3 Space Monkey Boy’s First Steps

The space pod must've had very strong shock absorption built in, considering the devastating crash was hardly felt within. The door opened and Kakarot crawled outside before standing up and taking his first wobbly steps.

And wasn't that an odd realization? Kakarot had never truly set foot on Planet Vegeta. His first steps were on his former home planet, now technically an alien planet for him. Kakarot looked around him, memorizing the place for the future, before turning towards a direction where he sensed the strongest energy around coming from. It was as strong as an average just-born low-class Saiyan. His future grandfather, was it?

Kakarot took several more steps before quickly getting used to it, his gait becoming sturdier and surer as he started moving quicker. The lightness he felt was surprising, until he reminded himself that for the two last years or so, he lived in an environment with ten times the gravity, even if he was stuck in an incubator. Plus, he was massively stronger than the last time he walked the earth.

*Gohan PoV*

Gohan was traveling through the woods, contemplating life and doing old man stuff, when he heard a crash coming from up the mountains near his home, so he decided to examine the scene and find the source of the disturbance. He was quite surprised that after walking for several minutes, he came upon a child.

The small kid had black spikey hair, wore an odd black armor with strange shoulder pads, and had a guarded but wild look to him that was assisted by what appeared to be a monkey's tail! Gohan was stupefied, not expecting to find a child, but the fact that the kid was growling at him and in what appeared to be a defensive posture, if one was somewhat kind in their description, made him stop.

"Hey there, I don't mean you any harm little boy." Gohan said gently. He had no clue how to deal with this situation, so he tried to handle the boy like he would an animal. He didn't always hunt them, after all. Besides, the boy did have a tail, so it may help.

And indeed it did. The boy seemed to still be weary, but more relaxed. Perhaps it was more his tone of voice, Gohan couldn't be sure, since the child only tilted his head. That meant he was confused, Gohan chose to believe.

"Come here, it's okay." Gohan coaxed the boy, motioning with his hands to try and get the kid to try and have the kid understand. Slowly, he approached Gohan, who started petting his head. He was glad that it seemed to work, and the young boy relaxed further, allowing Gohan to slowly pick him up.

"Now where did you come from huh?" Gohan asked, mostly of himself as he didn't expect an answer. "Where are your parents little one?" He mumbled, looking around.

That was perhaps the wrong thing to say, though it did give Gohan several answers. Despite his earlier behavior, the kid did seem to understand him, as the question seemed to cause great despair. The child started sobbing in his arms, great tears and snot bubbles too! Gohan tried consoling the boy, holding him close, ignoring the mess he made in his clothes.

"I'm sorry, there there… Everything will be alright. How about I take you home? You must be hungry and tired, being all out alone in the woods…" Gohan spoke with a soft voice, and the kid nodded softly into his neck.

"Do you have a name little one? I guess you couldn't tell me if you did… Don't worry, we'll think of one together." Gohan continued petting the kid's back as he strolled through the woods.

Several minutes later, Gohan brought the child into his small home. He lived simply, and if he was going to keep the boy then he would need to adjust, but for now it will have to do. Setting the boy at the table, Gohan prepared a meal of fish and vegetables, only to find himself staring at how the kid wolfed down the food, baffled. Only to repeat this with several more plates of food. Gohan could only smile wryly, already dreading the amount of hunting and foraging he'd need to do.

Lacking options, they settled on his bed for the night, though the kid was shy at first, he ended up snuggling into Gohan, the tenseness that filled him throughout the day leaving him.

The following day Gohan talked as much as he could with the kid, who seemed to be able to understand him easily enough and only had difficulty with speaking. It seemed to be due to lack of exercising his vocals, rather than anything else, as Goku, who happily accepted the name, seemed to pick up on his speech skills.

