"You were one of those Earthlings we came across?" Zeshin asks, disbelieving.
"I was the kid," Gohan replies, "my companions were a short bald guy not much taller than I was then and a woman with blue hair. She piloted your ship through an asteroid field."
"It is you," Zeshin chuckles, "what was your name again? It's been over a decade, after all."
"My name is Gohan," Gohan replies, "and it has been a while."
"Please come into the ship so we can talk," Zeshin says, "perhaps you can help us come up with a way to show the people of Earth that we just wish to live a peaceful life."
"Sure," Gohan says and starts walking towards the spaceship.
Videl finally recovers from the shock of a bullet being stopped just inches from her face. "Gohan!"
Gohan turns to face her. "Um, what is it Videl?"
"How in the world do you know these people?" Videl demands. Sharpner and Erasa still weren't over the fact that Gohan had stopped a bullet.
"It's a long, and I do mean long, story that I'll have to tell you some other time," Gohan says before walking into the spaceship. Zeshin and Bund follow him inside.
"Hey wait!" Videl calls out.
Zeshin stops and turns to face Videl. "Sorry miss, but right now we're only letting Gohan in until we can determine if we truly will be welcome on this planet."
With that, Zeshin turns and heads into the spaceship.
An hour later, Gohan walks out of the ship, only to be pounced on by the media.
"Hey, leave me alone!" Gohan yells as he tries to fight through the mob.
"Hey Gohan!" a voice from above calls out. Gohan looks up to see Videl in her jetcopter with a rope ladder off the side. "Climb up!"
Gohan grabs the rope ladder and climbs up quickly. He could have just flown away, but that would have opened up questions he definitely did not want to answer.
"Thanks Videl," Gohan says as he climbs into the side seat of the jetcopter.
"Want me to take you home?" Videl asks.
"No, I have somewhere else to go with the arrival of Zeshin and his people," Gohan says, "if you can take me to West City, to the Capsule Corps building, I would appreciate it."
"West City is like a hundred miles from here," Videl says, "of course, I can make it in about half an hour in my jepcopter. But why the Capsule Corps building?"
"To see Bulma," Gohan replies. Videl does a double-take, but then remembers that Bulma is a friend of Gohan's.
"Besides," Gohan continues, "she's like to see those guys again, even if when we first met them they held us at gunpoint."
"How exactly did you meet them?" Videl asks, curious.
"Well, me and one of my dad's friend, Krillin, was helping her with a spaceship she was tinkering on," Gohan begins, "there was a malfunction and we got shot up into space. Luckily, the place was fully stocked with food and everything. It took us a couple of days before we were able to get the navigation systems up and running properly."
"You can't get too far from Earth in a spaceship, Gohan," Videl says, "not in just a couple of days."
"This ship had the drive system from an alien spacecraft Bulma had found," Gohan replies, "we passed Jupiter after an hour."
"An hour?" Videl gapes, "that's incredible."
"Well, we ended up getting pulled into that same ship that's parked at city hall right now," Gohan continues, "we were greeted with guns. They thought we could be minion's of the man who stole their planet from them and sold it to the highest bidder. They thought we were some of that guys employees after they saw how strong Krillin was."
"Who's Krillin?" Videl asks.
"Remember that guy Erasa mentioned who had been in previous Tenkaichi Budoukai's?" Gohan asks, "him. He trained with my dad when they were kids, so that's how I know him. I didn't meet any of my dads friends until I was five and a half. They didn't even know dad had a kid at all until he introduced me. They thought he was babysitting me before dad introduced me!"
Videl laughs at that. "Sounds like your dad had some interesting friends."
"Definitely," Gohan chuckles, "some of them are too strange to talk about. One of them is a talking, shapeshifting pig that talks. Another is a floating cat that can do the same."
"Now that's unbelievable," Videl says.
"Well, better a shapeshifting pig than a perverted old man like dad's old sensei, Master Roshi," Gohan says humorously.
"The greatest martial arts master to ever live, a pervert?" Videl asks.
"Let me put it this way," Gohan says, "if he met you, you'd punch his lights out before five words even leave his mouth."
"That bad?" Videl asks.
