Ok guys and gals out there, I'm skipping my usual intro to announce a call
to arms. My roommate, whose name I will not disclose at the moment because
it might send him into hiding, broke into my computer before he left the
dorms and stole my hard drive. If you ever feel the urge to be evil or
want to see justice done, contact me via AIM at smily2n8 to help me take
him down.
The cops and I want this man. He is the reason that I have not been able to update for over a month.
Disclaimer: I own DBZ as much as my roommate owns my hard drive.
Tournament Troubles
"…so I came over the hill and in front of me is this young boy holding a six foot fish! That boy attacked my car and called it a monster, but settled down after I said I was a human like him. He was real nice and polite, but very naïve. Turns out he had one of the dragonballs I was looking for, so we ended up traveling together. That's how I meet Goku, Videl."
Videl nodded. Bulma had just finished explaining how the richest woman in the world knows a family that lives in the woods. Gohan had let Bulma tell the story since she could probably tell it better than he could.
Videl shook her head. 'This is like some wonderful fantasy land that just as I think it can't possible get any weirder it does!'
"Hey?" Videl looked up at the handsome guy sitting next to her in the plane. "Are you OK?"
Videl couldn't look into his eyes. There was something about them that made her heart beat a little faster than she like. She looked down, only to get an eyeful of his chest. And that was even worse…
"Videl?"
Videl decided to just face forward. "I'm OK, Gohan. All of this…it's just a bit much. It'll take some time to get used to."
Gohan smiled. "I know what you mean. But, you'll get used to it. Fair warning: it only gets weirder."
Videl took a steadying breath.
Videl looked forward into the seat in front of her. There, in a bag, lay the five dragonballs they had already collect. Two had been at Capsule Corp, another one at Gohan's house and the last two on Master Roshi's island. The last two were being tracked down now.
"I sure hope that these things work."
Gohan smiled. "They work all right, you don't have to worry about that, Videl."
"But…can they really bring people back from the dead?"
Yamcha, whom was flying the plane, looked back towards the young girl. "Hey, I was as dead as you can get and I was brought back to life!"
Bulma, in the co-pilot's chair, smirked. "Don't worry Videl, most people come back normal." Most everyone, save a very red Yamcha and an unusually quiet Roshi laughed at Bulma's comment.
Bulma wipe the tears that came when she laughed away and checked the radar. "Alright, Yamcha, we should be very close to the next ball. There!" Bulma pointed down to a small island in the middle of a huge lake. "The ball is down there. Take her down Yamcha!"
"Right." Yamcha checked his seat belt, then pushed forward on the control stick hard, sending the plane into a deep dive. At the last second, he pulled the stick up, causing the plane to plow across the lake at terrifying speed. It slammed into land, rocking the plane everywhere before finally coming to a sudden stop, tilted at a large angle.
Yamcha calmly unbuckled his seat belt and looked behind him. Most of the passangers in the plane were scattered out of their seats. They weren't expecting such a rough landing.
Yamcha smirked. "Sorry! The landing strip was bad!" he said, but not really sounding sorry.
Bulma picked herself up and glared at Yamcha.
At the first bump, Videl instinctively reached out and grabbed something. Whatever she grabbed, it was heavy and wasn't bolted down either. Instinctively, she shut her eyes. She was joustled around a lot, but ended up on her back, her eyes still closed. Finally the plane stopped.
"Um…Videl?" Videl opened her eyes when she heard Gohan's voice.
His face was only a few inches away from hers.
~0~
Gohan tried to grab something when the landing from hell started, but didn't react in time.
The first smash into the water rocked the plane to one side, the blow smashing Videl into Gohan. She grabbed on him tightly.
The next blow came from the other side, sending the two flying into the aisle between the seats, with Gohan on top and the two facing one another. Gohan kept his arms up to keep from crushing Videl, but low enough to cover and protect her.
Finally the plane stopped. Everyone, save Yamcha in the pilot's seat, had been joustled and thrown.
"Um…Videl?" Videl's eyes opened, then became real wide when she noticed how close Gohan was to her. "Are you Ok?"
Videl stared into his eyes for a moment before responding. "Um…yeah, I…think so…" They continued to look into each other's eyes, and unconsciously they were getting closer. "Could…you get up please?"
