Chapter 10: Blinders Off

It was another day, another post-breakfast special training session on the beach. Two months had passed since Videl, Gohan, and Mark began their training under Roshi. During this time, Videl and her father, especially Videl, had made amazing progress, so much so that Roshi doubled the amount of weight Videl had to train with just so she could reap the full benefits of her training. Roshi, Krillin, and their three charges filed out onto the beach. In the distance, the island's volcano was expulsing miasmic gases high into the tropical skies. On a neighboring beach, lava tubes poured hundreds of tons of liquid rock into the surf, creating a sauna effect that could be felt even as far away as they were.

"Today," Roshi began, "I'm gonna teach you two about sensing energy. Normally, I don't touch on this subject in my program, but since Krillin, Gohan, and myself already have this ability, I think it's important that we pass this knowledge onto ya'll. This is sort of advanced, but it's good to know the principles behind it. Any questions?"

Videl was the first to raise her hand. "Aside from always knowing where another person is, what other benefits does this ability afford the user?"

"That's a good question Videl!" stated the aged master. "One added benefit, which I'm sure you learned about when we were hiding from Buu on the Lookout, is the ability to ascertain how you stack up against a potential opponent. This can be absolutely vital in allowing one to avoid a life-threatening situation in the field. A second would be the ability to sense the state another person is in. You'll eventually be able to read another person's ki signature in such a way that you'll be able to tell if they are depressed, frightened, happy, angry, sick, or injured. You'll also have the added benefit of sensing deception."

It was only for a moment, but Roshi spied Videl throwing a mischievous glance towards both Gohan and her father. The two must have caught the look because both Gohan and Mr. Satan looked like deer in the headlights.

'Well…, there goes any chance I ever had of pulling the wool over Videl's eyes,' thought the half-Saiyan grimly.

Roshi turned to the half-breed. "I know what you're thinking Gohan, but you sort of set yourself up to fail anyway. Seriously though, you're the only one out of the whole group that made the mistake of teaching your woman bakujutsu."

"Don't remind me…" quipped Gohan.

"HA-HA!" squealed Videl in a sing-song voice as she poked Gohan in the side.

"Baku-what?" asked Mark, scratching his chin.

"The ability to fly," Gohan answered.

Mark's mouth made an 'o' in understanding. "That begs another question. Videl, what's it like to fly?"

Videl beamed a wide smile at her father. "It's nothing short of amazing, Daddy! You have absolutely no idea just how much simpler life is when you can just fly across town and get whatever you need from your favorite coffee shop in minutes! I've gotten so fast that I hardly ever use my jet copter anymore! I can fly all the way out to Gohan's place in the 439 District in under 40 minutes!" As if to drive home this fact, Videl took to the air just above Gohan and her father and flew a few quick circles around them before coming to a landing.

"You're kidding me!" shouted Mr. Satan, his eyes bugging out. "40 minutes! That's like 500 miles away!"

"Yeah, and don't even get me started on how easy it is to outrun the paparazzi when I can just take to the air and land in another part of town. And then there's all the times I've been able to swoop down like a hawk and land on criminals in town! They never see it coming! There's also the savings one gets from never having to buy gas again that one should consider. Oh, and let's not forget all the times I've been able to skip all those pesky elevator rides. Then there's the added benefit of me and Gohan being able to hook-up for some alone time whenever we want regardless of where we are! There's no such thing as a long distance relationship with us."

"Yeah, don't remind me…" muttered Mark. "I've had to answer more than a few questions from reporters about all of that."

"If the bottom feeders have a problem with me knowing how to fly, they can deal with it!" asserted Videl. "Constantly flying is one of the key reasons why my stamina is so much greater than it was before the whole Majin Buu thing. Heck, I'm surprised our friends at school haven't lined up to ask me for flying lessons. You'd think me and Gohan landing on the front doorstep of our school every morning would get people interested-"

'Ahem!'

