It had been roughly an entire year since I had been born in this world, a world that was one of fiction back in my old world. It had been an entire year since I had to start getting used to the fact that everything looked animated.

It had been an entire year that I had to get used to the fact that my old name was forgotten and that I was now named Goten, the son of my childhood hero.

One Year Old

"Gohan I'm going out shopping can you be a dear and look after Goten for me? If you boys want you can visit Bulma and take Goten on a playdate, but don't be later than 6 you hear me!"

Gohan looked up from his books and hastily hollered out a reply, "I got it mom, bye!"

"Bye Gohan! I'll be back in a few hours!" Chi Chi yelled back before the opening and closing of a door was heard followed by his mother starting up the car Goku had gotten a bit before his death.

With a sigh and a smile, Gohan shut his book for a moment and stood, stretching out his body. He had turned 13 a few months ago and Goten was about a year old, and thinking of the little tyke Gohan smiled and started heading over to his parent's room where his crib was.

As Gohan neared the door he heard very brief grunting coming from his little brother, and cracked open the door to see a very familiar sight.

Goten had gotten out of his crib and had started doing what looked like very sloppy push ups.

"Did we let Goten watch the fitness channel or something?" Gohan muttered to himself, unknowingly surprising Goten and causing the toddler to fall flat on his chest.

Little Goten looked up at Gohan, a surprised expression on his face for a second before a slight scowl crossed his face. It was both odd and hilarious in Gohan's opinion, but looked off due to Goten's young age.

The older Son brother chuckled and picked up Goten, "Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of yours?" Goten looked up at him and pouted slightly, "Ghan was trainin."

At this the halfling stopped and looked down at his brother, his young two year old brother who had little to no reason in his mind to train, "What for little buddy? Nothing's going to happen to you, I'll be there to protect you like a big brother!"

Goten stared him right in the eye, not daring to break contact for at least 10 seconds before he started laughing, "Goha, Goha!"

Gohan laughed before he bopped Goten on the head, "How about I leave a note for Mom and we go visit Trunks for a playdate?" Seeing Goten "playing" alone didn't sit well with the young man, and his mother did give them permission to leave...

At that, Goten looked a bit livelier, "Play with Trunks?" The goofy Son grin made its way to the young boy's face as his older brother smiled and quickly wrote down a note and left it on the counter.

Little to Gohan's knowledge, a thought brimmed around in Goten's head as they took off on Nimbus shortly after about both his father and his ambition at the moment.

"He doesn't realize that's abnormal? Weird, I would have thought people would notice me wanting to surpass Goku with how I babble about it. Maybe if I train hard enough I can surpass him! Who am I kidding, he'd still be training most of the time but if I want to bring him back before the Buu Arc…"

"I'll surpass my hero, Son Goku, so he doesn't have an excuse about wanting to protect us by leaving anymore and so Chi Chi can have an actual husband and Gohan a father."

"Too bad little ol me practically swiped the body of Goten, for almost no reason at all might I add…"

One year earlier, alternate dimension

"... I'm sorry to say sir, but you're going to die in roughly ten minutes."

After the doctor told that I paused, my mind stopping roughly. I became unable to think coherently for a few split seconds that I was now painfully aware of that they were to be my last as I drew painful breaths.

"I-Is there anything you can do doc?! I mean, this is kinda sudden!" I practically shouted at the man as I lay on the hospital bed, the monitors on my vitals very slowly dropping. The shouting doing no favor to

The man shook his head, "I'm afraid not sir, quite frankly it's a miracle you're even awake for your last moments as most patients who have this issue pass out around this point. I'll give you a couple minutes to sort yourself out and I'll be back to administer some pain relief before they give you the shot. At this point in time there is nothing that can be done for you… I'm sorry for your loss."

The doctor left the room and I was left to just sit there on my bed staring at the ceiling. Well isn't this fucking fantastic, eh?! I was administered to this hospital a week ago due to a horrible influenza virus. Normally for a person it wouldn't be an issue, just sleep it off right?

Well, I had the shitty luck of having an absolutely pitiful immune system.

So not only did I catch this extremely easily, it has also absolutely destroyed me. First it was my nose, god damn the pain was horrible at first and the swelling wasn't fun and lead to me not being able to breath out of my nostrils. After that, I was rushed to the E.R. about it and they've kept me here since, it's only been getting worse since it's in such a late stage.