"I would…but…you have my waist tight…" Videl glanced down for a moment to realize that she was holding Gohan around the waist very tightly.
"Oh…I should…let go…" They looked at each other's eyes again, and were drawing closer…
"Yes…Yes…YES!" Chichi's voice awoke both of them back to reality. She, along with the rest of the group, were watching them with anxious eyes.
Gohan and Videl pulled away from each other at lightning speed. Gohan had the Son Grin on, and Videl looked frustrated and angry. Both were very red. Chichi sighed.
Gohan broke the akward silence. "Didn't we come here for a dragonball? I…guess we should get going, right? Hehehe…"
Everyone sighed and climbed out of the plane.
~0~
'What had just happened back there? Was I really…. with Gohan…?" Videl's heart was going about a million beats per microsecond. No matter how hard see tried, the butterflies in her stomach would not go away. They only seemed to get worse. She was afraid to even look at Gohan's feet and see her reaction.
Videl hung in the back of the group, away from Gohan. Most of the others were intent on finding the dragonball, save Yamcha, Bulma, and Gohan.
Gohan seemed to be off in another world, not really paying attention to anything.
Bulma was taking her aggression out on poor Yamcha. She was mad about that little stunt her did.
"You did that on purpose, you moron! Now look at my plane, all banged up, just because you wanted to get us back for laughing at you! Arrgh!" Videl made a mental note not to make Bulma upset.
The group walked across the beach of the island. Next to the beach was a hundred foot cliff, straight up. They would have to climb if the dragonball wasn't on the beach.
"Ok guys, it should be pretty closer here…I'm guessing it's somewhere in that crevice." Bulma stated consulting her radar. Then, handing the radar to Chichi, Bulma began to climb.
"Why are you climbing Bulma? Me or Yamcha could just fly up the…"
"BECAUSE I NEED TO GET SOME AGGRESSION OUT!" Bulma's reply echoed across the lake. Gohan cringed.
Videl thought for a second. A good climb would help clear her mind…besides Bulma might need some help. She ran up to the cliff and started to climb.
"Hold on Bulma, I'll come with you!"
Bulma didn't even glance down. "Sure."
Videl took about fifteen minutes to scale the wall, but Bulma took almost double that time. Once they reached to top, they took in their surroundings.
"It should be somewhere around…ah ha!" Bulma ran to the edge. There, on another ledge a couple feet away lay a nest with four orange eggs in it. However, one egg looked a little different to Videl.
She looked at the egg closely, she realized it had seven stars in it. The dragonball!
Bulma reached out with one hand, but she couldn't quite reach it. She inched closer…she could get a finger on it…almost there…
Bulma's knee slipped, and she nearly fell off the cliff. She backed off, but then glared down at the group waiting at the shore.
"Hey, guys, we found it but we can't reach it! How about a little help up here?!?"
"No deal! You said you wanted to do it on your own and get some aggression out!" Yamcha's voice seemed almost mocking.
"Arrgh! When I get my hands on that dragonball, the first thing I'm going to do is throw it at Yamcha's head!" Bulma continued her efforts to get her hand on the ball.
"Bulma, Videl, look out!" Gohan's voice cried out in surprise. A huge shadow covered the two. "It's the mother!"
Videl looked up at the creature behind her and Bulma. It was a large pink monster, with wings and tail. It oddly reminded her of a dragon.
The creature reached out with it super long tongue, over forty feet, grabbed the nest, eggs and dragonball, then before she could do anything, swallowed them! The creature then took flight.
Bulma must have found her voice again. "Hey, no far, come back, we saw them first!"
Suddenly, a yellow disc of energy shot up at it. Yamcha's blast hit the creature dead on, and it fell into the lake below.
Without hesitating, Videl dove off the cliff into the lake below. She splashed down, and swam after the creature.
Appartly the creature wasn't as fast or agile underwater as it was in the air. Videl was easily able to catch it. She devilered a hard punch to its side, but it skin was so soft she doubted she really hurt it.
That got the creature's attention. It turned and lashed out with it's tongue. Videl was able to dodge it, and used to opportunity to land a kick to the creatures's head. Her kick also bounced back.
