Author's Note: There's a lot of technical stuff, explanations, nothing too great in this chapter . . .
I saw a commercial for the Saiyaman action figure!! You can take off his head so that he's either wearing the helmet or the bandana with the shades! So cool . . . I want one!! It's the only decent DBZ action figure I've seen here! (That one where you could stick the smaller action figure into another skin thing was creepy . . .) Oh, yeah, I don't own DBZ.
II. Dark Passions
*~* Chapter Nineteen *~*
Pikkon Speaks
Videl woke up that morning and instantly remembered that Gohan's friend, Piccolo, was outside sitting in her tree. She got out of bed and momentarily stretched, then went over to her balcony. She raised an eyebrow when she caught sight of the Namek mediating while floating in the air.
"What happened to you?" she asked, eyeing his slightly dirty turban and torn outfit, trying to ignore the fact that he was floating in the air, not sitting on the branch as he had been last night.
He sighed and opened his eyes. "I had a run in with your 'stalker' last night," he muttered.
Videl gasped. "Really?! Did you catch him? Where is he?"
"He got away. But I really don't think he's the one you should be worrying about."
"What do you mean?"
Suddenly, the door flew open and Hercule stalked into the room. "Who are you talk . . . WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HE DOING HERE?!" shrieked Hercule, pointing at Piccolo and hiding behind Videl. He recognized the green man from the Cell games- after all, there weren't many green people on earth.
"You know Piccolo, Dad?" asked Videl curiously.
"Ahhhhh . . . I didn't say that!! I meant, WHAT in the world is he?"
Piccolo just shook his head. "I'm heading out. Take care of yourself . . . Videl." He flew off.
So Gohan's friend can fly . . . weird . . . well, I really don't think HE'S Saiyaman. His voice is way too deep. Videl sighed and pushed her father away from her. "What do you want?"
Hercule found his backbone again, straightening up. "I want to know what you were doing talking to some green freak?!"
"He's not a freak! He was protecting me against a stalker-"
"SOMEONE'S STALKING YOU?! And you didn't tell me?!"
Videl winced and rubbed her ear. "Calm down, Dad! I'm fine, obvious, and now you know!"
Hercule glared at her. "Are you leading some sort of double life? You're running around with all these weird people and stuff-"
Videl rolled her eyes and shoved her Dad out of her room. "I'm not doing anything, okay? Leave me alone!" She closed her door and locked it.
Now that her father was gone and she was left with some piece and quiet, Videl's thoughts went to something Piccolo had said.
"But I really don't think he's the one you should be worrying about."
I wonder . . . what in the world did he mean by that?
*~*
Gohan was awakened by loud knocking on the front door of his house. He groaned and rolled over in his bed, pulling the pillow over his head to drown the sound out.
"GOHAN, GET UP AND GET THE DOOR!!!!!!!" shouted his mother from her room.
Better not ignore her . . . it's too early for the frying pan . . . Gohan sighed and climbed out of his bed, shuffling down the hall and to the front door. He opened it and blinked, seeing Piccolo standing there. "Jeez, Piccolo, some people like to sleep!" Gohan blinked again, then said, "Aren't you supposed to be with Videl? What are you doing here? And what happened to your clothes? What-"
"If you'd give me a chance to talk, then I'd tell you!"
Gohan chuckled softly, then rubbed the back of his head. "Oops, sorry . . . Umm, come in?"
Piccolo stepped into the house, old memories of the times he'd spent with Goku in the Son home and in the 'backyard' resurfacing. After seven years, he still missed his old friend . . .
"What's all this about, Piccolo?"
He returned to the present. "Last night I had a . . . little talk with our stalker."
"A TALK?! You were supposed to beat him up and catch him, not talk! Gee, Piccolo, you must be getting soft in your old age . . ." Gohan winced as Piccolo sent him a piercing look. "Sorry. Go on."
"It turns out our guy's name is Pikkon, and he's not a Saiyan. He's a Midorian, a race that's not in this area of the universe. Midorians are green, like Namekians, but their heads are . . . how can I say this . . . sort of long."
"Long? Can you be more specific?"
Piccolo made a gesture with his hands. "Like this. The Midorians are know for their speed and unique attacks."
Gohan nodded. "Okay . . . so what happened last night?"
