Welcome Back!

Once again I have a few thank yous I want to throw out to reviewers from the last chapter:

Ern Estine 13624 - Thanks a lot!

Scout - That's a huge compliment, thank you very much. I definitely don't intend for Gohan to be angsty, though he will have to deal with some trauma. I don't intend for it to be a focus of the story at all but I intend to make him a little more human in his approach to his emotions.

Penelope - This is the first time I've ever gone with this pairing, so I'm glad it's working out well!

SeanHicks4 - I thought it was unusual as far stories using it. But Toriyama-san has tended to theme names in relationships. I was looking at Mr. Satan and Videl (Devil) having a sort of demonic name theme and realized Erasa and Sharpner are a bit of a similar theme and that they've never been shown as being romantically involved in any official capacity. Their similar features and age led me to go with the twins idea.

TyrannosaurusRex - Then? We passed then. When? Just now. We're at now, now. Go back to then. When? Now. Now? Now. I can't. Why? We missed it. When? Just now. When will then be now? Soon. Ok... I might be a bit of a super nerd lol... it might be impossible for me to make a main character who isn't at least a little nerdy, but he'll definitely be less awkward as he grows.

wheathermangohanssj4 - I'm going to have to reply on Tumblr so I can keep my thoughts straight on this one. Even negative comments help me out since it forces me to review my ideas and solidify what I'm doing so definitely thank you!

Dyton - You have brightened my day! Thank you so much giving me the mental image of Gohan being shot at his class out of a cannon!

Penelope again (hehe) - Thank you very much for your support! I'm totally open to constructive criticism, after all I still want to improve my style and story telling ability. I fully understood going into something like this where I was going to be changing so much of the core story that not everyone was going to be happy with the changes. I'm sure I'll upset plenty more people before I'm done. For the most part I consider myself to be along for the ride as well while riding a story as I can urge my characters to go a certain way but most of the time they end up doing their own thing, so that helps me not take criticism personally. I have no intention of changing my style but I've definitely found a few points that I should keep in mind while writing.

ICHeart - I'm actually glad, I definitely see this as a character weakness as well that needs to be overcome. I think with time he might just do it.

Chosen To Die - Yeah this has been sitting my list of story ideas for a long time along with so many others... Glad you're enjoying!

duskrider - Glad you enjoyed it!

And thanks to everyone reading!

There is still a little bit of groundwork to get through but things should get a little more exciting today. Hope you all enjoy and see you at the bottom!


Chapter 3: A House of Cards


The early morning hours were calm. Streets weren't overly crowded by rush hour traffic yet as most people were still preparing for their work day. People on the street were out jogging and walking their pets on this typical serene morning.

The peace was shattered by a thundering crash as a bus rammed through the wall on the side of a bank. The door opened and a plethora of masked men armed with assault weaponry piled out onto the bank floor.

"EVERYONE ON THE GROUND! YOU! EMPTY THE VAULT! NOW!" The threatened bank clerks did as they were told, staying down and silent or dumping the bank's possessions into bags for the criminals.

The crooks started hauling the bags of cash back to the bus where one guard stood at the back watching the bags pile up.

The back door of the bus opened, "Banks don't open until eight!" a girl jumped the guard before he had a chance to react.

"Did you hear something?" one of the robbers inside the bank asked his cohorts.

Glass shattered everywhere as a body was thrown through the bus's windshield. The crooks all turned and opened fire on their own bus. Hundreds of rounds of ammo were expelled, completely riddling the side of the bus in holes, blowing out the tires, and shattering all the remaining windows.

From the vault, the leader of the thieves shouted, "Did you get him?"

The door to the luggage compartment flew out the windscreen with someone behind it using it as shield, "Her!" Videl used the door as a weapon and swung it into the head of the nearest bandit and immediately rushed the next. She plowed right through the man, rolling over him with the door and leaving him pinned underneath it as she rolled off and dashed for cover behind a marble column as the others opened fire again.

There were still about five of the men left and they slowly approached the column from different angles as they kept hailing bullets over the structure. Videl looked from one side to the other, calculating where the best angle to strike from would be.

The horrible sound of twisting metal brought the firefight to a halt. Everyone stopped to look at the bus and noticed it was contorting. All at once it was ripped from the hole in the wall. Dust settled from the forced extraction and through the new window to the outside world everyone saw the figure in the dragon armor holding the bus above his head with a single arm.