All in all, a mixture of shitty luck and bad timing for coming to the doctor's.

I struggled with sighing, but did so as I lied down in my shitty bed with a frown upon my face. If I was going to die soon, I might as well be holding something that reminded me of good times…

Looking to my right on the bedside table I grabbed a figurine I had managed to grasp while I was in my bedroom; the classical Super Saiyan Goku. As I held the figure I smiled and remembered more childish times where I would stand in front of the TV and scream my lungs out to try and become a Super Saiyan myself…

I held the figurine closely to my body and unnoticably nodded off, hacking and coughing the whole while. While I had my eyes closed, I heard the doctor re-enter the room with some nurses, and felt a slight loopy feeling as the pain meds were pumped into my IV.

About 30 seconds passed before I was given The Shot and my mind hazed on before it went blank at that point, the Goku figurine never leaving me.

Back with Goten

"Hey buddy, we're here!" Gohan shook my shoulders as we landed in front of Capsule Corp.

I blinked a bit and shook my head, smiling once again as we walked inside. Yeah being reincarnated as the son of my childhood hero wasn't on the top of my wishlist in life, but it was one hell of a good time so far and with my knowledge about the series I'm going to take this chance and grab it by the figurative balls.

My first objective was to, you know, not piss off Vegeta during this playdate.

Six months later, midnight

Today had been an… interesting day. Our mother had made us a surprisingly grand meal and she was outwardly happy and bubbly, much more so than usual which sort of concerned me. Hey, I may have only been reincarnated for like a year now but family is family, and I have to worry about mine!

… Not like I had any family back in my old life, but nevermind that!

Gohan had even managed to create some sort of multi colored ki blast that shot into the sky like a firework, and he had practically spammed it when it turned night. Mom laid down on a blanket and I laid on her torso as we stared up into the sky at Gohan's "fireworks", simply relaxing.

She ruffled my hair and sighed, "I'm so happy to have you two, you know that right Gohan?" My older brother paused at this and looked down at mom with a smile, "Yeah, I know…"

An odd silence hung in the air as Gohan sighed and laid down next to us, his hands behind his head.

"Your father would be so proud of you, both of you," the silence was broken and Gohan looked at mom briefly before turning his head away and a light sniffling was heard.

Was… Was Gohan crying?

Mom laid an arm on Gohan's shoulder and shook him slightly, "It isn't your fault Gohan, your father had faith in you and you aren't the reason he died." She tried to comfort him before he sat up and lightly moved her hand from his self.

He shook his head, his expression unreadable from where I laid, "Stop. I'm the reason Dad had to take Cell out with him, and even then he couldn't stay put! I'm a horrible excuse for a son and I shouldn't even be able to celebrate Dad's Birthday with all that's happened!" Gohan had ended up shouting, turning to face the two of us before he looked at me and sighed, "I'll be back, I'm going to just… let off some energy."

He turned Super Saiyan and burst off into the sky, disappearing into the horizon. Mom sadly sighed before she stood up and picked me up, "Your brother's been very sad since your father left us, he's been like this everytime your father's birthday rolls around. But he'll be back in a few hours sweetie, don't worry about it. I will have to talk to Piccolo about roughing him up like this every year though…"

She had soon packed up our little area and we walked home with a large backpack on her back and me hanging from her front in a sling of sorts. As we slowly made our way home, I felt a splash of water touch my cheek and I looked up to see mom herself crying lightly.

"Another reason to try and bring Goku back here faster, he's causing mom and Gohan grief just because he wanted to go train in heaven or something!" I scowled to myself, "Goku may be a great guy, but he's really pushing it right now!"

After we had gotten home and mom put away all the stuff, I had been placed into a cradle near her bed and I soon fell asleep…

...Only to wake up a few hours later to the door opening softly. I blearily looked over and saw a roughed up Gohan standing at the door and staring at mom, who must have cried herself to sleep given the wet marks on her cheeks.

Gohan stared at mom before he glanced at me. Our eyes met for the briefest of moments before he closed the door softly and went to bed in his room.

…

Dammit! I need to start training soon! Now what did Goku do as a kid again?

