Tamashii no Unmei
by Sageseeker777
Chapter Six
I've always liked Robert Hienlien's aproach to the subject as seen in Time
Enough for Love-- where he defines love as a condition in which another person's
happyness is more nessisary to your own... but thats me ^_^ and i'm wierd ^_^
-Moneurere, EFML
Gohan stuck his tounge out. "So wat! It's not right for you to tell us when to kiss! We kiss when we wanna!"
-AnimeAngelVidel
"A Picture Perfect Kiss"
"Do you think you've built a god or something?"
-Heero Yuy
"So..." The walk home had been strange. Not in a bad way, just that it was different from normal. No talk.
"So?" Videl's eyes finally met Gohan's.
"Are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" She seemed a little concerned.
"I dunno. Something in your eyes. Anything wrong?"
"Well... You haven't said a word." Downcast. That was the word for it.
"I was waiting for you!" Gohan's smile returned.
Videl released an exasperated sigh and groaned. An anime character might have sweatdropped. "That would be funny if we weren't the butt of the joke."
"I suppose."
They were walking like normal, now. Was that what was wrong? Gohan thought to himself. Something was supposed to be different. Or was this too soon?
"Uh..."
"Gohan?"
"Hum. Talk?"
"What do you want to talk about?"
"How about... Existentialism."
"Nah... I'm pretty sure I exist."
"What if you only exist in the minds of others?"
"That's crazy."
"I thought that we'd consistently proved our insanity."
"Not insane, crazy."
"Elaborate?"
"Non-sensical. Insanity means beyond the bounds of normal psychological behavior. Crazy means... Argh. How about saying that a guy who can turn his hair gold and fly around is insane, but doing a one-legged dance in nothing but a towel around your neck in order to make sure the sun rises is crazy?"
"I get your point. Pointlessness. You can't argue either way. Do you want to talk about it?"
"I was waiting until we got home."
"What do you want to know?"
"How, why, what. Who and when."
"What about where?"
"Here, silly." Videl laughed a tiny laugh.
Gohan smiled and slipped a hand into hers. Videl took a sharp breath as he locked his fingers with hers. It felt... warm. A perfect fit. It made Gohan think of two parts of a puzzle. Meant to be. She had dragged him places by the hand before, but right now was so different...
The silence lasted beyond the elevators and the door. Backpacks went into the bedroom. Videl took two drinks into the living room where Gohan was waiting on the couch.
A minute passed.
"Gohan?"
"Mm."
When you're ready...
"'Kay. "I'll start from the beginning. This stuff all contributed to some inner potential that was released in the Cell Games and allowed me to kill Cell." Tears stung Gohan's eyes, but none fell.
"So much for a little at a time, eh?" Videl's attempt to lighten the mood didn't help. "You... killed Cell? I knew my father didn't, but- This was when your father... What happened?"
Gohan took another deep breath. "I think I want to tell the whole story."
Videl took Gohan's hand again. Her tiny, sincere smile gave Gohan all the strength he needed.
"I'm only half-human," Gohan began.
Videl's smile widened a little.
"My father was a full Saiyan, one of a race of warriors who used their anger and hate to reach new heights of power. They were under the control of a tyrant, Frieza, until some time ago. He- or she, we're not sure- sent them to planets that they ravaged and took over. Stuff like that.
"Eventually, there was an uprising. Most Saiyans were strong, but many weren't stupid at all. My grandfather, for example.
"Frieza destroyed their planet and the entire race in a single blast of energy. All but four were dead, none knowing the truth behind the genocide.
Videl had a serious look on her face. But her mind went back a step and she asked, "You can use it as a weapon? I thought it was like some sort of boost for your strength or..."
"Everyone has ki. Life energy. It's a thing that all beings have, and it can be increased in training or hidden by channeling it. It can also be used as a deadly weapon. It isn't a boost for your power, it's the measure of it."
"I can-"
"You used it once before. Remember that blue oaf?"
Videl couldn't think about that night without remembering what went after the fight. But she nodded her head yes.
"I saw you destroy him with a blast. You already know how, on the inside. Do you want to learn?"
"Of course."
"How about this weekend? We can go to the forest by where my family lives. A camping trip."
"I'd like that. I haven't been camping since that one time..." Her hand moved to her locket. Gohan remembered the only time he'd ever seen Videl in a forest, five years before.
"Well. Frieza was at the heart of new enemies from outside the solar system. My father's older brother was the first, twelve years ago. Dad died saving us from him."
"Your dad died twelve years ago? I thought..."
"Ooh, I forgot. You don't know about the dragonballs, do you?"
"I've heard that legend. You find them all and make a wish, right?"
"Did you ever believe it?"
"I happen to be a romantic."
"How strange. Me too."
Videl shoved him playfully. "Don't make fun of me."
"I'm not!"
"Yeah, right."
"Why don't you listen for the part of the story where my childish belief that anything was possible got hidden under layers and layers of ickyness."
"I think I will."
"Good. So, my dad trained under the great King Kai because Raditz had warned of the other two Saiyans now on their way to find the dragonballs. It went something like that, anyway. Piccolo, former kami-"
"Former?"
"He used to be two people. Long story. When his other half, the true former kami, merged with him, another one had to be picked."
"Okay."
"Piccolo took me into the woods at four years old and trained me to survive on my own. He claimed to have seen my hidden energy and wanted me to unlock it. I did, but not entirely until later. There was a big fight one year after Raditz died. My dad was wished back to life, then he made it back to Earth in time for the final battle. One of the Saiyans had died at the other's hand, and we were down by a few. They were wished back later."
"So you won?"
"Well... Dad let Vegeta go. That's why he's still alive."
"Vegeta?"
"I told you there were only four full Saiyans alive." He counted off on his fingers, "Goku, Vegeta, Nappa, Raditz."
"Funny names."
"Ya know, I always thought so." Smiles were shared.
"The problem was that they had these communicators. And Piccolo turned out to be from another planet, too."
"And this was bad because?"
"Piccolo's other half, Kami, created Earth's dragon balls. Over the communicator Frieza learned this and both he and Vegeta figured on Namek for the location of the original dragonballs. We went to Namek to wish back the people who had died more than once."
"More than once? So Earth's balls aren't all powerful?"
"No."
"So everyone went to Namek, some for a grand selfish wish, others for the sake of their friends? What about all the earthlings?"
"I went. Krillin, that's dad's best friend, he went. Bulma went. Dad came along later 'cause after the fight he was badly injured."
"You went to another planet? How unfair!"
"Ugh. Trust me, months without a shower isn't my idea of heaven."
"You're right. Ick. Months? So you 'sort of' know Bulma after months together on a different planet?"
Gohan rolled his eyes. "I was a little sarcastic. I'm sorry. Anyway, there was a lot of fighting, a lot of pain and death," his eyes got a faraway look, "but in the end... In the end it was Frieza, the most powerful being in the universe, versus my dad. Everybody had already had a crack at him and no one had won. The battle went for a long time until there was no energy left in anybody. Oh yeah, Piccolo was there, too. He got wished there by the Namek dragonballs. Those have three wishes instead of one."
"What happened then? Obviously you won, right?"
"Well, dad used an ultimate attack on Frieza, but it didn't work. Frieza rose up into the sky and killed Krillin using a psychic attack."
"Whoa. And everyone was at the bare nibs of their power?"
