(Eight Months Later)
The night before Mirai Trunks left for the future saw one of the biggest parties the Z-fighters had ever thrown for one of their own. Everyone had been invited to the evening's festivities; Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, Turtle, Yajirobe, shoot even Android 18#, Videl, Hercule and Zangya. All the members of the Z-gang turned up to the get-together with their friends and families, which saw every single one of them mingling throughout the entire event, particularly with Mirai whom everyone had a chance to spend some time with and give him all their best.
The very next day, once everyone had recovered from their respective hangovers, dressed in their best, the groups gathered together for one last photo. The lavender haired Saiyan made sure to share a final round of handshakes and 'goodbyes' with all the Z-fighters he'd come to know in his stay in the past, and even managed to share a respectful nod with his father. After all was said and done, the demi-Saiyan hopped into his signature yellow craft and took off into the future.
It was a sad time for all of them. Having just recently said goodbye to a loved one almost immediately following the events of the Cell Games, the group also had to say goodbye to another member of their gang who, in a span of only a couple of months, had become just as much a part of their family as Goku before him. However, knowing with certainty and pride that the lavender haired warrior was going to be alright, everyone slowly bucked it up, pulled themselves together, and returned to their lives with just as much hope and confidence for the future as before.
Master Roshi, Turtle, Oolong and Krillin went back to their island to resume their everyday routines, with Android 18# following not too far behind, and Tien and Chiaotzu flew back to the northern mountains to continue their training. The Briefs got all of their personal affairs in order; Bulma juggling her time between looking after her infant son and taking care of work at the company, and Vegeta hitting his training regime even harder than ever (if that was even possible).
From Yamcha to Dende, Everyone had places to go and things to do, and this went especially double for Gohan and his family up in Mount Paozu.
On top of his ongoing lessons with Videl, who'd managed to negotiate with her father to stay at his home for another few months, the young Saiyan also balanced time between his own training and career work. And this wasn't just limited to his studies either.
Just as he promised his mother, Gohan went out and got work at a construction company. Much like his father and Krillin in their childhood years under Master Roshi's tutelage, the young warrior was able to use his enormous strength and technical brilliance to acquire a fantastic position at the BuildingH Corp. in Satan City; one of the largest and most well-known conglomerates in the world. Taking full advantage of his efficacy and his ability to deliver outstanding results, the demi-Saiyan was able to convince the organization to pay him five to ten times the amount that regular workers would normally receive from their hours. It was the least they could do anyway, because not only could Gohan effortlessly function as a full shift of crew members all by his lonesome, he could also micromanage and organize all of the technical knowhow involved with the jobs with both hands tied behind his back.
To put it into perspective, the young Saiyan quickly became the most valuable commodity the company could have ever hoped to enlist into their ranks. Not only was Gohan the best crew member to have on their larger than life projects, including skyscraper and office building constructions, but he was also able to take care of their smaller projects, with this mostly involving the construction of small houses, roads and community centers.
With only a handful of assignments, the young Saiyan was able to make enough money for his entire family to live on comfortably, as well as save up plenty for whatever rainy days they were likely to come across.
Able to organize his shifts that required him to work only a few times a week due to his speed and efficiency, Gohan had plenty of free time left in his schedule to hang out at home with his family, spend time with Videl and his friends, and train his ass off in his rest periods.
As far as he was concerned, peacetime was working extremely well for him.
Over the next several months the schedule in his life rarely changed. Every morning he would get up super early for some hard training and rigorous sparring, either with Piccolo or a clone of his own creation, before then settling down for some breakfast. Heck, he even managed to convince Zangya to partake in some of his sessions, much to the woman's exhaustion. But when the Hera realized exactly how far the young Saiyan was planning to push himself, not wanting to be outdone, she too soon felt the need to exercise her strengths.
The woman reasoned that if she worked hard enough, perhaps she would be able to learn a few things more about the kid she was hanging out with.
In the days Videl spent over at his place, Gohan would oversee her training in the early morning hours after his exercises and up the stakes of every lesson for her, keeping her moving and keeping her sweating. Along with the customary lunch, study and relaxation breaks, he would then continue training with her until the end of their shift, in which he would proceed with his own personal regimen.
