Dinner at the Satan Mansion was quiet that night. Videl was lost in thought.
He did say his powers were hereditary. But...an alien? Gohan? He seems like such a normal person!
…Besides for the super strength, ability to turn yellow and flying thing.
Okay, yeah, he's definitely an alien. But did he really kill Cell? My father...
Videl looked at her father. Hercule was taking a long drink from his cup.
"?" he asked. "What's up? You haven't said a word all dinner."
"Did you really kill Cell?" Videl blurted out.
Hercule choked on his juice. "Of…of course I did! That's why they named the city after me, remember?"
"No, I'm serious!" she said. "I heard today that someone else did it."
"Who?"
"The delivery boy," Videl said. "Everyone saw that he could hold his own against Cell."
"That—that's ridiculous!" said Hercule, starting to sweat. "Why would you think a little kid could defeat the most evil monster in the history of the world?"
"Because I met him," Videl said. "He's not a little kid anymore. He's the Gold Fighter."
"…He's back?" Hercule gasped. Oh, man, why didn't I figure it out before? Stories about a glowing person who can fly? That's just like the Cell Games!
"So it is true!" Videl said.
"Well, it's…I…er, you see…sort of…yes," Hercule admitted. He couldn't lie to his daughter.
"I don't believe it!" Videl said, getting up from her seat. "You've been lying to everyone the whole time!"
"Hey, no!" Hercule defended himself. "I might have fibbed a little about killing Cell, but I'm still the legitimate Martial Arts Champion of the World! I won the last tournament all by myself!"
"Only because Gohan didn't enter!" Videl accused.
"Gohan?" Hercule asked.
"The new kid at my school. He's the Gold Fighter."
"Oh," Hercule said. That made sense. Kind of. Not really. "So, um…is he mad at me for what I did?"
"No, but I am!" Videl said. "How could you lie to everyone, Papa?"
"I had to!" Hercule said. "Everyone in the world was watching the Cell Games! They needed an explanation that they could understand!"
"Yeah, right! You were just thinking about your career!"
"Honest!" Hercule said. "I wasn't trying to steal the glory away from this Gohan kid! I tried looking for him for months afterwards, remember? If he wanted to get recognition for killing Cell, he should have stepped forward! I would have gladly given him the credit he deserves!"
"Well…that's true," Videl said. "He doesn't want any attention."
"You see? Then, I did him a favor by keeping the media away from him!" Hercule said.
"You should still apologize, though," Videl said. "Right now, his mom is freaking out that they're going to put him in a zoo or something."
"A zoo?"
"Yeah, she pulled him out of school and everything," Videl said. "And it's up to us to fix things."
"Us?" Hercule asked. "I dunno, that seems kind of dangerou—"
Videl shot her father an angry look.
"I mean, YEAH! We have to help this kid! Wherever there is a wrong that needs to be made right, the World Champion HERCULE will be there to save the day!" Hercule cried dramatically, making a triumphant pose. "Uh…you're sure he's not mad at me, right?"
"Right," Videl said.
"Good," Hercule said.
"You sure this is the right house?" Hercule asked. "It's really, really far from the city!"
"He can fly, remember? It probably doesn't take him all that long to get here."
"Good point," Hercule said. "Here goes nothing."
He knocked on the door three times and waited.
A cute little boy opened the door. "Hello!" he said. "My name is Goten! Who are you?"
This must be Gohan's younger brother, Videl thought. He sure is friendly.
"My name is Videl," Videl said. "I'm one of Gohan's friends. This is my father, Hercule."
"I'm the World Champion of Martial Arts!" Hercule said.
"You like fighting?" Goten asked. "I love fighting!"
"Really?" Hercule asked. He loved to show off in front of little kids. "Then check out some of these moves!"
Hercule did some flashy attacks, pushing back an invisible enemy. "Ha! Ho! Ha!"
Goten laughed. "That's not how you're supposed to do it!" he said.
"Huh? What the—? What do you mean?"
Goten gave Hercule a little shove. He went flying backwards twenty feet.
"That's what you're supposed to do!" Goten said.
"Um…yeah…thanks for the tip," Hercule said. That's gonna hurt tomorrow morning...
I guess he's just as strong as his brother is, Videl thought. "Look, Goten, we came to see if we could talk to your brother for a while."
"Mom says he's grounded," Goten said.
"Then, can we talk to your mother?" Videl asked.
"Yeah, we, um…owe your family an apology," Hercule said. "One that's sort of…seven years overdue."
"I'll go get her!" Goten said, running back inside the house.