Two years old

"Gohan," I whined, pulling on his sleeve. The now teenaged Half Saiyan looked down at me confused, "What's up squirt?"

I puffed out my cheeks for dramatic effect (hey, given a new chance at childhood that was going to temporarily end in a few years, wouldn't you yuck it up too?) as I looked him in the eye, "How does it feel to go all glowy?"

Gohan looked surprised before a thoughtful look crossed his face, "Well, whenever I go Super Saiyan, it feels like a rush of power and I used to get pretty ticked off."

"Used to?"

"Yeah, before Dad and I learned how to master Super Saiyan, it would make you extremely angry. Nowadays I can turn into it and still be calm," Gohan explained with a small smile, remembering the times he and Goku spent in the chamber. To pound in his point, Gohan flashed into Super Saiyan, keeping his calm demeanor and no visible spikes in energy could be felt from his energy. It was almost like he had turned it into an alternate look for his base stat…

I needed to know if something was even possible, "Do you feel anything in your back?"

Gaining another thoughtful look, Gohan turned Super Saiyan and back a few times, "Yeah, I do feel like a bit of pressure is put on like the very center of my back… Why would you ask that?"

Uh… "When I got mad yesterday my back kinda felt tingly, when you said Super Saiyan got you mad I thought it was the same thing." I hope this explanation works…

Gohan snapped his fingers, "I see! Yeah, that makes sense squirt."

Four years old

We all sat down at the dinner table, Gohan and I eating voraciously without any care in the world while our mother, Chi Chi ate a much smaller meal at a more casual pace.

Even now the amount of food I needed to eat was absolutely absurd and to this day it blows my mind. Back in my old life I could barely eat two or three slices of pizza let alone an entire pizza, and here I am putting that to shame by hundreds of times!

...Where does mom get the money to supply us with food? We don't have a crop farm yet or a father to take care of said farm so I'm going to have to assume we're living off the money dad won at the World Tournament. Might be why I don't have a tutor or so like Gohan did, we could be running low on money.

Another thing I'll have to fix, I decided, as I continued shoveling food into my mouth.

Taking a slight break from the feast before me I looked up and steeled myself as I asked a question very important to me, "Hey mom, could I use the dragonballs for my birthday?"

Beside me Gohan gulped down his mouthful and looked at me a bit confused, looking almost exactly as he did during the start of the Buu Saga but in a purple gi. They were quite comfy so I understood why he still wore them as casual clothes even while he didn't train.

Chi Chi paused and gave me a questioning look, "Goten sweetie why do you want to use the dragonballs?" Ok good, not outright denying me usage, I gotta word this right.

"I, uh, want to meet dad and maybe learn some of his techniques?" Hey, if I'm emulating Goku with this hairstyle I might as well go all in, I want the Instant Transmission and Kaioken too so this could work out.

Gohan had a smile on his face and Chi Chi looked surprised before a large smile broke out on her face, "Of course! Gosh why didn't I think of using them to let your father visit! I'm going to be such a mess, oh your birthday is in a couple days I have to get ready for that! We can have a nice family meal like the old times!" Mom looked justifiably excited, holding her hands to the side of her head as she fantasized our day.

In my head I was doing little dances, if this worked out I could both officially meet Goku in the flesh (wow that sounds weird to think of) and even learn two of his most useful abilities in my opinion. Instant Transmission is literally teleporting, which could allow me to enter the Otherworld as well and Kaioken has a bunch of untapped potential I could use.

The thought of instead using the wish for a tail did cross my mind, but I don't want to just yet try out things that very well can't work. Super Saiyan 4 is one of my favorite forms but there is a chance that because it's non canon it just won't work when I try it. Sure it technically exists because alternate timelines, but I'm pretty sure Gohan or Vegeta haven't mentioned saiyan tails just yet so I'd be looked at odd either way. Might do it pre BoG though, I have some time between Buu Saga and then.

After we finished our meal everyone went to bed. As Gohan started snoring (and boy did he snore loudly) and mom's soft breathing was heard from her door, I got on my gi and snuck outside before flying off. It was quite easy to learn how to use ki and fly when you have memories of Gohan teaching your future sister in law how to do it.

