Foreward: Greetings, and welcome to the second installment of Voices in the Dark. I'd like to start by giving mad props out to all the awesome people who read my first installment and submitted a review. Also a huge thanks to ShaggyDiz. He acted as a sounding board for ideas and pre-read my fic for grammatical errors, such as the infamous tense issue. Anyways read my fic. Post a review whether you liked it or not. I don't mind getting criticism as long as there's a good reason behind it. In the words of PDX's King Kashue "Now, I'm not knocking anyone who writes fan-fic, and I'm sure that your's doesn't blow chunks, but let's face it, most of the people producing this stuff aren't Falkners...heck they're not even Hemmingways...no, that's cruel...most of 'em are better than Hemmingway...". On that note, let's get on with the show. (My disclaimer from the first chapter still applies)
Voices in the Dark
Chapter 2: Registration Day
Gohan reappeared just outside of the city limits. The school was only about two miles away and he had twenty minutes to get there. He walked at a considerably fast pace, but the walking motion he was using redirected attention away from him. He drew in all of the sights, taking note of different places. It was his first time in a long time to be in a city. His visits to Capsule Corp hardly counted considering he never went into the city area. It was all very new to him, and yet at the same time, it didn't bother him. He was prepared for anything at this point, and he wasn't going to be intimidated by something he was able to handle.
He got to the school just in time. As he walked in the door a rather disturbing scene took place before him. A smaller kid holding about five different textbooks was heading towards the door, when a much larger guy bumped him to the side into another large muscle bound bully. The bully proceeded to shove the smaller kid to the ground, sending textbooks and papers flying. The two bullies stood over him laughing raucously and it appeared that they were about to do something else to him. Gohan took a step towards them and loudly, yet calmly spoke, "Leave him alone!"
The bullies turned angrily to face the intruder and saw that he was at least fifty pounds lighter than either of them. They burst out laughing once again. Gohan, being of a cooler head, was unperturbed by this gesture. "Wha *snort* what are you gonna do about it punk," the jock challenged.
Again Gohan spoke calmly, "Whatever it takes."
The bullies laughed at this statement. The one who shoved the kid to the ground jeered, "Ooooo, tough guy, heh? Let's show him what he gets for messing with us." The two thugs begin to walk towards Gohan.
People began to crowd around the three in excitement. Gohan just stood there, getting ready to defend himself. "Great. School hasn't even started, and I'm about to get into a fight. Remember Gohan, nothing out of the ordinary. Win the fight, but make it believable." As Gohan was mental preparing himself for the fight, a loud female voice rang out through the crowd.
"Hey boneheads! Leave him alone!" The voice belonged to a small girl walking down the hall with a menacing glare on her face. Flanking her on both sides were two blondes. One was a muscular male and the other a lithe female. What mostly caught his attention was the bullies' reaction to the small femme's comment.
"Y-yeah, sure, we was just kidding, right?' the one bully stuttered.
"Y-yeah, just kidding, ha..ha," the other bully replied. With that they both pushed through the crowd and made a hasty retreat. Gohan rushed over to the smaller kid the bullies were harassing and began to help him with his books and papers.
"Thanks man, you really saved my hide back there! My names Mike, what's yours?" the boy inquired.
Gohan smiled, "I'm Gohan. I'm new here. And it was no problem. I couldn't just stand by and watch you get beat up on like that."
Mike smiled sadly, "Well I hate to think that I got you mixed up with this type of trouble on your first day. Those guys can be pretty persistent."
The trio that intervened on Gohan's behalf walked up to them. The ebony haired girl spoke first. "You've got guts standing up to those punks. Just watch out, next time I might not be there to step in and save you," she informed him with a smirk on her face.
Gohan raised a brow at her comment. "Oh? How come your so sure that I couldn't take them?" he inquired.
Videl's smirk widened a bit. "They probably had about fifty pounds of muscle on you," she reminded him.
Gohan laughed. "That's pretty funny coming from someone I have at least fifty pounds on!" he exclaimed. Videl's smirk dropped to a frown. Mike backed away from the scene a bit. Videl Satan was not one to be mocked. She was about to comment when the muscle bound blonde interrupted her.
