Two Months of Torture

Chapter 1: Surprise Gohan! You're Going On a Field Trip!

Gohan had been attending Orange Star High School for nearly two months when he decided that his life was officially over. It didn't seem fair that just as he finally got to go to school, meet new friends, and become a super hero, he was going to have to give it up.

It was a morning just like every other he had experienced as a high school student, and it began by sprinting to his first period class. Luckily for Gohan he'd made it just in time, and he'd planted himself in his seat only moments before the bell rang. Their homeroom teacher looked up from his position in front of the podium and looked around the classroom.

"Good morning class. It's good to see you're here on time today, Mr. Son. Hopefully you can keep it up."

Gohan turned red and ducked his head in embarrassment as some of his classmates turned to grin at their resident absent-minded genius.

"Now, I have an announcement to—"

"Sorry I'm late, Mr. Roberts!" Videl shouted as she ran into the room and to her seat.

"Not a problem, Miss Satan. I understand your police work takes priority over your school work."

Gohan groaned a little in disbelief at the blatant favoritism the teachers of the school showed toward Satan's daughter. Not that he thought what she was doing wasn't important, but it would be nice if the teachers would give him a break every once in a while.

"Now, as I was saying, I have an important announcement to make. Next monday, the entire class will be going on a trip for two months. We have four destinations and I'm sure that you'll be looking forward to each one.

"For the first month we'll be splitting our time between four different locations, one for each week. Our first stop is to the home of the great Hercule Satan himself where he'll give all of you a week of free martial arts lessons and answer any questions you have about his heroic deeds!"

The teacher paused as the class broke into chaos. Everyone in the class was either cheering or chattering to the people around them. The teacher smiled at their excitement and waited for them to calm down, but no one noticed that only two of the teenagers weren't showing any kind of excitement.

Videl had known months that her dad was going to be having her class over for a week, but she couldn't help rolling her eyes at his antics. It was obvious that he just wanted more people around to boost his ego. Of course Videl didn't miss the fact that a certain Son Gohan looked just as unenthusiastic as she did at the prospect of visiting the Satan household. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. That boy was just too out of the ordinary. She'd use these two monthes to her advantage and find out what he was hiding!

"Next, we'll be visiting the amazing Capsule Corp, the most sucessful company in the world and located in West City. There you'll be learning about their cutting edge developments in technology and about the inner-workings of their corporation."

Again he had to pause until the cheers died down. Videl noticed that 'unenthusiastic' was too weak of a word to describe Gohan now. He looked as if someone had died or something. Definitely suspicious.

"Our third destination will be the kingdom of the elusive Ox King. Fortunately we managed to contact him, and you'll be learning all about his mysterious past, the ancient artifacts he's managed to collect over the decades, and about the myths of the planet."

Whispers filled the room as everyone began gossiping about what they knew about the Ox King and his kingdom; none of it was good.

"I assure you students that we would not allow any of you to go if it was in the least bit dangerous!" Mr. Roberts shouted over the loudly whispering class. Silence fell again as the class realized that their teacher hadn't finished speaking to them yet.

"The final week of the first month will be spent at the home of someone more reclusive than even the Ox King."

The class leaned forward as one large group, all of them holding their breath as the teacher paused for dramatic effect.

"The family of the former World Martial Arts Champion, the legendary Son Goku, has graciously allowed us to stay at their home for the last week and then supervise our last month of survival training!"

Videl had glued her eyes to Gohan who was beginning to look like he had lost all will to live. He'd given up on actually paying attention to the rest of the class and he looked like he was attempting to suffocate himself with the inside of his elbow. Son Goku? She had almost forgotten the name of the former world martial arts champion and the more she thought about it, the more she realized the Gohan had to be related to the guy. After all, their names were only off by one syllable!

"Quiet down everyone!" their teacher was attempting to gain their attention once again with little luck. "I still need to tell you about your month of survival training!"

This seemed to rouse everyone's interest and the class quickly settled down. They stared expectantly at Mr. Roberts.

"The last month, as I've mentioned, will be spent learning how to survive in the wilderness. You will be supervised by Son Chichi and several others who have been selected to give you a diverse learning opportunity.

"I assure you that they will be placing your safety as a top priority, but please keep in mind that there is a possibility you might find yourself in danger. As long as you listen to your instructors you will be fine, but I understand if either you, or your parents have any problems with this. Therefore, the survival training is optional, but the first month is not!

"I am now passing out permission slips as well as a list of things you will need. The first list is a recommendation for the first portion of the trip, but the second half is absolutely required for the survival training. If you have any issues in acquiring what you need, please let me know.

"These permission slips must be returned no later than Friday."

With that, Mr. Roberts started passing out the two sheets of paper.

At lunch, Gohan looked at his food sullenly, for once not feeling the urge to shove all of the food into his mouth in one go. The weather outside was beautiful, and he felt as if nature herself was trying to mock him. How was he supposed to keep up his charade as a normal teenager through those two months? And what was Bulma and the rest of his family thinking? His grandpa, he could maybe understand, but his mother? Gohan could feel the knots tightening in his stomach when he thought of confronting her about it later that night. It would be unavoidable since he needed her to sign his permission slip.

