Of Moons and Tales

Chapter 14

A few days later found Gohan once again sitting on the grass in front of Videl. The house to their side had been fixed up in practically no time at all. It paid to be from a famous family like the Brief's he supposed - the fact that they were also, quite possibly, the richest on this planet helped too. Gohan usually didn't think about things like that however. To him, Bulma was the same woman who'd worn a space suit and berated Krillin and himself on going out of the ship without one. Or the one who'd taken in multiple villages of Namekians simply because she knew they needed help. He didn't exactly picture her as the high powered business woman that she was. If anything he could see her in her labs fiddling with new technology. Probably because at that moment that's exactly what she was doing.

"It's not working," Videl said in frustration.

Gohan looked to her and smiled softly. "You're almost there, I can feel it."

"That's good, because I can't," she huffed as she looked down to the ground. "I can't feel anything. I just feel tired."

"That means you're almost there Videl, don't give up now."

"How is it so easy for you?" she demanded, looking up at him with the most vulnerable expression he'd seen on her yet.

"I suppose it's because I grew up with it," Gohan tried to explain. "I didn't really have much of a choice but learn it. Mister Piccolo wouldn't have let me off just because I got tired the first few times."

"Mister Piccolo?"

Gohan looked at her as though he just realized she had no idea what he was talking about. Videl might have found out that aliens existed and that he was half of one but she hadn't gotten the full story. He wasn't sure telling her the full story all at once would be such a good idea. It was probably better if she learned as she went along.

"He's the tall one with green skin. He and my dad used to be rivals, but now they're just really good allies," was the half saiyan's explanation.

"Oh. He's an alien too right?"

"Yep. He's a Namekian. Usually they're very peaceful people," he reassured her. "Okay, lets get back to it. Close your eyes and try again."

She did as instructed. After a few minutes she slumped over and gave up. It wasn't working. She couldn't even get anything to flicker, much less lift her up in the air. Tears of frustration gathered in her eyes as she gripped the grass.

"What's wrong?" Gohan's concerned voice reminded her that she had an audience.

"I can't do it."

He moved forward and held his hands out. "Give me your hands Videl, I'm going to try something. Close your eyes"

When she did, she couldn't help but notice that his were a lot warmer than she expected, and stronger. She knew that he was strong but it was the subtle things about him that kept reminding her of that. His hands weren't that of a school boys, or even someone who occasionally used them for defense. They were strong, hard, and somehow didn't feel exactly human to her. It was probably that big monkey side of him.

Gohan held her hands gently and pulled his ki to the surface. He didn't use it to blast her or anything, but tried to push it through her as a way to pull out her own. It was just an idea he'd had but he was hoping it worked. Flicker after flicker, until finally he felt her own come to the surface.

"Okay, open your eyes now. And try to stay calm," Gohan said as he slowly drew back.

Videl took a deep breath before she did as Gohan instructed. She looked at her hands and then blinked a few times to ensure it wasn't a trick of the light. Her hands were glowing, not a lot… nothing like those ki blast thingies she'd seen Vegeta throw at Gohan, but it was there. She could see her ki glowing.

Her smile was a mixture of relief and excitement. As she focused on it, however, it sputtered out and she almost cried out from the loss. It had been right there and she'd let it slip out from under her!

Videl tried to do it again, by herself this time, but it didn't work. She clenched her fist and stared at Gohan. He looked pleased with her and it almost felt mocking. She'd seen him do a lot more in such a short time. It simply wasn't fair!

"Alright, time for a break. You'll feel better after lunch."

"You mean you'll feel better after lunch mister."

Gohan smiled wildly, "That too."

Videl sighed, she didn't have it in her to be mad at that face.

Lunch passed easier than it had the first couple of days, at least for Videl. By this time she'd found out that it was best to get whatever she could as quickly as she could and retreat away from the table with Bulma. It wasn't that any of them were intentionally trying to be mean. It was just that they didn't seem to recognize very much when food was put in front of him. She'd learned that the hard way when she saw Gohan accidentally bite his father's hand when it got too close to his face, thinking that it was the food he was about to put into his mouth.

