Note: As promised, here is the complete version of chapter/episode 3. I've replied to reviews at the end of the chapter. Cheers! -Marie

The Present:
Friday, Son Household, Pre-Class Hours…

Gohan was awake before the crack of dawn. He had already done his push-ups –or, tried to do what he could manage of it- and instead of helping his father chop wood like he did on normal days, he gathered tinder and kindling instead for their morning bath. They used to bath together when Gohan was younger but the barrel no longer accommodated them both so they took turns. After a proper bath, the young demi-Saiyajin felt like brand new. By the time he had finished eating breakfast, the only manifestation of his bodily injuries that remained was a limp in his right leg where a huge percentage of the blows had landed when he was prostrated on the ground. With some tape and elastic bandages, he had managed to numb the pain enough to reduce his limp to an almost unnoticeable gait. Hiding the bruises on his face would be easy from there.

- - - - -x- - - - -

3
Jump To Conclusion
(part 1)

- - - - -x- - - - -

Standing in front of his bedroom's full-length mirror, a palette of mottled dark blues to purples and greens to yellows in varying degrees stared back at him. But thankfully, much of the swelling that came with it had already faded substantially; nothing his magic concealer from Bloomer couldn't erase temporarily. It took a lot of wheedling but he had finally persuaded her to give him one for "emergencies". And even though she wasn't anticipating the violence that constantly hovered over him like a dark foreboding shadow to follow him from his previous schools to this new one, she still went along with the boy's wishes and even taught him how to apply her special spray-on formula like a pro. By the time he was done- it was like the bruises were never there.

Next, he stretched his facial muscles into his usual smile. It looked a bit stiff the first tries but he managed to make it look natural after a little more practice. The soft braces had been removed from his teeth but his jaw and gums were still raw, so he had to talk as carefully and as minimally as possible without arousing suspicion. He would have to avoid interacting with anyone else other than his friends until then.

The demi-Saiyajin knew well by now that he wasn't going to be allowed to leave the house if he still had visible injuries after the incident but it wasn't just his mother's rules that he was abiding by when it came to that. His determination alone not to miss another day of school always seemed to serve as the most potent thaumaturgic cure, because by the time he was done preparing, no one, not even his own mother could tell that he had been at death's door just two days ago. However, it was imperative that he convinced his mother that his swift recovery was attributed entirely to the miraculous Senzu he had been administered. The truth of the matter was, that he never really ingested any of it with his water like his mother was made to believe. Apart from the fact that the young hybrid hated being compelled to depend on it for healing, he also felt that using it on him was wasteful. He believed that he could bounce back from his injuries in record time without it, and after making a deal with Goku and a third partner in crime, Bloomer, that if he could "prove" this, they must agree to help secretly wean him off of it. And so, slowly but surely, the rationed Senzu beans were replaced with plain old ordinary beans with no power. This was done when Chi-chi wasn't looking, of course. She hated the stuff herself and never felt the urge to try or inspect it, which is why Goku had no trouble at all hiding away all the real Senzu. Gohan then later received whatever was accumulated of this stash as his "reward" for merely surviving without it. It became a secret little game between father and son. The more brutal the beatings he endured, the more Senzu beans were allotted to them by the government; and the faster he recuperated without its aid, the more of his rations he would earn as a reward.

He smiled happily at the four precious Senzu beans he harvested inside the pouch his father left tied to a tree branch too high for anyone else to see or climb, but one that he could effortlessly reach with one jump. The beans were worth infinitely much more than zennies could buy.

The original Senzu beans were first used as a secret weapon to aid fighters in the war. Nowadays, you needed a special government permit to have even just one. And unless it was an emergency –meaning a matter of national security- they wouldn't issue a permit for it. But as far as what is known as "The Invisible Records" were concerned, the Son Household was one of the few families who secretly got issued a regular supply of it.

