Disclaimer: The world of DBZ does not belong to me. No money will be made off of this. Thank you. I only own Shinji and the character that appears at the end.
Important things will be at the bottom. Notes, reviewer responses, etc.
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That Warm and Fuzzy Feeling From the Back of a Saiyan
A fanfic by ShaggyDiz
Chapter Three
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Satan City. The current name of the city, once known as Orange Star City. It was that until a certain man won two tournaments, the latter determining the safety of the world. The latter was also false. Gohan currently found himself in that city.
School had let out not too long before, and he quickly made his way to one of the cities many high rises. He stood at the ledge of the forty-story building, getting a good look at the busy life below him. He heard everything coming from below, picking up the faint sounds of cars blowing their horns and the occasional fender bender. All of it was possible with the saiyan hearing of his.
Gohan came to this building to be alone. As he would soon find out, his freedom wouldn't last. From above, a figure descended down from the clouds, landing in the middle of the roof behind Gohan.
"Hello, Shinji," the half saiyan quietly said. The human boy made his way over to the ledge, next to Gohan.
"Let me guess. You knew it was me?"
"Your flying gave yourself away about two miles ago."
"Damn. I have to work on that." The boy looked over the edge; intent on what Gohan was looking at. "What's so interesting about this?"
"Nothing really. I never did this before, so I decided to just come to a high building and look at everything from a bird's point of view."
"You know you can do that by flying," Shinji said. Gohan shrugged it off.
"Flying requires you to look forward a lot. You might crash into a mountain if you look down and not pay attention. Standing here, I can take in more."
"I see." They remained silent for a moment, looking down into the streets below. "I still want to fight you." Gohan chuckled a little at that.
"You know you're no match for me."
"That isn't a good reason."
"No?" Gohan was surprised at the boy's resiliency. He was persistent enough to make Gohan question his behavior.
"My sensei told me to go fight the saiyans if I ever wanted a good fight."
"Really? I must meet this teacher of yours."
"Not now. You already know him though, so I'm not going to bother."
"I probably know who you teacher is. Judging by your power level, I'd say it's one of two people." Gohan stood straight up and took a step back from the ledge. "Tell me. Are you the masked fighter from Saturday?"
"Heh. How'd you guess?"
"Yesterday morning. I felt a familiar power and I realized that it was the one from three days ago." He expression took a slightly downward turn at this moment. "Just to let you know, I don't need any help from you."
"You sure?"
"I would have help Videl back at that fire."
"Then how come you didn't?"
"I would…have."
"I felt your power at the fire, and yet you refused to help."
"I would have Shinji! Goddamn it! If you would have saw the bind that I was in then you would have known!" Shinji looked over his shoulder at Gohan. He saw that the saiyan teen wasn't too happy with this discussion.
"Your date, right?"
"What? How do you know about that?" Shinji returned his gaze to the streets below, attempting to hide his slightly red face.
"I accidentally bumped into her yesterday morning while trying to find my way to the main office. She was a bit pissed off, now that I remember."
"Déjà vu. Great." Shinji smirked at the statement.
"She told me about how this boy named Gohan ditched her on Saturday after Videl came down from the building fire. Oh yeah. She was incredibly pissed."
"You don't have to tell me twice." He returned to the ledge, now calm from his tantrum moments before. "Be careful around her, all right?"
"Oh, I don't have to worry about her."
"Why is that?"
"She told me something about only dating people in her grade. That was a relief to say the least."
"What's that have to do with you?" Shinji looked over to Gohan for a moment, and then smacked his head.
"Man. Sensei told me you got your father's blockhead thinking. How bout I put it in English for you," he said, moving his face until it was mere inches from Gohan's. "I…AM IN A GRADE…BELOW YOURS!"
"AH! My freaking ears! What'd you do that?"
"To prove sensei's point that you don't pick out the most obvious things."
"Shut up!" Gohan yelled, and swung his arm at Shinji, hitting him and sending him backwards to the opposite end of the roof. He grabbed the side of his head when he started getting up.
"Ouch! What did you do that for?"
"For nearly breaking my eardrums! And for insulting me!" Shinji laughed out loud for a few seconds before composing himself and getting onto his feet.
"Well…it's true, Gohan." He walked back over to Gohan, who was busy rubbing his ears, trying to get some feeling back into them. "Now, when will you call the nimbus cloud?"
"You really want to see the cloud, huh?"
"Yeah. I want to ride it."
"Oh really? That's a good one."
"Just call the goddamn cloud, okay?"
"Sure…FLYING NIMBUS!" They waited a few seconds before a yellow streak was seen out in the horizon. It turned towards them and, a few seconds later, screeched to a halt at Gohan's side. "Now, this is the nimbus cloud. It was originally Master Roshi's cloud. I'm sure you know about him since you know about me, right?" Shinji nodded. "Good. Now, only the pure of heart can ride the cloud. I can ride it, as well as my brother and my mom. My dad can ride it, but you probably know that he's dead." Again, Shinji nodded. "Good. Now hop on." I can't wait to see this.
The teen looked over the cloud for a bit. He walked around and wondered how someone could ride one of these things. If Gohan can do it, then I know I can. I think I'm pure of heart. He stopped walking around it and jumped up on top of it.
