Hi there,
my previous chapter caused quite a stir. To whomever got offended by it I apologize and I'm sorry if that ruined the story for you. At the end of this chapter I'll clarify my motives of writing it. I'm not going to clarify it right now, as this chapter is somewhat explanatory on its own. I'd just wish I'd upload both chapters at the same time, as it originally was one chapter after all.
Though, I've published it and therefore I'll stick to the storyline as it is and face the consequences. In our country we have this saying: 'If you burn your asscheeks, you need to sit on its blisters.'
I'll finish the story as how I imagined it and get it off my chest first. After that I'll think it over if I'll 'fix' the faulty events of previous chapter or not. What I do can say is that nothing else will occur in that extent, so you are save to continue reading if you still feel like it.
Also, I want to add that this chapter is written according to how I intended to, and not out of reaction of your reviews. Though, it's outcome would be similar either way.
Chapter 5: Missing
With a smack, Saiyaman's head crashed into a nearby wall. As soon as she realized what was happening, Videl had slapped him in the face with full force. Saiyaman struggled to get his head out of the crater the impact had created. When he finally succeeded, he grabbed his jaw in pain.
"What was that for?" he was clearly confused. "Damn it, now I've lost my implant! Oh no, where's that damn thing?," and he began to look for something on the ground.
"You complete moron!" Videl burst out in anger and jumped off the crate. Saiyaman turned his attention from the ground to the girl in front of him. "You do know I'm a minor right?! Why the hell did you kiss me?"
"I kissed you because I thought you wanted me to," then suddenly his body stiffened for an instant and then he clearly broke into a sweat. "Wait, you're a what...? Oh shit, sorry! I didn't realize!" he waved his hands out in front of him in defense.
"All I asked for was to show me your identity! Nothing else, you pervert," Videl glared at him. "Do I look that old to you?"
"I... I...," he began to stutter, "L... Look in my defense, that black eye makes your age hard to read, and with that muscular body I assumed..."
"Well, you obviously assumed wrong!" Videl sneered at him, still very angry. As she spoke, she closed the distance between herself and the nervous hero. Every step she took towards him, Saiyaman recoiled one and eventually tripped over his own feet to fall to the ground. "You know what you've done is against the law right?" Videl towered over him. "I should sue you for what you did!"
"Please don't," Saiyaman begged her, clasping his hands together to ask for mercy. "I'm really, really sorry! Can't we arrange something to keep this between us? A lawsuit will ruin his reputation!"
"His reputation?" emphasized Videl questionably.
A bead of sweat appeared on his cheek, "I mean, my reputation," he tried to correct himself nervously.
But the damage was done and Videl grabbed the front of his shirt in her fist. "What have you done with Saiyaman!" she yelled at him.
"Nothing, I swear!" Saiyaman pleaded, "I'm just his deputy." 'Not that I had a choose in that matter,' he added to himself.
Videl kept glaring at him. She was considering her options. Somehow she believed that he was telling the truth. Even though he was a pervert and what just happened was down-right wrong, it was possible that it was just a misunderstanding. She had to admit that her face in its current state was indeed hard to recognize and it was not the first time older man were hitting on her. But most importantly, he was her only lead on Saiyaman she had, so she needed him on her side.
"For the record, you yourself have already damaged his reputation due to your unwanted behavior." She sighed and let go of his shirt, "But, I'm willing not to prosecute, as I owe the real Saiyaman my life." Saiyaman stared at her and waited for Videl to continue. "But only under strict conditions. First of all, you are going to tell me exactly what happened to Saiyaman. Second, you're going to behave yourself in a way that will stay true to the reputation Saiyaman had worked so hard for, so no screwing around!" her voice was determined. "And finally, you'll show me your real face."
Videl looked straight at Saiyaman, who was still kneeling on the ground. He took a moment to process the situation and considered his options. He spoke, "I can't, sorry."
"Okay, I'll see you in court then," Videl turned and waited for him to take the bait.
"No Wait!"
Videl smirked and turned back around to let him speak.
