--- When Worlds Collide ---
Chapter 1 - First Impressions
Disclaimer: Not that these mean anything, but I'm going to make a blanket disclaimer now, and save myself the trouble later. I do not own Dragonball Z, or any of the movies, songs, or anything else copy written that may or may not appear in this fic at some point in time. You wanna sue me? Be my guest. You can't get blood out of a stone.
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"NOOOOO!"
The injured black-haired girl turned her broken body away from the explosion that marked the destruction of the one who shared her soul. Tears streaked down her dirt and blood encrusted face, cutting lines through the filth, as she turned her head towards the eerily familiar face of her lover's killer.
"Why are you doing this?" She sobbed, "What did we ever do to you?"
"It's nothing personal." He replied, his hollow voice as familiar to her as his face, "But don't cry my dear, I'll spare you the hand fate has dealt me. I won't keep you from the one you love. You shall be reunited with him..." He raised his hand, forming the blast that would end her life, "...on the other side!"
Her last sight before the blast extinguished the flame of life from her mortal body was that of his face.
The face of her killer.
The face of her lover.
The face of the Saiyan warrior Kapskaen.
o-o-o
"Rrrrraaaaghhhh!"
The young woman screamed in frustration, throwing her bag with all her might and sending it flying across her bedroom. The maids and servants had kept out of her way as she'd stormed her way up, the scowl on her face alone indicating the state of her anger, not to mention the venerable thundercloud following in her wake. She stood there panting, her vision practically red with anger, but in a moment of clarity she decided to take her wrath out on the equipment in the gym instead of her room; she had to sleep here.
Her fists slammed into the punching bag with such force it would have knocked it flying were it not secured to both the roof and ceiling, and after this quick test she rained blow after blow into the sand-filled stress relief, her pigtails flying around with the force of her punches.
How dare he! How dare that insufferable, arrogant... bastard of a man treat her like that! She was Videl Satan, Daughter of the Saviour of the World, and herself the resident hero of Satan City, and that cocky bastard treated her like she was nothing! No, worse, he treated her like she was something he scraped off his boot.
First, he disrespected her father, in front of the whole class no less! Then, he had the audacity to disrespect her, not sixty seconds after. Actually, now that she thought of it, it may have been longer than sixty seconds after; he had been laughing a long time between. And those two little... bitches he had with him, they just stood there and laughed along with him; oh sure, one of them had reprimanded him, but it was obvious she didn't really mean it.
She paused in her beating, taking a deep breath. She shouldn't say that about the new girls. They were actually quite, well, nice, once you got past the first impression they made on the class, and just because she was mad at him was no reason to drag them into it, even if he was supposedly dating one of them and related to the other.
She scoffed; she didn't buy that for a minute. He had spiky black hair, did they really expect her to believe he was related to the straight-haired redhead, and, at the same time, dating the black long-haired girl who, while still looking different, looked a lot more like him than the younger of the two? But why would they lie? What reason was there?
She screamed in frustration once more before resuming her pummelling of the defenceless punching bag; all these uncertainties weren't helping her temper any. The man was a walking mystery, pure and simple, and those two girls weren't much better; and she'd thought the last new kid was bad!
Gohan, the perfect test-score genius that had managed to jump 30 feet into the air and catch what would have been a home run, and had then managed to completely destroy a baseball while batting; she didn't care what he or the teacher claimed, she saw the ball explode when the bat he swung hit it. Compared to these new three, Gohan seemed almost normal! Almost.
She paused in mid-punch as something occurred to her; Gohan. He looked so much like the new guy. There were enough differences to make it obvious that they weren't related, but never-the-less they had similar hair, similar builds, similar ages, and, if today's baseball game was any indication of what they could do, similar physical prowess too. It was obvious to her now that whatever was off about Gohan was off about the new guy as well, and thus if she could find one of them out, it'd lead her to the other.
Maybe it'd lead her to the identity of Saiyaman while she was at it. She resumed again as her thoughts continued. Saiyaman showed up the same day Gohan did, she knew that wasn't a coincidence. If the police report was accurate, the new guy had stopped a bank robbery this morning on his way to school, but Saiyaman didn't show up. That lead her to the conclusion he knew Saiyaman; he couldn't be Saiyaman, because he wasn't the right height, or the same build. Besides, from what she saw of him, he wouldn't be caught dead in that green tunic and trashy orange bucket-helmet.