Everyone present redirected their attention to Master Roshi. The old man had his hands on his hips in a show of impatience.

Looking down, Videl reddened in embarrassment. "Sorry…"

Master Roshi gave a quick smile before continuing. "Videl's gonna love this next benefit! This ability also allows one to know when two other people are bumpin uglies! Once she learns this, Gohan'll never be able to bang a live one behind Videl's back. Cheating without the other's knowledge will no longer be a possibility."

Videl's eyes widened at the possibilities. "OK, now I know I need to learn this! Err… I mean… I trust Gohan. It's just…"

Gohan raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend's remark.

Roshi turned to address Mr. Satan. "Understand this Mark. I'm not sure if you're far enough along to learn this particular skill. If you do manage to pick up on this early though, it'll be about the same as Gohan teaching Videl how to control energy before training her past the 'wall of humanity.' You'll essentially be learning to run before you can crawl. If you'd like to opt out of this until after you've advanced more, I'll completely understand. Sometimes seemingly simple things can be the hardest to learn. I don't expect either you or Videl to get this right off the bat."

"How hard can it be?" asked the Champ.

"It took Goku three years to learn this."

"T-Three years?!" Videl asked incredulously.

"Now don't get your panties in a wade," the Turtle Hermit placated, "Goku might be a great fighter, but he really isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Every move that man has ever mastered were moves developed by other people who did all the intellectual heavy lifting. Mr. Popo teaching him that ability was probably akin to a special ed class."

Both Videl and Gohan covered their faces as they shared a laugh. Gohan may have loved his old man, but he had no illusions about his lack of intellectual curiosity.

"Err… Mark, could you come with me for a second?" the Turtle Hermit asked.

"Sure," answered the afroed man.

The two men put some distance between themselves and the two teen lovers until Roshi was sure he was out of earshot.

"Alright, what's this about?" inquired the Champ with suspicion.

"There's something you need to realize," Roshi started. The old sage took a moment to collect himself before continuing. "If you manage to learn this technique, you're gonna know whenever Gohan's with your daughter."

Mr. Satan's face reddened. "Considering how loud they are after lights out, it's kinda hard for me not to know."

"No, I mean you're gonna know when they do it while they're in Satan City and you're still here," Roshi explained.

"You mean I'll be able to sense them from that far away?!" The Champ's eyes bugged out. "That's thousands of miles!"

"A power level refers to how strong someone is. Gohan's power level is so high that you'd be able to tell if he was with Videl if you were on Pluto!"

Mr. Satan's jaw dropped. "How strong is that kid?!"

"Let me put it to you this way," said the old master, making wide gestures with his hands, "If Krillin's ki were a candle light, Gohan's ki would be a blazing singularity! If he were a star, you'd be able to see him clear across the universe. Believe me when I say this Mark, knowing Gohan's strength is one thing. Experiencing it in a metaphysical sense is a different story entirely!"

"This isn't the first time I've heard about this," Mr. Satan admitted. "Gohan mentioned it once when we were watching the fight between my daughter and that Barbella nut. Dende also said something about it when we were hiding from Majin Buu. If this really is the same thing, I've gotta know this!"

Master Roshi let out an inaudible sigh. "OK then, though it would have been easier for you to learn if you already knew how to manipulate your own ki."

"Hey, I'll learn it!" Mark asserted adamantly. "Where do you think Videl gets her smarts from? If my daughter can learn to fly in a week, than I can get this down!"

With that, the two men rejoined Gohan and Videl. Apparently, Gohan was already giving Videl pointers on this next lesson. Videl held a suspended ball of whitish-blue ki just in front of her outstretched left palm.

"That's it Videl," Gohan affirmed, "Now…, close your eyes."

Videl did as her boyfriend instructed. "Now what?"

"Using the same principle to feel your own body's ki, maintain the connection between the ball of ki and your own mind. Focus on that connection. You need to remember this connection because it will be essential in locating and interpreting the energy of others."

