Author's Note: Umm . . .yeah! I'll spare you the (valid) excuses and let you get right to it, okay?
No, I don't own DBZ, and no, poor Enchantress did not win her election. Yes, you all can cry for her now.
II. Dark Passions
*~* Chapter Thirty Four *~*
Plan B
Videl watched as Rattai gave her one more look before retreating to his spaceship before returning her attention to Gohan. Once he was gone, she turned to the others and called, "Don't just stand there! I need some help!!"
The others were too surprised to act, all shocked by Videl's sudden decision, but Shin and Kibito moved forward, flying down from their safe spot and onto the ground beside Videl. Kibito instantly fell to Gohan's side, placing his hands on his chest.
"I don't know if I have enough strength to bring him back to his full power," Kibito forced out as his hands began to glow. "But this should be enough to get him up."
As the pink man did his work, Shin turned to Videl. "Thank you."
"No problem." Although I know I'm going to get hell for it.
His eyes dropped to the side that she was holding. It was just as he feared- the enemy had gotten some of her energy. Not a lot, it seemed, because she appeared to be just fine. Maybe a bit winded, but that was it. "Would you like Kibito to take a look at that for you?"
Videl shook her head, keeping her gaze locked on her boyfriend's still body. "He's got his hands full with Gohan."
"What the fuck?" demanded Vegeta, his left eye twitching with anger. "What in the world does that onna think she's doing?! We could've had him!"
Goku frowned. He was just as confused as Vegeta. "I don't know what's going on. Let's go and see."
Goku led the way over to the small group huddled over Gohan and immediately went over to Videl's side. He put the most serious look he could conjure up on his face before speaking. "What's going on here?"
Videl shifted her weight nervously and avoided his gaze. "Later, okay? I want to make sure Gohan's alright."
"Look, girl," sneered Vegeta. "I've had it with you! Don't you ever think?! I-"
"Back off Vegeta," grunted Gohan, shaking off Kibito's hands. He looked angry with himself for getting beat so badly. And in front of Videl, too! "What are we doing standing around like nothing's going on? Where's Rattai?" he asked, his agitation clear.
Vegeta shot Videl and evil look. "Your idiotic mate let him get away!!"
"What?" Gohan turned to Videl. "What is he talking about?"
Oh boy. How do I get myself into these messes? Videl sighed warily. "I-"
"She'll explain later," said Shin sternly. "Now, I think it's important for us to get out of here, just in case Rattai changes his mind and decides to come back."
Vegeta was about to protest when Goku said, "I think that would be good. We've got some things to think about before we try to go up against him again."
"It's settled then," muttered Piccolo gruffly. He was just as confused as everyone else, and he didn't like it one bit. "Gohan, Goku, if you could use your IT to get us back to your room at the hotel . . ."
Everyone but Videl and Shin touched some part of Goku, and the remaining two hung on to Gohan. The two groups disappeared from the battleground.
Goten gulped. "Trunks . . . they left us here!!" he hissed and began to panic. What if some Saiyans came out of the spaceship and found them?! They'd be toast for sure . . .
Trunks shot up into the air. "Come on, let's get out of here!!" Goten followed quickly after him, going Super. They didn't slow down until they were well away from the space ship, and, hopefully, out of harm's way. The two boys began to drift in the air, slowly making their way back to the Tenkaichi Budokai grounds.
"I wonder why Videl agreed to come back in six days," said Goten curiously, scratching the back of his head.
"Me too. She's always doin' somethin' crazy- first running off and getting kidnapped, then this! Did you see my Dad? I thought he was going to blow her to bits!" Trunks replied as he did a small loop-de-loop in the air. He screwed his face into an angry-Vegeta look and said, " 'What in the world does that onna think she's doing!! We could've had him!!!'"
Goten giggled a bit, then frowned. "Whatever excuse she has for this one better be good . . ."
*~*
The second the two groups arrived at the hotel, Vegeta angrily stomped off in pursuit of Bulma, muttering, "Who does she think she is? Stupid onna," under his breath as he went. He was ready to leave the island, ready to get back to the comforts of his home and, most importantly, was ready to get away from Goku's eldest brat's mate before he blew her into oblivion.
As Vegeta left, Shin cleared his throat and spoke. "Well. I must be going now . . ."
Goku frowned. "Going? Where? It's not over yet!"
"I know, but there is something Kibito, Pikkon and I must see to. It's very urgent," said the Supreme Kai, his voice anxious and, if Goku wasn't mistaken, slightly excited. "Goku, I will pay a visit to Bulma's home in a few hours. You and the others will be there?"
" . . . I guess . . . But don't you want to-"
"Good. Let's go Kibito, Pikkon." The trio exited the room via an open window and flew off at breakneck speeds.
