A/N: Blinks at reviews … Wow, I didn't think this many people would like my little fic.
For those wondering about the brown belt… all will soon be revealed. Gohan'll never know what hit (or grabbed) him. Mwahahahaha evil author cackle.
As for owning DBZ… I currently own a case of 7-Up Tropical, and some Diet Coke, not much else.
For this story, Gohan is 17, (as are Videl/Sharpner/Erasa), Goten is 6, Trunks is 7 (which doesn't matter at this point).
TypoNumber5 you are the very first receiver of the Kaylendra Cyber-cookie for knowing the last chapter's title was: I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! Lets see if anyone can guess the next two words:
Chapter 3: Have You Had Your …
"… Lawn Bowling." Mr. Shinara continued.
30 students blinked simultaneously at their gym teacher. Lawn Bowling? Was that even a sport?
Plowing ahead, Mr. Shinara continued his thought, "Actually, that is what we had planned to do, except the equipment has been missing for the last 20 years."
The class blinked again, still stuck on the whole idea of Lawn Bowling in gym class.
"So instead," Mr. Shinara continued, completely oblivious to the fact that none of the students were really paying any attention, "we went out looking for some more equipment, and found this nifty little Ki‑scouterTM Capsule Corporation just came out with. It came with a free book full of nifty ideas on how to… umm… just a second…"
Opening the box, he rummaged around trying to find the manual. Students were forced to back away as Mr. Shinara began chucking objects in the box around him. A pole, a ball, a gym sock, a few belts, pausing momentarily, he stood up holding a sandwich mumbling something about how he'd been looking for that for weeks. A couple students gagged as he put it in his pocket "for later".
Sticking most of his upper body back into the box, he returned to throwing various other gym-type things out, creating what looked like a gym disaster area. Suddenly, a loud "AH-HAH!!" rang from inside the box. Standing back up, he smiled in triumph. "Here it is, now where is that page … I know it's somewhere around here … Ah, here it is:
"Ki‑scouterTM – ki: energy each living being possesses, which is mainly a measure of strength, thus some living things have smaller amounts and some have larger. Scouter: device which measures the amount of living energy each being possesses. Ki‑ScouterTM: Device to be used to measure and identify proper grouping of individuals who desire to learn sports such as the Martial Arts. Device can also be used to ruin any demi-saiyans life."
"Not quite sure what that last bit means, but who cares." Mr. Shinara finished.
Gohan, in the mean time, was trying desperately not to respond to the Fight or Flight urge, which would inevitably result in him running (quickly) towards any available exit. His only hope now was that Mr. Shinara would be contented to simply teach them the basics of … well, whatever it was he was going to teach them.
Looking back into the box, Mr. Shinara mumbled (more to himself, but loudly enough for most of the class to hear) "Now where did those belts go?"
"They're right here Mr. Shinara, sir." Joe, the resident self-proclaimed geek (Gohan had stolen his title, as far as Joe was concerned) said, holding out the multi-coloured belts, which were more like sashes.
There didn't seem to be much of a rhyme or reason to the colours, other than they were obviously meant to be hard to loose, and were quite probably scraps of fabric no store could hope to sell to anybody, except, apparently, a gym teacher. Neon "Go-light" green, Growing Poppy red, and Blinding Sun yellow, as the labels proudly proclaimed them. The students were getting a headache just looking at them.
"Ah, thank you Joe." Mr. Shinara smiled (Did he ever do anything else? Not as far as any of the Orange Star High pupils could tell. He even smiled when kids were bashing themselves with lacrosse sticks, although that could be because it wasn't him being hit).
Separating the various stacks. He squinted at the students. "So," he said. "I guess I should start by asking those of you who have fighting experience to step a little forward." Most of students stepped forward.
"And by fighting experience I do not mean your participation in the invigorating lacrosse matches we played last week." Half of the students took a step back.
Noting who had and had not moved forwards, Mr. Shinara peered at Gohan. "How is it that the Ki‑scouter has you with the second-highest rating without you having any experience?"
"I … um …" stuttered Gohan, reaching for some explanation, "That is … uh … it's quite a walk to my house. Yeah. So I built up muscles getting here." Man that sounded corny, I can't believe I just said that. Oh well, whatever works.
"I expect students in my class to be honest. I want everyone" he said this, looking down the row, "to be honest about their fighting experience."