Hercule sighed. "Are you sure we should be doing this?" he asked.
"You're doing the right thing, Dad," Videl said. "Besides, if you don't apologize, I'll never forgive you for lying to me."
"RIGHT!" Hercule said. "I'm a Champion of Justice! I always do the right thing!"
Goten ran to his mother. "Someone's at the door to see you, Mommy!" he said.
"Weird. Bulma didn't say she was coming over," Chi-Chi said, patting down her hair as she went to the door. "But if it's not her, who could it…?"
"Hello, good lady!" Hercule said, making his trademark "V for Victory" pose.
"YOU!" Chi-Chi hollered.
"Augh!" Hercule cried. He tried to hide behind Videl.
"Um…hi, Mrs. Son? Remember me? I'm Videl, the girl who called the other day…"
"I told you to never contact us again!" Chi-Chi yelled.
Videl tried to hide behind Goten.
"You ruined my son's life! Gohan killed Cell, and you bums got rich off it! Then you have to make it so he can't go to town ever again! I'll…I'll…TAKE THIS!"
Chi-Chi aimed a punch at Hercule. Fortunately, he's not a complete moron when it comes to martial arts, so he was able to dodge.
"I made it all the way to the semi-finals in the World Martial Arts Tournament," Chi-Chi said. "It's time for you to go up against a real fighter!"
Chi-Chi began a furious assault on Hercule. He tried his best to dodge without fighting back.
"Videl, this woman is completely insane!" Hercule said.
"Right," Videl said, running into the house. I'd better find Gohan!
"GOHAN? ARE YOU HERE? YOUR MOTHER HAS GONE NUTS!"
"So she's acting like she normally does?" Gohan asked from his bedroom, in an uncharacteristic burst of sarcasm. Then he realized whose voice he heard and immediately ran out of his room. "Vi-vi-Videl! What are you doing here?"
"There's no time for that! You have to stop your mom from killing my dad!"
"What?" Gohan asked, following Videl as she ran outside.
Oh boy… Gohan thought as he saw his mother chasing after Hercule, who was trying his best to hide behind a tree. Goten was cheering at the fun.
Gohan disappeared and reappeared behind Hercule. He grabbed the World Champion—who was now sporting a nasty-looking black eye—and flew about ten feet into the air.
"Hey, no fair!" Chi-Chi said. "You know I can't fly! Put him back down, or else you're double-grounded!"
"Mom, you can't go around beating up my friends' parents!"
"He deserves it!" Chi-Chi said. "He's the reason we're so poor!"
"Look, I'm sure this is all one big misunderstanding!" Gohan said. "Right, Mr. Hercule?"
"RIGHT! TOTALLY A MISUNDERSTANDING! I DON'T MEAN ANY HARM TO ANYONE! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" Hercule screamed, waving his arms around madly.
"See?" Gohan asked. "Now let's try to work things out calmly, okay?"
Gohan put Hercule back on the ground. Chi-Chi was still angry, but at least she wasn't hitting anyone anymore.
"Calmly, my butt!" Chi-Chi said. "That does it, Gohan! You're triple grounded!"
"But Mom, that's so unfair!"
"Yeah!" Videl said, jogging over. "Gohan hasn't done anything wrong!"
"Oh no? Then what are you doing here?" Chi-Chi said, aiming an accusing finger at Videl. "Gohan, I told you never to see your trashy girlfriend again!"
"Trashy?" Videl asked, offended.
"GIRLFRIEND?" Hercule shouted. "You mean to tell me that our kids are dating?"
"NO!" Gohan and Videl shouted together.
"This is unbelievable! Videl, you're grounded, too! I told you that you're not allowed to date someone without my permission first!"
"That's exactly what I said!" Chi-Chi said. "My Gohan isn't allowed to date girls! He's supposed to be focusing on his studies!"
"Exactly!" Hercule said, glad to finally find another parent who understood. "They're far too young to be doing that sort of thing!"
"Right!" Chi-Chi said. "They shouldn't be doing anything at all without proper parental supervision!"
"Wow, for a crazy psycho, you sure know how to deal with teenagers!" Hercule said.
"And for a total phony, you've got great parenting skills!" Chi-Chi said, her eyes sparkling. "Sorry about hitting you, Mr. Hercule. If you come inside, I'm sure I can find you some bandages or something."
"Thanks!" Hercule said.
The two of them walked arm-in-arm back to the Son House.
"Oh my God," Videl said.
"What?" Gohan asked.
"I think our parents just fell in love with each other."
