Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or any of the characters, but do enjoy the story.

Chapter 10

"He...can...fly?" she said her eyes widening in disbelief.

Gohan was already an impossible puzzle, but now apparently the guy had superpowers. Not just any superpowers either, it was the same powers that those people from the Cell Games used. But that wasn't possible, her father said those were only tricks and yet...

Videl observed the destruction that was before her, "There is no way that a trick could have done all this."

Was it possible that her father knew these weren't tricks and was trying to cover it up, but why would he need to do that. Unless...

She began to tremble at the thought, "He didn't beat Cell."

"VIDEL!" she heard someone scream.

She turned to see her uncle bursting from the stairwell and running straight to her side. The concern he had for her was evident. The crime fighter smiled up at him, but it did nothing to dissipate the worried look on his face. He could see the blood on her right shoulder and it only made him tighten his fist and his face twisted into snarling expression. He was about to ask her what happened...

"You failure," he heard someone roar, "Some mercenaries, you couldn't even take out one little girl. I practically handed her to you."

Belphegor turned around to see Officer Caspers kicking at the now one-armed mercenary. The Chief Investigator took a deep breath and then his face became neutral. The other officers who had showed up started backing away from him. They knew one thing, that Belphegor when he didn't show his anger, was a lot scarier than when he did.

"Caspers," he said softly, but it still caught the officer's attention, "Are you telling me that you're responsible for this."

The officer scoffed, "Yeah, I hired these men to kill the little bitch for me. Looks like I wasted my money."

The entire time Belphegor kept up his poker face and seemingly without emotion he asked, "Why?"

"For revenge," the officer shouted, "My son was an astounding fighter with a future. Not once did he lose a match, that is until he fought her. After that he committed suicide and it's all that bitch's fault!"

Videl's eyes widened once again in disbelief, but not because she was thinking that it was her fault. It was in disbelief of the fact this man was so ignorant of his own son's pain.

"You asshole!" she yelled, "You have no idea what your son was really like do you?"

"Shut up," he said, "I knew my son better than anyone."

Videl stood up finally to make sure her point would come across, "No, you didn't. Penn was a great fighter, that much I know. Of all the fights I had he was by far the most challenging opponent to face. He trained hard and fought as many people as he could to become stronger, but it was never for himself. He did all for you; He did it so you would be proud of him."

"I said shut up," he yelled as he quickly drew his gun, but his aim was somewhat shaky.

"You can't hit me with that," she told him with confidence," Because you know that what I'm saying is true. You were always talking about him as long as he was winning. I remember seeing the two you and being so jealous. A happy parent-child relationship that I haven't experienced since my mother passed. It was because I was so used to seeing that scene that I noticed when it changed."

"If you don't stop talking now, I'm going to shoot you," the officer threatened.

But Videl did not back down, "The day after he challenged me and lost was when everything went wrong. I saw how he tried to speak to you, but you always brushed him off. You didn't even try to reach out to your own son. You abandoned him left him to die."

Caspers pulled the trigger, but Videl did not falter and stood where she was. The bullet only barely grazed her cheek. The second he had fired his gun off, he realized one big mistake. He had shot Videl in the presence of Belphegor. The Chief Investigator had already moved in by the time he realized this. He easily disarmed the officer and then flipped him over his back. Ending it by slamming him face first into the ground and then putting Caspers own gun to his head.

"You make one move and I'll shoot," he told the officer.

Videl could not believe what she was seeing now. Her uncle was usually such a pacifistic man, but right now he seemed as violent as a wild beast.

"You know, what makes you a truly terrible person," Belphegor said, "Is that you abandoned your son when he needed you. That's the worst mistake that any parent could make."

Belphegor called for the other officers to start rounding up all of the criminals and they all did as ordered. The nine mercenaries and Caspers were more than likely going to face some serious charges. While one officer interrogated her, her uncle wrapped up her shoulder. He had been astounded. It was obvious that she was shot, but there was no exit wound nor was there any trace of the bullet. However, despite being busy with that he paid close attention to reactions to the questions. He noticed that she tensed when asked about how this destruction came about. It was obvious she knew what had happened and normally she would have answered honestly, but she lied when she claimed a bomb had done this.

It was believable in a way. Anyone would believe that some kind of explosive must have been used to do all this. Videl hated to lie about it, but there was no way these guys would believe that someone did all this with a laser blast from his finger. Hell, she still couldn't believe it. More than that though, was it possible that her father could have lied to the world, but more importantly could have lied to her. If so, then what else did he lie about.

"Videl," Belphegor said softly, "Come on, I'll take you home."

Without saying much she followed him out of the building and to his police cruiser. The sun had begun to set and for some reason it felt off. Belphegor watched Videl and could see that something was bothering her. Not that he could blame her. In just two days she had faced many terrifying situations and tonight he may just end up shattering her world. Perhaps that was the reason the sunset had felt off, the scarlet that danced across the sky was almost foretelling the dangers of the future.

