"So class, today we will be talking about the many theories of where Cell came from. Has anyone heard any theories?" The teacher of Gohan's history class asked.
A boy in the front of the room raised his hand and said, "I heard he was a son of the evil king Piccolo."
"No way, he was an alien from a hostile planet trying to eliminate the human race so that he could sell the planet in an intergalactic market." Another boy said.
Gohan scoffed and mumbled so that no one would hear, "You're like ten years behind on that threat."
"I thought he was from the future." At this Gohan tensed and looked for the one who suggested this, of course it was Videl.
"Where did you hear that?" The teacher asked.
"There was a weird ship found right before he made his appearance, all the people who knew about it thought it was Cell's." Videl explained.
"How'd you hear about the ship?" Gohan asked.
"There was a field trip to Capsule Corp. the day that the call came in and I… just happened to be near the phone when it did." Videl blushed as she remembered her adventures. "Wait, how do you know about it?"
"Being friends with Bulma has its advantages." Gohan said slyly.
"Can we get back to the topic please." The teacher called out. "Can anyone definitely prove any theory wrong?"
Most of the class said 'no' but Gohan raised his hand. When the teacher called on him he said, "Cell was not a son of Piccolo."
"How do you know that?" Videl demanded.
"I know him, he wasn't related to Cell… At least, not willingly." Gohan said.
"So he was related?" The teacher asked.
"In a way." Gohan realized that no one knew about the true origins of Cell and almost hit his head once he realized this.
"What was the way?" The teacher prompted.
"One of his cells along with many of the worlds greatest fighter's cells were combined to create Cell." Gohan told the class.
"How do you know this?" A girl sitting a few seats in front of him asked.
"I knew someone that he told when he was still gathering energy." Gohan said.
"Who?" The whole class demanded.
"Piccolo."
"So is he still bad?" Sharpner asked.
"Well, he's a bit stiff but he doesn't want to destroy anyone anymore, except maybe my brother and Trunks."
"How'd he change?"
"Um, I'm not quite sure."
"How are you not sure?"
"I was really young and training with him and he just kind of got used to me I guess."
"You trained with Piccolo?" Videl said.
"Yeah, when I was a kid. I told you about that."
"I didn't realize you meant the actual Piccolo."
"So do you know what cells were used to create Cell?" The teacher asked.
"Well, it was really most of the most powerful people on the planet."
"Such as?"
"Piccolo, Freiza, and some others." Gohan listed.
"Do you know all of them?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell us them?"
"Well, you already know almost all of them but I can't say because they wouldn't like it."
"You know them?"
"Yeah, I've known them for as long as I can remember."
"So Hercule has to be one of the people right?" Sharpner said confidently.
"He wasn't."
"Why not?"
"I guess Gero didn't think it was necessary. If he already had enough of a… group he wouldn't take anymore of that group."
"Who's Gero?" Videl asked.
"The creep who created Cell."
"Cell was created?" Erasa asked.
"Obviously, if he was made out of a bunch of different cells." Videl told her.
"Oh yeah, that makes sense." Erasa said happily.
Just then the bell rang, cutting off all conversations. The whole class grabbed their bags to walk to their next class.
"How do you know so much about all this stuff?" Videl asked while leaving the classroom.
"It's complicated." Gohan answered.
"Care to explain?"
"No." Gohan's tone stopped that conversation cold. The conversation didn't pick up again until lunch.
"Is the real reason my dad wasn't included in Cell because he already had enough?"
"No, I'm not sure you'll believe me if I told you the truth."
"What is it?"
"He wasn't even considered because he's not strong enough."
"He is too!" Sharpner yelled.
"I told you that you wouldn't believe me."
"How do you know that he isn't stong enough?"
"Don't be offended, but you are much more powerful than your dad."
"No way!" Videl couldn't believe that she was stronger than her dad, it wasn't possible. Actually, that could make up for the fact that he never trains with me anymore.
"Just ask him to fight when you get home, he knows that you are stronger and will come up with some reason not to fight."
"You know my dad actually has been doing things like that for a while. I thought he was just too busy to deal with me."
"He's worried that you won't think the same of him once you find out your stronger than him."
"How do you know that?"