And promptly fell through the cloud.
"Ouch! Shit! Gohan, what the hell is this?" Gohan had started laughing the moment Shinji passed through the cloud. He couldn't help it. It was always a funny thing to watch, seeing people attempting to ride the cloud, only to fall through it and onto their asses.
"It's…simple really…Kami that was too much…you're not…pure of heart…hee, hee, hee."
"But…but!"
"I have a feeling who your teacher might be now. In fact, I bet you had two along the way, and one of them probably had to be tempted to train you. See, I'm not so dense after all."
"Where are you getting at? I didn't tempt Master Roshi at all! All I did was give him a couple of nudie…maga…oh crap." Gohan laughed even harder. He fell on his backside, laughing so hard that he had to grab his sides to prevent himself from inflicting self-bodily harm. "Laugh it up all you want Gohan! I'll redeem myself someday, you'll see!" he said, and blasted off into the clouds. "You'll see!" he shouted again. Gohan, who was still laughing incredibly hard, heard it faintly. Tears started forming in his eyes because of the sheer amount of laughter he was emitting.
"Boy…that was too much…" he said, slowly regaining control of himself. He stood up and returned to the ledge. He looked down at his watch and decided that now was a good time to go home. "I think I have an idea about you teacher, Shinji," he thought out loud. "I'll let you know tomorrow. I'm sure he'll know where to find me."
He stepped towards the center of the roof, making sure no one sees him. Turning into a super saiyan, he unfurled his tail and rocketed up to the sky, leaving a yellow streak behind him. Next to him flew the nimbus cloud, leaving its own yellow streak behind it, racing Gohan back to the 439 Mountain Area.
* * *
"Krillin."
"What about him?"
"He's your teacher." Shinji sighed.
"Damn. How'd you find out?"
"Well, I figured that out the last couple days while sensing your power level. You're right around his power level. I also did some research about something you said yesterday."
"Oh really? What did you check?" He cocked his eyebrow, wanting to know what Gohan was going on.
"Besides the verbal lashing I got from my mom from this, I asked her if she knew something from the days when my dad trained with Roshi. I told her what you did and she remembers my dad saying that Krillin did the same exact thing." Gohan started to smirk. "He was never able to ride the nimbus cloud after that." Gohan had faced his mother the day before on the topic after dinner. The reason for the verbal lashing was because of the subject matter.
It was also because of the fact that Goten had heard every single word. He nearly lost the chance to hang out with Videl on Saturday, but then came up with a quick excuse, telling Goten not to worry about that stuff until he was his older brother's age.
"You know…Krillin suggested that I do that."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Bout four years ago I went to Roshi's island. I told him that I came to train under him. Of course, he said that he would only train me if I got a beautiful woman…or some nudie magazines." Both boys laughed at that. "So before I left I met Krillin and his wife Eighteen. Krillin told me what really impresses Roshi women wise. He also gave me a secret stash of his magazines. Needless to say, I was taken under Roshi's wing."
"I see. I guess Krillin didn't tell you that you would never be able to ride the nimbus cloud after that, huh?"
"Nope," he said, shaking his head. "Roshi told me about the cloud while I was training. I trained under him for about a year. Suffice to say, I became considerable stronger."
"How did you train?"
"Same way your father and Krillin did. I wore a turtle shell for a whole year."
"What did you do after that?"
"I was thirteen at the time. I took a two-week break and returned to the island, wanting to train more. I continued my turtle shell training for another six months before Krillin decided to train me. He told me during my first year of training that he would train me, but had held it off because of Marron being born.
"Eventually we got to the meaty portion of the training. Roshi's training enhanced my power level greatly, but now was the true test. Krillin taught me for the first two weeks how to fly, and after that, we fought nonstop, from sunrise to sunset. Over land. Under water. You name it; we did it. Heck, I even fought Eighteen a couple times as well. Didn't do too well against her though. Krillin said that only a super saiyan could defeat her."
"I think he got that right."
"Yeah. I think you would like to know why I'm here."
"That sounds good. I would think that there is a school close to Roshi's island somewhere."
"Well, there isn't. That's why I'm here. I'm also here because Krillin suggested that I meet some new people.
"You see…I'm sort of like an orphan. Both my parents died when I was nine, around the same time that Cell arrived. After the Cell Games, I went to train under Mr. Satan, figuring that it would help me out in the long run. I trained under him for a couple of years, learning his fighting style, which compared to Krillin's, is atrocious.
"I met Videl back when I was nine, and she was ten. She set me up at a local housing development, ensuring me that I would have a quality way of living. After three years though, I decided that I had enough of Satan's dojo and moved on. I read a story about Master Roshi and the Power of Light, and how he is only one of a very select amount of people who knows about the legendary Kamehameha Wave. I took it upon myself to learn his ways. I set off for his island and arrived three months after I started the journey.
"Now about the school. Five month's ago Krillin got a call from Bulma saying that your mother was considering allowing you to attend high school."
"Whoa, wait! My mom decided this five months ago?"
"She thought about it then. She decided four months ago."
"I see. No wonder why she had me stop studying all of a sudden," Gohan said, thinking out loud.
"You done visiting your past?"
