I, Jedi
Chapter
One
I, Gohan
"Good morning, Son Gohan!"
The demi-saiyajin froze upon hearing the voice, and with a deep breath, he closed his locker. Leaning against the next one was Satan Videl, the city's Champion of Justice, her arms crossed in front of her as if she had been waiting for him to show up, and rather impatiently. He smiled sheepishly. "Ah... Videl! Good morning," he greeted, preparing to run in case the worst happens.
She sat up straight and smiled in return. "Thanks for yesterday," she told him, but then her eyes narrowed, not permitting him to say anything else. "You can't hide it anymore. You're the Great Saiyaman," she said sharply, pointing his chest for emphasis. Then, she demanded, "You're him, aren't you, Gohan?!"
He sighed. "And I worked so hard to have the perfect costume."
"I was suspicious about the way you talked," she pointed out, not taking her eyes off his. Then, her expression changed drastically, as if she just remembered something that made her confused and disgusted at the same time. "Why do you wear those funny clothes?"
"Well, you see..." he began, looking at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world at that time, "If I wanted my friends to have normal lives, I had to hide how strong I am. So..." he trailed off, not knowing how to continue.
The young woman didn't know how to as well, but she did know how to change the topic. "Your friends?" she asked, then an emotion filled her face that Gohan could not seem to understand. It could be shock, suspicion, disbelief, or a combination of those and everything else, for she exclaimed, "You're the Golden Haired Warrior, too, aren't you?!"
Gohan panicked. "You're wrong there!" he lied, knowing that he shouldn't let her know that. He then decided to change the topic once again, so to leave the Golden Haired Warrior ruckus behind. "Videl, please don't tell anyone else," he pleaded, looking back into her eyes in hopes to convince her.
To his relief, she said, "Maybe I won't." But then, she asked, "Gohan, are you going to the Tenkaichi Budokai, the martial arts competition next month? It'll decide the greatest martial artist in the world, and it's being brought back after being held for a while. My father was the champion the last time. The one before that was a mysterious man, Son Goku. He has the same family name as you do, and that's an unusual name now. Since you have the same name, I think he was your father. Am I wrong?"
"Well..." he stammered, while he thought to herself, She's pretty clever.
"Thought so," Videl declared proudly, smiling at her discovery. Then her eyes narrowed, the way they did if she'd threaten someone. "You're going to go. Don't you think it'll be interesting for the children of the last two champions to fight at this competition? Since you were able to knock out the monster with a single punch, I'm sure you're pretty strong too."
"I... I'm going to have to pass. I'm not... very interested in that."
"Then I'll tell everyone that you're the Great Saiyaman!"
He paled. "But..."
"If you turn up as the Great Saiyaman, no one will know it's you! Do you want me to tell everyone who you really are? Do you want to destroy your friends normal lives?" she threatened, her cerulean eyes glittering dangerously.
The demi-saiyajin had no choice in the matter. She was good at what she was doing. "Okay, okay, okay, I'll go!" he exclaimed, not wanting his true identity to be revealed. That was the reason why he wore a costume in the first place, no matter how ridiculous it looked. Not that he thought it was ridiculous, though.
"I did it!" Videl exclaimed happily, almost giving in to her urge to jump up and down to express her joy. She had done so much in a day --- she figured out who the Great Saiyaman was, she figured out how Son Goku was related to Son Gohan, and finally, she managed to convince Gohan to join the Tenkaichi Budokai. "I'm glad there's someone who's going to be strong enough for me to fight!"
"Oh no," he groaned, not at all delighted by what was going to happen. "This is exactly what I didn't want!"
She looked back at him. "One more thing, Great Son Gohan."
"What now?"
"Teach me how to fly! It wouldn't be fair if you can fly and I can't!"
The demi-saiyajin could not help but groan. He had one misfortune after the other, and here was was, stuck with a blackmailing Videl who demanded that she be taught how to fly. "Okay, Videl," he said with a sigh, as he knew that there was really nothing he could do but follow her wishes. And that was when he was sure of what's going to happen in the tournament. I can't beat her... he thought, wincing.