A couple minutes passed before I landed in a wasteland about a hundred miles from my home and I did some simple stretches before I released my power. With a simple shout, my aura turned golden as I saw a bang of gold hair just barely in my vision. I quickly calmed both myself and my aura down as I simply sat and relaxed.

It was quite hard trying to master Super Saiyan in the same way Goku and Gohan had when both him and my mom didn't even know I could use it in the first place. I want to master this form until it can become akin to my base self, and I want to do this with every Super Saiyan form I can achieve.

Nodding to myself, I stood up and performed a couple katas while holding back my power as much as physically possible.

Scowling, a figure with dark spiky hair stood on a spire observing the young Son training, attracted by the original pulse of energy that Goten had released when he first turned Super Saiyan. The figure charged up a small ki blast and fired it at the child.

As I continued my katas, getting more complex with each one, I felt an energy rapidly get closer to me and looked to see a ki blast. Powering up about halfway I slapped the ki blast into the sky and looked up to see a figure with his back to the full moon.

The second I saw him I relaxed and dropped form, "Hiya Mr. Vegeta! What are you doing here?"

Vegeta dropped down from the rock and walked closer, his hands in his pockets(?) and a scowl on his face. "What I want to know, Kakabrat, is when you achieved the legendary transformation of the Saiyan Race and why it had turned into a children's play toy!"

I kept the smile on my face, Vegeta didn't beat around the bush and I appreciated it, "Well I charged up energy and felt a tingly back feeling. That's how Gohan explained what it felt like to go Super Saiyan." It was surprisingly true, it turned out Cabba wasn't going to be the first one to over simplify turning Super Saiyan this time, heh!

Vegeta's scowl deepened, "Damn brat making Super Saiyan so easy a toddler could use it…" As he grumbled a bit I saw a golden opportunity, "Mr. Vegeta, could we spar? Mom isn't strong enough to keep up with me anymore and Gohan doesn't train…"

The prince paused in his grumbling and turned away, starting to walk off, "Tomorrow, noon. If you can make it or not I don't care, just don't waste my time if you do." After that he flew off to assumedly Capsule Corp, which in hindsight wasn't too far from where I had gone to do my training.

I had a victorious smile on my face as I got home, cleaned up my sweat with a towel, and climbed into bed.

Three days later I had started training with Vegeta, using going over to play with Trunks partly as an excuse as he had decided to join in with the training.

It was hard, it was grueling, and during the first few hours I had taught Trunks how to go into Super Saiyan, causing Vegeta to push us even harder now that he had an excuse to not hold back as much due to our transformations. We entered a 2v1 spar against the older Saiyan.

Trunks had dropped his form after about 10-15 minutes of intense 2v1 sparring with Vegeta, leaving me in my semi-mastered Super Saiyan to fight against Vegeta, who was still in his base state. To be fair to Trunks, he had lasted a minute or two more in Super Saiyan than when we first started but had ultimately lost when he ran out of ki to supply his form.

Meanwhile Vegeta and I continued to throw down, me being mostly on the defensive against the older saiyan. Grimacing in pain as I blocked a hard right hook from Vegeta, I grabbed onto his arm and used it as leverage to pull me closer and kick him in the torso, forcing him away from me as I charged at him and began pummeling his chest.

Grinning, I held back my hand and was about to use a ki attack before Vegeta got to his senses and raised his power slightly with a roar, forcing me back a few feet and following that up with a harsh knee to my stomach that sent me flying into the wall of the gravity chamber.

Slamming into the wall, I groaned in pain as I dropped out of Super Saiyan and fell out of the foot deep imprint of my body in the wall, making a slapping sound as I hit the ground hard because of the gravity.

Suddenly, the gravity turned off and Trunks helped me up to my feet, both of us exhausted as Vegeta threw me a hand towel (Trunks had gotten one while we were fighting) and wiped off his own forehead. "You're doing better Kakabrat but you get too cocky when you find an opening. If I had been an enemy you would have died there after I got out of that daze."

The man turned around, "Now get out, I want to get some serious training done today." As we left the gravity chamber the room turned red as an intense gravity that could have very well crushed us to death slammed down onto Vegeta.

I sighed in relief, sitting down and rubbing down my face with the rag as Trunks sat besides me and passed me a water bottle. It was accepted greedily and sucked dry within a few seconds and I just sat still against the wall.

