(A couple days later)
"So Gohan… how are things going with your schoolwork?" the familiar, chipper voice of Goku filled the air as he and his son sat side by side on the fields covering the Grand Kai's planet. Taking note of the bruises, scrapes and sweat covering both their bodies, as well as the disheveled condition of their training gear, it was easy to tell that they'd just finished getting through one hell of a sparring session. "The last I heard from you, you said you were interested in spending your last year of studying in high school. Have you made any progress since then?"
"Yeah. A lot actually," Gohan answered, wiping his neck down with a towel and glancing across at his old man cheerfully, whom was looking just as beat up if not more beat up then he was. "I just got a letter from Orange Star High in Satan City that I'd passed the entrance exam with top marks in all subjects. I'll be starting my first term at school in a couple weeks time."
The father's face immediately lit up with delight. "Ah, man. That's fantastic, son. Well done." He then leaned forward on the grass and beamed proudly at his oldest. "I'm sure your mother will be very happy for you."
"I sure hope so. She's been asking me a lot of questions as to what I'd like to do as a side job next to all my martial arts stuff, and I was able to give her a few ideas. But… I think she's more interested as to whether or not I've found a girlfriend that could give her grandchildren… preferably sometime in the next couple of years." This revelation brought a shade of red to the teen's face as he turned his gaze towards the grass miserably. It was a reaction that did not go unnoticed by his father, who craned his head a little to get a better look at his son's embarrassed facial expression. "Man… I wish she wouldn't be so pushy about it."
In response, the spiky haired champion of Otherworld grinned slyly and nudged his son in the arm a few times. "What's the matter, son? Feeling a little hot and bothered about giving your mum and dad grand kids?"
Immediately catching on to his father's teasing, Gohan's eyes snapped towards the man in shock. "W-What?"
"I mean… you are reaching that age, after all. It's only natural a young man like you would be finding interest in… other activities outside of your education and hobbies. That's what your mother and King Kai told me, anyway," the adult said before shrugging in a suggestive manner. "I suppose flirting with girls and taking them out on dates would be a couple of things a teenager like you would be getting into."
"Huh? W-Wait… wh-?"
"That reminds me, how are things going between you and Videl?" Goku asked with a very Cheshire-like grin forming as he looked his son squarely in the eyes. While doing so, the man swore he saw the blood inside his son's face rise in a manner similar to a thermometer. "From what I've seen of you guys over the past couple of years, I've been getting this feeling that you two have a bit of a thing for each other."
By this point, the poor demi-Saiyan's face was now glowing like a hot poker. "DAD!" The boy's reaction was frantic and within reason, "Th-There's nothing going on between me and Videl! W-We're just… friends!"
"Are you sure?" Goku asked, leaning forward a little to poke his son in the shoulder, "I don't know. It doesn't look like you two are just friends. How do you explain all that red in your cheeks?"
"I-It's just a bad reaction…"
"To what? Saiyans aren't allergic to anything," the Saiyan father replied, unable to keep the smile off his face as he went on the offensive. "Come on, Gohan. I'm your father. You can talk to me about these things and I'll do my best to offer you my advice however I can." He then shrugged and massaged the back of his head thoughtfully. "And hey, if it's not Videl you're interested in, there are plenty of other girls you've told me about that you might fancy. Lime… Erasa… Zangya… that Paprika girl who has it out for you." He then leaned towards his son with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Honestly, if she's anything like your mother, I'd say she would be a perfect match for you."
Okay. It was official. His father was just as bad as his mother when it came to matchmaking. What the hell was up with his parents and their interest in his social life?
Stammering uselessly for a couple of moments, Gohan then tried to hide his face behind his shoulders and tucked himself up like a tortoise. Unfortunately, this did little to shield him from the teasing grin his father continued to prod him with.
Deciding to spare his powerful offspring from further embarrassment and not wishing to prey on his moment of weakness, the full-blooded Saiyan instead gave the innocent teenager a moment to recover and moved on to a different topic. It was one that both of them showed an equal amount of enthusiasm and interest in, and, considering their line of work, was an area that the father was confident his son would like to discuss in further detail.
"So Vegeta finally reached the second level of Super Saiyan, huh?"
Expression quickly becoming normal, the spiky haired teen cracked a smile. "Yep. It took him a lot of blood, sweat, tears and grinding in the gravity room, but after all that he managed to get it in the end. After seeing how hard he works, I'm really happy for him."
The senior fighter chuckled as he turned his gaze towards the skies of Otherworld, which were hanging in the air all around them, "To think that it actually took Bulma getting hurt to finally push him over the edge. I never figured the guy to be the caring type, considering how stubborn and prideful he can be, but it looks like the Prince of all Saiyans has surprised us once again."
Gohan grinned a little when another particular thought crossed his mind. "Vegeta's rivalry with you has done wonders for him. He may not be as strong or as talented as you or me, but he's made some outstanding progress since the Cell Games. The guy's a natural born hard worker."
"You have to give him points for persistence," Goku added, earning a nod from his son.
After covering Vegeta's success with a few compliments and comments of their own, the half-Saiyan then turned to his father and smiled even more, "And hey, Goten managed to transform into a Super Saiyan as well."
This announcement immediately drew the older warrior's attention, "What? No way. Seriously?"
"Uh-huh. Piccolo told me he managed to transform during our group's battle against Zeru when his friend Paprika jumped in to save him and Trunks. When he thought she died in the blast, he got really angry and let himself loose on the alien, breaking through several of its shields in one go," Gohan informed, pulling back and resting on his hands so that he could relax a little more. "I trained him to help control his transformation so that he could use it at will. Now he's even stronger than Android 18."
