Chapter Twelve - Flying Lessons

Videl left her last class of the day and started toward the attendance office. She'd attempted to grill Yamcha at Phys. Ed. but he was a lot more together today than yesterday. He merely told her to get back to what she was supposed to be doing or he'd have to write her up. So she'd ditched that idea and fallen back on her other plan. She'd get Gohan's adress and then go to him if he wouldn't come to her. She had questions, he had answers, and she wanted them.

A minute later she entered the attenance office and saw none other than Anna Lysa behind the desk. "Ah, Anna!" Videl said walking up. "I need some help. I offered to take some homework to a new friend of mine before it dawned on me I don't know where he lives..." she lied. She knew the girl well enough to know she wouldn't just get the info she wanted without a good reason. "Think you could help me?"

"Yeah, sure. What's his name?"

"Son, Gohan." Videl said.

The other girl nodded and typed it into the computer. "Oh, wow... he lives way out there... In the Mt. Paozu district."

"Mt. Paozu district? That's out in the middle of nowhere." Videl said, quite shocked. "Well, is there an address or something to narrow it down, Mt. Paozu is a pretty big area."

"Yeah, here, I'll print out the location for you."

"Thanks."

Five mintues later Videl was climbing onto her air bike with Gohan's address clutched in her hand. A couple quick revs of the bike and she was zipping down the streets to her place. It'd take her far too long to get to Gohan's on her air bike so she was going to switch over to the copter she had. It could go faster and it didn't have to stick to the roads either. It'd only take about an hour and a half instead of almost three hours.

It only took her ten minutes to get home, thanks to taking shortcuts through the empty alleys. "Oh, hey there Videl." her father said as she pulled her air bike into the driveway. As she climbed off and capsulized it he walked over to her. "I remembered earlier about that kid, the one from the warehouse. You never did tell me if he was entering or not."

"Huh? Oh, Gohan?" she asked as she hurried inside and dug through the capsule drawer. "Yeah, he's going to enter. And apparently he's got a lot of friends who are entering now too."

"Oh? That's great!"

Videl nodded. "Yeah, a lot of them seem to be former competitors, even a few former Champions... Ah, here it is!" she cried pulling out the copter. "Look, dad, I have to get going. I promised I'd do a few things today so... I'll talk to you later." she said throwing down the copter. There was a flash and burst of smoke and the copter formed. "Bye dad!" she called taking off.

Hercule blinked as he watched her go. "Former competitors and Champions eh? Well, this is shaping up to be a good tournament after all!"

XXX

Son Home:

Tama was dodging around every attempted attack Gohan made and the teen, though still in base, was giving it his all. She pulled to the right slipping easily around his kick and his foot smashed into a tree shattering its trunk completely. With a startled cry he dodged out of the way as it fell right where he'd been standing. Turning he looked up and saw Tama floating a few feet above the trees. In a flash he shot up at her and began to try and attack her again.

"Your form is pretty good at least." Tama said weaving around Gohan's swings. "But you really need to work on your power and speed."

"Gee, thanks. But you do realize if I transformed you wouldn't stand a chance?" Gohan said with a grin.

Tama shrugged. "But that would be cheating, I'm not transformed you know." Gohan laughed as he continued swinging. He had to admit, while he couldn't hit her, it was certainly a good workout trying to. Tama looked thoughtful for a moment before she spoke again. "You said you guys here still got Zenkais, right? So... how come everyone used to be so weak? We've had Sai-jins try to abuse the Zenkai before and it eventually gave out on them... did that happen here?"

"I don't know." Gohan said. "I think with the old Sai-jins it was due to the way they lived. Low technology and vicious fights, a lot of them died instead of getting stronger. That probably kept their powers lower. As for the Zenkai... I haven't noticed any of us get one since we first transformed..."

"Oh? So being able to transform into a Super Sai-jin stops the Zenkai?"

"I guess." Suddenly, instead of dodging, Tama reached up and blocked his kick. Her head was turned looking off to the north. She was almost positive she'd felt a twinge of power. Gohan turned and looked as well. "What is it Tama?" he asked.

"I don't know... I thought I felt something..."

"Could have been an animal..." he said slowly. And then he saw a glint of sunlight in the distance. "Wait..." he started, his mind reaching out to find out what it was. And then he felt the Ki that was nearing. He knew only one Ki of that level. "What, no way! It can't be... how... how did she..."

"Huh? What's up Gohan?"