"Not Frieza."
"How did you win?"
"Dad's anger got so great that he became the first super-Saiyan in a thousand years. That was what Vegeta was going to wish for, the power of a super-Saiyan. So he could defeat Frieza to revenge his people. And of course take Frieza's place."
"Describe a super-Saiyan."
"Um... lookie." Gohan stood up, stepped away from everything, and transformed. His hair was as long as his dad's used to be and it all spiked upward in a golden flash. Videl looked curious. What really amazed her was the speed of his power boost. It took hours for her to reach her max...
Gohan powered down and flopped on the couch again.
"Oh. So that's what it's called. Cool." Considering it was all I knew of you for far too long...
"Yeah, I think so too."
"And this transformation beat Frieza?"
"Yeah. Except that afterwards we thought he was dead until the eternal dragon told us he was alive and unwilling to come back. Later we found that he was training under some guys who had rare techniques on hand, if not super-strength.
"Hours before he got back, the rebuilt Frieza arrived and none of us would have been able to stop him."
"Rebuilt? No, keep going, 'but'?"
"Trunks appeared."
"Bulma's kid? Don't tell me- time travel! Your biography would sell millions as a fiction story."
"I guess. But Trunks, after he killed Frieza in a single blow, had us wait for my dad to land. We were warned about the evil androids that would come three years later."
"And Cell."
"No, you see, in that Trunks's timeline, three of the androids and Cell himself didn't exist."
"So you were caught with your pants down?"
"Plus, my dad didn't use the heart medicine Trunks brought until the middle of the fight. His death was what had sent the other timeline askew. Or kept it on the right path. Or something. Trunks only explained his world to my dad."
"So your father would have been brought to his knees by a virus? That epidemic that went around a few years ago? My dad got a little nervous around then."
"After Cell appeared, the two evil androids got absorbed and the third was partially destroyed. Bulma and her father rebuilt the guy. Cell let us have ten days because he wanted a good fight after facing Trunks. He was a little self-confident in his 'perfect form'."
"Hence, the Cell Games."
"Everyone went into the room of Spirit and Time-"
"Explain?"
"One Earth day is the equivalent of a year. Gravity fluctuations, infinite blinding white expanse, that sort of thing."
"Sounds like an awesome place to train."
"Yeah. Harsh, though. That time was when I first reached super-Saiyan."
"Were the others super-Saiyans by then?"
"Both Trunks and Vegeta had already reached that level. Trunks used it when he killed Frieza."
And you, with your 'potential' power, took so long? Why was that? And when did Trunks come back?"
"Um..." he looked confused. "Trunks returned after the first android showed. And becoming a super-Saiyan..." Gohan smiled. "It takes anger. I didn't have enough, so I focused on all my failing and let them fall on me at once. I didn't want to let everyone down, I guess."
"And then you fought Cell?"
"Yeah. And my father was supposed to save us. But he graciously gave up, saying that he wasn't strong enough but he knew who was. I had, without realizing it, been able to keep up with their movements. Generally, someone far enough above you in power to destroy you will be faster than you can see."
"That was all he based it on? What happened when you were fighting?"
"I... Cell started to hurt everyone else, except for me. It was because I told him I didn't want to kill him. I really didn't. Just didn't want any more death. It was a pointless thing to me, death."
"He wanted to see you angry?"
"He wanted me to reach the level my father said I could reach."
"Beyond a super-Saiyan? And you did?"
"I did." Gohan's eyes began to hurt. They wanted to shed tears, but now were completely dry. As dry as the eyes got, anyway.
"This is the place where things-"
"Yeah." Gohan sighed. "I knew for a fact, knew beyond all doubt that I was the strongest person in the universe. I had to be. The only way beyond that power was to draw on existence itself. If you really believe we exist at all..."
"Don't go back to that, please. I want you to get this out."
She saw what he needed. What he craved. But it was like talking through a mouthful of cotton.
"I didn't kill him." Pause. Breath. "He got afraid."
Videl moved across the couch and put a hand around Gohan's waist. He leaned his head onto her shoulder and stared out at the memories.
"He tried to destroy the world with his death," Gohan whispered, like a terrible secret he could only tell Videl. She closed her eyes, unconsciously pulled him closer. Gohan relaxed when she started to run a hand through his hair.
"Dad used his teleportation technique to move him somewhere else. King Kai's planet. Dad died." Gohan gasped a breath, tried to hold in the tears with all of his damnable power. Dad died. Dad died. Dad died. Happily chatting about the realities, the defeated enemies, the triumph of good, all just a distraction. The darkness was still there at the end of the road. Walk the road, walk the road, tell all about the past. But if you walk the road you'll reach the darkness. You must, else don't walk the road at all. Gohan's breath came in hiccups. He couldn't cry. He wasn't worthy of a tear. It was his fault. All his fault. Why did he have to do it? Why couldn't it have been different? And father's death was in vain, too!
"Why did I kill my father?"
Gohan cried out once, then the tears finally fell as he was wracked by sobs of despair. He buried his face in Videl's long, beautiful hair. When did she let it down?, he asked himself, Was it like that all day? Why didn't I notice? Why can't I see beyond myself? I'm so selfish. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't want to cry. I don't want to think. Why do I have to? Who's making me? Why can't I just... His tears fell harder when he felt the warm hand rubbing his back, realized that as tight as he was holding on to her, Videl was holding him so that he wouldn't leave, wouldn't leave her. I just want to die, Gohan realized. But I can't die. Because I have Videl. I have to live for Videl. I have to live.
I love you, Videl...
Gohan woke up feeling tired. But he also felt like he was lighter, like someone was sharing a weight with him. And together it was as nothing. A good feeling.
Still wondering where he was, Gohan buried his face deeper into the warmth of what might have been an armpit. A nice pillow. When he yawned, Gohan realized that he was already awake.
Videl. A blanket. They were underneath the blanket that was on the back of the couch. She was asleep and the television was on. Gohan felt sorry that she couldn't get up, knowing she had done it for him.
He switched the TV off and was going to get up, but Videl moaned something being cold. Gohan lay back down and fell asleep again a few minutes later.
-*-
Whose parents had left him in an alley just like this one, hoping he would die? And whose adopted family feigned care just enough to take all the money he needed to survive? Who was stepped on every step of the way to the top?
And look at him. Good grades, great body, beautiful hair. A home life spent hiding in the room he had worked for. Every cent.
Sharpner felt justified in running away. He had disappeared before, but this time it was for good. Definitely. No turning back, no matter what.
Another new moon, he noticed. It was black on these streets where the lights had all been broken.
His anger from that afternoon had fizzled, but not his determination. His rage. On the inside it burned. Happily he danced in the flames, let them consume him.
With two of his friends, he set out for a city to the east where the largest recruiting office for the Majinn was located. Greatest gang ever brought together, far-reaching, the strongest, the best. They were like family. One person's grudge was their grudge, and one person's vengeance was their vengeance.
Rumor had it that they were what was left of the mugging-lord 'Babidi' whose real identity was unknown. Supposedly a cultist and a murderer, but how could someone like that found a gang of ordinary people organized like an army? Sharpner asked himself.
How, indeed.
So there it was. The little clique of bullies made it three hundred feet from the door before they were knocked out, each by a crack to the head.
"Who are you and what do you want?"
