Author's note: Ok, another long chapter, took me a while to write. I introduced the beginning of the plot in the last chapter, and I'll go into more detail in this one about that problem. Yes, this is an A/U story, but yes, many elements from the normal timeline will be in mine. Buu will be in this, but I've got special plans for him as you'll soon see. MWAHAHAHAA! *cough* Ok, now read the story, and don't forget to be nice and review!
Last time on It's a Start:
"Well," Gohan became serious for a moment, "you know we can't train today, right? I solemnly swore to Goten and Trunks yesterday that I'd spar with them after school today."
***
"You're staying?" Goten eagerly asked, practically jumping up and down with glee. Gohan nodded, pulling a black gi with white edging over his head.
***
"Gohan... is that a...tail?" Trunks whispered. "I mean...I didn't know you still had one."
***
With the 'Gold Fighter' now helping, the truck quickly slowed to a stop, and the two Gohans turned to face each other. Videl jumped from the seat to face the Gold Fighter.
***
Bulma shook her head, "I think there's more to it than that; see, you didn't just split, you became two beings, one Saiyan and one human, hence the blood test results. It might have been you that did this, or maybe..."
Chapter 6
"Bulma, dear?" came Mrs. Briefs' cheery voice over the PA system via an overhead speaker in the lab.
"Yeah, Mom?"
"There's a young lady here in the foyer to see you, a Miss Videl Satan? She claims to know Gohan."
From the background of Mrs. Briefs, Videl's angry voice could be heard. "Hey, lady, I didn't 'claim' to know him, I do. Get it right."
Both Gohans turned to look at each other.
"Oh…"
"…crap."
Bulma awaited a reply from the two. "Well? We can't very well leave her out there."
Saiyan Gohan spoke up. "Let her back." His double turned to him, a puzzled expression on his face. "I'll solve this." With that, he powered up for the third time that day and in a splash of bright light transformed.
"Wow…" Bulma noted, "this room seems so much darker with you like that, Gohan." And, indeed, the Saiyan emitted a light so brilliant it made the overhead lamps seem dim. "I think a little more artificial light is in order."
The scientist crossed the room to a panel near the door, deftly flipping a row of switches to the "ON" position. With a low hum, the lights became brighter and Gohan's brilliance faded.
"This way, Miss Videl!" Mrs. Briefs' chipper voice could be heard down the hall as she ushered the crime fighter into the lab. "Here we are!"
Videl took a few tentative steps into the room, looking about, but then lost any semblance of shyness when she spotted Gohan. The human one. "There you are, you jerk!" she accused, and jogged over to him. "What's the deal, leaving me on the highway in the middle of a call?"
He merely blushed sheepishly and stretched his hand behind his head in a nervous manner, dropping his gaze to the tiled floor.
A glowing figure now stepped forward and caught Videl's attention. "He had more important matters to attend to here," Gohan filled in for his counterpart.
"Gold Fighter?" She turned her eyes from one Gohan to the other. "You know the Gold Fighter, Gohan?" Awe seemed to drip from her voice.
"We have… mutual friends, I guess you could say," human Gohan allowed, raising his gaze to stare dead into the girl's in front of him. Black met blue, and he shuddered unconsciously.
"Glad you felt the need to let me know."
"Hey, you never asked. Besides—"
"I don't like a lot of attention," Saiyan Gohan finished for him. His double nodded in agreement.
"Right… anyway, why did you two run off like that?" she questioned Saiyaman. "You met up and just flew away without me." She made a quick mental note to find out just how the Gold Fighter knew how to fly. Was she the only person on the planet who couldn't?
"We didn't really mean to meet; in fact, I wasn't expecting him at all," Saiyan Gohan gestured to the other. "But some… events… have unfolded, and it became necessary that we return here together. To investigate some theories, you see."
Videl held a blank look on her face; there was obviously something big happening, but just beneath the surface of reality. She ground her teeth in frustration: more secrets! That boy had more sides to him than anyone she had ever met; he was so enigmatic, it was almost maddening! How could she—
"Lessons!" human Gohan shouted out. "I nearly forgot about them!" He turned to Bulma. "Do you mind if we use the GR?"
"But," Videl interrupted, her raging river of angry thoughts now tepid, slowed by Gohan's outburst, "I thought you were playing with Trunks and Goten? You mentioned it on the way here."
"Oh yeah…" his voice fell just a bit—he had promised—and he faced the two demi-Saiyans, who sat silently before him by Vegeta, anticipation exploding from their bodies via their bright eyes. Gohan wondered off-handedly if it was possible for them to turn Super simply by becoming excited at the prospect of training with him. That would just be perfect—how could he explain that to Videl? Better get her out of there sooner rather than later.
Saiyan Gohan chose this moment to speak up again. "I'll train her." Six pairs of eyes flew to his face.
"You'll what?" Videl and Gohan gasped, shocked. The Saiyan met his double's gaze and smirked, nodding.
"You take the children, as you promised, and I will take Videl." He spoke the end of the statement as more of a challenge than merely a declaration of intent.
Gohan back down from the Saiyan, acquiescing; he couldn't tell him no without Videl asking why not, and that in turn would lead to a whole series of revelations he didn't even want to touch upon. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't set some rules with the alien, and he stepped over to his other self, pushing him back into the wall with no small effort, and uttered in a low hiss quite unnatural for him, "If you hurt her in any way… you just remember: she's no Saiyan."
His smirk widened at his counterpart's protectiveness. "Have we something we need to admit to one another?"
Human Gohan gave a Saiyan growl and released his hold on the fighter. "Remember," and he turned and walked through a door on the opposite side of the room with the two boys trailing, glancing at Videl as he swept passed and urged, "Be careful."
'Be careful?' she echoed in her mind as her friend crossed the threshold and exited the room.
Bulma stepped forward now, breaking the respectful silence she had held as she watched the bizarre battle rage between Videl and the two Gohans. "Videl? If you like, there's a women's changing room with gis across from the men's down the hall." She pointed out the door and the girl nodded.
"Thanks, Mrs. Briefs."
She waved it off. "Please, call me Bulma. Everyone except Vegeta does."
"Oh?"
"He just calls her 'woman,'" Saiyan Gohan filled in. "I'll wait for you in the main gymnasium since... Gohan... is using the GR."
"Sure," and she set off down the hall.
"Boy, we've got a major problem on our hands here," Vegeta spat as soon as Videl was out of hearing range.
"He's right," Bulma added seriously, "We have to figure out exactly what happened to you, and more importantly, how to undo it."
"Absolutely," Gohan agreed. "Why don't you get right on it?" And with that he left a very angry Bulma and smirking Vegeta for the gym.
'Aah, reminds me of me,' Vegeta mused.
'Those Saiyans!' Bulma fumed silently. As if one arrogant alien wasn't enough! She sighed loudly and gathered up her papers. It was going to be a long night.
*****
"So, Gohan?" Trunks began bluntly as he traipsed along behind Gohan towards the Gravity Room with Goten, "How do you feel since you're, y'know, not a Saiyan anymore?"
"I guess... about the same." He pressed a few buttons on the panel outside of the chamber, opening the door. "I mean, I don't necessarily feel any less powerful, not right now at least."
The boys followed the elder fighter into the room. "What d'you mean?" little Goten asked.
Gohan sat on a bench along the far wall and faced both the boys at eye level. "You guys know when you're fighting, you're using ki, right?" They nodded. "Well, as Saiyans, you're born with an inherently large ki well in your bodies; that's what makes us—you such great fighters: We're naturally stronger than everyone else. Humans, on the other hand are... different. They don't have a large ki pool; in fact, they have hardly any ki at all if they don't train regularly."
"...No ki?" the boys gasped, horrified. Gohan nodded solemnly.
"What's more, while Saiyans can actually gain ki through fighting, humans have a certain amount they can attain. After they reach this point, it's physically impossible for them to become any stronger."
"Is that why Krillin's still so weak? After all this time?"
"Don't say that! Krillin's pretty strong!"
Both kids smirked and rolled their eyes. "So... how strong are you now?" Trunks asked.
"Let's put it this way," the human confided, and bent down to speak in a whisper, "Videl almost beat me when I raced her here from my school."
It was all the children could do not to laugh.
