Chapter 46: The Golden Fighter

"Videl?!" Gohan asked aloud in mild irritation at what she had just proclaimed, placating his hands on his very spiky hair. "Why the heck are you doing this?"

"You gave me the cold-shoulder for Kami knows how long, what did you expect?" she asked in apprehension, crossing her arms with her eyes closed. "The answer is simple: I grew tired of your bullshit and decided to take action, and that's how this happened. Jeez, for someone who's sooo smart you're an idiot when it comes to girls."

Turning away, Gohan gritted his teeth as he spoke lowly, "I'm sorry, I was too busy with other things... I promise I'll do better."

Videl exhaled blatantly, as she spoke with a rather frosty tone. "What is that s'posed to mean? You've said that a million times already, come up with something better for Kami's sake. Your excuses for stonewalling me are worthless at this point, try again."

"Try again with what Videl?!" Gohan questioned with a resounding shout, "I have obligations to train, help the world out in numerous ways, study everything there is to study, take care of Goten and mom, work with Bulma on top-secret projects at Capsule Corp, and even more. What the hell is your problem?!"

"What's my problem?! No Gohan, the real question is this: WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" she shouted, her extremely pale blue aura of Ki beginning to seep out of her body. "Where am I on that schedule of yours huh? Do I even matter to you?!"

"YES, of course you do!" The hybrid pointed his finger at her with a dark glare displayed upon his visage. "It's just...it's just..."

"Just what?" Videl laughed somewhat bitterly and sarcastically, placing her hands on her hips. "Explain it to me. I'd love to hear it."

"You've GOT to be kidding me!" Gohan mused to himself in utter frustration. "I can't explain it...I just can't for some reason."

Throwing up her hands up, Videl rolled her eyes. "Whelp, whaddaya know? Son Gohan, the person who doesn't fear anybody no matter who it is, doesn't have the balls to answer a simple question from a weakling little girl like me. You took the bitches way out, I'm disappointed in you."

"Disappointed in what?" Gohan snickered derisively, crossing his arms over his chest as a smirk of amusement crossed his lips. "I really wanna know."

"I'm disappointed with EVERYTHING! First off, ever since the invasion's aftermath you've only spent 'quality' time with your girlfriend once, and that's right now. It's been three months and every time I try to hangout with my supposed boyfriend I receive these specific quotes from you: "Oh, I'm too busy" or "I'm doing this" or some other BS. It's as if you didn't acknowledge me in your life at all, and as much as as I hate to admit it, those little rejections twisted the knife already in my stomach a gazillion times over. That's not cool Gohan, that stuff legitimately hurt me." Videl finished, her beautiful azure eyes piercing into Gohan's soul and showing him the genuineness of her feelings.

Gohan stayed silent, only settling with glaring at anything but her. Sparks of blue bio-electricity started appearing out of nowhere, singeing parts of the Earth that was beneath their feet and seemingly the sky itself.

"I said I was sorry already, and it was never my intention to hurt your feelings." The hybrid then transformed into a Super Saiyan with his eyes closed, his aura bursting out of him like a flame bursting out of a spark. "If you won't give me another chance then I guess this is it..."

"I guess it is," Videl spoke in a dry, flat tone, as she turned her back on him with firm emphasis of her own. "I'm sorry Gohan, I just can't put up with this any longer. Maybe if I was some other girl this would've worked out, but I'm not."

"You shouldn't apologize for anything, I'm the one that "screwed it up." Just leave, I need some time to vent to myself." The teenage demi-Saiyan said with a rather calm voice that betrayed his mood greatly.

"You don't hafta tell me twice," was the response the half-Saiyan received. Turning back around, she caught his piercing teal-colored pupils staring right back at her.

"When you learn how to be a better boy-"

"I don't wanna hear it," Gohan interrupted her, a slight scowl present on his face. He decided to restate his point, only with a more clear cut message this time. "Just. Leave. Me. Alone. Videl."

"Whatever you say," Videl replied, levitating off of the ground. "See ya later...I guess."

With those final words out of the way, the hormonal female left in a trail of nigh-transparent Ki.

Gohan stood there, his inhales and exhales practically growing ragged with bottled up frustration and rage. Raising his hands up and lowering his face to look at them, he growled as he barely could close them into fists, clenching tight enough to draw streams of blood the size of a fingernail.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

Then, yanking them back, the hybrid roared with all of his lung power. And then commenced his version of venting, which equated to striking the rock environment around him with enough anger-fueled punches to temporarily satiate his increasing fury.

Four months had passed since the untimely breakup of Gohan and Videl, which was three months after the untimely invasion. The climatic war on two fronts ended with the Saiyan's and the beings of Earth emerging victorious, but the victory didn't come without its fair-share of losses. Millions upon millions of humans lost their lives due to the resurrection of the entire Tuffle army, which also numbered in the millions and each soldier had technology above that of the human race save Capsule Corporation. And Earthlings weren't the only ones that payed the price; so did Tarble and every living thing on the planet in which he resided. Even though all of the innocent or redeemable souls were brought back to life once again by the miraculous power of the mighty Shenron, the remembrance of the deaths weren't lost on the Earth at all. In fact, it made the world more unified in just about every facet possible; they even created a holiday called "3/29" of age 772 as that was the date the ferocious attack occurred. It would serve to commemorate the people whom may have lost their lives fighting or saving lives during the invasion.