"Okay…" she breathed. "I think I feel it."

Gohan gave a slight nod. "Now without opening your eyes, move the ball with your will to a different spot."

The petite fighter did as she was told and gave the energy ball a subtle nudge. The ball moved a scant few feet to her right.

Good," Gohan praised. "Now using your finger, point in the direction of the ball."

Tilting her head down to make it harder to cheat, Videl pointed at the mass of energy with her left index finger.

"Very good! As expected, you're catching on fast! Now move it again, and repeat the same exercise."

Again, the Satan girl did as she was instructed. The ball of ki drifted in the opposite direction, coming to rest to her left. Once again, she pointed to the left.

"Now all you need to do is develop an intrinsic grasp of the connection you have between your own will and sources of ki. It really isn't so much of a leap going from sensing sources of energy that originated within your own body to those that originate from another ki source. You start sensing masses of energy originating from your own ki as a stepping stone towards building a sort of four dimensional map within your mind. This is something that you will need to approach in baby steps. It may take a while before you get this down pat, but once you have cultivated this sixth sense, it will become every bit as integral as your other five senses."

Videl opened her eyes and regarded her boyfriend with a curious look. This got a curious eyebrow raise out of the half-Saiyan.

"What's wrong, hun?" he asked.

"I'd like to try and sense your energy," she answered.

"Uh…, d-don't you think you should choose a smaller target?!" stammered Gohan throwing up his hands in an exasperated, defensive manner."

"Smaller target…?" she repeated in a puzzled tone. "Listen Gohan…, I already have a good idea of just how powerful you and our friends are so I don't think I'm gonna be seeing anything I don't already know about."

"Videl, I think you should listen to him," Master Roshi advised. "With ki detection, the greater the differnce in overall power between the user and the subject, the more toll the use of that ability may take on the user's mind. Take it from me young'n, there are times when I have to brace myself mentally for when Krillin powers up, and Gohan's ki makes Krillin's look like a night-light!"

"Puhleease..!" Videl drawled out sarcastically, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Ooookay!" exclaimed the old master with an eye-roll. "Don't say I didn't warn ya…"

Closing her eyes, the petite teen began to hone in on any energy source in Gohan's direction. She stretched out with her will and looked for any subtle disturbances in the same metaphysical medium in which all connections were established. She remembered the feel of her own energy and tried to glean something similar from Gohan.

She continued reaching out with this feeling in mind until she felt her will brush up against something… something mindboggling.

Videl's breath hitched as her body began to shake violently. It was something she really couldn't describe. It was like feeling an infinitely deep yet calm ocean. Colors flashed across her mind in a slowly emerging quasi-visual medium, colors of white light with beams flying out at her inner will. A blazing core resembling a tunnel with a bright, white light at the end, a mind's eye took root in a backdrop against her brain's other cognitive constructs. Her will was absolutely assaulted by the reticular parallelism of the opposing ki, that of her boyfriend.

It was all too much! Her legs buckling, Videl began to scream violently as she clutched her head. Fear overtook her, fear of a great discovered unknown, an unknown as terrifying as it was wondrous.

"Videl!" Gohan screamed at the raven-haired girl's distress.

"Sweet pea!" came a second cry from Mr. Satan.

The half-Saiyan adolescent rushed forward and cradled her screaming, sobbing form to his chest. Mark tried his best to sooth his staggered daughter.

Roshi turned to Mr. Satan with a raised eyebrow. "You said Dende tried to get you to sense Majin Buu's energy with him?!"

"Uh…, yeah he did," Mark answered in a distressed tone.

"That foolish God!" Roshi cursed. "If you had actually did the same thing with Majin Buu's ki as Videl just did with Gohan's, you likely would've been just as overwhelmed as she was by the sheer magnitude! Next time you see Dende, smack him in the back of the head for his aloof recklessness!"

"I-It…I felt it!" Videl shuddered as Gohan pulled her to a stand with him. Wiping her eyes, she wrapped her arms around herself. "It was like my senses collided with an ocean of ki that never ends!"