"Did you hear me, asoko?! I said, 'who the hell do you think you are and what the f-"
"Shut the hell up!" Sharpner screamed. This was the third guy they'd brought in. He figured it must be morning by now. None of these jerks would listen. After the first one, Sharpner had caught on fast. Show no weakness, don't back down. Or else they'd have an in. They'd own you.
It had hurt. 'Ittai!' muyo. Even now, the guy was shoving his fist in Sharpner's gut.
I'm not like the OTHER kids, my name is SHARPNER and I am STRONG!!! I am BETTER!! I have to be better, and I WILL be better. No matter how. No matter how. No matter how. I can conquer ANYTHING, any situation, any person, and especially YOU!!
The guy walked out when Sharpner straightened his neck and closed his angry eyes. Adrenaline rush. The rope binding his hands was almost broken. His wrists stung from the open sores. Almost... Next guy who walks in is gonna get strangled. My face may be a bloody mess, but I know what I want. You don't know because I won't tell you. Not until you treat me as your equal. Or your better. I am above you. All of you.
A child stepped into the room. He must've been twelve or thirteen. Pre-pubescent.
He walked over to a table that appeared out of nowhere in the corner of the room. Opening a folder, he set it down next to a pen. The kid's suit was probably as expensive as any businessman's. The air of a professional surrounded him.
"Hello. What is your name?"
Sharpner stared for a moment, but decided that if they weren't going to treat him like a person fully, he wouldn't cooperate.
"Maybe we should let you out of those bindings, eh?"
Sharpner managed a bruised smirk. "Why not?"
"Looks like you almost broke them yourself."
"Looks like."
"What's your name?" The kid walked over to the small table.
Sharpner measured the kid up. He could easily beat the squat punk. Massaging his wrists for a second decided to talk straight. "Sharpner."
"Last name?"
"Couldn't tell ya the truth," he breathed.
"Okay." The kid in the suit filled something in on a paper laying on the folder.
"Who are you, then?"
He took a moment to look straight into Sharpner's eyes with his own icy blue ones. Slowly and distinctly he said, "My name is Michael."
For some reason belying will or strength or logic, Sharpner felt a twinge of fear.
-*-
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure." Michael narrowed his eyes. "He wants something so thoroughly he'll give anything to get it. He doesn't care that it's just a substitute for some kind of parental love he never received. Vengeance, Jason, is a powerful thing."
"And a 'dish best served cold'?"
The child-genius looked up at the pale twenty-five-year-old. "That is because... when it's hot you burn yourself as well. He is the one." Michael paused before adding, venomously, "Don't argue the point any more, Jason."
-*-
School.
Three fifteen-page reports from teachers who probably conspired together to hold children's lives in thrall in a vain effort to force-feed them knowledge. A science project due one week before Christmas vacation. A barrage of tests to prepare for in just a few days. Teachers catching every note for the first three periods.
How oblivious must one be to accept such things without a passing glance? Or how about assured? As long as the other was in the room, it seemed things would be all right. Surely. And besides that fact, what mattered?
Trivial though the problems of the day were, it was only a foundation for greater trials. One could hold his own under that burden, lift the weight, but two, two could travel the stars under that burden, carry the weight to the ends of the universe. Together... together, anything was possible.
It wasn't bliss so much as the presence of love. Belief in an unrealized truth. In high school, you can look around in a crowd and see a dozen couples. Ask any one of them how long they're going to be together and they'll answer, 'forever'. Or something like that. Without that faith the relationship is doomed to fail. Yet it fails anyway, because it is a childish thing borne of the foolery of children. That is the way it must work, happening again and again until either it works, or faith is turned into acceptance. Acceptance that this is the way things work, the way things should be, unchangeable.
Except that Gohan and Videl were above that. Neither had spent any time thinking about this stuff. They just knew. Knew that they couldn't deal with any false love, anything that couldn't work because life just wouldn't let it. It was instinctive for them to see the broken process through which society tells us to find love. Life, however, dealt them a royal flush. Without realizing it, they fell into their dreams before they even knew what that dream could be.
It gave you the feeling sometimes found on waking, when you don't want to get up because it's so comfortable. But it also filled one with a joy so great it made you want to cry out to the entire Earth something you just can't put into words. A nice medley of emotions.
Three hours after school's end, Gohan jumped out of his chair and began pacing. Videl noticed and patiently put down her book. Gohan paused and opened his mouth to speak several times, until he finally got out, "I'm happy."
Videl smiled. "That's good to know."
Gohan looked into her eyes. "I would hope that you understand. It's not just that I'm happy, I'm bursting." He repeated it in a whisper, "Bursting."
Videl could see that he was breathless with excitement. It was electric; Videl could feel it running through herself, too.
"That's why I'm writing!" Gohan did a little twirl.
"So what's the problem?" Videl stood and grabbed Gohan's hand. The were circling each other, like the Earth and the moon. Time seemed to slow.
"I'm missing something!" Gohan shouted to the ceiling. He laughed.
They stopped circling and pulled each other close by the hands they had been holding.
"Starts with? Sounds like? Give me a hint!"
"Light. It has to do with light."
"Moonlight?"
"No. Argh," he growled, "it's on the tip of my tongue, too."
The closeness became a hug.
"Warmth?"
Videl watched rapt as Gohan's frustrated expression froze, his jaw closed, and his mouth curled up into the smile of epiphany. It made Videl think of that one Greek genius who was in his bathtub when he figured out some great thing and ran out into the street screaming, "Eureka!"
"Thanks," he whispered thoughtlessly. His mind was already ten steps ahead.
Videl had to smile as she pictured Gohan screaming 'eureka' naked in a crowd. Then the crowd disappeared and Videl was left to blush. She giggled. Then she returned to her book. "The Free Lunch." Robinson was good at what he did.
The sun soon died a gruesome death, it's of pink, purple, and silver blood spilling out onto the clouds like some god's altar. Videl leaned back against Gohan's chair, listening to the furious typing. When he stopped, she tilted her head back to find him smiling down at her.
"All done," he said.
"Good," she returned. "Can I read it?"
"Of course." Gohan rose and took over the warm spot she left on the carpet. He thought it would be smart to turn the air conditioning down...
When she was about half of the way through it, he interrupted with, "Videl..."
"Hm?" she asked, looking down at his head against her outer thigh.
"Um... I don't want to wait until the weekend to teach you to fly."
She blinked. "Okay." Then she went back to reading. After finishing, Videl noticed Gohan wasn't looking at the sunset anymore. He was looking somewhere else, somewhere beyond it. Videl wrapped an arm around his neck in a backwards almost-hug.
"Can I sleep here again tonight?"
Closing his eyes, Gohan mumbled, "Yes."
She smiled, and together they watched the stars come out.
After her shower, Videl walked into the bedroom and took a long t-shirt out of Gohan's closet to wear to bed. When she realized Gohan was already there, it occurred to her to blush, be embarrassed, but she reacted differently. Videl knew he had his eyes closed, or was under the covers, or something, because she trusted him to be polite. Trusted him not to worry about that kind of stuff, yet. Just trusted him. It was alien, though. Maybe the trusting issue or the fact that she was changing into a nightshirt and panties in front of a guy. In his bedroom at least. Their bedroom? Was that precocious? This was the second time she was sleeping in here. Or third? She couldn't remember. Did Gohan even know she was going to sleep in his bed again?