Piccolo told him the story. "He claims he wants to protect your girlfriend, not harm her."
"Protect her? And she's not my girlfriend," Gohan added naturally.
"And the planet, or at least, that's what he claims. The Midorian race is also known for it's honesty, integrity, and pride, which is why I think Pikkon was telling the truth."
Gohan raised an eyebrow. "You believe him? You believe some green guy who pops up out of nowhere, who hides in bushes, and who's working for an unknown source? He could be evil, a talented liar or something . . ."
Piccolo sighed. "We trust Vegeta, don't we? Well, don't you?"
"Aww, that's different!"
"How?"
"Umm . . . er . . . give me a second . . ."
"Think about it this way, Gohan. If Pikkon wanted to get rid of you or me so that we wouldn't get in the way of any 'evil plans' he may have up his sleeve, then he could've done it while he was here, looking after Videl while she was at your place. He hasn't tried to kill us, unlike a certain someone."
Gohan had to admit that Piccolo was making some very good points. "Well, if he is working for the good guys, then WHO is he working for?"
"What makes you think he's working for someone?" asked Piccolo.
"He called earth a mud ball planet, which indicates to me that he couldn't care less about what happened here. So, if he's trying to protect earth, someone must be telling him what to do," rationalized Gohan, sounding much like some college professor.
Piccolo raised an eyebrow. [A/N: Does he even have any?] "Hmm . . . good observation. You must get your brain from Chichi, because Goku would never have been to pick that up."
Gohan chuckled. "I guess."
Piccolo got serious again. "Well, if he's working for someone, then this someone must know more about our enemy than we do, because, for some reason, Pikkon seems to think that the safety of your girlfriend has something to do with the safety of planet earth."
"She's not my girlfriend," Gohan mumbled, staring at the ground. "I wonder . . . I'll be back!" He dashed into his room, then came back, holding the two soochi in his hands. "What if the bad guys want Videl because of these?"
"What do you mean?"
"Remember when I told you that Vile was trying to stick something in Videl's neck when I rescued her? Well, it turns out the white one reacts to me, while the pink reacts to Videl. And Vile's prince said 'drain her' . . . with the soochi, probably . . . so . . . what exactly did they want to drain?"
Piccolo was silent, then almost jumped when Gohan shouted. "ENERGY!!"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Man, I should've put this all together sooner! I fought that guy who drained people at Satan City mall . . . and the people who were attacked said they felt weak . . . because some of their energy had been taken! And he had something in his pocket . . . maybe another type of soochi!!" Gohan grinned. "Man, I'm smart!!"
Piccolo took a step back, seeing that Gohan was getting worked up. "I see . . . it all fits . . ."
"Yep! And since these soochi only act crazy around Videl and me, we must have some sort of . . . special energy . . . or something like that . . ." Gohan's voice drifted off as he stared up at the ceiling, engrossed in his thoughts.
Piccolo watched for a few minutes as Gohan stared at nothing, and was about to shake him out of his thoughts when Goten came running into the living room, launching himself at the Namek while shouting, "Piccolo's here!! Piccolo's here!!" over and over again. Chichi followed.
She looked at her older son, who was oblivious to the fact that Goten and climbing up Piccolo's cape. "What's wrong with him?" she asked.
"He's probably wallowing in the fact that he's so smart," snickered Piccolo.
"OF COURSE my baby's smart!" she cried. "What are you talking about?"
He filled Chichi on everything that had happened and Goten stopped his accent up 'Mt. Piccolo' to listen.
"Gohan figured out all of that? Wow!" exclaimed Goten when Piccolo was done. "I wanna be that smart!"
Chichi smiled. "Why, Goten, why don't you climb up Gohan? Maybe he'll snap out of it?"
Goten ran up to his brother and began to pull on his long sleeping pants. Gohan blinked several times, then realized that Goten was about to pull down his pants. He scooped his brother up off the floor and placed him on his shoulders. "What happened? What's going?"
"If you hadn't been in outer space, then you would've known," Piccolo muttered.
"Sorry about that . . . but I was thinking . . . what would the Saiyans want with energy?" said Gohan. "And, I'd like to meet this Pikkon guy. Maybe he'll know why there are still Saiyans when Vegeta-sei was blown up a long time ago."