The binding that locked the girl's hands behind her back was primitive yet very effective. The constant attention the squad of heavily armed Imperial soldiers gave her was quite out of place as she was their captive, but their lives, unfortunately, dependedon her being delivered safely. When she deliberately slowed her pace, however, her captors did not mind mistreating her a little. One of the armored figures shoved her brutally forward, and she nearly fell. Turning, she gave the offender a vicious look, but she could not tell if it had any effect, as the man was wearing a helmet.
The hallway they emerged into was still smoking around the edges of the smoldering cavity blasted through the hull of the fighter. A portable accessway had been sealed to it, bridging the rebel craft to the cruiser. A shadow moved over her as she turned from inspecting the tunnel, startling her despite her usually unshakable self-control.
It was Darth Vader, towering above her with glaring red eyes. A muscle twitched on one of her cheeks, but other than that she didn't react. Nor was there the slightest shake in her voice. "Darth Vader... I should have known. Only you would be so bold --- and so stupid. Well, the Imperial Senate will not sit still for this.When they hear that you have attacked a diplomatic miss---"
"Senator Leia Organa," Vader interrupted softly, although strongly enough to override her protests. He was so pleased to find her that he savored every syllable. He continued, "Don't play games with me, Your Highness. You aren't on any mercy mission this time. You passed directly through a restricted system, ignoring numerous warnings and completely disregarding orders to turn about --- until it no longer mattered."
He leaned forward, closer to her. "I know that several transmissions were beamed to this vessel by spies within that system.When we traced those transmissions back to the individuals with whom they originated, they had the poor grace to kill themselves before they could be questioned. I want to know what happened to the data they sent you."
"I don't know what you're blathering about," she snapped, looking away from him. "I'm a member of the Senate on a diplomatic mission to---"
"To your part of the rebel alliance," Vader declared, cutting her off accusingly. He glared at her in response for her lies. "You're also a traitor." His gaze went to a nearby officer, who noticeably flinched as the Dark Lord's glowing red eyes landed on him. "Take her away."
She succeeded in reaching him with her spit, which hissed against his still-hot battle armor. He wiped the offensive matter away silently, watching her with interest as she was marched through the accessway and into the cruiser. That was when a tall, slim soldier wearing the sign of an Imperial Commander walked right next to Vader. "Holding her is dangerous," he blurted out, likewise looking after her. "If word of this does get out, there will be much unrest in the Senate. It will generate sympathy for the rebels. She should be destroyed immediately."
Vader replied easily, "No. My first duty is to locate that hidden fortress of theirs. All the rebel spies have been eliminated --- by our hand or by their own. Therefore she is now my only key to discovering its location. I intend to make full use of her. If necessary, I will use her up --- but I will learn the location of the rebel base."
The Commander pursed his lips, shook his head slightly, perhaps a bit sympathetically, as he considered the woman. "She'll die before she gives you any information."
"Leave that to me." He considered a moment, then went on. "Send out a wide-band distress signal. Indicate that the Senator's ship encountered an unexpected meteorite cluster it could not avoid. Reading indicate that the shift shields were overriden and the ship was hulled to the point of vacating ninety-five percent of its atmosphere. Inform her father and the Senate that all aboard were killed."
A group of tired-looking warriors marched purposely up to their Commander and the Dark Lord. "The data tapes in question are not aboard the ship. There is no valuable information in the ship's storage banks and no evidence in bank erasur," the officer recited mechanically. "Nor were any transmissions directed outward from the ship from the time we made contact. A malfunctioning lifeboat pod was ejected during the fighting, but it was confirmed at the time that no life forms were on board."
Vader appeared thoughtful, and he took that matter into consideration. "It could have been a malfunctioning pod," he mused, "that might also have contained the tapes. Tapes are not life forms. In all probability any native finding them would be ignorant of their importance and would likely clear them for his own use. Still..." he paused to think, then ordered, "Send down a detachment to retrieve them, or to make certain they are not in the pod. Be as subtle as possible; there is no need to attract attention, even on this miserable outpost world."
