Chapter 14
:The Plan to bring back Goku
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Dragon Ball Z. All rights are owned by their respective owners,Toei, Toriyama, etc. This is purely a fanfictional work done by a simple fan done for fun. I do no get profit from this in any way.
Videl was flying out for her daily training session and was sticking close to the ground when she noticed Gohan down on the ground near the tree line of their regular training spot. He was in the fetal position with his back resting against one of the trees. As she approached closer to him she could see that he was in a rather obviously depressed state. Videl landed gently nearby to see what was wrong. "Gohan? What's the matter? You seem so depressed." worriedly asked Videl. "Just leave me alone Videl. Besides, you probably wouldn't understand anyway." Gohan replied in a low, depressed tone. Videl felt a little bit dejected at first but she could tell that he needed someone to talk to about whatever was eating him. "Try me." she said with a smirk as she knelt into the fetal position right next to him.
Both sides waited around doing nothing for a few minutes. Then finally, Gohan took in a deep breath and mustered up the courage to tell Videl what was wrong. "My mom's just found out this morning that she's pregnant." Gohan stated in his ever present depressed tone of voice. "So what's wrong with that? You should be happy. You're going to get to be a big brother! This should be wonderful news for you." Videl said, confused. "Oh you would think that huh? But that bady is gonna have to grow up without a father because of me. It's because of my mistake that my little brother or sister is going to never know what our father was really like. Some big brother I am!" Gohan said with a raised voiced and a deep sense of regret in his voice as he propped his head up and looked at Videl with a scowl in his eyes.
Videl's face was one of shock as she realised how much self-doubt and loathing Gohan still carried on from his fathers death. Her face then switched to that of a scowl to match Gohan's. "I can't believe you're still beating yourself up for that. It was your fathers' decision and no one else's." Videl said, berating his self-loathing. Gohan sunk his head back into his knees and returned to his misery. "I just wish that my new sibling could find out about his/her father first hand." Gohan said, muttering out his wishful thinking out loud in a quiet voice.
Videl looked down at the ground in her own saddened an regretful state as she remembered what she saw happen that day. "It's too bad that your dad didn't know that your mom would be pregnant. He might not have chosen to stay dead like he did." Videl said out loud. "No, he woud'v... " Gohan was about to say something when he cut himself off as an idea just snapped in his head. Videl just looked on in wonder as she looked at Gohan with a look of inspiration seemingly frozen on his face. "Gohan? Are you okay?" she asked as she was starting to feel a little freaked out.
"Of course... Thats it! THATS IT! Videl you're a genius!" Gohan exclaimed joyfully as he stood up straight with his hands pumped up in the air. Videl was taken aback by Gohan's sudden change of character. "Uh... huh? Gohan? What's this all about? What am I a genius for?" questioned a now very freaked out Videl. "What you've just said! My dad wouldn't u've stayed dead if he'd had know that mom was pregnant. So if we were to go to new planet Namek, used the dragonballs there to wish him back and we told him that mom was pregnant he'd surely want to come back." Gohan explained his plan with a smile on his face.
"Gohan that's a great idea! But wait? How will we find new planet Namek? Whats more how will we get to it?" Videl asked, pointing out the plan's seemingly obvious flaws. "No problem... Bulma's bound to have a spaceship I can use lying somewhere around and Dende used to live on New Namek so i'm sure he'd be willing to tell us the where it is. Any more questions?" Gohan said, confident that he'd shot down her doubts with his ideas. "Just one more. When do we leave?" asked Videl with a big fat smirk on her face.
"We? What do you mean we? Why would you want or need to go into space for? Don't you know how dangerous some of the people we might run into can get? Don't you know of the dangers I had to face the first time?" Gohan questionned, both surprised and horrified at Videl's suggestion. "Of course I know! I've seen just about everything that's happened to you when I went into the Pendulum Room at the Lookout. Or don't you remember?" Videl reminded Gohan. "But if you know? Then why would you want to go?" Gohan asked. "I want to go with you because I want to be there when you wish your father back. Besides, I could get in some training on the trip and exactly who could there be out there that could hurt me when the strongest guy in the universe is there along with me? Not to mention that at my current level, thanks to your training don't you think that I couldn't handle anything out in space right now?" Videl reasoned.