The Z-fighters took that hard; some harder than others. For example, Yamcha resumed his baseball career instead of training simply to escape Martial Arts for an unspecified amount of time. Krillin stopped training as much as he did before and took the time to simply enjoy life with his nine-month old daughter and wife. Tien and Chiaotzu retreated right back into the mountains where they trained and lived in silence. Hell, not even Gohan trained as much as he did before the Tuffle invasion, though he tried to compensate for it with the sheer intensity and unrelenting anger of each training session. The reason for that was the fact that the hybrid, unlike the other Saiyans on the planet, had a legitimate "life" and the anger came from the regret he felt from the whole Videl situation. He messed up big time, and it was too late to do anything about it after he realized he was a complete asshole. Other than the encounter four months ago, the 15 year-old learned the intermediate ropes of the business industry under Bulma, studied up on plenty of the hardest AP courses in the world, helped the Capsule-corp CEO consistently with what they called "Z-projects" and helped out with the reconstruction of ravaged cities all over the Earth, as well as being a part-time superhero just for the hell of it. The relaxation and rest that he received in between each training session actually improved his strength just as much as before, and Gohan found that he could get more out of his training sessions with the extra rest. However, the downside to Gohan having a very busy schedule was that he didn't prioritize relationships which ended with him and Videl being placed on indefinite hiatus. Ever since that day neither had any interaction with the other whatsoever, and things weren't looking to change anytime soon.

Piccolo continued being Piccolo, the invasion changed nothing for him besides the usual growth in power. Goten and Trunks remained unaffected as well, only they were trained a bit more than before by the men in their respective households. Goku also continued to do Goku, only with more time spent training then the three years and some change prior. Reason being he claimed he could just "feel" another level, a deeper reservoir of power embedded deep within his Saiyan spirit, and he was determined to bring it out more than ever before. After he recovered from the mean beat-down he received at the hands of his eldest son and greatest rival, he's been breaking limits left and right in hopes of reaching this vast, nigh indomitable ocean of Ki. Vegeta on the other-hand was another matter entirely; it was as if he altered like an igneous rock going through intense heat and pressure. The results happened to be Vegeta actually taking time out of his life to enjoy his family and very begrudgingly take Trunks to amusement parks from time to time. He realized the importance of having those bonds and protecting them during the invasion fiasco as soon as he found out his son had been kidnapped by some damn Tuffles. It wasn't the Tuffle part that truly infuriated him, it was the fact that he didn't pay attention to his son until the moment he got kidnapped. The other part that made him resolve to change was the fact the reason he didn't interact with his family was his arrogant, self-centered goal of being the strongest, taking down Kakarrot, and never suffering another humiliation again. The way he went about achieving his goal was utterly ridiculous though, casting off his family and for what? Fueling his pride? At the end of the day, after witnessing his son get kidnapped and sent away from him, the prince of all Saiyans rationed to himself that Trunks and Bulma were more important than his pride. That feeling of despair and rage he had when the Tuffles killed his brother Tarble and kept Trunks away from him only reaffirmed his new take on life. That didn't mean his goals changed though, he just had a new way of going about them. Even though his pride keeps him from expressing his care for Bulma and Trunks in a traditional sense, if one squinted hard enough they'd know that he loved them just as much as any husband/father would love their wife/kid. Surprisingly when he started training with an additional, more important purpose, he felt his power soar at a rate that matched even his greatest rival.

So that was the gist of it. However, because these are the Z-fighters we're talking about, peace is only superficial at best...

The eldest Saiyan hybrid in the universe found himself flying leisurely and lackadaisically on what happened to be a great day thus far...

"And then I hear gunshots, just great," mused the fifteen year old Gohan to himself as he hovered over West City around one-hundred miles above the ground with his arms crossed. "Will I ever catch a break nowadays?"

Flaring up his nearly transparent white aura, the hybrid was on the scene faster than another gunshot could even leave its holster.

"Don't move or I'll shoot the fuck outta the lot of you! I'm not kidding!" One criminal clad in all black with a green hoodlum mask shouted, holding an SMG in his right-hand and a bag full of cash on his left. "Now you dumb asses best listen and listen good! If I peep that any of you idiots so much as talk or take a step you're gettin a head full of lead. Now I suggest you stay still so that you're not the one that ends up dead, am I right losers?"

Gohan examined the altercation from the top of a skyscraper and noticed that the criminal making all the commotion was simply a ruse, a well-planned distraction. Whilst the cops were occupied with trying to save the hostages, the majority of the team were actually distributing billions of Zeni between a dozen cars with a variety of colors on them. This would have been a sound plan that most likely would've worked, if not for the fact that he deduced the entire scheme with ease.

"I've gotta stop them," the teen said to himself, taking off his green jacket and leaving nothing but a skin-tight white shirt on. "But I don't feel like dealing with the media hounding me for the rest of my life."

Gohan shuddered as he thought of the hell that his ex-girlfriend and her fraud of a father must go through due to his supposed "fame." Besides, he figured he never would've liked that kind of attention anyways, plus his mother would beat him to death with the frying pan of doom if he came home with the media trailing him.

