DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dragon Ball. Akira Toriyama does. Therefore, I am not Akira Toriyama.

Full Summary: No one bothered to tell Gohan that Orange Star High's annual emergency drill would be held today. Nor did anyone happen to mention that this year's drill was designed by world-renowned genius Bulma Briefs.

In which Gohan's survival skills are pitted against the evil mastermind that is Trunks Briefs in an all out battle for the souls of his Orange Star High classmates, or at least that's what Trunks is going to tell everyone at school tomorrow. Gohan's just worried about revealing his secrets.

This Is Not a Drill

Videl's watch alert broke the silence of the classroom, and a few curious heads turned in her direction.

"Videl, come in! Are you there?" the police chief's voice rang out.

If Videl was aware that she was now the center of everyone's attention, she didn't show it. "Yeah, chief," she replied nonchalantly.

"There's an armed robbery at the jewelry store down by 7th and Maple! We're being overrun, and we need support!"

"Be there in five," Videl said and ended the transmission. She ran out of the classroom without acknowledging the teacher who, after looking up during the police chief's initial interruption, had focused her attention back on the reading she assigned the class.

Gohan, sitting a couple seats away from Videl, tapped his fingers on the desk impatiently. Looking over his shoulder at the clock, he realized there were only five minutes left of class before he could leave and pursue the other crime-fighting teen. But those five minutes were crucial; in that time he was likely to lose her ki signal and wouldn't be able to find where the armed robbery was even located. Living hundreds of miles from Satan City meant he was never going to be familiar with street names.

Standing abruptly, he tried to think of a plausible excuse that would get him out of class in time. Curious eyes looked up as he stood only to lose interest when his classmates realized it was Gohan trying to leave class for the umpteenth time.

"Ms. Apple, I think Erasa doesn't feel well. Can I take her to the nurse's office?" Gohan gestured to his right at Erasa who was one of the few people who hadn't broken her focus from the reading.

"Is that so?" The teacher replied, her gaze shifting to the blonde. After a few moments of silence, Erasa finally looked up.

"What are you talking a-" Erasa started. Watching the shifting expression on Gohan's face she continued, "-Oh, wait. He's right. Ugh." She put an arm on her stomach and shifted her posture so she was hunched over. "There's- uh, there's something wrong with me, and I don't think I can go to the nurse's by myself."

Ms. Apple stared at the two of them for a couple seconds before relenting. "Fine. You may escort her, Gohan."

Gohan cheered silently and offered Erasa his arm. He helped her out of her desk and walked out of the classroom without sparing anyone else a glance. Over her shoulder, Erasa sent Sharpener a wink.

They turned the corner of the hallway and Gohan dropped his arm from Erasa's shoulder. "Thank you!" He exclaimed, ready to run off and catch Videl.

"No problem! Now you can go find Videl!"

Gohan froze at her words. "What?"

Erasa continued upon seeing his expression, "Please, Gohan! I know you have a cute little crush on her! Anyone that follows her around this much has got to be pretty smitten."

"Heh. Heh. Yeah," Gohan said, uncertain. "You caught me! Darn! I'm so obvious. So, -uh bye then!" He sped off before Erasa could say anything else that could throw him off, leaving a bunch of lockers rattling in his wake.

As badly as that interaction went, Gohan figured it could have gone worse. At least Erasa thought his convenient classroom exoduses were due to a crush and not his Bulma-diagnosed hero-complex. Making his way up to the roof, he changed into his Saiyaman outfit and sought out Videl's ki signature.

While he was focused on pursuing Videl, Gohan was so distracted that he missed a PA announcement that would prove very enlightening for him in the near future.

"Good afternoon students, this is Principal Berry," a voice said over the speaker system. "As many of you may already know, tomorrow we are going to hold our annual emergency drill. What you may not have heard is that this year, Capsule Corp's own Bulma Briefs will conduct our test. She has recently written a program that will serve as this year's 'evil overlord' who will attempt to take over the world starting with Orange Star High. Be ready for an exciting day of problem-solving and structured fun!"

Erasa smiled to herself. She remembered last year's emergency drill had been a breeze, because she'd stuck with Videl and they'd gone after the mastermind with Sharpener in tow and ended the drill early. This one probably wouldn't be as simple, because an actual genius was running it, but it was guaranteed to get them out of boring classes for a day.