There was a very simple logic behind this: Keeping a student from dying due to factors beyond their control –such as on-campus violence or "unfortunate accidents"- was, in fact, something the government considered 'a matter of national security'. Anything that threatened to mar or compromise the pristine image of their present society's "peaceful and non-violent" utopic state that they worked so hard to establish over the past recent decades was to be nipped in the bud; no questions asked. All necessary measures are to be taken in the most discreet manner possible in order to avoid giving the people any reason to incite or even think of an uprising.

This chunk of classified information was reluctantly provided by Bloomer Briefs when he asked her about it. Rather, when he asked Trunks about it, who in turn asked his mother when Chi-chi refused to give Gohan any straight answers.

Around Two Years Ago:
Capsule Corporation's Ki-limiter Synchronization Facility…

"That's crazy, why don't they do something about the bullies instead?" Trunks had commented heatedly after hearing the explanation.

"I agree with you," Bloomer mused. "But it isn't that simple. Gohan-kun's power is still one of the most potentially dangerous albeit dormant Ki energies on the planet. Powers from races with a propensity for recalcitrant mass destruction like that of the Super Saiyajins have been outlawed many decades ago. You and Gohan-kun just being here, now, and mingling with the rest of the Earth's inhabitants is something we had to fight for, and it was no walk in the park, I can tell you that. The government made sure that we understood the implications of these "special conditions" they allowed us and that it can be rescinded anytime at their own discretion, and upon the slightest infraction on our side. Their message was simple: In this world where we live in now, we owe it to their clemency that people like Gohan-kun are being allowed a normal life. To them, it was much like allowing the Son's to keep an unarmed nuclear bomb. Don't get me wrong, of course, I don't agree with the way they've put collars on living beings, aliens or otherwise- but I understand where they're coming from. They're only acting in the general population's best interest and safety. So as wrong as it may sound, even in a situation where Gohan-kun is being ganged up on and beaten to death- the more he doesn't fight back, the more he's prolonging his life, because to everyone else, he is –and will always be considered- the greater threat. It's similar to how a trained boxer throwing a punch outside the ring against a normal untrained individual would more likely be adjudicated as a lethal act of aggression merely due to their strength difference, regardless of who provoked who. Plus, I'm willing to bet every one of those punks that ever attacked him do not and cannot even hope to exceed their average Ki register, even when they're brawling with everything they've got, which is why, technically, by the laws that govern our world now, they aren't breaking any rules as far as the big picture is concerned."

"That is just," Trunks' fists were shaking in controlled anger, "so wrong, Mom."

"I understand how you feel, Trunks-kun. Gohan-kun is practically family to us, which is why we think of this as an injustice. However, look closely. He may look fragile on the outside, all bruised and messed up pretty badly… but upon closer inspection, he doesn't look like he really sustains any long-term damage at all. What does that say about how strong his body is? Can you imagine what it would be like, if he even so much as tried to fight back? Remember, when Gohan-kun was born, his Ki read-out was already three times the acceptable level for a normally powerful being."

"But, Mom," Trunks insisted, "technically Gohan-san is reduced to an average, normal Earthling himself with even lower Ki stats than those bullies the moment that the Ki-limiter was strapped on him, right? He's already been reduced to cannon fodder. You're right, he's still frighteningly strong despite that, but he doesn't have to fight back! He is at least allowed to defend himself, isn't he? I get it, even doing that alone would probably hurt his attackers but I'm guessing it won't hurt them enough to cause any real damage. It'll just scare them enough to get them to leave him alone. Can't he at least do that?"

"I suppose he can," came the pensive reply. "With the right training…"

"Well, then, why doesn't he? I just don't get it. I know he looks and acts like it most of the time, but we all know that Gohan-san is not stupid."