"Huh? What about you? I only said one thing."
"Be quiet. That's not important. Besides, I'm almost done." Gohan was becoming a little peeved at Shinji at the moment. He contemplated just tossing him over the edge of the building they were on – and shooting a Masenko attack at him.
"You know how much effort it is taking me to not throw you half way across the city?"
"I know. That's why it's fun poking at you. Can I finish?" Shinji asked. Gohan gave him a half-attempted death glare before sighing.
"Fine. Finish."
"Thank you. So five months ago, Krillin got Bulma to hire a tutor for me to teach me some things that I had forgotten. I did well enough on the entrance exams to get into the third year level of high school. Along the way I discovered your genius level with the entrance exams. How the hell did that happen?"
"My mom. She was very…instrumental with my education."
"I see. But this is my story." Gohan could only nod. He would occasionally glance over from his spot on the ground to the younger boy, keeping a good ear on his words. They were currently on the same building as yesterday, except this time they were looking over the edge that faced north. Yesterday they looked towards the east side of the city.
The north side of the city had most of the shorter sized buildings. In fact, the largest building in the north was Satan City Hospital, which stood only fifteen stories high. The rest of the buildings were less than ten stories in height. The main reason for this was because of the twin helicopter pads situated on the roof. One of the pads was currently occupied with a familiar yellow helicopter, and its owner was about to become the current topic of discussion between the two males.
"Do you think Videl will recognize you if she saw you again?"
"I'm not sure. I didn't talk to her a whole lot, so I really don't know her too well. She occasionally stopped by the housing complex to see how I was doing. She also taught me some stuff. You wouldn't believe how much better she is at martial arts than her father."
"That good, huh?"
"Looking back at who she was then, I would say she had potential. She still has it. It would take something big to convince her."
"She believes her dad?"
"Too much. She's a good girl, but what Hercule said has heavily corrupted her. Hell, he had me convinced for a while."
"Yeah. Speaking of which, I still have to finalize Saturday with Bulma." Shinji perked his ears at this.
"Why? What's happening Saturday?" Gohan went over the story until now. He told him about how Videl wanted to show him what a real 'date' was like, instead of experiencing a 'date' ala Erasa. He then told Shinji about the plan to go to Capsule Corp in West City and attempt to take a tour.
"After dinner yesterday, I went to Bulma's and told her of my plans. She told me that she would help me out in any way possible with Videl, whatever that supposed to mean. My mom flipped out naturally. I got to tell you; women are confusing."
"You got that right. Still, you are quite dense."
"Will you stop calling me dense?!" Gohan was a bit red right now. Sure, Shinji was a pain, but he had gotten used to him the past couple days. He still didn't like being called 'dense' by him, however.
"Gohan, get a grip! There is a reason why your mom and Bulma act like this," Shinji started. Gohan had completely lost focus. Instead, he was staring at the yellow copter casually sitting on top of Satan City Hospital.
Yes, that yellow copter.
"Gohan? Gohan? Are you listening to me?"
"Isn't that…Videl's copter?" he asked quietly.
"Huh? Where?"
"Over there. See?" he said, pointing in the direction of the hospital. It took Shinji a couple of seconds before picking up on what Gohan was looking at.
"I think that is. What you getting at?"
"Why would she be over there for?"
"Beats me."
"Let's go check it out," Gohan said. He turned super saiyan and proceeded to remove his vest, placing it inside of his school bag. He let his tail hang off of his waist, swinging lazily behind him.
"Whoa! Whoa! You want to see why she's there? Like that?"
"Well, I don't want to go in the hospital. We'll just fly over and see what room she's in from the outside. Besides, she doesn't know it's me like this."
"So true. Fine, just give me a second." Shinji reached into his bag and pulled out a pair of black sunglasses and tossed them on. He went back to his bag and ruffled through it some before coming across a blue baseball cap. He placed it backwards on his head, cleverly concealing his hair. "There. I'm set."
"Good. Let's go." They lifted off and traveled the short distance over to the hospital.
Gohan and Shinji flew until they were about two hundred feet above the highest part of the building. From there, the half saiyan went to work on finding Videl. He had a bit of trouble finding her among the hundreds of people occupying the hospital at the current time. He eventually found her energy signature on the ninth floor. He began floating down, but before getting anywhere, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Gohan, you sure you want to do this?" asked Shinji.
"No. I honestly don't," he said, looking over at the younger teen. "I'm afraid of what I might find. Erasa told me a little while ago that Videl would show me something important someday soon, though."
"And you're afraid that this might be it?"
"Yeah."
"Well…put it like this. This thing could make or break anything you got with her."
"Huh?" Gohan said, confused. "What you mean by that? You're sounding like Bulma right now. We're just friends, just to let you know."
"I see. Just remember my words. Now lead the way."
The two began their descent down. They stayed close to the building, gliding down between the windows to avoid detection. Gohan did an energy check again and spotted Videl's signature near the center of the west side of the building, the current side they were on. They arrived at the window and peaked inside between the curtain spaces. What they saw would put a wrench on their hearts for weeks to come.