"To the useless WCPD officers that are thinking about shooting us, think again. We're leaving with the motherfucking money," the leader of the whole distraction part of the plan said, bringing Gohan out of his thoughts. "Or all one-hundred fifty-six of these hostages gets their brains smeared all over the road."

"Time to go Super," Gohan said as he effortlessly flashed into his Super Saiyan or "golden form" as the media has called it and appeared behind the main leader of the distraction part of the plan. Before he could even register that the hybrid had even appeared out of seeming nowhere, he was embedded against the wall with a bad concussion.

Gohan whistled at that, he thought he held his power back enough to not seriously injure them but that apparently wasn't the case.

The next robber turned and attempted to shoot the hero, but Gohan wasn't having it as he drove a harsh elbow into the humans face, rendering him unconscious before he could even think about pulling the trigger.

The third robber actually got a hundreds of shots off at the hybrid as the Super Saiyan actually allowed him to. One by one, bullet by bullet, each one of them turned into useless pieces of shrapnel upon impact with the incredible skin of the demi-Saiyan.

The crooks eyes went wide as the man, no monster in front of him had walked through all of the rapid-fire bullets as if they didn't exist. "What are you?" he asked, looking down at the teenagers teal irises due to being hoisted into the air with fear clear as day in his eyes. "You...you're not real are you?"

"No," Gohan grinned, throwing the man slap into the front door of the 483 foot tall bank, easily knocking him out. "I'm you're worst nightmare!"

Two other crooks rolled up with their guns up and attempted to pump the teen full of lead. And unsurprisingly, the young Saiyan caught all of the bullets that were flying toward him and crushed them, releasing them onto the ground with terrifying ease. "I don't think you should be playing with guns," he said casually. "I'm pretty sure you could really hurt someone."

With that being said, the demi-Saiyan warped from sight and chopped the two crooks on the back of the head as lightly as possible, knocking them out instantly. Three of the remaining criminals tossed their respective weapons and put their hands on their heads showing that they had given up, but the last two baddies jumped into their getaway vehicle and desperately hauled ass in the other direction.

Sadly, they didn't go another inch on the ground and instead went flying miles upwards vertically courtesy of Gohan of course. Right when they were about to crash back down into the ground and likely die, they saw the person responsible holding them up by the cars bumper.

"Wait, please don't hurt us anymore!" the first of the two crooks yelled, flailing his hands around with terror written all across his face. "We give up."

With a sigh, Gohan lowered himself back onto the road and set the car right in front of the WCPD, otherwise known as the West City Police Department.

Quickly, a quintuplet of police officers were on the scene to secure the premises and handcuff all of the petrified or unconscious criminals. "Thanks stranger, hundreds of lives would've been lost if it weren't for your actions," one of them said.

"No problem," Gohan said with a straight face, using a second of lost time to hunt down the remaining criminals that were fleeing the city at an illegal pace. "But I've still got work to do."

And with that, the Super Saiyan vanished without a trace.

In the span of around twenty four seconds, the police finally caught up to all seventeen of the cars used by the rather large gang of crooks. Needless to say, they were downright flabbergasted by the sight of each scene having two or three unconscious criminals stacked upon each other, a note saying the money was in this or that compartment in the car, and the entire engine completely dislodged from each car. From that moment forward, they knew that the mysterious "golden-fighter" wasn't a normal person by any means.

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After dismantling a bunch of random criminals from all around the world, the man or rather "superhero" of the hour arrived at the doors of Capsule Corp. in a jovial mood which wasn't all that common for him nowadays. He realized that being a "superhero" was actually really cool and amusing for him; it made him feel humble for doing simple deeds such as helping an old lady across the street or stopping potential murderers in their tracks. The son of Goku pushed past the double doors and entered very familiar territory within the lobby area.

"Welcome to Capsule Corporation, how may I assist you today Gohan?" the blonde-haired lady behind the desk asked kindly.

"Can you tell me if Bulma's here right now or if she's working on a project?" the ebony-haired teenager inquired as politely as he could.

Just when the middle aged female was about to answer, two boots clacked their way from the east wing. A frame could be made out by the common eye, the typical short stature of a kid, Gohan however did not need his eyes to recognize the five-year old kid.

"I thought I sensed you here," Trunks laughed, his eyes looking up at the much taller half-breed.

"Hey squirt, how's it going?" Gohan smiled as the kid led him away from the lobby and through an ultra-secured door that literally had "DOOR RESERVED FOR FAMILY AND APPROVED FRIENDS ONLY" in bold red letters on it. "Are you taking me to your mom?"

The lavender-haired child nodded as he proceeded to lead the hybrid right to his mother even though it wasn't necessary. Both demi-Saiyans casually traipsed right into Bulma's lab where she sat in a relaxing pose with a cup of coffee in her hand and a half-eaten bagel on the desk.

"Nice to see you again Gohan," she toasted jokingly at him with the ceramic cup. She placed it on the counter right next to her seat and stood up before stretching the silk pajama's that she was wearing with a very long yawn. "The device that you worked on last time you were over here a few days ago is over there on that table. You're fortunate I took time to complete it for you when you fell asleep trying to download the Capsule Corp. AI system into your uniquely modified shades."