That brought a tiny smile that cracked the nervousness. This was the first time it had been a planned occurrence. She slipped under the cover on the left side and snuggled up against Gohan. His breathing sped for a few seconds, but in just a moment everything was cozy.
Videl didn't feel cozy, though. "Gohan." Her voice had this strange, familiar edge to it, Gohan noticed.
"Yes?" he whispered.
"Put your arm around me," she whispered back, almost right into his ear. Her breath tickled him.
So he put his arm around her shoulders and felt her lean into him, her head against his neck and his above hers on the pillow, a comfortable pressure against her hair.
Some strange feeling rose up in Gohan. It was almost like the feeling he had been getting throughout the day, something reminding him of molten gold, but it was different. Just the knowledge that this was how it was supposed to be.
"I don't understand what's so-"
"Shh!"
Videl was getting closer to making an energy ball. It had taken three afternoons of meditations and kata unfamiliar to her, but that was the foundation. Once she got the first one done, everything else would be a whole lot easier.
"Let's go back to-"
"No! We did that all day yesterday until it was coming out of my ears, and-"
"Then do it," Gohan ordered.
"I'm doing it right now! With every ounce of my will!"
"Let go of it." Gohan didn't want her to get angry.
"Huh?" Videl stopped all of the mental strain she was putting on herself.
"Look, I think... You're trying too hard. You're so intent on doing this that it won't happen. Just relax." That brought a grin to Gohan's face. Videl looked a little incredulous. She'd been trying so hard a sheen of sweat covered her face.
"Okay."
"Lay down."
"I don't need to-"
"Relaxation! Think about each part of your body, separately, and flex the muscle. Then release it. Once you're completely relaxed just stand up and try again without trying. I mean just stick your hands out and will it. I mean-" Gohan looked a little frustrated.
"I think I got it, Professor."
"Hmph."
"I understand, though. You don't have to think about it too often."
"It's all instinct by now." Gohan lay down next to Videl.
His eyes snapped open when he noticed a growing source of energy above him. Videl was radiating happiness.
"I did it... Wow."
"It's beautiful."
"And it's all from me."
Gohan was also glad that Videl hadn't powered up. The little perfect sphere kept trying to draw her energy into itself.
"Throw it."
"Where?"
Gohan threw open the balcony's double doors. "Out there. Control it. Make it dance. Blow it up."
She did. It was a cute little game. Gohan even made one of his own to chase hers around. Soon enough, she was a pro.
"You didn't blow it up yet."
"Give me a minute. Do I imagine an implosion?"
"Yeah, that'll do it."
It was like a bright firework going off.
"Do another." Videl was getting used to Gohan's 'teaching voice'.
"Something different?"
"Put power into it."
"Um... How much?"
"Not as much as an average human. Use your feelings."
"Yes sir, Obi-wan, sir."
"Hey! Personally, I think I sound more like Yoda."
"Yeah right. Yoda's far too cool for you."
"Want to see me go super-Saiyan?"
"That only makes you look cooler. Doesn't make you sound cooler."
"Videl, your energy! Holy- Throw it!"
"It's too much! I feel like I'm holding a huge weight!"
"Don't throw it, release it!"
"But-"
"It's gonna blow!"
The thing was strong enough to destroy the Moonlight Apartment Complex in a hit. In the wake of the tiny ball's explosion the sun seemed to darken.
"Whoa." Videl grinned.
Gohan looked disbelieving. Not in the blast, not at all with Videl's power level, but that she could be so exhilarated after nearly blowing away his home. Their home? She hadn't slept in her own bed since the previous Saturday. On Tuesday they went to her place for some clothes and books.
He changed his mode of thought when he realized what this meant. "I think it's time to start flying lessons."
She was still shaky, having only gotten the basics down pat on Friday afternoon, but it was enough to take the duo out of the city. They ventured into the wild blue yonder that was the untamed mountains.
After setting up camp, they hiked out at a slow pace towards the rolling hills where winds were so strong a normal person might have been blown over. Great place. Beautiful.
Dropping down into the long grass, Gohan responded, "But where does it say that? We've talked in a big circle twice!"
Videl sighed.
"Speaking in tongues is when you speak in your own language, yet everyone in earshot hears what you're saying in the language they think in," Gohan tried to end the conversation.
"You just don't want to be wrong." Videl said smugly, hoping this would set him off.
To her surprise, he took a deep breath and said, "I'm sure you know me well enough by now..." With his eyes closed, Videl couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or serious or what. She was afraid she might have hurt him or something.
Rolling over until she was against his arm, Videl whispered, "I'm sorry."
He might have been crying and she would never know it, because he breathed, "Race you!" into her ear and was flying toward the lake in the distance like a shot. Wondering about bathing suits, Videl zoomed after him.
Gohan was nowhere in sight when Videl reached the lakeshore. Noticing his energy rising up out of the water, probably to pull her down, she prepared to maneuver behind him and throw him across the lake. That was why she was so surprised when he appeared behind her, criss-crossing his arms under hers. An energy blast had gone under the water?
"Up to a swim?" Or rather, a dunk.
Videl held his arms with her own, leaning back into him and soaking up his warmth. Not one to be bested, Videl leaned her head back and spoke into his ear, "I bought a hot bathing suit to show off, just for you, but now you want to just throw me in, and like this at that? Not very nice, Mr. Son..." Before she'd finished Gohan was sailing down towards the lake like a rock. Thinking on the subject all night, Videl had found the best way to break and aerial lock was to use your full body weight. That was why she was upside down at the moment, grinning broadly at the moist Gohan.
He shook his hair of water like a dog, then began the chase. Videl was giggling as they spiraled back towards camp. She landed on her back, and Gohan used the ground around her to stop with his hands. Water that the extreme winds hadn't dried trailed between his eyes, off his nose, landed in the little crevasse below her nostrils. It continued, ever so slowly, until it slid across her dry lips. They were getting closer and closer until the second Videl felt the air rushing out of his nose tickling her upper lip. Unable to draw their eyes away from each other, the moment seemed impossible to forestall for even a single draw of eternity longer.
"BIG BROTHER! Woooohooooo! Hiya Gohan! Why haven't you visited us in forever? What's wrong big brother, are you okay? Your face looks all red and-" Goten bounced from rock to rock with expert style.
Hi Goten, did you know that I love you so much it kills you? No, I didn't mean me. Come a little closer so I can reach your neck... "Hi Goten." Gohan smiled. Videl smiled, too. But their smiles exchanged for this strange look of want and need that spoke something of what they didn't understand how to voice. Videl opened her mouth to speak and ended up breathing in instead of loosing a single word. She closed her mouth and looked away. Both of them felt hurt for some reason, as though they were barred from reaching what they almost had except in moments like the perfection of the previous.
Goten was confused and showed it. "What's wrong with you two?" he asked innocently. Gaining a burst of energy, he said, "C'mon Gohan! Mom's making blueberry pie with lunch and you know that's your second favorite in the whole world! I'm sure there'll be enough for all of us, even..." he scratched his head. "I'm sorry I'm not good with names. I'm Goten." He stuck out his hand.
Videl took it and smiled good-naturedly. "I'm Videl."
"Cool! Let's go! Are you coming, Gohan?"
Gohan yawned. "Yeah. Nice to see you again, little brother."
Goten smiled.