"Look, I cannot tell you want you want to know, because we don't know that either. We have no clue where he is or what happened. And you understand that the information I do have is strictly confidential," he paused. "But I can promise you I'll remain loyal to Go-, I mean, Saiyaman's reputation from now on," he placed his hand behind his head. "No more flirting, you have my word."
"And what about you showing me your face?" Videl ordered.
"I cannot do that either, as it could lead you to the real identity of Saiyaman himself. I'd rather go to court than go through his mother's wrath if I tell you," he said apologetically. "And even if I wanted to, I cannot take this damn thing off," he pointed to his battered helmet. "It's locked onto my head and I don't have the code"
Videl raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Why?"
Saiyaman sighed, "Probably because they were afraid I would screw things up, I guess." He looked to the ground in guild.
"No wonder," Videl looked at the pathetic individual in front of her. She was amazed that they – whoever they were – managed to replace Saiyaman with someone even worse than himself. To her annoyance, she felt her head started to pound violently again, and having left her pain killers at home, she had to to wrap up this conversation as soon as possible. "I even don't want to know anymore, I'm nauseous enough already," Videl rubbed her temple to ease the pain. "So here's the new deal, you'll keep your promises and you'll come to me right away when you have new information about Saiyaman. And if you haven't reported back to me before this Wednesday, I'll file that lawsuit anyway."
"Right!" Saiyaman got up and bowed down. "Thank you and you have my word on that!" Saiyaman looked up to Videl, "But tell me, why are you so determined to know how his well-being is?"
Videl blushed, "That's none of your business," and with that, she walked out of that alley and left.
While she flew home she tried to sketch the whole picture in her head. So Saiyaman did indeed go missing somewhere between that incident at the state bank and Friday. There is a substitute to give everyone the impression that the hero didn't vanish, meaning more people are entangled in his heroic secret life. And just like Videl, they too don't know where he was or what had happened to him. The most logical thing to do now is to search for the man, so she wondered if those strange sightings of flying beings were related to the disappearance. After all, they all have in common that they can fly without an aircraft.
Videl was ripped out of her thought as she looked to her right side. To her surprise, a man flew in the near distance. This man didn't quite fit any of the previous witness statements. Though the man wasn't tall, she wouldn't call him short either. He was wearing a blue sleeveless jumpsuit with white gloves and boots and his long upright spiky hair was swaying in the wind. His arms where crossed as he seemed to search the streets for something – or someone.
Instinctively, Videl set course for the man. She was almost convinced that he too was looking for Saiyaman and maybe she could finally talk to a normal person about the situation. She had also realized that maybe they knew nothing about the darts and it could be crucial information to them. But as she flew about 20 feet from the mysterious man, the man jerked his head in her direction and a chill ran down her spine. If looks could kill, she definitely would be dead by now. Videl distanced herself again. Maybe... this wasn't her guy to talk to right now, not with that headage.
###
"So, what do you think Videl?"
Videl looked at Erasa's the questioning expression. "I don't care, choose whatever topic you want."
It was Monday morning and that meant Videl was obligated to go to school, although she would have preferred to spend her time looking for Saiyaman. Erasa, Sharpener and she were al assigned as a group for a history school project. The project groups consisted of a minimum of four students, but they had convinced the teacher that they wanted to save their last spot for Gohan, even though they expected he wouldn't come back in time to actually contribute. Gohan normally was the one who led their projects to good grades, so they decided to help him out for a change so he wouldn't fall behind.
"Come on, we don't have Brains right now, so I'm kind of depending on you to come up with the smart ideas," Sharpener said. "History isn't one of my best subjects. And Erasa's totally hopeless for that matter."
"He!" Erasa looked to him insulted.
"Gohan isn't here, so there's no need to talk about the guy," Videl snapped. "Look, I've had a really rough weekend and haven't slept much, so I'm sorry I'm not that helpful today. I'll do my share of thinking tomorrow, I promise."
The classroom door flew open and the trio turned their attention to what happened in front of them. The principal had walked in and after a some exchange of words their history teacher nodded at the principal, who then left the room. The teacher looked up and coughed into his hand to drew the class' attention.