"Sh—should we take it easy on you then? Maybe we should have taken Saiyan Gohan and left you with Vid-e-e-e-l," Trunks chortled, dragging out the last syllable of the girl's name, knowing it would raise Gohan's ire.
"Come one, I may be human, but I'm still me, and I still know all my old fighting moves and attacks. Just... no going Super, ok?"
"Right!"
*****
Videl mindlessly thumbed through the many multi-colored gis hanging from the rack in the locker room, finally deciding on a nice red one trimmed in white.
Inside, though, she was positively bubbling with excitement. Bubbling! That was something she'd given up a long time ago. Tough girls didn't bubble, crime fighters didn't bubble; valley girls bubbled, brainless twits bubbled. It was all his fault.
The Gold Fighter. Today had really been the first time she'd ever seen him, but his name was nearly as well known throughout the city as her father's. After all, you can't stop a car by yelling at it—as she'd been told the Gold Fighter had done—and hope to stay anonymous.
"Welcome to my life," she said to no one, and finished straightening the gi as she exited the locker room.
After getting directions from Mrs. Briefs and apologizing for her earlier rudeness, she joined Gohan in the gym.
"Ready?" he asked her, standing in the middle of the court. She gave a curt nod and assumed a position across from the warrior. "Have a seat." When they were both comfortable, sitting cross-legged, he questioned, "Where did we leave off?"
Videl had to mull that over a moment, it had been over three days. Three days? Now that she thought about it, that wasn't really that long, but it seemed to her an eternity.
Huh? Wait a minute... "'We'?"
The only evidence on Gohan's face to show something was wrong was a split-second twitch of his eyebrow. On the inside, however, he was screaming. He wanted to blow something up...like, a mountain or a small planet; his body was set to panic. Idiot!
"You and Gohan, you know what I mean," he saved.
Videl glanced at him askance. He seemed to have lost some of the confidence she'd thought he'd had back in the lab. "I think," she began, "Gohan and I stopped when I found my energy, my—oh, what'd he call it?"
"Ki," Gohan filled in.
"Right—hey!"
"What?" He looked up.
Videl uncrossed her legs and stood on the spot, looking down on the golden warrior. "Does that mean you know about this energy business too?"
"Naturally," he replied nonchalantly, "Why do you think I volunteered to take Gohan's place and train you?"
Videl threw up her hands in exasperation. "Is there anyone around here who doesn't know how to use ki, or am I the only one?"
Gohan grinned. "Your father."
Her face hardened. "What do you know about my father?"
He stood slowly and assumed his full height, now looking down on her. "More than you'll ever know." She made a move to counter this response, but he stopped her with a finger to her lips. "This...is going nowhere fast—don't you want to fly?"
She growled but nodded anyway, and resumed her seat on the floor, pouting.
"Now, do you think you can find your center again?"
She paused her pouting for a moment, then shook her head no, it'd been too long. She barely remembered even finding it the first time, much less how she'd found it.
"Very well, we'll start over; close your eyes." She obliged, shutting herself off from the light, but still felt the warmth the warrior before her radiated. "Clear your mind; picture it as blank. You may not remember your ki, but your body does. You've already unlocked it, now let it flow through you, don't fight it. It's your energy, yours to control, yours to command."
Videl did as he said, though she was quite astounded at how strikingly different the Gold Fighter's tutelage was from Gohan's. The two seemed to be polar opposites, and didn't exude any outward signs of the friendship they claimed to share.
To her, the Gold Fighter was just that: a fighter, a hardened warrior who spoke with a coldness to his voice that just barely softened when he was around her. Gohan was...Gohan. If he was any type of serious fighter, then she certainly didn't know it. Of course, it seemed there was a lot she didn't know. The only thing that seemed to link them was this ki business.
Oh, right, the ki. She quickly refocused her thoughts on finding the energy.
"Picture a ball in your palm." He reached down and grasped her right hand. "This one." She shivered involuntarily, a response not unnoticed by the Saiyan's heightened senses. "Cup your fingers around it as if it was really there, then send your ki out to it, and—"
Videl suddenly gasped, and her eyes shot open and flew to her fist. "It's—"
"Your ki."