-*-
"Mmm! This is great pie Mrs. Son!" Videl had tasted Gohan's cooking, but he had learned from his mother. Of course. Her enthusiasm brought out smiles.
"Well it's nothing special..." Chi-chi was getting along wonderfully with Videl. She had also noticed how comfortable Gohan was around her. The girl practically sat on his lap and he didn't have a nosebleed? Was this her adorably shy little Gohan?
And she ate like a Saiyan, too, Chi-chi noticed. That was strange. Maybe there was something to Piccolo's warning a few weeks ago that he'd realized something was strange about this girl. Gohan probably knew. The way they talked together, oh, it made Chi-chi wish that Gohan was still around. Their conversations may not have had the same depth, but there was still the same connection and the almost magical feeling that the other already knew your most secret thoughts. Yet the reason came to light that he was thinking the same things. Such a beautiful thing, love. Love? Her Gohan was in love! Oh the bliss and heartache of a mother's firstborn child. Chi-chi wanted to laugh at her own witty poeticism. 'Poeticism'? Now she wanted to laugh even more. Gohan's happiness seemed to make her happy, moreso than since before Goku's death.
After the meal, Gohan and Videl washed dishes while Goten sat on the counter and talked to them like he usually did with his mother. Chi-chi found herself wondering if that was how it might have been like if Goku had remained. Pure-hearted intentions or not, love could hurt. Good thing he talked to her when he could sneak it past king Kai... And he didn't like her hair! That had pissed her off, and made him laugh. It made her both glad and sorry to see that he was hurting as much as she was. The downside of keeping your body after death, being able to dote on the past. Otherwise you might wait for the end of your love's life to pass on. Or something.
Nearing sunset, Gohan kissed his mother good-bye and she hugged him fiercely. Videl gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek as well, and waved to Goten as they flew off.
Chi-chi sighed as she watched the sun fall, thinking about what had gone before. Until Goten noticed, of course, and tried to distract her with some funny thing he'd discovered earlier.
Goku...
-*-
The sunset was becoming a part of Gohan and Videl's every day. After dinner, enjoying the silence, lounging in each other's arms, Gohan was running a brush through Videl's hair after a lake bath. Both dreamers were lost in the exquisite colors of the night-birthing, different from the city's. In the wilderness, without any pollution to detract from it, the skyscape only got grander.
"Mmmm..." Videl could feel herself getting more and more sleepy wrapped in a big blanket of Gohan. She giggled. It was becoming easier to giggle nowadays.
After the sun was gone, Gohan said, "Let's go to bed."
Videl's eyes were like lead. "Yeah."
They retired to the tent and to the 'softest spot on the whole mountainside' as Gohan claimed. It proved true, though, as it was nearly as comfy as a mattress.
"Videl?" The words cut through the silence. The cicadas played no music, there were no busy streets anywhere near. Just the sound of rushing water somewhere close.
"Hm?"
"Is something wrong? Not with you I mean. Something feels like it's missing."
"Nnn..." A single blink lasted for eight hours.
Gohan was a little concerned, disturbed. It took a long time for him to fall asleep, but he was diverted by the way Videl was breathing. He could feel her body's slight rise and fall, and it was a beautiful thing. Because this lithe form sleeping in his arms was alive, and that was such a miraculous happening when you focused in on it. The existence of life, so taken for granted. The thought of a spark, of a tiny flare of light, glowing in spite of infinite blackness, living. Living.
The sound of her breathing became like a lullaby, and somewhere around midnight he drifted off.
"Gohan!"
There she was again. This dream was so familiar, so constant... A black-haired beauty, who had a name now. In the last months, a name, Videl.
"Gohan!"
She was in danger? But she could handle herself. They had been training together for so long, her power felt equal to his own without him going to the second level. What could put her in danger?
"Gohan!"
The dream curved back in on itself, repeated endlessly. The laws of physics need not apply. But something was different in this dream. His memory was changed. He could hear his own thoughts, from so long ago, see how he had reached the next level through burning anger for just the second time because of her. Her screams of desperation. Now, though... It made him curious. He didn't feel angry, more worried. Wanted to understand, to know what it was...
Like being torn apart, the answer buried itself in him as he asked the question. It was a whirlwind! Ice cold, black, infinitely expansive, and then there were memories that weren't memories, flashing before his eyes.
A fight! And he was winning! Pushing him back through the air, knee, knee, knee, knee, double roundhouse to the head, both feet missed, punch and blocked, punch and blocked, tears streaming from his eyes, nonono there is no fate, no precognition, I make my own destiny, sword! There was a sword in his hand and it gave him assurance. There was Videl at his side. His side in the fight. So good together, like they knew each other's next thought. Double attack, easy wins. Father? Father... Father! Return to the first fight, no, no it was the last, it was- slash with the sword! Block! Slice, slice, slice, right to left angled, left to right horizontal, right to left up-angled. The tears came now because of loss. Return to the cold black. Everything was gone...
Gohan woke breathing raggedly and in a cold sweat, but the sky was still black. Videl's warmth reassured him and he soon fell back to sleep, unable to remember what that dream had been about. It might have been that old familiar one, he thought. If so, it couldn't be that big a deal...
"I still can't believe that."
"What's so hard to believe?"
"You didn't know how to power up!"
"Yes I did!"
"It took you an hour!"
"So? I did know how. I thought it took meditation."
"Well, maybe it's a good thing. You didn't destroy your house."
"That's a plus."
"You just made a nice little valley over there."
"Nice of me."
"I think," Gohan said as Videl vaporized another cliffside effortlessly, "that we should work on flying."
Videl paused in her next attack. She was having fun doing this! So why stop? "Aww, c'mon Gohan." Videl put on her best 'puppy dog eyes'.
His gaze earnestly met hers. "Isn't it more fun to fly at the speed of a jet than to destroy big chunks of rock?"
"But I can already fly!"
"Not well! How do you ever expect to beat me?."
"Oh yeah?"
The laughed a lot and played a game of tag, talked and philosophized, sang a bit, went fishing with their bare hands. Gohan showed Videl some dinosaurs, and some of the geological formations in the valleys that the river ran through. Underwater they even found a leather-bound journal with a map of the entire area. It was a great find.
The day was dwindling down and both had nothing to do. It was incredibly boring because they weren't at all tired, everything was packed to leave later, and it felt like they had done everything they could do.
Staring at the beautiful sky, the incredible clouds piled on top of each other like a temple of the sun, they talked about whatever popped into their heads. Nothing thoughtful or important, just words.
Gohan began a story, trying to figure characters and a plotline and everything, and that lasted a good half-hour. Then Videl started one, and it got deeper and deeper until the conversation turned to Love itself.
Basking in the sun, Gohan declared, "It's not dependence."
"No." Videl had her hands behind her head. They were laying on a huge slab of sandstone somewhere above their camp.
He sighed. "It's not lust."
"Of course not."
"It's not circumstance."
"What is it? How about 'something we need'?"
"Yeah. But that's its use. Sort of."
"A connection."
"A link? Or a bond. A bond?"
"Both. It connects the two, and it binds them in soul, spirit, mind," cough, "and body."
Gohan smiled lazily. He floated up, still parallel to the ground, and said, "Follow me."
Videl blinked. "Where?"
"Trust."
"'Kay."
