A/A: So, this chapter took a little bit longer to write out, and it was a little boring at the beginning, since he was just telling her stuff—and I apologize for the dreadfully slow pace—but I tried to make the stories go by faster by not going into full detail. I going to be optimistic and say that it worked out… and I hope you enjoy it anyway. I'm so excited, now that the end is near…to bad I haven't really decided how to end it yet…but I'll figure something out.

A big thank you goes out to all that reviewed the last chapter. I can't thank you enough.

But now, I won't keep you any longer. I give you chapter 13:

Title: Hunt for the Dark Haired Angel

By: YukiraKing

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or its characters.

_
Chapter Thirteen:

"You are a very good liar," Videl commented. "I didn't think you were, but I was obviously proved wrong just now."

"I'm not lying to you Videl," Gohan pleaded. "I swear to you, I wouldn't lie about something like this. I even swore to your father that I wouldn't say anything until you actually asked me about it. He said it was fair."

"Prove it," Videl said, anxiously. She didn't want to find out that her father had been lying to her. The rest of the world was bad enough, but her? How could he…he wouldn't possibly…would he?

"How?" he asked. "I can't just pull a video tape out of my back pocket."

"Tell me how it happened. I want to know," she said quietly.

"Okay," Gohan sighed. "Just don't hold this against your father. He knew it was wrong, and he was only thinking of himself while he took the credit, but it was for the better. I didn't want the credit. I just wanted out of the public eye."

"Just, tell me," she whispered. "Please."

He took a deep breath, and then he began. "It started a long time ago actually. Back when Goku was about twelve or thirteen maybe. He fought against the well known Red Ribbon Army. They used androids sometimes, along with their line of highly recognizable team of generals. A man by the name of Dr Gero created these androids. He was the one person that Goku didn't take out during his single handed attack. It was amazing even just hearing about it. He was so brave and powerful even as a child."

"Is he your hero?" she asked quietly, still shaken by the new development. His childlike wonder and awe as he spoke of this Goku was astounding. Saiyaman was a hero on his own, but for him to be so surprised by this man's power must really make him nothing short of amazing.

Gohan gave her a small smile. "He was, yeah."

"Tell me more," she said.

"Since Goku took out the entire Red Ribbon Army, and all of Gero's creations, Gero vowed revenge on him," Gohan explained.

"A lot of people wanted to kill him, huh?" Videl noticed.

"Yeah," Gohan said with a smile. "It sure seems that way doesn't it? It took Gero years to develop what he was sure were the perfect androids. They were created from humans, which left them with free will to an extent. This was a problem for Gero, and he used his remote to shut them down. His next creation, android 19 was what he thought to be perfect. He thought it so perfect, that he made himself into an android of that same model. He fashioned himself a new name. Android 20. But these androids weren't his only creations. He also had an android that was made for the sole purpose of destroying Goku, but he didn't think it was good enough, and postponed working on him. His other project was a purely organic creation. He took DNA from Frieza, Vegeta—he's the Saiyan Prince—Goku, Piccolo…everyone he thought would give it the edge it needed. He called this creation, Cell. And it was his life's greatest achievement."

Videl gasped at that. "Someone created Cell? On purpose?"

"Yes," Gohan said with a crooked smile. "Hard to believe isn't it?"

She could only manage a nod.

"Cell wasn't completed until years in the future from the time he attacked us," Gohan said, laughing at her confused face. "There is an alternate timeline that Gero's androids destroyed. The Bulma of that timeline created a time machine, so that…someone who probably shouldn't be named…could come back and warn us. He also saved Goku from death, so that he could help fight these androids. After the whole Cell fiasco, this person went back to the future, and destroyed the androids. But that's when Cell stole his time machine. Cell went back further than this person did, three years earlier than his first visit. We had to destroy the Cell of this time, so we wouldn't have to deal with him again."

"That's a little bit too crazy to have been made up on the spot," Videl decided.

"You still want to hear about the battle?" he asked hesitantly. If he didn't have to talk about it, it would be easier.

"Yeah," Vided said. "But where was your father during all of this?"

"What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"Well, this Goku guy is the only one you're talking about. Not Kakarrott your supposed father," Videl pointed out.

"Well…" he started, but he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"You know what I think?" she asked slyly.

"What?"

"I think that this Goku guy is Kakarrott. I think he's your father," she said. "You talk about him like he's your dad. And you were talking earlier about Piccolo wanting revenge on Goku but he got revenge on Kakarrott. It didn't make any sense. I'm not going to search every resource in search of your father. But, if you were trying to hide it, you could work on your continuity."

"W-well," Gohan said shocked by her discovery. She wasn't supposed to figure that out.

"I'm right, aren't I?"

"Maybe…" he said nervously, avoiding eye contact. "But, back to the battle."