Videl stared out at the city as they drove through the city. She watched as the sun finally disappeared and night had fallen by the time they had reached her home. Even in a neighborhood with big houses, it was easy to distinguish which one was hers. It was the only one with a huge statue of her dad. Her uncle pulled up to the stairs that led to the front door and even walked her up to it. She hadn't noticed it before, but her uncle was acting strange for some reason. His eyes were still reflecting the same anger that they had when he confronted Caspers. She was about to ask him what was wrong when a limo drove up behind them.

Videl let out a sigh, "Great, he was out again."

From the limo emerged a well-muscled short man with a big black afro and moustache. With him were two skimpily dressed women.

"Oh Hercy, you're so strong," one giggled.

"Don't I know it," he said posing and flexing his muscles.

Videl wanted to go down there and smack him right across the face. While she was facing down mercenaries he was out partying without a care in the world. She growled slightly which caught the attention of Hercule.

"Hey Videl, did you have a good day today?" he said waving to her.

"No Mark, she didn't," Belphegor said coldly.

THe two women were confused, but both Videl and Hercule went wide-eyed. The only time her uncle ever used her dad's real name was when he was mad at him. Even if she was mad at him too, why was he?

"If you must know," Belphegor continued, "Your daughter just spent her day fighting skilled mercenaries and had managed to get herself shot."

Hercule simply brushed off his words saying, "Oh come on, she's obviously fine. After all she is a Satan. Not only that, but can you imagine how famous she'll get once people hear about this. Then as the person who trained her, I'll get even more fame as well."

There it was again. Whenever she managed to do something, no one ever truly congratulated her for it. All they ever said was that it was expected from the daughter of Mr. Satan.

Her uncle let out a sigh before turning to her, "Videl, you should go to your room for a little bit. I have some things I would like to discuss with Mark."

Okay, this was definitely weird. Not as weird as what she saw Gohan do, but still. She did as she was told and went up to her room. She laid in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Videl could only think about all the things that happened to her today. The fact that Gohan could was a big surprise considering she had always wanted to do it since she saw the people at the Cell Games. She actually chuckled a bit when she realized that him being able to fly would explain how he had been up on the roof after she had arrived. If she hadn't been so excited to see she would have questioned it.

"Are you ever going to make sense to me?" she asked herself.

Yet again she smiled as she thought that Gohan would probably have given her a smartass response. Probably saying something like, "Not unless you want me to." No, that would be too cheesy even for him. He would probably just smirk and turn away from her. Videl turned over to her side and came to face her bedside drawer.

"Now that I think about," she said, "I still haven't opened that box that he gave me."

The crime fighter reached inside and pulled out a small plain box with a red ribbon wrapped around it. Videl carefully undid the ribbon, but then allowed it to fall to the floor. She was surprised by what she found inside. It was a black cord necklace with a pupil sized orb as the pendant. The orb was a vibrant blue, but the odd thing was that it wasn't as if the pendant itself was blue. It looked like small blue stars were dancing inside of it and making it shine. While Videl wasn't one for jewelry even she had to admit that it was truly beautiful.

She looked towards her door as if trying to confirm that no one was coming, "I suppose it's not gonna kill me to wear it for a second."

She laughed slightly as she put it on, but was surprised by what she could feel when she did. There a slight beat, almost like a heartbeat coming from it. Both her heart and this one were beating in sync with each other. Why was this beat so warm? So comforting? And familiar?

"Gohan," she whispered.

Her eyes widened now. Sure, he had been the one who gave it to her, but why would she consider someone like him as warm and comforting. If anything he was cold and heartless.

"That's right," she told herself, but she was unable to ignore the pain she felt as she spoke each word, "He is cruel, malicious, sadistic, and a downright asshole. I would never consider him as anything else."

She let out a sigh and looked up at her clock. It had been thirty minutes since she had come up here, surely her uncle had finished arguing with her father. Videl then looked out the window and could see his police cruiser still outside.

"I'd better hurry or I'll miss him," she said racing from her room.

She needed to talk to him, to tell him what really happened today. She needed to know what he thought about her father's claim of having defeated Cell. What she didn't know is that she was about to discover another lie that had been told her whole life.

(Just after Videl had left for her room)

Belphegor was still standing at the top of the stairs. He stared Hercule down with a cold gaze that would make anyone freeze in their tracks. To say he was angry would be an understatement. Videl had been shot, she could have died and this idiot only thought about how he could gain more fame. That had settled it. He already knew it was a mistake to leave both Selena and Videl in his care, but his biggest mistake was when he allowed his guilt to take over. When he allowed Hercule to keep Videl.

"You ladies should leave," he said to Hercule's company, then refocused his attention, "As for you Mark, I want to see you in gym. You've got fifteen minutes and don't even think of running away. You should know I've got plenty of patience."