Gohan sighed to himself. If there was one thing his mother had drilled into him [A/N: just one?!], it was that you should always be honest, unless it was about a girls outfit, then you had better say it looks nice. There was just no way to get out of this one. He shuffled forwards, staring at the ground in front of his shoes.
Mr. Shinara nodded at the movement. "And now I'd like to get an idea of how much fighting experience you've had. We'll start with you Keith."
"None, sir!" Keith yelled. Most of the class giggled at this.
Going down the line, most of Gohan's class seemed to have around 1-3 years of experience, having started training/taking lessons when they were around 13 or 14. Sharpner proudly proclaimed he had five years experience and was taking lessons under the "Great Hercule Satan". Videl just rolled her eyes, having seen Sharpner's supposed 'lessons', which seemed to revolve around "the Great Hercule" teaching young wanna-be's how to yell and pose for photographs. Something Sharpner didn't need any guidance on with years of mirror-gazing behind him.
"How about you Gohan?" Mr. Shinara asked.
Videl turned to stare right at Gohan, as did the rest of the class, who had been more or less ignoring other people's replies.
Getting nervous, Gohan reached a hand behind his head. Chuckling nervously he tried to think. What am I supposed to tell them? The truth? That I've been training since I was four? That I was dropped into the middle of nowhere to fend for myself against dinosaurs? That my first mentor in the Martial Arts is a green alien from Namek? Gaaah.
"Mr. Son, the answer sometime this year." Mr. Shinara broke in.
Videl continued to glare directly at her 'friend'.
"Well, you see …" Gohan stuttered again. "I'll have thirteenyearsoftrainingnextmonth" he mumbled quickly under his breath.
It was Mr. Shinara's turn to blink. "Would you care to repeat that so we can understand you." It was not a request.
Taking a deep breath, Gohan said slowly "I'll have thirteen years of training next month."
After gaping for a little while, Mr. Shinara began to talk. "Mr. Son. Do you mean to tell me that you have been training since you were five?"
"Four, sir." Gohan corrected.
"And you expect us to believe that?"
"Yeah, who are you trying to kid, Gohan." Videl put in.
"Noone. You can ask my mom if you want." He answered, becoming upset that his honesty was being questioned.
"Very well, Mr. Son. If you insist on telling us you've been training for 13 years, you will have the opportunity to fight the best martial artist in this class. Mr. Satan's daughter, Videl."
Videl smirked, and turned to Gohan, whispering "You've going down Gohan."
Gohan just put his hand behind his head laughing nervously.
"Alright, you two will take these Neon "Go-light" belts, and step into the ring." Mr. Shinara ordered.
The 'ring' was actually more of a square, as a couple rectangular blue mats had been stuck together to form a more-or-less even square, about 3 people long and wide. The mats were supposed to help protect students from seriously injuring each other. Unfortunately, they had not been used during lacrosse week.
Gohan walked out into the ring, barely making it over the half-way point when Videl noticed something odd. It looked like the somewhat scatterbrained Gohan had forgotten to tie his brown belt up properly, allowing it to hang down. Smirking to herself, already thinking of a strategy where she could use the belt to pull him into one of her punches. Then reconsidered. It wouldn't feel like she really beat him if all that she did was take advantage of his naivety.
Reaching forwards, she decided she would just grab it and yank a bit, so he would notice the belt was loose. Her hands closed down around the belt as she gave a shark yank. That's odd, this belt is kinda furry, oh well, maybe it's from a wild animal out where he lives.
"Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Gohan cried out, falling to his knees, his breathing coming in gasps. Stars formed in front of his eyes, as pain shot up and down his body, causing him to shiver slightly.
Videl was so surprised, she just looked down at the 'belt' in her hands, then followed it to Gohan in shock. She unconsciously squeezed a bit harder, a bit afraid, having never seen Gohan in pain, even when those weights fell off the bar onto his feet.
Gohan fought the blackness that was creeping in around him. But it was of no use, and he collapsed to the mat, unconscious.
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So, question guys: Would you rather have shorter chapters (like 1-2, with around 1000 words), and more regular updates, or longer ones (like this one 1500+), with less frequent updates? I'll still try to end chapters where it makes sense (or creates a cliffy – mwahahaha), but I'll try to do it longer/shorter if you want. Ja ne!
