Disclaimer: I don't own the DBZ universe or anything related to it.
"We got you!"
As the two voices cried out their victory Gohan quickly assessed who had jumped him.
'Two light weight figures, very high and cheerful voices… no way.' Looking up on his chest, Gohan's suspicions were confirmed.
"Marron! Bra! What're you two doing here?" he asked the two little girls sitting on his chest.
"Surprising you!" Marron piped up happily.
"Yeah!" Bra added. "We got you, you didn't know what hit you did you uncle Gohan!?"
"You know these girls?" Sharpener asked, too surprised to react in any other way. At the same time Videl and Erasa were already coming over to see why Gohan had shouted like he had.
"I don't know whether I should laugh or say this looks almost cute…" Videl said.
"Marron! Bra! Where are you!" a male voice suddenly called out from the crowd. "Come on girls this isn't funny anymore, please show yourselves already. Oh man, Vegeta is going to kill me." with some difficulty, due to both his size and the numerous packages he was carrying, came the small but easily recognizable frame of Krillin.
Because he was still on the floor Gohan couldn't see his old friend, battle partner and godfather and Krillin couldn't see the saiyan yet either.
"Oh there you two are!" He said, with obvious relief, having spotted the two young girls. "how many times do I have to tell you two not to run away like that! You have to keep close to your mother and me Marron. I'm sorry sir, they slipped away and you know how- hey Gohan, what're you doing here!"
As he had lifted his daughter up, Krillin finally realized whom the two girls had jumped.
"I'm sorry pal, the girls must have spotted you and they wanted to surprise you or something. Are you ok?" Having now removed Vegeta's little princess as well, Gohan was free to stand up again.
"Yeah I'm ok. It's nothing Krillin. The girls just surprised me is all. What're you doing here?"
"What'd you think? I'm on a forced shopping trip… what about you?"
"Do you know those two girls who just jumped you Nerd-boy? And who's the guy you're talking to?" Sharpener suddenly interfered. With a shock, Gohan remembered that he hadn't introduced his classmates and friends to the older martial artist yet.
"Wow, I didn't think Gohan could ever forget his manners like that…" Erasa remarked, half joking, half surprised.
"Oh right, sorry guys. Allow me to introduce you all to-"
"KRILLIN! DID YOU FIND THEM YET?" just as Gohan was going to introduce the group, a female voice suddenly shouted loud from behind Videl and Erasa.
Curious, Videl and Erasa turned around as Krillin called back.
"Yeah Honey, I found them. They're safe and sound here with me."
A blond woman stepped out from the crowd, with piercing blue eyes. She looked like she wasn't any older then thirty at the most, most likely even younger.
"Odd." The woman said, looking Erasa and Videl up and down. "I could have sworn that when they left Marron and Bra were a bit younger then eighteen." She stopped looking around, glaring at the small man instead. Her voice carried heavy sarcasm and was obviously threatening. Almost instinctively Videl took a step back.
"You're right Honey, and they still are!" Krillin said, intimidated by his wife's behavior. "Those are some friends of Gohan's, the girls found him here in the crowd." With one hand he pulled Marron in front of him, showing the blond woman that he had indeed found their daughter, while he quickly pulled Gohan up with the other hand.
At the sight of the tall teenager, 18 raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"What're you doing here kid?" she asked. A split second later, before Gohan could even reply, she turned around. Seeing the girls that were with Gohan, her eyes widened as she realized something.
"Come on Krillin, let's go." She suddenly said. "Girls, let go of Gohan, you're ruining his date."
At the rather blunt statement, Videl almost face-vaulted with a heavy blush, Erasa started giggling, mostly because of Videl's reaction, and Sharpener wasn't really sure where to look. It was obvious that the blond woman hadn't noticed the boxer yet and he wasn't going to stumble around such an intimidating, but very attractive, woman.
An almost evil grin spread across Krillin's face after his wife's words and he quickly turned to his godson.
"Ooh, I see. Good going Gohan." He said, giving Videl and Erasa a quick once-over. "I knew you had it in you, and on your first real date in the city you immediately take two such beauties with you? Nice!"