"If it weren't for the fact that he taught my dad, and my mom's dad, not to mention dad's grandpa, I wouldn't even associate with him," Gohan says, "and the fact that Krillin now lives with him to try and keep him under control."
"That's pretty harsh," Videl says, "so what exactly happened so that you won their trust?"
"Zeshin and his crew?" Gohan asks, "while they were trying to decide what to do with us, we hit a meteor shower. Bulma took over their navigation and piloting by bullying their pilot out of the seat and taking over. We passed through an hour-long meteor shower without getting hit after Bulma took over. That was when Bund realized that we couldn't be working for Frieza. If we were, we wouldn't have helped as much as we did. Krillin and I helped put out some fires on the ship. Bund was the guy with a scar. He knew firsthand how ruthless Frieza's followers could be. One of them shot him while he was running away. That's how he got that scar."
"Wow," Videl says, "so you've been into space, huh?"
"It was pretty scary at first, but we adjusted to it fairly quickly," Gohan says.
"How did the ship have enough food for you and two other people?" Videl asks, "I've seen you eat."
"Well, Bulma had planned it so that she could feed my dad for a month when she designed the ship," Gohan says, "and my dad ate even more than I do."
Videl looks at Gohan, disbelieving what he had just said.
"Where do you think I got my appetite from?" Gohan asks, seeing the look on Videl's face, "not from my mom, I can assure you that. And my little brother eats just as much as I do."
"That's.. incredible," Videl says. She found it hard to believe that anyone ate as much as Gohan.
"At this rate of speed, we should be arriving within a couple of minutes," Gohan says, "though there is a lot of aerial traffic in West City."
"You're not kidding!" Videl exclaims when they come into view of West City.
Hundreds of air cars float around the city. Videl maneuvers her jetcopter constantly to avoid mid-air collisions. She ends up reducing her speed to appropriate levels.
"Thats the building right there," Gohan says, pointing out the Capsule corps building.
"I see it," Videl says as she lands in the front yard.
The moment they land, Trunks and Goten both run out of the building and jump onto Gohan, knocking him to the ground.
"Hey Gohan, what are you doing here?" Trunks asks while Goten just hugs his big brother.
"I'm here to see your mom, Trunks," Gohan says, "now get off of me before I ask mom to discipline you for jumping on me."
Trunks and Goten both yelp and jump off Gohan in the blink of an eye.
"I thought so," Gohan says with a smirk, "I knew mom had instilled a fear of her frying pan in you Trunks."
"Yessir," Trunks says, "hey Goten, lets go play. I think my dad is through with training for now so we can get a good spar in."
"Yay!" Goten cheers, "lets go!"
The two demi-Saiyans run towards the Gravity Room.
"What kind of training do they do?" Videl asks casually.
"Martial arts," Gohan replies, "though Goten surprised me when I discovered that he knew martial arts. Apparently mom taught him."
"You mom knows martial arts?" Videl asks.
"She once competed in the Tenkaichi Budoukai," Gohan replies, "and she's still a fighter, though she prefers to be a housewife. She's instilled a fear of cooking utensils in me and Goten. I used to be able to cook stuff over an open fire. Now I can't cook to save my life. Goten just catches things and will eat them raw."
"That's disgusting," Videl grimaces.
"Better than starving," Gohan says, "lets go find Bulma. Though you can go home now. Bulma will probably let me stay over the night. I can get my homework done here and take care of Goten and Trunks while she tries to get her husband to take her out to dinner."
"Sounds a bit like my dad there," Videl says, a frown on her face, "he hasn't done anything with me except stuff that gives him good PR since he beat Cell."
"I wouldn't compare Vegeta to your dad, Videl," Gohan advises her, "he does not like your dad at all. In fact, if you do come in, try and not mention your last name if you want to live. And if Goten's here, then my mom is here. And if my mom is here, DEFINITELY do not mention anything about your dad. She hates him with a passion."
"Why?" Videl asks, "most people love my dad because he's the World Champion and he defeated Cell."
"My dad was the champion before him, remember?" Gohan replies, "and most of our friends have competed for years. Think about how they all feel when he says that the techniques they spent years perfecting that were revered worldwide as devastating attacks are suddenly showed aside to be thought of as simple tricks simply because they cannot be explained to people who are not truly serious martial artists."