In her copter Videl was blinking at the two dots floating above the trees that she was nearing. According to the GPS in the copter they were really close to Gohan's place... whatever they where. They were too small to be some kind of aircraft and too big to be bugs... and birds couldn't hover. And then she was able to make out a pair of red pants and a white t-shirt on one and a blue dress on the other. "People?" she wondered. And then the one's appearance clicked. "GOHAN!" she cried in shock.

As soon as he heard his name the half Sai-jin froze and stiffened. "Oh no, it is Videl!"

"Videl?" Tama asked. "Who's Videl?"

"Um, remember the guy I told you about, Hercule?" Tama nodded. "Well, she's his daughter... we go to the same school and are kind of friends but... well..."

"She's as clueless about Ki as everyone else on this world?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh boy." Gohan just nodded thankful that Tama was understanding the situation. "We should land." she said grabbing his arm and pulling him down to the ground a few feet from his house.

A moment later Videl's copter landed as well and she hopped out. Gohan swallowed as she approached them, a scowl on her face. "Ok, now I want answers!" she said stopping a couple feet from the two of them. "I'm sure Yamcha told you yesterday about what I'd found, that's why you weren't in school today! And... and how were you just flying?"

"I... er..."

Tama put a hand on Gohan's shoulder and answered for him. "Actually, he stayed home to help me out." she said. "I'm here visiting for a while and his mom asked him to stay to help me get used to it here."

"And who are you?"

"Tamanegi." she said, holding out a hand to Videl. "But you can call me Tama." Videl looked at her hand for a moment and then reached out and took it shaking it. "So, you must be Videl. Hercule's daughter, right?" Videl nodded. "Those are some big shoes to fill."

"Yeah, I guess." Her eyes lingered on Tama for a moment longer before moving back to Gohan. "You still haven't answered me about the flying, Gohan."

"Well..." Tama said slowly. "It's... complicated." Gohan glanced over to her glad she was there to handle this but not sure what she had in mind. Tama wasn't exactly sure either but she had a feeling something like Ki control wouldn't go completely unnoticed by the entire population. Someone had to have found it, other than Gohan's friends, and there had to be some basic myths and what not floating around about it. "Have you ever heard of 'Mystical Arts'?" she asked.

"You mean magic?"

Tama shook her head. "No, no. People doing feats that exceed what a person should be capable of."

"Oh... like those monks up in the Sapernatral mountains, the ones that people claim can levitate and move things with their mind?"

Tama nodded, glad that her roll of the dice had worked. "That kind of thing, yeah. It's not as implausable as a lot of people think. With the right training you can do things like fly and such..." Videl's face slacked a little. "Gohan didn't want to freak you out or anything so... That's why he's been secretive. Him and his friends have all learned these arts."

"And you too? Who are you exactly, anyway?"

"Me too." she said with a nod. "And I'm... Gohan's cousin." she added.

"So... then... the Cell Games... Dad..."

"Your dad played a big role." Tama said.

Gohan finally got his voice back and picked up there. "She's right. Without him we wouldn't have won. And, well, it gave us someone to let take all the credit. We're not really the spotlight kind of people."

"So... dad didn't really beat Cell?"

"Ummm..." Gohan said, scratching the back of his head. "Well, no..."

"I knew it..." she breathed slowly. "I always thought there was something off about his stories and how he said the others used lightshows and stuff. I bet it was your dad, right? But... why the wig or hair dye or whatever, and why the color change eye contacts?"

Gohan was, once more, at a loss for what to say. Luckily for him, Tama wasn't. "Like he said, stay out of the spotlight. None of us want to be famous, just live in peace and quiet."

"Yamcha and the others must have just figured enough time had passed since their Budokai competitions that they wouldn't be recognized..." Videl said slowly. Then she looked up at the two before her. "Can you teach me how to fly?" she asked at last.

Tama blinked and looked over to Gohan. This time he did have a response. "Well, I'd been thinking about that actually." he said after a moment. "There's a lot of things you'll need to work into slowly though, Videl. If you rush it I think it'll be too much for you. But I think you're ready for flying. Maybe..."

"Maybe?"

"Well, I know you're strong..." Gohan said. "But that's not enough for this kind of thing. How to explain... Everyone has a form of energy flowing through them called Ki. It's your Ki that lets you do feats beyond the normal. You've got quite a bit already, though you still rely more on your muscles than your energy for strength."