It was a week later that Goku and Gohan seemed to have settled into a routine and grew close surprisingly fast, that Gohan felt it was somewhat safe breaching the subject of Goku's past. He didn't want to do it so soon, but was afraid that Goku may be suppressing it or he was going to forget it, considering how Goku seemed to be acting alright most of the time, aside from what appeared to be bouts of melancholy that hit him randomly.

Gohan felt that Goku wasn't completely open with him, but he wouldn't push the subject, this much was fine by him. Goku told him that his people were a tribe that was mainly comprised of warriors, and they were rather powerful. There was a monster that existed close to their territory that was too powerful for their tribe to handle, but the monster used to stay away, until it didn't. The tribe fell into a trap, one that only his parents suspected. While the rest of the tribe ignored the warning, his parents made sure he could escape if anything wrong happened, and it did. He didn't know if he is the only survivor or not, and there wasn't much he could do, but he wanted to become strong enough to defeat the monster.

Goku also told him that his birth name is Kakarot, but that he is okay with his new name. His parents wanted him to have a new and happy life when they have sent him away. He wouldn't forget his original name, and would answer to it should he find any other survivors from his tribe, but he felt attached to his new grandfather figure and liked the name Goku.

Gohan couldn't help but smile and hug the boy that quickly wormed himself into his heart, as he felt the same towards the boy who was becoming a grandson to him.

Time passed, and Gohan quickly realized how unique Goku was, at least compared to normal humans. He didn't know how Goku actually compared to his own people, after all. Aside from Goku being very mature for his age, he was incredibly intelligent. Gohan already figured that much when Goku mastered speech in a week, but seeing it applied to other fields still shocked him. He tried providing Goku with basic education, only to quickly realize that it was completely unnecessary.

Still, to occupy Goku's mind, Gohan shared stories with his grandson. From tales about the world itself, to his own childhood and adventures, Gohan shared anything and everything that came to mind. Sometimes he would forget that Gohan was just two years old, or something around that age, and would accidently talk about how perverted his master Roshi was. He would quickly change the subject, but he couldn't help but feel unsettled by the knowing look Goku had.

When it came to physical and practical skills, Goku continued to show his sharp mind and even sharper body. The light exercises that they started on quickly advanced into more proper and strenuous training, something that Gohan was apprehensive about. He knew that a young body could be damaged by that and his growth may be harmed, but he knew nothing about what's normal for Goku's development. He could only trust the boy's judgement, something he wasn't eager to do, but resigned himself to it anyway. Besides, no matter the training, Goku never seemed to tire.

Goku wasn't single-mindedly focused on martial arts and training his body, either. Any skill Gohan could bestow upon him was mastered quickly and enthusiastically, and Gohan had many after living years in the wilderness. From foraging and hunting, to carpentry and sewing, Goku learned everything he could, determined to live his life to the fullest.

Gohan was especially happy that Goku had an incredible talent when it comes to gathering food, and especially hunting. Goku's ability to track down animals at a great distance astonished Gohan, but he would never complain, since if Goku stuck to the nearest animals he would hunt them to extinction, especially considering his monstrous appetite.

Even though they were living alone, Gohan was glad that Goku was independent enough. They shared most of the time together, but Goku still enjoyed running into the woods alone, disappearing for hours at a time and returning after he played with some animals or swam in the river, or any other activity he came up with to entertain himself.

Living in the forest alone had forced Goku to come up with his own fun. Gohan loved the peace and quiet, and even Goku's presence didn't diminish his enjoyment, but he was troubled about Goku's lack of social interactions. Gohan didn't suggest anything of the sort, fearing the monster Goku described. He saw how young Goku was so much stronger than himself and even his master, so a monster that was able to destroy a tribe of adults that were even stronger absolutely terrified him. If rumors of a monkey-tailed boy reached the monster, it may hunt down Goku.

Still, with the years passing, Gohan felt keeping Goku hidden was wrong, and he was slowly convincing himself that they should at least visit one of the nearby villages. Alas, Gohan didn't managed to follow through with that goal.