Leaving the frightened Hercule he headed towards the idiot's private gym. Inside there was your basic weight lifting equipment, but in the center was a small arena similar to what could be found at the WMAT. Belphegor stood in its center and waited for his opponent to arrive. Just as he expected though, Hercule took almost half an hour to finally show up. He was probably hoping that for once Belphegor would decide that the wait wasn't worth it, but that was not the case. In fact, he felt that that every minute was worth it. He needed for Hercule to understand what was going on.

"So, uh...what is this about?" Hercule asked.

"What this is about is that I'm rectifying my mistake," he said, "I'm going to the courthouse tomorrow and I'm taking custody of Videl."

"WHAT!" Hercule yelled, "You can't do that...she's..."

Before he could get another word out Belphegor had kicked him in the face, "Let me guess, you were going to say that she was all you had of Selena. That's a pathetic excuse. I allowed Videl to stay with you because I felt guilty. I felt like I had taken away any chance that Selena and you would be happy. To make up for that I abandoned Videl."

Hercule held his bleeding nose as he tried to stand up, "Look Belphegor, there's no reason to be hasty about this. I've done great as Videl's father. She'll want to stay with me."

This time Belphegor back-handed the oaf and sent him back to the ground, "Oh really, I don't recall ever seeing you whenever Videl had a school play, or family days. No, it was always Selena and I that showed up. Things only got worse after you lied about beating Cell."

That's right, he knew. It wasn't hard to figure out that Hercule was a phony. After all his stepfather was a martial arts expert and had told him all about ki. He even managed to learn how use it to increase his physical ability. Thanks to that he managed recognize the abilities of the fighters from the Cell Games. It was another thing he despised Hercule for, mostly because he worried what Videl would do when she discovered the truth.

"You're never around for her," he said with ice in his voice, "Every time I see her she has an empty look in her eyes. I'm happy that she loses that look when she's with me. Perhaps because unlike you I showed the grief when Selena passed. Or maybe because I was truly there for her. But I was never as happy to see her as I am now. Lately, she's been more lively. She looks so much like her mother that it hurts and I know that I have that Gohan to thank."

It was just after he showed up that Videl started becoming more emotional. At first she seemed to despise him, but he could hear it in her voice. Beneath all the anger, there was an admiration of his fighting abilities. Lately though there was something else. When she showed up at the department wondering what had happened to him there was genuine concern. Somehow, Gohan had made crack in Videl's invincible armor. Now the only question was if Videl could do the same for him. Even if he only met the kid once, it was obvious that he had been through a lot and more than likely didn't want to get close to anyone.

"That kid has stood by Videl's side whenever she was in trouble," Belphegor growled, "That made me realize that she was growing up and soon she would be leaving. So, before that happens I'm going to correct my mistake. That means I'm taking my daughter back!"

He walked past the champ who had tried to cling to his coat, "Please wait..."

But he didn't, he brushed Hercule off of him and exited into the hall. Once there he let out a sigh and when he turned to the left his breath was taken away. Just not in a good way. Videl, his daughter, was standing there with tears in her eyes. It was obvious that she wanted him to explain. She wanted him to say that she hadn't heard what she had, but he couldn't and she knew it. When he tried to reach out to her; she ran.

Author's Note

Alright, this was the epic change I made. I realized I needed to have a real reason for Videl to seek Gohan out other than just curiosity and this is what I came up with. I mentioned last time there would be a oneshot about this and there will. It will basically explain the relationship between Selena and Belphegor, so look forward to that.

Now, I'm sure a lot of you are thinking this is going too fast, but it was kind of hard to pace a chapter where so little happen and yet expand it to where it wasn't too short. Still, I hope you enjoy it.

Warning: From now if you leave a review that simply says awesome chapter or it was great, it will be deleted. If you like a chapter, tell me what it was that you liked about.

Review Responses-

Critic: I wouldn't say that they make a mistake. I think it's just that when they reach a certain point in their story the other characters lose their importance. Or at least that's what happened in this story. I'm pretty sure that I'll give Erasa and Sharpner maybe three more appearances, but it won't be until much later. As for having their love tested, it would be kind of hard with both characters having this can't be loved personality. Then if you add in Gohan's struggles which I have not elaborated on just yet. That on its own is practically their test. Hell, they won't even get together until the near end of the story.

Random: I have mentioned before that grammar is not one of my strong suits and this laptop makes it harder because it doesn't allow me to scroll up easily. This results in me accidently skipping over mistakes. Also, the aorta is an artery that carries oxygenated blood. I don't know anything about it being a part of the nipple.

Guest: Sorry to say, but I have no plans for them to be using the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Main reason being that if you didn't realize, Gohan is avoiding all of the Z fighters and anyone from his past. This is for reasons that have yet to be explained. Also, Gohan has already been teaching her how to dodge.

Anonymous: Don't worry Gohan's back story will be revealed soon enough. It should be within the next possible eight chapters. I hope

WineIXI: I thank you for the analysis of Gohan and Videl's relationship. Also, isn't 10/110 pretty sucky. Oh well, you are allowed your own opinion. Though I'm pretty sure you accidently pressed the 1 button twice.