Of Moons and Tales
Chapter 11
Despite the smiles and laughs that were traded as the two old friends caught up, the environment was anything but peaceful. There seemed to have been a few pieces of furniture that needed to be replaced after they'd flown through the window, which also needed to be replaced. Of course, the cuts and bruises on the two saiyans from their spar didn't phase them. Nor did it slow Vegeta down as he went to do whatever he did when he wasn't in the gravity chamber.
"So, you have a new partner in Other World huh?" Krillin asked with a large smile.
"Yeah, his name is Pikkon," Goku said.
"What's he like?"
"Well he's kind of tall, and has green skin. And he's strong!"
Krillin laughed, "Just like Piccolo huh?"
"Yeah kinda!" Goku laughed, "I hadn't noticed that."
"You never do," his friend said with a large smile. "What do you guys do up there huh? I know you train but why are you training? Other than being you - not everyone is you and they're up there training too right?"
"It's fun?" Goku shrugged. "Most train to impress the recruiters from Seireitei."
"Oh what's that?" Krillin asked with interest.
Goku smiled widely, "I have no idea, but there's a guy in there that keeps trying to get me to join his team. He kind of scares me though so I keep telling him no."
"Scares you? You're Goku!"
"He reminds me of Broly." Goku shuddered. "Except instead of trying to kill me… He just wants to fight me… forever."
Krillin chuckled, "I'd have thought you'd be in heaven with that concept."
"Hmmm...but I like resting too. Like having big dinners and exploring the other world," Goku informed him. "I heard you had a kid. What's that like? Who's the mom?"
"What? Oh! It's wonderful Goku, you should know that." Krillin smiled, pulling out his wallet to show Goku a picture. "Her name is Marron, she's the most perfect little girl. Takes mostly after Lazuli mostly…"
"Who?" Goku asked, genuinely confused.
"Oh! Eighteen… sorry, I forget sometimes that you guys don't know her real name." Krillin explained.
"Lazuli huh?" Goku pondered and then shook his head. "Naw, I like Eighteen better. I think it's suits her more."
"She answers to it more, too." Krillin chuckled. "Since she told me, I've been trying to use her real name as opposed to the number that horrible doctor gave her. She doesn't seem to care."
"Well, that's good. Hmmm," Goku hummed to himself as he seemed to get lost in his thought for a moment.
"Let me guess - you want to go see what's for lunch, right?"
"How'd you know?"
Gohan sighed as he collapsed into his seat, he never thought school could ever be so exhausting. Considering how advanced he was intellectually, it shouldn't be… but he never factored in Videl before. She'd been dogging his steps from the moment he got to school that morning, relentlessly. Here he'd thought that running from her had been tiring. He glanced up when he felt Erasa settle in beside him.
"Aren't you going to eat anything, silly?" Erasa asked as she took the lid off of her salad.
"Uh, I already ate," Gohan said nervously.
Videl huffed as she sat down next to Erasa, "When? We just got out of the lunch line Gohan and you didn't bring anything with you."
When did she get so perceptive?
"You should eat," Erasa said with a smile. "Gotta keep up your strength if you want to enter the tournament, don't you?"
"Wh-Erasa, I'm not entering the tournament," Gohan rebuffed.
"That's funny, Videl said you were. Isn't that right Videl?" Their blonde haired friend asked as she picked up her fork.
"Damn right." Videl snorted as she dug into her food.
"What?! No!" Gohan argued.
"Why not?" Erasa pouted. "I think you'd win! Then you'd get to use the prize money to take Videl on a nice date."
Gohan stared at his friend with embarrased horror while Videl choked on her food.
"Erasa…" Gohan started but was interrupted by Videl, who'd managed to start breathing again.
"Erasa, it's not about that!" Videl defended, her face flushed before turning her attention to Gohan. "I've seen where you live. You could use the money… If you can beat my dad."
The half saiyan laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. He knew he could beat Hercule Satan, no problem. That wasn't what he was nervous about. He was more worried that when Vegeta heard he was being pressured into joining, he'd probably want to join too. Then others would join in and the tournament would be filled with the old gang, not the other people that had spent so long training for that specific event. How fair would that be?
Although...he could use that money for college…
"He hasn't lost a fight in years," Videl continued on after taking a sip. "He won the last tournament."
"He must be a good fighter," Gohan commented with an uneasy smile.
"He's the best in the world," the dark haired teenage girl said sullenly. "Sometimes I wish someone would just knock him down a peg or two."
"Why don't you?" Gohan asked while Erasa looked on with a smile.
"Me?" Videl let out a sound of disbelief. "I might be able to warm him up a bit but he's too strong. There's no way I'd stand a chance in a real match. That's why I know you wouldn't either Gohan, even if you can fight."