Maybe Gohan would want to join them, seeing as he never strayed more than 5 feet away from Videl? She wondered what Gohan would look like in action, and hoped he didn't chicken out in the face of danger.

—

"Oh crap," Bulma muttered to herself, staring at the computer screen in her laboratory.

Trunks, who had been playing behind her, followed her gaze. "What's up, mom?" Written in red were the words Orange Star High School Emergency Drill. Recognizing the name, Trunks asked, "Isn't that the school Gohan goes to?"

"Yes, Trunks," Bulma replied, placing a hand on her forehead in frustration. "I only agreed to run this because I knew he went there. I was supposed to write a computer program that would simulate, in their words, 'an evil overlord taking over Satan City.' It sounded kind of ridiculous until I thought about how Piccolo, Cell and even your father all intended to do just that at one point."

"Dad was an evil overlord?" Trunks said in awe. "Coooool!"

"No. Not cool, Trunks," Bulma scolded. "And anyway, I forgot to write the program and I have an important meeting that I can't miss tomorrow, so I can't even go and run it myself. I may have to cancel on them."

Sensing an opportunity, Trunks started thinking. "Mom, I have a great idea!" He proclaimed. "What if me and Goten ran your emergency drill? I mean I'm pretty smart and since you said dad was a super villain in his time, I definitely have some of that in me! We can definitely do it! Please?"

Bulma looked at him blankly for a couple seconds. "That is a bad idea for so many reasons, including the fact that having a villain mastermind for a father is nothing to be proud of. I can't believe I'm actually considering this, but that's just how desperate I am right now." Trunks went down to his knees and repeated his desperate plea.

"Fine. Here's my offer. If you can convince your father to supervise, you two may run the drill. I'm going to provide a list of instructions that you must follow to the letter, but apart from that you can improvise."

Trunks jumped up in excitement, running out the door. Over his shoulder, he yelled, "Yay! Thank you! I'll get Dad now!"

"Good luck!" She called after him. Once he was out of sight, she muttered, "I almost want Vegeta to turn him down, because this could only end in disaster."

—

"Saiyaman!" Videl walked over to the costumed hero as he was about to make his escape. The robbers had long been apprehended and taken into police custody.

"Uh . . . Ms. Videl! What might you want?"

"I don't know why you feel the need to follow me while I'm on the job when there are other perfectly good criminals to put behind bars. Did you happen to see the car hijacking that occurred on the other side of town on your way here?" Videl said.

Gohan felt a little blindsided by the accusation and made a mental note to check that hijacking on his way out. "Um, ma'am I only came here, because- it was on my way to the hijacking! I saw that you could benefit from some assistance, so I intervened. Obviously you have proven that you are more than capable of stopping these robbers by yourself, but I think everyone could use help once in a while."

Videl frowned slightly at his words. "Well, don't make it a habit. Since it seems like you're going to be a permanent fixture in Satan City, as annoying as it is to say; you could probably be more useful elsewhere."

"Oh," Gohan said, a little shocked and hurt ny her words. "Uh, I guess that makes sense." He couldn't help but think he was being told to buzz off. He had thought that Saiyaman and Videl had come to some sort of understanding in their past couple of crime-fighting adventures where they had tag-teamed more than once. At least Videl's initial animosity had simmered down to something that resembled mild resentment.

"But don't think I'm ever going to give up on finding your true identity! I'm onto you Saiyaman!" Gohan's mouth twisted up in a small smile. That was more like it.

"I would expect nothing less."

—

"Dad!" Trunks yelled down the hall from the training room. A moment later, he was inside the room barreling into his father in the high intensity gravity.

Vegeta, given a second of warning by Trunks' first call, stopped his punch halfway from connecting with Trunks' face. "What is it, brat?" He asked after extracting Trunks from his body, and continued to battle imaginary opponents.

"Mom-promised-to-run-an-emergency-drill-thing-at-Gohan's-high-school-but-she's-busy-so-she-can't-but-she-said-that-you-were-an-evil-mastermind-in-the-past-and-since-you're-my-dad-I-think-I-could-do-it-too!" Trunks took a deep breath, anxious energy radiating. "She said I could only do it if you promised to come. So will you? Please?"

"No," Vegeta stated plainly, refusing to pause his training. "It sounds like a waste of my time. And yours, boy. You could use that time to train. Do you want to become like Kakarot's brat and grow soft?" He punctuated the accusation with a controlled combo that ended with him standing over Trunks.