"Thanks! Now which one of these is it?" Son Gohan asked, not trying to be rude. He had the right to ask as there were hundreds of different black or silver colored devices laid out on the table, and the same number of shades to go with them.

"This one," she reached down from beside him, picking up a black and orange watch-like device. "This is what I'd like christen the Insta-cloth. It uses some of the best technology our company has to offer to scan any type of clothing you desire in a short time-frame and change your current clothes instantly into those predetermined within the watch," Bulma continued handing Gohan the device with gentleness she doesn't normally exude. "It's a helluva lot more practical than shopping for clothes and it doesn't have a limit to clothing data it can retain."

"So then why are you mass-producing these and the super shades?" the hybrid blurted out the obvious question, which she answered with a smirk.

"I figured the shades would be beneficial to PD's all over the planet so stopping criminal schemes can be a little easier-" she paused at the raised brow from Gohan, and she waved it off to assuage his obvious concerns. "Oh please, you think the cops having these shades make you useless? Think again, these things are only modified to communicate through the police network a lot faster and nothing more. Let's be honest, we both know that the PD suck at their job, and that's the exact reason you're here. Those other shades don't come close to anything your specified shades can do."

"Cool. I also wanna know if I'm making any profit off of this, so y'know, I have an alibi for when mom finds out?" Gohan asked, a cold chill going through his spine at the thought of his enraged mother with the godlike frying pan of doom chasing after him.

"Of course you are. Fifty percent that is," the heiress commented as the eldest hybrid raised his other brow. "What?! First off you were using my technology and secondly you didn't even finish it. Now take the deal I'm handing to you and try 'our' invention!"

Alright alright," Gohan promptly pressed the button sticking out of the side of the watch. A light flared up around him in a flash and then faded away after a good five seconds, leaving him in a completely different set of clothes. A black variation of the skin tight bodysuit exactly the same as the one Vegeta wore under his Saiyan armor covered his body, a pair of white gold-tipped boots were locked onto his his feet, and white gloves covered his hands. A white durag covered up almost all of his spiky hair and it was soon to be accompanied by his specialized shades. A golden tunic covered his torso and stretched all the way down to the middle of his thigh and a black belt with a golden Z emblem in the center wrapped around his waist. "So how do I look?"

"It looks pretty cool if I do say so myself," Bulma smiled from her chair, taking a sip from the cup of coffee. "What made you wanna be a superhero anyways?"

"It was something to do that I really just turned into a hobby," Gohan answered simplicity with a shrug. "It also takes my mind off of things like an efficient therapist."

"Take your mind off what now?" The Capsule Corp. heiress questioned, prying for answers. "I've got all day, so open up some tough guy."

"Tch, fine," the only hybrid in the room reluctantly agreed, crossing his arms. "It's about Videl and the fact that we broke up a few months back. I felt like a complete asshole afterwards from the way she described my treatment of her. I thought I wasn't messing up or anything, but for all my smarts I didn't realize I was being a trashy boyfriend until reality smacked me in the face with her breaking up with me. I haven't seen her let alone talked to her since it happened, and it just makes me angry every time I think about it. I still have feelings for her, but I'm afraid she'll never give me another shot. Damnit!"

"Chill out," Bulma ordered with an assertive voice. "You must have been a real trashy boyfriend-"

The teenager abruptly interrupted her by walking towards the door. Before he could leave however, a soft palm landed on his shoulder and stopping him in his tracks. "Where do you think you're going buddy, because I'm not finished yet!"

After receiving a slight glare from the fifteen year-old, she sighed and continued speaking. "What I was trying to say before you rudely walked off was that you must have been a bad boyfriend. But we know that you've seen the error of your previous ways, and therefore should know better this time around. The fact that you're still affected by her dumping you proves that your feelings for her are deep and legitimate, and if she really has it bad for you then she'll give you another chance in a heartbeat. When you feel confident about it again, just approach her and ease your way back in."

"Thanks Bulma, I kinda really needed that," Gohan exclaimed with a small smile from the pep talk as he clicked the button again and he returned to his normal attire. "I really should get going now..."

The hybrid awkwardly tried to leave the dome-like mansion once again, but a shriek came from the woman who just gave him a pep talk.

"Uh...Gohan...I think you're gonna wanna see this," Bulma said with concern and seriousness oozing from her tone.

"Um...okay," he trotted over to her location lazily and his eyes couldn't believe what he had witnessed on the giant screen of Bulma's personal laptop.

It appeared to be about nine galaxies in a time-lapsed video recorded by the Capsule Corp. intergalactic drones about 592,673 light years away from the Earth's solar system in sector Z-195372648 of the northern quadrant in the universe. Then suddenly, all nine of the galaxies were usurped by what happened to be easily the largest black-hole the Earth has ever recorded; possibly the biggest black-hole the universe had ever seen in it's unknown time-frame of existence. And as the ultimate technology that the Earth had to offer zoomed in by twenty-five trillion percent into the center of said black-hole, anyone could see a faint silhouette the size of the average sentient in the universe leaving the neon orange light surrounding the devastating black-hole.

That alone rose millions of questions right there; who out there in universe is doing this?