"What… the…" The bus was dropped and The Dragon entered the bank calmly and simply slapped the closest crook out of his way. The others immediately opened fire on the newcomer. Videl noticed this Dragon didn't even try to move. He just stood there as bullets rained down on him. She gasped as she realized the bullets weren't even touching him. The red jewel like object on the front of his armor was pulsing almost in sequence with the shots fired. He walked right through the stream of bullets, up to the next man firing at him and simply pulled the gun from the man's hands.

The next crook nearby pulled out a hunting knife from his pants, "Dodge this then!" He dashed in and swung his knife at The Dragon. The knife blade was caught near the hilt and simply snapped off between three fingers, like a twig. A spinning roundhouse sent the man into a wall where he slid to the ground unconscious.

Legitimately scared, the next crook drew a grenade, pulled the pin, and lobbed it across the room. The Dragon reached out, caught the projectile and tightly closed his hands around it. A muted boom sound echoed through the room, not unlike a loud burst from a subwoofer. The Dragon separated his hands and brushed away the ashes of the device.

"No way…" Was all the man could say before a knockout blow landed in his gut.

The man in the vault witnessed all his cohorts go down and tried sneaking out the back. The Dragon noticed the man's movement and held out a hand in his direction. The Dragon didn't have to worry about him though as a figure was already chasing after the man. Videl caught the man from behind and swiped his legs out from under him, kicked his weapon away, and locked his throat to the ground with her knee.

"I give up!" the man shouted in a fearful, shaky voice.

Videl quickly tied the man up and noticed the crooks in the lobby were already secure. "Hey!" She called out to The Dragon who was already walking out the hole in the wall.

The Dragon glanced at her over his shoulder but didn't say anything. Videl was slightly unnerved but approached, "I didn't need your help you know, and your carelessness would have let that guy in the vault get away if I hadn't been here."

The Dragon looked forward then back at Videl again. In a gruff voice he spoke, "Good thing I don't have to be as careful with you around then."

Videl saw something on The Dragon's visor light up. "There's a hijacking in progress at twenty second and Manderville." The Dragon half smirked at Videl, "See you again soon!" He floated off the ground and then flew up through the sky at near supersonic speeds.

Videl blinked a few times in astonishment having just watched The Dragon in person.

The police and news crews arrived almost at the same time and began questioning the witnesses. Videl was still staring at the sky when she realized a camera was on her and questions were being asked, "Miss Satan, is it true The Dragon was here and lifted this entire bus with one hand? Do you have any comments on his crime fighting ability?"

Videl suddenly realized she was blushing and clenched her fist to try and hide behind a layer of frustration, "The Dragon? He was here and definitely has an interesting bag of tricks. But tricks are only going to get you so far in my book. I'll never trust a guy who hides behind secrets and masks. You hear me Mr. Dragon? I've now made it my mission to find out just who the hell you are."

"We're getting reports that The Dragon has been sighted at the other end of town stopping a hijacking, we're heading that way now!" Videl watched in astonishment as the news crew packed up everything and sped off into the morning traffic.

"Game on Dragon, you'll be seeing me again really soon, I guarantee it…" Videl picked up her backpack and continued on to school.

Class was already in session when the door opened and Videl ran in, "Running late again today Videl?" Mrs. Holly asked with a halfhearted smile having come to expect it from the daughter of Mr. Satan.

"Sorry, Ma'am, there was a bank robbery on my way in." Videl quickly took her seat to cause minimal disruption to the class.

"I saw you on the news!" Erasa beamed once Videl sat down, "Is it true you got to meet The Dragon in person?"

Videl sighed, "Yes…"

"Oh come on, tell us what he's like!" Erasa urged enthusiastically.

Everything was quiet as Videl thought for a moment.

The energy dropped from Erasa's voice, "If you really don't want to talk about it then that's alright."

"No it's not that," Videl closed her eyes and thought hard before pulling out a notebook and pen, "I actually really need to get these details down while they're fresh in my head."

"You're profiling him? Awesome!" Sharp leaned forward getting in on the conversation, "How can we help?"

"Ask me questions about him and let me see if I can answer them," Videl urged.

Erasa nodded, "Alright then, is he as cute in person as he is in the newscasts that have been popping up all week?"

Videl blushed slightly as she stared at Erasa, "Subjective questions won't help this process."

Sharp shook his head, "Let's start with the basics, age, height, weight, defining features or birthmarks."

The pen in Videl's hand started writing away, "You're right, he wasn't that much taller than I am, in fact without that helmet he probably would be my same height around four foot ten or eleven."

"Four ten?" Erasa repeated, "well, he's a short one… or…"

"Or… he's about the same age as the rest of us…" Videl deduced.

