can eat.' Said Piccolo, with a disgusted look in his eyes.

'Hehe, sorry about that, it is the metabolism. So how is Broly's training going, is he any calmer yet?' Asked Gohan.

'Well, he can at least remain calm when hearing Goku's name.' Said Piccolo.

'Uh, what about when you call him Kakarot?' Asked Gohan, before hearing a deep growl coming from within the lookout.

'It is still a work in progress.' Said Piccolo with a sigh.

'So… what have you been up to, aside from helping Broly out?' Asked Gohan, slightly bashful, realising that he had mostly been ignoring everyone, even his mentor, who was doing him a favour.

'Just thinking kid. What about you, you seem to be surprisingly high spirited?' Asked Piccolo, with a slightly raised eyebrow.

'Yeah, I guess. Sorry, but it is so frustrating not knowing what to do, I mean, even when I was a kid, the rules were simple, get stronger than the enemy and beat them. Now though, I know I am stronger than the enemy, but I am still no closer to being able to beat them.' Said Gohan in frustration.

'Well, it wouldn't be the first time power wasn't enough. When Trunks tried to defeat Cell, he was stronger than him in his perfect from, but he just couldn't keep up speed-wise. Focusing in any one area of combat too much leads to the neglect of another.' Advised Piccolo sagely, some of Kami's wisdom showing through.

'Right, I know that, but I still can't figure out what to do. I mean, I thought about the Dead Zone, given that is how we stopped Garlic Junior, however, if things go wrong, we could have two immortal villains running around and even though Garlic is really weak, I wouldn't want to risk it, even with the destruction of the Makyo Star. Plus, we don't even really know how to get it to open.' Said Gohan thoughtfully.

'Well, I've had a few ideas myself kid, two to be precise, but one… is something I would rather not use unless it is a last resort and the other, I only came up with a few days ago, but it may and probably will, have repercussions in the future and I don't want to risk it unless we are flat out of options.' Commented Piccolo, causing Gohan to look up in surprise.

'So wait, you mean you have two possible ways to beat Cooler?' Asked Gohan, with a narrowed gaze.

'Indeed, but doing so might be worse than an immortal Cooler, both are rather unpredictable, and one is rather permanent in its downside.' Said Piccolo, with a scowl on his expression.

'Well, at least we have something now, truth be told, I was getting almost nowhere with my plans, only coming up with the idea of teleporting Cooler to a far-off region of space and hoping, eventually, he gives up on trying to kill us, I doubt it though.' Said Gohan sourly.

'It'll be alright kid, we've taken down greater threats before, we will manage somehow, although keep thinking, while my ideas would work, they aren't something I would prefer to use. If push comes to shove, I guess our hand will be forced, however, I would much rather not use them.' Commented Piccolo.

'Alright, I'll keep thinking, thanks for the update, Piccolo.' Said the young hybrid, before teleporting away.

"*Huff* Kid interrupts my meditation and doesn't even spar with me before leaving." Thought Piccolo, with a smile on his face.

Once again a bit shorter than I would have liked but I have had mid-semester exams almost non-stop for the past 5 weeks and still have 2 more to go… yeah, for some reason I have 2 mid-sems per subject this semester… but anyway, moving on to story matters.

For some reason, reviews were glitched around the time of my last update, so I didn't really get very good feedback on the pairing conundrum… so I have decided on a new poll (how original right?). I will have four options, Lime, Videl, #18 and the option of leaving the pairing up to me, if you really don't care either way. Like I said, this will have no real bearing on the action/adventure part of the story, granted, some things will be different depending on which route is taken, however, the main plot won't be altered much at all.

One thing I should point out, is the option of leaving it to me means I will add the total number of votes for that, on top of the votes for the person I decide would work best with Gohan gets. Meaning if the results look like this:

Lime – 10

# 18 – 7

Videl – 12

Leave it up to SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan – 6

And I decide # 18 would work best, then # 18 would win, despite the fact that she has the lowest total. However, this is all hypothetical and if no one votes to leave it up to me, then it will all come down to YOUR votes for who wins.

Oh, and since people seem to be worried, no, I have not abandoned any of my other stories, I am just strapped for time and the very small amount of time I do get, is being put towards this story for now, probably for the next few months, as I feel as though it is my most neglected story as things stand right now. I will probably come back to my DxD story after exams in December and sporadically update my Naruto stories. Once Omega Ruby (which I am getting) and Alpha Sapphire come out, I think I will get a major kick for my Pokémon story and probably churn out a couple of chapters for that as well.
To reiterate, nothing is being abandoned I just have very little time, thank you for understanding.
SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan.