Chapter 4
Android 17 was on a rampage. Picking city by city apart. 18 was right behind him, but in the sense that she did not want to be in his path. "WHERE ARE YOU?!" 17 screamed as he chucked a very large piece of destroyed bridge across the destroyed city.
"Calm down 17." 18 said, "You're gonna ruin what's left of our playground if you continue."
17 flew at his sister and smashed her into the ground, "I could give a damn less about that! Were you not there?! Did you get so hard that you forgot what happened!?"
18 maneuvered herself out from under 17 and flipped their roles. "I was there! I know exactly what happened! A hiccup! One that will not happen again!"
17 in a rage kicked her off of him, and pinned her down again, "That's not the point!" He got off of her, "We were taken off guard by Gohan, but recovered. That was not the issue… The issue was that old man… That old man looked oddly familiar. His hair, his eyes, his demeanor… Who or what was he? A Saiyan? No… Gohan is the only Saiyan left." 17 continued on a confused and maniacal rant with himself.
18 looked at her brother with a new sense she never thought she would… Fear. She for once in her life was afraid. It was if that old man changed her brother completely when he stopped them in combat. She grew angry. This was not her brother and she swore revenge on the man who did this to him.
"Come sister! We have things to do." 17 said as he leapt into the sky and took off. 18 looked at his direction and followed, unsure of what the next thing was.
Gohan, Videl and Trunks were finished eating and cleaning up. "Gohan I want you to finish cleaning. I need to talk with Videl for a moment." Gohan nodded and continued. Videl walked with Trunks towards the house. "Videl, are you much of a fighter?"
"My father was a champion martial artist before the androids destroyed everything. He trained me for many years before that." Videl answered.
"Good. I know this is a sore subject for you, but how do you feel about your fathers death?" Trunks asked.
Videl looked up at him harshly, "How do I feel? I feel sad. Destroyed. Angry! I feel… useless… Because I can't do anything to stop it from happening again." Videl said with a strong tone of sadness. She fought back tears, not wanting to show weakness.
Trunks placed his hands on her shoulders, "There is something you can do to help stop this if you would like."
Videl looked at him like he was crazy, "What? How? I'm not like you or Gohan."
Trunks smiled, "But I can train you to be."
Videls eyes lightened, "Really? You can make me like you?"
Trunks chuckled, "Well not exactly, but I can help you to attain power and strength like you've never known. I am here to train Gohan, but he has taken a liking to you, and thinks you would be safer here than out in the world. If you would like the opportunity to strike back, then you are welcome to join us." Trunks concluded.
Videl looked over at Gohan, who was covering up the smoke and wood. She kind of blushed at the thought of Gohan liking her. She looked at Trunks, "Yes. I would like to join you."
Trunks smiled, "Good! It's settled. Gohan! Come here!" Trunks called to Gohan.
Gohan walked over, "What's up?"
"Videl will be joining us and will be training with us." Trunks informed.
Gohan looked at her with a smile, "Glad to have you."
"Now… Before we get started, Gohan I have thought up a task for you." Trunks stated.
"Yes?" Gohan asked, almost afraid.
"Train Videl how to use her energy to fly." Trunks said.
Gohan looked at Trunks, "But-"
"No buts. You can handle it. Don't go far now." Trunks said as he went inside the house.
Gohan knew that there was no winning this battle. He turned to Videl who was just as unprepared for those words as Gohan was. They had a moment of silence between them that was beginning to be awkward.
"So… Let's get started." Gohan said clapping his hands together as he walked passed Videl.
"OK. So what exactly are we going to be doing?" Videl asked.
"Good question." Gohan replied under his breath.
"What was that?" Videl asked.
"Oh, um well first… First…" He was looking around the area, "Take a seat." He said as he dropped to the ground. Videl followed suit. "Good, now Videl. What do you know about energy?"
"What kind of energy?" Videl asked.
"Your body's energy." Gohan replied.
"Oh… Well not much, I guess." Videl said trying to think.
"That's alright. So, your body is capable of much more than just running and jumping. Mentally there are barriers that can be broken to allow you full control of your body and its abilities." Gohan began.
"Like flying and that strange beam of light?" She asked.
Gohan nodded, "Exactly. Those types of abilities come from your own energy, but they are focused. They are harnessed and released through your own will. Understand?" Gohan continued.
"No. This is all very confusing to me." Videl replied sounding a little frustrated.
Gohan inhaled and exhaled, "OK let's try this… So you know how anyone can throw a punch but it takes training to do any damage with?" Videl nodded, "Ok same principle. You're taking that same energy that you are channeling through your punch and exerting it through your body. Watch."
Gohan began floating upwards, "You see this is what a little amount of energy can do." Then he takes off quickly to the sky, and then comes back down, "And that was what releasing your energy can do."
Videl nodded, "OK, so how can I do that?"
"Sit in a relaxed position. Put your hands in a cupped form. Now feel inside of you. Close your eyes and search for that bright and penetrating light. Do you see it?" Gohan asked.
She huffed, "No. I only see the back of my eyelids."
Gohan chuckled, "That's your first look. Focus more. I'll stay quiet, but meditate. Find that light, and when you do, try to control it to your hand. Give it a path to follow." Gohan then hushed up.
Videl inhaled and exhaled deeply. She closed her eyes and began meditating. Everything was hushed around her. There was no noise outside of the natural sounds around them. Gohan watched her intently.
Videl was deep in her thoughts, 'This is stupid. All this talk about inner lights and phooey… I bet they all just use some kind of trick and they're just playing with me. Jerks.' Then like a stream of warm water rolling down her back something warm and embracing was calling to her. She searched for this thing calling to her.
Then as if the sun itself were her conscience, the light Gohan was talking abour. 'Wow… Is this it?' Videl thought. She felt it growing closer to her. She reached for it. She felt its embrace, and like a burst of flame it came out of her.
Videl opened her eyes to see a glowing orb flowing out of the palm of her hands. She was exhilarated. She looked over at Gohan, and her exhilaration went quickly away. Gohan had fallen asleep. This frustrated her immensely. After all his hyped up talk, and now he's asleep. She wanted to throw the ball at him.
And that's what she did. Without even realizing it, Videl had chucked her energy at Gohan, knocking him over and waking him up. He immediately jumped to defense and transformed. His green eyes showing his rage and anger, while his golden hair and form overpowered her. Gohan realized that he was in no danger and reverted back.
"I'm sorry. I… Didn't mean to…" Gohan was trying to find the words to calm this beauty before him, who was painted with fear because of this reaction, "What I mean to say is, I don't sleep well. And I don't like being caught of guard. Sorry…" Gohan felt awful.
Videl shook it off, but knew now to be wary of Gohan. "It's OK… Um, I did it."
Gohan sat back down, "I know." He said through a nervous laugh. "Now that you've done it once, do it again, but this time hold it." Videl nodded and like it was nothing, formed another one. "Good. Thankfully that didn't take 3 hours."
Videl was stunned enough to lose focus, "Three hours?! That took three hours!?"
Gohan nodded, "Yep. But that's ok. No one picks it up that quickly."
"But three hours! I don't even know how that was possible!" Videl exclaimed, "I mean I wasn't asleep."
Gohan nodded, "Yeah, but meditating can be just peaceful enough that time can fly by just as quickly. But let's concentrate on the now. Pull the energy out of you again."
Videl wanted to say more, but closed her mouth and focused. Another hour or so went by and Videl was sweating and lightly panting.
"Why… Am I… Out of breath?" Videl asked.
"Because contrary to how easy I make it look, your energy, your ki, is still your body's energy. You use the same amount of energy there that it takes to run several miles. Obviously you're not tired from that, but you're feeling its effects." Gohan informed her. Then a loud grumbling and roaring sound came from Gohan. "Um… It also makes you extremely hungry…" Videl fought back a laugh. And failed. She started laughing at him uncontrollably, "It's not that funny." Gohan said with a reddened face.
Videl couldn't respond cause she was laughing to much. Then her stomach growled just as loudly as his. This caused Gohan to laugh at her. Her face redder than his. "Shut up! It's not funny!"
Gohan was in tears, and Videl was not having it. She didn't like being laughed at, so she attacked Gohan. Of course being the way he was, Gohan dodged it and flipped over her.
"You'll have to be quicker than that!" Gohan teased.
Videl balled her fists, "You're such a prick!" She stomped over a threw a punch in his face. Gohan took it and smiled as she reeled back. "God! What is your face made of?!"
Gohan chuckled, "A lot stronger stuff. Come on, let's go see what Trunkten has to eat. And we'll fix your hand up."
