Author's Note:

This is a stand alone excerpt from my story Talking With A Monster. If you care to read more of this writing style, please consider giving it a read.

Now, without further ado, enjoy.

- Son Goku Residence-

Gohan was quietly sitting on the couch in some comfortable overalls and a T-shirt. His eyes were looking down at the book his mom had assigned him but was not reading the words. He'd wanted to read it, he wanted to listen like a good son should, but he was too busy trying to push the scary thoughts out of his mind. He'd wrapped himself up in a blanket at first, believing that the tremble plaguing his body had been a result of a cold breeze. Well, now he was sweating and still shivering.

Mom was in the kitchen cooking dinner. He'd thought about going to her for help, but she was busy and he didn't want to get in the way of dinner time. He was a Saiyan after all, or at least, half of one. Meal times were sacred in this household, and not something that you got in the way of.

So Gohan sat quietly on the couch, doing his best to be docile, trying his best to do the assignment his mom had given him. Gohan felt bad that he wasn't able to focus on it, he didn't want his mom to be mad at him for not completing his homework. He redoubled his efforts to read the book, to focus his mind on something other than the memories he was currently thinking about.

He failed.

Gohan's head suddenly jerked upward, his pupils black dots within seas of white. He could feel it, sense it again way up there, somewhere past the ceiling and sky, past the atmosphere and into the stars.

Frieza

He could sense his power again. He could sense it still out there, alive, waiting to come back and-

"Hiya son!"

Gohan jumped so high his head bumped the ceiling.

Rubbing the top of his head, Gohan turned and saw his father, Goku, suddenly standing there in the living room in his orange fighting Gi. Despite knowing that he could do it, it didn't make it any less startling that his dad could just pop into existence right next to him at any given moment.

"Hi dad. Dinner's almost done I think, how did training go?" Gohan smiled. He liked when his dad was around and not outside training like he so often did. He noticed his shaking had stopped too!

He watched as his father turned his head left and then right, looking at their surroundings as if confused. "Is everything alright?" He asked seemingly having not heard his son's question.

"Uh, yeah dad. Everything is alright I think…?"

"Huh," Goku frowned, looking down at Gohan with a puzzled expression.

"Is something wrong?" Now Gohan was looking around at their living room, was there something weird he should be noticing?

"Well, I thought so at first." Goku rubbed the back of his neck still wearing a puzzled frown. "I felt your energy getting all," He made a scrambled motion with his hands. "Weird-n-stuff, so I thought I should get back."

Gohan frowned.

Weird? My energy was weird? What does dad mean by-

The boy paused in his thoughts. He hadn't realized it, but his energy signature was spiking at that moment. He'd accidentally powered up to his absolute max without even realizing it.

"Oh, sorry." He finally said as he forced his power back to it's normal, comfortable level. "I was um, worried about something. I guess I must have powered up without noticing haha…"

He watched his father tilt his head in response. "Worried? Worried about what son?"

"Oh, um, well…" Gohan paused. Should he tell him that he'd felt Frieza again? The last time he'd felt him he'd rushed to tell everyone, only for everyone to tell him that they couldn't feel anything. He'd felt silly because of it. He was 'the boy who cried wolf'. He didn't want to be the boy who cried wolf.

But, he also didn't want to lie to his dad either. He was a good boy, he liked telling the truth.

"I...I was worrying about Frieza again." Gohan looked down ashamed. He didn't like that he had these scary thoughts. He couldn't help it. He wanted them to go away.

Goku laughed, a bright smile on his face. "But Frieza's gone silly, why would you be worrying about him?"

Gohan could only shrug unwilling to meet his dad's gaze. Of course Frieza was gone. Gohan knew that, he'd seen his dad beat him, twice, once on Namek, and again when Frieza had tried to come to Earth. He didn't know why he was still thinking about him even after all this time. Gohan frowned, he was being silly.

The young boy blinked in surprise as Goku lowered himself to a crouch so that he was eye level with his son. He wasn't smiling however in his typical fashion, he had a serious look on his face, one that told Gohan that he was listening.

"Gohan, what's wrong? What's got your mind on Frieza?"

"I-um." The six year old wasn't sure why he was still thinking about Frieza. He didn't want to be scared thinking about Frieza, imagining his power still alive somewhere out in the cozmos. "I don't know dad."

"Hmmm." Goku tightened his lips as he studied his son. "Oh! I've got an idea!" Without explanation Goku's hand reached out and laid flat on his son's head. Gohan didn't mind. It felt like when his dad ruffled his hair after he'd done a good job on something. It was a good feeling.