"No!" Trunks replied without wavering. "But you and mom talk about training my mind too! I'd be plotting against Gohan! And Goten would be there too!"

"All the more reason to avoid that school like the plague." Feeling satisfied, Vegeta continued with another well-rehearsed kata.

"But Daaaad!" Trunks exclaimed, crushed that his father was standing in the way of, what he knew was going to be the greatest day ever.

"Complain anymore and you will be banned from the training room until the end of time," Vegeta warned, shutting Trunks up immediately. "As enjoyable as it would be to watch Kakarot's son be brought down by my ilk and his own incompetence, I have better things to do."

Disappointed but not fully deterred, Trunks shuffled out of the training room. He spared a glance over his shoulder, but his father had already resumed his training. With a frown, he went to go find his mother to try to convince her that he and Goten could run the emergency drill without anyone's supervision.

He was about halfway through his explanation that he and Goten, at the ages of eight and seven, were more than capable of maneuvering millions of zeni's worth of machinery in Orange Star High's emergency drill (maybe not in those exact words, but he thinks he was getting his point apart), before he was rudely interrupted by a strange man who looked exactly like Trunks that walked into the lab.

"Um, excuse me. Mom?" The man said, referring to Trunks' mother.

"Trunks!" his mother exclaimed, running over and enveloping the stranger in a bone-crushing hug. Trunks stared at the intruder distrustfully, thoughts spiraling. Of course his mother and the others had told him about the mysterious future version of him that had travelled to the past to warn them of the androids, but he never expected to see the guy in person. Although his mother had mostly filled him in on the story-telling aspects, Vegeta had effectively turned his future counterpart into a yet another reason why Trunks couldn't afford to slack off in his training. You never knew when evil androids would come and leave you as the sole hope for humanity.

"What are you doing here?" his mother asked once she had released the Trunks imposter.

The other Trunks looked a little sheepish as he replied, "Just visiting, I guess. You know, most of my friends were killed years ago, and even though the androids are finally gone, life in the future is pretty bleak. I wanted to surprise you guys!"

"Well, we are definitely surprised. I can't wait till Vegeta sees you." Remembering her previous conversation, she sought out the present version of her son and introduced him. "Trunks, this is Trunks. Yeah, that's going to get confusing real fast."

"Oh! Well, don't change anything on my account. Just call me Mirai," the older saiyan hybrid replied. "And it's nice to meet you Trunks." He stuck out a hand to his younger counterpart.

Trunks crossed his arms on his chest and frowned. He eyed his future version carefully and, upon quick evaluation, decided he didn't merit all the praise everyone showered on him. Trunks shook his offered hand anyway.

Midway through the handshake an idea popped into Trunks' head that would salvage his prospects of running the emergency drill after all.

"Mom!" he yelled, "Since Dad said no, can Mirai come and supervise me and Goten while we run the emergency thing?"

Mirai frowned in confusion. "What thing?"

Bulma sighed in reply. "I can't exactly say no. I was almost ready to send you two off by yourselves, but this is a little better." At Mirai's confused expression, she explained, "I'm supposed to run Orange Star High school's annual emergency drill tomorrow, but I have a meeting that I can't skip. Trunks offered to help, but since he's eight I'm not very inclined to send him off by himself. Gohan also goes to this high school, which is why I agreed in the first place. The key is to make it realistic enough that it can sufficiently test the student's ingenuity along with the school's emergency protocols."

"Wait, what? An emergency drill? And Gohan's enrolled in high school?"

At his future counterpart's confusion, Trunks added, "Goten and I would be so good at this! And we'd be completely unpredictable! But, Mirai, you can't tell Gohan you're here."

Mirai looked back and forth between his exasperated mother and the pleading eyes of his younger self. After a few seconds he sighed. "Sure, why not? It'll be fun to see what Gohan's like in a non-life-threatening environment, or at least a semi non-life-threatening environment. I'd rather not be directly involved, but I suppose I can supervise."

"Yes!" Trunks celebrated. Who cared what everyone else said, Trunks was beginning to like this guy.

"But before we get any further, who exactly is Goten?"

On second thought, maybe not.

—

Gohan awoke that morning with a sinking feeling in his stomach that just wasn't going away. It was probably someone's way of telling him that today was not going to be a good day.