Videl takes a while to absorb this information as she follows Gohan inside. They soon find Bulma and Chichi talking over a cup of tea.
"Hey Bulma," Gohan says, "we have a small problem."
"What is it now Gohan?" Bulma asks, "and who is your friend?"
"This is Videl," Gohan says, "she goes to school with me. She gave me a ride over."
"So your Videl," Bulma remarks, "funny. I'd have thought you'd be a bit taller, considering how scared of your Gohan is."
Gohan blushes at that comment. "Bulma, remember those guys we met in space a few years ago?"
Bulma is definitely startled by Gohan's announcement of them having been in space around someone who wasn't "in the know", but she quickly recovers. "You mean Zeshin and Bund?"
"And their entire people," Gohan says, "well, whats left of them at any rate. Well, they are currently parked in front of the Satan City city hall and causing a big commotion."
Bulma grimaces. "They've finally arrived on Earth?"
"They lost the coordinates," Gohan replies, "its taken them this long to follow our trail."
"What do you need me for?" Bulma asks.
"We need you to try and help smooth things over," Gohan answers, "try and convince the rest of the populace that Zeshin and his people just want to live in peace."
Bulma sighs and nods her head. "Yes, that would be a good idea. Just give me half an hour and I'll have everything ready."
Gohan turns to Videl. "Well, Videl, thanks for the ride. I'm gonan help Bulma work on this project."
"See you at school tomorrow Gohan," Videl says, "if there is school. You know how stuff like this can ruin a school day."
"Actually, I don't," Gohan says with a grin, "remember, I was home schooled until I enrolled in Orange Star High."
"Well, see you Gohan," Videl says, "um, mind showing me the way out of here?"
"Good idea," Gohan says, "if Goten and Trunks are in the training room, then that means Vegeta is roaming the halls. And you do not want to be a stranger caught in this place with him around."
With that, the two teens head outside.
"So that was Gohan's girlfriend?" Chichi asks Bulma hopefully. She had been sizing Videl up since the moment she and Gohan had walked in.
"Their friends," Bulma says, "remember the Videl Gohan and Pegaro talked about at dinner? That's her."
"Whats her last name?" Chichi asks.
"Her dads Hercule," Bulma says, "fut from what Gohan has told me those times he's visited before heading home from school, she's nothing like her father. For one thing, she's smart."
"Do you think she'd make a good wife for him?" Chichi asks.
Bulma sighs. There was just no getting around Chichi's thoughts of grandchildren.
"So, was your mom that dark-haired lady talking to Mrs. Briefs?" Videl asks as Gohan escorts her out of the bulding.
"Yeah, that was my mom," Gohan says.
:"She looked like she was sizing me up for something," Videl remarks.
Gohan groans. "I can't believe she did that."
"What's wrong?" Videl asks.
"Remember that date I went on with that ditzy girl?" Gohan asks, "well, at first mom wasn't too thrilled at the idea of me going out on a date. Somehow, though, she went from that frame of mind to trying to get me married off so she can have some grandchildren."
"You're not suggesting that she was sizing me up for that, are you?" Videl asks, slightly blushing.
"I'm afraid so," Gohan says glumly, "now she's gonna pelt me with questions, such as why I haven't brought you home to introduce you to her. It's gonna take weeks to sort out that we're just friends and are not dating and the chances are slim to none that we ever will date."
"Well, you are a nice guy Gohan, but I agree with you there," Videl say.
"I'm just glad it wasn't Erasa who gave me a ride," Gohan chuckles, "then mom would really hit the roof."
"How so?" Videl asks.
"My mom is very conservative," Gohan says, "the way Erasa dresses, she likely would have called Erasa a floozy. And if had been Sharpner, then she would have called him a moron. Though that does seem to fit him."
"It really does," Videl agrees.
The exit the building.
"Well, thanks for the ride Videl," Gohan says, "see you at school tomorrow. Or maybe at city hall, since I'll probably be helping Bulma deal with our new guests."
"See you Gohan," Videl says as she climbs into her jetcopter, "and try to be on time for school tomorrow!"
Well, how was that chapter? Not bad considering I wrote most of it at one in the morning. Oh well. Genius does not acknowledge time, only opportunity. Please review.