"Two teenage heroes in one town huh? What are the chances of that?" Gohan piped in.

"The city is growing a lot, people are flooding here from everywhere, so we shouldn't discount any possibilities," Videl continued to stare at her notebook in thought. "He was masking his voice to sound hoarse, and it wasn't pulled off that well, so that also builds into the theory that he could be really young."

Gohan tried not to obviously sweat drop as he listened.

"Next is weight…" Videl thought more, "This one is also going to be hard to figure out. He wasn't very big, but that suit didn't leave much to the imagination… This is a guy with a lot of lean muscle and very low body fat."

Erasa whistled in approval and Gohan tried not to blush.

Videl shook her head, "Sharp, how much do you weigh?"

Sharp flexed for her, "A hundred and thirty pounds of pure muscle, baby."

"You're probably a little bit taller than The Dragon," Videl pictured the two of them, "so I'm going to guess he weighs between a hundred and twenty and a hundred and forty."

"You think this Dragon guy has more muscle than I do?" Sharp looked offended.

"It's really hard to tell you know? That's why I'm giving it a range," Videl wrote it out on the notebook, "Alright, so defining features… what were his defining features?"

"Could you tell what color his hair was, or maybe his eyes?" Gohan suggested.

Videl shook her head, "He was wearing a helmet that blocked his head for sure, and his eyes were behind a red visor, so no way to tell what color they were through that."

"That's not much to work with…" Sharp admitted.

"The suit…" Videl turned the page and started making a different set of notes, "This suit was like nothing I've ever seen before; it stops bullets, tunes into police frequencies, projects that big dragon hologram, and flies…" Videl quickly jotted all that down, "Whoever this is had to have a lot of money to be able to afford this gear."

Erasa grinned, "So the person we're looking for is a boy around our age, recently moved to the city, with a great body, and a lot of money, sounds like the list just became pretty narrow!"

Sharp snapped his fingers excitedly, "With your access to city hall, pulling these kinds of records shouldn't be too hard."

"And once you have the data I can set up a search query to filter out most of the data that we're looking for automatically!" Erasa rubbed her hands together like she was plotting something, "I can't wait to meet this guy, if you know what I mean."

Videl crossed her arms and grinned, "Sounds like we have a plan then."

Gohan leaned forward to better see everyone, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Videl thought about it for a moment, "Actually, if you really want to help then make a log and start keeping track of Dragon sightings. Date, time, location, I want to see if maybe there's a pattern to his appearances."

Gohan nodded, "Sure I can do that."

"Great, then we all have a job to do," Videl smiled enthusiastically.

"Wait, you didn't give me anything to do!" Sharp complained.

"Oh yeah," Videl thought, "Once we figure out who he might be and where he might be then I'll need you to come with me to help unmask him."

"Awesome!" Sharp seemed to like the plan, "I'll hold him down while you pull the bucket off his head, we can't lose!"

The others returned to their morning assignments while Gohan chewed on his eraser in deep thought of these recent developments.

The class broke for lunch and a huge group of students began running to the front of the school, "What's going on?" Sharp asked as kids were bumping through them in an excited hurry.

One kid managed to turn around when he noticed Videl's group, "You didn't tell us he was coming today!" and then he kept running.

"What?" Videl pushed through everyone now also curious as to what was going on. "Oh no…"

"What?" Gohan asked worriedly.

"YEAHHH!" A behemoth cry echoed over the school yard as a huge man stepped out of a limousine.

The entire courtyard of the school broke out into a massive cheer as Mr. Satan marched forward, "Thank you! Now where is my little princess?"

Videl sighed and approached her father.

"There's my precious girl!" Mr. Satan walked through the crowd and lifted Videl off her feet and swung her into the air, "Oh daddy is so proud of you!"

"Daaaa~d…" Videl moaned, "You're embarrassing me!"

"I can't help it sweetie pie," Mr. Satan sat Videl down on his shoulder, "I heard you helped stop a bunch of bank robbing thugs this morning and just had to come tell you how much I love you!"

Gohan watched the antics between Videl and her father with some interest, but found his spirit sinking. From her vantage point on her dad's shoulder, Videl was one of the few people who noticed Gohan slinking away from the crowd with his head slouched.

"Look it's the mayor!" Some of the kids pointed out as another man stepped out of the limousine Mr. Satan had arrived in.

The mayor walked across the yard to Mr. Satan and Videl, "I wanted to come personally today and present you with this certificate of bravery and honor. Thanks to upstanding citizens such as yourselves the people of Satan City feel safe. It won't be long before the villains of our town decide they best move along elsewhere while they're still capable of moving their limbs!"

