Hey everyone! I'm back again with another chappy. Hope you guys enjoy. Thanks again for the reviews! I don't own DBZ.

Last Time

Nevertheless, still cupping her cheek, he found himself slowly raising his head at the same time she lowered hers to his face, both their eyes slipping shut. Just as their lips were about to touch, they heard an ear splitting scream resounding through the forest, immediately breaking their trance. Videl quickly rolled off him while Gohan grabbed his sword, called Icarus over and the three of them flew over to the source of the screams.

The Brunt of the Storm Part 2

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Icarus landed about two miles to the north of their campsite. Despite the short the distance, the topography of the area was quite different from their campsite. There were a lot more trees here; the thick canopy giving an eerie glow to the damp forest floor. Growing increasingly worried as it began to pour, the two surveyed the land looking for anything out of the ordinary but found nothing. Videl and Gohan quickly jumped off their pet taxi as another desperate scream tore through the air. They darted to their left, Gohan having to use his sword to cut through a thicket of vines. They never expected the horror awaited them on the other side.

The area could only be described as a small warzone. A portable barbeque grill was tossed to the side of a large fire pit; smoke rising from the hot coals as the downpour extinguished what little of the fire remained. The small cans of propane gas were still connected as if in use. Pots and pans were scattered haphazardly around. The tent itself was a mangled mess, with clothes strewn about. Dried blood was splattered on almost everything but what frightened them the most was, in the midst of it all, were several giant two-clawed footprints; ones Gohan immediately knew to be those of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

As the person screamed again, the teenagers were attracted to the mess of the tent that remained. Opening it carefully, they found a small girl no older than four years old, hugging her knees in the middle. Sensing their presence, she looked up, staring back at them with wide, wet, frightened eyes. Had this been any other situation, they would have found her absolutely adorable. She had beautiful, soft, dark hair, large, emerald eyes and fair, smooth skin. However, the absence of any adults and the blood splatter testified to the terrible disaster she had witnessed. The two teenagers looked at each other in amazement. How had she survived this attack unharmed? It was a miracle!

A terrible stench hitting their noses indicated to the teenagers that she had literally soiled herself in fear. However, Gohan ignored the scent and reached out to the child carefully. The girl recoiled away from him and began to cry again. "It's ok, baby," Gohan crooned to her, trying to calm her down. "We're here to help you."

"W-who are you?" she asked in a small voice. "A-are you the police?"

"I'm Gohan and this is my friend, Videl," he responded patiently.

The young girl's eyes lit up as she recognized Videl. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she looked at the young man talking to her. "I know who she is but I don't know you," she said sharply.

Gohan grinned to himself. This little girl was like Videl's mini me. However, he tried not to let his thoughts show. If she was anything like his classmate she would not appreciate humor at the moment. "Actually you do know me but you have to promise not to tell anyone first," he said conspiratorially.

Once again, the girl's eyes widened in anticipation, nodding her head readily. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I'm the Gold Fighter."

She recoiled from him again and whispered harshly, "You don't look like the Gold Fighter!"

Gohan responded, "I know. I change my hair and eyes when I fight crime but I look like this when I'm on vacation. You see, I don't want anyone to find out who I really am. Only Videl and you know, ok?"

The girl seemed to ponder what he said then looked over to Videl for confirmation. Seeing her dark-haired hero nod in agreement, she launched herself into Gohan arms, breaking down in tears as the trauma of the past few days came down on her. Gohan took this all in stride. He began to hum a soothing lullaby and stroke her back. Soon, she calmed down, sucking a chubby thumb into her small mouth. In no time, she had wrapped her tiny arms around his thick neck, half asleep on his shoulder.

Videl looked on in amazement, tears prickling her eyes as she watched her friend interact with the young child. He would definitely make an excellent father one day. Her nose no longer able to tolerate the strong odor from the girl's soiled clothes; Videl peeped into the tent and quickly spotted the girl's bright pink knapsack. Videl reached out and took it, looking for some clean clothes and a blanket. She quickly found both and laid them out, ready to use. Wordlessly she asked Gohan to hand her the child, who had by now fallen asleep. She gave a small whimper of protest at the movement but readily returned to dreamland as Videl laid her down.

They didn't have much time before the storm really hit. The temperature had already dropped and the wind was beginning to pick up. Not one to stand around idly, Gohan picked up his sword. "I'm going to see if anyone managed to survive," he said quietly.

Videl nodded as she quickly changed the little girl's clothes. The chances were almost non-existent that the child's parents would have survived the attack given the amount of blood on the forest floor, but they had to try just in case.

Fifteen minutes later, Gohan returned with a haunted look on his face. They had been too late. He had found two corpses, a man and a woman, and both their bodies and clothing were torn to shreds. Angry bite marks pierced what remained of their skin as maggots seemed to emerge from every orifice. Gohan fought back a gag. Despite his violet childhood, Gohan could never get used to the sight of a dead body, especially that of a person who had died a violent death. What surprised him though was that they would have had to have died at least at least 30 hours ago, if his memory served him correctly, in order for them to show this level of decomposition. At that moment, his heart went out to the child even more than before. She had stayed in that tent with no food, water, or company for nearly two days. No wonder she was so afraid of him. If it were not for the change in wind direction today, her little voice would have never travelled far enough for them to hear her. He hated to think what would have happened to her if she were left out there any longer.