His encounter with Videl the previous afternoon had left him a little conflicted. He had to acknowledge that she was right, as Satan City's two main crime fighters, they would get more done if they didn't focus on the same crimes.

On the other hand, half the reason why Gohan decided to become the Great Saiyaman in the first place was so he could make sure Videl didn't get into any fights that she wouldn't be able to finish. But she had proven more than capable at her job, and he probably would be able to feel her ki if she got into a problem that was too much for her to handle.

At the sound of his mother's call for breakfast, he rolled out of bed and got dressed. These were thoughts for another time.

When he finally made it to the kitchen table, he was surprised to see Goten with an empty breakfast plate looking at him expectantly.

"Your brother is visiting Capsule Corp. today, can you take him?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Uh, sure," he replied, digging into his breakfast. "Is there a special occasion or-?"

"Me and Trunks are going to work on a project!" Goten stated excitedly. "He said it's top secret so he hasn't even told me about it yet!"

"Bulma called earlier," Chi-Chi explained. "She said that Trunks wanted Goten to work with him on something."

Whatever that meant, it couldn't be anything good. Gohan made a mental reminder to check with Bulma for what this 'top-secret' project might be. Glancing at his watch, he realized he was going to be extremely late if he had to go to West City and then to school. He gulped down the remainder of his food as quickly as possible, grabbed Goten and his bag and ran out the door.

"Bye Mom!" he called.

"Have a good day sweetie!"

Once outside, Gohan set Goten down and changed into his Saiyaman outfit. "Goten, I'm going to be late to school if I don't go as fast as possible, so hold onto me. Okay?"

"'Kay, Gohan. But what about Nimbus? Won't he get sad if I don't ride him?"

"Nimbus won't get sad, Goten!" Gohan replied. "But even if he does, I promise you can ride Nimbus back home if you want to." Goten opened his mouth to reply, but Gohan grabbed his arm and took off. "No time, I gotta' go!"

When he arrived at Capsule Corp., he could sense something was off, but he didn't know what. He didn't have much time to explore, but he didn't want to leave Goten until he knew everything was okay. He ran into Bulma and Trunks in their kitchen, but their initial shocked expressions didn't make him feel any better.

"Hey, Bulma," he said with an inquisitive tone. "I'm just dropping off Goten, but is anything going on? Like something out of the ordinary?" Trunks ducked his head, but Bulma looked unfazed.

"I don't know how ordinary daily life is here, but I wouldn't say anything too crazy is happening," Bulma said shrugging. Gohan couldn't say he felt reassured. "We did get a visitor earlier that probably wants to see you."

"Mom! I thought we said we weren't gonna' tell him!" Trunks hissed.

His complaint was pointless three seconds later when Trunks from the future walked in the kitchen.

"Hey Gohan!" Mirai said. Trunks slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Trunks! No way!" Gohan exclaimed. "It's great to see you! I just realized its weird to ask where you came from. When you came from? Really hoping you're not bringing another warning of an android apocalypse."

Trunks chuckled slightly and replied, "Ha! No. Just here for a visit. There's not a lot going on in the future other than rebuilding, and everyone treats me like a weird hero-messiah figure. It's a little tough some-"

"Hey! Gohan!" Goten said, interrupting the reunion. "Who's this guy and why does he look like Trunks?"

"Goten, do you remember the stories of the man who came from the future and saved the world by telling us about the androids? Well that was this guy. He's Trunks, from the future."

"Well, I'm going by Mirai right now," The older purple-haired saiyan added. Stooping to meet Goten at eye level, he continued, "You must be Goten. I've heard a lot about you! Wow, you're the spitting image of Goku."

Under Mirai's scrutiny, Goten fidgeted a little. "Uh . . . thanks Mister Mirai," he replied.

Gohan looked at his watch and grimaced. "Mirai, I hope you're here for longer than today, because I have to go to school right now or I'm going to be late."

"I don't know, Mirai, Gohan's been pretty busy lately with one or two extracurricular activities." Bulma wiggled her eyebrows and smiled at Gohan as his face reddened.

Mirai laughed. "Wow. Gohan in high school. Now that's hard for me to picture. And don't worry about me, I'll be here till the end of the week. We'll catch up later. Remind me to ask you about the weird green getup. And, you owe me a spar eventually, I want to know if I can actually beat you this time."

"Yeah, you wish!" Gohan taunted, a smile growing on his face. Even though he hadn't trained in a while, the thought of a fight with Mirai excited his Saiyan blood. He turned and ran out the room, spotting Vegeta lurking in the corner outside the kitchen.