By the time that Krillin had finished his teasing, Gohan's head was more like a tomato then his classmates had ever seen it. He couldn't even really pronounce his words clearly anymore.
"He-hey I-It's not like that Krillin!" The teenager said. "We're not on a date! I had to come along because Videl and Erasa went shopping that's all!"
"So?" 18 asked. "That still qualifies as a date. What? You thought it always be going to the movies and kissing in the dark?"
As Gohan turned an even darker shade of red, Sharpener decided to come to his rescue. With a step forward he claimed the attention of the group.
"How about we all go to a café nearby and when Nerd-boy here regains his bearings long enough he can finally introduce us?" He suggested.
XxX
Less then half an hour later the eight of them were seated in a nearby café, three blocks away from the mall.
"So allow me to introduce myself first." Krillin said as he paid for the six coffees and two lemonades. "I'm Krillin, don't bother with a last name, just Krillin will do. As you can see I'm a married man, a father and currently a babysitter."
"Erasa, high school student and in training for becoming a beauty specialist."
Erasa introduced herself with a smile. She was looking at 18, who was sitting across from her, as if she was dying to ask her a question. Sharpener was up next.
"Sharpener Pencil, high school student, part time construction worker and pro boxer."
"Really? What weight class and ranking are you in?" Krillin asked with interest.
"I'm currently the national third ranking of the middleweight division." Sharpener said with pride. "I've got about two months before my next match and once I've finished that I'll be the first rank in the country."
"Impressive." Krillin said. "Now for you young lady."
'I hate this, they'll change the moment they hear my name.' Videl thought.
"I'm Videl, another high school student and I'm a martial artist." She purposely left out her family name because it looked like Krillin hadn't recognized her yet. But for some reason Krillin seemed familiar to her, as if she'd seen him somewhere a long time ago.
"Videl? I thought you were familiar." 18 said as she put everything together. "You're Hercule's daughter aren't you? I've seen you on the news a couple times."
Realizing that there was no way out, Videl admitted defeat against her own fame. Now they were going to thread carefully around her, hoping to meet her father through her no doubt.
"Yeah I am."
"Thought so." Krillin said, though there was no noticeable change in his behavior or tone. "Now, let's continue with the round of introductions."
"You're going to laugh at my name, but I'm #18, just call me 18. My father was very original with naming me; he named me after the number of tries it took him and my mother to create me." Of course that part was a lie, but it sounded a lot better then 'I am the 18th robot in a series that was programmed to destroy the planet but I've mended my ways.'
Satisfied with the explanation, none of the teenagers questioned her any further, though they couldn't really hide their surprised looks at her name. Now the two little girls, sitting at the end of the table, were up.
"I'm Marron!" the five-year-old blond spoke up. "This is my mommy and my daddy." She pointed to 18 and Krillin in turn, before going on. "I'm five!" she added, raising her hand and showing her five fingers with pride.
"And I'm Bra." The green haired girl said. "I'm staying with my bestest friend Marron for the weekend and then Uncle Krillin and Aunt 18 took me shopping with them here! I'm four and a half!"
"Nice to meet you all." Krillin said, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Same." Sharpener answered. For a few seconds silence reigned over their table, before Erasa couldn't contain her curiosity anymore.
"How is it you guys know Gohan? And Mrs. 18, I have to ask: what do you use to soften your skin? It looks so beautiful."
"Before I lose my wife in her talks about beauty products, how about we answer your first question?" Krillin suggested, seeing his wife lean forward. 18 loved to talk about every crème, salve and spray she used to look her best and, on more then one occasion, had totally lost herself when talking to other woman about it. Her record was four hours of none-stop discussion with a friend of hers.
"I'm Gohan's godfather." Krillin simply said. "I was the best friend of his father and upon Gohan's birth I was asked to be his godfather."
"Hey I could be wrong, but did you ever participate in the World Tournament of Martial Arts?" Videl suddenly asked Krillin. Blinking for a second at the seemingly random question Krillin answered.
"Yeah I entered it three times in a row, but that was before you guys were even born." The small man said. "Makes me sound old." He added, with some surprise.
