Author's Note – Wow… Yes it's true! I have gotten ANOTHER chapter out on SWFF… I'm SO sorry this took so unbelievable, incredulously long. But hopefully, I will be getting chapters out on this fic A LOT more often from now on. Oh, and thank you guys all so much for your support and encouragement, it's the reason I finally got myself back into this story. So, here is Chapter 15, I hope you like it, and please review!!
Chapter 15 – Defenders of Justice
"Okay, but I should stop by home for a second, just to let everyone know where I'm gonna be. Piccolo gets really touchy about those kind of things…" Zoa explained as they made some decisions. They had both recovered pretty quickly, and had decided that they would take a break from the crime fighting for the day and go catch a movie. Gohan nodded thoughtfully and blushed, putting a hand behind his head.
"Yeah, and I'd better go tell my mom too, she'll have a heart attack if I don't come home before 10." Zoa laughed and nodded, shifting her belt into place. She turned to Gohan and gave him a thoughtful glance, gesturing in the direction of Orange Star with her hands. "So, um, would you mind if I meet you at Capsule Corp then? I wanted to stop in and talk to Bulma for a second about something." Gohan nodded at the idea and grinned. "Yeah, sounds like a plan!"
Zoa smiled back and nodded, letting herself lift up into the air. "Okay! I'll see you in a bit then!"
"Wait!"
Zoa frowned and turned around with a bemused expression as Gohan called out. "What?" Gohan blushed and looked down, playing with his Gi. "Um, well, I just wanted to make sure… I didn't, hurt you, did I? When, you know…" Zoa floated over and gave him a hug, shaking her head no. Gohan smiled and hugged back. "Okay, just making sure. But um, guess we better get going, ahehe!"
"Yeah! See you then!" She smiled, giving him a quick wave.
Zoa sighed heavily as she took off back towards the Lookout Point. In a way, she felt absolutely and completely amazing, but there was something weighing over top of that… She just couldn't stop thinking about what Vegeta had said back then. She frowned and tried to shake it off, as she finally arrived back home. She walked into the living room, fixing up her hair with a hand as she did so, and hoping there was no physical way someone could tell just by looking at her what she had just been doing.
She lifted a hand in a small wave as she walked by the living room and saw Dende sitting on the couch playing some Nintendo with Mr. Popo. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"Oh damn. This is the fourth time Dende has beaten me at this game…" Mr. Popo sighed regretfully, throwing his paddle down onto the ground. Dende nodded and grinned, leaning back against the couch. "Well what can I say?" He asked, gesturing to the television, "I'm just an expert at these kind of things." Zoa laughed and shook her head, tilting her head and giving Dende a funny look.
"Well, you sure are working hard I see. Wow, being an Earth god must be tough huh?" She commented with a smirk, raising her eyebrows at him. Dende simply rolled his eyes and yawned, waving a hand at her. "Look, we've had this discussion before, now continue with your business citizen." Zoa chuckled and walked into the kitchen, slapping her hands on the table to get Piccolo's attention. He looked up from the newspaper to her, then to the clock, then back to her again.
"Wow, you're home early. What do you want?" He asked, turning back to the paper. Zoa reached up and scratched the back of her head, putting on a cutesy/pleasant expression for Piccolo as she did so.
"Well… Me and Gohan thought we might go see a movie later tonight, so I figured I better come make sure it's alright if I'm out a bit later…" She explained, waiting quietly for some kind of response. Piccolo shrugged and gave her a suspicious glance, not moving more than his eyes. "Fine. Go waste all your time being a teenager. See if I care."
Zoa sighed and furrowed her eyebrows, turning towards her room. "Thanks. And yeah whatever, I'll train a bit tomorrow, okay?"
Piccolo simply grunted and continued reading as she turned into her room to change and fix herself up. She grabbed her lipstick, touching it up and staring solemnly at her expression in the mirror. She was feeling a little guilty, not just because of what she and Gohan had done, but with the fact that Piccolo had a point… She had hardly trained at all ever since school started, and she had said more than once how many years ago that she would do her best to keep up her strength, just in case her skills were ever needed in battle again to help protect the Earth. But she had been seriously slacking off lately…
Well, whatever. She frowned, putting her makeup down and starting to fix her hair. She would make it up, start training again. And something inside her told her it was a good idea… But she couldn't figure out why. But something inside her didn't feel right when she thought about the future… Well, it was probably just her worrying too much, nothing to be too concerned with.
She dusted herself off and nodded, leaving her room and heading back out towards the front door to hurry off to Capsule Corp. She paused in the living room and waved back at the others. "Well, I'm off! See you guys later!"
Dende nodded waving back and looking up from his video game. "Yeah, later. Hehe, and I still can't believe you finally did it. Congratulations." Zoa froze, turning around slowly and knitting her eyebrows together. "What do you mean?" She asked innocently, not sure if she wanted to know the answer…
Dende grinned slyly. "Oh you know… So was it fun??" Zoa's eyes grew twice their normal size and she felt her face turning a few shades of dark red. She turned around, letting out a huffy breath and taking off out the door. "I don't know what you're talking about!" She called back, throwing the door shut and taking off into the air off the platform. Dende laughed wholeheartedly and shook his head. "Well, that proves it. They did have sex. That's ten bucks Popo."