Bloomer's eyes were transfixed on the almost completely naked form of the young and mild-mannered dark-haired fourteen-year-old who had just emerged from the glass chamber after a full-body scan and Ki-limiter synchronization check. The numerous bruises, cuts, scars and countless more internal injuries that decorated the boy's body inside-out was almost like a second skin on him now; a stark contrast to the alacritous smile and overflowing effulgence that carried not a single trace of all the pain and suffering that his young mind and body has already weathered. He gave a thumbs-up sign at his small audience of the Briefs-Vegeta mother and son tandem behind the console, clearly rejoicing at the not-so-diminutive accomplishment of having passed yet another scan with flying colours and having survived another violently unmerciful ordeal that could have easily killed even the strongest of normal people.

Bloomer's skin crawled with mixed feelings of a scientist's awe, a human's instinctual fear, and motherly relief. From any angle, Gohan Son was the sweetest, nicest, and most harmless kid of all. And yet, she knew –and the readings from her computer confirmed as much- that there was a monster sleeping inside of that gentle façade. How much longer her inventions could keep it in check, was just about how much time the boy –and probably, the rest of the world- had.

Sometimes she couldn't help but ascribe to fate's twisted poetic justice…

"Well, Trunks-kun," She depressed a button that unlocked the chamber and allowed the grinning half-blooded Saiyajin to alight and collect his school uniform from the adjoining lockers before making his way to them. "I think you'll have to ask Chi-chi-san for the answers to that."

-x-

The Present:
Friday, Orange Star Intergalactic Academy, Class Dismissal…

Gohan made sure to avoid talking to anyone before and during classes. Videl and Trunks played along as "the good friends" and let him soak up his crush through the cracked perspective of his broken eyeglasses. School records listed "Severe Toothache" as the lone reason for his absence, based on the nurse's report. Thus, their teachers didn't expect him to read aloud and recite at all, and as long as he didn't raise his hand, they called on other students for all class periods. By the time the school bell rang indicating the end of the lessons for that day, he was one out of the classroom in a flash to avoid the avid suitors hungry for his blood.

"So, congratulations!" Trunks popped alongside him as they trekked through the halls of clamouring students. "Last Wednesday was your initiation -your first beating- in this new school, wasn't it? Who and what was it about this time?" He almost slapped his friend on the back in jest but thought better of it.

"Oh, for Kamisama's sake! Does that even matter?" Videl appeared next on Gohan's free side, rolling her eyes in exasperation at Trunks who merely shrugged in response.

"Some guy named Tamihama…" Gohan murmured. "He wanted me to go out with him, I think…"

"Oh, wow. That's original," Trunks remarked. "You used to get the crap beaten out of you because they hated your guts. Now that they want to win your affection, it's no different. They still want to beat the crap out of you. Maybe it's your killer personality. Or just plain old rotten luck?"

"Tamihama…? I've never heard of anyone named-"

"Didn't we talk about this already?" Trunks continued as he waved at a group of girls who were waving at him causing them to swoon and squeal in delight (not necessarily in that order). "How you're not supposed to let them back you into a corner and push you around?"

"I admit, I got a little careless."

"'A little' careless?" Videl blurted out, then lowered her voice when her two male companions surreptitiously shushed her, "I'd hate to see what would happen to you if you got 'just' careless."

"No one in this school is supposed to know that I'm a hybrid. Bloomer-san made sure of that before I started. That was the only reason I ever was everyone's favourite living target practice before. I'm not quite sure of how just yet but, this guy- he knows things."

"This Tamihama character? Eeekk!" Videl almost tripped over a bunch of students seated on the hallway floor doing some project in front of their lockers like it was their own living room and completely ignoring the fact that the passage was crowded enough as it is. She managed to sidestep them at the very last second and resist the urge to slam her knuckles into their thick noggins but opted for a heartfelt endearment instead, "Get your fat asses out of the way, bacteria-for-brains!" Then turning back to Gohan, she pressed on, "'Things'? Like, what things?"

"He knew how Ki-limiters work." Gohan blinked at the expectant looks on his friends' faces. "And… he threatened to expose me as an X, 'to raise awareness'."

