Disclaimer
All original content is owned by Akira Toriyama and his affiliates.
Chapter 27:
Though Vegeta's departure was a problem for a few people initially, namely Bulma, those who were waiting for his return in the coming days and weeks, figured he would just come back when he was ready.
Supreme Kai Shin and his attendant Kibito managed to unearth Majin Buu's cocoon with no major trouble, though it took longer than originally anticipated as Shin was overly cautious about ensuring the cocoon was secured.
By the time Vegeta and Kasma had defeated the two Cell Juniors that wrought havoc on New Namek, the cocoon was safely secured and under constant watch on the World of the Kais.
Kibito protested profusely about putting such an evil entity on sacred and holy land but Shin wouldn't change his mind and Kibito grudgingly agreed to at least have it secured underground and out of sight.
Gohan continued his efforts to feel and exert control over the electric charges dancing around his body in his Super Saiyan 2 form but progress was slow for such fast moving energy.
It was as if he had hit another wall and frustration overtook what calming he obtained through meditation.
Gohan made several more attempts on the first day to try and at controlling some of the energy's flow around his body.
Wanting to keep a distance from everyone else for their own safety, he attempted to float a few hundred feet above the Lookout in a meditative sitting position and feel out his electric Ki.
Unfortunately, the more he attempted to control what was hard to control, the more it fought with him and created seemingly endless explosions of blue electricity in the sky.
Some of these still made their way down to the Lookout and targeted Master Roshi during one of his impromptu afternoon naps.
"Shameful that my father before me was so afraid of this man!" Piccolo thought in embarrassment as he watched the old man run around screaming bloody murder for water to put out more burning embers in his beard.
Eventually the old master got tired of having a singed beard and wising up to a possible training experiment, he began jumping "around to try and dodge the incoming bolts of electricity.
As Master Roshi's body warmed up, he became more fluid with his evasive maneuvers, even with several hundred pounds of weight on his body.
"I guess I was wrong. Sometimes he surprises me," Piccolo thought bemused and watched the Turtle Hermit train. "I might need to take a few lessons from him after all!"
This went on for almost an hour before Piccolo had called to Gohan to stop for the day as the ferocity of his electric aura had been increasing in intensity and would've destroyed the Lookout if the young warrior had continued.
"I've got a lot of work ahead of me then!" Gohan grumbled inwardly as he slowed the flow of Ki to nothing.
All of this went on with Lecs Devison watching from afar captivated by Gohan's abilities and eager to get the half-Saiyan to train with him.
The following day, he got his chance as Gohan received the anticipated phone call just after breakfast.
Dressing into his blue shirt and black shorts he was growing accustomed to for the summertime and making sure Chi-Chi would be alright with Trunks for a few hours, the young warrior sped off to meet Lecs in a wide open area several miles away from Mount Paozu.
"Ugh, this is going to be slow and painful but at least I'm making progress!" Lecs thought aloud as he saw the incoming aura of Gohan at their designated meetup spot.
Gohan spotted a blue haired figure on the ground below him and dropping from the sky he landed a few feet in front of his new friend.
Gohan walked over to Lecs feeling excited but still slightly nervous.
"Hi Lecs! Um, we never did decide what we wanted to do," Gohan said grinning and rubbing his right hand behind his head. "What did you have in mind?"
As he asked he took notice of Lecs's outfit which was nothing more than a dark blue shirt and baggy black shorts, similar to Gohan's outfit.
"Well, like I said the other day I have some training in martial arts and wouldn't mind going a few rounds with you!" Lecs piped up with a cheesy grin.
Gohan took a quick glance at Lecs's eyes and found himself wondering how something that so unusual was gnawing on his brain.
"Why do his eyes seem so familiar to me? It's not like I've ever met him before but they sure are strange to look at…oh crap!" Gohan realized that he was sporting something unusual of his own.
"Ok, sounds like fun! I guess we'll take it slow and see how far we can go with each other!" Gohan replied now a little nervous as his thoughts went to his furry brown tail swishing behind him.
"Before we start, there is something I want to know though," Gohan said which made Lecs a little uncomfortable.
"Ok…," Lecs said getting wary.
"How come you aren't weirded out by my appearance now?" Gohan asked as he had unintentionally forgot to power into his Super Saiyan form from the excitement of meeting up, let alone wrapping his tail around his waist.
"Ah, um…I don't know," Lecs said genuinely uncertain of how to answer. "Like I said the other day I can feel your Ki and know it's you so it doesn't bother me so much."
"What about my tail?" Gohan asked a little more cautiously.
"Oh, that thing!" Lecs said completely forgetting about it himself. "Yeah, um, I kind of figured that it was a normal thing because your dad had one at one point. I saw it in old pictures of him as a kid."
"Ok, that's a bit of a relief to me!" Gohan said grinning and relaxing at the same time. "I wasn't sure how you'd take the overall change since I just realized my mistake when I got here."
"Appearances don't really matter to me. So you ready to spar?" Lecs asked getting into a fighting stance all too familiar to Gohan.
"Hey, that looks similar to how I was trained!" Gohan said surprised as he got into his own fighting stance.
"Huh that's neat; it just feels natural to me to stand this way!" Lecs replied with a small smile.