"I thought so." Videl triumphantly said. "You made it to the semi-finals three times in a row didn't you? I recognized you from some of the videos of the old tournaments before the stadium was destroyed."
"Yeah I did, good eyes." Krillin said, impressed with the sharpness of Videl's mind. "I got beat in the finals three times in a row and the worst thing is, none of the guys who beat me ever became the champ themselves. It really makes winning that more painful knowing that even if you won your match you would have lost the next one."
"Wait a second." Sharpener said. "You're a world-level martial artist? I thought all of them were huge, like Hercule. How on earth can you manage to fight at that level with your size?"
Despite the rather rude way that the blond had mouthed his surprise, Krillin smiled as he gave the answer.
"Yeah a lot of people think that being small like this is a major disadvantage, but they're only half right. Look at Videl, she's a fighter that could probably ascend to world level tomorrow if she wanted too and she's not all that big either. I don't mean that as an insult!" he quickly added as Videl's face suddenly changed when he mentioned it.
"It's true that fighters like Videl and me, the fighters who are small and light, can't really put as much height and weight behind our attacks, but we have other means of compensation for that." Krillin continued. "We can move around a lot more nimble than big guys and for them it's a lot more difficult to hit us. Not that it really matters to me, I retired from martial arts about six years ago."
"But that's enough about me, what do you do in boxing? Are you a brawler type or a boxer type? And do you use a lot of power, or do you rely on lots of hits to finish opponents off?"
Sharpener, surprised with the interest that Krillin was now showing in him, replied eagerly.
"Well I'm a boxer-type, although I sometimes switch around to infighting as well. For the most part I rely on speed and numbers to take out my enemies. Although I've had some problems with taking out my opponents lately, my last 3 matches were all decision wins."
"A win is a win, sooner or later you'll learn to realize that." Krillin wisely said. "Although I can imagine your frustration at being unable to really defeat your opponent, trust me I know how it feels."
XxX
As both males eagerly moved on to discussing other aspects of boxing and fighting sports, Videl was caught in a rather strange situation.
'They know I'm Videl Satan, daughter of Hercule but they act totally normal. In fact, I'm the only one who isn't engaged in conversation with them right now…' she realized. To her right, Erasa was already deep in discussion with 18 concerning beauty products, while on her left Sharpener and Krillin were now leaning in closer as they got more intense in their debate on which pro-wrestler was better.
As it was Videl wasn't into wrestling, she only liked martial arts that were graceful and dance-like, and she wasn't really all that knowledgeable on beauty products either. The best she knew about those was what type of lipstick to wear with certain dresses and the minor makeup that was needed in TV-interviews and the like.
'This feels strange…' Videl realized as she watched them. 'I'm almost being ignored. It's like they don't even care who I am… is this how a normal girl would feel in a new group when she doesn't have anything to discuss?'
"Sorry about that." Gohan suddenly said as he leaned over the table. "Krillin and 18 can sometimes get a bit caught up in whatever it is they're discussing." He looked sheepish as he said it, perhaps because he was afraid that Videl wouldn't feel like she was being included in the group.
"It's no big deal." She said, smiling with reassurance at Gohan. "It's just odd not to be the centre of attention in a group for once. Odd, but nice."
"Hey, hey miss." A voice suddenly called from Videl's side. The young green haired girl, Bra, was standing next to her as she pulled her sleeve.
"Yeah what is it?" Videl asked.
"You said your last name is Satan right?" the girl asked.
"Yeah it is, but you can just call me Videl." The crime fighter kindly answered. 'This kid is pretty cute.' She thought as she saw the innocent smile the little girl had.
"Does that mean you're the daughter of that idiot? That's what my daddy always calls that big Mr. Satan."
Instantly all conversations on the table stopped, every set of eyes turning to Bra.
"What?" was all Videl could ask, too surprised to say anything else.
Both Krillin and Gohan suddenly had a look of pure terror on their face. Krillin quickly jumped out of his seat and grabbed Bra, carrying her back to her seat. In the meantime Gohan, who's face was by now far past red and started turning maroon, quickly started apologizing to Videl over and over again.