—

Gohan barely arrived on time to class and slid into his customary seat next to Erasa, who seemed a little more peppy than usual. Even though the clock had struck 8, their teacher hadn't arrived to their homeroom yet.

"Are you excited, Gohan?" Erasa asked, with barely contained energy. She was practically vibrating in her seat, and Gohan looked around the room and saw the other students looking a little more alive than usual. The only person who didn't look any more interested was Videl who was still wearing the serious and slightly bored expression that Gohan had learned was her default.

"To learn?" Gohan asked. "Sure?"

"No, Gohan! Don't you remember the announcement? Today's –" Erasa began.

"Students of Orange Star High!" A badly distorted voice cut in from the PA system, "I am the Galaxy conqueror known as Tundra, and I have decided to lead my army of robots to conquer Earth starting in the city of Earth's greatest savior, Mr. Satan! I have stationed my army throughout your school and once I conquer it, the city will be next! Then the world!" The broadcast ended with some poorly executed evil laughter.

Gohan rolled his eyes. What kind of medication was their principal on such that making up evil galaxy conquerors was now a thing?

Gohan's thoughts were interrupted when the doors to his classroom slammed open and two menacing-looking robot androids marched in. A couple students screamed, but most people either calmly hid under their desks and a few brake students sprung up after the robots and attempted to subdue them. Gohan just stared blankly ahead of him, not quite believing what he was seeing.

"What the–?" Gohan said as he watched Videl pick up a chair and throw it at the robots. A variety of thoughts ran through Gohan's head as he tried to process what was happening. It was extremely unlikely that an actual galaxy conqueror was in the process of staging an invasion, but stranger things had happened. At the moment, however, someone was attempting to take over his school, and he should probably do something about it.

"Gohan! Duck!" Erasa yelled, and broke through Gohan's parade of thoughts. Moving faster than he should have, Gohan dropped beneath his desk and rolled to the side as a robot head soared through the air and hit the chair he was sitting on. In the front of the classroom, Videl stood over the two droids while the class stared in awe.

"Erasa," she started, "let's go." Erasa got out from the desk next to Gohan and followed her friend.

"Videl, can we take Gohan? You just saw him; he freezes up in these situations and we can't just leave him here!"

Videl stared at Gohan till he blinked and looked away. She rolled her eyes at his lack of backbone and said, "Fine. But don't get in my way."

Gohan got up out his seat slightly reluctantly. What he wanted to do was sneak out and investigate the "invasion" as Saiyaman. To do that, he would need to be as far away from Videl as possible, but turning down Erasa's offer would look a little suspicious. No place on campus would have been safer during an invasion than by the side of the strongest student in the school. Too bad Erasa didn't realize which one of them that was.

Once the three teenagers were out in the hallway, Gohan hung back before turning a different corner and running to an empty classroom where no one would see him. While he was focusing on closing the blinds, the arm of a robot nailed him on his temple, knocking him away from the windows and onto his stomach. He crashed into a few desks and laid on the ground trying to comprehend how this was his life.

The worst part about this situation was that the robots could sneak up on him, because they had no ki. His best bet was going to be changing into Saiyaman and tackle the problem head on. Before he could get up and change into his Saiyaman clothes, however, the droid shoved head back into the ground and stepped on his wrist. The same wrist that he wore his Saiyaman watch.

Suddenly aware of the consequences of letting down his guard, Gohan scrambled up and inspected the several pieces his watch was now in. The robot paused in its attack as if it was laughing at the expression of pure devastation on his face. Gohan turned towards robot, head down and hair shielding his face. "Wrong move," he said before ripping the robot in half with a vicious kick.

Newly resolved to defeat the menace that had come for him personally, Gohan marched out of the empty classroom into a hallway that looked like a war zone. Lockers were hanging off hinges, trash and robot parts were strewn haphazardly, and students showcasing different levels of panic and terror were running in every direction. Torn between going after the mastermind and trying to maintain his "normal" identity, he stood in front of the door for a couple of seconds, looking down both ends of the hallway.

"Hey Gohan! We thought we'd lost you!" Erasa called from his left. When Gohan turned to respond, he saw her and Videl approaching. Videl looked like some warrior princess ripped straight out of his fantasies and nightmares with sweat and dirt smudged on her face, robot limbs and pieces behind her.