Both boys grinned at each other for a few seconds before focusing on their ensuing battle.
Lecs made the first move and over the next half-hour or so both boys traded blows while attempting to find out just how far they should push each other.
Their speed was slow and on par with that of Hercule Satan's level for the first few minutes but they slowly began ramping up to speeds faster than a speeding car.
As the sparring match went on his battle instincts took over and Gohan lost focus on trying to keep it slow or hold back.
Neither boy seemed to land a solid blow on one another as they started to become airborne and kick up the dirt and grass around them.
Gohan tried to fake punches and follow up with hidden kicks but Lecs saw them coming and would return some of his own hidden attacks only to have Gohan block them with ease.
Lecs was forced to ramp up his speed with increasing ferocity as Gohan tried to get around his opponent with faster and faster techniques.
"I might get more of a fight out of him than I originally thought! This is great!" Lecs thought as Gohan pushed more and more and almost clipped him in the face with a well-timed jab.
He phased out of existence and tried to hit Gohan from behind with a similar strike only to connect with the boy's left arm blocking the attack.
Gohan pushed back exerting a little more Ki into his attack and knocked Lecs up and away at an angle by several feet.
Only smiling in reply at the increasing challenge his opponent was thrusting on him, Lecs charged up and enveloped himself in a white aura.
Without a word he rushed at Gohan, his arm ready to punch, at a speed that surprised the young half-Saiyan.
Gohan barely managed to cross his arms in defense as the punch collided with him and knocked the young warrior back into the ground while creating a human sized crater with his impact.
Lecs dropped on the ground and reducing his aura grinned while getting into a stance that dared Gohan to make a move.
Getting to his feet and feeling a little annoyed that he didn't see the attack coming, Gohan charged at Lecs once more and landed a blow on his new friend's stomach.
Lecs was caught off guard by Gohan's own sudden burst in speed and didn't have time to block the punch as it collided with his midsection.
Clutching at the sharp pain, he managed to keep his footing as he was pushed back by the force.
Lecs dug his feet in the ground creating two parallel dirt paths several yards long before coming to a stop.
Gohan had stopped his assault and stood defensively waiting for Lecs to counter.
His choice to hold back was wise as Lecs immediately rushed at Gohan with only a small grin on his face and they resumed their spar on the ground.
After those seemingly even trades of pain, neither boy was able to catch the other off guard anymore as they both wised up to each other's skill and increased the ferocity of their attacks.
Eventually they came to a strong blow with their right and left fists colliding and created a powerful burst of energy that exploded all the grass from the ground in a house sized dome around them.
Both realizing what they were doing for separate reasons, they quickly darted back from one another a few feet and locked eyes still holding a defensive pose.
Though they had been going for over half an hour at this point and were both sweating, their stamina and light breathing showed that neither warrior was entirely winded.
"I'm going to need to dial it back a bit! It's really hard not to take it full out with him!" Lecs thought to himself with both excitement and worry.
"Where did Lecs come from? I've never heard of another person on Earth being as good as he is but I'm not sure how far I should push him!" Gohan thought with a smile.
When neither boy gave way, Gohan made the first move to finally drop his hands to his side and stand in a normal stance but still slightly on guard.
"Maybe he's from another planet or is like me? I'll have to ask him when he's less nervous!" Gohan's thoughts continued to roll. "Either way this is both bizarre and awesome!"
"Maybe we should take a break?" Gohan asked while Lecs slowly dropped his own guard and nodded.
"You're really good for someone who's had so little training!" Gohan exclaimed with a genuine smile. "You sure you weren't trying to hide it from me or other people out of fear?"
"Out of fear of what exactly?" Lecs said with a more defensive tone than he intended as his internal worrying grew stronger over showing too much so quickly.
Gohan was a little taken back at the sudden harshness and holding his hands up defensively said, "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to prod or make fun of you. You're really good and I don't want you to hold back on me if you don't want to."
Lecs relaxed a little bit, "Of course! He has no idea who I am! It's just that carefree nature of his or something stupid like that!"
Gohan noticed the change and continued "What I meant was that I'm not like Hercule or the people who follow him and think what we do isn't real. You don't need to hide anything from me if your Ki or abilities are stronger than what you just did!"
"Oh. Ok. I appreciate the compliment Gohan! Maybe we can continue more later?" Lecs asked getting out of a fighting stance.
Gohan was still surprised at Lecs's quick change in attitude but shrugged it off as him being nervous.
"Ok, sure. I didn't actually intend for us to spar so quickly but whenever you want to do it again, I'm game!" Gohan said with a cheerful smile.
Lecs just nodded in agreement. "I'll need to be more careful next time we meetup but it's just too hard not too! That was oddly a lot more fun than I thought it would be!"
"Hey, since you're a lot stronger than I originally thought, you want to go swimming with me?" Gohan asked. "To cool off and maybe fish?"
"Sure…but why does my strength matter?" Lecs asked curiously.
Turning on his feet and slowly gliding into the air Gohan added with a smile, "Follow me and you'll see!"
Several hours later both boys were soaking wet and had amassed a pile of fish the size of a large boulder on the grass near Gohan's favorite lake.