"Whatever they want with the energy, it can't be good for earth," Chichi said.
Piccolo nodded in agreement. "How are we going to question Pikkon if we don't know where he is? It's not like he's going to come to us."
Gohan chewed on his bottom lip for a while, then grinned. "Oh, yes he will."
Piccolo had never before seen the look that Gohan had on his face now. "You have something in mind?"
Gohan nodded. "He WILL come to us. He'll follow Videl."
"Are you sure?" asked his mother. "After his encounter with Piccolo, he might stay away."
Gohan shook his head. "No way! He wouldn't. No offense, Piccolo, but it sounds like he had a pretty easy time holding you down. He probably thinks that Piccolo isn't strong enough to protect Videl properly. And, if Midorians are the way you described, Piccolo, then I think he would stay with his assignment until he received other orders."
"So what do you suppose we do?" Piccolo questioned.
"We bring Videl over here and call the others over in advance, making sure that they all mask their ki's. Then, Pikkon will follow her, and we can gang up on him. There's no way he'd be able to get away from me, Piccolo, Vegeta, Yamcha and Krillin."
"And me and Trunks!" exclaimed Goten.
"I don't think so." Chichi glared at her youngest son. "You and Trunks will NOT get in the way!"
"Awww . . . we never get to have any fun . . ."
"Alright, Gohan, let's get started setting this up," suggested Piccolo.
"Okay! I'll go call everyone." Gohan pulled Goten off of his shoulders and set him on the floor, then went into the kitchen and picked up the phone. First, he dialed the Capsule Corp number.
"Wuzzup? Briefs residence," Trunks muttered from the other end.
"Hey, Trunks."
"GOHAN!! Hi, are you coming over?"
"Not exactly. I need to speak to Vegeta."
" . . . What do you want to talk to him for? I thought he hated your guts!"
Gohan chuckled. "He probably does! But it's really important, so . . ."
"Oh! Okay, hold on." There was some shuffling on the other end, then someone picked up.
"What do you want?" growled Vegeta. "I was in the middle of a good spar, so this had better be good."
"Good morning to you too, Vegeta."
"I don't have time to play, boy, so-"
"Okay, okay, okay!" Gohan told him about Pikkon, what Gohan had figured out and his plan. "So, what do you think?"
" . . ."
"I take it that means you'll be over as soon as possible?"
Vegeta grunted in reply.
"Oh, yeah, and you can bring Trunks to keep Goten busy so he won't get in the way."
"I'll be over in thirty minutes." Click.
Gohan then phoned the rest of the guys, telling them what he'd told Vegeta. He emerged from the kitchen when he was done. "Say, Mom, do you think you could make some breakfast?"
"Oh, I forgot! Sure thing." She went into the kitchen.
"Are you going to call Videl?!" Goten jumped up and down. "I want her to come over!"
"Not yet. I want the others to get here first so everyone can get in place."
Piccolo, who was leaning against a wall, stared at Gohan. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Constructing this plan, figuring everything out . . ."
Gohan chuckled guiltily. "Yeah . . . I guess."
Within thirty minutes, everyone arrived, including Juuhachi, who Gohan thought would've stayed on Master Roshi's island. When Gohan asked her why she was here, she glared at him and said, "Do you want me to go or something?"
Gohan rubbed the back of his head. "Gosh, no! The more, the better!"
"That's what I thought." And then the issue was dropped.
Chichi prepared more than enough food to feed all of her guests, and, as they sat around the kitchen table with Goten, Trunks, and Vegeta stuffing their faces as fast as they could, Gohan, who'd only eaten less than half of what he normally did, [A/N: @_@ Wow . . .] was coming up with a useful strategy.
Gohan drew a diagram of his house and the area around it on a piece of blank paper and placed it in the middle of the table for everyone to see. "Mom, you'll have a part in this. When Videl comes over, she'll ask for me. You need to tell her to go around to the right side of the house to find me." He pointed to the side he was talking about with a pencil. "Make sure she goes that way, okay? Good. We'll have everyone else stationed at a specific spot so we can jump out at him at the same time. Vegeta, you'll be hiding behind the bush here," he pointed at the bush on his diagram, "-and-"
"HOLD ON! I refuse to hide behind some bush like a coward!" protested Vegeta, looking up for his bowl off raamen. [1]
"Aw, come on, Vegeta," muttered Krillin. "Don't be difficult."