"Wow. With admirers like those who needs enemies!"

"Arg! Scum like those deserve to be taught a lesson! They're the ones who should be closely monitored!"

Just as they passed a heavy steel door, Gohan turned the latch, nimbly slipped inside, and closed the door behind him as soon as Trunks and Videl were inside.

They were in the fire escape stairwell. An airtight passage that connected all floors of their school's main building. No one ever used the stairs nowadays and it was the perfect place to talk if they didn't want to be overheard. Still, he double-checked to make sure they were alone before speaking again, keeping his voice to an undertone, "Trunks-san, does your mom still take Senzu as payment? I kind of need a new pair." He gestured to the eyeglasses resting slightly lopsidedly on the bridge of his nose. He had managed to hold the frame together for the meantime by replacing the bent temples with parts from his old eyeglasses and reinforcing it at the hinges with the help of clear tape, but the giant crack in the left lens couldn't be helped.

"Sure she does! Whoa! You got four this time!"

"Shh! Keep your voice down. Do you think she could just fix the lens instead of making me a new one? I'm trying to cut costs as much as possible."

"Forget it! She should make you a helmet with eyeglasses built-in if you ask me! You know, like in those super sentai squadron shows they used to have before!"

"Uhm, 'sentai' and 'squadron' kinda mean the same thing?" Videl dryly interjected but was deliberately ignored.

"Let her build you that new fancy pair that won't break even if you get punched in the face. It'll only cost one more Senzu anyway, so don't be stingy!"

"No, I can't. I worked really hard just to get enough for Snappy-Dragon. He hasn't completely recovered yet. Father and I managed to sedate him and cauterize his arrow wounds but he still isn't looking too chipper and I'm really worried. He needs this more than I need new fancy eyeglasses."

"Fine!" The blue-eyed half-Saiyajin huffed. "I'll just tell my mom to add it to your tab! Just remember, Gohan-san! You owe me, again!"

"Yeah," The half-breed chuckled forking over a Senzu bean. "I really appreciate it, Trunks-san. Oh, and by the way, thanks for saving me last Wednesday! If you guys hadn't stepped in, I think I would've been a goner, for sure."

Trunks and Videl exchanged perplexed glances.

"Save you?"

"What're you talking about?"

"We visited you Thursday morning after the Ki Tsar dudes dropped you home from the school infirmary the previous night, but that's it."

"Yeah," Videl spoke slowly to emphasize her words. "How could we have rescued you, we went home ahead that day, remember? Oh, yeah. I forgot. You were too busy stalking your green-skinned prince charming to even remember to give us a proper goodbye."

Gohan's brows furrowed as he gathered their serious expressions. "Who brought me to the infirmary then?"

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't us."

"Is that so?" The brown-eyed half-breed pulled something from his satchel and shoved it towards them. "I suppose you're going to tell me this wasn't you either, huh?"

Trunks and Videl's expressions remained blank as an unfolded piece of brownish paper is held up before their noses.

"'Friday', 'storage shed behind gym'…?"

"Who's P D Jr?" Trunks muttered.

"Wait a sec," Videl looked up, genuinely curious herself. "Is this who I think it is? You got a letter from Piccolo? But then… you think it's really from us? I don't understa-"

"Nice try, guys. But I'm not falling for it." Gohan said, moving towards the door.

"Whoa, whoa! Hold on," Trunks put up his hands. "I'm a bit confused here… Can you at least 'enlighten' as to how you're so sure this is not actually from your antennae'd princess?"

Gohan turned back and pulled open his lapel to bare his coat's inside pocket. "Three reasons! One. No one else would have been able to slip it here that day without me knowing, except you guys when you brought me to the infirmary. Two. The only other person who could have done it would be the nurse, when I was unconscious. But Mrs Suno's old enough to be my mother's mother, I doubt pranking students is her secret pastime, and even if it was, I don't think she knows about Piccolo-san, nor would she care enough to go through all this trouble. And, three? You guys are the only ones who know that my mother goes through my bags to screen my letters but not my clothes. You know that Father does our laundry and that he would find it in my coat, and as long as you got it in my coat pocket you knew it would reach me, more or less. You two have the means and the motive!"