The creature retaliated by swinging it tongue around. This time, Videl swam up to get away but wasn't fast enough.
The tongue wrapped around her ankle and lower leg, dragging her down towards the waiting jaws. There didn't seem like there was much she could do.
'No! No! Not like this!' The creature dragged her down farther. Videl struggled, but it was no use.
Videl looked down at the creature, growing angry. She wasn't about to let some dino eat HER!
And again, like the fight with her father, she felt energy course through her veins and body, then focusing on her hand…
~0~
Gohan, seeing Videl dive after the creature, decided to follow her. He followed her at a distance. She seemed upset and he didn't want to encore her wrath.
He watched as the creature tried to trap her, and how she fought back. However, the tongue eventually wrapped around her leg and try to bring her in.
'I guess now would be a good time.' Gohan was about to charge in when Videl's body started to glow.
'What the…?'
Videl reached out, and suddenly the glow surronding her body left her. Now the light formed a ball in her hand.
The light shot out of her hand, and Videl's energy blast cut into the creature, slicing it completely in half. Appartenly spent, Videl drifted.
Gohan was defiantly confused on how Videl could even use an energy blast, let alone one that could slice a creature like that in half, but confusion had to wait.
Swimming forward, he reached Videl quickly. She was floating, her eyes closed.
Gohan grabbed her around the waist and pointed a hand to the ground. The energy blast shot Gohan and the unconscious Videl upward, shooting up out of the water.
Floating in the air, Gohan put two fingers on her neck and brought his ear next to her mouth.
'Good…she's still breathing. She really gave me a scare there.'
Videl started to stir, and suddenly she was fully alert again. She stared up at him.
"Gohan? Where….What happened?"
"…You don't remember?"
Videl shook her head. "I remember that creature grabbing me with it's tongue…the rest is a blank." She looked around. "Where is that creature…oh!"
Gohan followed her line of sight down. Floating on top of the water was the two halves of the creature.
"Gohan…you sliced it in half!" Gohan stared at Videl.
"Actually…"
"Isn't that a little cruel?"
"Um…"
"Did you even remember the dragonball?"
"Er…no, but…"
"Then drop me off by the shore and go back and get it! We need it to bring back all those people!"
Gohan sighed. Defeated, he did what he was told.
~Later~
The plane had been ok, just a little banged up. After Gohan retrieved the dragonball, they set out after the last one.
Gohan had his head down, thinking about Videl and that power she had. Occasionally he would glance up at her, but they did nothing to help.
The group was pretty quiet. Without him noticing, Yamcha, Krillin, and Roshi heads snapped up. They looked at each other, then to the back of the airplane.
A moment later, a knock sounded on the airplanes back cargo hatch.
'What the..? Who could that be? We're a couple thousand feet up!"
Krillin looked at Gohan. "Gohan, I believe that Piccolo wants a word with you."
"Krillin, how do you know it's Piccolo?"
"Gohan, he's been flying next to us for a couple of minutes now. We've been sensing his energy for a while. You must be getting rusty if you didn't notice that!"
Gohan sighed and opened the door. The wind tried to suck the passangers out the door, but everyone was buckled in tightler, afraid that Yamcha might try to land again.
Piccolo flew into the plane, and shut the door behind him. He looked down at his student.
"Gohan, I need to talk to you."
"Sure."
"Alone."
Piccolo turned around and reopened the door, flying out. Following his old master, Gohan floated alongside him, keeping pace with the plane.
"That monster you fought at the tournament…Omega?"
"Yeah?"
"That was Cooler, correct?"
"Yep."
"…How did he come back from the dead? It doesn't make sense. Did you see a halo on him?"
Gohan thought for a moment. "No, I didn't see a halo. But he should have, he's been dead for almost a decade now. But he didn't. Did he somehow come back to life?"
"I don't know. There shouldn't have been a way for him to return, espically since neither sets of dragonballs have been used for years. But there is something else. As you know, every soul that dies in this universe must come to the Check in station."
"You told me this. Even Cell went to that station."
"That's right. But when you killed Omega, Dende traveled to the check in station to report on Omega and make sure he went to the HFIL. Omega never arrived. Never in the course of history has a soul, pure or evil, died and not gone to the check in station."
"But…what does that mean?"
