Strained Bond: A Hero's Fall to Darkness

Written By TheUltimateMystic

Concept and Plot Outline by Charismatic Beauty.

Chapter 1: Calm Before the Storm

Peace, A word that not too long ago and for the longest time seemed like a thing of fantasy for the Z fighters. From Raditz to Napa and Vegeta, to Frieza and to the latest most deadly threat, Cell, things seemed as if there would never be a moment of true peace. However, after the defeat of Cell, there seemed to be a sense of calm in the air. Six months have passed since Cell's demise and all seemed well however soon that would all change.

Mount Paozu - East District - Son Residence – Gohan's Room

Gohan awoke in a sweat with his breath heavy as he looked around his room. He couldn't explain why he woke up in such a state but he decided not to dwell on it because today was a day for fun. Gohan quickly got out of bed and walked over to his dresser. He carefully took out an orange gi his father had presented to him shortly after Cell's defeat it was nearly identical to the one his father wore with the wisdom kanji on the front but the large kanji on the back was the demon kanji, the kanji of his main mentor Piccolo. Gohan began to get dressed when his mother's voice rang out from the kitchen.

"Gohan!" Chi-Chi said loudly "Are you up yet!? Hurry up and get ready we don't want to be late for Bulma's party!"

"I'm getting ready now mom!" Gohan replied. "I'll be out in a minute!"

Gohan quickly finished getting dressed and made his way to the kitchen.

A pregnant Chi-Chi stood at the stove cooking bacon while Goku sat at the kitchen table chowing down on a stack of 20 pancakes, 5 bowls of rice and scrambled eggs, a mound of bacon and a 10-liter jug of orange juice.

"Ah, this looks great." Gohan said as he took a seat at the table to his own food. "Good morning, mom. Good morning dad."

"Moarwning Gosfhn." Goku replied with a mouth full of bacon.

"Good Morning, Gohan." Chi-Chi said as she placed a few more slices of fresh bacon on her son's bacon mound. "There's going to be plenty of food at the party so I just made you two a light breakfast."

"Thasfsanks Mom." Gohan said as he stuffed his face.

After less than five minutes Goku and Gohan finished their breakfast.

"That was delicious." Goku stated, letting out a loud appreciative burp. "So Gohan, There's still about an hour before we have to get going. You up for some fishing?"

"Yeah!" Gohan happily replied.

"Don't be too long you two." Chi-Chi said began clearing the dishes.

"We won't." Goku replied. "Come on Gohan."

Lake Paozu

The sun shone brightly in the vibrant blue sky with not a cloud in sight. The birds chirped loudly as chipmunks and various other critters roamed happily through the nearby woods.

"Last one in's a rotten pilaf!" Goku exclaimed stripping off his clothes as ran towards the lake.

"Hey, no fair you got a head start!" Gohan replied with a grin on his face as he trailed behind his dad stripping his clothes off as well.

Goku and Gohan jumped into the crystal clear water with Goku hitting the water a second before Gohan.

"I win." Goku gleefully stated. "Hey how about another contest? The one who catches the biggest fish gets the last piece of cake in the fridge."

"Alright." Gohan replied. "I'm not gonna lose this time."

The father-son duo quickly dove under the water and after a few minutes Goku emerged with a huge 10 ft long 5 ft wide Mt. Paozu tuna and after 30 more seconds, Gohan emerged with a 15 ft long 10 ft wide tuna.

"I told you I wasn't going to lose!" Gohan triumphantly exclaimed.

"Aww man, that was some good cake too." Goku jokingly pouted.

West City – Capsule Corp/Bulma's House – Atrium

Goku, Gohan, and Chi-Chi arrived, each with a present in hand, as the rest of the Z Gang, with the exception of Yamcha and Vegeta, were crouched behind various trees and garden fixtures.

"Psst, Put the presents over there and hide. They're almost here." Bulma whispered as she crouched behind a rose bush.

Goku, Gohan, and Chi-Chi put the presents on a table filled with various other gifts which were next to a long table filled with various different types of food and quickly made their way to separate hiding areas.

