By Kitsune
"So you found a new training place, Piccolo-san?"
Piccolo looked over in Gohan's direction as the two zoomed across the sky,
nodded briefly, then went back to concentrating on flying. Gohan stared
at him for a second, then sighed and did the same. When Piccolo didn't
feel like talking, it was useless to try and hold up a conversation. May
as well just wait and see where Piccolo was leading him. After this sparring
match, he'd go home, take a bath, and get ready for his big date with Videl.
No doubt about it, tonight was the night…
Gohan's face involuntarily lapsed into a goofy
grin and a blush, causing Piccolo to look at him oddly. Oh, he must
be thinking about his girlfriend again… Sheesh. Piccolo mentally concluded.
After zooming over a mountain range or two, Gohan
looked down and saw that they were right above what looked like hundreds
of small springs. Large poles protruded from the ground around the springs,
meaning that if you fell off one pole, you ended up in the drink.
(You can see where this is going, ne? ^_^)
"Is this the place?" he questioned. Piccolo
nodded in response.
Wordlessly, the two each landed on a pole.
Gohan mentally groaned. He could tell already
that he wasn't going to do very well this time around, his mind was saturated
with images of Videl, just fading in and out. He was totally preoccupied
with the thought of the upcoming date…the big date…
Okay Gohan. You put the ring in your pocket,
and you don't let her see it until you pop the big question. He mentally
rehearsed. He already knew that Mr. Satan approved of him, which was definitely
good. He could almost hear what Mr. Satan had said when he and Videl had
left for one of their earlier dates a week or two ago.
"Hah! I'm so glad that my daughter's not
hooked up with some wimpy little girly-man…My little girl's got herself
a real man…Videl, don't let this one get away!"
"Daa-aad!!"
Gohan's face turned red just at the memory
of it. His eyes widened. Ack, Gohan, if you don't stop thinking about
Videl, you'll get your butt whooped!! Concentrate, man, concentrate!! Sparring
match, sparring match!!
"Ready?" Piccolo asked, speaking for the first
time in quite a while. Gohan jumped, but nodded. Wordlessly, they sprang
at each other and began exchanging lightning-fast blows. Anybody watching
them wouldn't have been able to see their fists moving. This went on for
several minutes, until Piccolo landed a pretty heavy blow on Gohan's back,
sending him flying towards one of the springs. Gohan grinned and caught
hold of himself at the last minute, so he hung an inch from the water's
surface.
"Hah! Can't get me wet that easily!!" he cried.
No sooner had he said this than Piccolo's
foot shot into his chest with such force that he shot right down to the
bottom of the spring, bouncing up as he collided with the bottom. With
an involuntary gasp that resulted in a mouthful of water, Gohan concentrated
his ki and burst out of the spring, coughing and hacking all the way.
"Gah…you really got me there, Piccolo-san…"
he paused. Was it him, or did his voice sound…higher than usual…?
Gohan gingerly put a hand to his throat.
His eyes widened when his elbow bumped against
something on his chest that definitely was not supposed to be there.
A feeling of dread spreading through him,
Gohan looked down.
And screamed.
He had…he had…Oh, there was no way of getting
around it, he had cleavage!
"P-Piccolo!!!" he cried. The Namek looked
at him with a perfectly normal expression, as though nothing out of the
ordinary had happened.
"What?" At a complete loss of words, Gohan
gestured towards his chest. Piccolo looked at where he was gesturing, and
raised a brow ridge.
"What, did you lose weight or something?"
Gohan's eyes widened.
"I…I…got…" he managed. Piccolo lowered his
brow ridge again, an expression of realization on his face.
"Oh, you gained weight."
"PICCOLO!!! Quit fooling around!!! This is
serious!!" Gohan cried in exasperation, unable to believe that the Namek
wasn't taking the situation seriously. When Piccolo just gave him a blank
look, Gohan sat down on the ground and stared at his reflection in the
spring.
A horrified looking girl with damp, spiky
black hair stared back at him. She was wearing his exact gi, although it
was a bit too big for her, and she had his exact haircut. If Gohan had
a twin sister, this reflection displayed exactly what she would've looked
like.
"I…I turned into a…girl…" he said in disbelief.
Piccolo nodded to himself.
"Oh. So that's why you look different all
of a sudden." Gohan finally snapped. He jumped to his feet and whirled
on Piccolo, eyes blazing.
"Piccolo!! Don't you get how serious this
is?!! I…AM…A…GIRL!!! I'm SUPPOSED to be a GUY!!!"
Piccolo nodded again.
"Mm-hm. Frankly, I don't see much difference."
Gohan almost fell over.
"Wha…?"
"Well, females are basically just males that
look a bit different and have a few extra parts, right? I don't see what's
so special about them." Gohan's eyes were almost bugging out of his head.
Then it clicked. Nameks were asexual, they didn't have males or females.
Apparently nobody had given Piccolo a good lesson on human anatomy. He
sighed.
"I guess that's one way of putting it… but
how did I get like this? And how can I become a guy again?"
"Ah! Sir!" Gohan turned around to see a rotund,
middle-aged Chinese man wearing a drab green maoist outfit. At the moment,
the guy looked very distressed.
"Aiyaaa!! Sir, what you do?! No fight in spring,
is very, very dangerous!! You fall in spring of… spring… of…of..."
The Chinese guy stared at Piccolo, narrowing
his eyes in concentration.
"Hmm…spring of drowned man holding frog, maybe…?
Spring of drowned man holding frog and lizard…?"
"I'M THE ONE WHO FELL IN THE SPRING, NOT HIM!!!"
cried Gohan. The Chinese guy turned towards Gohan, eyes widening.
"Ah, sir!! You fall in spring of drowned girl
what drown there 2000 year ago!! Is very, very tragic!!"
"Spring…of…what? What is this place, anyway?"
"This legendary cursed training ground Jusenkyo."
"Cursed…?" Gohan turned towards Piccolo, raising
an annoyed eyebrow. "Piccolo, did you know about this place being cursed?"
Piccolo remained silent, but took out a small pamphlet from a pocket in
his violet gi and handed it to Gohan, who looked it over.
"Chinese…?" he looked over at the Jusenkyo
Guide. "Is this the brochure for this place?"
"Yes it is, sir. Explain everything about
training grounds, including curses." Gohan looked at Piccolo again, annoyed
at him for the second time that day.
"How come you didn't read the thing?" Piccolo
gave him a flat, isn't-the-answer-obvious look. Then it clicked in Gohan's
head.
"Oh, you can't read Chinese…" The Jusenkyo
guide sighed, as though this was something that he got a lot.
"We get more cursed people that way…" Gohan
folded his arms over his now quite-different chest. He glanced down, uncomfortable
with the sensation of his elbows resting on…on…feminine things. He quickly
let his arms drop to his sides.
"So, how do I get rid of the curse?" The Jusenkyo
guide looked somewhat uncomfortable at this remark.
"Is no way to get rid of curse. Is permanent."
"WHAT?!" Gohan shrieked, overcome with sudden
dismay.
"But can change back to man with hot water!"
the guide cheerfully pointed out, holding up a kettle of hot water seemingly
out of nowhere. He promptly poured it on top of Gohan's head, causing him
to yelp in pain for a moment, then sigh in relief when he realized he was
a guy again.
"Get splashed with cold water, turn into girl.
Splashed with hot water, turn back into man." Gohan took all this in, then
sighed.
"Great…just great…Well, thanks for your help,
mister…"
"Is no problem." The tour guide promptly went
off to go inform some other poor individual who had just taken the plunge
of their fate.
Gohan remained silent for a few minutes, then
sat down, staring at the ground. Finally, Piccolo nudged him in the back
with his foot.
"Figure we should head back now?" he said
quietly. Gohan nodded morosely. Without saying another word, the two launched
into the sky and flew off.
Gohan sighed, silently going over the events
of the day in his head.
"Hah! I'm so glad that my daughter's not
hooked up with some wimpy little girly-man…My little girl's got herself
a real man…Videl, don't let this one get away!"
Real man…girly-man…
Gohan jerked to a halt, eyes wide.
"Oh no!! What about Videl?!" Piccolo slowed
to a halt and looked at him questioningly.
"What about her?" Gohan almost didn't hear
him, he was talking to himself.
"Mr. Satan wants a real man… and I turn into
a girl…and… Videl…tonight…" he trailed off, then got a really weird look
on his face. Piccolo couldn't decide which it looked more like, depression
or dismay. Heck, he almost looked as though he were going to cry. Gohan
silently reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone (okay, so
maybe he wouldn't keep his cell phone in his gi, I'm using poetic license!),
then quietly dialed a number. After waiting a few minutes, he finally spoke.
"Hi Videl, Gohan here. Just letting you know,
I'm really sorry, but I've got to cancel our date tonight… bye…"
He hung his head as he put the phone back
in his pocket. After a few minutes, without looking up, he spoke.
"Piccolo-san, is it okay if I stay over at
your place tonight? I'll just call mom, I'm not sure what I'd do if I got
splashed at my house…Mom would probably blow an artery or something…" Piccolo
folded his arms over his chest.
"Fine, as long as you don't snore. Let's go."
He
promptly flew off, rather quickly, so Gohan had to zoom after him pretty
fast to catch up.
"Snore?!" Gohan cried indignantly once he
had caught up with the Namek. "I never snored! When did I ever snore?!"
One corner of Piccolo's mouth twitched.
"Back when I was training you, when you were
four."
"I didn't!!!" Piccolo gave him a sardonic
look.
"Remember when you used to wake up, and you'd
find yourself lying face-first against a tree or something?" Gohan nodded
slowly. "That was because whenever you started snoring, I had to boot you
down a hill just to make you shut up."
Gohan grinned.
"Huh. Well, at least that explains why I'd
find myself with a mouthful of bark whenever I woke up." Piccolo turned
his attention back to flying.
"Don't worry, I don't snore now. Ask Goten."
"Hmph. No use asking him, I bet the snoring
runs in the family. If you do the same now, I won't hesitate to boot you
again."
"I don't snore!!!"
When they got to the clearing that Piccolo
was currently staying in, Gohan called home and left a message on the answering
machine. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent just talking,
and having a light mini-sparring match once in a while. Finally, Gohan
fell asleep in a heap on the ground from exhaustion.
When he woke up the next morning, he found
himself face-first against a tree.
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