"So was that worth meeting up today?" Gohan asked as he piled wood in a sandy area and then lit a fire to cook what he deemed a small snack for the two to eat.
Lecs stood opposite the growing fire using his aura to dry off his dripping body and clothes and found himself saying, "Uh, yeah. It was! I didn't know what to expect when you asked me to join you!"
"Well, I hope you like fish cooked over an open fire before you go!" Gohan replied while drying his own body and clothes with his white aura. "It is about time for lunch after all!"
At first Lecs wasn't keen on eating anything but as the fish cooked, he realized his stomach was growling for some sustenance and he obliged to eat some when Gohan offered the first piece to him.
Between the two of them, the pile of fish was easily gone in the next half an hour and even though Gohan didn't feel full, he still felt satisfied.
Laying down and gazing up at the deep blue sky that had some passing clouds, Gohan stared at seemingly nothing with a smile on his face.
Lecs looked at this development curiously and just watched as Gohan enjoyed the peace and calm he was feeling.
"What are you looking at?" Lecs asked after several minutes of Gohan's complete silence.
"Oh! Sorry! I just got lost in thought and was enjoying the moment!" Gohan said as he sat up abruptly. "I use to do this a lot with my dad."
"You'd just lie out here on a sunny day and stare up at the clouds?" Lecs asked with more curiosity.
"Yeah, it helped calm our minds and unwind after training," Gohan said getting to his feet and stretching. "Especially before the Cell Games."
A heavy silence fell between both boys as they each thought about that day for different but still unhappy reasons.
Taking note of the sudden change in their mood Gohan tried to change the subject and said cheerily, "So, would you like to meet up again maybe once or twice a week over the rest of the summer? We don't always have to do the same thing!"
Standing up and pulling away from his own dark thoughts, Lecs looked at Gohan and said with a slight grin, "Sure, why not? I'll give you a call again in a few days and we can meet up again somewhere else!"
"Ok, I look forward to it!" Gohan said with all previous hints of unhappiness gone.
Lecs nodded before taking leave and flew off into the sky while Gohan watched him disappear into the blue.
Gohan then turned to face toward his house and placing his arms behind his head, started walking the roughly quarter of a mile toward it with a smile on his face.
As Lecs flew to his home and mused over the day's events, he found himself fighting an internal battle that had really grown in recent days.
"Stupid Gohan bringing up the Cell Games! I really wanted to deck him for that!" Lecs snarled angrily to a few passing clouds.
His aura began growing with his own anger.
"He didn't bring it up on purpose…but I still want to tear him limb from limb!" Lecs shouted. "I need something to vent this frustration on!"
He grumbled to himself as shooting a large energy signal might bring unwanted attention and took deep breaths to calm himself.
It worked temporarily and he flew on in silence with his hometown approaching fast.
Slowing his speed as the town had now appeared under him, Lecs stopped and floated in the air.
"I'll give Gohan some credit though. That place he took me to was a great one far away from the human parasites infesting this planet!" Lecs said with a small smile. "But it's still boring and I really need something to destroy now!"
As if to answer what he wanted, a sharp scream came from down below and Lecs turned his attention to the downtown area and an alley between two buildings.
It looked like a young lady and her eight year old son were being attacked by some skinny guy dressed in a black hoodie and wearing grungy blue jeans.
"That'll do!" Lecs said and rushed to the scene. "Guess, I gotta pretend to be a hero for a bit though!"
"Tell you what lady!" The skinny guy said holding a small pistol and casually moving the gun's nozzle from her to her scared and speechless eight year old son. "You give me all yer money and I'll give you a chance to see another day!"
"Fine! You can have it! Just leave us alone!" She yelled in a panic as she threw her purse toward the thug's feet and wrapped her arms around her son.
"That's really rude lady! You should pick it up and hand it to me all nice-like! We'll try that again!" The thug said aiming his gun directly at her.
He began eying her like she was a piece of candy and picked up the purse to throw back. "Or maybe you should give me something more-"
A short blue haired boy suddenly dropped out of the sky and landed between the gun's line of fire and its intended victim.
While grinning cheerfully at the thug in front of him, Lecs playfully said, "Hi there! I'm gonna beat you up!"
"Hey, kid! Where the hell'd you come from?" The guy, who looked to be in his 20s, said with surprise and leveled his gun at Lecs's forehead instead.
"From above you, duh!" Lecs said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
He easily grabbed the purse out of the thug's hands and tossed it over his shoulder to the cowering woman and her son. "Go ahead and leave! I got this, lady!"
She picked it up carefully and slung the purse over her shoulder before proceeding to pick up her teary eyed kid.
Being a guy who thrived on violence and killing himself, the thug had been too shocked to move not just by Lecs's quick sudden appearance and quick motions but the cold hatred hidden behind his purple eyes.
Something told him that this kid was far from ordinary but it did little to quell his ego of being treated this way by someone younger and smaller than him.
Finally getting over his shock, the thug shouted angrily, "Hey! That belongs to me now! Give it back or I'll kill this blue-haired freak of a kid!"
"Go ahead and try! I'd hate to keep looking at such an ugly person!" Lecs taunted and stuck his tongue out at the thug,
"That's it kid! DIE!" the thug shouted as he pulled the trigger to fire.