"Wow." Trunks whistled, genuinely speechless for a couple of seconds. "Your theory is so cogent that even I'm having a hard time believing I didn't do it!"

Videl's mouth which had fallen slack before the end of Gohan's ludicrously seamless expository recovered just in time for a rejoinder, "And it would be perfectly sound too, except! that as we've already told you, we didn't bring you to the infirmary that day, genius!"

The demi-Saiyajin chortled loudly before turning on his heel to leave. "I don't know about you guys, but it's too early for April Fool's, don't you think? Better luck next time, because like I said, I'm not buying it!"

"I really think they hit him in the head one too many times this time," remarked the lavender-haired Saiyajin several hushed seconds after Gohan had left.

"Arg! I hate it when he gets so stupidly smug like that! Even when he's wrong he makes us feel like we're the ones who lost! How does he do that?" The brunette Earthling clutched her twin ponytails in frustration, letting out another strangled scream with it.

"Well, I guess we can't blame him for reacting that way. We did prank him with fake love letters in a span of less than three months more times than he's ever got his clock cleaned his whole life…" Trunks let out an uneasy laugh. "We'll forever be the boy and girl who cried wolf to him."

"Okay, fine. I guess I can forgive him for that. But, why would he think that we rescued him? I mean, I didn't even know that he got rescued in the first place. We've never had the chance to intervene whenever he got beaten up before, I didn't think anyone other than us still cared enough to get involved in such things…"

"I don't think he's making it up, though."

"Well, I think he must've been hallucinating."

"But if he just imagined it and those bullies really did leave him as good as roadkill… How did he manage to haul himself to the infirmary which was on the other side of the school grounds?"

The Present:
Friday, Orange Star Intergalactic Academy Basketball Gym, Back Yard, Post-Class Hours…

No. Impossible. The letter couldn't have come from Piccolo. Trunks and Vindee were lying to him. That was another piece of evidence against them that he had forgotten to point out.

No one else knows that he had the help of government-issued Senzu to recuperate. If the letter was indeed given by Piccolo that day, the only chance he would have gotten to slip the letter in his inside breast pocket was after the bullies left, and even then, there was no way he could have predicted that Gohan would be back in school only after one day of rest after seeing him in such a state.

The hybrid teenager shook his head for the umpteenth time as he restlessly paced back and forth in the limited space. Besides, if he entertained the notion that the letter did come from Piccolo, it would mean that he also knew about The Invisible Records somehow, that was the only way he would have been able to correctly estimate that he would be back in school just after one day. That was the requirement under the law; the very reason the Senzu beans were brought into play. Furthermore, that theory would also engender that it was Piccolo who rescued him that day and brought him to the infirmary… which of course, doesn't make any sense at all! Why would he have been there in the first place? And why would he leave me a letter saying that he wanted to meet me all of a sudden? It's not like the Namek has shown any special interest in him, romantically or otherwise. Heck, they didn't even know each other personally, and the best he could always count on were apathetic stares!

No. Pull yourself together, Gohan. The letter is not from Piccolo. Just thinking that it could be is ridiculous!

And yet, here he was.

Behind the basketball gym building, the only gym where there was a storage shed. The place indicated in the letter.

School had ended ten minutes ago and even if he had left his friends in the fire escape stairwell, he couldn't shake the feeling that Trunks and Vindee would burst in from the gym's back door any moment and be laughing their faces off at him for biting the bait after such a cocky speech, and for being the hopeless and gullible lovesick fool that he was. He sighed miserably, stopping to rest his back against the brick wall facing the door.

Although he had to skip Baseball Club Practice just to be here, it all worked out because he wasn't fully recovered yet anyway. He really had nothing to lose by being here, and yet…

He just felt stupid.