"I was the kid," Gohan replies, "my companions were a short bald guy not much taller than I was then and a woman with blue hair. She piloted your ship through an asteroid field."
"It is you," Zeshin chuckles, "what was your name again? It's been over a decade, after all."
"My name is Gohan," Gohan replies, "and it has been a while."
"Please come into the ship so we can talk," Zeshin says, "perhaps you can help us come up with a way to show the people of Earth that we just wish to live a peaceful life."
"Sure," Gohan says and starts walking towards the spaceship.
Videl finally recovers from the shock of a bullet being stopped just inches from her face. "Gohan!"
Gohan turns to face her. "Um, what is it Videl?"
"How in the world do you know these people?" Videl demands. Sharpner and Erasa still weren't over the fact that Gohan had stopped a bullet.
"It's a long, and I do mean long, story that I'll have to tell you some other time," Gohan says before walking into the spaceship. Zeshin and Bund follow him inside.
"Hey wait!" Videl calls out.
Zeshin stops and turns to face Videl. "Sorry miss, but right now we're only letting Gohan in until we can determine if we truly will be welcome on this planet."
With that, Zeshin turns and heads into the spaceship.
An hour later, Gohan walks out of the ship, only to be pounced on by the media.
"Hey, leave me alone!" Gohan yells as he tries to fight through the mob.
"Hey Gohan!" a voice from above calls out. Gohan looks up to see Videl in her jetcopter with a rope ladder off the side. "Climb up!"
Gohan grabs the rope ladder and climbs up quickly. He could have just flown away, but that would have opened up questions he definitely did not want to answer.
"Thanks Videl," Gohan says as he climbs into the side seat of the jetcopter.
"Want me to take you home?" Videl asks.
"No, I have somewhere else to go with the arrival of Zeshin and his people," Gohan says, "if you can take me to West City, to the Capsule Corps building, I would appreciate it."
"West City is like a hundred miles from here," Videl says, "of course, I can make it in about half an hour in my jepcopter. But why the Capsule Corps building?"
"To see Bulma," Gohan replies. Videl does a double-take, but then remembers that Bulma is a friend of Gohan's.
"Besides," Gohan continues, "she's like to see those guys again, even if when we first met them they held us at gunpoint."
"How exactly did you meet them?" Videl asks, curious.
"Well, me and one of my dad's friend, Krillin, was helping her with a spaceship she was tinkering on," Gohan begins, "there was a malfunction and we got shot up into space. Luckily, the place was fully stocked with food and everything. It took us a couple of days before we were able to get the navigation systems up and running properly."
"You can't get too far from Earth in a spaceship, Gohan," Videl says, "not in just a couple of days."
"This ship had the drive system from an alien spacecraft Bulma had found," Gohan replies, "we passed Jupiter after an hour."
"An hour?" Videl gapes, "that's incredible."
"Well, we ended up getting pulled into that same ship that's parked at city hall right now," Gohan continues, "we were greeted with guns. They thought we could be minion's of the man who stole their planet from them and sold it to the highest bidder. They thought we were some of that guys employees after they saw how strong Krillin was."
"Who's Krillin?" Videl asks.
"Remember that guy Erasa mentioned who had been in previous Tenkaichi Budoukai's?" Gohan asks, "him. He trained with my dad when they were kids, so that's how I know him. I didn't meet any of my dads friends until I was five and a half. They didn't even know dad had a kid at all until he introduced me. They thought he was babysitting me before dad introduced me!"
Videl laughs at that. "Sounds like your dad had some interesting friends."
"Definitely," Gohan chuckles, "some of them are too strange to talk about. One of them is a talking, shapeshifting pig that talks. Another is a floating cat that can do the same."
"Now that's unbelievable," Videl says.
"Well, better a shapeshifting pig than a perverted old man like dad's old sensei, Master Roshi," Gohan says humorously.
"The greatest martial arts master to ever live, a pervert?" Videl asks.
"Let me put it this way," Gohan says, "if he met you, you'd punch his lights out before five words even leave his mouth."
"That bad?" Videl asks.
"If it weren't for the fact that he taught my dad, and my mom's dad, not to mention dad's grandpa, I wouldn't even associate with him," Gohan says, "and the fact that Krillin now lives with him to try and keep him under control."