A loud bang echoed around the alley as the lady held her son tightly and screamed.
Lecs stood completely unfazed with his right hand less than a foot in front of his face grabbing at the bullet and crushing it to dust.
"See lady?" Lecs said over his shoulder as the dust sprinkled down over the ground at his feet.
The crook backed away in fear very slowly as Lecs added. "No sweat!"
Completely shocked and nodding her head in reply, she got to her feet while holding her sobbing son and backed away from the alley.
As she turned the corner she shouted, "Thank you so much!"
With them gone, Lecs' cheerful nature quickly turned dark and menacing; "Now I won't have any unwanted witnesses!"
"You're just the person I needed!" Lecs said darkly as he took a step toward the thug now cowering at the back wall.
"Go away! You win!" the thug choked out in fear as he aimed his shaking hand with the gun at Lecs again.
"Nope!" Lecs replied grinning maliciously while charging a small yellow ball of Ki in his right hand. "I'm gonna kill you!"
The thug screamed and fired the remaining five bullets in his gun at Lecs and watched as they all bounced off the kid's skin as if he was pelted with wads of paper.
"My turn!" Lecs said gleefully as he aimed his palm with the growing ball of yellow Ki at the thug and fired it right at the guy's face.
His head was instantly incinerated as the Ki ball made contact and exploded, leaving a charred brick wall behind the thug's body.
The body slumped over, headless, and Lecs quickly charged up and fired multiple yellow Ki balls at the body to destroy it completely.
Subconsciously channeling his anger and getting more heated as he fired at the charred remains, he didn't realize that the sounds of the explosions were echoing across the alley and out into the neighboring streets.
It wasn't long before the distant sounds of sirens could be heard and they pulled him back to a calmer state just as the bricks in the building he was firing against began to crack.
He had created a roughly 5-foot deep hole in place of the former thug.
Not wanting to bring any major attention his way, Lecs quickly dumped nearby old newspapers and trash bags over the charred hole and created a small fire.
It didn't take much before the small fire was becoming a roaring blaze and as he heard fire trucks and police cars pull up on the street, Lecs floated into the sky through the growing smoke to avoid being seen and flew off toward his house.
"That felt really good!" Lecs said aloud and in a better mood. "I might have to do that again sometime!"
A couple of mostly uneventful days passed as Gohan spent his time between reading for school, trying to control his electric aura, and chasing after a baby that started acting more like a toddler.
Meditating in his ascended form while sitting on the front lawn not long after breakfast, he felt as though he could finally follow his electric arcs wherever they went along his body.
It was both calming and exhilarating at the same time.
Unfortunately for him this would have to continue at a later time as his mom screamed for help and he dashed into the house to what would become a horror story.
Upon entering the house, Gohan was suddenly assaulted by the smell of what seemed like a hundred used diapers and a scene of utter chaos.
Trunks was well acquainted with eating meat, but Chi-Chi had tried to sneak in healthy vegetables with his meals as she had done for Gohan years before.
Apparently, Trunks's stomach wasn't ready for so many vegetables at once and she really needed Gohan's help with the ensuing diaper duty and clean up.
Taking the sight in front of him as Gohan had the entered the living room (now a war zone) Chi-Chi thrust upon him one of two choices, "Either you change his diaper or you clean his mess!"
Gohan chose the former over the latter and thus, he was on diaper duty.
He rushed the baby into his room and putting a fussy Trunks on the changing table, went to work while holding his breath as along as possible.
It would have been fine if he hadn't needed to change the kid's diaper not once but twice, as Trunks had an unrelenting tantrum with his stomach in so much pain.
To further add to Gohan's turmoil, Trunks managed to fire a small ball of Ki into a pile of neatly stacked bottles of baby powder, causing them to explode.
It was as if it had snowed in Gohan's bedroom with his desk and bed covered in white powder, not to mention himself and the baby in front of him on the changing table.
In the middle of the chaos, the phone rang giving Chi-Chi a much needed break as she was trying not to scream.
"Just look at it as practice," Chi-Chi called from down the hall as she picked up the phone with a breathless "hello?"
"Yeah, and having him throw it all around like an angry little monkey makes me look forward to another baby doing the same!" Gohan thought grumpily as he finished cleaning and changing Trunks after what seemed to be an eternity.
For better or worse, the baby thought a somewhat frazzled, powder ridden, and scowling Gohan was funny and giggled as the older half-Saiyan pinned the diaper in place. "Well, he's done fussing and at least I smell better than the hallway."
"I think he'd have no problem doing that so long as he keeps his identity a secret. Hold on, I'll ask him!" Gohan heard his mom say as he put down the phone and walked into his bedroom.
"Bulma asked if you would go to her place and help her show off that machine she's been working on to her client," Chi-Chi said upon entering the room now adorned in baby powder.
It didn't seem to faze her to see all white, let alone her own son covered in powder.
"Oh! I forgot she was making a gravity machine! Sure, I can help!" Gohan said instantly getting cheerful as his desire to help took over.
"Ok, I'll let her know. I'm assuming you'll leave soon? Don't worry about the mess!" Chi-Chi said turning around to go talk to Bulma again.
"Sure, Mom. Should I bring Trunks?" Gohan asked as his mom got back on the phone.