She gave this a bit more thought. Saiyaman, as he demonstrated repeatedly, was able to fly, to lift strangely heavy objects (like buses), and to fire these beams of light out of his hands that seemed to explode. She didn't care what her father claimed, there was no way those could be fake; after two weeks of seeing the guy in action, she'd come close enough to one of those beams of light to feel the heat radiating off it. She had doubts as to the claims of it being from some kind of weapon, so that left her with rumours of ancient martial arts techniques. Maybe if the new guy knew Saiyaman, he knew these techniques as well.
Gohan was her prime suspect for Saiyaman's true identity, and always had been; it was too convenient, and Videl didn't believe in coincidences. He seemed to know the new kids quite well too, judging by how quickly he was joking and laughing with them. The new guy had called Gohan something too, something that sounded almost like a nickname. Rayem-fu-penah-te? Something like that. She had no idea what it was supposed to mean, but by the way Gohan looked caught between a scowl and a smile, it was an insult of some sort said in the tone of good friends. And what was it Gohan had replied? Oom-te peay-ku-dayen-te? Another nickname no doubt, judging by the smile-cum-smirk on the new guy's face. If Gohan really was Saiyaman, that would explain how the new kid knew him; he knew the man behind the mask.
Those two practically radiated mystery; it was so thick she could almost taste it. The girls weren't as bad, both being far more open and talkative, but there was still obviously something, or several something's, that they weren't saying. What irked her was that they weren't lying either; she could almost literally smell a lie. No, what made life hell was that they danced around the truth with the grace and precision of a pro ballet dancer.
The four of them were challenging her in ways she'd never been challenged; physically, mentally, and psychologically all at once. But Videl Satan was never one to back down from a challenge; so few people had ever challenged her at anything, she now revelled in them. They had thrown down the gauntlet, and she was determined to win the duel of minds.
A smirk slowly spread across her face, as her punching speed increased, and she ran the days events through her head once more. The four new kids, Gohan, Kaen, Pi, and Kat, would regret messing with her...
o-o-o
--Earlier that day--
The pigtailed girl sat in her first class of the week, maths, between the new boy Gohan and her best friend Erasa, chewing on her pen as she silently fumed; well, she was trying to fume, but the teacher's boring, droning voice, which had the amazing power to put insomniacs to sleep, made that difficult. She had been called by the police this morning for help at a bank robbery, no surprise there, but by the time she'd arrived there the situation was resolved, the crooks already being loaded into the back of the wagon.
Now, she knew the cops couldn't have done this on their own; they practically redefined the word incompetent. However, this didn't have the hallmarks of Saiyaman's work; it was too... messy. A scowl on her face at her time being wasted, she'd demanded answers right then and there about what happened, and been told that some guy in black and red had shown up, knocked the shooters out in seconds, then put his fist through the front of the fleeing getaway car and tore the engine out; the fact the car had come tearing around the corner at 80 kph hadn't made a difference, apparently.
When they'd gone up to thank him for the help, he had just scowled and replied, "I didn't do it for you. One of the stray bullets those morons were firing almost hit my girl. Besides, I didn't feel the people inside should have to suffer because the lot of you were too scared, incompetent, or both, to do anything about it." Then he'd walked off without another word, meeting up with two girls a little way down the road, and walking off.
And so, here she sat, infuriated that someone else had shown up to save the day, again. Sure, she was happy the people were safe, but now another guy was moving in on her turf; this was her city dammit, and she didn't care whether this was a one-off or not, he should've just minded his own business like everyone else and left it to the pros. The only ray of sunshine had been that Saiyaman hadn't shown up.
The droning litany was broken by a knock on the door, and the teacher turned to it in shock for a second before declaring, his voice somewhat more energised than before (which wasn't saying much), "Oh, that's right, we have several new students starting today. Come in."
The door opened roughly, slamming into the wall with the sound of plaster cracking, and in strode a dark haired guy, dressed in mostly black bar the red muscle shirt, with flame-like hair, and trailing behind him were a redhead girl in a sleeveless black top and matching pants, and a dark haired girl in a green sleeveless top that looked identical to the redhead's, and jean shorts. All three of them wore black fingerless gloves, and all three wore some form of long coat, the former two wearing matching black trench coats, while the latter's was a dark green.