"I don't know, Gohan. All I know is that this is far from over."
~0~0~0~
This ain't over yet! In fact, this is just beginning.
Response to Reviews:
The cops and I want this man. He is the reason that I have not been able to update for over a month.
Disclaimer: I own DBZ as much as my roommate owns my hard drive.
Tournament Troubles
"…so I came over the hill and in front of me is this young boy holding a six foot fish! That boy attacked my car and called it a monster, but settled down after I said I was a human like him. He was real nice and polite, but very naïve. Turns out he had one of the dragonballs I was looking for, so we ended up traveling together. That's how I meet Goku, Videl."
Videl nodded. Bulma had just finished explaining how the richest woman in the world knows a family that lives in the woods. Gohan had let Bulma tell the story since she could probably tell it better than he could.
Videl shook her head. 'This is like some wonderful fantasy land that just as I think it can't possible get any weirder it does!'
"Hey?" Videl looked up at the handsome guy sitting next to her in the plane. "Are you OK?"
Videl couldn't look into his eyes. There was something about them that made her heart beat a little faster than she like. She looked down, only to get an eyeful of his chest. And that was even worse…
"Videl?"
Videl decided to just face forward. "I'm OK, Gohan. All of this…it's just a bit much. It'll take some time to get used to."
Gohan smiled. "I know what you mean. But, you'll get used to it. Fair warning: it only gets weirder."
Videl took a steadying breath.
Videl looked forward into the seat in front of her. There, in a bag, lay the five dragonballs they had already collect. Two had been at Capsule Corp, another one at Gohan's house and the last two on Master Roshi's island. The last two were being tracked down now.
"I sure hope that these things work."
Gohan smiled. "They work all right, you don't have to worry about that, Videl."
"But…can they really bring people back from the dead?"
Yamcha, whom was flying the plane, looked back towards the young girl. "Hey, I was as dead as you can get and I was brought back to life!"
Bulma, in the co-pilot's chair, smirked. "Don't worry Videl, most people come back normal." Most everyone, save a very red Yamcha and an unusually quiet Roshi laughed at Bulma's comment.
Bulma wipe the tears that came when she laughed away and checked the radar. "Alright, Yamcha, we should be very close to the next ball. There!" Bulma pointed down to a small island in the middle of a huge lake. "The ball is down there. Take her down Yamcha!"
"Right." Yamcha checked his seat belt, then pushed forward on the control stick hard, sending the plane into a deep dive. At the last second, he pulled the stick up, causing the plane to plow across the lake at terrifying speed. It slammed into land, rocking the plane everywhere before finally coming to a sudden stop, tilted at a large angle.
Yamcha calmly unbuckled his seat belt and looked behind him. Most of the passangers in the plane were scattered out of their seats. They weren't expecting such a rough landing.
Yamcha smirked. "Sorry! The landing strip was bad!" he said, but not really sounding sorry.
Bulma picked herself up and glared at Yamcha.
At the first bump, Videl instinctively reached out and grabbed something. Whatever she grabbed, it was heavy and wasn't bolted down either. Instinctively, she shut her eyes. She was joustled around a lot, but ended up on her back, her eyes still closed. Finally the plane stopped.
"Um…Videl?" Videl opened her eyes when she heard Gohan's voice.
His face was only a few inches away from hers.
~0~
Gohan tried to grab something when the landing from hell started, but didn't react in time.
The first smash into the water rocked the plane to one side, the blow smashing Videl into Gohan. She grabbed on him tightly.
The next blow came from the other side, sending the two flying into the aisle between the seats, with Gohan on top and the two facing one another. Gohan kept his arms up to keep from crushing Videl, but low enough to cover and protect her.
Finally the plane stopped. Everyone, save Yamcha in the pilot's seat, had been joustled and thrown.
"Um…Videl?" Videl's eyes opened, then became real wide when she noticed how close Gohan was to her. "Are you Ok?"
Videl stared into his eyes for a moment before responding. "Um…yeah, I…think so…" They continued to look into each other's eyes, and unconsciously they were getting closer. "Could…you get up please?"
"I would…but…you have my waist tight…" Videl glanced down for a moment to realize that she was holding Gohan around the waist very tightly.