*Goku PoV*

It took Goku weeks of mourning and meditation before he could finally move on. Six years. That's all he got. All the time he had spent with his grandfather, only to find that one day he did not get out of bed, passing on in his sleep.

Goku was confused, angry and upset. It made no sense to him… And he couldn't even use the Dragon Balls to reverse it. It was final. Even if he could, Gohan was probably happy with the life he lived, and was fine with a natural death.

No, like his parents, Gohan would've wanted Goku to continue living a happy life. But it took him some time to internalize it, to move on.

When Gohan held him and asked about his parents, it was the first time Goku, still Kakarot then, felt like he could safe, that he could let out his emotions. He surprised himself back then, that he could feel so secure and comfortable with a man he just met, but it wasn't just because he knew Gohan was the man that raised his counterpart. The old man radiated gentleness and compassion.

And now he was gone.

Goku regretted not being completely honest about himself. Not just his past, but some of the training he did in secret. He didn't want to explain himself, and he knew that Gohan was already worried about the physical training Goku was going through, so wished to avoid adding to the burden. It didn't matter anymore, did it?

During the last six years, Goku practiced in private anything non-flashy he could think of. Which wasn't a lot, but it was significant to him.

The least of which was tail training. Goku's tail was now just as strong as his other limbs – sounds weird considering the lack of muscles, but less so once you consider that most of his strength comes from Ki and not purely from his body.

Goku's main training, aside from continuing his control and sensory exercises, was in what one would consider the mental techniques. He knew his counterpart was able to use some form of telepathy – he did read Krillin's mind, and he also wanted to try and master Telekinesis, which was used several times in the show. So he practiced, and had great success with that over the years, even going beyond what was shown.

The young Saiyan enjoyed training Telepathy very much. He had come up with some battle use to what he managed, but it wasn't that important to him. He started with animals and mostly got basic emotions and desires out of them for a while. After he felt that he was good at it, and that there weren't any negative effects, he practiced on Gohan. He felt somewhat guilty over the privacy violation, especially when it came to a person he cared deeply about, but with no targets available, he felt it was necessary and pushed through. Slowly but surely, Goku learned to read emotions, thoughts and even memories.

Even though it seemed that he mastered the technique, Goku felt he could push it further. Returning to the animals, Goku sought to do two things. To influence animals to act in certain ways, and to use their senses. It took even longer, but Goku was very satisfied with the results. He figured out how to maintain weak connections with many animals, so that whenever they spotted something interesting, or something he directed them to search, he would get informed, and then he could use their sight to check on it by himself. He constantly trained on being able to use their senses while not getting distracted, so that he could see and hear from multiple bodies without reducing his effectiveness. The animals themselves also seemed to be influenced by prolonged exposure to the connections – their intelligence definitely increased.

Goku became a warg! One of the best, considering he could take over multiple different animals.

Goku looked at the trees surrounding him. He could sense their Ki, all living things had them, but unfortunately, his telepathy required a brain to connect to. Otherwise he could become a greenseer, a true child of the north.

Telekinesis, Goku found, worked differently than Telepathy, at least the method he figured out. His Telepathy ability felt and worked similarly to his Ki sensing ability. He connected to the minds by first finding their Ki, but he didn't actually use Ki in the process. Telekinesis on the other hand did use Ki, and Goku would surround what he was manipulating with it. Goku was unsure if it was true Telekinesis, but the result seemed to be the same.

When it came to Telekinesis training, Goku started by focusing on power and precision. He lifted, moved, and threw heavy objects, as well as manipulating small and fragile ones. He worked on manipulating multiple objects in different ways, and constantly pushed himself by trying to do everything through Telekinesis, such as dressing himself in the morning. Goku hoped to be able to manipulate items to a great degree, but something like heating objects by agitating the molecules seemed to be beyond him. He did figure out easily enough how to shape his telekinetic force – which was basically invisible Ki, which he could use to slice, pierce or bash. Thanks to that, Goku learned how to skin and gut the animals that he hunted.