"It's always like this?" Videl asked, her back to the table of ravenous saiyans so she could actually eat.

"No," Bulma answered with a smile. "Sometimes it's worse. At least Vegeta is. If he's been training all day, it's definitely worse. I can only imagine what would happen if all of them went to train in the gravity chamber…we probably wouldn't have a gravity chamber."

"What'd you say woman?!" Vegeta called out from his pile of food.

"Nothing you hot tempered midget!" Bulma called back out in just a stern voice.

Vegeta grumbled to himself and went back to eating. Responding to her obviously wasn't worth his time.

"... I'm afraid to ask but how can this get worse?" Videl asked.

"Oh… They eat at least twice as much after they've been training… or fighting… or expending any energy at all." Bulma listed. "You don't want to see how much these boys eat when they go super on us."

"...Super?" Videl asked, slightly afraid and curious of the answer all at once.

"You're talking Gohan into entering the tournament?" Bulma asked suddenly.

"Well… yeah."

"Then you'll see… He'll have no choice but to go gold, Vegeta won't settle for anything less." Bulma smiled.

"Gold?" Videl eyes widened as she looked to Gohan. "No…"

"Yes," Bulma said, unaware of the connection that had just been made.

"GOHAN!"

Gohan jumped and turned to look at Videl. Who was currently storming over to him.

"Why didn't you tell me you were the Golden Fighter too?!"

Gohan's eyes widened. "I gotta go, see you bye!"

He rushed away with Videl following after him shouting, "GET BACK HERE GOHAN!"

Goku watched him go, confused. "Isn't he hungry?"

"Your son is a disgrace." Vegeta answered, his voice completely deadpan.

"I guess he just doesn't want to get hit with a frying pan," Goku chirped in, grabbing the eggroll out from under Vegeta's nose.

Vegeta snarled, taking the plate of ribs from in front of Goku as revenge and devouring them all in one bite.

"Money on Goku," Annya whispered, sensing what was about to happen.

"Ditto," Leta said as she munched on the last piece of pie.

Before their eyes, Goku grabbed something else out from under Vegeta's hands and stuffed it in his own mouth. Vegeta retaliated in like. Suddenly, Goku grabbed the sauteed onion out from Vegeta's fork and it was all over at that point. Vegeta jumped up, knocking he table a little bit as his fist slammed into Goku's face.

Both girls sighed as the food fight turned physical, thus ending it's entertainment value. Bulma stood up from her spot on the couch (far away from them and the children). She shook her head at the fight before whistling loudly.

"OUTSIDE!" She yelled over their snarls. "NOW!"

There was a slight pause, then vicious snarls could be heard as Goku simply picked Vegeta up and carried his wriggling body outside, as per Bulma's request. They then heard the sounds of the fight continuing in the form of Vegeta slamming his foot back into Goku's groin.

Annya winced for him, watching through the windows as the larger man fell to his knees. "Did not see that coming."

"Kudos though." Leta added, slightly surprised. "That actually required a thought."

"It was a low blow," Annya commented.

The two of them watched as Vegeta got out of Goku's hold and hit him in the back of the neck, sending the taller saiyan to the ground. Bulma frowned as she saw that. She'd never seen Vegeta play so dirty before. Yes, he was vicious but he'd never used such cheap tricks before. Then again, as she hadn't seen him fight in a long time, that assessment was mostly based on him being by himself training. It was a wonder that he and Goku weren't fighting more actually, but that might have to deal with the fact that Goku was dead and the boys apparently couldn't sense him even when they tried.

She grabbed onto the window seal and shook her head, trying to clear the white spots in front of her eyes. Before she could get any words out, however, Bulma collapsed onto the floor.

"Oh dear…" Leta started, looking over at Bulma. "Is she dead?"

Annya move forward and felt for a pulse. It was there, weak but still there. As she pressed into her skin, there was the sensation that there wasn't enough of her. Like something that was supposed to fill up Bulma and make her who she was had leaked out. With a pit in her stomach, Annya picked her up.

"Get them to stop," Annya said in a calm voice as she continued to carry Bulma.