"Yes," she said with a smirk. Her earlier discomfort from her father's deception was forgotten. "Tell me how your father managed to live with five androids all bent on killing him."

"This person from the future warned us that on May 12 two androids would start to wreak havoc on an island southwest of South City," Gohan said. "So we had three years to prepare for them. We were actually able to take the first one out without much trouble, thanks to Vegeta, but the second one—Dr Gero—was killed by a fellow Android. Androids 17 and 18 were released by Gero, just before they killed him, and then they proceeded to release android 16. They were way more powerful than they were in the future they had destroyed. But for some reason, android 16's presence was enough to stop them from destroying everything. I guess since 16 had a mission, they weren't bored.

"Unfortunately, their mission was to kill my father. And my father was fighting off a lethal heart virus at the time too. So, they were surprisingly more peaceful than we expected. But they were too powerful to defeat," Gohan explained. "It was around that time that Kami noticed an evil force rising up and gaining power. It was Cell. Kami decided that he needed to fuse with Piccolo again in order to gain enough power to destroy Cell. But Vegeta wanted to see Cell become complete, and was dead set against having Piccolo destroy him.

"Vegeta got his wish," Gohan said grimly. "Cell absorbed Androids 17 and 18 and became 'complete.'"

"That Vegeta guy's an idiot," Videl scoffed.

"He's not," Gohan defended. "He just has a lot of pride. He wanted to prove himself to be better than my father, and take his birthright back. He wanted…still wants …to be the most powerful Saiyan. He is the Prince after all, so he should be the best, I guess."

"I suppose that's great and all, but it's still no excuse for setting the worst monster imaginable on the population of the planet. Doesn't he care about Earth at all?" Videl asked.

"He never used to. But, he did kind of marry Bulma, so he's kind of got something to protect now. Two really. Bulma and Trunks," Gohan admitted.

"Hmm…" she murmured, mulling over the newly acquired facts. "Alright. I concede. Get on with the story…please."

"It wasn't long after Cell became complete that he declared his Cell Games on television. You watched the broadcast, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "I saw up until the Delivery—I mean you—went up to fight him," she said nodding.

"Good," he said with a small smile. "I don't want to explain everything. Especially your father's…trip into that cliff side. Anyway, I was up against Cell, and he wanted to release that hidden power I told you about earlier. So, he tried bringing me face to face with death…but that didn't work. Then he tried to coax it out of me, by sending his 'children' to fight my friends and my dad. But that only resulted in a scared little boy begging him to call it off. It wasn't until your father threw Android 16's head at me that I snapped. 16 told me not to be afraid to fight—or kill—if it would protect the entire world. And I became unstoppable. I transcended my highest power, and went became something we only thought was possible. I was an ascended Super Saiyan."

"What's a 'Super Saiyan'?" Videl asked with her eyebrow raised in amusement. "Is it like a superhero?"

"Kind of," he said chuckling at her analogy. "I'm a Super Saiyan right now, actually. It's like a power boost, but it takes a lot of energy to hold. In this state, I could break a glass just by trying to pick it up. I've done that before actually. It was thought to only be legend, but all the Saiyans I know can reach that level."

"Even Gohan?" she asked.

"Ha, I guess I know him too huh?" Gohan laughed nervously.

Hmm…so Gohan's the only one that can't… Videl decided.

"Proceed," she said, filing that away.

"Right, well, with my extra power came some cockiness. I let my head get too big, and Cell got the better of me. After I kicked him hard in the gut, and he'd spit up 18, he decided that he'd blow himself up. I couldn't hit him, or he'd blow. And I couldn't just sit there, since he'd blow up then too. I was stuck. But my dad sacrificed himself to save us all, by transporting Cell to another planet. It wasn't enough. Cell came back, and it ended off becoming a battle of the Kamehameha waves, as the two of us duked it out to win. I won after a long battle, with a little help from Vegeta, since he distracted Cell for just a second. That split second was all I needed to overpower his blast, and take him out," Gohan explained. "So, do you believe me now?"

"Yeah," she said in awe.

"Good," he said with a smile.

"So, your dad died at the Cell Games?" she asked to clarify. Something was ringing in her memory, but she couldn't quite remember.

"Yeah, he did."

Gohan found himself sitting at his desk, listening to the teacher drone on and on about something or other. But he wasn't focussed on the lecture. His thoughts were focussed on the girl sitting a few seats down from him. He needed to figure out how to tell her. He was about fifty-six percent sure that she wouldn't be too disappointed when she found out. But, being a man of brains, he knew that it wasn't that great of a number.

He just needed a foolproof plan.

The teacher stopped his lesson, and dismissed them for lunch, but Gohan hadn't been paying attention, so of course, he missed that memo.

"Gohan," Videl called. "Are you going to sit there forever?"