"Uh, yeah. I was just -uh checking if anyone needed help in this classroom!" Gohan said gesturing to the room he just exited.

"And did they?" Videl asked before peeking around Gohan through the window in the door.

"Uh, no!" Gohan said nervously. Videl furrowed her brow and pushedd Gohan out of the way to get inside.

"Did you see this Gohan?" She said gesturing to the robot torn cleanly in two on the ground. "Someone ripped this robot in half, and it looks like it was with a blunt object. These things have fairly weak joints are, but the metal plating on these things is reinforced; I definitely couldn't do this with my bare hands. Did someone bring weapons?"

Gohan's blood went cold as his tried to think of a response, "I, -uh I just saw it here, when I came in."

"Weird." Videl said at the same time as Erasa guessed, "Maybe another robot did that?" Videl frowned and left the room without agreeing. Gohan and Erasa followed wordlessly behind.

Gohan's mind went through some scenarios as he walked behind Videl. On one hand, he wanted to defeat this Tundra guy for the amount of stress he had added to the day. On the other hand, he really wanted a normal life and that couldn't happen if he decided to go all "invincible martial-artist" on this Tundra threat. But the school and the world (which Gohan wasn't completely sold on, yet) could actually be in trouble if he didn't give this fight his all. He had already paid the price of lowering his guard in this situation. What if that robot had been trying to kill him? What if it had been doing that to other students?

"So what's your plan?" Gohan asked as they walked through the empty hallway.

"Videl's heading for the principal's office. That's where the PA system is, we can either figure out who is in charge or we can find clues about how to shut the robot army down," Erasa replied.

"You seem pretty cheery for someone who's in the middle of a robot invasion," Gohan noted.

"Yeah well, this kind of thing only happens about once a year, so it's nice to do something exciting. Videl always does really well and saves the day, but I think the robots are smarter this time."

"Wait what?" Gohan stopped walking, the meaning of her words registering slowly.

"Yeah! I always look forward to this drill, because it's so applicable," Erasa continued. "I mean, look at Cell and did you hear about that Piccolo guy from before we were born? Survival skills are important."

Before Gohan could respond, Videl grabbed them both and pulled them behind a corner. "There are four robots coming this way. I'm going to engage them and if you guys want to run ahead, I'll catch up."

Erasa enthusiastically agreed with the plan. But Gohan, reluctant to leave Videl to fend off four robots by herself but also not wanting to show he could fight, nodded his head slightly. He resolved to help Erasa get clear and then come back and help Videl by "accidentally" taking out a couple robots of his own.

Videl left them in the corner and stared the robots down. She attacked one and a couple seconds later, when she was back in their line of view, she gestured for them to go. Gohan grabbed Erasa's hand and led her past the robots.

Once they were clear, Gohan let go of Erasa right before turning around and coming face to face with another droid he hadn't seen before. Tossing a glance over his shoulder at his friend, Gohan moved faster than Erasa could see and delivered two kicks. The two thuds of his foot connecting with the robot's body resonated down the hall, the sounds so close together that it seemed like one attack. Less than a second later, the robot tumbled over backwards while Erasa looked on in shock.

"I guess that one was faulty! Heh." Gohan said, while putting an arm behind his head. Erasa looked a little confused, but Gohan ran after Videl before she could say anything.

It turned out that he needn't have worried. By the time Gohan was close enough to help, Videl was polishing off the fourth robot and the other three were lying in a heap behind her.

"I thought I told you," Videl punctuated her words by hitting the robot over the head with both her arms clasped together. "To stay over there with Erasa while I handle this." When the robot hit the ground, she marched up to Gohan and poked him in the chest.

"Oh just get a room already," Erasa said, walking over.

Not wanting to rise to her bait, Videl smiled. "So Gohan can go pee his pants somewhere private?"

"Ha ha, Videl." He backed away from her and stopped; something was nagging at the back of his mind.

"Erasa, what was that thing you were talking about before? What's going on with this invasion?"

"Oh come on, Gohan," Videl said before Erasa could respond. "Tell me you didn't think what was happening today was real."

"Ha! -uh no," Gohan said unconvincingly.

Erasa added, "Oh poor Gohan! It's Orange Star High's annual emergency drill. We shut down school for the day and go through emergency protocol about what we would do if someone tried conquering Earth by attacking Satan City and the school!"