He received an enthusiastic "YES! He's going home!" and gave a small smile down at Trunks while sighing slightly. "Heh, Mom is ready for a little peace and quiet after all!"
Within the next hour Gohan was slowly dropping from the sky just over Capsule Corporation while holding a sleeping baby.
Bulma had walked out to greet him and her baby boy with a smile on her face.
Instead of her lab working clothes, Bulma had put on a more business laden attire with her purple dress, green scarf, and some blue beads adorned around her wrists.
Reaching for her sleeping boy she greeted Gohan cheerfully and said, "I'm really glad you could help out! It could help put more of these things on the market!"
"And here," She said fishing into one of her pockets for a small capsule. "I'm going to give this to you after the demonstration. Consider it a small token for all your and your mom's help. We're practically family at this point but I won't take no for an answer!"
"Uh, ok. Thanks Bulma!" Gohan said grinning as he looked behind her and saw a large domed object colored white and bearing the name Capsule Corporation.
He was instantly reminded of the spaceship his dad rode to Namek in not too many years ago.
"Does it fly?" Gohan asked curiously.
"Well it is intended to be used as a spaceship if need be but with the gravity capable of reaching almost 600x that of Earth, it might get difficult to travel in at that intensity," Bulma explained while putting Trunks on her right shoulder and patting him on the back.
"Six hundred?!" Gohan exclaimed with surprise. "Can any human on this planet handle that?"
"Not likely, but when that husband of mine finally returns, I figured I'd have a new and fully functioning machine tested and approved so I can easily make another!" Bulma said with a growing temper.
A little taken back by another famous random burst of anger Gohan just smiled and attempted to calm her growing beast, "Ok. I'll help with what I can! So, what exactly am I doing?"
As if doing a complete 180-degree spin Bulma got immediately cheery and said, "I'm going to have you show what a trained martial artist can accomplish versus someone who needs training."
Taking notice of his worrying look she quickly said, "And no I won't have you test more than ten times Earth's gravity! From what I hear, that was the extent of weighted training Yamcha went through and I figured most human fighters wouldn't be too keen on going higher than that!"
"Ok! I didn't want anyone to be crushed!" Gohan said feeling relieved.
"And I do have instructions and warnings on how this thing works," Bulma added while turning to walk toward the machine and gesturing Gohan to follow her. "Plus, with you known as the Delivery Boy…"
She could practically feel his souring mood at the mention of that name as Gohan followed behind her, "I know! I know! Just roll with it until we come up with a better name! You haven't exactly thought about it much, have you?"
Gohan stopped in his train of thought over the absurdity of the name and said, "Well, no, actually I hadn't!"
In a mother's scolding tone of voice she said, "Well, then maybe that ridiculous title will urge you to think more on a classier name and stop brooding over it when you hear it!"
Gohan couldn't argue and just nodded in reply.
"As I was going to say, with people knowing who you are and how strong you are, I wanted someone well trained here in case something goes wrong. And, if it does on your watch that might make you look better than what the world is saying about you right now!" Bulma continued in a business-like tone.
"Ah," Was all Gohan could utter as he was half listening and half thinking of a better name than Delivery Boy.
"Super Boy…no I won't be a kid forever! Um, Monkey Fist…no that sounds too close to home! Golden Fighter? Generic but possible, what else? Geez this is hard!" he thought bouncing from title to title.
They had reached the machine and with Bulma in the lead, Gohan followed her into the remarkably spacious room.
It had red tiling on the floor and white paneling on the ceiling and walls.
Some sunlight was entering through the windows all around them in a circle but it was faint as they were being tinted.
Gohan pulled himself from his thoughts as he took in the large open space about the size of his own house.
"I installed a function for the windows to tint from lighter to darker to allow for privacy. That might make things easier for you today as well!" Bulma said with enthusiasm as Trunks slowly stirred to waking on her shoulder.
"Wait! Are you expecting more than just your client?" Gohan asked as it finally clicked in his head what was so noticeable and felt slightly nervous.
"Well, yeah. I thought you might've picked up on that. Being the first of its kind for public use, I do need to have a sort of press release," Bulma added as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"And before you get yourself all worked up, I didn't tell them that you would be here so there won't be everyone in the world coming to ask you questions. I just said that I would have a trained professional demonstrate that it could be done and show that I'm not trying to crush people!" Bulma added.
Gohan relaxed a little at that and said, "Well, that I can handle. I guess it will keep a lot of unwanted guests away. So, uh, question about what you said earlier. What exactly are people calling me?"
Bulma bit her lip a little before answering and said, "Well, you know some are seeing you as a fraud, and some are more of fans to you with thoughts on what your real name is…"
"Ok. I knew about the fraud thing, but what are they calling me otherwise if it isn't Delivery Boy then?" Gohan demanded from her getting a little annoyed and showing it through his electric aura.
"Uh, well…anything from the Golden Monkey Boy to…what was it again…Say-a-man or something ridiculous of that nature!" Bulma replied trying to make it seem less of an issue to him than it really was.
Gohan sweat dropped and said, "Say-a-man…where in the world did that come from?"
"It just rolled off the tongue better than Simian according to some newscaster! I think it's stupid too!" Bulma said exasperatedly.