"What was THAT all about?" muttered Krillin. "He just took off! You know what, he's probably not coming back."
Tien glared at Krillin. "That's the Supreme Kai you're talking about. I'm sure he's got a perfectly good explanation for everything . . ."
*~*
Vegeta found Bulma and Chichi down in the lobby, giving first aid to those who'd been injured in the Saiyan's attack on the tournament grounds. He immediately went to his wife's side, pulling her away from a young man with little more than a bruise on his leg, who had been ogling her chest with wide eyes.
"Woman," he growled. "Get our things ready. Let's get out of here."
She looked him over. He didn't appear to be hurt, with only a few minor injuries here and there. "What happened? Didn't you all duke it out with that guy yet?"
"Goku's sorry brat got his ass kicked and his mate forced us to retreat like a pack of wounded puppies," he sneered.
Chichi had overheard the bit about Gohan getting beat up and immediately rushed into the conversation. "GOHAN?! WHERE IS HE?!! IS HE OKAY?!"
Vegeta rolled his eyes.
"Take us to him," said Bulma, gathering up a first aid box. "He may need our help, unless you all had a senzu bean . . ."
"You'll take us to him anyway," Chichi asserted firmly.
"Don't speak to me that way, you hound."
"Hey! Don't make me get Goku on you!!"
"I could take that sorry excuse for a Saiyan warrior any day!"
Bulma jumped in between them. "You two can argue later. Let's just find Gohan, okay?"
Vegeta began to grumble under his breath again as he led them back up to Goku's room. He threw the door wide open just as Shin, Kibito and Pikkon flew out of the window.
"What was THAT all about?" the short man asked. "He just took off! You know what, he's probably not coming back."
Tien glared at Krillin. "That's the Supreme Kai you're talking about. I'm sure he's got a perfectly good explanation for everything . . ."
Vegeta smirked. "Speaking of explanations, I think that girl owes us all one."
Everyone turned to look at Videl, who began to squirm under the scrutiny. "Ahhh . . . umm . . . you see-"
Gohan impatiently demanded while fighting away his mother's searching hands, "Will someone PLEASE tell me why were standing around here instead of out there fighting?!"
"Oh, yeah. That. Well," said Mirai Trunks. "Hmm . . . you were getting beat up really badly, I mean, MAN, it was just painful watching, I thought I was the one getting hit and-"
Gohan growled under his breath. Yeah, he didn't need to be reminded of his humiliating defeat.
"Anyway, once you hit the ground, Videl came rushing out of no where and Rattai, for some reason, asked us to come back in six days."
"Don't tell me you agreed . . ."
Once again, everyone focused his or her gaze on Videl. "Umm . . . hehe, that was me. I agreed," she said nervously.
"And she has yet told us why," reminded Vegeta. "Spit it out, girl, and it had better be good."
Videl winced. Oh, well, here goes nothing . . . "You see, Shin has a plan-"
Everyone sighed heavily at exactly same time, Krillin and Mirai Trunks rolled their eyes, and Juuhachi shook her head and walked right out of the room.
Vegeta was fuming. "You agreed to ANOTHER one of his plans?! Honestly, do you have a BRAIN in that HEAD of yours, girl?!"
Goku looked disapproving. "Videl . . . look where his last one got us."
"We know the location of the Saiyan ship!" she said quickly.
Videl was loosing her audience. Krillin and Tien left the room, and Vegeta soon followed.
"And . . . and . . . we've seen some of Rattai's fighting techniques! It wasn't a total loss!"
Piccolo gave her a look that said 'give it up' and flew out of the window. Goku smiled slightly at her and went over to Chichi, hooking an arm around her waist and leading her out of the room, in search of something to eat.
Videl turned desperately to Gohan. "Come on, hear me out before-"
"Videl, sweetheart," said Gohan warily, "give it up." He, too, left the room.
Bulma went over to Videl and patted her on the back. "Sorry about that."
"So am I. If I could just get them to listen to the plan before jumping to conclusions . . ."
"Well, why don't you tell me what's going on?"
She did, telling the older woman everything she knew. "Shin didn't tell me much, but that was enough to get me to agree to the six day thing."
Bulma was intrigued. "Sounds like a good idea to me! It just might work!"
"I know, but if no one's going to listen to me, then how . . ."
"I don't know. Keep trying, I'm sure Gohan will hear you out eventually. In the meantime, I'll go at Goku and Vegeta."
Videl frowned. But that could take time, to get the stubborn Saiyan's to listen, and six days wasn't a lot to work with, especially in her current situation.
*~*
About an hour later, everyone piled back into Bulma's jumbo copter, on a non-stop course back to Capsule Corp where the Z-Fighters wanted to hold a 'meeting' of sorts, to come up with a new strategy. They'd decided to let Goten and Trunks figure out where they were, since they'd run off without permission anyway.