And how is he/she/it creating these black-holes?

What's the beings motivation for "forming" these black-holes in the first place?

Should this being be a threat, can anyone even attempt to stop the one responsible without being crushed by the gravity?

Why did this being target those galaxies in particular?

Point is, this disturbing new development requires an extensive analysis to decipher what the hell is going on, and there's obviously nobody normal that comes to mind that could just handle that responsibility. Point of emphasis, anyone that's normal couldn't truly conduct a thorough investigation on what the hell was going on. The mission required a person whom was very intelligent, overwhelmingly powerful, and had a crap ton of knowledge on black-holes. That left only one person on the planet: Son Gohan.

However, the problem was that even Super Saiyans couldn't breathe in space for a super extended period of time, so she would have to augment the hybrids "Gold-Fighter" outfit so it could provide an intangible bio-field made of a limitless supply of oxygen. That way Gohan and whomever accompanied him wouldn't automatically suffocate from the vacuum of space. It wouldn't be an easy task by any means, but if there was anyone whom could invent such a device it was her father, Gohan, and herself obviously.

The other questions was obvious, who else would accompany the demi-Saiyan?

While she knew the hybrid may very well have the means to complete the mission by himself given his power and intelligence, there were too many unknown variables to risk sending a fifteen year old kid far into the universe without any form of company. But whom would be a good option?

Vegeta would almost definitely reject accompanying his secondary rival on this mission even if she tried sweet talking him into it.

Goku might, but he lacked the necessary intelligence on outer-space and all the other concepts that go with it. Besides, he would be too busy training in the Other-World to probably even know about Gohan's venture into the cosmos.

Krillin resolved to take a break from the constant fighting and devote the majority of his time to enjoying life with his new-found family.

Yamcha simply being Yamcha meant an automatic no-no.

Tien and Chiaotzu were nowhere to be found as usual.

That left Piccolo, whom seemed like the best option at this point. He was arguably the most intelligent Z-fighter - other than Gohan of course - and he had the enough power to defeat beings on par with the Super Saiyans should things take a turn for the worst out there. Yep, the former antagonist just so happened to be the most logical companion for Gohan on this interstellar journey. Not to mention they had a mentor-pupil or even a father-son type relationship, which would make this whole process all the more easier.

"Okay, here's the game-plan. First of all, you're obviously going on this mission but I'd suggest getting someone to go with you. Someone with intelligence and power to back it up, like Piccolo. Secondly, we're gonna need some kind of device that allows you to bypass the problem of lacking oxygen should you wind up in the vacuum of space. That's going to require a week of fine tuning so use that time to find a partner or two, train like you Saiyans always do, and whatever else you want to. Maybe even get the world used to the Gold Fighter and even patch things up with Videl hmm?"

Gohan shrugged his shoulders, scratching his ebony hair. "I guess I should try talking to Videl again...I dunno. Ignoring that, I'll go ask Piccolo to accompany me and improve my Warping technique beyond it's current limitations."

"Sounds like a plan then," Vegeta's wife responded, tearing her eyes away from her ultra-capable computer. "Return here in a weeks time and I'll have your hero suit augmented with one of our greatest inventions to date! I'll debrief you on anything else that's happened over the course of the next seven days and any information I can gather about this new intergalactic force of nature. Any questions?"

"None here," Gohan said with a firm tone.

"Good," Bulma replied, sipping coffee from her personally customized mug. "Cause I've got work to do."

With that being said, the hybrid hightailed it out of the office and into the main hallway without any hesitation. And that's where he came face to face with the prince of all Saiyans.

"Gohan," Vegeta stated with the typical arrogance laced deep within his voice.

"Uh...hey Vegeta," he scratched the back of his head once again.

"I can sense that you've kept up your training, but I'm disappointed that your starting to lag behind in terms of power," the flame-haired prince crossed his arms." I expected better than this, and I demand more from you the next time we fight," he walked into the lab leaving Gohan uncomfortably standing there. "Now get out of my sight."

"Whatever Vegeta," Gohan replied with a bit of ice in his voice. "Next time we fight I'll win, and there won't be any excuses."

"In your dreams," the older Saiyan responded, brushing past the taller hybrid with a thunderous shoulder bump. "Now leave. I've got training at over one thousand times gravity to get to."

"Gladly." With that, the teenage Super Saiyan warped outside of the building in an instant. And in the very next instant, he was gone.

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"Mom, in a few days I shall be going on a little trip in space."

"You are joking right? Please tell me you're joking."

"Nope, I'm over nine-thousand percent serious." Gohan stood firm and nonconforming, expression unchanging.

"But...going into space?! Now why the heck would you need to do that for?" Chi-Chi blustered.

"Bulma discovered this entity out there that's stirring up trouble and is a potential threat to the entire universe," The extremely intelligent teenager held up a notebook and flipped through multiple pages with printed screenshots of these galaxies being consumed by black-holes, the silhouette of the entity responsible in a zoomed in screenshot, and plethora of notes. "As you can see, this being has wiped out galaxies by creating these black-holes, and based off the rate of galaxies that have been wiped off the radar and the pattern that seems to be taking place, I've deduced that he's headed our own Milky Way galaxy in an unidentifiable amount of time. Besides, I've ventured into space on multiple occasions, what makes this any different?"