Patting her on the back, Gohan gave a wry smile. "That's how it felt when I sensed Majin Buu's ki for the first time. The power raising of the Old Kai has given my own ki a similar depth."

"I-I even tried to draw on your ki the way I would my own," she admitted. "It completely repelled me…"

"Yeah…," drawled Gohan scratching the back of his head, "I thought I felt a flee bite or something across the corner of my inner conscience. This leads us to another lesson: Don't try to draw on someone else's ki! If the person you're trying to draw from doesn't have a voluntary mental exchange current of some kind established with you, you'll get repelled, sometimes violently. It's a built-in, non-corporal failsafe against adversarial lifeforms."

Videl steadied herself against her boyfriend as she tried to catch her breath. "I see it! I see it now! I can't believe how blind I've been…, how blind everyone I've ever known has really been! It's still cloudy, but I see the world behind the world. Everything is in layers like an onion…"

Videl turned and looked at her father, really looked at him not with sight, but with this neophyte new sense. She wanted to test this out on a 'smaller' target.

Seeing the unnerving gaze his daughter was giving him, Mark started shuffling back. By now, he knew that look well. It was that same piercing gaze that Master Roshi and Gohan used every so often, like they were trying to look past something to see something else not entirely visible.

The Satan girl then turned her furrowed gaze downwards towards a coconut crab as it scurried across the sands. Reaching out with her newfound understanding of this 'connection' as Gohan called it, she felt its' meager life essence move across the sands within its' corporal body.

"I-I think she's got it…" Roshi commented.

Videl's cerulean eyes then bore into Roshi's. Instead of shrinking under the girl's unsettling gaze however, the old master returned the look with one of his own. Beads of perspiration began to form on the Turtle Hermit's brow from being under the Satan girl's deep scrutiny. The side of Videl's mouth curved upwards into a smirk, like a kid who got to peek at her Christmas presents.

'She knows…' thought the old master. 'She knows that she's stronger than me now.'

Acting as if nothing had changed, Roshi turned to Gohan. "Always doing things assed-backwards, aren't ya?"

"I really don't know how this keeps happening Master," said Gohan sheepishly. "First she learns levitation on the first day, then she develops her sixth sense in one afternoon. Quite honestly, I'm a bit jealous."

Hearing this, Videl rounded on her boyfriend with a curious smile. "You're jealous?"

"Listen Videl, it took me two months to get this down. It took my dad three years! The only people I know who picked up on the whole energy sensing thing this quick were Vegeta and my mentor Piccolo, and Piccolo doesn't count because most Nemakians are born with a penchant for manifesting metaphysical powers. As fast as you're progressing, you have every reason to be proud of your abilities."

"Do you really mean that or are you just saying it?" she asked.

"Videl, what you're doing is almost unheard of, especially among pure-blooded humans," Gohan defended. "How can you even ask that?! I'll tell you right now that my not taking your training seriously from the start was probably the greatest disservice to both you and myself since I started letting myself go following the Cell Games. I was a total idiot!"

"I'm sorry, it's just that you're so much stronger than me that I can't help but feel useless…" Videl felt a fresh wave of self-doubt hit her, and she couldn't help but feel cold turkey. It was like she was having a mid-life crisis before she even got the chance to shine.

"Videl, look…," began the Saiyan hybrid, "You really shouldn't beat yourself up over this. You have nothing to feel inferior over. Your only crime was being born in the wrong place. You didn't have to go through the kinds of battles me and my friends did when I was a little kid, and considering the mental problems I have, I'm glad you didn't have to. Fighting bank robbers and terrorists and fighting planet-destroying overlords are two completely different beasts. There's nothing glorious about watching your best friends die. Had history been different, I never would've been trained in martial arts at all."