She began to marvel at the energy in her palm, leaning in until her face almost touched it, when it disappeared as quickly as it had formed, leaving her light-headed and unbalanced. She began to fall forward, lacking the strength to stop herself, when two strong arms grabbed her, steadying her flimsy body.
"And that is why if you want to fly, you must train hard. Flying won't use nearly as much ki as that ball you just made, but try flying for too long, and you may find yourself in an unpleasant position when your energy gives out." He smirked and released her hand. "Like a few thousand feet up."
Videl gulped, but replied through large breaths, "If that's what it takes, then bring it on."
She was a fighter. Here she was, struggling for air after producing a ki ball barely powerful enough to toast a marshmallow, and she wanted more! He smiled and stood. "Hit me."
What? "Hit you?" She gingerly stood also, her hands hanging limp by her sides as she was still regaining her strength.
He nodded simply. "If you're this weak after that, you'll never progress. And for me to help you, I need to assess your strength. We can start training to build up that ki of yours right now. Try to hit me."
She noticed the added "try" to his command, and scoffed on the inside. Cocky, wasn't he? "How exactly will that increase my ki?"
"By increasing your speed and stamina through training exercises like this, you'll increase your ki as well as gather important moves you may use in a fight someday. Now, come on." He beckoned her forward, and she gingerly leaned down into a fighting stance, her sight still somewhat blurry. She shook her head to clear her vision, and then shot ahead out of her position, straight at Gohan, quickly closing the few feet of distance between the two. With a cry of triumph she powerfully thrust a single fist into his chest.
At least, it would have been Gohan's chest, had he still been standing there. Instead, Videl had to hop on one foot for a moment, unbalanced, before eventually shifting her weight evenly onto both feet. She turned quickly, caught off guard, at a voice behind her.
Gohan shook a finger at his pupil. "Not quite fast enough."
Videl's heart was pounding a mile a minute, both from the effort of executing the move and from shock at her inability to even touch the Gold Fighter. Speechless, she went over in her head what had just transpired.
He was...lightning! As fast and as brilliant as the force of nature he embodied, he'd moved so quickly that her eyes hadn't even been able to register it. All she'd hit was an afterimage!
"How did—that was so... fast!" was her witty reply to the event. She began immediately berating herself, how could she ever hope to attain that kind of power? To be able to move as fast as that, she assumed, must require a great amount of energy. Maybe there was some bit of truth to the Gold Fighter's remarks about her father...
"I'm a little rusty," he conceded. "You nearly almost had me, sort of."
Videl slumped to the ground in a heap, exhausted both physically from the exercise and mentally from the thoughts running through her mind. She looked up at him, a hopeless expression on her face. "I have to become that fast before I can fly?"
"Oh no," he waved the question off, and Videl brightened significantly, perhaps she could do this! "That was just a simple exercise to show you what kind of training you can expect to undergo if you want to pursue ki martial arts."
If? If? How could he ask "if"? True, it was a question she hadn't asked herself before: Would she be satisfied just learning to fly? But now, seeing children half her age surpass her in strength and stamina, being made a fool of by a mysterious fighter, could she really go back to her old world of simple punches and kicks? Now that she knew of the existence of ki and its uses, a whole new world lay open before her. Or perhaps, she had just found a new way to look at her current one; how could she ever go back? Now, there was nothing left to do but follow the man before her into the unknown wilderness of his world.
*****
"Let me get this straight," a pink figure drawled from a high throne, banally drumming his fingers along the armrest. His long lavender tunic, edged in gold, hung limply about his form, tied with a red belt at the waist, and a violet undershirt puffed out at his arms. A small golden ball hung from each ear. "You want me to turn traitor, betray not only my entire quadrant, but the rest of the universe, as well as the Grand and Supreme Kais," he ticked off each stipulation his fingers, "For you?"
A short hooded man stood alone before him, nodding slowly. "You would, of course, be well compensated for your support of my plans."
The pink man raised one eyebrow, the only sign of his interest. "How well?"
"I think... jurisdiction over a few other certain quadrants as well as the assurance you would be spared the destruction your associates may expect will be quite enough."
The figure on the throne smiled. "If you have the power to promise me this, why not carry out your 'grand plan' now? Why come here and seek my aid?"
"Oh don't worry, I never go back on my word. I will reveal all, but for now, you must trust me, Kai."
This apparently satisfied the ruler, who now stood before the small figure before him. "Very well, Master Babidi. You have the support of the South quadrant. Now please, tell me, what thorn is it that resides in the side of so powerful a wizard as you?"
The hood was removed from his head, and his eyes glowed with a flicker of evil intent. "Son Gohan."
*****
"Now, let your energy flow through your legs, guide it down to your feet. Concentrate it in the soles of your feet, let it be a buoy."
Gohan watched eagerly as the human girl before him tested abilities he himself hadn't learned until he was some six years of age. Her face was scrunched into one of intense concentration, and sweat began to bead across her forehead from the effort.
"Don't try so hard!" he reprimanded. "If it doesn't come easily, then you're not doing it right."
Videl slowly relaxed her face, but not to continue concentrating; instead, she opened her eyes to peer up at the Saiyan, abandoning all pretense of focusing.
"What?" he asked, annoyed at her disruption of the lesson.
"Just how long have you been using energy?"
A harmless question. He shrugged, "I guess... twelve, thirteen years now. Why?"
"And how long have I been using energy?"
Gohan saw the direction she was leading the conversation in. "Listen, I'm trying to help you here; if you're too weak—"
"Weak?!" she yelled, her anger rising, and she instinctively leaned forward, swinging a fist and hoping to connect with some part of the warrior's body. Just a light punch; ok, maybe a really hard one. That jerk, she'd teach him to call her weak!
"Videl," Gohan chided, gripping her fist firmly in the palm of one hand with no effort to show. "This isn't productive; you need to learn to take criticism. If you want to take a break, then we will."
"Y—you!" She swiftly snatched her fist back. Unfazed—he'd been completely unfazed, did nothing move him?! How could she be properly angry with him if there was no response to her ire?
The Saiyan took a step back from his student, well aware of the fire he was stoking in Videl. Anyway, it was fun. But how to use that to teach her...?
"Are you...angry, Videl?" he baited.
Oh brother, she realized. Maybe that was his and Gohan's link: they were both as dumb as logs.
"Of course I'm angry, idiot! How can you ask such a stupid question?!"
Then, with the lightning speed he'd shown her earlier, he was right in front of her, gripping her shoulders roughly. "Then use it!"
Whoa, maybe he wasn't so stupid. A blank stare, and she squinted her eyes in confusion at his quick change in emotional states. "...What?"
He explicated, "In a fight, your emotions are heightened, and they have one of two uses: either as a weapon or as a hindrance. They can help you or hurt you, it's your decision. Use your strong feelings to amplify your pure energy and raise your ki, or..." He let her go and turned his gaze to one of his fists, clenching it tightly as if driven by some forgotten memory.
For a moment, she wanted to reach out to him, this tortured stranger, but she checked her feelings, and he continued talking—no longer to her, but to himself, as if being reminded of a lesson taught long ago.
"Because, if you don't...if you don't use them, they'll use you... leave you helpless...or refusing to help..."
Though his eyes were not focused on her, Videl thought she saw them—just for a moment—flicker black, then back to that pale empty blue. Blue like the sea which was full of secrets and guarded them well.
He snapped his head back up, as if suddenly remembering he had an audience. In a voice Videl was quite sure she hadn't heard the fighter use during their lesson, he pleaded, "Don't do it, Videl."
Confused, and not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer, she asked, "Don't what?" It really wasn't her business. She didn't care, did she? There was something in his voice, though, something so familiar that she felt she already knew him, and that made it her business, didn't it?
"Don't let them control you." And he abruptly abandoned her, right in the middle of the gym floor and their lesson.
"Don't...hey!"
*****
"Ok, guys! I give, I give!" Gohan laughed as he landed, breathing hard.
"Huh?" Goten and Trunks jumped to the floor, momentarily abandoning their aerial pursuit of the older boy. "But we just started!"
"Yeah, it's only been a couple hours!"
"I know," Gohan wheezed, "but you gotta give this human body of Big Brother's time to recover after a session like you two just put me through!" He added as an afterthought, "You boys sure are strong , I wasn't even at a fraction of your power levels at your age."
The young Saiyans beamed up at him. "Well, my dad has been training me," Trunks bragged.
"Me too! Me too!" Goten made known.
"Still," Gohan marveled, "To be so advanced at this age..." He shook his head. "Why don't we break for a few?" At their frowning faces, he assured them, "Just for a few minutes! Maybe we'll see if the other me's done with Videl yet."
"Yay!" the boys rejoiced. Finally, a real challenge!
Gohan headed toward the door, turning the gravity back down to normal as he exited the room into the hallway.
Glancing at his watch on the way out, he noted that it was getting late; he needed to get Goten home soon, or his mom would kill him for keeping her little boy out all night at "that man's" house.
Wait, how was he going to explain this...situation...to his mother? Maybe it'd be better to not tell, he decided; he didn't want to worry her.
"You?" Gohan nearly walked into his counterpart, so engrossed in his thoughts was he. "I thought you were working with Videl." He paused as a thought flitted across his mind. "She's not hurt, is she?"
Saiyan Gohan scoffed. "Hardly. I needed a break."
Now it was the human's turn to jeer, "You? Tired?"
His double roughly shoved him into the wall. "I said I needed a break. Why don't you take the girl home, I'm staying here tonight."
That solved that problem. "Well, if you're staying, why don't you take care of her?" Wait, did he really want his Saiyan side to see Videl off? "I need to get Goten home, and I'm not nearly as fast as you—me—whoever we are now."
The Saiyan shook his head and, for once, did not rejoin with a sarcastic remark. "No, I—just, you should do it."
"Fine," Gohan sighed. Goten and Trunks had scampered ahead into the foyer, so he abandoned his double and went to gather up his charge.
"Goten?" he called upon enter into the room. "You ready to go? Mom's gonna—"
"Oh, Gohan!" The boy's entrance had startled Videl, who sat in a chair facing away from the hallway and hadn't seen him coming as the two boys had. Goten and Trunks sat on a couch sat on a sofa opposite the girl, facing the long corridor the former Saiyan had entered by.
"Videl!" He quickly dispelled the surprise in his voice, embarrassed. "Good lesson? Sorry I couldn't train you myself."
She waved it off. "No, it's perfectly fine. I understand that you had a previous engagement." She jerked a thumb back to the two on the couch. "I guess since you're here that means you survived?"
He laughed, glad to be free of the tension, "Barely!"
Goten jumped up from his spot on the couch at the mention of his name and ran to stand in before his brother. "Are we fixin' to go?" Gohan nodded, and the boys' faces grew sad. "But you just said a few minutes' break!"
"I didn't realize what time it was, Mom'll be expecting us."
"But," Goten tried, "Can't we stay for just a little longer?"
"Sure," Gohan agreed, "If you want to explain to Mom why we're late getting home."
The color fled from Goten's face as he rushed out a hasty, "G'bye Trunks, see ya, comin' Gohan? Let's go let's go let's go."
He rolled his eyes at his younger brother's actions and turned to Videl. "Need any help getting home?"
"I think I'll manage. Tomorrow, same time?" He gave an affirmative nod, and she smiled brightly, "Great!"
The teens parted ways, Videl back into town and Gohan with Goten home.
"Hey, squirt," he suggested, "Let's not tell Mom about the other me, 'k?"
"Sure, Gohan," he agreed readily, "But she's gonna wanna know why you were so mean to her this morning."
"What? But I wasn't—oh, great."
As the shadows on the ground far below the pair lengthened, the familiar domed Son home crept ever closer. Night was fast approaching, marking the en of Gohan's first day as a human.
Did he really feel different? Of course: half his heritage had just been unceremoniously stripped from his body. His passion, his drive, his fighting spirit was gone, now confined in a separate being. How could anyone not feel different? A better question probably was, did he feel happy, relieved of the burden of his Saiyan feelings? Or was he perhaps feeling a little remorse over the separation?
And would he, given the choice, go back to the way things were?
--End Chapter Six--
Note: The part with Babidi and the South Kai was supposed to have taken place before the previous chapter, but I just now wrote it, so sorry for the confusion. Their relationship will be spoken of in more detail in subsequent chapters.