"Yes, but this is completely different!" She shook her head. "No way. Every time you're in space at least you're with someone, but now you're requesting to go alone? Who's going to make sure my little boy comes home or even survives? There's too many things that could go wrong."

"That's a risk I'm gonna hafta take." He closed his notebook, setting it on the table next to him. "I'll try to have Piccolo go with me so I won't be completely alone, but there's no guarantee he will. Vegeta outright rejected it, dad's too busy training, Krillin's being a family man right now, Tien's nowhere to be found, Yamcha's out there being Yamcha, so I literally have no one to take with me. Besides, I doubt there are too many things that can harm me in the universe anymore."

"Hmm..." she weighed all this up in her mind. "You have a point..."

"And another thing," he added, slapping his right fist into his left palm. "I forgot to mention that I can automatically gain a much broader understanding of the universe and the way things work such as black-holes, supernovas, and even the unproven white-hole theory. Nobodies ever witnessed any of those things in a first person's perspective and I'd get to be the first one from the Earth to do so, imagine the amount of knowledge I'd gain and Zeni I could make off of it."

"Ugh, you're just like your father!" She slumped down into a chair. "Wherever someone is potentially in trouble, and you just hafta rush off to save them."

Chi-Chi then sighed. "I know that the knowledge part of this is just persuasion to get me to allow you to do this, and that you're really out there to save lives. It's simply in your DNA. If you're that determined then there's no way anyone could truly stop you, right?"

He nodded firmly, and she gave a small smile. "Well that settles it then. I'll let you do this, but please don't partake on this journey into the cosmos by yourself."

"Sure," Gohan stated, eyes never leaving his mother. "I'll try my best to find someone to tag along mom, don't worry."

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After informing his mother about the upcoming expedition, Gohan had taken to a different kind of training that absolutely pushed his endurance and adaptability to an even greater degree. Finding himself floating in the frigid vacuum of space with the planet Earth far behind him, the hybrid had his eyes closed and his fists clenched. Frozen sweat floated off of him as he endured the third harshest environment he could think of, behind the surface of the sun itself and inside a super-massive black-hole. Even though Gohan knew he could survive temperatures as hot or even hotter than the sun, he still didn't want to push it that far yet.

If he hadn't been trying to get accustomed to the vacuum of space for a good twenty one hours in the past four days already you would think he just started this ridiculous training method. However, he knew he was making vast progress at adapting to an area without oxygen for long periods of time.

At the moment he was aiming to set a new record for how long he could actually stay up there without passing out due to the lack of oxygen, and he would continue doing so until his Saiyan physiology completely adapted to his new surroundings.

After thirty minutes of just floating there in relaxation with his nigh-transparent aura flowing all around him, the demi-Saiyans eyes opened and when he jumped straight into Super Saiyan 2, the teenager let out a yell of effort and unleashed a medium-sized blast that launched from his hands and straight into the cosmos.

His semi-casual attack possessed far faster than light speeds and an insane amount of energy embedded into it, shooting beyond the Solar System and into the expanse of nothingness before him in six seconds.

His attack hit a jumbo star that would only live for another hundred centuries several light years away, shooting straight to the core without difficulty, and detonated the star along with the other ten nearby stars in the system in one go. The sheer amount of light that the explosion generated shined throughout a sizable portion of the Milky Way including the solar system.

And then came a ten minute game of cosmic target practice that consisted of shooting down interstellar objects such as comets, asteroids, rogue planets and even stray stars. Lowering his hand, the Super Saiyan 2 smirked and reverted to his base form, allowing his thoughts to keep flowing.

'I guess my theory was right after all,' Gohan thought with the smirk still on his face. 'Due to my genetics, if I push myself I can adapt to just about anything the universe has to offer, even the vacuum of space itself.'

Almost. He still can't just survive in space without some type of oxygen forever; eventually he'd run out of breath even with his ability to hold breath for extreme periods of time.

The theory itself came from the many years he pondered over how far he could actually push his body, and not against really strong opponents but rather in unfamiliar places they would rarely if ever fight in. After fighting in the upper levels of the atmosphere against Cooler and actually experiencing the vacuum of space when he got rid of Cell, he came up with the theory that beings with strong, durable bodies and effective Ki control could actually fight and thrive in an environment that would likely be impossible for ordinary beings to breathe in. And seeing Broly's record of destroying a galaxy in the southern quadrant of the universe without a spaceship in just 28 years meant it was possible for Saiyans to survive in the vacuum of space.

Case in point, Saiyans had naturally adaptable bodies that can prosper in even the harshest of conditions including the vacuum of space. However, since him and his father were adapted to Earth's climate, adjusting to the exosphere and above would require specialized training to get used to it. They never bothered doing so before because they had always surmised that without oxygen they'd simply die, but the mythical Saiyan proved otherwise. As long as they were shrouded by their energy, they could travel through a vacuum for as long as required.

Years ago when his dad fought Frieza on Namek, had he not been able to find a ship in time, the prolonged exposure to the vacuum of space would've eventually killed him in a few hours at best.