Seeing that his girlfriend's mood wasn't improving, Gohan decided on a different approach. "For what it's worth, I want you to know that most of the power I have wasn't acquired through hard work alone. In fact, attaining the power I have now wasn't just a matter of training. You could even say that I cheated."

Finally, Videl met his gaze. "What do you mean? Your half alien status gives you gifts that I only wish I had!"

"Before Elder Kai raised my power, I wasn't even a fifth as strong as I am now," he explained. "And here's the kicker! That's not even the first time I had my hidden power unlocked by someone else. Then there's the benefits I attained from training in the hyperbolic time chamber for nine months. Videl, at least you can actually take pride in what you have made for yourself! Looking back, I realize that I shouldn't have taken my own gains for granted. I was a fool! You have no reason to doubt yourself, especially with the speed by which you've been making progress. It really is my fault that you didn't get stronger sooner!"

"I really wish you wouldn't blame yourself like that," Videl remarked in a chastising tone.

"But it's true," Gohan replied. "You even said so yourself when we were out in the desert. I have my own demons to fight just as you have. Then there are my own feelings I'm having to deal with…"

"What feelings?"

Gohan swallowed before continuing. "The Buu scenario laid a few things bare for me, things that were buried under the surface since at least my fight with Cell."

"Things like…" Videl pressed.

"For one, I finally understand why Vegeta hated my father for so long," answered her boyfriend, his tone shifting dangerously. "It didn't matter how strong I was, my father always came out the victor! He took something from me that I'll never get back. After Cell, he left me the mantle of protector only to snatch it away as soon as he got the first chance! He even had the opportunity to have me brought to the World of the Kais, and he still turned it down! He denied me my chance at redemption just so he could have one last hurrah! Believe me Videl! My mother wasn't the only reason I had to get away from my parents. I love my father but he just doesn't understand that you don't just cultivate someone over the course of a lifetime just to tear the rug out from under them. I have to find a way to be who I am again."

"But what if you got killed again?" Videl asked. "We wouldn't have been able to have what we have now." Smiling up at Gohan, Videl gave her boyfriend's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Videl, you're the only reason I kept on living. After our resurrection, I had you to lean on. You opened my eyes to the truth. Without you holding my feet to the fire, I would still be living a lie. I will never make the mistake of forsaking who I am again!"

"We've all had to find reasons to keep on living," stated the Satan girl.

"It's a lot harder when your only justification for existing has been taken from you. I still can't believe that me being part Saiyan and you surpassing the wall of humanity is gonna have us living a few centuries. I guess one great consolation to all of this is that we now have a new mission."

"What do you mean?" asked Videl, clearly puzzled.

Gohan let out a long-suffering sigh. "Videl, I should have told you this earlier. Piccolo and Master Roshi warned me about a new threat that was rising up in the world. Something wicked is brewing on the Earth, something that's going to throw everything out of balance. My greatest task upon returning to Satan City will be helping you in completing your Kame School training in preparation for this new threat. We're gonna have to find some way to balance our training with going to school. I don't want to put too much pressure on you, but it is absolutely vital that you rise to the challenge and meet this head on! Your training will ultimately be the thing that saves your life."

"Did Piccolo tell you what this new threat was?" asked Videl worriedly. "I don't think I'll be much help against a Majin Buu or a Broly just yet."

"From what Master Roshi and Piccolo have said, this threat is very different. It won't be a single entity so much as a collective one. They haven't really said enough about this new adversary to know what we're gonna be up against. I do know however, that Satan City will be a theater of war in this next great struggle for mankind's future."

Upon hearing this, the petite fighter's eyes widened in shock. "Our hometown!?"

"Apparently so," Gohan confirmed. "It is imperative that we use the next six months of training wisely. If Satan City goes, West Metro and King Furry's power base follows."

"What if I'm not strong enough?"

"Hun, from what I've seen, I highly doubt you'll fail to meet the task. The whole point of this is to get you past the 'wall of humanity.' Once we're done with Roshi's program, that's when I'll be training you Piccolo's way. Complete Roshi's program and I'll take you into the hyperbolic time chamber. We need you stronger so you can survive in there."