"Which is probably a good thing." he thought. "Otherwise her fist would be punching right through most of the people she fought. Though, once she gets the hang of Ki and starts knocking over trees with a single punch and blowing up mountains... that's going to open up more issues... man, life was easier when I only had to worry about killer aliens and Androids."

"Ki, huh? So... how does it work?"

"Well... first we'll need to teach you how to use your Ki... I've never..."

"I can do that." Tama said. "Here, have a seat Videl." The girl nodded and sat down in the grass crossing her legs. Tama and Gohan sat down across from her. "Alright. Now, close your eyes." Videl did as Tama said. "Good. Now for the hard part. Clear your mind of all thoughts and feel out your body."

"How do I...?"

"Just clear your mind and focus on your body, feel how it feels. I know that sounds weird but you'll understand soon." Tama explained. Videl nodded slowly and tried to do what Tama said. "You'll feel a warmth somewhere... in your chest or the pit of your stomach. It'll be faint, don't look for it, let it come to you."

Videl took a deep breath and focused. It took a few moments but then she felt it, a soft pulsing warmth down in her stomach. "I... I found it..." she said, a bit shocked.

Tama nodded. "Focus on that. Try and bring it out from where it's hiding." The three sat in silence for a moment before Tama continued. "Cup your hands in front of you and focus on that warmth, try and draw it through your arms and into the space between your hands." Videl nodded and did just that. There were several long moments of silence and then a faint light formed between her hands. It pulsed light purple and grew slowly until the light was shining through Videl's closed eyes. The girl opened them, saw the energy, gasped in shock, and then it vanished.

"That was great Videl!" Gohan cried. "It took me weeks to get the hang of that!"

"It's all in the teacher." Tama said grinning.

"That was... that light... that was what Cell and the others were throwing around, wasn't it? This Ki energy stuff?"

Gohan nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much it. I'm sure you've heard of the Kamehameha Wave, right?"

"The move invented by the old martial arts master, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one. It's the same thing. Training with Master Roshi is how Yamcha and my dad both learned to use their Ki, as well as another friend of ours."

Videl nodded. "So... now what do I do?"

"Well, try that again." Tama said. "You need to be able to do it quickly and easily, and with complete control as well. Afterall, we wouldn't want you losing it like that when you're a few hundred feet in the air."

"Yeah... I guess not." Videl said nodding.

It took another hour for Videl to be able to draw out her energy almost on instinct and have good enough control over it before Tama and Gohan were willing to move to the next step. "Alright, here we go." Tama said. She and Gohan were standing aside with Videl standing on a small rise. "Alright now, draw out your energy and push it out around you." Tama said. "Remember, it's not like a jet that's pushed by it's energy, to fly you need to use your energy to manipulate the gravity field around you."

"Easier said then done..." Videl muttered.

"Exactly." Tama replied. "So focus. You've got enough energy for flying, all you need to do is push it out around your body so that it covers you like a second skin. And then push it along your body opposite the direction you want to go."

Videl nodded. It took a while to get the energy out. Covering herself was a lot more difficult than making a ball of energy. And then the grass under her feet began to wave in a sudden breeze and her clothes to flap. "Relax Videl." Tama said softly. "Don't push the energy away from you, just along you."

Videl nodded and relaxed a little. The breeze faded away and then she lifted unsteadily into the air. A moment later she opened her eyes and smiled. "I... I'm flying! Whoa!" she cried slipping down a few feet before catching herself. "This is harder than it looks."

XXX

Thursday, April 8th. Hercule City:

Videl had brought up an interesting question the previous day after her flying lesson. Would Tama be attending school at Hercule High too? Gohan hadn't really thought of that. In a way, it did make sense. It'd certainly help the girl blend in during her stay. After Videl had left they'd talked to Chi-Chi about it for some input as neither really had an answer to the question.

It hadn't taken long for Tama and Gohan to decide that the girl wouldn't be going to Hercule High and would, instead, stay behind at the house to help Chi-Chi out. Gohan certainly felt better with Tama there watching over his mom now, incase she fainted again. Chi-Chi had, of course, protested this. Insisting that she was fine and that Tama shouldn't waste her time with them staying at the house all day looking after her. The girl was, however, not convinced, and the matter was left at that.

Now it was the following morning and Gohan was, once again, on his way to school. After the rather eventfull passed three days he was hoping that nothing major would happen today. Of course, his luck was never that good. He'd gotten as far as 25th street and Diablos Avenue, still over a mile from the school, when the sounds of gun fire reached his ears coming from behind him.