Gohan thought about what Videl had said and he decided that he agreed to bring her along. "Alright, you can come along, but don't think that its going to be just you and me out there. I can't pilot a ship and i'm going to need some extra muscle to cover my back if we run into any serious threats out there. We're going to have to ask around for some volunteers from the guys to come along with us. Come on!" Gohan explained as he then grabbed Videl by he wrist and started dragging Videl all the way to his house. Once at his house, Gohan hurriedly apologised to his mother for flying off earlier. Then Gohan went to explain in detail to his mother about his plan to bring back Goku.
"Bring back Goku with the Namekian Dragonballs!? Why Gohan that's a brilliant idea!" Chi-Chi shouted out loud. "I'm glad you approve mom." said Gohan with an honestly innocent smile. "So, who did you plan to send up?" Chi-Chi asked. Gohan had neglected to tell her that he was the one of the ones he was planning on going. "Well... huh... I was planning on going myself along with someone from the Z-Fighters for backup and bulma to fly and maintain the ship. Plus Videl here asked to volunteer herself for the trip so that she could improve herself by training in space and get in some adventure too." Gohan explained and he then braced himself for his mothers traditional ranting. However, what he got out of his mother wasn't what he was expecting. "Well if your going then i'm going too." Chi-Chi said in a calm, collected but determined tone.
"WHAT!?" was what both Gohan and Videl exclaimed as they felt shock at the lady's calm response as opposed to her usual hysterical ranting. "Now don't you go and try to stop me. My mind is made up and that's that." Chi-Chi said with her face held in a scowl and her arms crossed. "Trust me mom. Stopping you is the last thing on our minds. It's just not like you to allow me to go off into possible danger like this." Gohan reponded with a calmed stance but with nervous sweat across the sides of his face. "*sigh* I guess it's just taken me this long to learn that it's no use trying to stop you from going off to some adventure. Why fight it? Well this time, mommy's coming along for the ride!" Chi-Chi explained with, at first, a content smile on her face but then switched her expression to that of an almost crazily determined look with her fists pumped up. Gohan and Videl both felt highly disturbed by Chi-Chi's last actions.
Gohan nervously laughed with his hand slowly and discreetly made its way to Videl's hand. "Hehehe... Sorry mom but I think that me and Videl outta be heading to Bulma's place right about now to get a spaceship ready." said Gohan as he grabbed Videl by the hand and started leading the both of them out the door, all the time wearing a cheap awkward smile. "Alright dear, but make sure you be back in time for super." Chi-Chi said with her fake naive smile as she waved goodbye to them as they ran out the door. Soon both Gohan and Videl were airborne and counting their blessings that they'd managed to get away before things really got out of hand.
A short time later, Gohan and Videl landed on the grass outside the main Capsule Corp building, in the gardens where they found Mrs. Briefs watering her plants as she usually did. "Oh my! Gohan!? Is that you? My goodness, I hardly recognised you. I swear, you look more like and more like your father every time I see you. that outfit makes you look very handsome." said Mrs Briefs as she walked over and leaned forward so as to be on a closer level to Gohan's height. "Thanks Mrs Briefs." Gohan thanked with a noticeable blush on his cheeks and a shy smile on his face. Videl giggled at Gohan's shyness. "And who is this little lady? Is she a friend of yours?" asked Mrs. Briefs as she turned her attention to Videl. This time it was Videl's turn to feel a little bit shy. "Uhhh... This is Videl, she's a new friend I made. I met her a couple of weeks ago and we've been training together regularly since then." explained Gohan. 'Training together my foot! I'm the one who's training while he sits around and watches!' thought Videl. "Well it's very nice to meet you Videl. Any friend of Gohan's is a friend of ours. Will you two kids be sticking around for tea?" asked Mrs. Briefs in her usual manner of hospitality. "I'm sorry that we can't stick around Mrs. Briefs but we really need to talk to Bulma. It's urgent. Is she here?" said Gohan, trying to ditch her before she got on a roll. "It's no problem dear. She's inside somewhere working on some secret new project." Mrs. Briefs kindly explained. "Thanks Mrs. Briefs!" Gohan exclaimed as he then grabbed Videl's hand and quickly ran into the Capsule building before Mrs. Briefs could make them stick around longer.
