"Thanks Nimbus." Gohan said to the floating cloud upon it leaving him at his destination. "I'll see you later!"
The Flying Nimbus flew away, and Gohan decided to run the rest of the way to school.
This resulted in him speeding there at a sprint well beyond human speed, cars eclipsed compared to him in these terms.
Despite this, Gohan would stop at the sound of a bank robbery, him looking to scene and blinking as he realized why he felt so many abnormally high energies then.
"Don't shoot!" One robber said, him holding a struggling hostage in an armlock, waving his firearm menacingly at the police officers with their weapons poised on him.
The unsaid threat of what he'd do if they didn't comply with him made Gohan feel a mixture of contained outrage and mental tiredness.
"What are you doing?" A younger woman came out of the bank, clothes tattered with bullet holes from the policemen who'd died trying to arrest her, her arms covered in sleeves of tattoos as she looked to the people before her. "You're really worrying about a hostage situation right now? I've already got everything."
The man, seeing the girl and the bag over her shoulder, smirked before shoving the woman forward, gun aimed at her back as the woman stumbled forward, eyes wide in surprise.
The sound of bullets shooting made her freeze up, and yet she felt not one shoot into her back.
Somewhat confused, she turned around to the source of the sound, expecting the man to have aimed somewhere else, only to find something more surprising.
A tall figure in baggy clothes stood right behind her, hand up to the gun as though it could stop the bullets, the former hostage having no idea how or when he'd gotten there.
Registering the fact that he'd shielded her from injury, the woman gave a startled cry.
"A-Are you alright?" she asked fearfully, already sorry this youth had such a thing for her.
His response lacking any of the pain one would suffer with gun shot wounds was therefore quite a dissonance from what she was expecting.
"I'm fine." The young man said, tone assuring, and he turned to her, his teal eyes narrowed in concern. "But are you?"
His eyes looked over her, as though searching for wounds, and when she nodded rapidly, Gohan glared back up at the pair of bank robbers.
"You really shouldn't have done that." Gohan said to the man in a dangerous tone, the sound of feet moving against the ground telling him that the hostage woman had run to safety.
The man seemed surprised at Gohan's appearance, then looked to the girl accompanying him curiously.
"This one of your pals Vana?" he propped the semiautomatic weapon onto his shoulder.
"No, never seen him before." His accomplice replied, Vana looking Gohan up and down. "He's pretty fast though."
She smirked the smug grin one could only have when they had the upper hand, and she whipped her hand up, intending to use a ki attack to hurt Gohan.
This was met with confusion when he suddenly disappeared from sight however, her freezing when she felt a thin wire wrap itself around her forearm.
"Don't move." His voice sent a chill up her spine, her confidence from her perceiving his speed when he'd stopped the bullets changing into shock, her brain trying to comprehend just how fast he was when she couldn't even see him moving behind her.
As soon as the words left his mouth however, a shockwave of pain rattled itself through her body, and she gave a furtive scream in pain at this, but her body stiffening up strongly.
As suddenly as the pain began however, it ended just as quickly, Vana being driven to unconsciousness by the pain, Gohan catching her by the shoulders as the Super Saiyan looked up to the other bank robber, whose eyes widened before he pointed his weapon at Gohan as a matter of instinct.
"What did you do to Vana?" he exclaimed, and Gohan, unfazed by the threat of his weapon, set the girl down on the ground.
"Don't worry, she isn't dead." He replied, standing up straight, glaring at the man. "I try to avoid causing permanent damage, if possible."
The robber understood the fact that he stood no chance then, him mentally cursing himself for not keeping his hostage.
Trying to stall for time, he began speaking.
"You might be fast," he said, "but there are plenty of people with powers like you, people who are coming this way."
Gohan, sensing the nervousness of the man, realized that this was a half-truth, but didn't respond.
"So if you don't let us go, you'll be sorry you ever crossed us."
Gohan looked inside the bank, at a nearby clock, and sighed.
Returning his attention to the robber, whose grip on his firearm was shaky, Gohan replied bluntly.
"I'm sorry. I REALLY don't have time for this." Gohan told him. "If you plan on running, do it now. Take her."
This was a ruse, but the robber, in his desperation to get away unscathed, could not fathom this.
"What about the cops?" he asked, waving his gun to the police. "She was my out. Do you plan on just
Gohan closed his eyes and sighed.
He had intended to try letting him and this girl, simply to follow them, but realized how hard this would be without the police complicating the matter further.
"Well, I tried." Gohan said.
In the blink of an eye he was before the male robber and delivered a swift but carefully powered chop to the wrist holding his gun, the man dropping it in pain, before another chop closer to the neck briefly knocked him out, him crumpling to the ground before Gohan caught him by the shirt to lessen the fall.