"Hmm? What do you mean Videl?" he said, coming back to the world of the living, only due to her voice. Had it been anyone else, he was sure he wouldn't have heard at all.

"It's lunch time," she said motioning to the mostly empty classroom. "It's hardly like you to miss out on lunch."

"Right," he said nervously scratching the back of his head. "We should get going."

Lime was making her way up the stairs, to find out what was wrong with Gohan, when she happened to overhear Videl's next question.

"Gohan, do you have any brothers?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes," he said smiling at her. It wasn't like her to forget. "Goten, you remember him from that first day?"

Lime chuckled to herself at Videl's flustered reaction.

"That's not what I meant," she defended. "Saiyaman happened to tell me about the Cell Games, and mentioned that his father died there. I figured you might be related, since yours died that day too. It's fine if you don't want to tell me. I just thought that, since you only mentioned one death that day…never mind, it was stupid."

His eyes widened, and he tilted his head away from her so she couldn't see his reaction. How had he been so utterly careless? It was bad enough that she'd pieced together who his father was. But to guess that both he and Saiyaman shared a father…she was getting really close. Much to close for comfort.

Videl shook her head, and walked off to find Erasa. So much for that theory.

So, they aren't brothers. I wonder how they know each other then. Saiyaman is really touchy when it concerns Gohan. I swear I will figure it out. It's just way too weird.

Lime watched her until she left the classroom, and then rounded on Gohan. Her face was full of anger. Gohan nearly flinched when he saw her. She was getting more frightening each day.

"Why haven't you told her yet?" she demanded. "You're fundamentally lying to her by not telling her. How long do you expect to be able to live this double life of yours? Huh? I can't see it working out very well much longer. You have to be careful with what you say to her. She's got a memory like an elephant! She doesn't forget the little details. Which, conveniently you do! Just tell her!"

"I can't figure out a good way to do it," he said, sighing. "I'm trying though."

"Well, try harder!" she shouted in exasperation.

"Okay," he said, trying to placate her. She was starting to get scary.

"I'm sorry, Gohan," she said after taking a few deep breaths. "I don't mean to be such a…witch about it. I just…she needs to know Gohan. She's already falling so hard for him. It might be too late to not hurt her if you don't tell her. I just can't get it out of my head. I talked to Bulma about it…"

"You what?" he said, taking his turn to shout. That was the last thing he needed. Bulma didn't need to know just how complicated his love life was. She didn't really need to know anything about his love life. He sure didn't want to know about hers. It would just be easier if everyone else could just stay out of it…but he knew that would never happen. And there was a part of him that was glad to have someone to help him.

"I needed advice on what I should do," she said sheepishly. "I want to do something to help, but every time I try something, it just comes out as me yelling at you. I don't mean to be so harsh. I swear. But you need help."

"I know I do," he agreed. "But you know if you wanted to help, you could maybe try not yelling at me. It would make things less stressful."

"But if I don't yell at you," she pointed out. "No one will get you on track."

"You're right. Again," he said.

"You'll tell her then?"

"I will," he promised. "Soon. Just give me enough time to make a plan."

The rest of the school day passed without incident. Gohan, of course hadn't managed to find a way to tell her, and so he'd have to keep her in the dark a little bit longer.

"Gohan!" Lime called out from behind him. He was on the roof, ready to take off. She was hoping she'd catch him before he left.

"Lime? What are you doing up here?"

"I had to catch you," she said shrugging, and catching her breath. Being human had its disadvantages. Even being in shape had its advantages. She was barely able to run up all of those stairs.

He watched her gasping for breath, unsure if she was even able to continue. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she gasped. "I'll be fine."

"So, what can I do for you?"

"Can you bring me to Capsule Corp? Bulma wanted me to come over, you know, to help me help you," she said, finally catching her breath.

"It shouldn't be any trouble," Gohan said warily.

What does Bulma have planned?

Bulma with a plan was never a good thing. She could be downright scary if she wanted to be. And this did involve his life here.

"You're not going to yell at me are you?"

"No," Lime said smiling. "I won't need to."

"Bulma's going to?" he guessed.

"I don't think so," she said with a smirk.

"Then why…"

"I figured I've yelled at you enough," Lime said with a smirk.

There was something about that smirk that rubbed him the wrong way. She was too scary for her own good sometimes.

"What are you going to do?" he asked nervously.

"We're just going to have some girl talk," she assured him. "Nothing you'd be interested in. I can find my own way home. You just need to drop me off."

"Okay," he decided. "I guess I can do that."

She sighed in relief, and ran up to him.

"Okay," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Take me away, superhero."

He chuckled nervously, but scooped her into his arms anyway. He put on a mock hero voice. "Next stop, Capsule Corp." This of course sent her into a fit of giggles,that was very unlike her. He was getting that queasy, uneasy feeling again. She was definitely up to something. Whether that something involved him was a different story, but she was definitely up to something.