They slowly moved to the edge of the stone expanse, then went into a dive that multiplied their speed before curving up and launching like rockets into the sun.
Videl was closing on Gohan as the air around her got cold. It was a strange feeling she'd only felt before in early Spring, where the sun was a warm blanket, but you were still cold. Hard to pin down, but that's what she felt at the moment. Until, of course, Gohan slowed just fractionally enough that she slipped into his embrace.
Looking up from her head resting on his shoulder, Videl saw that Gohan's eyes had this look of thought. He was trying to figure out how to say something.
"Videl? Do you remember what I said last night?"
"What did you say last night?" They were still rushing through the air, albeit more momentum and a touch of levitation than true flight.
"About how something was off? Not exactly as it should be?"
"Mm. I must have been asleep."
"Well..." Gohan smiled down at her. She was so cute, wrapped in his arms and a perfect fit in the curve of his arm. He felt his face get closer to hers. Their noses were touching, now.
"Videl, I figured out what was off," he whispered.
She breathed deeply and continued to stare into his eyes. Her mouth was open just a little bit, breathing sped slightly, hands twitching the slightest bit as though they wanted to pull him closer and-
Gohan's face fell closer, so that his nose was against her cheek. Videl eyelashes closed and opened slowly, deliberately. "What I realized was that I haven't said 'I love you' since the first time. And it was gnawing at me, because I love you Videl. So much..." He whispered this last as their eyes closed and their lips met in pure rapture.
It was... tingly. And they fit together. And she tasted sweet, almost. Like perfume or strawberries or air after almost being drowned or tears. Tears. She was crying. So was he. Why was that?
They shared breath. The feeling got squishy when Videl's tongue somehow found Gohan's, both not trying desperately to remember all of the stories and talk and movies of how to kiss, both not caring about whether it felt good or was done right or about inexperience. They were together, drinking each other in. They were together, in love. They were together.
When it was over, they kept close. They didn't repeat it, but their cheeks were touching, eyes still closed, and Gohan maneuvered back towards the camp.
The last week had built up to this, every word and look and touch slowly bringing them closer than they were, then closer until their lips met.
When they got back, Videl managed to stand on her own feet wobbly.
She took on a wistful look and the corner of her mouth upturned. "Can we do that again?"
Gohan's dazed gaze blinked into focus and his mouth opened in a laugh that Videl soon joined, which got greater and greater until all that was left was the joy of being together.
-*-
Sharpner was filled with a happy fire. It wasn't happiness, not really, just glorification in the sheer power being thrust on him like candy. In his mind it was a pillar of fire rising underneath his feet to envelop his entire body like a twisting spiral filling the space between ceiling and cement.
The person who used to be him was crying on the inside. Tears flowing as they taught him the dark ways of drawing your hate into beams of energy, sobs breaking as they played the subconscious message on the TV that never turned off, Babidi Lord, Babidi Master, Serve him all your heart, mind, body, soul, give him your soul.
Weeping as they mutilated his body, without anesthetics they tore off his arms and used technology ten years old that would increase his ability by a significant factor. As they slowly changed his child-mind into that of a psychopath who loved pain, be it from others or himself. His Self watched the dark things happenings, and cried.
-*-
"Another execution today!" Sharpner greeted Michael with greedy eyes.
"Yes." It hadn't been so surprising that his Sharpner had taken to killing with zest. It was a beautiful thing, Michael found, to see someone with such potential fulfill it. Of course, once the job is done, of what use is the tool? Leave that to the imagination.
Sharpner went on about some silly thing as Michael observed the chemically stimulated behavior was effective as it had been the entire previous week.
The day passed swiftly, and what still continued to interest Michael the most was how dynamic the implants were. The only feasible way to train Sharpner was against hordes of warriors blasting away. Though there were certainly enough to spare, it was a bloodbath. Michael watched as all energy attacks were absorbed and how he was building up a store instead of turning it on his opponents.
Looking away, Michael turned in a slow circle, reminiscing. This entire complex, he thought to himself as he gazed to the far reaches and tiny niches of the place, was made by my own hands. Every block was laid by my plan. I took it from my lord and I made it grow. My 'talents' have been doubled, I present them to you. Is a biblical reference an oxymoron?
It had only been a year, yet here he was at the pinnacle. When the Return came, Earth might be under Michael's grasp. All that was really left was to continue fleshing out the army and to pour out might upon Sharpner.
The lamps that had been left behind were 'one quarter what is needed' according to Babidi. With all of that given to Sharpner, they could proceed to sweep the Earth using him to destroy cities and herd the people like animals. This was the reason that they had never killed anyone in the pursuit of their life-energy.
Soon enough. The only addendum to this simplistic agenda was that Sharpner wanted revenge first. Easily enough arranged. And maybe the girl could provide some... entertainment. Just in case the tool decided to quit halfway once its personal objective was achieved.
-*-
My name is Justin.
I put that at the top of every one of these entries. Reaffirmation.
Today we had the ceremony of outpouring. I played the head priest in giving Michael's thing its energy, but of course Michael was the only one playing any strings. Puppet master.
I'm not envious. But I hate him. I am disgusted.
How often can I say that? As often as I care to.
This is far beyond my loyalty to him, taking some darling warrior out of the blue and pouring all of our efforts into a single shot. What if something goes wrong? What can we do but start over? I am the one whose head Babidi will cut when he returns. That foolish child. Completely taken in. I'm glad I was one of the first of the last. Not enough time for him to cast his spell of strength on me, turn me into a mindless footsoldier without a soul. I was charged as third, and soon I was first. This latent intelligence of Michael's was supposedly Babidi's secondary plan, some kind of kidnapping and remaking. The thing is probably trying to recreate himself by taking this other and shaping his own tool. Such arrogance! My mind was the one that reformed Gero's designs! I wanted an army of such warriors and what does this damned child do? He does what he wants, of course.
I can't stop him. These are my last few entries. If that child of Samael screws up, he will pay the price, and then I will be the target of my beautiful dark army. They mustn't kill me, for that would be the ultimate dishonor. I will make my plans.
-*-
Sharpner growled. He was the general of all these maggots! Why wouldn't they do as ordered?
Michael appeared behind him. Not that they could sense like the greatest before them, Arush, killed in single combat, but Sharpner heard his breathing pattern among all the others. With the change in strength, with the implants, his senses had risen to match.
Michael. Of course they wouldn't listen to him in the face of orders coming from a higher power.
"Why aren't we going?"
"In the last three days we've lost their movements a dozen times and-"
"How did that happen?!"
Michael spoke even more quietly, shutting Sharpner up with a hint of fear. "No need for you to wonder. It was human error. Stop being impatient."
Sharpner growled again. His revenge, so close, so sweet he could taste it on his tongue. And Videl was with that bastard. He would have his revenge and he would have Videl. The fire behind his eyes glowed so brightly that Sharpner thought his pupils might glow red like embers.
"Has the plan changed?"
"No."
"I get to kill him. I do. Me. No one else must touch him."
"I don't see why you don't want to torture him."
"'Cause then he gets to say he's better than me. I want to show him how much better than him I am."
"You know for a fact that you're greater than anyone on Earth."
"That's what you've told me."
Michael's cold eyes got steely. "That's the truth." He looked up as though someone had called to him. "It's time. Go. I will be observing from nearby."