"I'm sorry Videl, I'm sorry! Bra's father is always rather blunt with his opinions, sorry! Please don't take it personal!" he said, his voice far higher then it had ever been.
Without knowing why, Videl suddenly burst out laughing.
It took her almost three minutes to recover from the laughing fit, by which time almost everyone at the café was looking at the famed hero with surprise.
"Are you ok V?" Erasa asked, sounding anxious and surprised.
"I can't believe this…" Videl said, gasping for breath all the while. "She must take after her father then, because this little girl is way too blunt herself." She had always known there were people who disliked her father, every famous person had people who hated them, but this was the first time anyone had ever said it in front of her like that.
"But Bra, I have to ask." Videl said once she had fully recovered. "Why does your daddy think that my father is an idiot?"
"Because he always acts REALLY strange!" Bra answered enthusiastically, throwing her arm to the side to emphasize how strange. "And because my daddy can easily beat him! I have the strongest daddy in the world!"
Videl didn't want to break the girl's obvious hero-image of her father, but she was curious who would boast with such obvious lies.
"If you're daddy can defeat mine, why doesn't he fight in the world tournament? or does he already fight in it?" she asked.
"No, Vegeta has no interest in the tournament, same as me." Krillin said. "I quite martial arts because the World Tournament had lost all it's former glory." At the surprised and stunned look on Videl's face Krillin quickly continued.
"You guys probably don't know, since those fights were never shown on TV, but the old style world tournament was a real competition of skill, pitting many fighters against each other. As long as you had won in preliminary rounds you could participate. In other words, you had to fight to earn a place in the final tournament. These days they use some fancy machines to measure punching power, which is very unfair. It reduces the fighters that can participate in the tournament to power-punchers only."
"I guess that's true…" Videl agreed. "It's true that in the last couple of years there haven't been a lot of fighters who relied on movement rather then sheer power."
"Wait a second!" Erasa suddenly interrupted. "Did you just say that her father's name is Vegeta?"
"Yeah, what about it?" 18 answered, crossing her arms.
"Do you mean THE Vegeta? As in the husband of Bulma Briefs, the one with muscles almost as big as his ego and an explosive temper? THAT Vegeta?"
"Yeah, I guess he must be a bit famous as well huh?"
"Are you kidding? It was world news 9 years ago when Mrs. Briefs suddenly married someone out of the blue. It was a totally unknown person, but he became an instant celebrity because of the marriage."
"Hold on…" Sharpener said, interrupting Erasa's rant. "Wouldn't that mean that you're the daughter of Bulma Briefs?" he addressed the last part to Bra, who made a happy little jump.
"Yep." She said with a big smile. "My mommy and daddy are REALLY famous and rich! And my mommy is really pretty too! And my daddy's really strong!"
Again Videl, along with Erasa and Sharpener this time, was dumbstruck. 'This kid is the daughter of the richest person in the world? I didn't see THAT coming!"
"But…" Erasa started. "How… how is it you know her then? I thought that celebrities only mingled with other famous people?!"
"Yeah, well Bulma doesn't." Krillin simply said. "And I've known Bulma for a long time, since we were teenagers, so that helps. Marron and Bra go to the same kindergarten, that's why they're best friends. Bulma sends both her children to normal schools to have them mingle with kids their own age as much as they can. They get spoiled enough at their home, no sense in sending them to special schools."
"Does that also mean the CCDD is somewhere near? To guard Bra?" Videl said, a frown instantly appearing on her face.
"No, they're nowhere near." Krillin assured her with a smile and a wave of his hand.
"Why not? I thought they existed only to ensure nothing happened to Briefs' Family? Seems like a bit gab in their system then." Sharpener added.
"Oh no, it's nothing like that." Krillin said. Chuckling a little, he continued. "Let me explain it to you. About two years back Bra came over to stay with us for the first time. The Commander at the time knew a little about me but sent some CCDD agents to ensure Bra's safety. The thing is, I wasn't informed of it so when I noticed no less then twelve armed men near my house I did the most natural thing: I defended my home and family and beat all twelve of them up. The Commander showed up himself a few hours later, demanding an explanation… When I demanded one in return and he failed to give it I beat him up too. It wasn't pretty. Bulma was livid at the CCDD for what they did; they should have known that Bra would be perfectly safe with me. The Commander had to be hospitalized for about two months, and he got replaced not too long after."