"Are you sure about this?" Master Roshi whispered to Bulma. "He doesn't really seem like the surprise party type."

"Relax." Bulma whispered back. "This will be good for him. Maybe it'll teach him to lighten up some."

Yamcha and Vegeta could be heard quickly approaching as Vegeta could be heard saying "I'm surprised you wanted to spar with me beta male."

"Well...I um don't want to get too rusty." Yamcha replied trying his best not sound nervous.

The automatic doors opened and as Yamcha and Vegeta walked in everyone popped out from their hiding places and shouted "Surprise!"

"You blasted woman!" A slightly startled Vegeta exclaimed. "I told you I didn't want a party..."

"The correct response is "Oh you guys you shouldn't have." Bulma replied doing her best impression of Vegeta.

"You really shouldn't have." Vegeta replied as he turned to walk away.

"Walk out of here and there will be no sex or dessert or sexy dessert Saturday's for a month!" Bulma exclaimed.

"That's not fair!" Vegeta replied as he quickly turned around.

"Well, what's it going to be?" Bulma inquired.

"...Fine." Vegeta replied in defeat. "We'll have the damn party."

"Good." Bulma replied. "Now the chef will be out with the cake shortly. Put this on." Bulma placed a pointy hat on Vegeta's head with the words Birthday Saiyan on it.

"Are you mad woman!" Vegeta exclaimed. "I'm not wearing thi..."

Vegeta cut his sentence short as Bulma shot him a look of 'wear it or else.'

"I think you look quite spiffy." Tien chimed in.

"Another word tri-clops and I will make you eat this hat!" Vegeta threatened.

"Sooo, anyone else wondering what sexy dessert Saturday is?" Krillin wondered.

"I think I'd rather not know." Piccolo replied.

After a few minutes, a short portly chef rolled out a huge 12 tier cake.

"Thank you, Chef Porkins." Bulma said shaking the short chef's hand. "This looks amazing."

"It was my pleasure, madam." Chef Porkins replied before he took his leave.

"Okay Vegeta, since you're the birthday boy you get the first piece." Bulma stated.

"Fine." Vegeta replied with a smirk on his face as he walked over to the cake and grabbed a handful and shoved it in his mouth.

"Vegeta!" Bulma exclaimed. "Don't be such a pig."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Vegeta sarcastically replied after swallowing the cake. "Where are my manners. Here have some." Vegeta grabbed another handful of cake and shoved it in Bulma's face.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that!" Bulma exclaimed as she grabbed a handful of cake and shoved it Vegeta's face.

Krillin began laughing at the sight of the 'loving couple' covered in cake.

"What are you laughing at Krillin?" Bulma asked before grabbing a handful of cake and throwing at him hitting him right his domed head.

Krillin responded by grabbing a pie of the food table and throwing at Bulma only for it to miss and hit Piccolo.

Piccolo glared daggers at Krillin before walking over to food table and grabbing a large bowl of mashed potatoes and dumping on Krillin's head

Gohan let a big smile before shouting "Food fight!"

Everyone with exception of Bulma's mother who was currently holding Trunks joined in the on the fun grabbing various different food dishes and began throwing them at each other.

Oolong threw a giant jello mold at Chiaotzu who retaliated with vanilla custard causing both dishes to collide and cover them both.

Tien and Yamcha battled it out using loaves of french bread as if they were swords.

Piccolo ingested a large amount of fruit punch and spit it back out like a water cannon at Gohan who dodged it and quickly moved behind him floating slightly above him with a gravy boat in his hand which he proceeded to dump over Piccolo's head.

Goku and Vegeta each had their hands in two decent sized turkey's using them as boxing gloves throwing jabs at one another.

"Come on Kakarot!" Vegeta exclaimed as he traded blows with Goku. "Don't tell me you've gotten soft these past six months.

"Me soft? No way." Goku replied as he tagged Vegeta with a right turkey.

The food fight went on for nearly 15 minutes before all the food in the room was used up.