The ride back to CC was relatively quiet. No one said anything from fear of upsetting Gohan, who was wallowing in his defeat in the back of the copter all by himself, or because they wanted to avoid hearing anymore about Shin's newest plan, which they had already deemed a disaster because of his other one. Either way, the only conversation came from Chichi as she counted the tournament winnings from the checks she'd cashed on the island, earned by both of her sons, and while she fixed Gohan up, and from Bulma, who told them when they were close to arriving at their appointed destination.
When they landed in the backyard of Bulma's home, they collected their things and filed into the house. Goku decided that it would be best if everyone rested up some more, and then begged Chichi to cook for them, or more likely, himself. Goku hovered around in the kitchen and the others wandered off. Videl tagged along after Gohan as he slumped around the house until he ended up outside of the gravity room. Surprisingly, Vegeta was no where to be seen, leaving Gohan free to go in. When Videl tried to go after him, he turned around and placed his body right in the doorway, preventing Videl from entering.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.
"In there with you."
"I'm going to be training under some intense gravity, Videl," Gohan said seriously. "You'll be crushed."
"Gohan, don't go in there! You just came from battle! You should rest up!"
"The jet ride was long enough for me to rest. I've got a lot of work to do, if I'm going to stop the Saiyans."
Videl sighed. "Look, just listen to me! Shin's plan is-"
"Only going to cause more harm than good." He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Be a good girl and go help Mom in the kitchen."
"GOHAN!! THAT WAS A DELIBERATE SEXIST COMMENT AND I WON'T STAND FOR IT!!!!!!!!!"
Too late, though. He had already shut the door in her face.
If he hadn't gotten beat up earlier today, I would've hit him for that. There was nothing left to do but turn around and do as Gohan had suggested. She walked back to the kitchen and watched in amusement as Chichi slapped Goku's sneaky hand with a spatula as he reached for a chocolate chip cookie that lay cooling on the counter. Bulma wasn't there, but then again, Bulma was rarely in the kitchen unless it was to pop something into the microwave.
"Aww, can I have JUST ONE?" moaned Goku. "They smell so GOOD and I missed your cookies in Other World!"
"NO, GOKU!! I SAID NO A MILLION TIMES!! You'll spoil your appetite."
He pouted. "I'm not a kid, Chi."
"Well, you sure act like one!"
Videl grinned and stepped forward. "Can I have one?"
Chichi turned around and smiled brightly at Videl. "Of course you can, dear. Take as many as you want."
Goku gapped at the unfairness of it all as Videl slowly went up to the counter and slid four cookies off of the baking sheet. When Chichi wasn't looking, Videl tossed two to Goku, who grinned and stuffed them quickly into his mouth.
"You poor thing," Chichi was saying. She bent down to place a huge turkey into the oven, along side of one that was already there. "Bulma's told me all about your problem. I want to help." Chichi reached into her pocket and pulled out something small and black. She gave Goku an evil grin and squeezed the object in her hand.
Goku gave a yelp as the black thing grew and grew . . . until it became a black frying pan. It was worn and slightly dented from all of the times she used it on Goku. "Yes, Goku dear, this is your special frying pan," she said. "The one reserved for you. The hardest of them all. Amazing how I've kept it nice and clean all these years . . ."
"C-C-Chichi, honey, put it down . . . please!" he begged.
"NOT UNTIL YOU LISTEN TO VIDEL!!! THIS PLAN OF HERS IS-"
Goku quickly shook his head, then raised two fingers to his forehead and vanished. Videl slumped down into a chair. "Nice try, Chichi."
"I thought I had him . . ."
Videl eyed the weapon in Chichi's hands. "Where'd THAT come from?"
"Oh, this?!" She laughed wildly. "Bulma made this for me a loooong time ago. How else do you think I pulled the frying pans from 'thin air'?"
When Videl said nothing, Chichi frowned. The young girl seemed to be lost in thought, staring down at the table. "Something on your mind?"
Videl nibbled on a cookie thoughtfully. "Say, Chichi . . . what do I have to do are here to get the others to think of me as more than Gohan's mate?"
Chichi laughed softly. "For me, it was being the only one who knew how to cook. For Bulma, it was all of her nifty, extremely useful gadgets. You . . . I don't know. I suppose it'll be harder, since you're also younger."
"I TRY to be useful and everything practically backfires in my face, and now I'm sure everyone thinks less of me. I honestly don't know what to do."
"Is it really THAT important?"
Videl nodded. "Chichi . . . these people are a big part of Gohan's life, so it's natural that I'd want them to approve of me, and to welcome me."
The older woman sat across from her at the table. "They do! They all like you."
"Yeah, they like me when I'm Gohan's cute little girlfriend, but they certainly don't see me as a good fighter, or anyone useful. I'm just . . . there, you know?"