Goku was especially proud of his achievements when he figured out how to grab and move liquids and gases with his Telekinesis. He only needed to figure out how to handle fire before he could call himself the Avatar!

Well, that and he lacked the spiritual aspect. But whatever. He will have Ki blasts, who cares about fire? And there were fire-based attacks in the series, so Goku will figure it out when he wanted to. And Roshi had a lightning attack too!

Goku also practiced sending and manipulating his Ki at a distance – allowing him to use Telekinesis through the eyes of anyone he connected to through Telepathy.

While most of his growth in power would be attributed to his growing body, Goku was still proud of how much he achieved in those six years.

And then his grandfather passed away.

After spending his time mourning, where he only left Gohan's grave so he could eat, Goku stepped up his training. He knew he allowed himself to indulge and take his time, training in things that were interesting but didn't truly make him stronger. He didn't want his grandfather to worry…

He didn't consider it a waste of time, he knew that there were many benefits from what he achieved, but they were supportive skills, and while he was strong enough for Raditz, and even Nappa, there were other threats as well. And he couldn't assume that nothing will change, either…

Goku started with practicing and mastering actual Ki techniques, especially offensive blasts. Using not only Dragon Ball but other works of fiction as inspiration, Goku picked up on a wide variety of techniques, though unless they provided a distinct benefit over what he already had, he moved on.

It wasn't just offensive blasts that Goku practiced. Solar Flare was easy to mimic, but he really hoped to benefit from some of Tien's unique techniques. He figured them out, but was somewhat disappointed, until he figured his own twist.

Growing another set of arms worked as advertised, and it was especially easy to get used to considering he could already concentrate on multiple senses and direct animals while acting as normal. The multi-form technique on the other hand…

Goku realized the reason behind the flaw when he remembered that Ki is a physical energy. It lacked a real mental component – even if he could use it for Telekinesis or connecting minds. When he was finally able to create clones of himself, they were just that. They weren't like Naruto shadow clones where he got the memories once they dispersed, and due to the halving power due to Ki splitting, training with them also had reduced benefits.

That's where Goku's telepathy skills came to the rescue. He could fully connect with his clones, the identical minds made it even easier, so all connected bodies shared mind and senses.

They were his Six Paths of Goku! No rod insertion required.

Training with the clones would still not be the best way of increasing his strength, but it honed his martial arts and allowed him to train his techniques at a considerably faster pace. Even without an active mental connection with the clones, he could download their experiences into his mind. He mastered the Multi-Form technique to the point where he didn't have to split his Ki equally between them, so if he wanted a spy clone in the future, having it's Ki dispersed instead of reabsorbed wouldn't be an issue (and no, the Ki didn't automatically return to him), among other uses. But he could also create unique training scenarios such as one strong Goku vs 2 or more weaker ones.

Goku's main physical training method came from using Telekinesis to weigh him down, creating a fake increased-gravity field. He believed that what Bulma would be able to create in the future would be more efficient, but it was working for him until then.

Creating Ki berries was easy to learn to him, they were essentially the same as the telekinetic constructs he was able to form, just infused with considerably more Ki.

Two years after Gohan's passing, Goku decided that he had delayed long enough, and went to challenge the Oozaru transformation. After creating two clones with most of his power, in case they needed to overpower him, while leaving them blindfolded so they don't risk seeing the moon and transforming as well, Goku found a distant location from his home and looked up.

It was anticlimactic, really. Sure, Goku was happy with the results, but it did feel too easy. After so many years of meditation and mental practice, pushing down the rage that tried to consume him was basically a child's play. But Vegeta could do it, so it wasn't that surprising that he'd succeed.