"Please everyone, go back to your seats, we have a difficult announcement to make," the teachers said, with a tone of concern in his voice. "Madam, please come forward."
A woman, dressed in a form-fitting sleeveless green turtleneck dress, walked through the open door. Her earrings matched her yellow boots and showed off under her short blue hair. Excited whispers arose from the class and some jocks even cat called. Videl had to admit that the woman was very good looking for her age, but also looked very exhausted at the same time.
"O my god, I can't believe it!" Erasa whispered in surprise to her friends, "I think that's Bulma Brief, the president of Capsule Corp."
The woman turned to the class and confirmed Erasa's suspicions. "Hello everyone, my name is Bulma Brief and I am the godmother of Son Gohan." The class erupted into whisper and Videl sat straight in her seat when she heard Gohan's name. The blue haired scientist continued, "I'm here to inform you that Gohan has not come home from school since last Tuesday. If you have any information about his whereabouts from that Tuesday after the time that school has ended, please tell me after your class has finished."
The class was dead silent.
"You can find me in the principal's office," Bulma's voice sounded dejected. "Thank you for your attention." She walked out and after the door had shut, a hurricane of sound filled the classroom.
But Videl heard nothing. She sat there in her seat, frozen by shock from realization. It all fit: the same time, the same circumstances, the same person – missing. This was no longer a coincidence.
Gohan was Saiyaman... and clearly something bad had happened.
Hi there,
As I had written in the preface of this chapter, I want to clarify my motives for writing the previous one. In order to let the story unfold, I needed Saiyaman to get himself really into trouble towards Videl. He needed to get himself into this position that he was willing to spill some beans even if that meant that he might face the fury of Bulma later – which means he really needed to fuck up bigtime. And so he did.
In the original piece I wrote, Saiyaman did led Videl to the end of the alley, had put her on this crate but was then slapped across the face as soon as Videl realized what his intensions were. So they never touched lips. Unfortunately, the chapter became much to long and I decided to cut it in two, meaning I needed to come up to a 'thrilling' end mid-story. And because it was really late at night, I didn't think it through, and for that I'm sorry.
I do want to point out that this is a fictional story of an Japanese anime/manga of with the (fictional) characters are much – much – worse than what happened in this story. Like for instance an 16 year old Bulma showing her privates to Mr. Roshi in exchange for a Dragon Ball. And don't forget that this same man is preying on women all the time with an age difference of at least 400 years. He even poked our lovely teenaged crimefighter in her breast in one of the episodes. Or let's not forget that Goku wanted to 'sell' Videl's kiss to Old Kai who has an age of more than 75 million years. So in that same light, I think that a kiss out of a misunderstanding is very mild.
Furthermore, I see Videl as a teenager and I wouldn't call her a child (whom in my dictionary is a someone up until the start of puberty). In the Saiyaman saga she is 17 (she is 1 years and 2 months older as Gohan) and for those who want to know, her age difference with Yamcha is in fact 24 years. That doesn't justify to let them kiss and I agree that the whole situation is down-right wrong as she is still a minor... but, that was kind of the whole idea anyways. Saiyaman needed to do something illegal in order to spill the beans, even though he didn't intent to do it on purpose (as he is still one of the good guys).
I want to emphasize that, even though Yamcha once was not too good in talking to girls, he did become a womanizer. He even dates multiple woman at the same time (according to the Kakarot game) and was labeled as a cheater by his creator himself. The way I look at it is – that now he has this newfound alter ego – he didn't feel restricted by his own shortcomings anymore but overdid it in the process. To that I want to add that I only have read the first 10 (or so) Dragon ball mangas and then switched to the dubbed anime series and some of the films. I didn't keep track of what is cannon or what is not. Also, I have to admit Yamcha isn't one of my favorite characters in the franchise and didn't pay much attention to him, so I can imagine that for some of you my story seems out of character. And again, for that I apologize.
To wrap it all up: I don't ask you to agree with me on my motives, I just hope my point of view is clear to you. We can agree to disagree. For now, let the story unfold itself and I hope you'll still enjoy it. And as another saying form my country goes:
'Just take it with a grain of salt' (Don't take it so seriously).