-*-
Three weeks after their first kiss, Gohan and Videl walked together towards an abandoned section of town. Videl had her arm wrapped around Gohan's, leaning against the shoulder of her opponent-to-be.
"So what's the map?"
"Same as always."
"Harumph. Thirty-third to Pier Street?"
"Only the homeless'll see us."
"I'm going to win, love."
"I didn't say anything."
They broke apart after a quick kiss and an faux-arrogant look. On Videl's part, it was mostly real, though. Gohan had continued to win and win and win because he was able to go super-Saiyan. She had told him, forced him not to hold back every time. But she was getting better. Gohan was amazed at the speed with which she progressed. All he knew when she went off to train by herself was that she ran outside of the city first to power up. It wouldn't have taken too much thought to figure out, but she was training in the gravity room. Two hundred fifty times Earth normal. She was going for flight speed, because Gohan was almost double her in power. Even then, he claimed that he wasn't at his max even. Tapping into that ability she had garnered months earlier, Videl found he was at roughly half when he transformed. After learning from Gohan that it was abnormal, they had tried to explore how she'd learned it, but couldn't.
Anyway, Videl felt him power down. Soon enough he had his power pushed down so far it was hard to distinguish him from the rats. During the first week she had felt this gnawing hole inside where she had trained and trained before, and Gohan agreed to train with her. Out of that had developed this game of hide-and-seek which ended in a fight until one or the other gave up. But the first one had been handicapped in Videl's favor because she didn't know about power endurance.
When you're powered down, your potential exists like a shield. You can be hit with a blast up to your maximum strength and not be destroyed. It takes away from the power you have in reserve to shield against stuff like that.
Videl didn't know about that and wasn't want to kill Gohan, so she hadn't really attacked with so much ferocity.
She couldn't power down, not without destroying pieces of the city to power up again, so she swept the entire border of the fight zone in a minute, keeping a perimeter watch. Her latest strategy involved running through stretches and inviting attack. From there it was hit and run, hit and run, if she could run. If Gohan went super, she stood ground.
The fights were as good as she had ever had. He never went so hard that she didn't get a workout from it first, and some of his moves were things that she had to really think about. Never before had there been a challenge, not since before that one day in the woods.
If only she could win just once...
-*-
Gohan leapt from shadow to shadow, keeping close track on Videl peripheral tred around the battlegrounds.
This wasn't as much fun for him as it was for Videl, because it wasn't a challenge and because he wasn't in such a rush to fight either. But Videl wanted to do it, and it was a decent enough way to pass the time. Not only that, it was taken to a strategic level with all sorts of chess-like moves added in. Feints, bluffs, jump right if she jumps left, move here if there sorts of things. And the place was an intricate maze. No blasting away around here, methodical insertion and slow achievement of victory.
Watching, watching. Movement there, so run down the open straightaway. You could see much from this vantage, warehouses for the next few blocks, crumbling buildings and the ancient roads. Full daylight worked to everyone's advantage.
He pushed his power down further. This would guarantee a solid first hit against him, but it was better to be invisible than to be a target. A lone framework structure was at the center of the messy maze, and that was where Gohan was headed. All he had to do was find the brick median and keep it to his right side. Then he could wait for Videl to move into the right place and strike.
He found it. When he paused for another check, he noticed the sun going behind a monstrous bank of clouds. It might rain tonight.
Continuing onward, he almost ran into an old man. The guy looked up and straight into Gohan's eyes, and with something akin to a sigh pointed somewhere. East South-East, by the sun's path. Gohan would have spoken his thanks, though he knew not for what, except that the man took a hand from beneath a ratty cloak and held a finger to his bearded mouth for silence. What a beard, must have been a foot and a half long.
Gohan leapt into the air and sailed in the direction the man had pointed. Something about his eyes stayed in Gohan's mind. The clarity? It was a strange thing to be able to read eyes so easily, then to come across someone so complex...
That was it. The complexity.
Gohan's thoughts fell back into pattern when he landed in a bush-lined square. It reminded him of the city park, where he and Videl had gone just the previous week. The frame of a many-roomed building was in front of him, but something was odd. There was a black tide crawling over it. No, those were people. Like when that blue heathen tried to take the men he had and attack the city. Just like that.
Gohan decided on using the building next to his new target for a vantage point. His eyes wandered through what must have been one hundred steel-framed cubicles on the first floor. A new design that must have failed. Or was in the process of being completed. He didn't notice the men who saw and recognized him when he exited the square.
-*-
Videl didn't recognize the power at first. His aura was mangled and darkened and increased vastly enough that she would only be able to evenly match it. But it was that Sharpner kid who had asked her out and ended up threatening her that one time...
Where the hell had he gotten so much power? Where in damned hell?
She located it as being near the center of the district. Soon enough she spotted Gohan's form from a few thousand feet away and caught the barest wisp of his power.
Sharpner was there. So were a thousand or so others of very minimal power. Scary, almost. One even had traces of that power Babidi's minions used.
She raced to get in a position to help.
-*-
Gohan was being chased through the halls and corridors of the abandoned apartment building next door to where all of the power levels were congregating. He hadn't broken a sweat and hadn't needed to consider powering up beyond the level of a rat, so he didn't. In just a moment he wished he had done so, because his body was rammed through several walls and in the state he was in his head began to bleed. He was dizzy too, probably in danger of a concussion or something. Faster healing would come with his power-up, too.
He couldn't find the concentration, though. BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! His chest was being pummeled, he was coughing up blood, blood in his nostrils, eyes tearing from the pain, his leg might be broken...
This enemy gave him a second after a throw into the corner. Gohan was able to see his enemy.
He wasn't that tall, but his body had this raised look, like wearing odd shoes. His leg muscles were pronounced through his raggedy jeans, and his arms were a pasty, smooth white in contrast to the rest of his frame. Something was familiar about the hands, something... Most of his body was invisible because of the lighting and the way clothing piled on him, but his face, his eyes, they were familiar. It was Sharpner. Just a kid from school. You tend to know the kids from school. Even when there were two thousand of them, you become able to recognize who is and who isn't from there. This kid skipped often, wasn't so very bright, but was one of those guys who would work for what he wanted. He was a normal adolescent, thinking so many things revolved around only the present moment and the opposite sex. Sometimes a bully, sometimes chauvanistic, most times an arrogant sonuvabitch. No, not son-of-a-bitch, that would be insulting his mother. Of course, it was probably her fault he had become the way he was, but still, this kid whose strength was beyond that of steroids and any level of pure training he should have, was staring down at another kid who couldn't think straight enough to see his opponent's ass. If Gohan was able to see Sharpner's ass, he would have kicked it. All it would take to be stronger than him was a single thought.
Gohan watched himself get knocked around even worse. It hurt, somewhere. And he wondered, why wasn't he angry, why weren't his twelve-year-old fighting instincts kicking in, why couldn't he think straight after such a short fight? No answer came to him.
Then Sharpner stood him up. The guy was going to put all of his strength into one punch, deck Gohan and break his skull in half. But then Videl was there. Videl came soaring in the window artfully, and they knocked moves. Incredibly fast, screaming, block block block block, and Videl got backhanded for just a moment. Not even enough to make her lip bloody. Although, that would take quite a lot.
Except that was enough that Gohan, for whom time and conscious thought had slowed, got angry. His face was bloodier than it had ever been, his body hurt more than he could stand because he was weak at this point. His fire was there, he would live, he just couldn't put up any defense until he was even at the level of a normal human being. How would this monster like it when he was comparable to a rat in Gohan's eyes?