Videl reached down and accepted the certificate without being let down from her father's shoulder, "Thank you Mr. Mayor, it's an honor as always to do what I can for those in need."

Mr. Satan widened his stance and laughed loudly, "That's my Videl, the true hero of our city!"

The crowd cleared once Mr. Satan and the mayor left. "That is amazing Videl, you're finally being recognized for how awesome and brave you are!" Erasa cheered as they returned to the school building.

"This is just the beginning, someday you're going to be more famous than even your dad is!" Sharp joined in the praise as well.

"Thanks…" Videl sighed, "I actually wish he wouldn't make such a big deal out of it like this."

"There's nothing wrong with getting a little glory every now and then," Sharp got a bit starry eyed, "What I'd do to have people shout my name like that!"

"As if," Erasa teased.

Videl walked off, looking down hallways as if she were searching for something.

"Is everything alright Videl," Erasa noticed Videl had been quiet since her dad left, even for her, and was growing concerned.

"Yeah, fine," Videl looked down a few more halls, "Why don't you guys get our food before lunch ends, I'll catch up in just a bit." Videl ran off before getting an answer.

Videl ran through a few more halls, still not finding what she was looking for. She almost ran past the service stairs heading up to the roof until she noticed the door at the top was slightly ajar by the trickle of light beaming through. She stopped running and slowly made her way up the stairs.

Gohan was slouched against the wall of one of the maintenance shacks, his knees pulled up to his face.

"Gohan?" It wasn't often that people snuck up on Gohan, but his thoughts had been elsewhere. He looked up at Videl with a start and Videl noticed the tears running down his face. Videl could see the pain and heartache evident on her friend and her emotions immediately softened, "Gohan, what's wrong?"

Quickly, Gohan tried wiping his face with his sleeve, "Oh, it's… it's nothing…"

"Liar," Videl sat down next to Gohan, "It sure doesn't seem like nothing."

Gohan got a little tense and nervous. He was quiet for a minute collecting himself before smiling again and speaking, "You get along really well with your dad, huh?"

Videl laughed, "We get along alright, he's much more of a show off in public than I care for him to be though."

"I think you enjoy it a little though," Gohan grinned.

Videl tried to look grumpy but eventually cracked a smile, "Maybe just a little bit."

"That's good, you really should just let the attention and praise happen, you never know how long it'll be before the next time." Gohan finally relaxed his posture, "Come on, let's get some food before it's too late." Gohan jumped up and held his hand out to help Videl to her feet. Normally Videl would never accept help for something so trivial, but this time she took Gohan's hand and let herself be pulled up.

Once school was over, The Dragon found himself just floating high above the city, looking down at the busy streets and taking everything in. "I suppose my random appearances are going to have be a bit more random from here on out huh?" Gohan looked from side to side, "Alright, let's not make this easy on anyone!"

The Dragon appeared over the sky on the far west side of town just flying over the streets. A moment later he was on the east side stopping another high speed pursuit, in the next moment it was the south west side where he interrupted a drug deal.

The scanner in Gohan's helmet went off as he started to tie up the law breakers, "All units, 10-43 hostage situation at sixth and Henderson Ave."

Police had the entire area blocked off with at least twelve squad cars. SWAT was in position and the captain holding the megaphone was shaking his head, "Release your hostages and we'll discuss your demands."

A man in the window with his arm around a woman's throat and a gun to her head shouted back, "You get all these fuckin pigs off my street first, then maybe we can talk!"

The captain sighed and put the bull horn down, "Do we have a clean shot?"

"Negative sir," one of the SWAT members replied.

"Looks like you could use a hand," Videl stepped through the barricade and approached the captain.

"Videl Satan!" The captain's somber expression immediately lifted, "Yes, the gunman is refusing to talk to any of us and he's got that woman in too tight a grip for us to get a shot in without risking her life."

"Understood, can I borrow your horn?" Videl held out her hand.

"Of course," The captain handed the mic over.

Videl messed with the volume first and then pointed it in the direction of the window where the gunman was, "Hello, my name is Videl Satan, I'm well known in this city and would make an extremely valuable hostage," The police all stared wide eyed at Videl, "If you release your hostages you can take me in their place."

A tense moment ticked by but the gunman made no response. Videl held up the horn again, "I'm unarmed and coming over so we can make the exchange."

Videl handed the bullhorn back to the police captain, "Videl, this isn't a good idea, even for you."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine as long as I can get close enough," Videl smiled and approached the house with her hands up.