The Saiyan Prince glared at Krillin. "Shut up!"
"Fine, Vegeta, I'll hide behind the bush," said Gohan. He began to place the others on different places and then said, "Vegeta, then, will be the one to confront Pikkon and distract him. Then, I'll give the signal," he whistled, sounding much like a bird, "and you all will jump out."
"THAT sounds more like it," grumbled Vegeta, returning to his bowl of raamen.
"What are Goten and I going to do?" asked Trunks.
"Take Videl outside and keep her company while we question Pikkon," answered Gohan as the boys groaned. "We'll have to bring Pikkon inside so we can question him, so we'll need several of you guys to drag him inside. Vegeta, Piccolo and I will do that after we jump out. We need to go after him quickly. Got it?"
They all nodded. "Good. Now, I'll phone Videl . . ."
*~*
Videl was stretching in her room, preparing to take a morning jog, when the phone rang. She got off the floor and grabbed the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi, Videl. It's Gohan."
"Oh, hey. What's up?"
"I was wondering . . . if you wanted to come over and train today."
"Of course I do! When?"
"Now. As in, right now."
Videl raised an eyebrow. Gohan sounded a little excited, too excited to be happy that she was coming over. "Okay . . . I'll be over as soon as possible."
"Great! See you then!" He hung up the phone.
She stared down at the receiver in her head, then hung up too. What is Gohan up to?
*~*
Pikkon watched as the girl left her home and got into the yellow flying machine, taking off. He took to the air and followed her.
He'd returned to his watch shortly after blowing up at the Namek the previous night. The only reason why Pikkon returned at all was because he decided that the Namek wasn't strong enough to keep the girl out of harm. If anything happened to the girl, HE would not be happy, and he didn't want to get on HIS bad side.
After a while, he realized that the girl was heading to the house she'd gone to the day before. I bet she and that boy are lovers, or else why would she come here all the time?
Pikkon hung back as the girl landed her flying contraption in front of the house. When she went inside, he landed on the grass and darted behind a tree.
Inside the house, Videl was asking Chichi where Gohan was. Chichi pretended to think, then said, "Oh, he's outside!" She took Videl's arm, led her out of the house, and pointed her in the direction she needed to go. "Go that way, okay? You'll find him that way."
"Okay, I got it. That way."
Chichi nodded and gave her a little nudge and went back into the house. Videl slowly walked off in that direction. "Gohan? Gohan, you out there?"
Meanwhile, Pikkon was following her, walking quietly just behind her.
"Where is that boy?" muttered Videl. "If this is some sort of trick, I'll kick his ass. This is sooo not funny, Son Gohan!"
Gohan held his breath as she walked past the bush he was hiding behind. He spotted Pikkon walking not too far behind her. There he is . . .
As soon as Pikkon neared the area where the Z-Fighters were hiding, Vegeta flew down off of the roof and right in Pikkon's path.
"Where-" muttered Pikkon, halting immediately.
Gohan gave his whistle and everyone jumped out, grabbing hold of some part of Pikkon to hold him down.
Videl, who had turned around at the strange whistle, gasped when she saw Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo and some other people jump out of nowhere and ambush a tall green guy, wrestling him to the ground. "Gohan, what-"
"Get out of here, Videl! Get into the house!" shouted Gohan, grabbing Pikkon's arm and twisting it behind his back.
This time, Videl didn't need to be told twice. She raced into the house where Trunks and Goten, who took their small part in everything very seriously, immediately rushed her out of the back door and out into the woods.
Meanwhile, the others were still trying to contain Pikkon, who was thrashing and growling like a wild animal. He managed to throw Yamcha off of him and into the side of the Son home. The same happened to Krillin.
Gohan growled in frustration and grabbed both of the Midorian's arms and pulled them behind his back. He hooked one arm around Pikkon's neck, successfully stilling him. Krillin opened the back door, while massaging his neck with the other hand. Gohan dragged Pikkon inside of the house and threw him into a kitchen chair. The others filed into the room, Pikkon and Vegeta blocking the back door, and the others standing in front of any other possible exit.
Gohan regained his composure and looked the green man over. He could see the resemblance between him and Piccolo. He was surprised to see Pikkon staring strangely at him. "What?"
"You . . . remind me of someone . . ."
Vegeta snorted. "Can we start the interrogation, please?"
Gohan ignored him. "How so?"
"There was someone I met in Other World . . ."
Gohan's eyes widened. "Hey, my Dad, Son Goku, is in Other World!"
A grin appeared on Pikkon's face as he remembered Son Goku and the Other World Tournament. Well, that would explain the boy's high ki level. "I fought Goku in the Other World Tournament. He defeated me."
"Really?! Wow. Say, how is he? Has he mentioned me, or-"
"WE ARE NOT HERE TO CHAT!!" exclaimed Vegeta, who looked extremely agitated. "Ask him the damn questions so we can go!"
"Okay, okay, Vegeta! Calm down! Umm, if you were dead, then how come you're alive? You don't have a halo," noticed Gohan.
"I was brought back to life, obviously."
"By who?"
" . . ."
"Oooookay . . . who sent you here?"
"The same person who brought me back to life."
Vegeta growled, stepping forward and making a fist with his hands. "Answer the damn questions properly, or I'll-"
Gohan held up his hand, silencing him. "It's alright Vegeta. Maybe we can make some sort of deal."
"A deal?" scoffed Piccolo.
"Yes, a deal. Look, in exchange for some information about the enemy, we can leave his 'boss' out of this," reasoned Gohan, glancing at everyone. "He probably knows a lot more than we do."
"I say we beat the information out of him," grumbled Vegeta, but stepped back anyway.
Pikkon watched them carefully. It was obvious that the boy was the 'ringleader', because he was asking all the questions and the short, angry man had quieted at the boy's simple gesture. "I'll answer your questions, if you answer mine."
Gohan nodded. "Shoot."
I guess that mean ask. Weird earth expressions . . . "What are your names? You probably know mine."
"What do you want our names for?" asked Yamcha. He didn't trust Pikkon at all, even though he'd said that he knew Goku.
"If I'm even going to consider working with you all, I think I should know who you are."
Gohan began to name everyone and then himself. "What else do you want to know?"
"Are you the leader?"
"Ahh . . . why do you ask?"
"I just want to know. You're a little young to be a leader, but it seems like you're in charge. You're asking all of the questions."
Gohan couldn't answer. Krillin spoke up. "Sure, he's our leader. With Goku gone, he's the most qualified." The others began to nod, except for Vegeta and Juuhachi.
"Most qualified?" muttered Pikkon.
"Gohan defeated the strongest opponent the earth has ever seen seven years ago, when he was just a boy," said Piccolo, causing Gohan to blush a bit. "None of us would have stood a chance against the monster."
Pikkon was surprised. "Not even Goku?"
"My Dad wasn't strong enough then, but for some reason, I was," answered Gohan. Anxious to drop the Cell subject, he said, "Do you want to know anything else?"
"Yes. One thing. Are you and the girl lovers? Just out of curiosity."
Gohan turned bright red as the others snickered and laughed. "NO, we're just friends! That's all, nothing more . . ."
"Right . . ."
"Okay, it's my turn! Why don't you tell us what you know about the enemy?" Gohan quickly said.
"You are up against the most blood-thirsty, evil race that ever existed- the Saiyans."
Gohan shifted at the description of his race. Surely they weren't all evil and bent on destroying planets. Look at Vegeta . . . okay, bad example . . . well, he's okay NOW.
Vegeta spoke up. "The Saiyans were destroyed long ago, along with Vegeta-sei. I should know- I'm the prince of all Saiyans."
"Is that so? It seems your race, then, has adopted a new prince, or more like three new princes. It all started when King Vegeta was about to go against Freeza. He secretly loaded a huge space ship with the Queen, his most promising fighters, scientists, doctors and others and sent it out in space, just in case something happened. As we all know, Freeza blew up Vegeta-sei. However, the spaceship safely made it away from the planet just in time.
The spaceship from spaceport to spaceport, in search of a place to settle. Soon, the Queen died, and King Vegeta's second in command took the throne. It was a few months after the Queen's death when the Saiyans came across a deserted planet with perfect living conditions. Of course they landed there and the new King named the planet Vegeta-sei in memory of his former home.
The Saiyans established themselves and began to rebuild their civilization. Things were peaceful for the race for a while. The King had three sons very late into his life and, recently, he passed away. Before he died, he sent the eldest of his three sons, Rattai, who happened to be the wildest, out on a purging mission to hopefully settle him down.
The King formulated a list of useless planets in the solar system, with earth the last on the list. Rattai has purged all of the other planets and now is working on this one."
Gohan digested the information. So there was a whole planet full of Saiyans out there somewhere. "But that doesn't explain what Rattai wants with Videl. Does it have something to do with her energy?"
Pikkon nodded. "Yes. On one of the planets Rattai destroyed, he heard of a legend that dated back millions and millions of years. The legend spoke of two powerful beings, one male, one female. Their energy would be superior to any other that ever existed. Videl happens to be this female."
"Which would make Gohan the male," muttered Piccolo.
Pikkon glanced at him. "What makes you say that?"
Gohan pulled the soochi from his pocket and showed them to Pikkon. "I've guessed that these react to whoever holds the energy that Rattai is looking for. The white one reacts to me, and the pink one reacts to Videl."
"Love and pure energy . . . the white color of the one that reacts to Gohan signifies purity, and the pink is for love. If you and Videl somehow manage to access your hidden powers . . ." Pikkon drifted off for a bit. "Imagine the possibilities . . ."
"This pure energy would also explain how I was able to defeat Cell when no one else could." Gohan stared down at the objects in his hand. This changed everything . . .
"Rattai only knows of Videl's energy, or else he would've come after Gohan, too," Pikkon said. "If he manages to drain Videl, he will inject the energy into himself to become stronger. We can't let him get any of either energy. Everything would be lost then."
"I have a question."
Everyone turned and stared at Juuhachi, who'd remained silent and still throughout the whole thing. "Why didn't this boss of yours just come to the fighters here on earth and tell US about what's going on?"
"He did not believe that there were any forces here strong enough to compete with what we're up against. Clearly, he was wrong," said Pikkon, staring at Gohan the whole time. "Unfortunately, my 'boss' had never heard of Son Goku, or he would've been brought back to life, too so that he could help."
Gohan frowned. "Can't you contact him or something?"
"No. I have no way to do that. He said that he would come to ME when I needed something."
Just then, Chichi wandered into the kitchen, then gasped when she saw everyone standing there, staring at her. "Oh, was I . . . interrupting something? And who's THAT?"
"This, Mom, is Pikkon. I'm hoping that he'll be willing to help us fight the Saiyans . . ." Gohan said hopefully.
Pikkon sighed, then nodded reluctantly. "I will help you."
"Great! Say, Piccolo, why don't you take Pikkon up to Dende's Lookout? He can stay there with you," Gohan suggested, then stepped back when Piccolo glared fiercely at him. "Aww, come on, Piccolo! Where else is he going to stay?"
"Capsule Corp," said Piccolo.
Vegeta went off. "I think not!! That is MY house and-"
"Actually, it's Bulma's house, and I'm sure she'd be glad to have Pikkon over," Gohan said sweetly. Besides, Vegeta, you'll have a sparring partner . . ."
Vegeta looked thoughtful. "I guess . . . well, lets go, green man." Pikkon followed Vegeta out of the house, stopping momentarily to tell Gohan to keep a close eye on Videl.
The others eventually left the house, and Gohan filled his mother in on what they'd learned. "Looks like I'd better get back to training, and try to find this 'hidden' power Pikkon was talking about."
Author's Notes: Am I making Gohan too smart? STILL confused? Think you know who Pikkon's boss is? (You should. It's so obvious.) Found something wrong with my theory? Any comments? Email me at tobygirl2020@yahoo.com.
[1] I'm talking about the Japanese raamen, the real stuff. I saw a special about raamen on the International Channel and it IS spelled with two A's due to the extension that you would use when you write raamen in hiragana, YES, hiragana. That stuff looks weird, but it's probably good.
NEXT CHAPTER: While the others were interrogating Pikkon, Videl, trunks and Goten went on a little hike. Then, something happens . . . will the boys be able to protect Videl?