Apparently her new reality hadn't sunk into Videl's head yet. That was fine with him for now. As long as his family was left alone and she kept his secret he wouldn't try to make her reevaluate her world. Although with her trying to get him into the World Tournament, that might get tricky. Especially when everyone else heard about it. Gohan made no illusion that he'd be able to keep that a secret for long. He was really bad at lying obviously.
"I'm sure you could win, Videl." Gohan countered. "You go out and save people every day, that has to count for something."
"If you say so." Videl said, clearly not believing him.
Gohan looked around the living room of Capsule Corp. So far so good; Vegeta was tucked away in the gravity chamber, Bulma was down in her lab, the kids were fed and being entertained by the "newly" arrived saiyans, he hadn't seen Piccolo in a few days, and all the food was up. The only variable that he couldn't account for...was the one he worried about the most. His father. Halo and all. Maybe he went back to the other world, but he doubted that, his luck wasn't that good.
"Where could he be?" Gohan pondered, for once at loss as how to find Goku.
Much like the girls, Gohan couldn't sense his father at all. Apparently, it had to do with him being made up of reishi instead of ki, and how gigai didn't translate that reishi into ki. Gohan found it endlessly fascinating but his father wasn't a well of knowledge on the subject… neither was Piccolo, but the namekian appeared to know more than the saiyan. Probably because of Kami. Gohan decided that if he ever met King Kai, he'd ask more about it. At the moment. however, he couldn't help but curse his inability to sense his father…
"Hi Gohan!" Goku chirped as he walked up behind his son, sending Gohan almost through the ceiling.
"Dad don't do that!" Gohan called out in return.
"Do what?" Goku asked innocently.
"Sneak up on people. Videl is coming over and I don't want to freak her out, okay?"
"I wasn't trying to scare you." Goku remarked innocently. "I heard you looking for me."
"Just...could you not do that when she gets here?" Gohan tried again
He knew she was getting closer. Unlike his father, he could sense her at least.
"I'll try, Gohan." Goku smiled. "I'm told I should want your girlfriend to like me."
Gohan's eye widened. Who kept telling people that Videl was his girlfriend? He'd have thought it was Erasa but she had never met his family or the other Z-fighters. He was pretty sure she didn't even know that he was hanging around with the Bulma Briefs. So, she definitely couldn't have told his dad about his misinformed notion of him and Videl dating. As much as Bulma liked to play around she also knew that his Dad (and his mom) would take it seriously - she wasn't that heartless to make him deal with it. Who would be mean enough to go around spreading that -
"LETA!" Gohan called out with narrowed eyes while staring up at the area she would be at with the kids.
"I DIDN'T DO IT!"
He was about to call something else out until the doorbell rang.
Gohan jumped and quickly grabbed his father by the shoulders and began shoving him out of sight.
"Wha? Gohan!" Goku exclaimed.
"Dad, please just act like the ghost you are and stay out of sight!"
Once Gohan released Goku, he raced to the door and stepped outside. There was no way he was letting Videl inside while his father and that mischievous Leta were there. He nervously smiled at Videl's suspicious glare.
"Sorry," Gohan scratched the back of his head. "Let's go out back, it's not a good idea to practice flying inside."
She didn't put up a fuss to that. He guided her around the circle shaped house to a part of the back yard. He chose an area that was away from the house and yet was out of sight of the gravity chamber - just incase. He didn't need the "prince" of all saiyans to see him attempt to teach Videl to fly.
"Alright," Gohan edged in as he hooked his hands in his belt, unintentionally mimicking his father. "Where do we start?"
"What do you mean 'where do we start'? You're the teacher, so teach!"
"I've never done this before," Gohan tried to explain to her. "I mean I know how to fly, I've been doing that since I was a kid. But I don't know how to teach people to fly…"
"Well. you better learn mister, that was part of the deal," Videl said briskly.
"Okay…" Gohan paused, thinking over how he actually achieves flight. "To fly, you have to channel your ki to your feet."
"Ki…?" Videl asked.
"Yeah, it's energy," he tried to explain. "When you train in martial arts, most of the time you're training with ki too. It's that inner strength that bubbles up inside of you when you're angry or when you're really happy. Haven't you ever felt something just kind of slip out of you when you hit something? And then you're more tired than you should be?"
Videl thought about it for a moment, "Yeah… once in a while…"
"That's ki," Gohan smiled, "to fly, you have to learn to harness and control it."
"Well…" Videl started.
"... I'm not sure how to teach that…" Gohan admitted.
"How'd you learn?" Videl frowned, her hands on her hips. "We can try that way."
"Eheheheh… no we can't…" Gohan answered nervously.
He couldn't admit that he'd learned to fly by falling off cliffs or being thrown at said cliffs… repeatedly. Once he learned how to fly, dodging Piccolo's attacks became a lot easier too.