"A friend of mine went through something similar."
"What happened to them?"
"They worked through it, with some difficulty. But that was just because Vegeta can't talk about anything."
"Who is this Vegeta guy?" Sharpner asked.
"Not someone you want to meet." Gohan laughed at the thought.
"Why not?"
"You wouldn't get along and he isn't someone you want to mess around with."
"I'm sure it would be fine."
"Not really, he would probably kill you."
"Why?"
"That's just who he is."
The bell finally rang for the second to last class of the day. Halfway through the period Gohan was finally happy with the way his picture came out. Gohan walked his picture to the front of the classroom and revealed it. It was a pencil shaded picture of his house, Chichi was standing in the doorway while he and Goten suared off against one another a few feet away. Goku was drawn coming out of the woods with his goofy smile plastered on his face.
"That's great Gohan." The teacher praised while the class clapped whole heartedly. Gohan handed his piece over and went back to sit at his seat.
"We have a free draw until everyone is finished." Erasa leaned over to tell him.
"Thanks." Gohan took out a sheet of paper and began to draw a weird design. It was actually what the little flares of energy looked like while he held a ball of ki, but only he knew that.
"Cool design." Videl said after the bell rang but before Gohan put his paper away.
"Thanks, it's actually pretty fun to draw."
"What is it?"
"Just something I see all the time." Gohan knew that most people believed that the things he and his friends could do were just tricks, he didn't think it was necessary to try and convince his friends otherwise.
"Where?"
"I see it by my house it's in a meadow I'm constantly in."
"Cool, well see you in a few." They had reached the locker rooms and were forced to separate.
Gohan was once again the first one out and slapped his head when he saw Tien and Krillen.
"Hey, what's up?" Krillen asked.
"I forgot to find Yamcha and Piccolo to tell them about the tournament."
"What tournament?" Videl had just walked up to her friend.
"Just something we're doing on Friday during the get together." Gohan vaguely explained. "So what are we doing today?"
"Well we were thinking that we would go over the same things that we did yesterday since everyone seemed to be struggling." Tien told his young friend.
"But we don't need much help today so we talked to the teacher and he agreed, you're allowed to train by yourself." Krillen added.
"What training can I do?"
"I don't know, be creative." Krillen said.
Gohan walked off to the far side of the field where he stood facing away from the class thinking of what to do. After a minute he came up with an idea that could work and began to punch the air at a pace that Videl could reach. After a quick mental calculation Gohan began moving much faster, as fast as he could without transforming. He made sure to be in a feasible position for a bit longer than others so that if anyone looked over he would appear to be moving at a normal pace.
"Hey Tien, look at what he's doing." Krillen called out when he saw Gohan's strange routine.
Tien looked over and saw Gohan moving at a pace most of the kids here could go. He looked closer and wasn't surprised to find that Gohan's limbs were blurred. He laughed, "Only Gohan would think of that."
Videl heard Tien laugh and followed his gaze to Gohan. Gohan was going through a few complicated moves in his corner. She didn't think anything of it until she thought, Gohan said he fought fast enough that his moves seemed to come before his opponents, well at least Sharpner. Why is he moving so slow? It was just then that Gohan faltered in his routine and skipped a few pauses, making his arms completely disappear to Videl. Holy crap, what just happened?
Tien and Krillen tensed at the same time Gohan faltered, something was heading towards the school. More acurately it was someone, a very violent someone.
"What is he doing here?" Krillen hissed.
"Beats me, maybe Gohan knows." Tien hissed back. Calling out he said, "Gohan can you come over here."
Gohan looked relieved but agitated while he walked over and looked up at his friend. "Can you feel him?" Gohan whispered.
"Yeah, what's he doing here?" Tien whispered back.
"We thought you might know." Krillen joined in the hushed conversation.
"Oh no, maybe Trunks told him about our plans." Gohan thought aloud.
"Why would he come here?" Tien inquired.
Just then the person in question was seen entering the school grounds and looked pissed. He was a short man with flame-like black hair with terrible widow's peaks. Gohan was the first to speak, "What are you doing here?"
By this point all the kids were staring at the new arrival. He glared at them, causing most to run into the building, then answered "Trunks told me your little plan."