Once inside Gohan lead Videl deep inside the building until they can to a door that had "Lab" written on it. When Gohan knocked on the door he was answered by Bulma's voice over the intercom. "Hello? Mom if this is about another shopping trip again I'm busy." they heard Bulma's voice say in an annoyed tone of voice. Both Gohan and Videl both looked at each other with looks that said 'What?'. Gohan pressed the button on the intercom next to the door. "Huh? Bulma? Its me, Gohan. I came here to talk to you about something." Gohan said, speaking through the intercom. "Huh? Gohan? Well come right in." said Bulma as the door automatically opened upwards accompanied with a swishing sound. Gohan entered with Videl cautiously following behind.
"Gohan! Its so great to see you again!" Bulma warmly greeted as they came in. "Its great to see you too Bulma." replied Gohan. "Wow! I must say that with that new outfit on you very much resemble your father." Bulma complimented. "Thanks Bulma. It really means a lot for you to say that. It makes me feel strong to wear my fathers old colors." Gohan replied with a proud smile. Bulma's eyes then switched over to the short haired girl behind him. "You must be Videl, right?" politely asked Bulma. "That's right, but how did you know?" asked a surprised Videl. Gohan was also wanted to know how Bulma knew Videl's name. "I've been having phone conversations with Chi-Chi almost constantly over the last couple of weeks. She's told me all about you, about how that idiotic loudmouth Mr. Satan is your father, about how you're a half-saiyan like Gohan and about how Gohan's been training you." Bulma explained. Both Gohan and Videl were both visually surprised by the revelation of Bulma's source of information but they were also inwardly relieved that they didn't need to explain so much. "That's good to hear Bulma, that's one less thing I'll need to explain." said Gohan with a small sigh of relief.
"Sooo... What is it that you've come here to talk to me about?" asked Bulma as she sat crosslegged on a chair with its left side facing them and herself sitting opposite to them. "We're heading to New Namek so we can use the namekian dragonballs to wish my dad back. We were wondering if you could have a spaceship ready for us?" explained Gohan. Bulma's face contorted into a confused squint. "Didn't Goku tell you he didn't want to be wished back? I mean I could have a spaceship ready for you no problem, but why would you want to use the dragonballs when he doesn't want to come back?" asked Bulma, confused. "Well... You see... My mom's pregnant again and I... " Gohan began to explain, but he was cut off. "Oh! I already knew that. Chi-Chi told me about it on the phone earlier this morning." Bulma said to a surprised Gohan and Videl. "Oh? So you already knew. Well since my dad didn't know about this when he decided to stay dead. I just don't think that he would ever allow his new son or daughter to grow up without ever knowing his/her father. If he were told about his new offspring I'm sure he'd be willing to come back." Gohan explained with a pleadingful but hopeful look on his face.
"Well? What do you think Miss Bulma? Do you think it'll work?" asked Videl. Bulma had a frown on her face, her hand was on her chin as she thought, absorded and digested the information and carefully weighed the options. "Hmmph... I don't know *smirks*, but if anybody'll return from the dead over an o so simple reason, then it's Goku." Bulma replied with a knowing smile. The responce immediately brightened the two children's faces. "So does that mean you'll help us?" Gohan asked with excitement, though in the back of his mind he already knew the answer. "Absolutely! I mean who else could you ask who would or could pilot whatever darn thing that got stuck lugging you across space?" Bulma sarcasticaly answered. "No one but you Bulma." Gohan smirkingly said. "By the way, how do you expect me to fly you to New Namek when we don't know exactly where it's located?" Bulma asked. " Oh that's no problem, we'll just have Dende tell you where it's located. After all he did live there for a while." Gohan happily explained. "Oh right, I forgot about that. Okay, now that that problem's solved I guess I'll just show you two to the hangar. I think I got just the thing in mind to take us to New Namek." Bulma said as she got up with a confident smirk on her face and walked out the door with Gohan and Videl tagging behind. Both children were curious as to what the vehicle of their outer space trek would look like.
Author's Final Thoughts: And so now the plot is being hatched about how they're going to bring back Goku. Not much else to say.