The girls in the class instantly started swooning over the new guy; apparently, he radiated just enough 'badass' to appeal to everyone without looking like a criminal. The guys in the class weren't much better with the new girls, alternating their drooling between them. The only exceptions to this were Videl, of course, and, surprisingly for her, Gohan; he seemed torn between worrying about something, and being, dare she say, pleased. For their part, the new kids didn't seem fazed by the attentions of their peers, although the guy did wrap one arm protectively around the dark haired girl's waist and scowl.
Ignorant of the current state of the class, the teacher said, "Why don't you tell us a bit about yourselves?"
The redhead spoke first, her voice full of far too much energy for this time of morning, "Hiya, I'm Katrina Avarrdo, but everyone just calls me Kat. This wall of muscle," she indicated the flame-haired guy, "is my big brother. The three of us are from out of town, and I look forward to meeting all of you." Apparently that was all she was going to say; she seemed friendly enough though
The dark haired girl was next, "My name's Pi Kellre. As Kat said, we're new in town. Before anyone asks, I'll save you the time by answering now: no, I am not single. We," she indicated the guy as well, "have been going out since before most of you were aware there was an opposite sex, let alone what the differences were, and that won't be changing any time soon." That, too, appeared to be all she was going to say; while not nearly as bubbly or energetic as the redhead, Kat, she still seemed quite nice.
Finally, the guy spoke, and what he said shocked more than one person, "My name is Kaen, but you worthless maggots may address me as sir! I will warn you all once, so I suggest you pass it on: If I so much as catch a whisper of a rumour that one of you insignificant, drooling, testosterone-riddled morons are even considering thinking of contemplating possibly trying anything with my girl," the arm around her waist tightened a little, "I'll rip your arms clean out of your sockets and pummel you with them, then I'll get angry." What gave the statement it's true impact wasn't so much what he said, but how he said it; cool, calm, collected. He could have been telling you the weather for all of the emotion in his words.
In the stunned silence that followed, Kat giggled, "He'll do it too; I've seen him do it before."
Pi elbowed him in the ribs sharply, not that he even seemed to flinch, "Hey, play nice."
"No, the sooner these drones know where they are on the food chain, the better," He replied.
The first to shake herself from stunned silence, Videl stood up, declaring, "You won't be hurting anyone as long as I'm around."
Raising an eyebrow, the arrogant man, Kaen, asked, "Oh really? Who're you to be making such bold statements, hmm?"
This stunned her again for a few seconds; they didn't know who she was? 'Ah, right,' she thought to herself, 'they're from out of town, they wouldn't know.' "I'm Videl Satan." She declared boastingly, waiting for the realisation to come to them; it didn't. "Daughter of Hercule Satan?" Still nothing. "The city's named after him?"
Finally Kat's face lit up in realisation, but of what was a little surprising, as she said, "Oh, I know, isn't Hercule that guy who's always on TV, with the ugly brown gi, and the stupid haircut?"
Videl was struck dumb. No one had ever phrased it quite like that before. "Uh, yeah, that's him." What the three of them did next stunned the class worse than Kaen's little speech; they looked at each other for a moment, than burst out into fits of raucous laughter. So hard was their laughter that both girls had trouble standing up, having to rely on Kaen to keep them from falling onto their ass. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Gohan smirking slightly to himself; she made a mental note to grill him about it later.
The formerly stoic man tried to choke back his laughter, failing miserably. He did, however, manage to get out, "Why... should that buffoon... being your father... frighten me?" between peels of laughter.
Getting angry with their disrespect of her father, as ill-gotten and undeserving as she herself believed it to be, she stomped her foot, shouting, "Hey! Show some respect! He saved the world from Cell!"
Managing to reign in her laughter, Kat asked, "What's a Cell?"
Again Videl was struck dumb; did these three live under a rock these past 7 years? And again, she noticed Gohan smirking to himself slightly, and she barely managed to catch him muttering something about 'filling them in on the details', but there was plenty of time for that later. "Um, you know, big green thing, kinda grasshopper like, threatened to blow up the Earth..."