"How do you hold Super Saiyan so well?" Trunks suddenly asked me, a determined expression on his face. I smiled at him, "Just try staying in Super Saiyan as long as you can but like, hold yourself back. Every night I go out and spend like an hour just relaxing and doing really simple exercises in Super Saiyan."

In reality I'm trying to gain complete mastery over the Super Saiyan form before I potentially ask for help from either Gohan or Goku to achieve the next form. I think if I can perfect Super Saiyan and maybe Super Saiyan 2 we could stand a good chance against Buu without the whole unfuse in 5 minutes with Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks. If Trunks can master the form as well then it's just a bonus,we could spend the entire fusion in a powerful form.

Cause god dammit, I have my pride as both a man and a saiyan, and it demands that I'm not made useless by the power creep of Gohan, Goku, and Vegeta within the next decade or so.

Trunks nodded at my explanation, "It makes sense. It's like how dad talks about training. Your body gets used to it and all that after you do it a bunch." I nodded at that and continued to sit in a relaxed silence. I looked over to my right and saw a conveniently placed callender, it was until tomorrow until I got to use the dragonballs for my birthday, and got to meet Goku for the first time.

Nodding to myself, I got up and turned super saiyan again before lowering my power and turning to Trunks once more, "Come on, lets see how long you can do it too."

5 years old, day of 5th birthday

Today it was my 5th birthday, signifying just how much closer Buu was going to be soon. I got up from bed with a large yawn and scrubbed my eyes. Breakfast was a simple affair despite the excited chatter from my family, all the while I would glance over Gohan's shoulder and see all seven dragonballs resting there, waiting to be used.

It had turned out that when Gohan asked Bulma to get the dragonballs, he had let slip what one of the wishes were and the blue haired genius had spread the word, what was a simple family party had quickly turned into a reunion/BBQ at Capsule Corp where everyone, even Tien, would come.

It made little difference to be honest, but it would be nice to see everyone in the flesh I suppose.

After breakfast Gohan put all the dragonballs in the same satchel he would be bringing to high school and we all got on Nimbus to fly over to Capsule Corp.

As we landed at the front yard, it seemed everyone was already waiting for us. Even Piccolo and Dende were here! Wait… is Piccolo the one manning the grill? Is this the start of Grill Master Piccolo?!

Bulma immediately noticed us as we landed, waving us over with a smile, "And it looks like the family of honor has shown up! It's great seeing you all again!" Gohan smiled and put his hand behind his head while mom rushed forwards and started talking with Bulma.

After another half hour, I had met everyone at the event and we had started eating Piccolo's surprisingly good American style BBQ that I remembered so much from before… you know. Anyways, after that we had gathered up the dragonballs for my wish.

I stood before the balls and held my hands up dramatically, "Shenron, please grant me my wishes!"

With a golden glow coming from the balls, a long serpentine body arose from the balls and I was mesmerized by the majestic form of Shenron. Sure I saw everything in animated form, but seeing it for real was much more grand than on TV or in the manga.

"PLEASE STATE YOUR WISHES!" Shenron bellowed out, his eyes glowing red. I gulped instinctually as I looked up to the dragon.

I nodded, steeling myself, "I wish I knew my father's techniques as well as he does!"

The dragon seemingly gave off a sage-like nod, "YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED, WHAT IS YOUR SECOND WISH?"

As Shenron spoke, knowledge of Goku's techniques flooded my mind and imprinted themselves upon my memories. The Kaioken. The Spirit Bomb. Those two I expected, but the knowlede of how to obtain each Super Saiyan form and the Fusion Dance?! I didn't know he already learned that in heaven, nor why Shenron is counting Super Saiyan 2 and 3 as techniques, but I'm not going to question it now when I have one last wish to make!

"Shenron, I wish my father, Son Goku, could spend the next few days with us in the land of the living!"

Shenron's eyes glowed brightly as a figure appeared in front of me, shadowing me from the dragon's golden glow.

"Yo!" Son Goku said with a smile on his face, his halo floating above his head.

Please R&R! Sorry for the false alarm about an update, but exams had slam dunked me into the ground and proceeded to beat the ever living shit out of me, stealing all my money.