"Nevermind that," Gohan directed, "let's focus on you feeling your ki. Once you can feel it, you can attempt to direct its flow."
"Okay… you're the teacher." Videl shrugged.
"Why don't you sit down? That way you can focus," Gohan offered in a helpful tone.
She look at him suspiciously but sat down. He joined her on the cross, sitting cross legged in front of her. Videl closed her eyes to try to concentrated. She knew how to meditate from her martial arts training so she tried that first. She controlled her breathing and look instead, lowering her heartbeat to try and find what he was talking about. It all sounded like lies though. An energy from within? She was starting to doubt that this situation was real.
Her mind snapped back to when Gohan had actually shown her that it wasn't a trick. She could remember the way his "ki" wrapped around them to push down at gravity. It was like a warm blanket that kept them afloat, and there had been a strength in him that even her hand search (she would try not to think about that, because that was both embarrassing and disturbing on different levels) couldn't find a reason for. Sure, he wasn't the nerd she'd have thought by his school clothes but that strength was something else. Like the sun when someone couldn't see it - it was still there, it was still warming them and lighting the way but it wasn't visible. There but not there.
Videl groaned and shook her head, "This is stupid Gohan. It isn't working. I have no idea what I'm supposed to be looking for!"
Gohan frowned, unsure how to explain what ki felt like. He barely had a grasp how ki worked, and in turn flying. It all came so naturally to him, he'd never thought about it before. He sighed, Krillin or Yamcha would be better teachers for Videl. They were human and learned how to use ki… it wasn't something natural to them. But, shirking her off onto one of them wasn't an option, this was Videl. From what he'd seen already, she wasn't someone to be distracted when she made up her mind. She wanted him to teach her, end of story. Gohan was so distracted by trying to decipher how ki felt, he didn't even feel someone approaching until a small ki blast slammed into his back. Gohan scrambled to regain his footing, his hands scratching at the slightly burned spot on his shirt, as he turned to face his attacker. Upon seeing him, Gohan cursed internally.
"What was that for?" Gohan asked, trying to keep Videl out of sight.
"You shouldn't have let your guard down, boy!" The saiyan prince scoffed. "I hadn't realized you'd grown so soft."
Videl stood behind Gohan with mouth agape. She could see the burned area of his clothes but there wasn't a mark on his skin. That wasn't what disturbed her (yet). What got her jaw to drop was the fact that it had been created by a ball of light. One that had come out of no where!
"Gohan," Videl spoke up, her voice shaky. "What...what was that?"
"Not now," Gohan shushed, hoping to keep Vegeta's attention away from her.
Who knew what he would do if he spotted Videl… let alone found out who she was.
"Gohan?" She muttered, confused. She'd never seen him this serious before.
"What do you want, Vegeta?" Gohan shouted, his brows furrowed.
"Your dimwit father refuses to fight me," Vegeta smirked, "That means you will."
"Your father?"
"Not now, Videl." Gohan shushed again before turning back to Vegeta. "I can't right now, Vegeta."
"I thought he was off with another woman?" Videl bumped in again, irritated by Gohan's constant shushing.
Vegeta laughed quickly derogatorily, "Kakarot? With another woman? That's laughable. He doesn't even know what to do with the one he had."
"Vegeta…" Gohan warned.
"What? Too busy playing with your human pet?" Vegeta scoffed, "She can watch, I suppose. Maybe learn something or two about real power."
"Excuse me?!" Videl shouted, unsure how to feel about being referred to as a pet.
"Vegeta, she isn't the reason I won't fight with you." Gohan corrected. "Leave my mother out of this."
"You honestly call that she-harpy your 'mother'? You really are that imbeciles son."
"Go back to your gravity chamber and train if you want to fight so bad!" Gohan yelled, at his wits end.
"Why? So you can go back to trying to teach your pet to fly?" Vegeta snorted, pressing the issue for his own enjoyment. "Does trying teach a second class life form how to fly make you feel like a man? You don't have the balls to do anything else with your life."
"Vegeta," Gohan said in a darker voice.
Vegeta paid no mind. "I guess a human is the best you can do. But you could have at least picked a better one. This one is even more pathetic than your harpy mother."
Videl faintly heard a voice over the wind shout something along the lines of 'ooooh shit…' before there was an explosion in front of her. Once her vision cleared, she noticed not only was Gohan no longer in front of her, but he was beating on the stranger relentlessly… in mid air.
"That's more like it!" Vegeta said between hits. "I should play with your pet more often if you're finally doing something right."
Gohan didn't respond. He was beyond words. There was a small smile on his lips that didn't bode well for anyone. Luckily for Vegeta, Gohan wasn't as practiced as he used to be. The morning warm ups were nothing compared to what Vegeta had been going through day in and day out. Still, there was a vicious accuracy to his movements that made Vegeta happy because it showed he wasn't wasting away in his mountain home.