A few hours later, after feeding a grumpy half-Saiyan boy and hungry baby the equivalent of a five course meal for over a dozen people, Bulma had Gohan wait In the gravity chamber while she made sure everything was in order for her sale.
"I don't know whether he is having the teenage hormone onset or he is channeling his mother but even I'm a little nervous around him," Bulma thought to herself as she finished checking with her crew and walked to the front gate to let in a lone reporter and cameraman.
"Good day Mrs. Briefs," a blond-haired female reporter dressed in a red business suit said as Bulma opened the gate to let her and the cameraman in. "I'm Tella Pierz and this is my colleague Cam."
"Pleasure to meet you," Bulma replied cheerfully. "Follow me and I'll show where we can get things underway. I was expecting my client to be here soon-"
Midsentence, Bulma saw an incoming and rather expensive looking black limo pull up out front, "And that would be him."
A man, dressed in a dark blue suit of seemingly average build and height with short black slicked hair, stepped out of the limo.
Immediately spotting Bulma, a smile grew on his face.
"Good day Mrs. Briefs!" He said charmingly as he walked over to shake her hands.
"Good day Mr. Siru!" Bulma said with a smile. "Please just call me Bulma. Tella, this is my client Ken Siru."
Bulma gave them a few moments to exchange greetings before speaking again, "It appears all important parties are here. Please follow me and we will begin the final test for your machine which is to basically show you how it works."
"Thank you, Bulma. I hope this doesn't sound rude but I really would like to hasten this demonstration so I can get started using this machine. It is after all, important to my growing dojo," Ken replied with a business-like manner.
"This final test should take no more than an hour," Bulma replied in kind while gesturing for everyone to follow her. "Please, follow me."
Minutes later they were all standing outside the gravity machine with Ken marveling at the size and shape of the machine.
"The gravity machine is roughly the size of a large one-story house, or a fair sized martial arts dojo," Bulma explained. "While the control center is in the middle of the room, there is enough space for up to a dozen people at any one time."
"Can we get an inside tour?" Ken asked after seeing how much grander it was as a completed project.
"Sure. Oh, and one more thing I wanted to tell you all. I invited a guest to show that this machine is safe if handled with care," Bulma explained.
"Ooh, is Hercule Satan here?" Tella piped up with immediate interest while both Bulma and Ken gave her a "are you serious?" kind of look.
"That idiot couldn't punch his way through a plastic bag, let alone stand in intense gravity!" Ken thought to himself sourly.
Trying to keep her lip zipped and in control, Bulma composed herself before replying, "No. I didn't have the time to get him away from what I'm guessing is a busy travel schedule now."
"However, I believe you have already interviewed this person," Bulma replied as she ushered everyone to the entrance.
Tella and her cameraman gasped when entering the room while Ken was only mildly amused and sported a small smile.
"So, I did feel that kid after all. I guess this makes the most sense for a tester!" Ken thought as he gauged the size of the machine from the inside to not draw attention to his inner shock. "So, based on what Master Three said, this is the power that Cell lost too…he really is way out of my league!"
Though facing the entrance, Gohan had been sitting in the middle of the room near the main console, quietly meditating with his eyes closed and golden tail swishing in harmony with his breathing.
Still not where he wanted to be with his electric aura training, Gohan was lost in the ebb and flows of his energies.
"Of course, I remember the Delivery Boy!" Tella finally exclaimed and rushed over to him while pulling Cam along with her.
"STOP!" Bulma shouted with a strong tone.
"Why on earth would I-" Tella began before the crackling of Gohan's electric aura became more apparent and as if acting in self-defense created a small short lived field around his body.
Tella's straight blonde hair immediately shot out in all known directions with her stopping abruptly, only a foot from Gohan's erratic aura.
"For one reason that's why!" Bulma said near exasperated at the sight of the reporter. "You're lucky he didn't electrocute you to death!"
"The things people will do for a story!" She thought inwardly while sighing as Gohan opened his eyes and came to after hearing all the shouting.
Finally aware of the four people staring at him, Gohan got to his feet and gave a quick bow while looking each person in the eye. "Sorry. I got carried away in my training. Nice to meet you!"
Ken just gave a quick smile and said, "Likewise. I've heard a lot about your strength and am happy to see it for myself."
Tella seemed to be familiar to Gohan as his eyes fell over her.
"Um, excuse me miss? Have we met before?" Gohan asked of Tella. "Your face and scent are familiar but that hairdo is throwing me off a bit."
"My scent?" Tella asked more confused at the current events as a few electric sparks danced around her hair. "Oh, must be my perfume!"
"Yes, we met before! I covered the story of your heroic acts at that grocery store still under renovation," Tella said forgetting her recent bout with death and got giddy at the juicy news in front of her.
Gohan internally cringed at the memories but a forced a polite smile.
"Ok, ok!" Bulma piped in. "We need to get this started for my client. Everyone except for our young martial artist, please follow me outside and we'll begin."
Moments later Bulma had everyone except Gohan outdoors and spent the next half an hour giving Gohan instructions on how to use the machine while fielding questions from Ken and Tella.
As the group peered through the windows, they could see Gohan moving around as if the gravity was unchanged.