As the officer and troops departed, the Dark Lord turned his gaze back to the Commander. "Vaporize this fighter --- we don't want to leave anything. As for the pod, I cannot take thechance it was a simple malfunction. The data it might contain could prove too damaging. See to this personally, Commander. If those data tapes exist, they must be retrieved or destroyed at all costs." Then he added with satisfaction, "With that accomplished and the Senator in our hands, we will see the end of this absurd rebellion."
"We seem to have been made to suffer," Threepio moaned in self-pity as they truged along the rocky mountainside, where the pod they boarded crashed on, and towards civilization. Or at least, what seemed to be civilization --- a small house a short way into the distance. "It's a rotten existence. Oh, I've got to rest before I fall apart. My internals still haven't recovered from that crash you called a landing."
He paused, but Artoo did not. The little automaton had performed a sharp turn towards the direction of the house they had spotted. "Hey!" the taller droid yelled, but the little one ignored the call and continued striding. "Are you just going to leave me behind this way?! Have you no sympathy for someone like me?! I'm your friend!"
A long whistled issued from the depths of Artoo.
"Don't get technical with me," the other warned. "I've had just about enough of your decisions."
Artoo whistled, which was something close to a sigh, and went on his way. Threepio, too, heaved what was his own version of a sigh, and followed his companion towards the little establishment that somehow --- as they both hoped, the golden robot, most especially --- was a place to stay in. They went on with slow, tired steps, when something sped out of the house, a tiny blur of black, blue and orange, and headed straight towards them.
"Aaaaaaah! We're under attack!" Threepio screamed in panic as he turned around to run back to their pod, but was knocked to the dirt-laden ground, face down. Something then landed on his back --- a human boy, Artoo screeched to him --- who, too, was rubbing his head in pain just as what the tall droid was trying to do. He obviously didn't know that there was something standing in his way when he took flight.
Then, he jumped off, looking at the mess he made. He covered his mouth with his small hands. "Oops. Sorry," he whispered, before he moved forward to help the droid up without trouble. After a few moments, Threepio was back on his feet, but his head was turned the other way around. By the astromech droid's request, the kid flew up and fixed the golden robot's head, grinning proudly after he did so.
Threepio looked at him quizzically, surprised at what he just did, and not really knowing what to say. "Why, thank you, kind sir. But I must request that you don't do that ever again. My joints are weakening, and I don't want my head to plop out of my body when those joints chose to give away. I won't be able to do my functions well if that would ever take place." He stopped as the boy's interest was completely on him. "Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself. I am See-Threepio, protocol droid and human-droid relation specalist, programmed for over thirty functions and fluent in over six---"
The little droid beeped in interruption.
"Hey Threepio, hey Artoo," the child greeted, landing on his feet, his grin still intact. "I'm Goten, nice to meet you! Come, I'll introduce you to my mother! She cooks the best food! And I'm going to introduce you to my brother, too, but he's still in school right now, so we have to wait until he comes home. I'm also going to introduce you to my friends! It's going to be so much fun!"
As they followed the demi-saiyajin to his home, Threepio thought, I think I'm going to like it here, before allowing himself a droid's counterpart of a human smile. He just hoped that the boy's mother would be as kind and cheerful as he was.
"Mom, squirt, I'm home!" Gohan called out cheerfully as he landed on their front lawn. He was about to get in when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned around to come face-to-face with Videl. He sighed, as he had obviously forgotten that the young woman had followed her for flying lessons. "And I've got a visitor!" he finished, before leading his friend inside.
He stopped as soon as they stepped in, however, for something seemed wrong. It seemed too quiet --- at least, in the living room --- and Goten did not run off to greet him with a tackle hug. "Mom? Goten? I'm home," he exclaimed once again, looking around but to no avail. He turned to Videl and told her to sit down and make herself comfortable while he'd go and look for them.