The first thing they saw was Videl, with her back to the window and her head bend down. She was slouched forward in the chair she was in, which was positioned at the top of the bed, to the right side of it. They noticed her hands, which were lying on the bed in front of her, with another person's hand locked inside hers. The hand itself was a milky white color. They followed the person's pale arm up along to the shoulder, and to the face, which revealed a woman. A breathing tube wrapped around her ears, connected at the nostrils itself and ran down to a breathing pump off on the left side of the bed. Several IV tubes ran from the stand with the breathing pump as well, connecting to a needle insert in the woman's left hand.
Then it hit Gohan.
"Oh…my…Kami…" he whispered.
"What is it Gohan? What is it?"
"This woman…here. It's…its Videl's mother."
"Oh…Gohan. Let's get out of here." They were prepared to leave, except for what they were going to hear next.
"Oh mom. I know I've told you about him before. This boy that showed up at school last week," Videl said, whispering to her mom. Even through the closed window, Gohan heard what she said.
"Is she…talking about…me?"
"He is a dork, just by the way he acts."
Yeah. It's me.
"He is a nice guy though. There's something about him that makes him different from the others. For one, he doesn't talk to me like I'm the daughter of Hercule. I got a feeling he doesn't like him that much. That makes three of us mom."
"Gohan! What's the hold up?" Shinji asked. He started moving away from the building, but turned to see Gohan still against the hospital wall.
"Quiet Shinji! She's talking about me."
"She is?" He quickly joined Gohan's side, trying to listen to Videl's conversation.
"Well, we're going out on Saturday, over to West City. That should be fun. I'm going to try to get us into Capsule Corp and meet the Briefs. I just want to take a tour and see if I can come back again."
"Gohan, I can't hear her. What is she saying?"
"Hold on," Gohan responded, waving his hand down, telling Shinji to keep quiet.
"I'm not sure what else to say today. Oh, one more thing. Daddy dearest is taking a two-week vacation to the United States starting this Friday. It's not that you care; I know that. Well, I think that you do. I'm going to be left alone while he is gone and also with giving everyone in the mansion a vacation.
"I can't wait till you wake up mom," she said, tears beginning to flow from her eyes. "I hope that one day, you'll be awake, and I can…spend time with…you." She paused for a moment, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm going to go mom. I'll…see you Monday." She bent forward and kissed her mom on her head. She then got up, fixing her blanket, and giving her one last look, exited the room.
Gohan was visibly shaken by what had just happened. The very words spoken by Videl had grabbed his heart and squeezed it. By the time she left, Gohan was left with two tears streaking down his face.
He hadn't cried for over six years before now. Gohan turned away from the window, leaning against the concrete wall. He stared into nothing, contemplating the entire scene through his eyes many times over. Shinji just floated there, not saying anything to Gohan. He had a feeling that no words could explain what just happened. They stayed there in dead silence for what felt like an eternity, but was only for a couple of minutes.
Gohan broke the silence. "I think…we shouldn't have come here."
"Gohan…what just happened?"
"It was Videl's mom. She was talking to her, and…and it was incredibly painful to listen to. I feel so horrible right now."
"You want to go home?"
"That sounds like a plan. I need to think this over for now. I'll talk to you later Shinji."
"Same to you Gohan." They both left the hospital, flying their separate ways.
* * *
"You ready Gohan?"
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
"Good. Let's go."
The scene was West City – more specific, it was Capsule Corp. Currently at the front gate are Gohan and Videl, contemplating how to go inside. After standing there for a good minute, Videl finally decided to just barge up to the front door and ask for a tour. She, however, was nervous as all hell.
Gohan only pretended to play the part. He went over practically everything with Bulma a couple of days before. He made sure that Vegeta would stay out of the way for the most part. She went off and told him to stay in the gravity room or be forced to go without food for the weekend. Vegeta demanded to get at least one spar with Gohan that weekend, which ended up completing the deal.
Saturday had come around quickly for the pair. School went by as nothing exciting happened. Videl had a nagging notion within her about Gohan, though. She saw him with a completely different attitude around her. Instead of being a good friend, he was a rather great – and caring – friend. She had no idea what brought on the change, nor did she care. Well, for one or two instances where it got annoying to be helped out a great deal. She liked the change, though, in the end.
Videl pressed the COM button located at the main gate. It took a few seconds before a voice came over the speaker. "Who do you want?" asked the young voice.
"I would like to see Ms. Briefs, please," Videl calmly replied.
"Huh…hold on a second…Mom!" the voice yelled away from the speaker. "Someone is at the door!" The speaker went quiet for a second before a lady was heard yelling at the young kid. Then there was a shuffle, before:
"Hello. Mrs. Briefs here."
"Huh, hi. My name is Videl Satan. I was wondering if a friend and I could take a tour of your place."
"Satan, huh? What, you expect me to give you a tour because you're a Satan?"
"Um…well…erm…" Videl was quickly becoming embarrassed with the developing situation. Gohan could only chuckled behind her. He tried desperately to keep it under his breath, and he nearly gave way.
"Don't worry. I'll give you a tour. Just go up to the front door and I'll let you in," Bulma said. Videl quickly gave a sigh of relief and Gohan swallowed whatever laughter he had left. They made their way up towards the front door, where Bulma stood, looking a bit of a wreck at the moment. Videl picked up on it.