"What's wrong, Gohan? Aren't you excited about the trip?" Erasa asked, poking him in the side.

Gohan flinched and turned to give Erasa a sheepish grin. The four of them, Erasa, Videl, Sharpner, and himself, were sitting in a loose circle on the school grounds. Both Videl and Sharper had finished eating and were soaking up the sun before they had to head back to class.

Sharpner was laying down completely, looking like he was just a nod away from completely dozing off. Videl, on the other hand, was nowhere near that level of relaxation. In fact, she looked oddly tense, more than Gohan was used to seeing, and she had that look in her eye that he'd learnt to associate with her need to interrogate him.

Gohan rubbed the back of his head before letting out a soft sigh.

"I'd rather not explain just yet, but I guess you'll find out eventually. Besides you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Videl didn't look like she was satisfied with his explanation and was about to comment, but Erasa cut her off to continue her own line of investigation.

"If you're sure, but there was something I've been meaning to ask you though..."

Erasa paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. She placed her pointer finger on the side of her face as she looked off into the distance, trying to find the right words.

"Mr. Roberts said that we'd be visiting the Son family, the family of the former World Champion, Son Goku, but isn't your last name Son? I mean, even Goku sounds a lot like Gohan!"

"U-uhhhh..." Gohan gave her shaky smile, trying to think of a way to answer this. Should he tell them the truth? It seemed like lying would be completely pointless now. If they knew that Son Goku was the former world champion then it wasn't that hard to connect the dots.

"But that's kind of weird isn't it? Wouldn't you have mentioned if your father was a world champion? I mean, I think anyone who has family like that would boast about it."

"Please," Sharpner spoke up from his position on the ground. "Sure their names sound the same, but who would believe that nerd boy could be related to a World Champ? I mean his dad's probably some scrawny genius that works for Capsule Corp."

"Errr..."

"Don't be mean, Sharpner!" Erasa scolded him, turning to frown at the other blond of the group. "I'm sure Gohan's dad is great!"

She turned back to Gohan to give him a reassuring smile and he smiled back at her with gratitude in his eyes.

"Well, Gohan, which is it?" Videl finally spoke up, her glare intense as she focused on their newest friend.

"W-what do you mean, Videl?" Gohan asked trying to look like he wasn't hiding anything. Unfortunately for Gohan it worked just as well as all the other times Videl had turned her investigating powers to him. Meaning, not at all.

"Are you related to the Son Goku?"

"Well, yeah, actually," Gohan said, finally deciding to own up. After all, they'd find out any way in just a couple of weeks. "I'm his son."

"Really?" Erasa exclaimed, looking pleased. "That's so great, Gohan! Why didn't you tell us about it? And how come you didn't let us know that your family was going to be having us over for the class field trip?"

"I didn't know!" Gohan answered honestly. Some of his frustration bled out when he said this, his hands waving wildly in the air to add emphasis to his statement. "Mom never said anything to me, I swear!"

"Oh," Erasa said, blinking at him as she tried to process this. "Well, I'm sure she had her reasons."

"Wait up!" Sharpner exclaimed as he suddenly jolted up into a sitting position. "You're telling me that you really are related to a World Champ! And it's your dad! Dude, why didn't you tell us?"

"Well, it never came up," Gohan said, looking a little confused.

"What do you mean?" Videl asked. "You know that my dad is the current World Champ. It wouldn't have been that out of place to say something about yours."

"Well...my dad died seven years ago," Gohan explained.

The group suddenly sobered up when Gohan let this slip, and both Videl and Sharpner looked slightly guilty when they thought back to all of their insensitive questioning. Erasa just frowned sympathetically and put a hand on Gohan's shoulder.

"Oh, Gohan! I'm so sorry! He must have died when Cell attacked; I understand why you wouldn't have wanted to tell us!"

Videl looked down at the ground in front of her feeling even worse than she had before. Of course Gohan wouldn't want to talk about his dad when he'd probably died fighting Cell. After all, her dad had fought Cell and had survived. How would she feel if she were in Gohan's position?

"It's okay. It was a long time ago."

"How come you don't do martial arts then?" Sharpner asked, curiously. "I mean, if my dad was a martial arts champion, I'd have begged him day and night to train me."

"Well, I do know some martial arts, I mean my whole family does," Gohan admitted.

Videl narrowed her eyes at this. Of course! If his dad was a martial arts champion that made him ten times more likely to be the Great Saiyaman!

"But my mom wanted me to be a great scholar. She's always made me study in my spare time, even when I was a kid."

"Oh, wow, man. That sucks," Sharpner admitted, looking guilty again. After all, it sounded like Gohan didn't even have a choice.

"It's not that bad," Gohan assured them. "And I do want to be a scholar. Besides, dad usually trained me anyway, or one of his friends did. It just meant that mom made me study extra hard when I got back."

