"Gohan!" Goku yelled out in utmost pain as Cell repeatedly landed punch after punch on his already bruised face. Earth's mightiest hero was slipping to the realm of the dead, everyone could see that.

"Father..." the 11 year old saiyan was rooted to the spot. He had never seen his father so near to death. Cell had unleashed a merciless assault on the saiyan after he powered up because he was growing bored of the battle. Goku was outclassed completely and Cell crippled him with absolutely no remorse.

The rest of the team tried to intervene but the android was far more powerful than they could have imagined.

"FATHER!" Gohan yelled out in a mixture of pain and rage. Goku had reverted back to his normal form and his face was barely recognizable due to the constant blows. Gohan slowly limped his way over towards his father.

Cell pulled back his bloodied fist and faced the young saiyan with a sick smirk.

"... Stop," Gohan said in a whisper but Cell heard it.

"Heh," Cell readied himself once again.

"G-Gohan!" Goku spat out blood, looking towards his son with a small smile. "I have faith in you, son..."

"..."

"You will be earth's greatest protector,"

Cell towered over Goku's battered frame and released a sigh. "This sentimental downpour is killing me."

"NEVER FORGET!"

"HAAH!" This time, Cell landed the killing blow and his fist easily penetrated through Goku's chest.

"FATHER!"

...

"UGH!" Gohan jerked awake, his gi sticking uncomfortably to his body due to the sweat. "Another one..." he stood up and exhaled loudly, this nightmare was several years old but it never failed to make him shiver. Ever since the battle with Cell years ago, Gohan got recurring visions of Goku's death at the hands of Cell.

"Father," the teen said in a whisper. He thought the pain would slowly vanish over time but it never went away. Studying or hanging out with the rest didn't help, and his only respite was found in training. Gohan abandoned his dream of being a scholar and devoted day and night to becoming the protector his father hoped he would become.

"Gohan, its your first day of college," obviously he didn't completely neglect his studies since that would be disrespecting his mother but he it clear that he would focus more on training. He would never spit on his father's last wish, no matter what.

"Coming," Gohan replied, walking out of his room.

"Hey, Gohan!" Goten called out to him as Gohan stood at the door of his house. "Best of luck."

Gohan smiled. He rarely smiled since the Cell Games but Goten always managed to make him smile, mostly because he looked so similar to Goku. "Yeah, take care, Goten." he waved his little brother goodbye and headed out of the house.

"Will you really be wearing this?" Chi-Chi sighed, clearly not liking his attire for college.

"Yeah," Gohan replied curtly.

"How about-" she stopped when Gohan shook his head. Chi-Chi sighed, usually she would scold him but ever since Goku's death, Gohan had changed. He was still the kind-hearted boy he always was but he grew distant from the rest. Gohan usually spent most of his time training to become stronger. He was earth's new protector after all.

"Will you take Nimbus?"

"No mom," Gohan replied. "I'll go by myself."

"Alright, best of luck on the first day,"

"Take care," Gohan smiled slightly and before Chi-Chi could blink, he rushed out of the place at blinding speed.

"I have to get back home soon," Gohan muttered. "Gotta finish my training..." he sped past Capsule Corp and let out a sigh. Vegeta wasn't in good spirits either after Goku's death. He didn't meet much with the rest and had no idea how they were doing.

"Satan City," Gohan floated in mid-air, just a few miles away from Satan City, built in the honor of Hercule Satan who defeated Cell... at least that's what they thought.

"..."

"... Should have been Goku City," the teen muttered, landing back on the ground and sighing once again. "Here it goes.." flying into city would have raised eyebrows so he just walked the rest of the way.

...

In the other world, Goku found himself in the heat of an intense battle once again as he faced off against Pikkon of the West Galaxy. "You're really strong, Pikkon."

"So are you, Goku," the green humanoid rushed in for another strike.

"Heh," Goku's aura flared up and caught a reddish tint as the saiyan smirked. Being dead had its own perks. Goku shot like a bullet for Pikkon, ducked under his punch and responded with his own strike that sent Pikkon somersaulting through the air.

Pikkon caught his senses and fired a Ki blast at the charging saiyan who shoved it away.

Goku fired his own blast which Pikkon punched in two.

Still under the effect of Kaio-Ken, Goku rushed at the humanoid once again, unleashing a barrage of strikes, making Pikkon switch to the defensive. Goku finally breached through his defenses and struck the alien on the face, sending him somersaulting backwards once again.

Pikkon caught himself in mid-air and cloaked himself in a blue-sphere of energy that heated up his surroundings. Goku backed away this, preparing a Kamehameha wave in his palms.

Pikkon gave the saiyan a competitive smirk and charged at the saiyan.

"HA!" Goku unleashed the blue wave which hit Pikkon dead on, halting his advances towards Goku. "Heh..." he snickered as the collision sent a shockwave rumbling through the place, knocking away most of the weaker spectators in the crowd.

"UGH!" Goku exerted more energy, slowly pushing Pikkon backwards. This scene was a little familiar for some reason.

Pikkon eventually disengaged from the blast and went around it, looking to strike Goku from the side.

"I won't fall for that again!" Goku yelled as he caught Pikkon closing in.

Goku teleported away just as Pikkon got into striking distance, taking the alien by surprise. "Huh!?" the saiyan appeared behind just milliseconds later and punched Pikkon hard across the face.

Pikkon replied the hit with a strike of his own.

King Kai smiled. "It's amazing as to how much he improves.." the crowd cheered as the two warriors continued battling for the prize.

...

"Please welcome our newest student," the teacher introduced the half-saiyan to the class. Gohan stood near the podium, his face stoic and body relaxed.

"What's with that outfit?"

"Looks a little familiar..."

"He's good looking, though,"

"Nice to meet you," Gohan nodded once and went to sit on his assigned seat.

"Wait a second," a girl with black pigtails was the only one who recognized that gi that Gohan was wearing. "I've definitely seen those clothes before.." before she could ask him, the class commenced and the teacher started his lecture.

Things were peaceful for more than half a decade, there was no galactic threat ever since Cell but somewhere in the universe, an ancient evil was finally nearing the end of its long and deep slumber.

Vegeta woke up from his nap and clenched his fist. He couldn't escape the clown even in his dreams. "Darn it..." Kakarot had died years ago, leaving Vegeta alone. There was something about his death that pissed Vegeta off. He shut himself away from Bulma and Trunks, preferring to train alone. He still wanted a chance.

Goku was still as big of a hero as ever.

Hello guys. You might have seen me here before. I wrote a couple of fics but deleted them because no body cared! D: From the title, you can see that this is a rebuild of the Buu Saga. Honestly, Cell Saga was the perfect place to end DBZ but they just had to create this. The whole thing was a clusterbleep but you can't deny there were some gems. I was watching goku vs vegeta and that got me pumped up to write this.

Yes, Cell punched Goku to death and Gohan isn't a loser, like in the anime. He's war-hardened and focused on keeping his promise. Mystic Gohan was another gem in the anime... which they totally destroyed.

Anyway, do tell me if I should continue this if you liked the prologue.

Later.