"Um…Ms. Briefs, would it be okay if we came back later? You don't look like you're ready to give a tour."
"Oh…what?" She looked down and studied herself for second. "Nonsense! Now, come this way." She turned and entered the house. The two teens followed. She went to the kitchen and proceeded to start on snacks and refreshments. Gohan and Videl took seats next to each other at the table.
Bulma brought them their food and saw the closeness in their seating. What a dog, Gohan. Chichi would be so proud. She decided to prod at them for the time being. "So…Videl. Who is this manly stud?"
Manly stud? What is Bulma thinking? Gohan though, panicking. Videl let out a laugh at her comment.
"This 'manly stud', as you put it, is Gohan. He's a friend of mine from school."
"I see. Hello, Gohan."
"Hello, Mrs. Briefs. How are you today?"
"Well I'm doing mighty fine. Thanks for asking. Now eat up you two. I'll be back shortly." She gave Gohan a wink as she walked away. Gohan took that wink…but in the completely wrong way that Bulma intended.
"Hey Gohan," Videl asked, leaning over to Gohan.
"Yeah?"
"Is she married?" Gohan snickered in his head.
"I think so. She addressed herself as Mrs. Briefs over the speaker."
"Oh man…" she whispered out.
SLAM! The sound of Videl's head hitting the table.
Repeatedly.
"Videl…Videl? Are you okay?" He placed a hand on her back, trying to console her.
"I was calling her Ms. instead of Mrs. Oh man." SLAM!
"Videl!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" She sat up straight for a little bit. Gohan looked over to her, checking to see if she was all right.
Unbeknownst to them, Bulma was looking at the pair through a secret two-way mirror conveniently located at a tile set between the kitchen and the stove, which also gives a spectacular view of the entire kitchen. Her target right now was the naïve saiyan and the daughter of a fraud. Ooooo, look at Gohan go. They'll be together in no time. Chichi will be so happy!
Things progressed this way for the next three or four minutes. Gohan was keeping watch over Videl and tried to prevent her from slamming her head on Bulma's kitchen table. Videl…well, she succeeded in doing so a few times. Gohan had to physically restrain her after the progression of three minutes. He turned her to see her face to face.
And that's when things got a little interesting.
"Videl," Gohan started, "Don't worry about it, okay? She probably didn't even notice. Hell, I don't even think many people know that she's married."
"Huh? And how would you know that?" She stared deep into his charcoal eyes, trying to find an answer.
"Well…um…" Gohan was at a loss for words. He sat silent for a few seconds, looking straight into Videl's blue eyes. He found his answer. "You got nice eyes, Videl."
All right, so his answer wasn't the one he was looking for.
"What…was that…Gohan?" He didn't respond. He was lost; lost in Videl's eyes, searching its many depths.
"I…erm…umm…what did I just say?" It was too late though. Videl had kept cycling his nice comment through her head. She kept a steady lock on his eyes, with their heads a good eighteen inches in between.
Out of nowhere, Videl suddenly reached her right hand up, the one closest to Gohan, to the back of his head. She turned her body, facing his. She lazily grabbed some of Gohan's hair, passing his smooth hair through her fingers. A look of awe was on her face. She studied the intricate features of his face, down to the last nook and cranny. "You know…you have nice eyes too," she whispered, seductively. She slowly moved her face in for the kill.
Gohan wasn't like Videl right now. Hell, he was downright panicking. He turned red the moment her had grabbed the back of his head. He gritted his teeth, preparing for the worst. And then it happened. She began moving forward, which cause Gohan to panic even more. With every inch Videl moved, Gohan would move away that inch. He soon was running out of space, and he leaned back on the chair, quickly losing ground. He was in danger on falling off backwards, but Videl didn't seem to notice. She was now mere centimeters from his face, ready to smack one right on his lips.
Then they both fell, Gohan going backwards and Videl landing right on his waist, straddling it. Her hands were conveniently located just above his shoulders. His hands were, inconveniently, located on her hips. Gohan, surprisingly, got even redder when he finally noticed. He looked up to Videl's face, and from there, he got scared. She was grinning madly, seeing how she was in the perfect position for the kill.
"You know Gohan…I've never been in this type of situation before," she said, even more seductive than before.
"Gee…that's…great, Videl. I've…never been…in this situation before too," he responded, quickly losing whatever grip he had left of his sanity. Lying on the floor like this would explain his loss of saneness.
"Good. Then you wouldn't mind if I gave you a…quick…kiss…" she whispered. She moved her face towards his, and this time, Gohan had nowhere to go.
What is happening with Videl? Why is she so desperate to kiss me? I only said she has nice eyes. Wait. Oh shit. I mean crap. Damn mother instilling me with a good heart. Why am I thinking about my mom's morals at a time like this? I'm quickly losing control of this situation and it appears that Videl is about to do something that we will probably regret. At least I will. I like her as a friend, for crying out loud! Man, this is weird. I wish something – anything! – can stop her from doing this.
Luck just happened to be on Gohan's side that day. Videl leaned in close until she again was mere centimeters from Gohan's face. Her hair draped down in her ponytails on the floor, lying along next to Gohan's ears. She dropped down to her elbows, and used her right hand to mess with Gohan's hair. She laughed slightly, and leaned in more, until her lips were just above his. "Face it, Gohan. There's nothing you can do right now. Your min-" BEEP! BEEP!