"Pardon?" Videl looked at the small man in total shock. "You beat up twelve fully armed CCDD soldiers AND the Commander on your own? How?"
"They made the same mistake that almost everyone I ever fought made: they underestimated me because of my size. I may be retired from martial arts, but I still know a few tricks."
'And to think I had trouble taking out one of them, and he was even unarmed!' Videl thought with surprise.
Taking a look around, Krillin noticed that all the cups and glasses were empty.
"Looks like we're all out of drinks." He said as he started gathering the cups. "Anyone want a second round? It's on me. Gohan, bro, could you help me carry these back inside, I only have two hands."
With everyone politely asking for a second cup of coffee, and two lemonades for the girls, Krillin and Gohan moved back into the café.
XxX
Almost as soon as they were out of hearing from the rest, Krillin suddenly asked Gohan a question.
"How much do they know about your past?"
Gohan, who had already been expecting the question, was quick to answer, in a whisper.
"Nothing, they hardly know anything about my past of private life and I hardly know anything about theirs."
"You'll have to tell them sometime." The small man said.
"I know, but it's not easy." The demi-saiyan answered. "Its strange, but being with them makes me feel different then when I'm with you guys. They don't know who I am, what I'm capable off or what I am, but they've accepted me anyway. It feels… oddly pleasant. I'm afraid that I'll lose that feeling if I tell them everything. Videl especially, she can't stand it when someone's dishonest with her. She's really proud, almost as much as Vegeta."
"Yeah I kinda noticed." Krillin answered as he placed the cups on the bar. "Just make sure that you don't keep it hidden from your friends, if they find out in the wrong way you might end up losing them forever."
As Gohan was about to answer, there was a loud scream from outside. Instantly both fighters turned around and saw what was going on. People were running in the streets in total chaos. Everyone was fleeing in one direction, not caring how he or she got away. In an instant both were standing outside.
"What's going on?" Krillin asked his voice sharp. "What happened?"
"We don't know." Sharpener said. "I thought I heard something from that direction," he pointed towards where everyone was fleeing from, "But I'm not too sure. And now everyone's running away from there."
"Isn't that in the direction of the mall?" 18 said.
"Where's Videl?" Gohan suddenly asked, realizing that the girl had disappeared.
"Where else?" Erasa said. Her voice was scared and confused because she had no idea what was going on. "She ran straight towards the cause of this chaos."
While Erasa was explaining, both Gohan and Krillin started tracking for energy signals, but they couldn't find anything.
"It could be normal people doing something." Krillin suggested through the corner of his mouth.
"Yeah, or there could be a bomb somewhere or something like that. Let's check it out just to be safe."
"Yeah good idea." As Gohan moved forward, running into the crowd in pursuit of Videl, Krillin turned around for a second.
"You kids stay with 18, she'll make sure nothing happens to you! Marron, listen to your mother! Bra, listen to 18 or I'm telling your mother and then you'll be in for it!" with that he turned around and dashed after his friend, godson and brother-in-arms.
"Wait up! I'm going with you!" Sharpener said as he ran after them.
"Good luck! Stay safe!" 18 called out after her husband.
"Good luck Daddy! Good luck Uncle Gohan! Good luck Mr. Long-hair!" Marron called out, while Bra yelled at the same time.
"Good luck Uncle Gohan and Krillin! And you too mister with the blond hair!"
All three gave a quick wave with their hand as they ran forward, pushing through the crowds.
"Wow." Erasa said as she realized something. "I think that's the first time I've ever seen Gohan run towards the danger. Usually he disappears before anything can happen."
A/N: and that's the return of Krillin, I do love the guy, he rules. And next chapter will start the second massive battle scene, with lots of DBZish action.
As always, please review to tell me what you think.
And as always lots of thanks to Kushin eX, who beta'd this chapter for me.