Since then, Goku practiced and experimented with the new form every full moon. Using an animal's senses to look at the moon didn't cause his body to transform, which he couldn't do with a clone's senses without the clone itself transforming. Though that on its own was unnecessary, as Goku managed to figure out and isolate the unique energy from the moon that caused the transformation. He could use a tiny Ki barrier in front of his eyes to block it, preventing him from transformation, or he could expel the energy out of his body to end the transformation sooner. Detecting and studying the energy also allowed him to mimic it, so that not only he could create the ball of energy that mimicked the moon, but he could directly create it in his body, so he could transform whenever he wanted without having other Saiyans follow through with their own transformation.

One of Goku's largest discoveries and developments came two years after he first started transforming. By condensing his form, he managed to transform into a more muscled and half-furry version of himself. It was similar to the Super Saiyan 4 from GT and was probably its precursor. The main difference, at least visually, was that the fur was brown instead of red. Power-wise, this transformation increased Goku's strength by 50 times compared to his base form, or 5 times compared to the Oozaru transformation.

Goku decided to call this form Primal Saiyan, and practiced it whenever he didn't train anything else, aiming to achieve the same mastery his counterpart had over the baseline Super Saiyan form. He intended to do the same with all transformations, and didn't really understand why his counterpart didn't do the same whenever he could.

After a year of staying in the Primal Saiyan form for as long as possible, Goku determined that he mastered it. Now with his body comfortable with being in the transformed state and not wasting energy maintaining it, Goku felt he could access even more energy than before, the strength of the form being double it was originally, for a total multiplier of 100! Due to his base strength, he was far from being at the level to defeat a full power Freiza, but he knew he was slowly getting there.

Remembering a technique he didn't practice yet, Goku tried mastering Instant Transmission. Thanks to his high sensory skills, Goku could instantly lock on to nearby locations and when he pushed for himself, using his Ki as a medium, to be in the new location… Goku realized that the mental training he forced himself to do all these years was paying dividends.

He practiced the technique so he could perform it quickly, multiple times in succession, and never losing focus or needing to spend time reorienting himself. Thanks to his multi-form technique, he could practice until he was sure it was combat ready, and he could also practice on countering if he ever fights an enemy that's capable of teleporting. Though Hit was the only one that had something that was close to such ability, though different.

Time stopping wasn't something he figured out how to mimic, unfortunately.

A year has passed with Goku training not only the many techniques he gathered, but his body as well. He estimated his base PL to be around 120,000 at this point, and at 12,000,000 in his Primal Saiyan transformation. Even if he stopped now, Goku will only be unable to defeat Freiza, and that's only if he allowed the monster to fully transform. And he had no reason to stop… Aside from feeling like the destined meeting with Bulma is going to happen soon.

Still, he stood in front of a mirror in his house, wondering aloud. "Has Science gone too far?"

The question itself was nonsensical, science had nothing to do with his current situation, after all. He felt perplexed because of his newest clothes, that have nothing to do with his fashion sense, or lack thereof.

The iconic white pants and the black vest with puffed up orange lining that's only hiding his nipples… He was wearing the clothes of those that had performed the fusion dance.

Why was he in such clothes? Because he performed the fusion dance. Who did Goku fuse with? His own clone! After mastering Instant Transmission, Goku remembered another technique that was learned from mysterious sources off-screen, and he was curious.

It worked. Who was he now? Was he still Goku? Maybe he was Gogo, or Kuku? Maybe Gogokuku?

Gogokuku didn't appreciate his voice. It sounded the same, yet it had a confusing quality to it, giving a sense of two people with the same voice talking at the same time. Because that was what was happening, right?

Power-wise, Gogokuku was just as strong as Goku. There was no difference between them, at all. The power up that he expected for the fusion was minor, and only compensated for the energy he had to invest into making and maintaining the fusion in the first place.

Such a rip-off… Because the base components were the same, there was no benefit to the fusion! Maybe if he figures out a way to guarantee the fat version, there will be a point to it… A small one. But the fat version was practically immune to damage, so there's that.

Goku sighed, figured out how to stop the fusion early and absorbed his clone. Soon, Bulma will arrive, and they'll get the show on the road. Literally.