"So you found it necessary to come here, why?" Gohan asked. He stepped in front of the few remaining people so that he could protect them if an attack came.
"I won't participate in a tournament just to show how much stronger you are." He said defiantly.
"Then don't but I was just thinking that it would be fun, not a way to see who's stronger." Gohan told the short man.
"How about we have a sneak preview then?" The man challanged.
"After school, I don't want to fight here." Gohan said.
"Afraid your pathetic little friends will get hurt?"
"No, I just don't want to explain. I promise if you can wait ten minutes we can fight, just be patient."
"Fine brat, but expect a beating." The man stalked off to sit under a tree just off school grounds.
"Gohan, who was that?" Videl asked quietly.
"That was Vegeta, I told you you wouldn't want to meet him." Gohan turned to see that only his friends were left standing behind him.
"He wasn't so bad." Sharpner said.
"That's only because I agreed to fight him and he's probably coming up with some plan to beat me on Friday." Gohan explained.
"Well since only you guys are here what do you want to do?" Tien asked.
"Could you show us some of your moves since you said those were simple." Videl requested.
"How about you show us yours and we'll help you improve them." Krillen suggested since most of their moves involved ki manipulation.
"Okay, what do you want me to start with?" Videl asked.
"How about you and Gohan spar and we'll give you tips while you fight." Tien said.
Before Videl could agree a quick nod was exchanged between Tien and Gohan, Gohan appeared in front of her. He got in a punch to her chin before she even registered he was there.
"How'd you do that?" Videl yelled rubbing her jaw. As an answer Gohan threw another punch that she was able to just barely dodge. He kicked out at her legs while she was off balance from his punch, she fell on the ground hard a second later.
"You need to put less weight on your feet." Krillen said while she pulled herself up to her feet.
"Sure, except for the fact that I had no idea we were fighting." Videl muttered.
"You need to be prepared for anything." Tien said as Gohan kicked Videl's knees from behind causing her to fall forward. "You never know when an attack will come."
"That's not fair, you hardly even said we would fight before Gohan started." Videl whined.
"You sound like Goten." Gohan laughed.
"What ever, ready?" Videl asked while she stood up. Videl launched what she thought was a fast attack, but of course Gohan dodged all of them.
"Don't be so predictable, mix up your attacks." Tien called out.
Videl attempted to change up her moves, but it didn't make any difference. Gohan was still dodging all her attempts. The only difference from their last fight was that Gohan was smiling.
"Keep up your defense." Krillen warned. The warning came a second before Gohan swept Videl's feet out from under her with his leg.
"You wanted Gohan to do that." Videl challanged. "You saying that told him to do that."
"Nope, I just know his technique to realize that he was going to do that soon." Krillen said.
"I thought you said to vary technique, so how do you know Gohan was going to do that?"
"I've watched him fight since he was six, no matter how much he varies his moves there is still those few things that always stay the same."
"Then I guess I have to work on that." Gohan said as he streched his arms up over his head.
"You're just like your father, always trying to be better than you were a second ago." Tien pointed out.
"So back to fighting, let her hit you this time. I want to see how she deals with that." Krillen instructed.
"Okay." Gohan waited for Videl to start this time.
Videl threw a sloppy, at least to Gohan, punch towards Gohan's chest. He grabbed her arm and stopped the punch with ease. Videl yelped and said, "I thought you were supposed to let me hit you."
"Only while we fight, I'm not going to be your punching bag." Gohan told her.
"Come on, you've seen the way we fight, you can't imagine anything else from him." Krillen called.
"Fine." Videl tried a different technique to confuse Gohan. He allowed a few punches to connect but they didn't hurt him. Videl though felt plenty of pain explode as soon as she hit Gohan, she let out a small cry of pain. "What are you made of?"
"That's what we've all been trying to find out for years." Tien muttered under his breath.
"Is that really what you would do if you hit an enemy in a fight?" Krillen asked.
"No, but man he's harder than a rock!" Videl exclaimed.
"That's one thing we all know." Krillen said. Just then the bell rang and Gohan led his friends into the school.
Before they entered the building Gohan's sensitive ears picked up Vegeta saying, "Don't forget our fight, I'll be waiting."