He watched his dad close his eyes and suddenly concentrate. Abruptly Gohan felt like his mind was a VHS tape being rewound and then played in fast forward, like his dad was somehow...looking through his memories?

Dad can do that?

He remembered his dad doing something similar with Krillin back on Namek but…how could he do that?

Before he could think more on the matter, Goku was pulling back his hand, his eyes opening again.

Gohan looked at him expectantly, what had he'd seen?

Why is dad looking at me like that?

It looked like Goku was...concerned? What about? About him? But why? "You're not worried Gohan...you're scared." he frowned.

The child paused, not sure how to respond, before slowly nodding. "I guess so."

"You feel like Frieza is still out there somewhere. You think you sense his energy sometimes."

Gohan's gaze trailed downward, he nodded.

"You know Frieza's gone for good right? He's not coming back."

"I know. I don't know why I get scared sometimes. It just happens and I can't help it."

"Hmmm…" Goku brought a hand to cup his chin in thought. "I wonder why you're still scared of Frieza even though he's gone…"

Gohan shrugged.

Suddenly a bright smile spread across Goku's cheeks again. "Oh! I know!" He looked over his shoulder towards the Kitchen where Chichi was still cooking. Cupping a hand over his mouth he called out. "I'm taking Gohan out for a little bit! We'll be back before dinner's done!"

"Did Gohan finish his homework?" hollered back Gohan's mother.

Goku looked back to his son expectantly.

The younger Saiyan slowly shook his head no.

Goku frowned, before a devious grin spread from his lips. "Yeah! He just finished! I'll bring it to you!" Goku motioned for his son to hand him the book.

Gohan frowned. He hadn't read it or done any of the notes, what was his dad doing?

Whispering, Goku leaned in overly dramatically, as if he was a spy trying to stay undercover. "C'mon Gohan give it to me, I can take care of this."

Gohan couldn't help but giggle at his dad being so silly. Goku smiled as his son gave him the book and small folder with the work papers in them. Making sure his son was watching, he goofily began to walk towards the kitchen when he abruptly stumbled, the book and folder bouncing around in his hands as he fell forward and accidentally threw it out of the open window on the other side of the room.

Gohan's eyes bulged as he ran over to the window. He couldn't even see it out there. His dad had thrown it far.

"Oops! I accidently threw it out the window!" Goku grinned at his son who was slowly starting to smile back. Gohan realized what his dad was doing now. Goku raised a single finger to his lips. Gohan understood.

"What!?"

Suddenly their smiles dropped.

Chichi's voice exploded from the kitchen, the two Saiyans could hear her feet pounding towards them as she roared. "Do you know how expensive that book was? Where did you throw it? Did you even stop to consider-"

Goku's face went pale with terror before he reached out and placed a hand on his son's shoulder. His voice tripped over itself as he said "MeandGohanaregonnagofinditBye!"

Just as Gohan saw his mom round the corner into the living room, he noticed his father put two fingers to his forehead and suddenly they were outside in the forest surrounding their home. Gohan could feel the cool night air caressing his face, gently drying the sweat he'd been accumulating back in the blanket.

"Phew, that was a close one." Goku wiped sweat from his forehead before looking around. "Yeah, this spot should work."

Gohan looked around. This spot didn't look particularly special.

"It should?" he asked.

Goku smiled as he sat down indian style, indicating for his son to do the same.

Now sitting across from his father, Gohan asked. "So...what are we doing here dad?"
With a serious gaze, Goku stared into his son's eyes. "I want you to think about Frieza right now. Think about his power, how strong he was, how scary he was. I want you to really picture him, pretend he's here now, standing a few feet away."

Gohan paused, his eyes wide at what his dad had just told him. "But...I don't think I want to dad."

Goku grinned, "Just trust me son...here," he stretched out a hand, "I can hold your hand while you do it."

Gohan hesitated a moment longer before slowly stretching out his own arm and accepting his father's hand in his. He didn't know what his dad was doing, but he trusted him.
The boy closed his eyes as he started to picture the tyrant in his mind, shaping how the monster had looked like, his stance, the way he spoke and the way he moved. Gohan pictured his evil, demented laughter, the way he treated all of his friends, the way he hurt his dad back on Namek.

And then, he pretended that he could feel his power.

Immediately, Gohan's body began to tremble. His grip tightened around his father's hand as he felt beads of sweat begin to build up on his brow and face. He felt like he was there again, on Namek, fighting for his life with Krillen and Vegeta against a force that seemed like it was just getting stronger and stronger with each clash of blows. He could picture them now, the first form, the first face Gohan remembered Frieza wearing. Even then his power had been overwhelming, so much so that it'd been a surprise that Vegeta had managed to resist him for as long as he did. Then, he transformed into his second form, a massive, dangerous creature with horns he'd seen impale Krillin. His power had become so much so that Gohan had been certain that he was going to die. He remembered wishing he'd never gone along to Namek in that moment, wishing that he was back home with his mom and dad doing boring homework.