What was that? Gohan thought. He watched Videl meticulously. She remained just above his lips for a few more seconds before getting back on her hands. She sat back on his waist, and pressed a button on her watch.
"What?!" she yelled. "This better be important!"
"Videl! Thank Kami! Are you still in West City?"
"Yes. Your point?"
"Well, we told the West City Police that you'll be there for a part of the day and they seriously need your help at this time!"
"Grr…where at?"
"According to our GPS [1], there is a hostage situation about three blocks from your current location. And by looking at that, I see you are at Capsule Corp."
"Three blocks away, huh? I'll be there soon."
"You know, I wish I could go to Capsule Corp someday. It would be nice to visit the Bulma Briefs someday."
"Chief! I got to go!"
"Oh, right. Sorry. Good luck, Videl!" The line on her watch closed. Videl remained on Gohan's waist for another minute or so, thinking over what just happened. She looked down at Gohan, who had a strange look on his face. He was still beat red. She got in close again and looked him straight in the eyes. He could tell she was serious.
"Don't…tell…anyone. You got it?"
"Y-yes…Vi-Videl."
"Good. Tell Mrs. Briefs that I have police business to attend to a few blocks away. I'll be back in about fifteen-twenty minutes. You got that?"
"Y-yes…Videl."
"Good. After that, we can go home. I'll fly you home, considering it is quite a distance from here to wherever your house is, and it would still give me time to get my ass home."
"O-o-okay…Videl."
"Good. And stop worrying! You're pissing me off!"
"Oh! Sorry Videl!"
"Good." She got up off of his waist and left. Gohan remained on the kitchen floor for the time being. His arms remained loose by his side, and his legs laid flat on the floor. The red on his face was fading away. He stayed there until he heard footsteps coming towards him. He looked up, and saw Bulma enter his view. She had a huge smirk on her face.
"What's that for, Bulma?"
"I'm just wondering whether or not to tell your mom about what just happened."
"What?! You saw?!"
"Two-way mirror…right about…there! Between the fridge and the stove," she said, pointing to the exact spot on the wall where she was looking through.
"You…saw…everything. My life…I think it just went by my eyes."
"Hey, don't worry kiddo. You'll live. Now I suggest you get up and help Videl. I heard on the police scanner that it is a major hostage situation, and I don't think she can handle it by herself."
"All right," he said, getting up off of the floor. He jetted out of the kitchen. "See you soon, Bulma!" he shouted back. He turned super on the way to the front door and took off the vest he was wearing. He shucked the tie away as well and as soon as he took five steps outside he felt for Videl's energy and blasted off towards her, ready to assist at the hostage situation.
* * *
Videl arrived on the scene in less than three minutes. She took cover behind on of the cop cars and asked the head officer about the situation.
"There are four men currently inside the bank. They got there about fifteen minutes ago and demanded money. The first cop car here happened to spot the robbers ready to make a break for it and called backup. They haven't made a move yet but are demanding safe passage out of the city."
"How many hostages do they have?"
"Our estimates have five tellers and about twelve costumers being held up."
"Damn it! This is going to be tough."
"Mind if I help?" asked a voice from behind Videl. She turned to see the Gold Fighter standing there, looking down at her, and occasionally glancing at the scene.
The Gold Fighter?! How does he just suddenly reappear after nearly two weeks to help me out?
"Um…sir, this is official police business. I'm going to have to ask you to –"
"Chief, wait." She stood up and looked at Gohan for a moment. "Let him help. He saved me once before, and I could use a hand."
"But,
Vid –"
"No 'buts', chief. He stays."
She turned back to Gohan after quieting the chief. "Don't do anything stupid, okay? We got a lot of hostages right now, and I
would like for all of them to go home today."
"No problem. Just tell me what to do." Videl began contemplating the situation. She got a quick idea. "Hey, since you can lift buses without any effort, you think you can dodge bullets?"
"Dodge them? That's easy, but I can also do one better."
"What's that?"
"Don't worry. I think I know where you're getting at."
"Good, then I don't have to explain myself." She got up and ran off to an adjacent building, out of the view of the gunmen in the bank.
"Just make sure they don't see you Videl!" he said to her as she was leaving.
"Hey! Who are you kid?" the chief asked to Gohan, who was beginning to move towards the bank.
"Haven't you heard?" The chief shook his head. "I'm the Gold Fighter."
The Gold Fighter?! In West City?!
Gohan floated over the series of cop cars in his way and landed in the parking lot of the bank. He walked forward, drawing the attention of the gunmen.
"Hey! Don't come any closer or we'll open fire!" yelled the lead gunman. Gohan continued moving forward. He wasn't in the mood to listen to the gunmen right now, especially after what just happened back at Bulma's. Well, he was kind of happy, at least to get away from Videl for the time being. "I said stop!" the lead gunman yelled again.
Gohan didn't stop.
"That's it! Open fire on this idiot!" With that, a reign of lead flew towards Gohan as three of the four gunmen opened fire. Gohan lifted his hands up and let out a yell. The bullets instantly vaporized about two feet in front of the young saiyan, as they impacted an energy shield erected in front of him. The gunmen kept firing until they heard the collective sounds of 'clicks' and empty cartridges.