However, through the intense training regimen he put himself through these past few days, heavy doses of the setting had allowed him to circumvent the need for breathable air and an atmosphere, and gain resilience to the void of dark matter. The natural bio-field that enveloped his body didn't hurt either, as it allowed him to create his own form of respiration, in which the Ki replenished and continuously enriched the oxygen necessary for him to survive.

After musing to himself for a few minutes, Gohan pressed the button on his flashing watch and saw a holographic version of a crime that was currently being committed. Once he finished reading the description and finding out the location of said event, the demi-Saiyan dipped back into the exosphere and made a beeline for Satan City, formerly known as Orange Star City four years ago.

Gohan arrived on the scene in less than two seconds, and it looked exactly like the hologram he examined literally fifteen seconds ago. He could sense twenty hostages inside the medium-sized technology store.

Eleven were tied up and surrounded by three of the crooks, while two crooks had their guns pointed at the three clerks whom placed money and objects such as phones, tablets, capsules, and you name it inside of the bags as fast as possible. The remaining five criminals shouted at the cops like maniacs, laughing as they unleashed hell upon the SCPD officers that attempted to oppose them.

The Gold-Fighter quietly landed on the roof of the bank, and closed his eyes, focusing his enhanced hearing down to listen in on what one of the criminals were shouting.

"If you don't stop right now, you're all gonna be blown to shit! Is that what you guys want? It's simple: leave us alone and let us take what we need so nobody else has to die!" At the end of his demands he blasted the closest cop car with his SMG, blowing out the tires, breaking through the glass windows, and blowing holes through the engine which eventually set the hover car on fire.

This wasn't a good look, as the police just can't let them go, but they potentially risk the lives of everyone in the city-block.

Another one the masked thief's yelled at the cops this time. "Make a choice quickly you dumb asses, you have 37 seconds before this whole city block gets wiped off the map! It's common sense you idiots, save errybody's life and quit opposing us!"

This situation got even worse and Gohan could see the cops looking at each other in confusion. They were at a loss, and their wasn't a thing they could do about it. Luckily for them though, they just so happened to have the Gold Fighter on their side.

Acting quickly, he warped inside the building through a shattered window, grabbed the bomb, and warped back outside before anyone could even process their next thought. He proceeded to throw the bomb out of Earth's atmosphere and onto the moon where it blew up harmlessly.

The very next second, he shot back into the bank. Just as he entered for a second time, one of the crooks had just noticed the bomb mysteriously vanished. He blinked, thinking he might have hallucinated. Confirming that what he saw was real, he turned to his leader. "Hey boss, the bombs not here anymore!"

The man yelling at the cops turned. "What do you mean it's not h...you blockheads! Turn around right now!"

The hero flashed through the group of common thugs in the next instant, and said thugs turned to see only a broken window. Taking advantage of this moment, Gohan grabbed the tied up hostages and warped outside the door right before the bullets could touch him or the eleven hostages. The bullets continued their path, hitting the three men that had only turned back around a moment ago. They fell to the ground in vast amounts of pain, and the boss watched them promptly pass out. The boss of the group swore under his breathe, had his group of misfits not been wearing bullet proof clothing they'd undoubtedly be dead.

The hero sat the hostages down behind the cop cars and ripped the rope that bounded them together with ease. Standing back up, he turned and shot back inside the technology store at the speed of light. The cops could only blink in pure amazement. There was a widespread rumor about this new "Golden Fighter" kid whom appeared out of the blue to shutdown crime all around the world with superpowers, but to see him operate in live action was nothing short of incredible.

The hybrid now shot for the remaining nine hostages at light-speed. Not even a blur or afterimage could be seen, just a flash of nigh-transparent light. One second he appeared behind the two crooks that remained conscious, the next second he was gone along with all nine of the hostages. The two criminals were at a loss of words, their whole entire scheme ruined by some freak-show in gold and black clothes.

Gohan sat all of them down next to the other hostages one by one at great speed, and then turning to the cops to explain what he did. "No worries, all twenty of the hostages are accounted for and their's only two criminals left excluding the five that are standing outside."

And yet another second after the words escaped the Gold Fighter's mouth, all five of thugs that stayed outside of the building were knocked unconscious and piled up in front of the SCPD.

Seeing that take place, the boss of the skewered robbery went in full panic mode. He had nothing but his Tommy gun now, and he saw no way out of this scenario where he had what he wanted. That golden trickster shot down everything without breaking a sweat, something that scared the living daylights out of him.

Shaking it off, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a vehicle capsule. He threw his Tommy gun around his shoulder and raced for the window that the "superhero" had came in earlier. He threw it outside and jumped out the window after it and in a poof of smoke, a monster truck looking vehicle appeared. Landing inside, the man turned it on and shot down the road as fast as possible, trying to retreat from the craziness that was behind him.

"The stories are true after all! Damnit, I can't believe it! He's the real deal, not some jabronie. He's too strong, man I gotta get outta here!"

Gohan had shot after the man in the truck, making sure the chase ended quickly. The truck had not gotten two hundred feet when the hero caught up. Coming up with a plan on the fly, he stopped the truck just by floating in front of it and lifted it off the road, letting the wheels spin as the man driving realized he wasn't moving.

The man looked out his window to see his truck quickly ascending into the sky. "He can lift a truck too? What can this creep not do?!"