It was then that Videl and Gohan noticed that both Master Roshi and Mr. Satan were strangely absent. This gave Gohan a fun little idea for Videl's training.

"Videl, try to feel out Master Roshi and your dad's energy."

"Alright, I'll give it a shot." Closing her eyes, Videl stretched out with her will and tried to read the interspiritual medium for whatever ki signatures were in the area. Her first attempt was met with failure.

"I guess I still need practice…" she admitted, scratching the back of her head sheepishly.

"It's OK," her boyfriend assured, "You're still new at this. Come with me."

With that, Gohan and Videl took off towards the ocean. The two teens rounded the next sand dune before coming onto the water. There, they were met with the sight of Mark and the Turtle Hermit conversing with a voluptuous red-haired woman in a scarlet Vegas showgirl dress. The woman was leaning against a crimson hovercar.

Upon approaching the three people, the ginger-haired woman's eyes lit up in shocked recognition.

"Holy Shit! Is that you Videl?!" the woman squealed.

"Hi Pizza," Videl greeted with an offhanded wave.

Her father's red-haired manager raced forward and wrapped the Satan girl in a big hug. "It's been so long! Look at you! My Gosh! I can't believe how much you've changed!"

"Really? I haven't noticed," muttered the raven-haired fighter.

"I don't see why not," Miss Pizza remarked with a ditzy giggle. "I mean wow! It's only been like two months and your thighs are bigger, your hair is longer, and you look like you've added a cup size!"

"Can we please talk about something other than my boobs?!" growled the Satan girl, a blush spreading across her cheeks. Videl unconsciously ran a hand across her noticeably larger, perky breasts. Videl was getting older and her breasts, though already relatively large when her and Gohan started sleeping together, were starting to blossom out a bit more. The petite fighter was now easily packin some D-cup knockers. The estrogen in her birth control and her and Gohan's consistent sex life certainly offered some very welcome added benefits that had Gohan doing mental cartwheels. She really needed to invest in some larger sports bras though.

It was then that the ginger-haired woman turned her attention to Gohan. "I take it you're Videl's boyfriend I've heard so much about."

"Unless there's someone I don't know about, that would be me!" answered the Saiyan proudly.

"Mmmhmm," Pizza nodded, "You look like a stud!"

Gohan laughed awkwardly at the blunt compliment but took it in stride. "Really? I haven't noticed…"

"Oh, and so modest too! I can see why Mr. Satan is OK with you dating his daughter!"

"So…," Videl started, "To what do we owe the honor of this visit?"

"I heard that you and your father were training on this island. We've been trying to get some cameramen down here for a while just so we could make a documentary on you and your father's training."

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea Pizza," Videl warned.

"And why not?" asked Pizza, somewhat curious. It was no secret to her that Videl, unlike her father, was not much of a publicity senior though she didn't see why a reality TV show or docudrama was such a bad idea."

"It's complicated…"

The red-haired lady crossed her arms across her ample bosom. "Videl, we've known each other for years. Try me!"

Videl let out an annoyed sigh. "For one, me, Gohan, and Dad are each training for our own individual reasons. We need to stay focused. Secondly, the training methods are unorthodox and may seem very silly to some so we really need to keep the embarrassment factor out of the equation. Third, Master Roshi doesn't want to publicize his training program. He and his older student want to keep their private lives as much as they can."

"I don't see why though," remarked the woman. "They could make a killing off this! Also, why are you and your Dad training under someone else anyway? Your Pops is the Champ!"

"You remember what happened to me, Piroski, and Caroni?" Videl asked.

"Yeah, so?"

"That's why," was Videl's answer. "We got leveled. My dad's style isn't adequate for what I'll be fighting against in the future."

"You?"

"From what I've heard, shit's gonna get real in Satan City in the near future," explained the female fighter.

"How real are we talkin here?"