"That's pretty harsh," Videl says, "so what exactly happened so that you won their trust?"
"Zeshin and his crew?" Gohan asks, "while they were trying to decide what to do with us, we hit a meteor shower. Bulma took over their navigation and piloting by bullying their pilot out of the seat and taking over. We passed through an hour-long meteor shower without getting hit after Bulma took over. That was when Bund realized that we couldn't be working for Frieza. If we were, we wouldn't have helped as much as we did. Krillin and I helped put out some fires on the ship. Bund was the guy with a scar. He knew firsthand how ruthless Frieza's followers could be. One of them shot him while he was running away. That's how he got that scar."
"Wow," Videl says, "so you've been into space, huh?"
"It was pretty scary at first, but we adjusted to it fairly quickly," Gohan says.
"How did the ship have enough food for you and two other people?" Videl asks, "I've seen you eat."
"Well, Bulma had planned it so that she could feed my dad for a month when she designed the ship," Gohan says, "and my dad ate even more than I do."
Videl looks at Gohan, disbelieving what he had just said.
"Where do you think I got my appetite from?" Gohan asks, seeing the look on Videl's face, "not from my mom, I can assure you that. And my little brother eats just as much as I do."
"That's.. incredible," Videl says. She found it hard to believe that anyone ate as much as Gohan.
"At this rate of speed, we should be arriving within a couple of minutes," Gohan says, "though there is a lot of aerial traffic in West City."
"You're not kidding!" Videl exclaims when they come into view of West City.
Hundreds of air cars float around the city. Videl maneuvers her jetcopter constantly to avoid mid-air collisions. She ends up reducing her speed to appropriate levels.
"Thats the building right there," Gohan says, pointing out the Capsule corps building.
"I see it," Videl says as she lands in the front yard.
The moment they land, Trunks and Goten both run out of the building and jump onto Gohan, knocking him to the ground.
"Hey Gohan, what are you doing here?" Trunks asks while Goten just hugs his big brother.
"I'm here to see your mom, Trunks," Gohan says, "now get off of me before I ask mom to discipline you for jumping on me."
Trunks and Goten both yelp and jump off Gohan in the blink of an eye.
"I thought so," Gohan says with a smirk, "I knew mom had instilled a fear of her frying pan in you Trunks."
"Yessir," Trunks says, "hey Goten, lets go play. I think my dad is through with training for now so we can get a good spar in."
"Yay!" Goten cheers, "lets go!"
The two demi-Saiyans run towards the Gravity Room.
"What kind of training do they do?" Videl asks casually.
"Martial arts," Gohan replies, "though Goten surprised me when I discovered that he knew martial arts. Apparently mom taught him."
"You mom knows martial arts?" Videl asks.
"She once competed in the Tenkaichi Budoukai," Gohan replies, "and she's still a fighter, though she prefers to be a housewife. She's instilled a fear of cooking utensils in me and Goten. I used to be able to cook stuff over an open fire. Now I can't cook to save my life. Goten just catches things and will eat them raw."
"That's disgusting," Videl grimaces.
"Better than starving," Gohan says, "lets go find Bulma. Though you can go home now. Bulma will probably let me stay over the night. I can get my homework done here and take care of Goten and Trunks while she tries to get her husband to take her out to dinner."
"Sounds a bit like my dad there," Videl says, a frown on her face, "he hasn't done anything with me except stuff that gives him good PR since he beat Cell."
"I wouldn't compare Vegeta to your dad, Videl," Gohan advises her, "he does not like your dad at all. In fact, if you do come in, try and not mention your last name if you want to live. And if Goten's here, then my mom is here. And if my mom is here, DEFINITELY do not mention anything about your dad. She hates him with a passion."
"Why?" Videl asks, "most people love my dad because he's the World Champion and he defeated Cell."
"My dad was the champion before him, remember?" Gohan replies, "and most of our friends have competed for years. Think about how they all feel when he says that the techniques they spent years perfecting that were revered worldwide as devastating attacks are suddenly showed aside to be thought of as simple tricks simply because they cannot be explained to people who are not truly serious martial artists."