Quickly whipping his Tommy gun out from his shoulder, he started shooting the floor of his truck like a maniac, trying to blow the Gold Fighter's brain to scattered mush through the truck itself.

'Is this guy stupid?' Gohan thought as bullets started to rain from above him. They weren't even close to hitting him, but he did notice where they were going. 'He's shooting his own gas tank! Is he suicidal?!'

Gohan quickly punched through the truck like nothing, breaking through it enough to effectively disable the car. Ripping the bottom of the truck right under the criminals feet, he grabbed his right foot and yanked him out of his car. The man, after realizing what happened, tried to shoot the hero's head off with his Tommy gun, but with a quick chop to the neck he didn't receive that opportunity. Gohan then fazed out and away from the truck with the boss thug in tow, watching the truck blow up seconds later from a few hundred feet away.

Descending back to the SCPD, he dropped the unconscious boss onto the pile of ten criminals that he had made. With a salute to them, he turned without a word just to come face to face with...

Videl.

The police chief looked up and waved to Videl as she walked up to him and Gold Fighter. "Sorry for calling you for nothing again Videl." He noticed her starring daggers at the superhero beside him. With a cough, he continued speaking. "This young man arrived right after I called you and took care of everything in what seemed like a blink of an eye!"

"May we have a moment please?" Videl asked, the old officer nodding and leaving in response. "Gohan, why are you here? You know this is my city, and it's MINE to protect. Play hero somewhere else for all I care, just stay away from here."

Gohan turned to his ex-girlfriend with a straight face. "You weren't around so I had to step in, simple as that. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat whether you like it or not. If you were here then I wouldn't have worried, but you weren't so I did what needed to be done."

Videl flinched slightly, since when was Gohan so straightforward and edgy? "Fair enough, I was taking a shower when this happened. Anyways, what happened here? This place looks like it's gone through hell."

He sighed, explaining everything that happened from his own personal perspective. The hybrid even showed her a holographic video of what happened from the camera on his specialized shades to back up his words.

Videl, after watching the video, turned her attention back to her ex-boyfriend. "That's some cool technology, it's probably from Capsule Corp isn't it?"

The hybrid gave a curt nod. "Of course, I used their materials and tech to design this suit myself, and the newest version of this suit is almost finished. It should be done in a day or two so I can use it to go into space."

"Space, huh? Sounds like fun, mind if I tag along?" Videl asked. She hoped to Kami Gohan said yes, she needed some genuine excitement in her life. Ever since she dumped him her life's been stale and uninteresting, and that irked her.

Speaking of Gohan, she attempted to get over him and succeeded for the most part; but deep down she knew she still had genuine affections for him. On a very low-key, Videl wanted to go to space with him so that she could give him another chance; if he even wanted that of course. She could only hope that after all this time he still felt the same way about her because she knew that she still had it bad for him.

"Um, I dunno. I can tell you've been training a lot with the gravity room I gave you before you, well...dumped me," Gohan awkwardly said, causing a pang to be felt in both of their chests. "But I don't know if you're ready for this new threat I might hafta fight. This being has an intergalactic army and he or she can create black-holes with he or she's own power. I'm not sure you're ready for this..."

"Oh c'mon, I'm waaay stronger than you were when you first went to space," the girl started, recalling one of the stories Gohan told her a year or so ago. His power level was around 3,000 or so when he went to space, hers was at 40,000 thanks to the intense gravity training plus the training with her ex beforehand. "Also I can keep you company and keep you from driving yourself insane. Finally, you're like the one of the top three strongest in the universe right? I'm pretty sure you can take this jerk down and all of this'll be over. I'm pretty damn confident that I can handle this."

"If you say so, I guess. You know you're potentially risking your life by going on this expedition with me right?"

"Whatever, I don't care. I'll tell my dad some BS and then show up at Capsule Corp. two days from now. Catch you later, I guess."

With that, Gohan nodded and launched the pavement like a rocket shrouded in nigh-transparent Ki.

A/N: Wallah, I hope you guys liked the chapter despite the possibility of it having shoddy quality. Not much to talk about here, besides the fact that Gohan in a way represents myself and what I'm going through right now. Even though it may seem out of character for Gohan to be like that, my own dilemmas bled into this chapter whilst I was typing it and I figured why not make his life seem more realistic. My goal with these in-between chapters is to not only provide extra content, lore, and excitement but to also give an interesting take on the Z-fighters lives and how they may change due to certain situations. I'd like to call it storytelling underneath the story, or essentially sub-plots to the main plot, which is something plenty of DBZ fics out there are missing or have very little of. Sometimes it's not always about the warrior, but rather the person that makes up the warrior. Anyways, enough of my rambling: expect the next chapter to be released pretty soon. And by pretty soon I don't mean another four months, but rather before April ends.

C: Well that was intense.

R: Thanks, I tried to make all of the fights that occurred in that arc as intense as possible.

C: Good shit Sin, I'll eagerly await your next chapter. I liked how you finally ended off this arc, and I'm glad that you're ready to progress on forward. PEACE!

R: Nice review, I'll eagerly await the next one. Deuces.

Stay tuned for Chapter 47...Until then stay safe and live your life. Deuces.