Videl sighed. She really didn't want to get into too many details, but she sure as hell didn't want to lie to a woman she's known for years. She decided to err towards the truth.

"You remember Cell, right? Something big is coming down the pike, something or someone that I'll have to fight against in the future."

Pizza's eyes widened at this. "W-What?! Shouldn't we warn someone?"

"We have no physical evidence," answered the Satan girl. "Let's just say that we have a few really good informants who are in the know." She motioned to Gohan while saying the last bit.

"What does this fella have to do with it?" asked the redhead.

"Gohan here is my partner in fighting crime."

"Saiyaman!" Pizza muttered numbly.

"That's me!" chimed the half-Saiyan.

"Didn't you and him fly off at the last tournament?"

"Let's just say that Gohan and I were warned of Babadi and Majin Buu ahead of time," Videl replied. "Humanities' future was more important than some competition."

"If my memory serves me correctly, isn't this Gohan kid also the Gold Fighter? I recognized him from the Cell Games. You're that kid, aren't you?!"

"Uh… I… uh.." fumbled Gohan nervously.

"Leave it to Miss Pizza to figure out the obvious," muttered Videl. "I know you aren't the first one to make the connection, but you won't tell anyone, will you?"

"Videl, what kind of a fool do your take me for?" demanded Mark's manager, indignantly. "My career depends on me not rocking the boat. My lips are sealed."

Gohan wiped his brow. "Phew! That's a relief…"

Miss Pizza rolled her eyes. "Anyway… are you still against making that docudrama?"

Videl shot the older woman a glare. "Listen! I really, really don't think that's such a good idea!"

"Is there something I'm missing here?" Pizza asked, narrowing her eyes at the two teens suspiciously.

Gohan stepped back nervously. "Uh…"

"Ok, you want the truth? Fine!" growled Videl. "I moved Gohan in with us and we're sharing a bedroom! When we go back to school, I'm moving him into a shared bedroom with me!"

Miss Pizza's eyes widened as it hit her all at once. "Oh my goodness! You're not even out of high school, and your dad is letting your boyfriend sleep with you!? What is your pops thinking?!"

It was then that Mr. Satan decided to walk up to their little pow-wow circle.

"I don't see what the issue is. We're getting married after highschool!" Videl mouthed smugly. "Besides, I've been sleeping with Gohan every other night since the whole Buu incident anyway!"

"VIDEL!" bellowed Mr. Satan.

"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "We're all adults here. I'm proud of what me and Gohan have!"

"But what if he gets you pregnant?!" grilled Miss Pizza. "Your career as a fighter would come to a screeching halt!"

"How?" Videl asked. "Are you saying I can't be a mom and a career athlete at the same time?! I thought you were a career woman yourself! Besides, I'm rich. I don't intend to have any babies until at least after I'm out of high school, and even if I did, that doesn't mean I can't be a fighter and a mother. Seriously, what kind of misogynistic BS question is that?!

"Uh… point taken," Pizza remarked.

The woman turned her gaze back to Gohan. "What's your opinion on all this?"

"I don't want to have children until me and Videl are at least out of high school. A kid is the last thing on our agenda right now."

Videl gave her love interest a quick friendly slap on the shoulder. "Gohan and my birth control are in a death battle and Gohan is holding his own! I'm not really worried though. That's what morning after pills are for."

Mark eyed his future son-in-law out of the corner of his vision. The boy looked so embarrassed, he wouldn't be surprised if Gohan just buried his head in the sand right there.

Miss Pizza was stunned. She turned to her 'boss' and began to pet his arm. "Wow… I can definitely tell where she gets it from. The girl definitely knows how to represent."

Mark then regarded his only child. "You were saying something about being discrete?"

Videl shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "She wanted answers and she wouldn't shut up, so I gave em to her."

"Itn't that just beautiful?" Mr. Satan muttered sarcastically.

"What? She knows us! We can trust her…"

Mark buried his face in his hands and began to weep. "Lord, where did I go wrong…?"