While Bulma gave him directions via intercom, Gohan started up the machine and eventually began demonstrating how he could move with the increasing weight placed upon him while doing shadow boxing and basic warm-ups.
She played with the tinting windows during the demo to both show off the feature and to keep Tella from seemingly leering at him and eager to pry into his secrets.
Bulma's team had also supplied a rack with an assortment of weights from 10 to over 100 pounds and Gohan lifted them as instructed to show that it could be done.
Questions about the reasons behind Bulma's work and general information on the size and capability of the machine encompassed most of the demonstration.
Tella finally gave the expected question, "So, could you actually prove to us that this intense weight on a 10 year old kid is real and not just a bunch of tricks? I mean, without us interacting with the inside while the machine is running, all we have to go on is your word and what we think we see!"
"Of course!" Bulma replied with her best forced customer service voice she could muster and grabbed a 50-pound box of weights stashed just outside the chamber's entrance.
The cameraman zoomed in on the box and affirmed that it was as heavy as Bulma was showing it to be with the effort it took her to lift the box.
Tella spoke to the camera and said, "As you can see, this is indeed a heavy box and…"
She trailed off as she picked out a 10-pound weight for emphasis, "I can assure you that the weights are as heavy as described."
Bulma hollered into the intercom "Ok, kid! Turn the gravity back to normal and open the doors!"
Mere seconds later the door opened and Gohan stepped out to grab the 50-pound box as if it were a box of pillows and carried it back across the threshold of the doorway.
Tella and Cam were dumbstruck at how easily Gohan lifted and carried a box of heavy equipment nearly as big as him.
"Everyone please stand back from the doorway!" Bulma said aloud. "Go ahead and turn it up to 10x."
"Ok!" Gohan called as he turned up the gravity.
Everyone watched as the middle column hummed to life and everything inside the doorway vibrated.
They could all feel a strong and very dangerous pull from just beyond the doorway and watched as Gohan lifted the box up to his face level and then let it fall.
It happened so fast that they had no time to see the box plummet but the sounds of heavy clanking metal was unmistakable.
The fast crashing sounds of an assortment of weights that Gohan dropped for the demonstration seemed to both impress and scare Ken and Tella.
"Is that demonstration proof enough for you?" Bulma asked with a hint of smugness.
Ken spoke after a few moments and said, "I was already with you on that actually but seeing it for myself really cements the power of this machine!"
"Um...well, I am definitely impressed," Tella replied trying to find words. "I hope we got all that on the camera!"
Cam was standing beside her with the camera honed in on the whole demonstration and had his mouth open wide in surprise but nodded and said, "Yeah…it was running…the whole time!"
"Well, I guess that about covers everything I have to show you!" Bulma said sweetly and enjoyed watching the shock on their faces. "But in the off chance you're still not convinced toss something in there yourself and see what happens."
Everyone shook their heads in reply and Bulma signaled to Gohan to shut off the machine.
The humming died down and the strong pressure from inside disappeared in a matter of seconds.
Gohan walked outside showing no signs of fatigue or sweat soon after and Tella decided that that was her chance to get more juicy bits from the young warrior.
Before anyone could do anything, Tella swooped in on Gohan and began asking him questions. "How did you get so strong? Have you ever trained with Hercule? What is your real name? Why the spikey hairdo?"
Gohan just stared at her in shock trying to form an answer to her sudden barrage of questions but came up with nothing but a "Uhh…"
But before he could muster something coherent she continued with more and practically shoved her microphone in his face. "Why did you leave the grocery store that was bombed in such a hurry? What do you think of what people are calling you these days? And what is with that weird golden tail?"
Whether from the shock of the hounding questions or being in his ascended state that loosened his usually reserved boundaries on being calm and polite, Gohan's temper overcame him.
He gave her an angry look and tersely replied with, "I think I told you everything you needed at our last encounter."
The mood seemed to change quickly and even Bulma was getting nervous.
"I think our young friend has done enough. He's probably hungry anyway and I know Mr. Siru is eager to get on his way," Bulma said trying to ease the growing tension.
Tella was used to people trying to evade her and pressed on. "But the public is dying to know how he compares to Hercule Satan! After all, he did take over for this kid and win at the Cell Games! What do you think of our world Savior jumping in for you and the other weaker fighters with you?"
Bulma knew Tella had struck a chord and she slowly stepped back from the ensuing fireworks while motioning for Ken to do the same.
Barely managing to restrain himself, Gohan stared Tella directly in the eyes as his electric aura crackled fiercely around his body.
He all but shouted in her face, "Fine, you want to know?! You can tell them all that Hercule is nothing more than a lying, glory hogging, greedy, selfish jerk and if it weren't for my FRIEND's sacrifices; he, you, and the rest of the people on Earth would all be dead!"
Unrelenting in his temper, Gohan grabbed the microphone with his right hand and gave it a quick but strong squeeze.
The microphone instantly shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces and fell to the grass at his feet like dust.
"Now, leave me alone!" He roared at her, his aura slightly flaring up with his hands balled into fists at his sides.
Quickly turning around and taking only one step, Gohan seemed to phase out of existence as he disappeared from sight.