The young man turned and walked down the steps with this, him speaking to the officers.
"It'll be okay to arrest them now. Be careful about the young girl though. Her powers will come back after three days."
"Just... Who ARE you?" a police officer asked incredulously.
"Just a good samaritan passing through." Gohan replied. "I hope you have a good day."
He moved with such speed that he seemed to disappear, yet despite this, Gohan truthfully had vacated himself to a nearby bush while reverting to his base form, hoping his transformation had been a suitable enough disguise.
He tried sensing out the area for any nearby power levels, but soon realized the robber's deceitful half of his half-truth earlier was in relation to people coming to help.
He gave a breath of relief, then raised his hand up while looking to the wire there.
"I thought I was being paranoid, bringing these," Gohan said to himself, "but I guess luck favors the prepared. Thanks Zangya."
He recalled how he'd asked to borrow her strings for the day, since these strings were good for draining the ki of others if one mastered their use, something Gohan had done for the sake of keeping fights as short as possible whensoever they happened.
Thankfully, his power was large enough that when Zangya and Bido had tried ensnaring him with them, it didn't have too much impact at the time.
Glad he could use the threads, Gohan rose to his feet, content for but a moment before a girl's voice spoke to him.
"Hey, do you know what happened here?"
Gohan looked, finding a girl wearing pigtails, a loose shirt, tight spats and combat boots looking to him with a no-nonsense gaze.
"Uh... A bank robbery?" Gohan was unsure of whether or not to play dumb or not, causing his answer to come out nervously.
"That much is obvious." The girl replied, crossing her arms. "But the way it was sounding on the way here, I thought there'd been a massacre going on."
"Oh, Videl!" A police officer ran up to her as she took her eyes off of the Saiyan, the man not seeming to recognize Gohan.
Though a part of him wanted to leave, Gohan listened to the conversation and learned what the situation had been.
Before he'd arrived, the bank robbers had supposedly tried holding the girl Vana hostage, yet the moment they'd gotten what they'd come for, Vana revealed herself to be an accomplice and killed one of the officers with her powers.
This then prompted them to try gunning the girl down, but quickly proved fruitless as the bullets bounced almost harmlessly off of her, prompting her to kill the rest present at the time.
After taking another hostage, that had been where Gohan had arrived, and the rest Gohan already knew.
"How long ago was he killed?" Gohan asked.
"Between 5 to 10 minutes ago." The officer replied, and Gohan looked to the unconscious man and young girl with a frown. "It's a shame too, he was a good man."
The girl, Videl, sighed heavily as she crossed her arms.
"I'm sorry I didn't get here in time to help." She said.
"It's not your fault." The officer assured her. "At least now you won't be dealing with this gang all by yourself now."
"You mean that blonde fighter that came in?" Videl asked.
"Yeah. He beat the robbers really quickly. I thought I was seeing things for a few seconds at first."
"Do you think one of those gang members decided to split?" Videl surmised.
"There's no way of knowing." The officer shook his head. "They didn't seem to recognize him though."
Videl sighed.
"I don't get it anymore. Just what is it that gives people the power to shrug off bullets like flies?" Videl wondered. "Did the test results from that group I beat earlier come back yet?"
"I'd have to check in with forensics Videl. In the meantime, maybe you could try finding that blonde fighter. He might know what's going on."
"How am I supposed to find him? He could be anywhere at this point." Videl pointed out.
"He was wearing your school uniform. Maybe try there."
Gohan's blood froze at this, and he turned slowly away, him casting a look to the police officer and Videl for a few seconds more before walking away briskly, him mentally cursing (or, at least HIS version of cursing) to himself repeatedly as he realized one detail about his disguise he'd forgotten: His clothes were still the same.
Gohan, by the end of the day, was mentally tired.
When he'd first arrived late for class, the attention was already on him, and he soon learned that he took a seat near Videl, a girl who, after a few moments of studying him, pointed out how she was currently looking for someone who had his general appearance.
Though her friend Erasa, an energetic and sociable girl with blonde hair, dissuaded Videl from suspecting him being the "Golden Fighter", this still made Gohan remain tense.
In the present, Gohan regarded his circumstances for a few minutes' time, before he went looking for his classmates.
He found them talking to one another, and Gohan, understanding that these were dangerous waters he was stepping into, treaded carefully as he walked to the three.
"Excuse me?" Gohan said to them. Videl, Erasa, and their sporty male friend Sharpener all looked to him. "Do you mind if I ask you guys a question or two?"
"Sure, about what Gohan?" Erasa asked with a friendly smile.
"I heard there's a gang in this town." Gohan said. "Something like how the police have trouble dealing with them?"