The door was unlocked as Videl pushed it open and entered. Immediately there was the sound of children crying, "I said shut the hell up!" the gruff voice of the gunman echoed through the house. Videl made her way to the den where everything was happening.

"Don't come any closer!" The man clicked the gun at the woman's head and tightened his grip on her. He was practically lifting her off the ground with his arm wrapped around her neck. In the corner of the room were two small children, a little boy and a slightly older girl.

Videl kept her hands raised, "It's okay, I don't have any weapons, like I said, you let this family go and you can have me as a hostage in their place. My father will give you whatever you want to have me returned safely."

Videl took a step forward, "I SAID STAY BACK!" the gun clicked against the woman's head again.

"Money, or maybe something more untraceable like jewels?" Videl scanned for an approachable opening that would keep the hostages out of danger, "A helicopter to escape in? You name it and my father will get it for you if I'm your hostage."

"Shut up, just shut up!" The man yelled angrily, "I want all of you to just shut the hell up!" The gun was being pressed against the woman's head hard enough that it broke the skin and a trickle of blood began running down her face. It was also obvious she was having difficulty breathing.

"Please daddy! Stop hurting mommy!" The little boy tried to jump up but the girl held him still.

"Daddy…" Videl looked at the man in shock, "This is your family?"

"SHUT UP! I SAID FOR ALL OF YOU TO SHUT UP!" The man's finger squeezed the trigger tighter.

A loud boom went off before Videl could move. It took a second before Videl's senses returned to her and she realized the boom wasn't from gun fire. One finger at a time, the gun was removed from the man's hand with several bone breaking snaps by The Dragon. Once the pain registered the man dropped his wife from his other arm and she immediately ran to her children.

The Dragon flipped the man around and pinned him to the wall.

Videl made sure the woman and her kids were escaping and then turned her attention to the other two in the room. It looked like the situation was under control but then she noticed the Dragon's back heaving up and down under heavy breathing.

"You're… their father?" The Dragon whispered out much more threateningly than his hoarse voice had ever before conveyed.

"Please… please don't hurt me!" The man begged.

"Ummm… Mr. uhh… Dragon?" Videl took a few steps closer.

"Do you know what a father is?" The Dragon lifted the man from the ground by his shirt collar, "A father is the protector of his family! A father would sacrifice himself for his family! A father would ensure his family is healthy and happy!" The Dragon's breathing became faster, "A father would never hurt his wife and children! A father would never make his family believe he doesn't care! And a father WOULD NEVER ABANDON HIS FAMILY!"

The man, still lifted off the ground in The Dragon's grasp, literally quaked in terror.

"You need to put him down Dragon," Videl stood strong to the Dragon's side.

The Dragon turned to look at her and she could see that through the red visor this hero's eyes were shedding tears, and the look on his face held pain.

"Dragon…" The Dragon's eyes cleared as if he suddenly realized what he was doing. He threw the man to the floor. The man immediately started cradling his broken hand. He wasn't going to pose any more of a threat.

The SWAT team started moving into the house allowing the two city heroes to leave. The Dragon began to leave without saying a word and Videl chased after him, "Dragon, wait! Please!"

Sparing only a side glance over his shoulder, The Dragon answered, "Thank you." A light built up taking the form of a dragon and in a flash he was in the sky and flying away.

Videl stood and watched until the trail of light completely vanished.

Gohan landed and hurriedly entered his house, "I'm home!"

"Hi sweetie, dinner's almost ready," Chichi called from the kitchen.

"I'm really not hungry!" Chichi was actually startled by that statement as she heard her son's footsteps run down the hall. She was about to go find out what was wrong when the footsteps started coming back, "Hey mom…"

"Yes hon?" Chichi tried to keep a calm face even though a multitude of questions was running through her head.

"What dad did… was it..." Gohan started.

Chichi's own heart pattered at the subject, "Was… Goku?"

Gohan shook his head, "Sorry, forget I said anything." He ran off again.

With a sigh Chichi sat down at the kitchen table and buried her face in her hands, "The things we've put our son through Goku… Can't you see he still needs you?"


End Chapter

I'm not a fan of Gohan being really angsty about dealing with his father's death so that's about as bad as it's going to get for a while. He has the complication of dealing with Goku not being around from several angles; not just that his actions caused his father's death but that his father chose not to be returned to life on his own. This should stir some complicated emotions in a person.

Also the first bit of conflict is building in Gohan's social life which should create an interesting balancing act.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you think!

'Til next time!