He wanted to get out of there before escalating his anger to a point that he might regret.
Several moments of utter silence passed before Bulma gave an audible cough to clear her throat.
"Well, I wasn't expecting him to go that far but I will admit Miss Pierz, you pushed too hard!" Bulma said firmly as she gave Tella a stern look.
"Wh-where did he go?!" The reporter stammered in utter confusion as the past few moments had left her mind trying to process how to react. "He just vanished… and that was downright rude of him!"
"I invited him to stay at my house for a little while so he might have gone inside or decided to just leave for a bit. It doesn't matter since you went too far!" Bulma reiterated with increasing anger.
"He broke my microphone and accused our Savior of being a fraud himself! Of all the things…! Cam, I hope you got all that! What a scoop this will be!" She trailed on between anger and excitement while her nervous cameraman nodded in reply.
"Miss Pierz, I believe we have concluded our business and I really need to finish with Mr. Siru. I must ask you to leave now!" Bulma said trying hard to control her own temper.
"Psh! Fine, I got more than I expected! Come on Cam, we're leaving!" Tella said with a huff and dragged her speechless cameraman with her.
"Sorry about all this, Mr. Siru!" Bulma said apologetically as she glared after the departing reporter. "Some people only create trouble instead of fixing it! Let me show you how to capsulize the machine and we'll finish all the last details."
"Not a problem, Mrs. Briefs," Ken replied with a smile while trying hard not to laugh. "I don't care for people like her myself. I appreciate your willingness to finish everything so quickly."
Less than an hour later, Bulma checked inside her house to see where Gohan really went.
Smiling slightly, she was relieved to see him sitting on the floor in the living room playing with Trunks, although a little unnerved to see his powers still going strong.
"Did they leave?" Gohan asked irritably.
"Yes. Everything is taken care of," Bulma said while nervously sitting down on her blue couch to watch the two.
Gohan just nodded as he watched Trunks climb in and out of his lap multiple times and said, "Sorry if that came out wrong. I'm not angry at you."
"You have every right to be angry, Gohan, but you might have made things a lot harder for yourself," Bulma said feeling less nervous after hearing that.
Gohan turned his head and looked at Bulma with a frown on his face and said, "I know! But it's not fair to everyone, especially Dad and she wouldn't stop!"
"Well, look at this way," Bulma said with a devilish grin. "Hercule would be stupid to challenge you outright since it would cost him his fame and fortune!"
Gohan looked at her dumbfounded for a moment before giving a quick laugh and replied with, "Heh, I guess you're right!"
"How's this sound? Now that my biggest project is done and I can relax a bit, I can show you how that "moon imager" you asked me to create is coming along!" Bulma said getting to her feet as she started walking toward one of her giant hallways.
"Uh, sure!" Gohan said with growing eagerness and completely forgetting the recent events.
He picked up a happy babbling baby while following Bulma.
Ken walked into the open grounds of the Crane Dojo grinning ear to ear.
He was greeted with almost a dozen of the students standing at attention, and his three masters, arms crossed behind their backs, waiting patiently.
Many of the students looked as if they had been broiled alive but regardless of the physical pain they were feeling, they stood at attention without showing signs of weakness.
Taking the capsulized machine from his right pocket, Ken clicked the button and tossed the capsule into the grass to a predetermined location for their new training facility.
The capsule exploded into a large cloud of smoke for a few seconds before revealing the gravity machine that now belonged to the Crane Brothers.
"Incredible!" Master Shen said with eagerness. "You will have to show us how it works!"
"I look forward to using the same type of training Goku did for myself," Tao mused with intrigue.
"Of course!" Ken replied opening the door and walking inside while gesturing his masters to follow. "Master Three should be happy to know that it increases the gravity up to 600x that of Earth!"
A large smile spread across Three's face at the mention of the intensity. "Give us a short demonstration on how it works and then I will be the first to use it!"
"That brat won't know what hit him when this all said and done!" Three thought with malicious joy.
"Right away, Master Three," Ken said leading them inside. "Oh, and I think you all should look on the TV for one of the news stations in West City later today for amusement."
"Why is that?" Tao asked with curiosity.
"Goku's son was giving a demonstration on how to use this machine and he accused Hercule Satan of being a fraud in front of the TV reporter," Ken replied chuckling. "It was quite a show actually."
"Why does that matter to us?" Tao asked not completely understanding the point. "Any competent fighter would know that man is a joke!"
"Because dear brother, it means most of the world is going to hate young Gohan for trashing everyone's favorite showboating hero!" Shen said with a laugh of his own.
"I kind of like that!" Three piped up after sizing up the machine. "It may be small, but if I can't kill him just yet, then utter humiliation will have to do!"
Author's Note:
Ok, yes this was long overdue. Last year wasn't the greatest for me, especially around the holiday season and working just makes it hard to do this all the time. That being said I was writing almost daily for the past 3 weeks and realized that I had written enough for another chapter and then some (so yeah, Chapter 28 in the works for sure)!
To previous commenters I missed, I had not intended for a Lime pairing (nor Videl). Other ideas are in play (slowly at the present) but it won't be either of those two in a pairing role.
Not as epic as the recent chapters, but there's still plenty of fighting to be had. Thanks for reading!
