The Year Hope Died

Gohan wasn't used to all the praise he was getting, even when others did so and said how much of a hero he was he didn't feel like it. His dad and the others had been heroes, he had been just a scared kid that was way over his head. At least that's what he thought at first. Over time that shifted, and while he still didn't think so he could say he was proud of himself to now.

"Uh, thank you." Gohan said somewhat lamely, flushing slightly at the hair ruffling. Now that he was a teenager, it was a bit different when she touched him; now that he'd say that. "I don't know why, but it feels different hearing that from you."

Atsuko smiled a bit at that. "I'd like to say it's just because you trust me that much, but it's probably that you know I'm not one to blow smoke up somebody's ass. Saying something I don't believe just to make somebody feel better isn't my style." She smirked, gently elbowing him in the side. "That and you have a small crush on me, but hormonal teenager working out with a sweaty woman in a tank-top, so I'm not all that surprised."

Gohan coughed at that.

He didn't think Atsuko had noticed him looking at her during training when it was just the two of them/ Not like he stared at anything of course, he could hear his mom already words rattling if his head if he had done that sort of thing. That said he did at least glance, sometimes.

"I..well.." he wasn't sure how to start then went with the obvious. "I don't really..do it on purpose but glad you aren't upset or anything about it."

Atsuko chuckled softly, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "Don't worry about it Gohan. Hormones are a hell of a thing, especially when the blood gets pumping during training. It's just something that's gonna happen. Happens to me all the time, I'd be a hypocrite if I held it against you. Besides, it's flattering, you know? You're not one of those assholes that just see's a woman's body and nothing else, if you get my meaning. It's fine to appreciate something that appeals to you. God knows I used to stare at Vargus's abs during training when I was younger... don't tell him I said that." She leaned in to whisper to him playfully. "Or I'll tell Akiko you stare at her ass when she's digging in the drawers for bandages after you hurt yourself in training."

"All right, all right. You got a deal." Gohan smile though told him he took the little last bit in stride, even if he really didn't want anyone knowing that. Hormones were kind of a annoying things sometimes even if they were completely natural thing growing up.

"I was thinking of going on patrol again. See if there's more survivors while saying low. Did you want to come?" It was a hit or miss finding people, a lot of the stronger people had been snuffed about the twins and it was mostly the weaker people scattered around. They didn't have the room and supplies to cover everyone, so Bulma had come with the idea of taking in more people when they could.

He loathed doing so since he wanted to save everyone, but realistically they could only do so much.

Atsuko hummed to herself, thinking about that. "Hm... yeah, I should. I haven't gone on patrol myself in awhile, and none of us should go solo, even you. Let me go check on Tomoya and make sure he's good. He probably is, he's having fun playing with the other kids, but still. While I do that, do me a favor, go check in with Akiko. I know you're strong, and not exactly human, but you're still young, and I want you to make sure that you aren't over stressing your body. Then you can meet me at the entrance to start our patrol, yeah?"

Gohan smiled and nodded a bit. "Yeah that sounds good. I'll meet you there Atsuko."

He felt..odd going to Akiko. It wasn't that the woman wasn't perfectly warm and kind hearted, it was simply due to her looks he found them really distracting. Teenaged hormones were a annoying quirk he had to deal with growing up and being around attractive older woman didn't help with that matter what so ever.

Hopefully she wasn't busy.

As it turned out, Akiko was currently alone in the infirmary, checking over various papers at her desk; reading glasses balanced on her nose as she nibbled on the end of her pen, fingers tapping on the desk slowly. She looked up as he walked in, and smiled warmly. "Gohan, hello. How are you doing today?"

Gohan saw Akiko was there already being cute. Of course he noticed, being a young teenager around some of the women in the camp was a experience to be sure. "Um, hey Akiko. Atsuko said I should get looked over to make sure I'm not over stressing my body."

Atsuko nodded, standing up as she motioned for Gohan to take a seat on the examination table. "I'll admit, being half-saiyan means that I can't guarantee that you'd be susceptible to the same sort of issues that a human your age would, but I want to check." As she started to check him over, she hummed to herself a bit. "Have you noticed any issues, in that regard? Any excessive soreness or fatigue beyond what you'd normally expect? Also..." And here, she paused a bit, concern furrowing her brow. "..Bulma informed me of how your father passed... have you noticed any chest pains, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat?"

Gohan wasn't scared of needles like his father was, but there was apart of him that felt somewhat uneasy around a hospital setting? He wasn't sure what it was. Maybe seeing all the death and people in pain had made him somewhat adverse or maybe he always had it. It was really impossible to know at this point in time.

"No." Gohan said without missing a beat. "I've been fine, nothing too out of the ordinary. " He was glad to, the last thing he wanted to keel over from a virus when everyone needed his help.

Atsuko nodded a bit at that, pleased. "I'm glad, though I still want to do regular checkups, just in case. My hope is that on the off chance that something comes up, we can catch it early and prevent the worst of it." She finished up her physical examination, sitting down in a chair with a clipboard as she began writing some things down.

"So, how has the training with that 'Super Saiyan' form of yours been going? You mentioned, and apparently demonstrated, that you experience and exhibit a lot of anger and aggression in that form... has that continued?"

The thing with the Super Sayain form was a double edged sword in a way that frusterated Gohan. On one hand he felt like by now he had control over it but at the same time it felt like for whatever reason he wasn't progressing as fast as he would have liked. Or maybe it was jut the androids were that much stronger then him, he couldn't exactly even sense their energy to tell.

"It's better now." Gohan said finally. "Back when I first started and earlier I had some problems but now its fine. I just have to work a bit more. Kurie helped to since host of the Demon King power have it worse, I don't hear voices or anything like that at least. I'm more worried about Cassie but she seems to be doing fine."