Videl threw her head back in mirth at both her father and her boyfriend's obvious embarrassment.

Oh, it's a beautiful day… It's the best of times and the best of times!

Author's Note: The wish to erase everyone's memories on Earth following Babadi and Buu's massacre is always one that bothered me, and it was a wish that always seemed so out of character compared to the nature of other wishes made by Goku and his old circle of friends in the past. They didn't erase the memories of the people following Cell's massacre, King Piccolo's coup, or the worldwide devastation wrought by Garlic Junior's black water mist, and it always seemed as if the everyman in the Dragonball universe conveniently forgot about these things. Why would the Z-gang erase everyone's memory of Majin Buu and the events of the World Martial Arts Tournament just to avoid worldwide closure issues when the millions of people who died at the hands of Cell seven years prior could still remember their time in the afterlife? This is one reason why I think the wish was made by the Z-gang more out of their own selfish desires than it was for helping the people of Earth avoid closure issues. If they really cared about doing it for moral reasons, they would have given the victims of King Piccolo, Frieza, and Cell the same courtesy, and because Gohan and Mr. Satan were the only ones who actually gained anything from this wish, it's pretty safe to assume that they were the only two advocating for it. For this reason, it's really hard to see Gohan as a real hero when one really thinks about why he made this wish. It's also really hard to see Videl as a principled individual who hates liars when she essentially allowed Gohan to make this wish, a wish that took the common people's right to choose, just so he could go back to living in denial and pretending to be 'normal.' Videl was present when the wish was made. The whole wish was just one big cop-out that Gohan and Mr. Satan used to avoid both moral questions and some much-needed growing up. The wish set the stage for everyone just giving up and going back to pretending that everything was alright, that Majin Buu never happened. There's a very big difference between Gohan keeping secrets and him using the Dragonballs to actively rob people of the truth, a difference that casts a real pale over Gohan's claim that he cares about protecting others. Robbing people of the context they need for character development just makes one an Indian Giver at best and an ass at worst. There is a major difference between being an actual hero and playing fallen angel to someone.

Another issue I think needs to be touched on is the assertion by some of my reviewers that I'm somehow being too hard on Chi-Chi and Mr. Satan in this fiction, Chi-Chi especially. I'm writing the falling out Gohan has with his parents based on my own personal experience of being home schooled. No parent should be allowed to hide behind 'parental rights' when they are essentially ruining their kid's life by socially stunting them from a young age. Gohan can fly faster than a jet so there really is no excuse for why Chi-Chi would home-school him other than seeing him as an empty vessel she could indoctrinate. There's a big difference between parental guidance and what Chi-Chi did, and I will tell you from experience that as soon as a kid gets old enough to make his own decisions, he usually winds up hating his parents for not giving him a choice in the matter. Home-schooling is just another way of setting your kids up to fail by keeping them under your thumb for selfish reasons. If you take into account the fact that Gohan is nigh-invincible, Chi-Chi could not have been doing this out of some BS reason like protecting him. Even if Gohan never wanted to be a fighter like his father, there's really no clear indication that he would have wanted to be a scholar in the absence of his mother conditioning him from a young age. I mean really! He marries Videl who is her father's heir, he's friends with Bulma Briefs, and he is his grandfather the OX King's heir so what possible reason could Chi-Chi have other than severe, borderline abusive control issues is keeping her son from being his own person? Why would Gohan ever need to be a bread-winner at all?! His powers alone would have given him a quick path to riches. As much as certain people like to laugh at Chi-Chi's antics and seem to think it's funny, I can tell you from experience that having a parent like that who goes on angry tirades and advocates home schooling is usually a highly abusive parent who just wants to get away with things behind closed doors that would normally have child services on their asses. There's nothing funny about Chi-Chi and what she represents, so Akira Toriyama can once again take his penchant for romanticizing traditional Japanese family conventions and shove them where the sun doesn't shine!