"We didn't know that you did martial arts either though!" Erasa complained. "You don't have to hide stuff from us, Gohan!"

Gohan just chuckled, but felt a little deranged since he could feel the nervous energy in him reveal itself when he did so.

"So, I guess Son Chichi is your mother?" Videl asked.

"Yeah," Gohan confirmed.

"What's she like?" Erasa asked, curious to learn more about their mysterious friend now that he'd revealed some of his secrets.

"Er, she's nice most of the time, I guess. She's pretty stubborn and she has a really short fuse so we try not to make her angry."

"Does she do martial arts, too?" Erasa asked.

"Yeah, totally!" Gohan grinned, happy enough to brag about his mother. "My mom fought my dad in the quarter-finals of the world championship. My dad proposed during their fight, and they got married after he won!"

The other three looked stunned at this revelation, and all of them were wondering just what Gohan's parents were like.

"That's so...romantic, Gohan!" Erasa tried to cover up her shock. She clasped her hands in front of her and gave him a big grin.

"Do you think so?" Gohan asked thoughtfully. "I asked her a while ago what the two of them did on their first date and she said that they just sparred the whole day. I mean, they were just kids at the time, but still..."

"Oh, your parents met as children?" Erasa looked at Gohan curiously, ignoring the fact that his entire family seemed to be fighting fanatics.

"Yeah, when they were twelve, I think..."

"That's so cute! Childhood sweethearts!"

Sharpner scoffed a little, but he'd been hanging onto every word just like Erasa and Videl. It was true, they didn't get to hear a lot about Gohan and now that he thought about it, their friend was surprisingly quiet when talking about himself.

They were startled out of their thoughts by the ringing bell and all of them grudgingly got ready to go back to class. However, it was sure to pass by quickly now that Videl and the others had this new information to think about.

When school let out, Gohan ducked into an alley and flew to Capsule Corp. He would confront his mother later about her decision to keep him out of the loop, but first he wanted to ask Bulma about her part in all of this.

He waved to Dr. Briefs and Mrs. Briefs when he landed and stopped only to ask where he could find Bulma.

"Hmm," Dr. Briefs hummed thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. Bunny could be seen spinning happily through the garden with water can behind him. "I'm pretty sure she's still in the lab. Try there first."

"Thanks, Dr. Briefs!"

Gohan sped off into the house and quickly found Bulma in her lab, working on a new project.

"Hey Bulma!"

Gohan walked over to where the blue-haired scientist was working. Bulma looked up when she heard her name, and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Hey kiddo! How's it going?"

She put down what she's been working on to give the teenager her full attention. She frowned when Gohan froze, as if he'd just remembered something, and slunk over to sit in the stool next to her. She grew more concerned when he hung his head and sighed.

"Oh, Gohan, what's wrong?"

"I don't know what I'm going to do, Bulma!" Gohan exclaimed. He looked up at her, suddenly remembering her part in all of this. "Why didn't you tell me that Capsule Corp was going to have my class here for a field trip?"

Bulma blinked at this accusation and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Your class?" she repeated. "I don't remember inviting them here, but, to be honest, dad's the one that organizes that kind of stuff, not me, and I don't think he knows the name of your high school."

"Oh man, really?"

Gohan looked crushed. He just had the worst luck some times.

"Chin up, kid," Bulma said, trying to get his spirits up. "You have me here to help you out and I'll make sure that Vegeta doesn't bother you too much."

"Thanks, Bulma."

Gohan felt a little better knowing that he had Bulma's support.

"Any time, Gohan," Bulma smiled at him, feeling glad that he seemed to be perking up. "Why don't you go train with Vegeta and Trunks in the gravity room for a bit? I'll call Chichi to let her know that you'll be coming home late."

"That sounds great!"

"Good," Bulma said. "Do you want to stay over for dinner too? I'm sure Chichi wouldn't mind."

"That's okay," Gohan said. "I have to give her the permission slip. And there's something else I have to talk to her about."

"All right then," she said. "If you insist. Run off and I'll make the call."

"Thanks again Bulma!"

Gohan ran off to the gravity room, looking excited at the chance to let off some steam.

Bulma watched him leave and shook her head. She grabbed a cigarette and after she'd lit one, picked up her phone to call Chichi.

Man, I really feel sorry for the kid. He's been trying so hard, after all. I'm sure he'll be fine though...

And that's the first chapter. So, as the summary mentions, this originally belonged to BeadleJuice, but since she discontinued the story and offered it up, I figured I'd take a shot at it.

Just to let everyone who has read the original know, after a lot of thought and consideration, I will be changing a lot from the original story line. Although I think that might have been obvious from this first chapter.

Also, it might take a while for the next chapter to come out since I'd like to work on updating my other stories first. However, I fully intend on updating within the next two weeks.

Anyway, hope everyone enjoys this new version of "Two Months of Torture"!

-Wednesday1990