But the demi-saiyajin did not have to do so, however, for a short while after, Chichi and Goten stepped into the house, carrying a couple of plastic bags. Immediately, the youngest of the family dropped his things and rushed to his older brother for a tackle hug, as he did everytime the latter would come home from school.
Oh. They've just gone shopping, the older of the Son brothers thought in relief. He was beginning to feel afraid at the stillness of their home just a few moments ago. But to his surprise, two robots strode into their house right after the two, the tall human-framed one carrying the rest of the plastic bags.
"Mom?" he called out again, "What's going on? What are those?"
"Artoo and Threepio," Goten chimed in enthusiastically. "They're my friends. Oh, this is---"
He was interrupted by their mother, however, who had squealed out loud as she shook Videl's hand. "I'm so glad to meet you at last, Videl! Gohan told me a lot about you!" she exclaimed, making both teenagers blush noticeably. She then volunteered to escort the young woman on her tour in their home. "I'll show you around, then I'll cook dinner for all of us to enjoy. What would you like to eat, dear?"
As they left the living room, the younger demi-saiyajin continued with their introduction. "Big brother, this is Artoo, and this is Threepio. They're my friends. I found them by the mountains early today. They didn't have a home, so Mama and me took them in. They were so nice to help us," he beamed, earning a smile from Gohan who did his best to ignore the mistake in grammar. "Artoo, Threepio, this is my brother, Gohan. The girl earlier was Videl, and she's my sister!"
"She's not your sister!" Gohan snapped, turning red even more than ever.
"Anyway," the little boy continued, not minding his big brother's interruption, "let's play!" He started jumping up and down, then he flew around in his brother and friends in circles.
"Excuse me, Goten sir," Threepio interrupted politely, before smiling at Gohan. "Oh, nice to meet you, Gohan sir. Well, as I was saying, Goten sir, your mother told me to bring these to the kitchen, then to have Artoo cleaned up. May I bring these to the kitchen?" he asked, referring to the plastic bags he was carrying, before he asked, "And may you clean up Artoo, Goten sir?"
"I'll do it," the older demi-saiyajin volunteered, patting the little droid on the head. "Come on, Artoo, let's get you cleaned up. Goten, you stay with Threepio. And help him bring those stuff into the kitchen." He then walked off towards the back of their house, where the mechanical equipment were, leaving Goten with the talkative Threepio. "At least they're going to have fun talking to each other."
He started scraping the dirt off the astromech droid, and as he did so, he saw a small metal fragment tightly lodged between two bar circuits that normally formed a linkage. Gohan switched to a larger instrument. "Looks like you've got something jammed in here real good, Artoo," he murmured, allowing himself a smile. "How in the world did you get this dirty? Were you on a spaceship or something? And how did you get here anyway?"
"Look who's doing the chores."
"Hey, Videl," he greeted, not even turning his head to address the young woman who came up from behind him and squatted by his side. By then, he could see her face as she moved closer to see what he was doing with the droid, and decided to apologize for his mother's behavior. "I'm sorry about my Mom, she just acts that way whenever a girl comes over to visit us. She wants to get grandchildren, you see, because she can't have any more children."
"Oh, it's completely fine with me. I enjoy the way she's treating me. My mother died when I was very young, you see." Suddenly realizing what Gohan just said, she half-jumped. "What?! Grandchildren?! Oh no, she's not thinking that I-I... w-we... she's isn't, is she?!"
"I'm really sorry for all this, Videl."
She didn't know what to do, how to react, so she forced herself to calm down instead and take her place beside him, as if nothing happened, and to help him out with what he was doing. They stared into each other's eyes for a few heartbeats, before they turned away, blushing. After all, they had just been very close to each other. Videl decided to stand up and stare at the sky, while Gohan chose to finish what he was doing --- that is, cleaning Artoo up.
The metal he was trying to pry away did so with a powerful crack, making the demi-saiyajin back off in reflex. He moved forward to see what happened, when the front part of the droid began to glow, emitting a small three-dimensional image of a very exquisite young woman.