So far he was coming along splendidly. The balance of work, play and rest in his life allowed him to build up his strength and refine his skills as a fighter much faster than through continuous, backbreaking drills from dusk till dawn. Though he did often take advantage of his Saiyan genetics to boost up his power after every recovery, he learned through his father and his own experiences that doing it too often would be more detrimental to his development and growth in the long run than beneficial. Vegeta continued working his butt into the ground day in and day out, but because of Gohan's more polished routine he was able to stay ahead of the prince easily, while at the same time not put his body under too much unwanted stress.
You shouldn't ignore the fundamentals. His father reminded him of that more than once during their time training together.
On another note, aside from now being able to completely control his Super Saiyan 2 form to the point he could actually hold a glass cup without shattering it, Videl's training was coming along marvelously as well.
In the time she'd stayed over at his place, the girl had made some wicked progress. Just like how Gohan had been able to get strong under Piccolo's watch, under his guidance the teen martial artist was growing stronger almost as fast as he had. Continuously increasing her weighted clothing, changing up her routine and sparring with her repetitively has really increased her strength and fighting skills. Furthermore, not only has her ability to form ki blasts improved immensely that she could now use higher tonnage attacks in succession and allow her to learn more powerful moves, she'd also learned how to fly and sense energy.
After only eight full months of work, Videl was now as strong as Krillin was when Nappa and Vegeta first arrived on earth.
He was pleased with his friend's development. If only he could say the same thing about his Instantaneous Movement training. Despite being able to use it without crashing into mountains anymore (a majority of the time), he always ended up missing his mark on every pass. That just showed he still needed a whole lot more work with it.
No wonder it took his father a year to master this technique. It was hard.
Of course, not being one to give up without a fight, the young Super Saiyan kept at it every day, setting himself a new challenge every session. He needed to get the thing right some time and, damn it, he was going to get this bloody thing down even if it was the last thing he did!
On this particular day, Gohan had taken to a different kind of training exercise that pushed his endurance and adaptability to a whole other level. Finding himself floating in the cold vacuum of space with the planet earth floating like a massive blue and white globe far behind him, the hybrid warrior had his eyes tightly shut and his fists firmly clenched. Sweat floating off of him as his body endured the harshest environment imaginable, second only to the surface of the sun itself, the boy was not only holding a perfect orbital position, he was also assumed in his Super Saiyan state and what appeared to be a facade of complete and utter concentration.
If he hadn't already been up there for a couple hours already you would think he'd just started this odd routine. But since his mum had recently been admitted to the hospital and the nurses had kicked him out for causing such a ruckus in the corridors, it was expected that the boy would go out to find something else to work off the stress. Right now he was aiming to set a new record for how long he could actually stay up here without passing out and would continue to do so until he'd fully adapted to his new surroundings.
After several minutes of floating there in meditation, the blonde's eyes suddenly flew open and he threw both his hands forward. His golden aura exploding around him as he jumped straight to Super Saiyan 2, the boy let out a yell of effort and unleashed a blast that shot from his hands and rocketed towards the blanket of stars on the horizon. His attack possessed enormous speed, spread and force, easily flying beyond the Solar System and into the expanse of nothingness before him.
When he eventually hit his target, a rogue, moon-sized asteroid floating millions of kilometers out of sight, the head of his attack struck it, disintegrated it, and detonated with the force of sixty suns going off at once. The explosion took the form of a blinding flash of golden light, which filled the horizon and dwarfed the Solar System, and eventually settled moments later.
Blue electricity shooting off of his ethereal glow, Gohan focused his gaze on another target to his three-o-clock. Upon which he cranked his right hand back and chucked it forward. "FLASH MADAN!"
Unleashing his new move, a powerful blast of blue energy surrounded by golden sparks of electricity erupted from his palm like a jet and shot across the skies in the form of a massive comet. Effortlessly leaving the Solar System, the streak of energy soon reached a cluster of asteroids hanging far out of sight. The attack engulfed them, turning them into space dust and carried on, before exploding safely away from any nearby planets in a flash of brilliant light.
Lowering his hand, the Super Saiyan 2 frowned and fell out of his second level state, reverting to his first form and allowing his thoughts to carry on.
"This is almost like training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber," Gohan thought with a small smile on his face.
Almost.
At least out here he didn't have to worry about hurting anybody and could just fire random blasts into the emptiness of space.