Videl's seemingly permanent scowl deepened at this question, but Sharpener was the one to respond.
"Well, yeah. That's how it is for some members though, not all of them."
"So they do exist." Having gotten the basic question answered, Gohan elaborated. "How are they dealt with though?"
"It's usually Videl that needs to be brought in for that stuff." Erasa reached over and supportively rubbed the girl's arm in question, and Videl sighed, tense expression loosening gently.
"Really? That's really impressive." Gohan said to the girl.
Despite this being intended as a compliment, Videl seemed more angered than pleased.
"It's nothing worth praising." She said coldly. "I can barely do anything about those punks when I'm called out."
Erasa and Sharpener shared a worried glance, and the latter straightened up.
"Maybe try telling Hercule about this?" He asked cautiously.
"I can't rely on my father for everything." Videl snapped. "We talked this over already Sharpener."
"But Videl... We think you're letting this get to you too much." Erasa told her.
"But who else is going to help out Erasa?" Videl said. "It's not exactly easy finding someone who knows how to fight these guys."
"Do YOU know how to fight them?" Erasa replied, her tone snappish in how angry Videl was getting over them just trying to give a friendly suggestion.
Videl paused, then scowled, looking away and not responding.
Her silence was answer enough.
"Maybe the Golden Fighter or whatever he's called?" Sharpener asked. "You said he beat some of them too, right?"
"Based on what a cop said." Videl added.
"Maybe HE might have a clue."
"I've been trying to find him all day." Videl responded. "But for some blonde wearing the school uniform, I haven't gotten any luck."
"It's better than killing yourself over this!" Erasa exclaimed. "We don't want to watch you suffer like this anymore Videl!"
"I don't have a choice Erasa!" Videl exclaimed back, the tension bubbling underneath coming out. "It's my job to fight, and I'm the only one who ever gets results! I can't just stop doing it!"
"Videl, we understand that." Sharpener cut in. "We just... You're wearing yourself down. You need help with this, and we want to give it, but..."
"It's fine." Videl said, turning away. "I'm fine. It's normal to be stressed out in situations like this."
She walked away then, and Gohan saw there was a barely noticeable limp in the girl's stride.
"Wait, Videl." He called to her, and she stopped, looking back to him. "You're looking for the Golden Fighter?"
She sighed, then reluctantly turned to look back at him.
"Yeah, I am." Videl said, crossing her arms.
"I think I met him." Gohan said, trying to sound convincing in his lie. "That's... Part of why I'm here. He asked me to send for you."
"Why didn't he come himself?" Videl asked.
Gohan wasn't sure what to say, and this showed, but Erasa's and Sharpener's expectant faces didn't waver.
"Did he say he wanted to help Videl?" Erasa asked, and Gohan nodded to her question.
"Y-Yeah. He just wasn't sure how to go about saying so."
Videl raised a skeptic eyebrow, then brought her hands to her hips.
"Where did he say he'd go?" She asked.
"Uh... Behind the school." Gohan told her, and she nodded.
"Alright. Come with me, so you can point him out to me."
"Huh?" Gohan perked up in surprise.
"I don't know WHERE behind the school he is. He might be anywhere. And I can't really be sure, since I haven't seen him before." Videl said.
Gohan mentally cursed her logical explanation.
"Uh... Okay." Gohan nodded. "But... Before then, could I head to the bathroom really quickly?"
"... Seriously?" Videl asked.
"I'm sorry, it's just I... Uh..."
"It's fine, sorry." Videl shook her head. "I'll meet you back there then.
She jogged past, and as this happened, Gohan released a breath of relief.
"You really know him?" Sharpener asked him, and Gohan nodded awkwardly.
"I'll... Go and help her." Gohan told them, and he ran after Videl.
"Thank you Gohan!" Erasa called, and he waved back at them.
Though he was tired, Gohan had the feeling that Videl fighting amateur street fighters who knew the secrets of ki had caused problems for a long time now, judging from how quickly the situation went south when they brought up an old discussion.
It took Gohan several moments for his mind to register one key detail he heard from the conversation however.
When he realized it, the name Hercule stuck out to him, and he wondered why the name sounded familiar for a few moments, before it hit him.
Hercule had been the one to take the credit for beating Cell, when the truth was it had been him all those years ago.
The 18 year old then remembered another thing Videl said.
"I can't rely on my father for everything." Videl snapped.
Gohan's brain slowly put the pieces together.
His surprise at the ensuing realization was palpable.
And yet, in the face of such irony, Gohan could only laugh to himself.
"Well... How about that." He said to himself, before looking forward. "Alright. Hercule's daughter or not, she seems like a good person. I might as well land a hand."
He ran to the nearest bathroom to prepare for this.