"OH! Right, that Cell." Pi replied, before, once again, the three of them burst into laughter. The class didn't know how to react; on the one hand, they were disrespecting their hero Hercule, but on the other, that guy looked scary, and any scary looking guy that laughed at Hercule had to have a damn good reason.
Managing to reign in his laughter faster this time, Kaen asked, "Girl, are you always this stupid, or are you making a special effort today?"
The look on her face, caught between anger and embarrassment, must have been amusing, because he relapsed a second time, but was cut short when Pi elbowed him again, chiding him in some language Videl couldn't understand, "E dumt oui du bmyo hela. E lysa rana du syga vneahtc, yht dryd'mm hajan rybbah ev oui tuh'd paryja." He did stop laughing, but couldn't help the smirk on his face, or stop the occasional chuckle.
Stunned by the display, it wasn't until the amused Kaen cleared his throat that the teacher realised they were still standing there, and went to assign them seats. However, while there were three seats available, none of them were together. Kaen was having none of it though, grinning and pointing three fingers up at a group of students in the back row; ironically, the three seated behind Gohan, Videl, and Erasa, who were in the second last row.
"Move." He barked. When one of them opened his mouth to protest, Kaen just glared at them, and Videl found herself shivering despite herself; he looked imposing enough normally, when he was glaring he was downright scary. She would have been shocked to know that was merely his 'annoyed' glare, and had yet to dip into his repertoire. The three students behind them couldn't move fast enough to clear off, tripping over each other as they hurried out of the seats.
With a satisfied smirk on his face, he began walking up to the newly vacated seats; Videl just noticed that he had two bags over his shoulder instead of one, whereas Pi had none, so he was obviously carrying her bag for her. She was a little stunned that the imposing figure was actually gentleman enough for such an act, but she was even more shocked when he passed Gohan, who had been holding his head in his hands ever since Kaen's speech, and said mock-cheerfully, "Morning Rymv-Pnaat."
Gohan just groaned, in an effort to cover up the laugher threatening to burst out, raising his head a little to reply, "Same Umt Pycdynt."
Videl narrowed her eyes at Gohan as the new students sat down behind her; so, the old new kid knew the next lot of new kids. How? Videl didn't know, but she was determined to find out. Even more than ever, she was determined to uncover all of Gohan's secrets, come hell or high water.
To be continued...
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Author's notes:
Okay, first thing's first: this fic will not be a Mary Sue/Gary Stu style story. I have no intention of having any of the characters wind up stronger than any canon characters, as I myself hate the idea of the Mary Sue character.
Secondly, I have already written all chapters for this story, but I'm not going to be posting them all at once. Now, before anyone jumps to conclusions – yes, I'm talking to you – I am not going to be 'ransoming' them off for reviews; like the Mary Sue, this pisses me off to no end. I fully intend on updating once or twice a week, every week. I merely established the chapter buffer to relieve some pressure, to allow me to update quicker, and to give me a little time to work on the one-shots and chapters for after this series. That, and I would like to get, and be able to reply to, feedback, if anyone wishes to leave it. On that note, this entire series came about from me watching a movie too many times in one night, and having a 'good idea'. If you reckon you know which movie it was, why don't ya let me know.
Thirdly, this series will make use of quite a few original characters, many of which were from my first story, The Phoenix Chronicles (story id 2029435). Now, I don't expect anyone to actually read it, and of those that do, I don't expect you to review it, just know that if you don't read it, you might be confused as to some of the characters. For those who are interested, the only real reason I posted it in its entirety at all is because I had the idea for this fic, and the information therein was needed.
Finally,
I used Al Bhed in lieu of using "this" for Saiyan, so here
are the translations:
Rayem-fu-penah-te Rymv-Pnaat
Half-Breed
Oom-te peay-ku-dayen-te Umt Pycdynt Old Bastard
E
dumt oui du bmyo hela. E lysa rana du syga vneahtc, yht dryd'mm hajan
rybbah ev oui tuh'd paryja.
I told you to play nice. I came
here to make friends, and that'll never happen if you don't behave.
I don't doubt I'll continue this trend for parts mainly from Videl's POV, as she's not meant to understand it, so in the same way you'll often see Japanese words like Onna in other fanfics, you'll frequently see some Al Bhed words in mine. Deal with it.
This chapter was pre-read by my good mate Ninja (user id 63422), a man much more talented than I.