Gohan led Videl into the domed house. Trunks was asleep in a chair. He looked rather content and happy. Like he was having a good dream. Gohan walked over to him and placed his hand on Trunks' shoulder, "Hey. Old man. Wake up!"
Trunks blinked his eyes, and yawned. "So. Did she do it?" Gohan stepped aside to let Videl show Trunks. Videl held her palm up and produced a small light. Trunks nodded his head, "Good job. Now make it larger."
Videl looked at him oddly, "Excuse me?"
"Make it larger. Like so." Trunks imitated her ball and then increased its size.
Videl was nervous, but nodded and focused. She gritted her teeth and put all she had into her ball, only for it to very slightly increase and then vanish. She dropped to the ground out of breath, "I can't… It's too much… I'm gonna die."
Trunks laughed, "Good. The closer you are to death the more you'll fight to survive. Judging by the look in both of your eyes, you're hungry. So we'll break for dinner."
Gohan raised an eyebrow, "We'll? I do believe that you were asleep while Videl and I were preparing her."
"Um, you were sleeping too, Mr. Hypocrite!" Vide butted in.
Gohan grew a cheeky grin, "Well yeah, but I had to teach you to do things."
Trunks stepped in between them, "OK ok. Settle down. We have many days and months of training to go through. If we are consistently arguing. Come. Sit with me and we'll get dinner going." Trunks hit a button and out came popped two small robots that immediately flew into the kitchen of the house to make the dinner.
Gohan, Videl and Trunks in the meantime sat down at the dining room table. Over the next few hours the three warmed up fully to each other. Videl seemed less angry, Gohan was less stressed, and Trunks wasn't the secretive old sage he came off to be. He opened up a little more. He spoke of his children and grand children.
Gohan however was still uncertain of this old man. The story was too fantastic for his liking, and finally spoke out. "Trunkten. I have to ask you… You speak of these events, with your unnamed children, and it sounds like peace. But yet… Where is this peace? When did this peace happen? What happened to your children? You old man still continue to confuse me with every story."
Trunks chuckled, "You know the deal. The moment you take me down, is the moment you get full answers and non hollowed explanations." Trunks took a sip of his cup, "But… It is late. Tomorrow we move into the mountains. So get some sleep. Especially you, Videl. You're going to need it." Trunks got up from his spot and walked across the room to a door and went to bed.
Gohan and Videl were left alone. "I don't know why you're so nosy. I liked his old stories. You can tell he's proud of his children."
Gohan chuckled, "Of course he is. He's a Saiyan. Full of pride and arrogance."
"What exactly is that? A Saiyan?" Videl asked with much curiosity.
Gohan sighed and sat back in his seat, "Because it's such a long story I'll give you the abridged version. Saiyans are a warrior race of aliens. They were a brash and arrogant group of people. Except my father. Who was the only Saiyan that fought for something other than himself."
Videl had her head tilted, "Um… wait… So are you an alien?"
"Yes." Gohan answered, "Well, technically half. But that blood makes me have incredible strength and power."
Videl scoffed and shook her head, "So what the hell am I doing here? I'm not some alien. I don't have special blood. I'm a human. I'm practically useless to you."
Gohan leaned in closer to her, "Let me tell you about the strength of humans Videl. Some of my best friends in the world were humans and they were some of the most powerful people in the world. Never discount your strength just because you're not like other people. If I kept comparing myself to my dead father, I'd have died by now. I don't because I there's too much at stake. I have to be stronger. I have to fight harder than the androids. This must be your life now. Would you rather dwell on the fact that your father died because you're a weak human? Or do you want to become the strongest you can to prevent other little girls from losing their father?"
Gohans harsh words stung Videl. She was hurt, "How dare you. It hasn't been even a full day."
Gohan looked down and exhaled, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be vicious. You must understand, this world isn't the world we grew up in. It's colder. It's harsher. The time for being children is over." Gohan gets up from the table, "There is only one other room it seems. I'll sleep on the couch."
Gohan walked to the couch and laid down. Videl fought back tears as she made her way to the room. She got in and closed the door. Gohan was still awake and almost felt bad. He shook it off and went to sleep.
Videl slid down the door and covered her mouth as she cried softly.
Sorry y'all. I know it took forever and a day. Plus a week but here is the next chapter.