Then Piccolo came, and Gohan had felt a glimmer of hope.

Which was dashed away the moment the monster had transformed for the third time. At that point, even Piccolo had proven no match for the tyrant. Gohan had felt foolish for getting his hopes up before.

And finally, Frieza's final form, the form that Gohan had learned to be Frieza's true face. It wasn't so much the form itself that terrified Gohan, in fact the previous forms had been far more terrifying in physical appearance, it was what he could do in that form that truly made Gohan tremble in fear. He had the power to slaughter an entire race, the power to beat Vegeta brutally, a man Gohan had previously feared before, and soon enough Gohan had found out that he possessed the power to destroy planets if he so chose.

He could picture him now, standing just next to him pointing a single, white finger down on him, knowing that was all it would take to wipe him and his planet from existence.

"You're thinking of him now? Frieza?"

Gohan nodded, his body trembling from fright, from knowing that he could do nothing against this massive amount of power. The boy's grip tightened around his father's hand.

"You can feel his power now right? You remember how strong he was?"

Another nod.

"Alright, I want you to really remember it, how big it was, how strong and terrifying it was."

Gohan didn't need to be told that. He was already on top of it.

"Now I want you to stand up."

Gohan's eyes opened as he noticed his dad rise to a standing position, still holding his hand as he helped the boy to his feet.

"Do you feel him like he's really here?"

Gohan frowned. He did, he didn't like it, but he did. It felt like he was right next to him.

He nodded.

"Good." was all his father said before pulling the boy to him and wrapping him up into a tight embrace. "Now, I want you to focus on my power."

Gohan blinked as suddenly, he was being bathed in golden flames. Goku's hair was standing on end, gold due to transforming into his Super Saiyan state. Gohan could feel the power radiating from his father, it was incredible, stronger than anything Gohan had felt before.

And it was climbing.

Gohan's eyes widened in amazement as his dad's power continued to skyrocket to the point that it was unfathomable how strong he was. It would have been terrifying had it been anyone else, but standing there wrapped in his father's arms, knowing that this power wasn't going to do any harm to him or the people he loved. It was comforting to be around it, to be overwhelmed by it. Gohan nuzzled deeper into the hug.

"Now, I want you to think back to Frieza's power. How does it seem to you now?"

Gohan's eyes snapped back open. He'd nearly completely forgotten about Frieza and his power. Compared to his dad it almost felt...weak? It was odd to think of Frieza, the previous ruler of the universe as weak, but feeling his dad's Ki...it was undeniable. The two were hardly comparable anymore, it was as if his dad was in an entirely different league than that of what Frieza had shown.

"It seems...small." The boy answered.

Goku smiled. "That's right. Frieza is waaaaay weaker than me. If Frieza were to ever come back ever, then your pops would beat him up again just like the first couple of times."

Gohan smiled, and then frowned.

"But what if you're not there dad? What if Frieza comes back again and you're not there to stop him this time?"

Goku let out a laugh. "Gohan, if you were to try to get away from me right now. Flying as fast as you can. Do you think you could do it?"

Gohan thought about it.

No way.

There wasn't a chance that he could hope to outfly his father.

"And don't forget about this nifty little skill!" Goku said as he raised two fingers to his forehead.

Suddenly, the two of them were across the world, standing on the small beach of Kami house. Then, a moment later they were in West City floating above all the people down below, then, they were back in the forest where they'd begun their journey.

"Whoa." Gohan's eyes were wide, realizing what his dad was saying.

"Son," Goku began, lowering himself so that he was at eye level with Gohan. "I'm here now. I plan to protect you, and your mom, and the Earth from whatever tries to hurt it with all the power I have to spend. There is nothing I wouldn't do to keep you and your mom safe. You don't need to worry about Frieza or anyone like Frieza who might be out there, because you're big bad pops will take them down no matter where you are."

Gohan smiled at that, Goku smiled back.

"No matter where you are, no matter what you might be afraid of, I'll deal with it. I can sense you from across the Earth and can be there a second later if I need to be. If you just flare your energy just like you did back at the house, I'll be there."

Gohan looked at the golden flames flickering off of his father, illuminating his confident and reassuring smile. They were warm, and they were comforting and they made him feel safe. Gohan tried to picture something, anything being stronger than his dad was.

He couldn't, he couldn't picture anything being as strong as his dad was in that moment.

Gohan was never scared of Frieza again.