And a single flash and the kindling was lit. Gohan's eyes glowed a turquoise and his hair turned a metallic gold. Eyes went wide with anger, and all that in the fraction of a second Videl was recovering from that slap. Then, in that moment as well, Gohan read Sharpner's eyes. They weren't his. They weren't, and it was only just starting to show. In them were the souls of all of the people... It was like Cell, when he powered up. The screams of the lost. That was what Sharpner's eyes were like. And that made Gohan even angrier.
With a roar likened to that of a berserker five hundred fifty foot tall biomecha, Gohan launched himself at Sharpner. Saw the fool's ears perk up at the thunder of his approach, saw the damn bastard's eyes saccade and twitch so that they were staring at Gohan. Not fast enough. Still moving in what seemed to be slow motion, Gohan felt ribs cracking and kidneys being stomped. His enemy's hands were immobile, and nothing could stop Gohan. But then they fought back! Twisted Gohan over their shoulder with what took unthinkable power. Tried to attack, but Gohan brought his hands to bear and without a word loosed a beam of energy that should have vaporized Sharpner and the supports of the building in which all of that dark army resided.
Except Sharpner raised his palms, still in slow motion to Gohan, and accepted the energy like a warm bath. That was where Gohan remembered those hands from. Android Twenty or nineteen. The fat one.
And he laughed. He laughed. Gohan was pissed. Not even five seconds had passed since Gohan had gone super-Saiyan. Videl stood tall, Gohan knew that if she could have she would've run to hold him. Except she whispered something very familiar, something no amount of power could equal, and ran off. Likely to stop whoever was behind this mess.
Gohan launched a flurry at the new Sharpner, the one who was now about half again his own strength because of that blast. Leg to shoulder, caught, other leg twist around in a trip, jumped, both legs free, attacked! He grabbed both of Sharpner's fists and unexpectedly jumped up, using a kick to the gut to send him into a nearby wall. How had the androids been destroyed? Rip his arm off? Rip his arm off? Should Gohan do that? He was still mostly human. His heart may be evil, but...
Then Gohan was rushed and a simple side-step, elbow knocked Sharpner flat. He grabbed the punk by his shirt, turned him around to stare at Gohan's face covered in dry blood, and asked, "Why?"
A loogie was spit in Gohan's direction, but easily dodged. He who can dodge bullets... But then a whispered, "You stole Videl..."
Gohan didn't blink. "She wasn't yours. She's always been mine."
No thoughts about hypocritical chauvanism and women's rights, just the simple mutual ownership and love Gohan and Videl had over and for and about and through each other. That's a lot of prepositions, and all were damn true.
Sharpner got this dejected look, like he was depressed. Then his head jerked and he kept babbling something, something small and innocent like 'my life is my own' over and over and over like a counterspell of some sort. Breaking a curse. Then he said, "Hurt me."
And Gohan kindly obliged. He beat on the souped up power-sucker until the thing had nothing left but a tiny bit of life that was truly his. Looking into his eyes, Gohan wasn't so disgusted. Only insomuch as he had always been.
The thing was no longer a machination of some dark twisted mind. Just an abused runaway.
Gohan threw his former opponent over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and left the building.
-*-
"Michael..."
"Michael, you have failed."
"I know, Jason. Don't be so repetitive."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"I... think I'm in the mood for change."
"I see. Well, then-" Michael turned around to look at Jason and froze. The normally subservient second-in-command was dressed in a black leather trenchcoat over a black suit. Now, the memory struck Michael of how all morning Jason hadn't straightened either of his arms. He could see the arm of the device that had silently placed a gun firmly in Jason's hand, handle even covered by the material normally used to clean glasses, in case of fingerprints.
"You don't deserve a good bye."
Bang. Eyes went wide.
Thump. The gun clattered to the floor in slow motion. Time was all a state of mind anyway, and dramatic effect is often increased by the subpsyche's perception of time.
Jason pulled on some gloves and walked out of the room of a hotel across the street from where everything was going down. Best for him to disappear.
-*-
Last thoughts. Last thoughts. I'm hyper-intelligent. I can think at ten times the speed of the average human. A gun. How sad. Is this the end? The only moment in recent history when we've been this alone together, and he takes the chance I hadn't counted on.
All that work... I'm sorry, Lord Babidi.
He could feel it slipping away. What magic Babidi had taught him he had employed fully in keeping his army happy and ordered. And put into locking Sharpner's mind up. Behavior altering drugs weren't strong enough to keep a person's soul ensorcelled. That was the nature of sorcery. To enrapture things. Bind them to your will. Not witchcraft. Not really magic. Sorcery.
Bang.
I am me again. I am free...
-*-
Videl was just in between a rock and a hard place when everything was shot to hell. She had seen the face of a child, not the scum who Babidi had formerly employed. She had seen a human being, no 'M' on their forehead, truly with a soul, and was about to run away from murder when everyone started to run in random directions with a lot of noise.
Gohan appeared in the mess and grabbed her out of it. They carried Sharpner, moaning, to the Briefs Compound.
"Gohan..." Videl reached out to tenderly touch his cheek. He powered down, but slumped when he did and quickly powered up again.
"I need to heal. I'm so tired." He looked wearily from eyes set in a bloody face, "I love you."
Videl smiled. "I can't wait to hear tomorrow's news. I'll see what Bulma can do, I want you to go home right now and rest."
Gohan flashed a grin that seemed forced, but leapt into the air to head home. Watching him fly off, Videl thought to herself that she should have bound more of Babidi's minions. If they were Babidi's. Something was different that time.
"So..."
"Yeah."
"That's it, eh?" Bulma looked whimsical behind her mug of coffee.
Videl smiled. "I suppose. I left out a bit-"
"I figured that. Like how you learned how to fly in the first place. Don't worry, don't worry, my dear hubby told me all about how your power is abnormally high. Way. I'm glad you can use it and understand all that stuff we found out years ago about aliens and all that."
Videl sighed. "How's life, then?"
"Great. Trunks is so much like his father, though. It's getting to be a hassle. Not much else to tell you. I'll try to help that Sharpner boy as soon as you leave."
"I'll leave now then. Someone's waiting for me."
Bulma smiled. "Luck-y guy!"
Videl blushed. "What do you mean?"
"You think I can't tell? Who is this kid?"
"I'll give you a hint- you know him."
"Oh, but I know so many-"
"Bye."
"Love you, sweetie." They hugged. "And you better start coming over more often to talk. While I have you here, could I ask you a favor?"
"Of course, with all you're doing for me..."
"Could you participate in a little experiment?"
"Certainly."
"Well, the first part requires you keep a log of constant thoughts, to establish a pattern. This has to do with two people sharing brain waves and how it affects them."
"Um... That sounds scary. I'll do it, though."
"Thank you! See you."
"Bye." Videl walked out the door and stepped into the cool evening air. She wanted so much to be home next to Gohan...
Unbeknownst to her, a few minutes later, because she had overcome her procrastination in starting after Videl's visit, Bulma called Gohan. He didn't answer, so she logged a message on his Desk saying, "Gohan, could you come over here for an experiment? I'll fill you in on the details when you get here..."
---|=||\|
Next Chapter or Home