"You obviously don't know who this is then! She's Videl Satan! She could jump from the second floor of this building, take five guys down in mid-air, and then still land on her feet unscathed. Heck, she fights crime with her martial arts! She'd – Oof!" Sharpner was cut off by a light jab to his ribs by Videl.
"Can it Sharp, I can speak for myself. As he was saying, I'm the best martial artist and all around fighter in this school. That's why those guys ran off when I threatened them," she explained with a little irritation in her voice.
Gohan's face never faulted, but continued to question her. "How do you know I don't know any martial arts?" Gohan inquired.
Videl looked insulted. "Because I know all of the fighters in the area. I've been training for ten years now and competing for seven. I've never seen you before in my life," Videl spoke with a good deal of venom at Gohan.
Gohan offered his final argument. "That's because I'm new around here," he explained.
"Oh," Videl mumbled. Her face changed considerably. She hadn't thought of that. Her lips turned upward a bit and she had a slight smile on her face, "I guess I didn't think about that. So, do you know any martial arts?" she asked.
Gohan smiled at her. "Enough to take on those goons back there, but I do thank you for stepping in for me. I didn't want to get into fight before school begins," he explained.
Videl nodded. "Good idea. By the way, I never got your name," Videl said to him.
"I'm Gohan," he replied as he extended his hand to her.
She smiled. "I'm Videl," she smiled and grasped his hand firmly.
As their flesh touched, Gohan's mind began racing.
"Her skin's so soft."
"What an amazing strength she has for a human."
"She's so kind."
"She's so self-confident."
"She's so beautiful."
"They will try to kill her."
Gohan froze. That last thought wasn't his. His grip tightened for a second and then released. It was the voice from his dreams. Cold sweat began to roll down his face. Videl frowned a bit. "You alright, Gohan? You look like you just got shot," Videl said with a little concern in her voice.
Gohan regained control of his senses and replied, "Y-Yeah, I'm all right. J-Just got a weird feeling all of the sudden."
Videl eyed him suspiciously. "Ok, so he can't lie worth shit. Something happened. Don't come across too inquisitive, or he'll shell up. Just act casual." "Eh, whatever," she said off handedly. "Anyways, I've got to get to my interview for that new physics class."
Mike looked rather surprised and blurted out, "You're going out for the psychokinetics class too?"
"Psychokinetics?" Gohan replied.
Videl nodded. "Yeah, it's a new field of science that Capsule Corp is pushing. They're sending a representative scientist from Capsule Corp to teach it some high school students."
Gohan thought to himself, "Bulma has other scientists working with her?"
"I'm really hoping to get in. I guess Mrs. Briefs has promised every student a job at Capsule Corp if they pass the test and get a recommendation from Mr. Troutvik. Starting salary of six figures!" Mike exclaimed.
"Woah. That's a lot! I take it a lot of people are trying to get in," Gohan commented.
"Sorta. The prerequisites are pretty hefty, but people from other schools are also applying, and there're only six positions," Videl explained.
Gohan nodded and the caught a glance at the clock, "Oh my! I have to go, I'm fifteen minutes late now!" He left in a rush as everyone said their goodbyes and headed their own ways.
Gohan opened the door to the office to see that he rushed there for no real reason. There was still a line waiting to turn the papers in, but it's down to three people. Gohan waited idly in the line sizing up the office. It seemed about as generic and boring as offices came. He did take pleasure in reading the few comics posted up around the room. When it finally came to his turn, he walked into the councilor's office.
The councilor was a man in his late thirties, slightly overweight, with a short brown hair mixed with a substantial amount of gray. The man looked up with a bored expression on his face. "Please sit down," he instructed. Gohan sat down in a chair in front of the desk. "Your papers?" the councilor rhetorically asked. Gohan handed over his registration papers to the councilor. He looked over the papers quickly. "Alright, go into the room across the hall and take these placement tests," he instructed while handing over a stack of tests to Gohan.
Gohan accepted the papers. "Ok, thank you sir."
"No problem," the councilor replied as he begins to type Gohan's information into the computer.
Gohan walked over to the other room across the hall. Gohan noted that it was quite packed. "Must be because of the science class. Maybe I should try that class. Psychokinetics: Psycho means mind or mental. Kinetics means is dealing with movements. Mind movement? Levitation? Sort of like our flight abil-" Gohan's train of thought came to a crashing halt.
It restarted with a revelation. "Exactly like our flight and our ki attacks. Bulma must've figured out the science behind it all. Or she must be really on to something and wants fresh minds to help her. I think I'd better get into that class. It would be massively beneficial," Gohan concluded. He sat down and began to calculatingly go through the tests. He made sure all the problems were correct to in sure that he would be able to get into the class.
After an hour he turned the tests in and waited for the results. The proctor returned with a surprised look on her face. "Congratulations sonny, you managed to get a perfect. That's absolutely amazing. All you need to graduate are some fine arts, physical education, and some electives. Take these results and go back to your councilor," she praised as she handed the papers back to him.
Gohan nodded, took the papers, and walked back to the councilor. The man looked up at him with the same blank stare and asked, "Done already?"
Gohan nodded and handed him the test scores. The councilor got a little bit more interested when he saw the scores, but he's not too shocked. "Perfect huh? Lemme guess, you want an appointment with Mr. Troutvik? He's got an opening in three hours. You'll have ta wait around 'til then," he replied dryly.
"In the meantime, you can choose your other courses, which of course you don't really care about because you're only here for Troutvik's class," the councilor said cynically. Gohan looked a little confused at the man's remarks, but decided to dismiss it and instead began to look through the classes he could pick from. He only needed three classes, but was required to take at least six. He began to analyze his options.
"Hmmmm, I need two fine arts classes, a physical education class, and three electives. One of those will be Psychokinetics. Let's look at fine arts. Theatre sounds like fun; I've always wanted to act out all those plays mom made me read. Art shouldn't be too hard, and I might learn some techniques for my doodles. All right, there are the fine arts. Physical education seems to only have one option, so that narrows that down. Two electives? Hmmm… Computer Programming in C++? Sounds like fun. World Cultures? Guess I should take a class on that." Gohan wrote down his desired classes and submitted them to his councilor. His took a brief look at the papers to make sure Gohan hadn't made any glaring mistakes, then he set it down on his desk. "Room 236 is where the interview is taking place, be there at one o'clock," the councilor instructed him.
Gohan smiled at the councilor. "Thank you for all of you help, sir," Gohan said. The man nodded as Gohan exited the room. He was heading towards the phone to call his mom when Videl collided into him at full speed and crashed into the floor. Taken by surprise Gohan fell over with her, but quickly jumped to his feet and offered her his hand.
Videl pulled herself up and smiled at him. "Thanks! Can't talk right now, hostage situation going down," she said as she began to run out the door. Gohan looked a little blankly at her. Then he remembered what that blonde guy said about her fighting crime. He decided to keep an invisible eye on her as he locked into her energy signature. He felt her accelerate at a rapid rate, and rise off the ground.
"She's flying?" he thought. "No, there was no increase in her ki. Must have some sort of aircraft. If she is in an aircraft, I should be able to follow her undetected." Gohan looked around. "Too many people here, let's see, I should find privacy in the bathroom." Gohan walked into the closest bathroom. Luckily for him, it was empty. He teleported himself to the area above Videl's jet copter. He rose a bit more to ensure his stealth. He saw Videl land her jet copter on the roof of an old warehouse. Gohan teleported to an area behind the warehouse. From there he scoped out the building for its occupants. Once he identified them, he teleported inside, to an area away from the action.
He found himself in a small dark closet. He shot out an eyehole through the door that he could watch the scene from there. There were five gunman and about twenty small children, a woman who seemed to be in her mid-twenties, and an old man who looked about fifty. There was one gunman talking angrily into a phone, which Gohan assumed was the leader. Suddenly, a rope quickly lowered from sky rise in the roof with a small canister on it. The canister exploded with a loud bang followed by a brilliantly bright flash. The gunners screamed in agony as their eyes watered from the bright flash.
A zipping sound came from above as Videl slid down on the rope. She swung her weight and disengaged from the rope and in one fluid motion executed a beautiful flying kick into the back of one of the gunman. She did a back flip off of him and landed on one foot, while the other barely grazed the ground, already moving into a graceful roundhouse that knocked the weapons out of three of the gunners hands. As her one foot planted itself on the ground, the other left it quickly and lashed out three times, ascending in height with each attack. Her foot struck the back of the middle gunner's right knee and then bounced over to kick the rightmost gunner in the gut. Her planted foot pivoted ever so slightly allowing her attacking leg to kick the leftmost gunner in the face. All this took a matter of seconds for her to perform, but even that was long enough for the fifth gunner to recover and steady his shotgun on her.
"Heh heh! Stupid bitch, thought you could stop us? All that's stopping today is your life," he jeered. Videl crouched down and positioned her arm to guard her face from the shot as the gunman pulled the trigger. The shot rang loudly throughout the room, but Videl never felt the pain of the shot. The gun jerked high and to the left as the gunner shot. He tried to pump it and get another shot off, but Videl wasn't one to give bad guys second chances. She exploded out of her crouched position and knocked the man to the ground. Her right hand disarmed him while her left grasped at his throat. She tossed the gun aside and gave him a swift punch across the face, knocking him out.
She stood up and looked around to see what could've caused him to miss, but saw no explanation. She opened her communication channel on her watch and spoke into it. "Chief, the targets have been neutralized. You can come in and cuff them."
"Roger Videl. He heard a gunshot, is everything ok?" the voice over the radio asked.
"Yeah, he missed. Everyone's all right. I'm heading out," Videl said. A young girl walked up to her.
"Are we allowed to go ma'am?" the small girl asked.
Videl smiled at the girl. "You're safe now. Your parents will probably be waiting to pick you up," she said lovingly.
The small girl gave her legs a big hug and said, "Thank you for doing that for us. It was very brave," the girl said softly. Videl gave her a pat on the head.
"Your welcome. I'd do it anytime for you, but I have to go now. Good bye," Videl said. She gently pried the young girl from her legs and grabbed hold of the rope dangling from the ceiling. She pressed a button on her watch, and the rope began to rise carrying her back to her jet copter.
Gohan recognized this as his time to leave, lest he be noticed. He quickly checked the bathroom at school to see if there was anyone in there. Sensing no one, he teleported himself back into one of the stalls. He breathed a huge sigh of relief as he walked out of the restroom. "That one guy was too close to getting in a shot." He was glad he went so he could help Videl out. He looked down at his watch. Ten o'clock, still two hours to wait until his interview. "What to do, I wasn't expecting to have to wait this long. For that matter, neither was mom. Oh crap! She's probably wondering where I am!" Gohan walked quickly to the office and used the phone. After two rings he heard his mother across the line.
"Hello?" his mother asked.
"Hi Mom, it's Gohan," he said.
"Hi! How are you doing with registration? Shouldn't you be done with that by now?" she asked.
"That's what I called about: I'm not going to be done until about twelve thirty or so. I'm trying out for an advanced science class," Gohan informed her.
"That's my boy, applying himself. Well, good luck Gohan!" Chi-Chi replied.
"Thanks Mom, I'll see you later," Gohan said.
"All right, good bye," Chi-Chi said as she hung up.
Gohan sighed and thought, "Whew! Crisis averted!" He decided this would be an opportune time to get his books, locker assignments, and computer accounts. Once he had retrieved everything he needed to start school, he sat down and checked his watch. He still had an hour with absolutely nothing to do. He sat down at a lunch table and rested his chin on his upturned palm.
His thoughts began to wander to those of Videl. "Man, she really has a lot of balance and grace, not to mention power. I don't think she can manipulate her ki, but somehow she subconsciously manages to use it. She really took care of those guys back there. But when I touched her, the voice came. 'They will try to kill her'. I guess that proves it's not just a pointless recurring dream. I'd better keep an eye out for her." His mind continued to ponder the situation until he noted that it was eleven fifty. He got up and made his way towards room 236.
The room itself was in a niche in the corner of the second floor. There was material on the window that obscured the view into the room. He tried to open the door, but found it locked. He sat outside of the class patiently.
After five minutes a very large, muscular, teenage male walked out of the room. He smiled broadly at Gohan and said, "Good luck in there, pal!" He gave Gohan a hearty pat on the back.
Gohan smiled at him and replied, "Thanks!" He headed into the room. A man in his mid-twenties was sitting at a desk furiously writing down notes onto a piece of paper. The man was about the same physique as Gohan. His muscles were well defined, but nowhere near the degree of Gohan's. He had brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing jeans and a blue short-sleeved button up shirt. Gohan noticed that all of the room's windows were covered. He was trying to decide whether to string the man along, or to just open up and let him know who he was. On his desk was a nameplate that read 'Norm Troutvik'.
He decided for the latter and struck up a conversation. "So, how've you managed to not get vaporized by Vegeta while at the same time working for Bulma?" Gohan asked.
Mr. Troutvik didn't even miss a beat: "By being very, very, careful, Gohan."
Gohan was a little surprised by his response. "Bulma's told you about me?" he asked.
"Well, she's told me the names of the Z-Fighters, and since you're the only one your age, I figured out it was you," the teacher replied. "So are you here to say hello? Or do you want in this class?"
"I want to be in this class. I don't really know that much about my powers, and I'd like to take the chance at learning about myself," Gohan replied.
"Right, I guess I can forego most of the interview process. There's only one thing you have to realize. This class requires itself to be very cohesive. Once you get to know these people, we are expected to share our deepest secrets. I'm not going to make an exception for you Gohan," he warned.
Gohan had sat down in a desk. "Oh, so you want me to come out and tell the fact that I'm an alien to these complete strangers?"
The teacher shook his head. "You will not be telling it to strangers. The first quarter of the school year will be focused on getting to know the basics of psychokinetics as well as getting to know your classmates. When it comes time to share your deepest secrets, they will be almost as close as family. That's why I'm holding this interview, to make sure we don't get any screwballs in here."
Gohan thought about it for a while, then a thought came to his mind. "Is Videl going to be in this class?"
"Videl has all of the features I would like to see in a student of this class. The only problem is that we'll be discussing the previous conflicts on Earth where psychokinetics were used. That includes the Cell games," he explained.
Gohan looked confused. "So?" he asked.
Mr. Troutvik looked at him oddly. "Because her father is Hercule, the guy who claims to have defeated Cell."
"Oh," Gohan said as realization dawned on him. He thought for another second. "I think she'd be able to handle the truth. Heck, she needs to learn the truth eventually. Besides, she's already got some subconscious grasp on her ki."
"Please, in this class we refer to it as psychokinesis. Ki makes it sound so mystical," Mr. Troutvik replied.
"Anyway, I'd like her to be in the class. As a fighter she could be very useful to Earth's defense if she knew how to use psychokinesis," Gohan stated.
"Why do we need more fighters? We're in peacetime and the Z-team is able to tackle anything that appears anyway," Mr. Troutvik inquired.
Gohan shook his head and spoke: "I've got a bad feeling. Something's coming, and I don't know exactly what, but I think it will definitely push us to our limits. I think Videl can handle the truth, and more importantly, something tells me that she'll be very important against whatever's coming."
"Alright, she'll be in this class. What about you?" the teacher asked.
"Bulma trusted you, and I'll trust you. I'm in."
Mr. Troutvik smiled. "Good, the class is getting together twice this week before school starts, and then we have week long camping trip, where I'll show them exactly what psychokinetics is. Meet in this room on Monday at six AM," he informed Gohan.
The teen smiled. "Alright, I'll be there. Anything else?" he asked.
"Nope, you can go," Mr Troutvik said. Gohan smiled and teleported out of there and back to his house.
Mr. Troutvik looked at the sight with curiousity and mumbled to himself: "Hmm, I'll have to ask him how he does that trick. Next!"