He didn't know what he was waiting for. He didn't know who he was expecting to find.

A part of him knew that no one would arrive to meet him. But he couldn't deny the greater part of him that made his heart thunder in his chest as he waited it out. That part of him that wanted to believe that miracles did happen to pathetic losers like him and that it wasn't such a demanding thing to expect of fate to bring Piccolo walking in through that door.

One. There was only one reason that fuelled his tiny sliver of hope. He knew that Piccolo didn't have any clubs and that he usually just disappeared after class for an hour or so before he showed up in the library or under the tree to read until sundown. He was never able to find out where the Namek went and maybe if he did know, it would have spared him the agony of waiting here now because he could have been able to simply check if Piccolo was wherever he usually went during that time… But since he didn't have that option, he thought it wouldn't hurt –much- to wait and see for at least thirty minutes.

Of course, the longer he stood there, the more he felt like an idiot.

His watch blipped indicating that he had already been waiting for fifteen minutes. He sighed as he reset the alarm to go off after an additional fifteen minutes.

Only fifteen minutes more. After that, I'm leaving. He kicked at the gravel beneath his feet and leaned back against the wall tilting his chin up.

Giant plumes of cumulonimbus clouds lazily rolled by and he allowed himself to be lulled into a daydream or two as he watched the fluffy formations glide overhead without a care in the world.

I wonder if clouds have it as rough? He felt a twinge of envy for the free roaming atmospheric condensations for a fleeting moment before a nervous titter bubbled up his throat that was really a poor cover-up for a sob.

"Oh, Kamisama, what am I doing here?" he glumly murmured to the clouds.

He rolled his full weight back onto the soles of his feet and idly moseyed over to the door.

Before his hands could wrap around the door's steel latch, however, he is startled back into alertness as the handle suddenly jiggles and turns on its own. Instinctively, he backpedals to give way to whoever had turned the latch from the other side and was most certainly about to step through; his heart suddenly trapped in his throat and thundering like a mad army of horses in his ears.

When the figure came into full view to stand a few paces in front of him, Gohan's eyes went wild.

"You…!"

End of Episode 3.
Continued in Episode 4: Jump To Conclusion (part 2)

Replies to Reviews:

To Smithback:
Again, I apologize if you felt I was giving you a hard time by redirecting readers to AO3. I am not received very well here on FFnet and readers seem to appreciate my stories more on AO3 so I really like it there. But I do understand and I am happy that you dropped a comment to let me know how you feel. Thank you! I am elated that you think my story is cool! 8D I hope you will continue to enjoy it now that I have posted the complete chapters here on FFnet.

To thor94:
Thank you so much for your feedback! I can't tell you what will happen to Gohan in future episodes (or else it will spoil the story), but I can promise you that things won't always be this way, of course. Things will change. Whether for better or for worse, you'll have to stick around to see. :D There is a reason for everything happening (even Chi-chi's behavior), which I hope this episode was able to throw more light on.

But my story aside, even if Gohan had no Ki-limiter holding him back, he is and never has been the kind of character who resorts to violence if he had a choice. He has never been someone who would inflict pain on others or beat them to death just because he got teased or insulted and yes, even physically hurt. No, that wouldn't be Gohan at all. That is the very thing that sets him apart from Vegeta and other brutal Saiyajins and foes. He is a very kind-hearted soul (I daresay, maybe even more than Goku) and even in the canon series he has never 'bashed people's heads to the ground' just for revenge. Especially since the bullies hurting him here are ordinary humans. If he were up against a stronger being, however, like Cell or an evil Majin Boo fighting for the planet's salvation, then that is an entirely different case (although, he didn't even want to fight them either.) The Gohan we love is smart enough to know that real strength isn't about beating up someone weaker than you, but about so much more. But, I do understand how you feel and believe me, I feel the same way. XD

(01/15-22/2017)