Videl takes a while to absorb this information as she follows Gohan inside. They soon find Bulma and Chichi talking over a cup of tea.
"Hey Bulma," Gohan says, "we have a small problem."
"What is it now Gohan?" Bulma asks, "and who is your friend?"
"This is Videl," Gohan says, "she goes to school with me. She gave me a ride over."
"So your Videl," Bulma remarks, "funny. I'd have thought you'd be a bit taller, considering how scared of your Gohan is."
Gohan blushes at that comment. "Bulma, remember those guys we met in space a few years ago?"
Bulma is definitely startled by Gohan's announcement of them having been in space around someone who wasn't "in the know", but she quickly recovers. "You mean Zeshin and Bund?"
"And their entire people," Gohan says, "well, whats left of them at any rate. Well, they are currently parked in front of the Satan City city hall and causing a big commotion."
Bulma grimaces. "They've finally arrived on Earth?"
"They lost the coordinates," Gohan replies, "its taken them this long to follow our trail."
"What do you need me for?" Bulma asks.
"We need you to try and help smooth things over," Gohan answers, "try and convince the rest of the populace that Zeshin and his people just want to live in peace."
Bulma sighs and nods her head. "Yes, that would be a good idea. Just give me half an hour and I'll have everything ready."
Gohan turns to Videl. "Well, Videl, thanks for the ride. I'm gonan help Bulma work on this project."
"See you at school tomorrow Gohan," Videl says, "if there is school. You know how stuff like this can ruin a school day."
"Actually, I don't," Gohan says with a grin, "remember, I was home schooled until I enrolled in Orange Star High."
"Well, see you Gohan," Videl says, "um, mind showing me the way out of here?"
"Good idea," Gohan says, "if Goten and Trunks are in the training room, then that means Vegeta is roaming the halls. And you do not want to be a stranger caught in this place with him around."
With that, the two teens head outside.
"So that was Gohan's girlfriend?" Chichi asks Bulma hopefully. She had been sizing Videl up since the moment she and Gohan had walked in.
"Their friends," Bulma says, "remember the Videl Gohan and Pegaro talked about at dinner? That's her."
"Whats her last name?" Chichi asks.
"Her dads Hercule," Bulma says, "fut from what Gohan has told me those times he's visited before heading home from school, she's nothing like her father. For one thing, she's smart."
"Do you think she'd make a good wife for him?" Chichi asks.
Bulma sighs. There was just no getting around Chichi's thoughts of grandchildren.
"So, was your mom that dark-haired lady talking to Mrs. Briefs?" Videl asks as Gohan escorts her out of the bulding.
"Yeah, that was my mom," Gohan says.
:"She looked like she was sizing me up for something," Videl remarks.
Gohan groans. "I can't believe she did that."
"What's wrong?" Videl asks.
"Remember that date I went on with that ditzy girl?" Gohan asks, "well, at first mom wasn't too thrilled at the idea of me going out on a date. Somehow, though, she went from that frame of mind to trying to get me married off so she can have some grandchildren."
"You're not suggesting that she was sizing me up for that, are you?" Videl asks, slightly blushing.
"I'm afraid so," Gohan says glumly, "now she's gonna pelt me with questions, such as why I haven't brought you home to introduce you to her. It's gonna take weeks to sort out that we're just friends and are not dating and the chances are slim to none that we ever will date."
"Well, you are a nice guy Gohan, but I agree with you there," Videl say.
"I'm just glad it wasn't Erasa who gave me a ride," Gohan chuckles, "then mom would really hit the roof."
"How so?" Videl asks.
"My mom is very conservative," Gohan says, "the way Erasa dresses, she likely would have called Erasa a floozy. And if had been Sharpner, then she would have called him a moron. Though that does seem to fit him."
"It really does," Videl agrees.
The exit the building.
"Well, thanks for the ride Videl," Gohan says, "see you at school tomorrow. Or maybe at city hall, since I'll probably be helping Bulma deal with our new guests."
"See you Gohan," Videl says as she climbs into her jetcopter, "and try to be on time for school tomorrow!"
Well, how was that chapter? Not bad considering I wrote most of it at one in the morning. Oh well. Genius does not acknowledge time, only opportunity. Please review.