At the same time, Videl made her way around to the back of the bank, sneaking in through the back door. She quickly and quietly ran down the hall until she made her way to the teller area. She kept low and watched as the gunmen began firing on the Gold Fighter. She saw the bullets suddenly disappear when they approached him. What's this? The bullets seem to be…evaporating! What is this? Some kind of trick?!
She couldn't worry about that now. Videl turned to her left and saw all five tellers leaning against the wall. She also saw the fourth gunman keeping an eye on them as well as all the costumers. Using this to her advantage, she quickly ran down the teller area, until she appeared behind the gunman. She hid behind the desk and told the tellers with a simple finger to her mouth to keep quiet. She them made her move.
Gohan knew what she was doing the whole time. She kept a steady lock on her energy, and watched as she flipped over the desk and took out the fourth gunman, the only one not involved with the shootout. With him out, Gohan swiftly disarmed the rest of the gunmen before they could reload. He looked over to Videl, who was stalking the fourth gunman.
"Hey, you could have these if you want to. They're not so dangerous now." Videl looked up and smiled.
"Why thank you," she said, and jumped over to where the gunmen were. Gohan stared in awe, watching her move with elegance and grace. Then she got dirty, and Gohan cringed a bit, listening to the cracking of bones and the groans of men being hit in various places. Seeing that she had complete control, he walked to the front door and opened it.
"You can leave now," he said to the costumers and tellers. They quickly evacuated, just as Videl was putting the finishing touches on the gunmen. He walked over to them and looked at them with a slight twitch on his face, looking at the mass of arms, legs and torsos that occupied the floor. He gulped and looked over to Videl.
"You know…I think you got them real good."
"Why thank you." They walked outside and motioned for the cops to take over.
"I must get going now," Gohan said.
"How come?"
"I got some business to attend to elsewhere. It was good to help you out."
"This is twice that I owe you now, you know."
"Huh? Who ever said anything about owing?" Videl walked up to him and stared at his face. She noticed it looked a bit familiar. She decided to ignore that for the moment.
"From last week, remember? You saved my life as well as a bus load of kids!"
"Oh, that. It was nothing. You don't have to owe me anything. I'm just here to served and protect, just like you." From there, he took a step back and lifted off into the air. "I'll see you around, Videl." He soon disappeared from view.
Strange. He looks kind of like Gohan. I should have taken a closer look at his clothes. That might have answered it. I'll let him fight next time and watch him.
* * *
It was the third week of school - and the last week of September - which made the world change for the worse. It was Monday morning, first period of class, and everyone was where they were supposed to be. Gohan took his end seat and Erasa took hers next to him after some heavy apologizing. Videl took her original seat and Sharpener remained in his. Gohan opted not to talk about the moment he and Videl had back on Saturday in Bulma's kitchen, especially to Videl, which left the girl rather confused about her current situation. They admittedly lied to their two friends about what actually happened.
As first period got underway, there was a rather large knock on the door. The teacher went over to it and opened it. No one saw his jaw drop at what he saw.
"How may I help you, sir?" he asked.
"This is my first day of class. I would like to go in," the student replied. Gohan was the only one hearing the conversation. Videl looked down at the door, and then took a peek at Gohan for no apparent reason. His face was focused on what was happening at the door.
"Hey Gohan, what's happening down there?" she asked him across Erasa.
"There is a new student here. From the looks of it, the teacher is thoroughly confused about him."
"How come?" Her question was answered by the teacher's return to the center of the room.
"Attention class," he started, "We have a new student here today. I would like for all of you to meet Gendo."
And then they saw the reason why the teacher nearly soiled himself. The monstrous form of the student was unbelievable. He stood nearly seven feet tall, easily making him the tallest there. He had spiky black hair, and wore an unusual bandana, covering his forehead. He wasn't lanky or anything, but quite the opposite. He sported unusually large muscles - larger than Sharpeners and Hercules - that pressed against his muscle shirt. Several blood vessels lined his arms, and also ran along parts of his chest. No one could say anything about him. Sure, they had Gohan for fun, but this guy could probably give Videl a run for her money.
"Um…Gendo. You can go and take a seat anywhere you like." The large teen did just that. Without a word, he quickly found a seat at the top of the class and sat down. He stared at the blackboard and stayed fixated on it. The students he sat next to quickly shifted their seats to move as far away as possible from him. Gohan, meanwhile, had watched him the moment he stepped into the room. His face was fixed in a serious tone not seen for many years. Videl noticed that, and truly began to wonder about Gohan.
Why is he staring at him like that? Sure, the guy is freaking huge, but there's no reason to look at him like that. I've never seen Gohan so serious before. He goes from nearly pissing himself to complete focus ness in a weekend! That Gendo is strange as well. I got a weird feeling coming from him.
"Now class, we will continue with…"
* * *
Lunchtime. It was the same lunchtime as it was everyday.
Well…at least all the others were.
Gohan made his way to lunch, followed by Videl. They quickly ordered their lunch - Gohan going for the larger than normal meal, Videl with the usual - and found their usual table. Gohan sat down so that he was facing the door. He began some light discussion with Videl before spotting Shinji. He waved him over and sat down on the opposite side of Gohan and Videl.