Despite the superficial sharpness, the image flickered unsteadily, as if the recording had been done with haste. Gohan stared at the foreign colors being projected by the said droid, mesmerized by the sight. And suddenly, the lips of the figuremoved, and the girl spoke --- or at least, seemed to speak. "Obi-wan Kenobi," the voice implored, "help me! You're my only remaining hope."
Videl spun around to see what was going on.
"Obi-wan Kenobi, help me! You're my only remaining hope," the image repeated.
The demi-saiyajin sat perfectly still for a long time, his raven eyes on the woman in the hologram that repeated itself over and over. He was considering what he was seeing, but he, too, was admiring the beauty that was displayed before him. Finally, he blinked, and directed his words to his little brother's new friend. "What's this all about, Artoo?"
The stubby droid shifted slightly, and beeped what was somewhat a sheepish reply. That was the moment Threepio and Goten chose to burst into the scene, however, and the protocol droid was mystified. "What is that?" he inquired sharply, gesturing at the speaking image. When only Artoo seemed to know the answer, he demanded, "You were asked a question! What and who is that, and how are you originating it --- and why?"
Artoo beeped in surprise, for all the world as if just noticing the hologram. It was followed by a whistling stream of information, which the other droid tried to digest. Then, the latter frowned --- at least, tried to. "He insists it's nothing, sir," he told Gohan, who was the most confused one of all. Goten apparently didn't care too much, while Videl was sporting a rather strange expression as her gaze flickered from her classmate to the woman in the hologram. "Merely a malfunction --- old data. A tape that should have been erased but was missed. He insists we pay it no mind."
"Who is she?" Gohan demanded, staring enraptured at the hologram, ignoring what Threepio just said. "She's beautiful."
Something flared up from within their visitor, but nobody paid attention to Videl. They were either minding Gohan, or staring at the mysterious transmission. "I really don't know who she is," the taller robot confessed, shaking his head. "I think she might have been a passenger on our last voyage. From waht I recall, she was a personage of some importance. This might have something to do with the fact that our Captain was assistant to---"
"Is there any more to this recording? It sounds like it's incomplete."
Artoo whistled a negative.
Obviously, Threepio was not convinced --- and so was Gohan. But the droid reacted faster. "It's all right, Artoo. He's our master now," he indicated the demi-saiyajin. "You can trust him. I feel that he has our best interests in mind, just like his family. We should be grateful that they allowed us to stay here in the first place!"
The other robot appeared to hesitate, uncertain about what to do next. Then, he whistled, and beeped something that seemed very long and very complicated at his friend.
"He says that he is the property of one Obi-wan Kenobi," Threepio translated after a long pause. "He lives in a planet called Tatooine. The sentence fragment we are hearing is part of a private message intended for that specific person." He then shook his robotic head. "Quite frankly, Gohan sir, I don't know what he's talking about. Our last master was Captain Colton, and I've never heard Artoo metion that he had another master before. I've never heard of Obi-wan Kenobi, too."
"Obi-wan Kenobi... Tatooine..." Gohan murmured thoughtfully, before he averted his gaze to the woman in the hologram. "I wonder who she is. She must be important --- especially if what you told me just now is true, Threepio. She sounds and looks as if she's in some kind of trouble. Maybe the message is important. We ought to hear the rest of it."
Yeah, then you'll go save her because she's beautiful, Videl thought bitterly, glaring at the demi-saiyajin who had his back turned against her.
A voice from inside the Son house interrupted them, however. "Gohan! Goten! Videl! Dinner's ready!" Chichi exclaimed, loud enough for them to hear despite the fact that they were quite far from the kitchen. She sounded unusually happy, though, and the older demi-saiyajin knew that he was going to be teased with Videl again.
"See what you can do with him. I'll be back soon," he told Threepio before he rushed into their house, followed closely by Goten and Videl.
A plaintive beep came from Artoo.