It didn't take too long for him to get to Capsule Corp. even with Lime squirming with excitement the whole way. The problem was: he didn't know where the excitement was coming from.

When they touched down, she squirmed until her set her down, and then she ran up to the door, inputting a code for the door to open, instead of waiting for the secretary to grant her access. He cocked his head to the side in confusion.

When did Bulma decide she trusted Lime enough to give her the pass code?

Bulma was waiting in the first room to the left, and jumped up the second Lime came into the room.

"I've been waiting for you!" she exclaimed.

"I know," Lime said. "Someone didn't want to go Super Saiyan. I guess he didn't want his girlfriend to see him flying off with another girl."

Bulma laughed at her joke. "No, we mustn't have that. It would be such a shame."

"It would," Lime agreed. "Now, we've got a lot of work to do, and I'll have a two hour drive to get back to the manor, so we don't have too long to work with."

"I'll get Trunks to fly you home," Bulma said, waving her hand. "We'll have all the time we need. Or does that lug of a man have a curfew for you?"

"I do have a curfew," Lime admitted shyly. "I've got to be back by ten, and not a second later."

"You get to stay out until ten?" Gohan asked. "Videl can only stay out until 9:30."

"I know," she said with a wicked smile. "He doesn't want anyone to defile his precious daughter. He worries about her way too much."

"Yeah," Gohan muttered bitterly.

"So, Gohan," Bulma said. "I hear you're getting pretty serious with this girl?"

"She's my dark haired angel," Gohan said with a small smile. "I hunted for her for seven years. Now that I found her, I don't want to let her go."

"Aw," Bulma squealed. "Why doesn't Vegeta say such sweet things?"

"Because they are a waste of time," came Vegeta's gruff voice. "It shows weakness. And since I have no weakness, don't expect any sentimental rubbish."

"Oh, Vegeta," Bulma grumbled. "Can't you be nice for once when we have guests?"

"Hmm…" he said, pretending to be thinking it over. A smirk found its way to his face. "Of course not."

His deep laughter could be heard as he made his way to the kitchen. He'd come in for some nourishment after all. He'd trained right through lunch, and couldn't go any longer without some new fuel.

"Oh, that man," Bulma said angrily, shaking her fist after him. "I don't know why I even bother to love you, you jerk!"

His roaring laughter was the only response she got.

Gohan chuckled quietly to himself. His mother could yell at his father when he was around, but it was never as funny as Bulma and Vegeta. That was probably because she was always arguing for him to study.

"I hope you get along better with…Videl?—is that her name?—than I do with Vegeta," Bulma said once she'd cooled down. "Especially after she finds out who you are."

"Don't start," Gohan groaned. Why was everyone pestering him about it? He would tell her the moment he could tell her, and not a moment sooner.

"Fine," Bulma huffed. "But you should tell her."

"I know," he said. "I've got to get home."

"Bye, then," Bulma said. "I'll see you this Friday, won't I?"

"For what?"

"For our next big get-together," she explained.

"Well," he started. "I kind of have a date…"

"Then cancel it," she said simply.

"But—" Gohan tried to protest.

"Gohan," Bulma said sternly. "How often do you see everyone all together?"

"Never," he admitted.

"So you are coming," she demanded. She waited for him to reluctantly nod his head. "Good."

"Bye Bulma," he said, walking dejectedly out the front door.

"Oh, and Gohan, bring a friend! From what Lime tells me, Erasa's pretty great!"

Lime. I knew she was up to something. She probably planned this whole thing. If this is an attempt at making me tell Videl…Oh, I don't know what I'd do to her, but I'll think of something.

"Gohan," Chi-Chi shouted the moment he walked through the door.

"Hi mom," Gohan said, heading directly to his bedroom.

"Gohan! I'm talking to you," she yelled.

No, you're yelling at me. Just like everyone else.

"Do you need something, mom?"

"I want to know why you've been late coming home everyday this month! Today it wasn't as bad as normal, but still. There are nights when you get home past Goten's bedtime. Is it wrong for a mother to want to know her son is safe? Is it too difficult for you to phone me and tell me why you're late, or when you'll be home?" she asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"No mom," Gohan sighed. He wasn't going to tell her though. They went through the exact same conversation the last time he came home earlier than ten o'clock. If he was later, she was too tired to yell at him.

"Are you going to tell me where you've been?" she demanded.

"I was at Capsule Corp mom," Gohan said pleased he could be a hundred percent honest with today's excuse. "By the way, Bulma wants us to go over there on Friday. It's a party or something."

"With all of those bad influences your father hung out with, I'm sure," she said, sighing. "I won't keep you home. I can't do that to you. We'll go. But we're leaving before nine. Goten does have a bedtime after all."

"Sure mom," Gohan said, walking into his bedroom. "Whatever you say."