The Trials

By Saiyanx

Chapter 1

The lectures at East Satan City University had come to an end. All the students were looking forward to their weekend. Late night parties, morning lay-ins… and perhaps some studying, if they could squeeze it in.

Beyond the University grounds, in a small parkland area, a 19-year old, half saiyan was saying his goodbyes.

"Are you sure you don't want to come home with me for the weekend, Videl?" Gohan asked as he mounted his Nimbus cloud.

"No, I really gotta study for that test on Monday." The dark-haired girl answered. "Unlike some people I know, I didn't master advanced physics at the age of four!" She added with a grin.

Gohan put his hand behind his head and laughed. With one last goodbye, he took off. The Nimbus cloud leaving a golden trail as it disappeared over the horizon.

A pair of eyes watched Gohan leave. These eyes didn't belong to Videl, and they were watching from the concealment of some nearby bushes.

Dolt wanted to make absolutely sure that Gohan was too far away to sense him when he made his attack. His boss had made it perfectly clear that he not approach Gohan. Not that Dolt had any intention of doing so. He'd heard of the saiyans' awesome strength, especially that of Son Goku, and he liked his facial features in their current arrangement!

But this was just a human! Dolt couldn't help but feel insulted that the boss would select such a weak opponent for him. He'd have preferred to have been given someone at least a bit challenging, like the namek. Though Dolt figured the boss probably wanted him for himself.

'Oh well.' Dolt shrugged. 'At least I won't have to raise my power level.'

With his power level masked and his natural camouflage ability concealing his body, Dolt was certain that neither Gohan nor Videl would know of his presence until the fight was over. With this in mind, Dolt moved from the bushes and approached Videl from behind. His feet didn't make a sound on the grass. When he was just about a foot away from her, he leapt into the air – and was immediately knocked back down to the ground by Videl's foot!

The shock of the blow caused Dolt's camouflage to wear off and his true appearance was revealed to the girl. If Dolt stood up straight he'd be about five feet tall, but he rarely stood up straight. He had long legs that bent at the knees, like a frog's. On his big feet he wore, what looked like, metal clogs. His lean body was covered by sliver metallic amour that molded to him like a second skin. His skinny arms were bare, except for some thick bands on his wrists, and he had light pink skin. On his head were two pointed ears and spiky brown hair.

Rubbing his face, where Videl's boot had left an imprint, Dolt got back to his feet.

"How did you know I was there!" He snarled at Videl. "I had my energy masked and everything!"

"Next time, you should find a way to mask your smell!" Videl answered while wrinkling her nose.

With an enraged howl, Dolt charged at Videl. He went to strike her with a karate chop, but she leapt back and went straight up into the air. Dolt's eyes followed her and he smirked.

"Flying won't do any good against me!" He said. He squatted down so that his knees were fully bent and then sprang into the air. He flew past Videl, so that he was high above her. Now, with his legs straight and his thick metal clogs aiming at Videl's head, he let himself drop.

Videl saw her opponent coming down towards her, like a missile. His clogs were turning red with the speed he was falling. Videl launched herself to the side and just managed to avoid being hit by the mini-meteor. Dolt hit the ground with an ear-splitting crash! Videl had to cross her arms in front of her to protect herself from pieces of earth that were sent skyward by the force of the landing.

Once the dust had settled, a very angry Dolt was revealed. Angry because (1) he'd missed his target and (2) he was now buried up to his waist in the ground. Muttering to himself, he put his hands on the ground and heaved… and heaved again.

Videl watched him struggle from up in the air, a small sweat drop on the side of her head. He wasn't going to get out any time soon. He was well and truly stuck!

She landed on the ground and watched the cursing alien, wondering what she should do now. To be honest, she hadn't thought that far ahead. She hadn't even been certain she could win against him. Gohan had told her many stories about how he and his father had fought off various alien invaders. All of them had been about as strong as a normal saiyan, and Videl knew she was nowhere near that powerful.

"Well, it looks like you've won. Congratulations."

Videl turned sharply at the new voice. Behind her was standing a person wearing the same armor as Dolt. In addition to his armor he had a long, black cape draped over his shoulders. He had black skin and black hair that went down to his shoulders. Aside from his red eyes, he almost looked human.

"Hey, Lance!" Dolt called out to the newcomer. "Help me out of here! I can still beat her!"

Lance looked at Dolt with a sneer of contempt.

"You know the rules Dolt! If you can't even beat a mere human on your own, then you have no place in Snail's forces!"

Dolt's jaw hit the ground. He immediately started yelling,

"What? You can't just cast me aside! I've been with lord Snail since the beginning! If it weren't for me, neither you or the others would have these jobs! I-"

Lance decided to ignore the shrieking imbecile. Instead, he turned his attention back to Videl.

"Well young lady. Like I said, you won. So it's only fair that you get your prize."

Suddenly, a clap of thunder sounded out. Videl looked up to the sky. Where, only a few seconds ago, it had been clear and blue, dark clouds now formed a circular shape. All of a sudden, out of those clouds, burst a bright blue beam of light. Before Videl could move, the light hit her and she was instantly paralyzed. She cried out in pain, but the cry was cut off as she disappeared into thin air. The light then faded as everything returned to normal.

Lance stood with his arms crossed and a smile on his face.

"Lucky girl. Well," He turned with a swirl of his cape. "I better go find my opponent so that I can join her."

"Hey! What about me?" Dolt continued his loudmouthed protest. Lance was quickly starting to lose his patience with him. "You can't leave me here like this! Not after all I've done for you, you ungrateful son of a!"

"Alright!" Lance reached down, grabbed a chunk of Dolt's hair and pulled him out of the ground. "If you'll just shut up, I'll let you come with me, Quiver and Mingen! Where we're going, there should be four opponents. You can try your luck against one of them. But if you lose again, that's it. You're out!"

And with that, Lance, still holding a protesting Dolt by the hair, flew off into the sky.

(Scene change. Why the hell won't quickedit let me have gaps between my scenes?)

Gohan could see his house already. The small modest abode in the country where he had spent his childhood (when he wasn't battling evil aliens or setting off across the universe in search of dragon balls).

As Nimbus swooped down for a landing, the front door opened and a spiky haired, hyper-active, little demi-saiyan came running out to greet him.

"Gohan! You're back!"

Goten was dressed in his fighting clothes. A miniature version of their father's orange uniform with a dark blue, long sleeved shirt on underneath. And, speak of the devil, their father came out the door behind him. He was in true 'Goku' form, with a goofy smile on his face and an apple in his hand. And just behind him, was the fourth member of their family. Chichi threw her arms around her son,

"Oh Gohan, it's so good to have you home! Have you been eating right? You haven't been staying up too late, have you?"

Gohan smiled. Everything was just as he remembered it. Suddenly, Goten started tugging on his hand.

"Gohan, will you come and train with me? I want to show you my new technique!"

"New technique?" Gohan looked at his father.

"Hey, it had nothing to do with me!" Said Goku with a grin. "He invented it all by himself!"

"Please! It's really awesome! You're the only one I haven't shown it to!"

"Oh okay then," Said Gohan. "But let me change into my uniform first."

"Don't be too long Gohan." Said Chichi. "We're all meeting up at Bulma's in a few hours."