"No," Threepio replied stiffly, his mechanical eyes staring at Gohan's disappearing figure, "I don't think he likes you at all." Then, he heard a second beep from the astromech droid, but it did not fail to alter the stern tone in the taller robot's voice. "No, I don't like you either."
Things did not go well after dinner. Artoo refused to play the rest of the message, as it was for his former master Obi-wan Kenobi, which pushed Gohan to make a decision. He was going to see Bulma, ask if she could make a ship for him, so he could go to Tatooine and deliver the droid to Obi-wan Kenobi and find out who the mysterious yet dazzling woman was.
The next day, the demi-saiyajin was very restless. He wanted classes to be over as soon as possible, as he wanted to pay the Briefs a visit already. As soon as the Orange Star High School bell rang in dismissal, he jumped out of his seat, rushed out of the campus and hurried to Capsule Corporation.
Videl, however, was curious at what made him decide to cancel their flying lesson for that day, so she followed him as stealthily as possible. But eventually, she lost him, as he flew too fast for her to follow on her helicopter. She slammed her fists on the control panel, annoyed and frustrated, but then, she stopped. "Why am I feeling this way anyway?!" she exclaimed out loud, confused at what she was bothering her.
Am I... jealous?
The smoke that Gohan saw as he drew near his homestead made him panic, and he almost stumbled down as he landed on the grassy ground in a hurry. Dark smoke was drifting steadily from what was once his home, and he tried to penetrate through them to get to his family, but the heat drove him back, coughing and choking.
"Mom! Squirt!" he called out as he charged through the thick smoke once again. It was difficult to make out much of anything through the eye-stinging haze. Two smoking shapes showed further down the corridor, barely visible through tears and haze. They almost looked like--- No, it can't be!
He squinted harder, wiping angrily at his uncooperative eyes.
Then, he saw it.
Two bodies, bodies covered with armor that contained the insignia of the Empire, were slumped right before him, but there were more at the other areas of the burning house. At that, a spark of hope ignited in him. The fire could not have taken them out, as they were most probably the ones who caused the fire in the first place, so it could only mean that someone fought them. His brother and mother.
That gave him the strength he needed to rush out of the blazing dwelling, and as he did so, his eyes caught two figures standing amidst the green background, and tears came to his eyes once again. "Mom! Squirt!" he yelled, running towards them and hugging them close. "I was so worried! I..." He found himself unable to speak anymore.
"There goes my frying pan," Chichi whispered with a sigh as she gave the house one last look, then she embraced his son tightly. "We're fine, Gohan. You got to give your brother more credit, you know. He saved us from danger --- just not the house, but that doesn't matter now. We can always get a new one."
The teenager pulled away, rubbing the tears off his raven eyes as he looked at the only family he had left with a huge, very happy smile. He didn't care about their house; all that mattered was that they were alive. However, he could not prevent himself from freezing in shock and admiration as his gaze rested on his seven-year-old little brother, who was beaming at him and grinning from ear-to-ear.
Goten was a Super Saiyajin.
First off, I would like to thank all those who read and reviewed, you really gave me the inspiration to work on this fic! And since I'm basically in a Star Wars mood right now --- Jacen and Anakin Solo rock! --- I have the enthusiasm to do this. *grins* Anyway, if you don't mind, I have a few questions to ask with regards to what'll happen in the next chapters:
1)
Should I make Goten and Chichi go along in their trip to
Tatooine?
2) Should I make Luke Skywalker join their party, or give him
something else to do as Gohan practically takes his place?
That's all for now. Thank you very much!
Next chapter: Gohan and friends head to Tatooine to find Artoo-Detoo's master, Obi-wan Kenobi, where our teenage demi-saiyajin learns a thing or two about the Force --- and gets his own lightsaber. But what about Luke? What's going to happen to the supposed-to-be hero of this epic tale, now that someone has taken his place?
I,
Jedi © Kaz, 2003
Dragonball Z © Akira Toriyama
Star Wars © George Lucas