Gohan let out a content sigh as he sat against a tree covered in various different foodstuffs with a big grin on his face, however, this feeling of contentment soon gave way to another feeling a feeling of dread and concern.

"You okay, Gohan?" Krillin inquired noticing the worried look on his face.

"...Yeah." Gohan replied with doubt in his voice. "I just...got this odd feeling."

"Ah come on man, There's nothing to worry about." Krillin assured Gohan. "I mean we defeated Cell and we haven't felt any sort of major threat since so what's there to worry about."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Gohan replied feeling a little better. "So how're things going with Android 18?"

Krillin's face turned bright red. "W...Well, I asked her if she'd like to come and she said she'd think about but she obviously didn't show."

"Are you sure about that?" Gohan said pointing to the automatic doors which had just opened as Android 18 walked in looking slightly nervous with a small present in her hands. After a brief moment of looking around, she noticed Krillin and began to approach him.

"She coming this way." Krillin said nervously. "Quick what do I do?"

"Just act natural." Gohan replied before walking away leaving Krillin by himself.

"Heeey! Don't leave me, come back!" Krillin pleaded to Gohan but it was too late. Android 18 was now in front of him in all her blond bombshell glory. "H..h...hey 18. Glad you could make it."

"I'm sorry I'm late. Looks like I missed some fun." Android 18 replied. "To be honest, I wasn't even sure if I was going to come or not but um...here!" Android 18 extended here arms presenting the gift to Krillin.

Krillin went to grab the gift but accidentally touched Android 18's hand in the process causing the both of them to blush furiously.

"I'll um I'll go put this on the table with the rest of the presents." Krillin stated, trying his best to hide his embarrassment.

"Okay, Everyone." Bulma spoke up. "There's plenty of showers for everyone, so after we clean ourselves up, Vegeta is going to the f open his presents."

A little while passed but before too long the time came for Vegeta to open his presents.

"Okay, the first present is from Yamcha." Bulma stated as she handed Vegeta the present.

Vegeta quickly unwrapped the present revealing a small box. Vegeta opened the box and inside the box were two tickets.

"They're season passes." Yamcha stated. "You can get into any Taitans game with those."

"What do you say, Vegeta?" Bulma said nudging her princely husband.

"...Thank you, beta male." Vegeta said somewhat begrudgingly.

The next present is from Tien.

Vegeta glared at the present then at Tien then back at the present then back at Tien.

"What's the matter, Vegeta?" Tien said with a smirk on his face. "Open your present."

Vegeta began opening his present while muttering "I'll open your face tri-clops." Vegeta opened the present revealing a nice dark brown leather jacket. " ...This is actually...nice."

"Hey, even I can be nice on somebodies birthday." Tien replied. "Even if it's yours."

"Well...Thanks." Vegeta replied

"You're welcome." Tien replied. "Don't get used to it."

Vegeta continued to open one present after another. Gohan got him a decorative dragon statue while Goku gave him a gift card to an all you can eat mega buffet. It wasn't too long before Vegeta got to the last present. Android 18's gift. Vegeta unwrapped the present revealing a gold and silver plated watch.

"Wow 18, that's a nice looking watch." Krillen stated. "How'd you afford it?"

"I got a good deal." Android 18 replied. "I wanted you to know there're no hard feelings about letting me get absorbed, Vegeta."

"Thanks wash...18." Vegeta replied.

Everything was quiet for a brief moment before Goku's stomach began rumbling loudly.

"Ah, I'm starving!" Goku exclaimed. "But we used up all the food in the food fight."

"Don't worry there's plenty more where that came from." Bulma assured Goku. "I'll just have the chefs bring out some more."

Bulma took out a phone and began to dial but as she did a loud explosion was heard outside.

"What was that?" Krillin wondered.

A/N

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Strained Bond: A Hero's Fall to Darkness. This was a story requested to me by Charismatic Beauty who came with the concept and plot outline. Remember to follow if you liked it maybe even fav if you loved it. Have a great day. ~TheUltimateMystic