Mr. Popo sighed and handed the money to Dende, sighing as they started a new game on the Nintendo. "I'm just no good at bets…"
"Alright, where's Vegeta?" Zoa demanded as Bulma let her into the house. "I really need to talk to him." Bulma frowned and put her hands on her hips, gesturing for Zoa to follow her inside to the kitchen. "Let me guess, 'Saiyan' stuff right?" Zoa blushed slightly and nodded, looking around as she followed Bulma down the hallway. "Yeah… Is he here?" Bulma shook her head regretfully as she sat down at the table, finishing off the bit off coffee remaining in her glass. "I'm afraid I don't know where he is… He disappeared this morning and was gone when I got back from dropping Trunks off at Chi Chi's. Oh that man. He's probably off training, I mean, what ELSE does he ever do??"
Zoa sighed and sat down as well, nodding and smiling slightly. "Yeah, no joke. Oh well, I guess I'll just catch him later then. I hope you don't mind me staying for a little bit though, I just agreed to meet Gohan here. We're gonna do a bit in the city tonight, you know, teenager stuff."
Bulma smiled and nodded, sighing and looking off thoughtfully at the wall. "Oh no problem!" She declared, "It's actually been really quiet here without Trunks at home. Wow, it's been a while since I've been able to just do 'teenager' stuff. You two better enjoy it! Growing up happens really fast…"
Zoa looked down at the table and considered this, along with everything that had happened that day. "Yeah, it sure does…"
"Hey!! Is anybody home??"
Zoa and Bulma both turned suddenly as there was a knock at the door. Bulma grinned and called out, "It's unlocked! Come on in!" The door opened slowly and Gohan poked his head around, grinning lopsidedly as he saw the two girls sitting at the table in the room down the hall. "Hey, sorry it took me so long!"
Zoa laughed and got up, pushing her chair in after her. "No problem! So, was your mom okay with it?"
Gohan nodded happily, laughing and tilting his head to the side slightly. "Well… It took some convincing, but she agreed! I just have to be back before tomorrow, in other words, midnight." Zoa giggled and nodded back, looking down at her watch and then back up at him. "Hey, sounds like a plan to me!" She exclaimed, knowing Piccolo would appreciate her being home before then also.
Gohan took a step back, gesturing gallantly towards the door. "Shall we be going then?" He asked in his best 'Prince Charming' voice, much to Zoa's amusement.
"Hehe, yeah, 'let's shall.'" She agreed, turning back and waving at Bulma, who was chuckling to herself at the whole scene. "Thanks Bulma! Catch ya' later!" Bulma nodded and got up from her seat, going to the sink to rinse out her cup. "Alright, have fun you two!!
"So, you're probably hungry too right? Want to go grab something to eat before we check out which movies are at the theater?" Zoa inquired as they headed down the sidewalk together, looking perfectly nonchalant, like any other teenage couple. Gohan looked down as his stomach growled loudly and nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I'd say that would be a good idea."
They turned and headed towards a pizza place Gohan had heard about from Erassa once that was supposed to be really good, and was apparently somewhere nearby. Zoa grinned and agreed eagerly, following Gohan's lead towards the place. She stopped suddenly however as she noticed something across the road. Gohan frowned as he realized she was no longer behind him, and turned around, walking back to her and following her gaze. "What is it…?"
He stopped as he noticed what she was looking at. It was the sign for some kind of circus or something, but what had caught both of their attentions was the picture on the front of the main attraction. A little baby dinosaur who looked really familiar to both of them…
"That's Chobi isn't it… " Zoa asked as she studied the picture, instantly recognizing the little dinosaur. Gohan frowned, putting all the clues together; he became certain that she was right. Goten had mentioned something about this when Gohan had been at home asking his mom for permission to stay out later… But Gohan had been in a hurry and hadn't really been paying much attention. And now it would seem that Chobi was indeed missing from his parents, just like Goten had suspected.
"Oh no, it is too! They must have stolen him from his parents!" He stated, putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head. Zoa gritted her teeth and glared angrily up at the tall building. "Yeah, to make themselves some money no doubt. And that poor little guy is probably so scared, just snatched away from his mom and dad by some greedy business man!" She paused suddenly, pulling Gohan around the corner and looking around to make sure no one was around.
"Hey! Zoa, what in the-" Gohan stopped as Zoa pushed the button on her ring quickly and transformed into her suit, pulling on her gloves angrily. "Come on Gohan, we can't let them get away with this. And if we go as the Saiyafighters, we can take Chobi back without getting in trouble at school or anything like that." Gohan furrowed his eyebrows and smirked slightly at her.
"I knew you were going to suggest this." He exclaimed, clicking the button on his watch and transforming also. "But, I had the same idea, so I like it." He winked before his helmet appeared, and tightened his hands into fists. "Alright, let's do this."
Zoa nodded and the two hurriedly snuck over to the main building. The circus ring/tent was on the far side of it, and most likely where Chobi was being kept. Zoa smirked to herself as they carefully made their way closer. Well, so much for a quiet night at the movies… She thought, her smirk turning into a grin as she went over things in her head. But definitely worth it. I mean, hey. We are the 'defenders of justice' after all…