"Oh…I should…let go…" They looked at each other's eyes again, and were drawing closer…
"Yes…Yes…YES!" Chichi's voice awoke both of them back to reality. She, along with the rest of the group, were watching them with anxious eyes.
Gohan and Videl pulled away from each other at lightning speed. Gohan had the Son Grin on, and Videl looked frustrated and angry. Both were very red. Chichi sighed.
Gohan broke the akward silence. "Didn't we come here for a dragonball? I…guess we should get going, right? Hehehe…"
Everyone sighed and climbed out of the plane.
~0~
'What had just happened back there? Was I really…. with Gohan…?" Videl's heart was going about a million beats per microsecond. No matter how hard see tried, the butterflies in her stomach would not go away. They only seemed to get worse. She was afraid to even look at Gohan's feet and see her reaction.
Videl hung in the back of the group, away from Gohan. Most of the others were intent on finding the dragonball, save Yamcha, Bulma, and Gohan.
Gohan seemed to be off in another world, not really paying attention to anything.
Bulma was taking her aggression out on poor Yamcha. She was mad about that little stunt her did.
"You did that on purpose, you moron! Now look at my plane, all banged up, just because you wanted to get us back for laughing at you! Arrgh!" Videl made a mental note not to make Bulma upset.
The group walked across the beach of the island. Next to the beach was a hundred foot cliff, straight up. They would have to climb if the dragonball wasn't on the beach.
"Ok guys, it should be pretty closer here…I'm guessing it's somewhere in that crevice." Bulma stated consulting her radar. Then, handing the radar to Chichi, Bulma began to climb.
"Why are you climbing Bulma? Me or Yamcha could just fly up the…"
"BECAUSE I NEED TO GET SOME AGGRESSION OUT!" Bulma's reply echoed across the lake. Gohan cringed.
Videl thought for a second. A good climb would help clear her mind…besides Bulma might need some help. She ran up to the cliff and started to climb.
"Hold on Bulma, I'll come with you!"
Bulma didn't even glance down. "Sure."
Videl took about fifteen minutes to scale the wall, but Bulma took almost double that time. Once they reached to top, they took in their surroundings.
"It should be somewhere around…ah ha!" Bulma ran to the edge. There, on another ledge a couple feet away lay a nest with four orange eggs in it. However, one egg looked a little different to Videl.
She looked at the egg closely, she realized it had seven stars in it. The dragonball!
Bulma reached out with one hand, but she couldn't quite reach it. She inched closer…she could get a finger on it…almost there…
Bulma's knee slipped, and she nearly fell off the cliff. She backed off, but then glared down at the group waiting at the shore.
"Hey, guys, we found it but we can't reach it! How about a little help up here?!?"
"No deal! You said you wanted to do it on your own and get some aggression out!" Yamcha's voice seemed almost mocking.
"Arrgh! When I get my hands on that dragonball, the first thing I'm going to do is throw it at Yamcha's head!" Bulma continued her efforts to get her hand on the ball.
"Bulma, Videl, look out!" Gohan's voice cried out in surprise. A huge shadow covered the two. "It's the mother!"
Videl looked up at the creature behind her and Bulma. It was a large pink monster, with wings and tail. It oddly reminded her of a dragon.
The creature reached out with it super long tongue, over forty feet, grabbed the nest, eggs and dragonball, then before she could do anything, swallowed them! The creature then took flight.
Bulma must have found her voice again. "Hey, no far, come back, we saw them first!"
Suddenly, a yellow disc of energy shot up at it. Yamcha's blast hit the creature dead on, and it fell into the lake below.
Without hesitating, Videl dove off the cliff into the lake below. She splashed down, and swam after the creature.
Appartly the creature wasn't as fast or agile underwater as it was in the air. Videl was easily able to catch it. She devilered a hard punch to its side, but it skin was so soft she doubted she really hurt it.
That got the creature's attention. It turned and lashed out with it's tongue. Videl was able to dodge it, and used to opportunity to land a kick to the creatures's head. Her kick also bounced back.
The creature retaliated by swinging it tongue around. This time, Videl swam up to get away but wasn't fast enough.
The tongue wrapped around her ankle and lower leg, dragging her down towards the waiting jaws. There didn't seem like there was much she could do.