Looking back at Videl, who had already changed the little girl, he said, "They didn't make it." She cursed lowly, but she had to admit there was nothing they could have done about it. "I'll press the button so Bulma can send in the search and rescue team. She might need medical attention," he continued.

"Okay," Videl replied. They would only get a D for this survival trip since it was only Day 3 but this little girl's welfare was way more important than a stupid grade.

Right then, the ground shook and a deafening roar resounded through the air. The girl woke up and started screaming at the top of her lungs, absolutely terrified. Videl fared no better as she trembled, too afraid to move. She could deal with mindless thugs but dinosaurs were way out of her league. Gohan called Icarus over and lifted Videl and the little girl onto the dragon's back, tossing Videl the pink knapsack. Seeing Gohan going off into the forest instead of coming with them, Videl screamed, "Where the hell are you going, Gohan?"

"To kill it," Gohan replied grimly.

"No! Gohan! Didn't you see what it did to those people? It will kill you!" Videl yelled desperately, tears mixing with the heavy rain down her face in fear for her friend. She barely registered that she was about to go off alone with the purple dragon.

Gohan walked over to her and placed a gentle kiss her on the forehead and that of the child. "I'll be right back," he said. Nodding at Icarus, the dragon took off back to their campsite, ignoring the protests of his passengers.

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Making sure his girls were safe, Gohan called out for the Flying Nimbus. In no time, the majestic golden cloud appeared in front of him. Since he was unable to fly and Videl and the kid needed Icarus, he would need Nimbus to help him fight the vicious monster.

He jumped on and in no time they came upon a herd of T-Rex's. Knowing from experience how dangerous these ferocious reptiles were, Gohan wasted no time whipping out his sword and began slaughtering the startled dinosaurs, catching them by surprise. Gohan poured all his anger into his assault. They had killed two innocent people, robbing a little girl of her parents. For that they would pay.

Fifteen minutes later Gohan emerged victorious, back flipping to gracefully land on Nimbus' soft surface. Everything was covered in blood; the ground, his sword, his body and the bodies of reptilian terrorists. Gohan surveyed the damage, a satisfied grin appearing on his face. He had not emerged unscathed; a particularly large dinosaur had swiped him across the chest with his claw and several other small cuts littered his face and the rest of his body. His necklace had also been ripped off during the fight. These however, had no effect on the teen as he regularly sustained worse injuries when sparring with the members of the Z team.

Icarus had returned immediately after dropping off his previous passengers. He sat a few feet away from the battlefield, watching his master with pride. He gave a squeal of approval as Gohan finished off the last one. The rain was now torrential. Angry forks of lightning pierced the sky along with deafening peals of thunder. This washed much of the blood off his body but if still coagulated on his clothes, hair as well as his open wounds.

"Thanks, Nimbus," Gohan said, petting the cloud before jumping onto Icarus' back. "You were a great help today but I think Icarus should be the one to take me back. I really don't feel like answering all of Videl's questions if she sees me riding a golden cloud."

The cloud shrunk in on itself and turned away causing Gohan's eyes to widen.

"No!" he said, shaking his hands wildly in front of him. "I'm not ashamed of you. It's just that I'm not really ready to reveal myself fully to her just yet."

Nimbus turned around and nudged him lightly as if to forgive the young Saiyan.

"We'll always be friends, Nimbus!" Gohan said, waving goodbye to the cloud as they took off in opposite directions.

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Videl was worried sick. What did Gohan think he was doing going after a T-Rex by himself? She knew he was strong but that was just pushing it. How could be so reckless? They could easily trample him to death or gobble him up in one mouthful! Just the thought of it made Videl sick, but until he showed up in front of her, her thoughts wouldn't stop racing.

Her mind had travelled back to their activities before they left the meadow. A blush tinted her cheeks as she realized they really were about to kiss. She was about to kiss Gohan; the boy she had declared her nemesis barely thirty days before. What was worse was that she actually wanted it to happen. Although she had admitted to Erasa that she had a slight crush on him, she had said to herself that she wasn't going to allow anything to happen between them until he had told her everything about himself. Yet despite the fact that he hadn't, she found herself trusting him enough to take that step. Single handedly, that boy had managed to breach all the defenses she had put up and was beginning to worm his way into her heart.

In the time she had been there, Videl had searched through the child's knapsack and found everything was labeled with the name, Kiara. The girl was fast asleep on her blanket on the cave floor so she couldn't ask her. She had already bathed the small child while she slept using a large turtle shell she had found as a small tub and a t-shirt as a washcloth. She had refilled her impromptu basin and brought it up to the cave so they wouldn't have to go back down every single time they needed water.

Hearing the flapping of giant wings outside the cave door, Videl rushed to the opening to find Icarus carrying a bloody, wet, seemingly unconscious Gohan on his back. Her heart jumped into her throat as tears poured down her face. His torn shirt hung uselessly off his frame exposing the deep gashes on his chest. She carefully dragged him off the large dragon and laid him down on the cave floor. He didn't respond to the movement which made her even more afraid.

Sobbing, she leaned her ear close to his face, hoping to feel him breathing and they soon turned to tears of joy as she felt his slow, even breaths. Stripping off his soaked shirt and pants she grabbed the wet cloth she had used to bathe the child, and wiped the blood off him tenderly. Come on, Gohan. Make a noise, a movement, anything to let me know you're alright. I can't afford to lose you now. You matter way too much to me. You hear me? You matter! She shook the boy gently and was shocked when he responded with a deafening snore.

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