A/N: it's cool to see all the views! :) would love a review here and there, but I guess I'm writing this more for myself than anyone, so no hurt feelings.
I'm really excited about where this is going! Let me know what you think too.
Chapter 2
Memories
Piccolo arrived at the lookout just as Dende was knelt down next to his faithful young friend, Gohan. The boys severe wounds were mended before their very eyes and smiles grew all around on the fighters' faces. Krillin turned his head to Piccolo, noticing his arrival when he saw the frail young girl he held under his arm. She looked to be about the age of Gohan, their new hero, and had not a single scratch on her. Krillin considered pinching himself to see if he was really seeing this. Maybe he'd hit his head harder than he thought? He hoped Dende could heal him next.
"Uh, Piccolo...who is that?" The bald man finally asked, and as he did the other warriors turned to notice the small girl Piccolo was now placing on the floor in the same fashion Gohan was laid.
"Piccolo, what are you doing with a little girl?" Yamcha was always the first to assume the worst, and this was something that he had many possible tangents for.
"To be honest, I don't know."
"Piccolo, maybe you need to get healed next... I don't think you're thinking straight. I am completely confused by you right now. Not that I really ever completely understand you..." Krillin rolled his eyes at the green alien before him. No one every seemed to understand Piccolo though really. Except Goku occassionally, but more often Goku was a little dense. Lovable! But dense.
"No. I was about to leave to fly after you, but once enough energy signals left the area I felt this...spark. An energy that seemed untamed and I was curious because I could obviously felt that it was human. Then I found her in that joke, Hercule's TRUNK!"
"That is strange..."
"Very bad parenting, I'd say." Yamcha spoke up and as he did curious faces turned their attentions to him. "What? She's Hercule Satan's daughter. They were on the news together abou this victory in a World Martial Arts Tournament. The girl fights too and she's only 10."
"Interesting... So Piccolo," Krillin continued, "why have you kidnapped the lunatic's daughter again exactly..?"
"She has shown me that she has incredible potential inside of her. The spark of her energy was faintly familiar to me. It felt...it felt like Gohan's. When he was a boy, of course."
"What about when I was a boy Piccolo?" Gohan had been fully healed and was sitting up with a smile spread proudly across his face.
"Gohan!" The humans chorused at his awakening from his unconscious rest.
"Hey guys! Thanks Dende, for healing me. I feel great! We actually did it guys! It's all over! Cell is dead!" The young boy rejoiced purely and innocently as he looked up to all his adult friends his father had passed on to him. His father. He's dead too. And he couldn't simply attain the magical dragon balls to summon a mystical dragon to revive him from the dead. No - not this time. Goku had already been returned to life by them once before, and earth's dragon balls imply didn't have the capabilities to revive a life any further than once. Suddenly Gohan felt a little more sullen in his chest. Like there was a new weight. A burden he was going to have to get used to carrying. His eyes settled deeper as his thoughts had changed in heart so quickly. But he captured himself, snapping back into reality as his friends surrounded him. But their faces recognized what Gohan was thinking about. He was never very good at hiding his honest feelings.
"Don't look so glum, kid. We can always wish him back with the dragon balls on planet Namek!" Krillin surged at the idea of his best friend returning, not to mention a father returning to his son.
Gohan beamed. "You're right Krillin! Yeah!"
The other human fighters rejoiced with the two shortest warriors in their fool proof plan, but quickly haulted at the sound of a familiar voice booming from the sky.
"Hey, don't I get any say in this?"
"Dad! You're talking to me again! Just like you did when I was fighting Cell! You're here! Dad, you can come home!"
"Yeah Goku! We only need to get to Namek. That shouldn't be too hard!"
"Guys, I've been doing some thinking...and the only reason the earth and all of you guys are ever in danger is because of my enemies coming after ME. So, I guess, logically, if I wasn't there, they would all stop trying to come to destroy me and my home planet with me. I'm sorry friends. But I see this as the wiser decision. And Gohan is so strong now, there is nothing left for me to teach him!"