'No! No! Not like this!' The creature dragged her down farther. Videl struggled, but it was no use.
Videl looked down at the creature, growing angry. She wasn't about to let some dino eat HER!
And again, like the fight with her father, she felt energy course through her veins and body, then focusing on her hand…
~0~
Gohan, seeing Videl dive after the creature, decided to follow her. He followed her at a distance. She seemed upset and he didn't want to encore her wrath.
He watched as the creature tried to trap her, and how she fought back. However, the tongue eventually wrapped around her leg and try to bring her in.
'I guess now would be a good time.' Gohan was about to charge in when Videl's body started to glow.
'What the…?'
Videl reached out, and suddenly the glow surronding her body left her. Now the light formed a ball in her hand.
The light shot out of her hand, and Videl's energy blast cut into the creature, slicing it completely in half. Appartenly spent, Videl drifted.
Gohan was defiantly confused on how Videl could even use an energy blast, let alone one that could slice a creature like that in half, but confusion had to wait.
Swimming forward, he reached Videl quickly. She was floating, her eyes closed.
Gohan grabbed her around the waist and pointed a hand to the ground. The energy blast shot Gohan and the unconscious Videl upward, shooting up out of the water.
Floating in the air, Gohan put two fingers on her neck and brought his ear next to her mouth.
'Good…she's still breathing. She really gave me a scare there.'
Videl started to stir, and suddenly she was fully alert again. She stared up at him.
"Gohan? Where….What happened?"
"…You don't remember?"
Videl shook her head. "I remember that creature grabbing me with it's tongue…the rest is a blank." She looked around. "Where is that creature…oh!"
Gohan followed her line of sight down. Floating on top of the water was the two halves of the creature.
"Gohan…you sliced it in half!" Gohan stared at Videl.
"Actually…"
"Isn't that a little cruel?"
"Um…"
"Did you even remember the dragonball?"
"Er…no, but…"
"Then drop me off by the shore and go back and get it! We need it to bring back all those people!"
Gohan sighed. Defeated, he did what he was told.
~Later~
The plane had been ok, just a little banged up. After Gohan retrieved the dragonball, they set out after the last one.
Gohan had his head down, thinking about Videl and that power she had. Occasionally he would glance up at her, but they did nothing to help.
The group was pretty quiet. Without him noticing, Yamcha, Krillin, and Roshi heads snapped up. They looked at each other, then to the back of the airplane.
A moment later, a knock sounded on the airplanes back cargo hatch.
'What the..? Who could that be? We're a couple thousand feet up!"
Krillin looked at Gohan. "Gohan, I believe that Piccolo wants a word with you."
"Krillin, how do you know it's Piccolo?"
"Gohan, he's been flying next to us for a couple of minutes now. We've been sensing his energy for a while. You must be getting rusty if you didn't notice that!"
Gohan sighed and opened the door. The wind tried to suck the passangers out the door, but everyone was buckled in tightler, afraid that Yamcha might try to land again.
Piccolo flew into the plane, and shut the door behind him. He looked down at his student.
"Gohan, I need to talk to you."
"Sure."
"Alone."
Piccolo turned around and reopened the door, flying out. Following his old master, Gohan floated alongside him, keeping pace with the plane.
"That monster you fought at the tournament…Omega?"
"Yeah?"
"That was Cooler, correct?"
"Yep."
"…How did he come back from the dead? It doesn't make sense. Did you see a halo on him?"
Gohan thought for a moment. "No, I didn't see a halo. But he should have, he's been dead for almost a decade now. But he didn't. Did he somehow come back to life?"
"I don't know. There shouldn't have been a way for him to return, espically since neither sets of dragonballs have been used for years. But there is something else. As you know, every soul that dies in this universe must come to the Check in station."
"You told me this. Even Cell went to that station."
"That's right. But when you killed Omega, Dende traveled to the check in station to report on Omega and make sure he went to the HFIL. Omega never arrived. Never in the course of history has a soul, pure or evil, died and not gone to the check in station."
"But…what does that mean?"
"I don't know, Gohan. All I know is that this is far from over."
~0~0~0~
This ain't over yet! In fact, this is just beginning.
Response to Reviews: