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Wednesday afternoon, in the halls of Orange Star High School…
With the last class of the day over, Gohan hurried through the hallways as fast as school rules allowed. It was turning out to be a hectic week, as he had just received his third assignment that was due the coming Friday. Since he had blown the first two weeknights reading the new issues the science and history magazines his mother had given him, he now had only two nights to finish all three essays. It wasn't impossible, though. It would take some careful time management, and couple intense writing sessions, but he could easily finish all three by Friday, and maybe even with enough time to let his mother proof read them before he turned them in. Fortunately, Gohan was nothing if not a dedicated student.
Gohan was still planning out his timetable when he suddenly noticed that the floor seemed unnaturally tilted. A second later, he landed face-first on the tile. Gohan blinked in confusion.
Leaning against a locker, and with her foot casually extended into the hallway, Videl stared blankly at Gohan. She held her pose for a moment, waiting for Gohan to make some kind of reaction. The fallen boy blinked again, then pushed himself to his knees and rubbed his head in curiosity.
"Wow," Videl blandly observed.
Hurt only in spirit, Gohan re-shouldered his backpack and stood back up. "Videl," he whined. "What did you do that for?"
"Gohan," prompted Videl, still leaning against the lockers. "How did you ever survive this long?"
"Well, I didn't meet you until I came here," the boy sullenly replied. "Why did you do that?"
Videl shifted her weight and stepped away from the lockers. "Gohan," she began in a grave tone, "we should talk."
Immediately sensing that something was wrong, Gohan pursed his lips to the side. "Um… Now?"
"Yes," Videl continued. "Now."
"About?"
Videl poked her finger into Gohan's chest. "About something you've been hiding from me, Gohan. Something very important to both of us, that we should really be talking about."
Glancing around to see if anyone else was nearby, Gohan took a nervous step back. "Ah, Videl, I really don't think that the kind of boxers I wear is anything that we really need to—"
"Oh, it is important," countered Videl, matching Gohan's step. The boy weakly tried a half-turn away, but quickly found himself cornered against the lockers. "But I'm not talking about what you're wearing. I'm talking about something you did."
Laughing weakly, Gohan began sweating. "Oh, uh… So…"
The shorter girl braced one arm against the locker, causing Gohan to shy away from her. "Gohan, I talked to Yamcha. I know your secret. We need to talk about this. Either now, or—"
Gohan's nerve failed him and he bolted down the hall. "Sorry, Videl," he called back. "But I just remembered-my-mom-needed-me-home-right-away-talk-to-you-tommorrow-bye!" The fleeing boy shoved his way through a pack of loitering students and burst out the door.
As soon as she realized what was happening, Videl sprinted down the hall after him. Skidding to a stop on the lawn outside, she frantically looked around for some sign of Gohan. Seeing none, she sighed and straightened her stance. "Well," she muttered to herself. "At least I know Yamcha was right…"
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The Son household, below Mount Paozu…
With his tongue poking his cheek in concentration, Goten carefully selected a marker from the box in front of him and began scribbling on a page of his coloring book. Behind him, ChiChi stood before the kitchen counter, slicing some vegetables for the night's dinner. Save for the drawings Goten had spread out set on the table, and sack of fresh fruit next to the sink, the room was spotless. As she worked, ChiChi hummed happily to herself.
Abruptly, Goten paused and sat up. "Gohan's home," he observed.
"Gohan is home," ChiChi absently corrected.
The living room door slammed shut, and fast-paced footsteps thudded through the house.
"How was your day at school, Honey?" Called out ChiChi.
"Horrible!" Gohan wailed from somewhere in the hall. "My teachers are giving me too much to do and my friends are talking about me behind my back and Videl says she knows my big secret and my whole life is ruined!" The tirade abruptly ended as Gohan retreated to his room and slammed the door shut.
"That's nice," ChiChi chimed, slightly louder as to be heard through the door. "Dinner will be a roast, tonight." ChiChi casually grabbed another handful of vegetables and resumed humming.
Looking blankly at the hallway that led to Gohan's room, Goten scratched his head. "Mommy?" He asked. "Is there something wrong with Gohan."
"No, Goten," ChiChi answered. "He's just being a teenager."
"Ooooh." Goten nodded in satisfaction, and returned to scribbling in his book. After a moment, he put down his marker. He looked back down the hall, then over to ChiChi. "Mommy, I don't ever wanna be a teenager."
"I don't want you to either, Sweetie."
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Steamer Stadium, Railport…
In preparation for game three of their series, the Titans and the Railroaders were spread out across the field, engaging in various pre-game activities. Most were on the field proper, doing stretches or throwing practice pitches, but a sizable number of them were standing along the dugouts mingling with the fans. There was another crowd of fans bunched up near the left field foul line, where Yamcha was fencing with some imaginary opponent with a baseball bat.
Midway through a parry-high kick-round the world swipe-combo that would have left his attacker with a new haircut and flat on his back, Yamcha's cell phone rang. The ex-fighter turned the round the spinning swipe into an almost elegant pirouette, and tossed the bat to the fans as a souvenir. Tapping the brim of his new hat in a salute to them, he casually walked over to his duffel bag.
"'Ello?" He greeted as a flipped open the phone.
"How could you do that to me?!" Screamed Gohan from half a continent away.
Yamcha flinched and pulled the phone a few inches from his ear. "Uh… Gohan?"
"How could you tell all that to Videl?!" Gohan again demanded.
"Wait," prompted Yamcha, quizzically. "You know Videl?
"Of course I know Videl!"
Yamcha blinked. "How?"
"We go to school together!" Screamed Gohan, exasperated and angry. "She sits right next to me!"
"You go to school?" Questioned Yamcha. "Since when? I never heard anything about—"
Still hysterical, Gohan cut Yamcha off. "So you just tell complete strangers about me?! How could you do that? I thought we were friends!"
"Look, I—" Yamcha broke off, scowling. "It just came up! We were talking about the Cell Games and I just mentioned you were there."
"You told her I beat Cell?!"
Yamcha flinched away again. "No," he tried to clarify. "I just… Told her you were the Delivery Boy! I didn't actually say you beat Cell…." Yamcha paused, trying in vain to gauge Gohan's reaction. "Look, I'm sorry it was someone you know, but… So a friend of yours knows you can fight. It that really that much of a problem?"
Yamcha heard Gohan try to steady his breathing for a moment. Then his phone emitted a loud electronic distortion as Gohan violently hung up.
"Huh." Yamcha stared at his phone for a moment before flipping it shut. "I guess school really can be as stressful as Bulma used to say it was…"
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Back at the Son household…
Still humming to herself, ChiChi cheerfully looked through her shelf of herbs and spices. Selecting two bottles, she walked back to the counter, making sure to step around Goten. With his markers and coloring book stacked neatly on the table, the young boy was holding two of his best finished pages against the refrigerator, and trying to decide which one to put up. His contemplation continued as ChiChi began spicing the night's roast.
Abruptly, Goten lowered the sheets. "Mommy," he prompted, "I think someone's here…"
"Someone is here," ChiChi corrected. "Do you know who it is?"
"No," the boy replied, frowning to himself. "I think they're flyin' in a plane or something."
ChiChi paused for just a moment, then continued preparing the meal. "Never mind them, then. They're probably just passing through."
Goten frowned, and looked at his mother. She ignored him, and after a moment he turned his attention back to his two drawings. "Well, I don't think they will," he grumbled quietly.
A moment later, someone knocked at the door.
"I told you someone was coming," said Goten as he reached for a refrigerator magnet.
"Never say 'I told you so,' Goten. It's not polite," ChiChi scolded. As she wiped her hands on a towel, the person knocked again. "Coming!" ChiChi called. As she strode out of the kitchen, she spared one glance towards her son. "Now mind your manners, Goten."
"Yes, Mommy," the boy automatically replied as he went to retrieve his markers.
Brushing a few stray strands of hair from her face, ChiChi straightened her apron and pulled open the front door. "Yes?"
"Hi," greeted a young girl standing at the doorway. "Are you Gohan's mom?"
"Yes," responded ChiChi as she looked the girl over. "I am. Who are you?"
"I'm Videl. I go to school with Gohan. Is he home?"
Instantly suspicious, ChiChi narrowed her eyes. "Yes…"
"May I talk to him?" Asked Videl, making a pointed effort to remain polite.
"About what?"
"We're doing a project together," Videl recited.
ChiChi's eyes narrowed further. "For school?"
Videl blinked, momentarily loosing her rhythm. "What else would we be doing?"
ChiChi stared at Videl for a moment, then shook her head. "Come on in, then. I'll go—" ChiChi abruptly stopped. Her suspicions renewed, she glared back at Videl. "If you go to his school, how'd you get all the way out here?!"
"I have a helicopter," Videl responded, pointing over her shoulder.
ChiChi saw the bright yellow vehicle parked on the far side of her lawn, and blinked. "Oh." She stared at the helicopter for a moment, and then her face suddenly contorted again. "And my son made you come all the way out here to do schoolwork?!"
"It's a biology project," Videl replied, once again with a practiced crispness. "We needed to take some notes on trees. Gohan said you had lots of trees to look at out here, so I came over."
"Oh. Yes, I suppose we do," ChiChi reluctantly conceded. "Come in," she invited as she stepped back into the living room. "I'll go get Gohan."
"Thank you," Videl replied stepping in after her. Instantly, she caught the scent of the dinner that was being prepared in the kitchen. "And we should be done with the assignment by dinner."
"That's good," ChiChi replied. "But, Videl," she continued in an eerily sincere tone. "If I find out that you and my son were doing something other than schoolwork out there tonight, I will become very upset. Understand?"
Videl gulped, unsure if she was really being threatened, and unsure how to react if she was. "Uh, yes…"
"Good," responded ChiChi in a perfectly level tone. "Oh, Gohan…"
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The forest below Mount Paozu…
A few moments later, Videl and a very sullen Gohan were wandering through the woods.
"So," Videl prompted.
"So…" Gohan repeated. A moment passed, as Gohan dejectedly stared at the ground in front of him. "Videl," he began, finally looking up. "You realize that if Mom finds out we aren't—"
"Got it covered, Gohan," cut off Videl. Rolling her eyes, she absently waved an old notebook in the air. "I did this project last year. All my original notes from it are right here…"
"Oh." Gohan's shoulders slumped, and he continued slowly walking forward.
Videl let the silence hang. "So you were really that boy in the Cell Games… Why didn't you ever tell me?"
Gohan weakly looked up. "Would you have believed me?"
"You could have proven it," Videl quickly pointed out.
"Well, maybe I didn't want anyone to know," continued Gohan, slowly shaking his head.
Videl paused for a moment. "Why not? Do actually like the way Sharpener keeps harping on you? Aren't you the least bit proud of what you did? Of what you can do?"
Gohan stopped walking, and turned to face Videl. "Of what I can do? No. Not really."
Videl cocked her head back in confusion.
Absently, Gohan energized a ki flare around his fist. Videl took an inadvertent step back, while Gohan just stared through the flare. "Videl, I was born able to do this. I learned to walk, I learned to talk… And by the time I was five, I could do this, I could fly, and I could do a whole list of other things as well. I know people who have spent a lifetime in training, and never even did half of that. I did it all without even realizing it wasn't normal."
Videl shook her head to refocus her attention. "Well, being a prodigy isn't really normal, but I'd still say it's something to be proud of."
"But that's not really it," Gohan countered, letting the flare die away. "I'm not a prodigy. I'm half-alien. My father was from another world, and just because of that…" Gohan let his shoulders slump as he looked over at Videl. "I'm the strongest guy on the planet."
"Half alien?" Videl repeated after a moment.
Gohan weakly nodded. "It usually doesn't show, but I am. Even if I had never been trained at all, I would still be stronger than all but a handful of people. Just because of how I was born."
Videl stared at Gohan's face, trying to gauge his sincerity. "Could you have taken me out?"
"Easily."
Videl shifted uncomfortably.
"As it is, I've spent nearly half my life in constant training," Gohan wryly continued. "I've fought, I've killed, and I've seen friends get killed. Right now, I'm the single most powerful being on the planet. Probably even the universe…" The boy glanced over to Videl. "You see why I didn't want to bring this up?"
"Yeah," Videl quietly conceded. The pair started walking again before Videl continued. "My dad didn't really beat Cell, did he?"
"No…" Gohan reluctantly admitted.
"And it was you that did…"
"Yeah…"
"And you're not proud of that?" Videl asked sharply. "Not even that you saved the world?"
Gohan sighed, looking up at the trees. "Proud? Yeah, a little. But even through I beat Cell… I still screwed up. Because of how I handled that fight, my father died."
"Your father was Goku, wasn't he," Videl deduced. "But didn't he get brought back to life? Everyone else Cell killed did…"
"My father had already died and came back once. It can't happen twice…" Gohan shrugged, hoping Videl would just accept the justification. She glanced over at him once, then returned her gaze to the trees they were passing. "Even if he did come back," Gohan continued. "He wouldn't have been the first person to die because I didn't do what I could have. I guess that's why I'm not proud of my power, really. I'm more powerful than anyone else… But it's just because I am. I didn't really earn it, and… And I haven't used it as well as those who have."
The pair continued walking in silence.
After another moment, a grin began pulling on the corner of Gohan's mouth. "Which is also why I like school, I guess. For the first time in my life, I'm actually on even ground with everyone else."
"Huh!" Videl nearly snorted. "'Even ground?' Gohan, you're smarter than most of the teachers we have."
Gohan chuckled under Videl's gaze. "Maybe," he cheerfully conceded. "But I worked for that. If Erasa put in as much time studying as I do…"
Videl stopped and skeptically raised an eyebrow.
"She would be close!" Finished Gohan, almost laughing. "Maybe she isn't the best example, but you know what I mean."
Videl chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know what you mean…"
With his mirth fading, Gohan stuck his hands in his pockets. "But as far as fighting… You could train for the rest of your life, Videl, and you still wouldn't be half as powerful as I am right now. Just because you're a human and… I'm not."
"But I could do something, right? I could be stronger than anyone else…"
"Than most people, yeah," Gohan quickly admitted.
Videl darted in front of Gohan and stuck her finger in the taller boy's chest. "Will you teach me, then? Teach me how to do that glowing stuff and all the rest?"
Gohan backed off half a step. "If I could get it past my mom… She's pretty strict about what I do with my time."
"We could say we're studying together."
"I don't think she'd buy that…" Gohan warned.
Videl thought for a second. "We could say you're tutoring me. That I'm paying you for it."
"I'm not sure she'd buy that, either."
"We could say we were dating."
Gohan and Videl instantly paused, and looked at each other. The silence dragged on for a moment.
"That would be risky," Gohan finally admitted. "And I'm not sure if we could convince her we actually like each other."
Videl thought for another moment. "If she saw me giving you a kiss as I left today?"
"Then we would die," Gohan said immediately. "Or we would be married by Friday."
The pair paused again.
"I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that," Videl finally concluded.
"It is a bit drastic," Gohan agreed.
"Why don't you talk to your mom about that tutoring," Videl advised. "If your mom has been home-schooling you, she should believe you're smart enough for it."
"But she still may not like me tutoring a girl. Maybe if I lied and said I was tutoring some other kid?"
Videl shook her head. "Gohan, no offense, but one harsh gaze from a girl and you wilt. There's no way you could sneak that past your mom." Gohan opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it. Videl sighed and went on. "I guess if all else fails, we can have Erasa coach us on how to act like we're a couple. It might take while, but…"
"We could say you're blackmailing me," Gohan suggested. "It… Seems plausible. Or we could tell the truth."
Videl rolled her eyes. "Why don't we just try the tutoring angle for now, huh? But you will train me," said Videl as looked Gohan in the eyes, "right?"
The boy half-smiled to himself. "Yeah, once we find an excuse, I'll help you train…"
"Great!" Proclaimed Videl, rubbing her hands together with glee. "But while we're working on your mom, I need your help with one other thing."
Gohan cocked his head to the side, curious. "What?"
"Gohan, I know you're the Gold Fighter. But that Saiyaman nut is still running around my city. Now, with your help…" Videl balled her fist and slammed it into her palm. "I'm going to unmask that looser, once and for all!"
Gohan stared blankly at Videl, trying to keep his jaw from falling open.
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Continued…