"That doesn't mean I don't need you, dad!" A desperate voice cried out from near the young, sleepy Videl Satan. Her mind had begun to emerge from it's slumber as she attempted to register all the light entering her delicate human eyes. Her senses seemed to be registering slower than normal as she blinked herself awake. Her head was acheing for her attention, but she could only focus on remembering to move.
"I know, son. I'm sorry. But I'll see you again, though hopefully not soon. I love you, Gohan. Take care of him friends, yourselves too. And know that I'll want every detail of your lives when you finally join me. Goodbye."
And just like that Gohan's father was gone. He was choosing to not come home to him and his mother. He was purposefully going to stay away from him...for the rest of his life. Anger started to test him, desiring to torment him but the Saiyan chose his father's truth instead. He shook off the anger towards his father and instead focused it on Cell. His father was good, and nothing but. His father was noble and made his decision purposefully to protect him. He chose out of love. So Gohan would choose to love his father in return. No grudge would be held against someone he loved.
No one noticed the normal, possibly not normal, human girl rising from her sleep behind where the friends were gathered. She'd been quickly forgotten about when Gohan woke up and stole everyone's attention. The adults around Gohan began to search through their own emotions just as the boy did, and as they attempted to wrap their minds around what they just heard, Gohan spotten the awakened girl in the corner of his eye. Something seemed to happen in his chest when he looked at her. It was strange, he'd never felt anything like it. I mean, this was only his second girl his age he'd ever really seen before. And he didn't have this weird feeling in his chest when he'd met Lime in the village. The event that was only days ago seemed years away now that so much had happened. This thing in his chest...it felt sort of like energy. It was as if the girl had set off a spark in his innermost being. It felt weird, and Gohan wasn't really sure he like it. But he was definitely interested now. He rose and walked over to the unknown girl who seemed to be struggling just to sit up.
"Do you need help?" He spoke as he reached out his hand toward hers.
She looked up at the boy standing above him, immediately registering that he was in the fight she just came from. He was the explosive boy with the golden aura and a kind of power she had never seen before. He was immeasurably strong and holding out his hand waiting for her to take it. It seemed like a gesture of an ally, and Videl desired to be on the same team as this boy, always. She blinked her bright blue eyes hard a few times and reached up for his hand.
Gohan realized as she was weakly attempting to rise to her feet that she should probably just continue sitting down. He reached his other hand up to grab her side and set her gently back down. Her eyes showed a protest at first, as if she was offended that he would treat her as weak, but they quickly widened to show the gentleness of her features. Gohan sat down in front of her with his legs cross beneath him. He finally trusted that she wasn't going ot fall backwards and hit her head on the ground and let go of her. She steadied herself with what small energy she might have had and watched the boy in front of her. His eyes were black and fierce, his hair was a mess but somehow she didn't think it looked so bad, and dispite all of that he was so nice and gentle. She should have been afraid of him right? No... He had saved the world. Cell was gonna kill everyone in the whole world! And this boy managed to stop him.
"My name is Gohan, what's yours?"
Videl opened her mouth to answer him, waiting for her name to automatically pour from her memory banks...but there was no answer. Her mouth snapped shut and a worry line slowly produced in her forehead. She tried to remember, but for some unknown reason she just couldn't. She closed her hands into tight fists and tried with all of her might to focus on her thoughts and fish out the corect answer. But nothing came. She opened her eyes that she didn't even remember closing when she started focusing so hard and saw the boy in front of her staring very confused back at the young girl. She looked down, away from his eyes that made her feel foolish. It wasn't a difficult question. She should know her name. Her logic began to connect a few dots inside her thoughts and she started searching even farther into her mind. She was searching for anything, nothing specific, but anything. Gohan watched on as the girl, slightly smaller than he was, tensed her entire body as her fists tightened. She was squinting so hard small drips of tears started to slowly fall. Gohan was so confused, but she looked in pain so he reached out for her and shook her as lightly as his super human strength would let him.
"Hey, are you okay? What's wrong with you?"
"I don't remember my name."