Looking back he saw a blue car zipping along down the road toward him with a guy leaning out of each of the back side windows firing off automatics at the cops chasing after them. With a sigh and a slump of his shoulders, today had started off so nicely, Gohan slipped into the darkness of the alley beside him and activated his watch. Instantly he was garbed in his Saiyaman outfit, red cape billowing out behind him in the breeze through the alley.

The radio communications of the police officers then reached his ears and he smiled. Bulma told him she'd installed a few prototype items into his suit for him to test out, including a special radio that would patch in to the police bands for him. Beyond that, the helmet also contained a very small but very powerful computer. The visor was the display screen for the information it had to show him and, in only a second, the computer had culled through the radio transmissions and was displaying on his visor the information of exactly what was happening.

The four people in the car were wanted for kidnapping and murder. They'd taken some rich guy's daughter and the ransom meeting had gone bad, the girl had ended up dead. Moving back out onto the road he stood in the middle of the street as the car charged toward him. It was still two blocks away when he sensed what was becoming a very familiar Ki inside one of the cop cars only a block behind the criminals. "Oh boy, it's Videl. She still doesn't know I'm Saiyaman. Ok Gohan, play it cool." he thought.

The car was a block away now and the driver finally noticed the brightly clothed man standing dead center in his path. "Out of the way idiot or I'm running you over!" he cried. The two gunmen stopped shooting and turned to look toward him. The car was only feet away and Gohan raised his right leg. A loud crack sounded as the bumper crumpled beneath his foot and the car came to a sudden stop, the back wheels still spinning and screeching.

"Man, I'm out of here!" the guy in the front passanger seat yelled as he climbed out of the car. Gohan pointed an arm toward the running man and a blast of gold energy shot after him expanding and flatening as it went. It hit a second later and envolped the criminal's legs bringing him crashing down face first onto the street. Gohan lowered his arm and looked back toward the others.

"Eat lead freak!" one of the gunmen called, openning fire. He shot off at least a hundred rounds before stopping but it looked as though the man holding the car in place hadn't even moved and it was obvious none of the shots had hit him. And then Gohan raised his left arm up in front of his face and openned his gloved hand slowly. The spent bullets fell and clattered onto the hood of the car.

The wheels stopped screeching at last as the driver freaked out, climbed out of the car, and took off as well. Gohan frowned as both the gunmen dropped their weapons and did the same. "Figures they'd run." he muttered. As he moved his foot off the car he turned toward the driver first, he was the only one smart enough to run away from the approaching cops. Either that, or the gunmen were just that scared of him they wanted the police to protect them. Gohan wasn't really sure which.

It didn't really matter either. To those watching he suddenly vanished and then re-appeared in front of the running driver. The man came to a quick stop, his feet skidding on the pavement as he did. He turned to take off the other way but stopped, eyes wide, as he saw Saiyaman standing in front of him again. "Wh-who... who... are you!" the guy cried, taking a step back.

Gohan grinned as he spread his legs a little and held his arms up to his right at an angle. "I am!" he began, as he shifted to a new pose with his left leg up pressed against his right and his arms out at his sides. "The Great!" His leg came back down, he bent over a little, and he brought his arms up, hands cupping over his visor above his eyes as though blocking out the sun. "Saiyaman!"

The guy blinked. "I'm... being arrested... by a lunatic..." he muttered.

As Gohan moved out of his pose he felt Videl approaching him and looked back to see that the other two were already in cop cars while the officers tried to figure out what to do with the third guy's bound legs. "Hey... you're the guy that caught that car the other day." she said. "Just who are you?"

"Didn't you hear?" he asked, keeping up his Saiyaman voice. "I am..."

"Signman, yes, I heard."

Gohan blinked. "Uh... no.. that's not... I mean... it's Saiyaman, miss."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I just want to know who you really are. And how you caught that car before..." She glanced back at the scene behind her. "Or how about how you stopped that car with your foot or caught those bullets..."

"Er, well... I see you have everything under control here now, I'll just be going. Later!" he said waving and lifting up into the air.

"Oh no you don't!" Videl called starting to float up after him. But before she'd gotten more than an inch off the ground he'd vanished. "Huh? How did he... where'd he go?"

Landing in an alley a block from the school he sighed and leaned back against the wall. "That was close. Man, I wonder how long before she figures out I'm Saiyman?" he muttered pushing the button on his watch and going back to his normal clothes. "I mean, she already knows I can fly... she's a smart girl, I'm sure she'll start eliminating the suspects and get to me eventually." With another sigh he made his way to school.