"Wow. That's incredible," Goku exclaimed, looking around to beam across the fields of grass in front of him. "He must be the youngest Saiyan to ever transform into a Super Saiyan."
"Half-Saiyan," Gohan corrected, earning a sheepish grin and a nervous laugh from his old man. "Don't forget, it's a big universe out there. You never know whether or not there are anymore Super Saiyans hiding out there on other planets outside of our quadrant."
"Fair enough," the dead warrior accepted gladly before breathing out a steady sigh. Pondering the idea of anymore of their kind being alive out there in the vast expanses of space, the spiky haired warrior then had another thought and quickly moved on with their topic. After all their talk of Saiyan transformations and such, it was understandable their conversation quickly led into this area. "Have you made any headway into ascending to the third level yet?"
Making a thoughtful sounding noise, the teenage warrior scratched his head, "It's not easy. Judging from the amount of power I'm digging into and the amount of strain it's putting on my body, it's taking everything I've got trying to get halfway through."
Goku looked across at his son curiously. "So you're close?"
"Close is… sort of subjective here," Gohan murmured, running a hand through his sweaty hair and giving his father a troubled glance. "No matter how much I push my energy into overdrive, I just can't seem to break through that final seal. There's something preventing me from making that final jump to achieving maximum energy output." He then scrubbed his cranium nervously while informing his father as to how troublesome this task was turning out to be. "I don't know. Maybe I'm approaching this the wrong way."
"Have you tried using emotional trauma to give you a kick?" Goku asked, scrutinizing the hybrid warrior with intent. He was well aware of the hidden potential dwelling inside his eldest son, as well as what was needed for the boy to draw upon his power. Perhaps, in his efforts to become stronger, he was neglecting a particular element of their fighting form necessary for him to ascend.
However, knowing how smart Gohan was, the dead Saiyan knew that there was no possible way the young man could ever overlook something so important.
As expected, the teenager nodded his head affirmatively. "Yes. I've tried ascending while at full power, using sheer force of will when my body was completely incapable of moving, drawing on all my power while maxing out the gravity room, transforming in space, thinking about all the horrible things Frieza and Cell has done… but no matter what combination I try, nothing seems to be working." Gohan then looked down at his hands and flexed his fingers a few times. "Is my body not strong enough? Can't it handle the strain of so much power sitting in one place?"
"That seems like the most likely case. Since you've got so much energy bottled up inside of you, perhaps the amount of ki necessary to maintain that form is just too much for a living body to control," Goku remarked, shrugging when he saw the teen look in his direction once again. The man then glanced down at his hands and checked his bruised palms. "I've been trying to get the transformation to work as well, but it's taking everything I've got just to retain the amount of power I'm able to draw on. I can feel it… I'm getting close to ascending. It's only a matter of time before I get it. But until then, I'm just as stuck as you are, son."
"Well then…" Gohan exclaimed, smiling across at his old man confidently. "It seems like this has become a two-horse race to see who can transform first. Me… or you." He jabbed a finger in the adult's direction. "You may be dead, dad, but I've been able to keep a steady lead for the past seven years. Maybe it's finally time I blew past you."
The father grinned when he picked up the tone in the hybrid's words, "Is that a challenge, I hear?" When he met the confident smirk of his oldest son, Goku let out a laugh and, reaching over, clapped the kid on the shoulder encouragingly. "Alright then. You're on."
Since they both had Saiyan blood coursing through their veins, the prospect of a competition was just too hard for either of them to resist. Both of them shared a passion for fighting, and while one of them had certainly been a late bloomer in that department, he'd always shown a healthy interest in fighting to protect his friends and family, and to become a strong warrior like his dad. Now that he had matured, both Goku and Gohan could revel in the bond they'd formed in the sport they loved so very much.
At the rate this was going; if they weren't careful both Saiyans could accidentally shake apart the planets that they were training on to actually reach this legendary third level of Super Saiyan.
Once their brief exchange of pleasantries had been shared, Gohan stood up and shook out his messy hair. "One last spar before I go?"
Goku, sensing the enthusiasm in the teen's voice, leapt to his feet and joined him on the field, "Yeah. That'll be great."
As soon as both of them were up, the two immediately jumped to Super Saiyan 2. Golden auras exploding around them, hair spiking up, and their forms becoming shrouded in an electrical blue bio field, the two warriors then dashed out into the open and sprang into the air. Suspending themselves a few dozen feet above the ground, they then circled each other in the sky and assumed fighting stances. As soon as they stopped and fixed their full, undivided attentions on their opponent, the father and son duo smiled one last time before flying at each other and colliding with earth splitting force.
The sound of multiple thunderclaps continuously ringing out across the heavens caught the nearby King Kai's attention. Lying across a folded-out chair underneath a beach umbrella, the blue-skinned overseer of the Northern Quadrant, who was currently on break from a long morning of teaching, looked up at the sky to see two golden bolts dueling with each other across the atmosphere.
Glasses flashing as he adjusted his gaze, the Kai's face broke out a smile as he sat up to get a better look at the display.
"Heh. There they go again," the man exclaimed, marveling as his greatest pupil and his prodigious son sparred with one another above the Grand Kai's world. "I guess the apple really doesn't fall that far from the tree."
The apple in this case had already sprouted into a tree of its own.
===============================
If you want to support me and also access 30 advance chapters, join my patreon with the link patreon.com/EddyHazArd Or just search "EddyHazArd" in the patreon searcher.