Videl watched it mixed astonishment and horror as the fight progressed, still in mid-air. Movement around her brought her attention back to the ground, where she found herself surrounded by strange people. Not all of them were strange, she quickly recognized the Bulma Briefs amongst the small crowd. It seemed they'd all come to watch the fight, but Videl half wondered why none of them were as horrified as she was.
"Well…" The black haired woman started, her eyes wide and somewhat dazed. "I can see why you don't take him places, Bulma."
In response, Bulma Briefs just sighed. "Why does he always do this when we have company?"
"He's putting on a show." The redhead answered, "He's acting like one of your peacocks, displaying his prowess for all strangers to see."
"I wish he'd do it quietly…" Bulma admitted, not even cringing when Gohan crashed through one wall of the house. "And less destructively… I just replaced that wall."
"You know Vegeta." The man behind her shrugged.
"This is normal?!" Videl squeaked.
She watched with wide eyes as Gohan came out of the house, seemingly unaffected by the fact that he was just thrown through said house. She continued to watch as he looked around before zeroing in on that man, Vegeta, and shot straight into the air, catching him in the stomach with his head. Vegeta choked out, falling out of the sky slightly before he recovered and met Gohans oncoming assault with his own. Sparks flew all around them from where they're energys crashed into one another non-stop.
The poor teenage girl's mouth felt like it was about to fall off of her face. This was intense - and she could barely even see anything. The only time she could tell what was happening was when one of them was flung into a house or the fence (which would need to be replaced soon). There were spots when they'd touched down on the ground before kicking off, green grass tarnished by those dug in marks. How was this even possible? Yes, Gohan had taken her flying and he might have beat her jetcopter in speed but this was insane! There was no way that it was all real. No way. No. She wasn't going to believe that - she wasn't ready to believe that.
"Think it's time they called it quits?" Bulma asked, exasperated.
"You want to get between them? Be my guest." The black haired woman answered, gesturing for Bulma to go first.
"It wouldn't be wise." The redhead corrected. "Gohan's in a rage, it'd be dangerous for anyone weaker than him to interfere."
"So… we wait it out?" Bulma questioned.
"Exactly." Both girls answered.
It was then Videl noticed the man behind her was gone. Looking around, she found him restraining Vegeta, apparently.
"Guys…"
"... Damn it Goku!" Bulma cursed.
Gohan didn't seem to be calming down. In fact he looked happy that his father had grabbed a hold of Vegeta, just in that malicious way. As he started to get in closer (faster than Videl could see obviously), he felt himself being restrained. He didn't need to look back to know that it was Piccolo, potentially the only guy he knew who was taller than him so it didn't look awkward, who had a hold of him.
"Gohan!" Goku shouted as he struggled to keep Vegeta both quiet and contained. "Gohan listen to me! That is enough! I know Vegeta made you mad but this isn't how to deal with it! You're just giving him what he wants!"
"I don't care, he's being an ass!" Gohan growled.
"...Annya," Leta said in a bored tone.
Nodding, Annya moved from her spot near Videl to behind him and pressed a spot underneath Gohan's jaw while Piccolo held him. Slowly the lights danced before Gohan's eyes and he was K. . She was rather glad his physiology followed the saiyans more than the humans or that wouldn't have worked as nicely. Moving away from the Namekian, Annya returned to Bulma and Leta's side. She blinked when Bulma looked at her as though she were being blamed for doing something bad.
"It was faster," was her only explanation.
"Yeah, who knew how long it'd have taken Goku to talk him down. If he even could… That almost looked like an Oozaru rage. Not a good thing, Bulma. It's better that he take a little nap and wake up all 'yay I wanna learn something new!' Gohan," Leta said in her normal playful tone before blinking. "Oh...god, Annya... he just pulled a you. Should he be killed with fire too?"
"But fire can't kill a dragon." Piccolo answered, completely serious.
"Shush you." Leta waved in his direction.
"Leta.." Annya started before they were interrupted by the rage of the saiyan prince.
"WHAT GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO INTERFERE WITH MY FIGHT KAKAROT?!"
"Vegeta! Those weren't very nice things to say about Chichi or Gohan's girlfriend!"
Videl sputtered in her shocked state. Girlfriend? Did that guy up there really think she was Gohan's girlfriend?
"YOU THINK I CARE WHAT THOSE CRETINS THINK?"
"Bulma's human."
Vegeta sputtered, "YOU LEAVE MY WOMAN OUT OF THIS!"
"My hero," Bulma muttered under her breath, sarcastically.
"His armor is soooooo shiny." Leta played along. "I can see our reflections from here."
"I know," Bulma sighed, "Can't you just…"
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Videl finally screamed.