She needed to get her to one of the labs with all the medical equipment. She had a very bad feeling what had just happened and she hoped that she wasn't right. If she was, this planet was in trouble.

Leta frowned, already having a clear idea what was going on. She stood and walked very calmly outside, following the path of destruction, she found the two saiyans in question wrestling on the ground. It looked as if the fight had culminated in them biting each other, any other time and Leta would have laughed at them for something so primal. Without warning, she grabbed both of them by the backs of their necks and held them an arms width apart. She ignored their struggling and snarling, her patience at it's end. This was no time for games.

"Bulma is dying." She informed them with a dark voice before she unceremoniously dropped them.

She then crossed her arms and stood over the pair, watching them with ice blue eyes. Goku was the first to register what she'd said, his brow furrowing in confusion. Vegeta glared at her for several moments, clearly not believing her. Leta didn't care if he believed her or not, it was the truth. When he realized that on his own he'd feel stupid. She turned around and walked away.

By the time she caught up with Annya, the older saiyan was already at work with a blood transfusion. Bulma lay on the metal table that Leta remembered being examined on. She looked pale all of a sudden. Or maybe it was because Leta suddenly started to pay an inordinate amount of attention to how she looked. The vibrancy that shined out of the woman she'd just started to get to know was gone, replaced by a frail shell. Her eyes turned over to the blood transfusion instead. Hopefully it worked; she didn't want to have to deal with what would occur in the wake of this human's death.

"How much did she lose?" Leta demanded to know.

"I have no idea how she was still functioning. The infection reduced her red blood cell count to half and her white cell count is nearly non-existent." Annya said calmly as she held the needle into her own skin.

"How much is she going to need?" Was Leta's next question.

"More than I can transfer to her alone. I don't think Kakarot's a viable donor and Gohan is being chased by Videl, which leaves you and Vegeta. You'll have to decide, out of the two of you, who's going to donate," Annya supplied.

Leta sighed, her mouth drawn into a thin line. She would like to think the worst of her prince, but this was his human. Then again, he seemed reluctant to believe she was in any danger, and it may take more time than Bulma had to convince him otherwise. Leta relaxed, her body had been unconsciously tense since she was sent to deal with the boys, and walked towards the table. As she did, she quickly rolled up her sleeve, exposing the pale flesh of her arm.

"We don't have time for his stubborn ass." She said, her voice unusually serious.

"You're right," Annya allowed with a nod towards Leta, "there would be too much stubborn in this room if we tried to get him down here with you."

Annya looked at her when, after a few moments, the other saiyan hadn't responded to the obvious jab. To her surprise, Leta was still, her stance straight, and expression cold. For once, she actually fit the idea of a saiyan princess.

"Leta…" Annya began, as she worked to transfer the line and put a IV in Leta's offered arm.

"Annya." Leta responded, her tone cold.

"I won't tell him," Annya responded seemingly out of no where, motioning with her head to the blood transfusion between Leta and Bulma. "But we will tell him what has finally caught up with us."

"His opinion carries no weight here." Leta stated, looking Annya in the eye. "This is our home now."

"His opinion will always matter to you," the redhead responded, "especially if we're sharing this plane with him and you know it."

"No, Annya." She said, with a smidge of anger in her voice. "This is our home, this will destroy our home. He holds no authority here."

"Authority and opinions do not always match up," was the elder saiyan's comment as she tapped her own line just to have something to do with her hands. "He might not have the authority of home world, but he will always have an opinion. It's that opinion that will always affect the people who respect his existence and the experiences that go with it."

Leta frowned, her tail slowly flicking back and forth behind her.

"I will only listen to the opinions that matter."

"We know what's happening, but if you let that blind you, you'll be no different than King Vegeta," Annya reminded her.

"I am nothing like him." Leta snarled. "Yes, he carries different scars, but this is not politics. This is war, war against the established home world. This is well out of his element. He is not ready, do not argue this with me."

"He's not ready," Annya agreed. "It's our job to get him ready. If we don't, what does that say about our loyalties?"

"If he truly wanted our loyalties, he would have died like a saiyan instead of living as Frieza's pet!"