"How's it going Shinji?" Gohan asked.
"Not bad. I got some weird feeling about something today though."
"Yeah, I know. You'll see him shortly." Gohan kept his eyes on the door for a few seconds longer before getting elbowed in the ribs. "Ow! Videl, what was that for?"
"Are you going to introduce me to your friend here, or am I going to have to do that myself?"
"Oh, right. Sorry. Videl, this is Shinji. Shinji, this is Videl." The two reached across the table and shook hands.
"Nice to meet you Videl."
"Shinji, huh? Don't I know you from somewhere?"
"Maybe…"
"Huh-uh." She left it like that.
"Shinji…look at the door now." Shinji did what Gohan told him to do and saw what he was feeling earlier today. Gendo came into the lunchroom, clearly being one of the, if not, the tallest students in the school.
"I got a bad feeling about this Gohan."
"I know."
"Wait! What are you two talking about?" Videl asked, confused by the cryptic nature of their discussion. "If you're saying there is something weird with this guy then I guess you're right. There is something strange about him. I can't put by finger on it though."
"Shinji, you hear me?" Gohan asked.
"What are you doing?"
"Saiyan telepathy, I think"
"That's cool."
"We got to make this quick. I'm getting a headache."
"So am I. I don't like people in my head you know."
"Just shut up for a second. I'm getting nothing from this guy."
"What you mean?"
"I mean, I'm getting nothing. No energy read out, nothing. All I feel is something dark and brooding."
"Oh no…" Shinji said out loud.
He and Gohan knew. They knew it was the beginning of something bad.
* * *
[1] In case you people don't know, GPS means 'Global Positioning Satellite'. Or something along those lines.
Response to reviews:
vsd2oc – 1) Wow…thank you! Thank you! Thank you! 2) As you can see above, Shinji is Gohan's so called 'competition'. Don't worry though, after what happens next chapter, Gohan will be assisting Shinji some. 3) Again, thank you. It's so good to hear that I'm on someone's favorite list.
Megami-sama (and Trunks) – Well, thank you for your conversation piece. Nice title suggestion, by the way. There is no way I would use it though, figuring that any piece of fanfic could be called that. Still, thank you for the review, and there's a point you made in you review that I'll be addressing later.
RDBRaptor – It's good you got off of your lazy butt and started something. Hopefully I can find it and read it. One thing I should tell you is that Gohan will soon be getting a costume, namely after the next chapter, but he won't become Saiya-dork. Shinji's costume, by the way, will remain like it is, with dark glasses and some type of hair covering. I do hope that this does stay awesome too. Thanks for the review.
Pupetta – The answer to the sensei question is above. Thanks for everything else you said. I was kind of worried about everything with Vegeta, but at least one person said it was good. I did watch a future episode where Vegeta makes that kind of omission, just in case anyone wants to check.
Poppy – Thanks.
A-man – Thanks.
Timothy Thomasson – Thanks for the review and the title suggestions.
Time Twins – Likewise.
I would have like to get this out sooner. Two very important reasons, however. One, my grandfather passed away back on the 21st, which set me back three days on writing this. Second, this was incredibly hard to write. My pattern of thought just has the basic plot mechanics for each chapter. When it comes to dialogue, however, I tend to take a very long time in getting it right. The history of Shinji wasn't supposed to be there for another couple chapters. That Gohan/Videl moment – came up with it last night. I wasn't planning on having them so close so soon. Don't worry, as evident at the end of this chapter, they aren't getting anywhere closer to being together. There's a plan to it all. Trust me.
Next item of agenda: the name for this story. I'm sticking with my guns here and keeping the story name as is. Thanks to everyone who gave a title suggestion, though. If anyone who comes across them likes what they see, take it; just say that you got your story idea from a suggestion made by that person from a review list. I'd hate to be shot at. I did like all the title suggestions, especially Megami-sama's.
Speaking of which, my last item of agenda. She made a comment in her review about Trunks being Shinji and Vegeta being the little birdy. Suffice to say, I am going to work with a select cast of characters; namely the main characters that appeared during the Saiyaman saga. No one from the future or past is going to make an appearance. Goku is coming back; don't worry. The reason I am bringing this up is because I have read stories where the author tends to bring in a huge amount of people from certain times and it just clutters up everything. The story hops all over the place and the plot becomes nonexistent. Now, I know that those types of stories are there just to make people laugh, but it becomes tedious to have to reread three chapters just to figure out what is supposed to be happening now. And why I just ranted about this, I have no idea…
I lied. This is my last item of agenda. You may notice in the chapter listing 'Part One' next to the chapter. Simply put, everything is going to be divided. Part one is right now. Part two is going to be the tournament. Part three is planned, but it will become evident soon what is going to happen.
Now I'm done. I haven't gotten to next chapter's preview. So now, I present to you…
Next chapter: Hercule is out of town, which means party, party, party! Videl makes the plans, and gets one step closer to the mystery of Gohan. Then, all hell breaks loose, as Gohan, Shinji and Videl witness what Gendo is really about, and the consequences may be devastating for our heroes.