"But that-, That doesn't even make sense!" Gohan replied incredulously. "Why would everyone try to fend for themselves in this kind of situation? And who in their right mind would launch an invasion by starting at Orange Star High?"

"Yeah, well usually this is boring and simple, but at least this year the robots are a lot more advanced than they have been in the past. I'm pretty glad we got Capsule Corp to run the drill," Videl said.

Gohan's jaw dropped. "Wait, excuse me. Did you say Capsule Corporation was running this?"

"Yeah!" Erasa replied. "Apparently Bulma Briefs herself built all the equipment and is running the drill."

Gohan put an arm on the closest wall to ground himself and took a couple deep breaths. He wasn't sure whether the spike of intense, almost-blinding anger that rose within him was directed outward at the people who caused this torture or inward at himself for not seeing this coming.

Once he got his emotions under control, he looked up to see Videl and Erasa staring at him and speaking quietly. "I'm um, gonna' make a quick call," gesturing over his shoulder to one of the emergency phones in the hallway. They waved him off and continued to stare. He figured he should be more worried about that than he was, but he had bigger problems.

Remembering Bulma's number wasn't very difficult and the phone rang twice before she answered, "Look this better be important, I have a meeting to go to in five minutes."

"Hey Bulma, it's Gohan. Quick question: do you want to ruin my life?" he hissed into the phone. "Is the whole 'Gohan's going-to-high-school' idea so funny to you that you just have to make sure it doesn't last?"

"Oh hey Gohan. Good morning to you too," she snarked. "If you're done tossing accusations in my direction, I'd like you to know that I do have a very important meeting in five minutes that is taking place in West City which is pretty much on the other side of the globe from where you are standing! Contrary to popular belief, I do have a very important job as head of a company that has a worldwide presence. I don't spend all my time bumming around like most Saiyans! And believe me, your life is not interesting enough that I would spend even a fraction of mine trying to ruin it!"

Bulma's words caught Gohan off-guard, and his anger slowly drained out, replaced with guilt. In a small voice, he asked, "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Bulma sighed audibly. "Fine, Gohan. If you must know, your school did ask me to run the emergency drill. I was supposed to program software so I didn't have to be on site. However, that didn't happen, and I chose someone else to run the drill with my equipment."

"So you were involved?" Gohan asked, rage still simmering below the surface.

"I don't have time for this Gohan," Bulma replied, exasperated. "Just know you're not in any real danger. You are more than equipped to handle whatever gets thrown at you. Now I have to leave–"

"No don't go!" Gohan pleaded. "I have so many questions!"

"Bye Gohan." Gohan dropped the phone when he heard her voice cut out. The small home he had created in Satan City was crumbling around him, and Bulma didn't seem to care. He felt utterly betrayed by one of his closest friends.

He turned around slowly and saw Videl and Erasa looking at him with clear concern written on their faces. The conversation with Bulma played over and over in his head.

"Everything okay, Gohan?" Erasa asked.

Gohan took a deep breath and steeled his expression. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"You sure?" Videl replied. "You looked pretty upset while you were yelling into the phone, and I don't want anyone who's going to drag my team down. Especially if it's emotional baggage. Either get your head together or leave; If you're going to back out, you better do it now."

Gohan looked between the two girls and grappled with his options. He could do as Videl suggested and excuse himself from the drill. Or he could try to get to the bottom of it and figure out who really was in charge. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder what Bulma meant when she had said "You aren't in any danger." Was she referring to the fact that Gohan could take care of himself, and this drill could be dangerous to others? Or was it truly harmless for everyone involved? The one thing he did know was that the robots packed a wallop.

How irresponsible would it be to turn his back on the whole thing?

Gohan didn't have the time to fully contemplate the pros and cons of his choices, because a group of robots emerged from the end of the hallway at that moment. Videl stepped in front of them, and Gohan hoped she would see their number and suggest they turn around and head back where they came from. Videl's confident expression faded a little as the robots marched toward them, their numbers seemingly endless. She grimaced and turned, grabbing both Erasa and Gohan to indicate they keep up with her.

The trio ran down the school hallway with the robots pursuing behind them at the same marching pace as before.

A/N: Well I have had this story on my computer for years, and in the last few weeks finally felt inspired to finish it. There's one more chapter that will probably be published sometime later this week. Hope you enjoy, and please let me know how you like it! I've really missed the Dragonball fandom.