"I'm sure you'll find your own way into our group, Videl. I know you will."
*~*
Punch, kick, punch punch kick. Gohan whizzed through the air, attacking an invisible enemy as he went. All of his motions seemed repetitive though . . . his heart wasn't into it. Instead, he was thinking of something else, or more like, someone else.
He had been ignoring Videl for a while, during the time they had to pack, on the ride to CC and even now. Gohan was beginning to fell bad.
But there was no way he was going to listen to another plan of Shin's.
Every time he thought about it, about what it had led to, he got angry. He'd put up a good fight in the beginning, but once Rattai had powered up, he'd lost pathetically.
He landed on the ground and fell to the floor, breathing hard. Okay . . . so it was probably inevitable. I was going to face him SOMETIME but . . .
Placing the blame on someone else was a lot easier.
Gohan shut off the gravity, then realized that he'd been inside of the room for more than two hours. He wandered out, deciding to find Videl and apologize for that . . . rude comment he'd said earlier. Yeah, and then she'll kick my butt . . .
On his way down the hallway, he bumped into his mother, who had a sack tucked underneath her arm.
"Gohan! Just the person I wanted to see!" She reached into the bag and pulled out a thick wad of money, then handed it to him. "Here you go."
" . . . what?"
"It's some of the money you won. You deserve it."
It was a quite a sum of money. "What do I do with it?"
"I don't know! Surprise Videl with a nice gift or something! I'm sure she's mad at you for not listening to her. You should, by the way. It's a great plan and-"
Gohan shoved the money in his pocket and quickly took off down the hall, ignoring his mother's shouts. He felt for Videl's ki and found her outside, watching Goten and Trunks wrestle with each other. He wondered when the two boys had arrived and went over to Videl's side, sitting down next to her.
"Hey . . . Videl," he said nervously.
"Gohan."
"Ahh . . . I'm sorry for acting like a jerk earlier. I was a bit upset . . ."
"Understood. But you'd better make it up to me."
" . . . of course."
She looked at him, then grinned. "You know what, you could do that right now! Listen to Shin's idea!"
"VIDEL . . ."
"No, really!"
"I don't think so . . ."
She sighed exasperatedly. "You, Son Gohan, will listen to me if I have to pin you down RIGHT HERE and-"
"FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!!!" chanted the two little boys eagerly.
"Scram, okay?!" shouted Videl.
They wisely took off.
Videl climbed into Gohan's lap, swung her legs around so that she was straddling his waist and grabbed his hair forcefully with both hands.
"OUCH!!! HEY, WHAT-"
Videl pulled his face close hers and said in a firm whisper, "You will listen to me. You will not interrupt me. You will think that this is a good idea and you will let me do it. More importantly, when Shin comes back to talk to us, you will SUPPORT him in front of the others. Is that understood?"
"Umm . . . yeah! If you'll let go of my hair!!"
She did and, when she moved to remove herself from his lap, Gohan kept her in place. "I didn't say I'd let you up, though," he replied, grinning.
"Why, Gohan . . . are you turning into a pervert on me?"
"No. Can't I hold you?" He tightened his grip around her waist.
"Fine. But don't get distracted now, or I'll get up. Let me tell you what happened. When I ran out to your side earlier, Shin used his mind to give me a quick outline of his plan, and when Rattai suggested prolonging the fight a little more, things were perfect for Shin's idea. So I agreed."
"Okay . . . What exactly did you agree to this time?"
"Apparently, back on Shin's home planet, a team of reaserchers have been working on a device, sort of like the ones the Saiyans use to drain energy. So now, he wants to take MY energy and give it to YOU, hopefully giving us the edge we need to win this!"
Gohan raised an eyebrow. THIS one didn't sound to bad . . . "Is it dangerous? I mean, doesn't it HURT when they poke you with that thing? And what if they drain too much and you . . . die or something?"
"I don't know, but I guess that's why Shin is coming over to talk to us. He'll give us the details."
"Hmmm . . ."
"Oh, oh! And you know what? After the energy is put into YOU, then we can go make use of Dende's Hyperbole Time Chamber and-"
"It's Hyperbolic Time Chamber, not Hyperbole," corrected Gohan automatically.
Videl waved her hand around. "Whatever."
"And did you say 'we'?"
"Yes!"
Gohan shook his head. "No, you're not coming with me, Videl. It's way too intense in there."
"I can take it! I know I can, if you'd give me a chance. Look, I want to get stronger!"
"NO!"
"You can't stop me."
"Yes, I can. I just won't let you in."
"I'll- umph!" Gohan placed a kiss firmly on her lips, cutting off her speech.
"Eww, why don't you two get a room or something?"
Gohan flushed and got up, dumping Videl on the ground. She landed on her rear and immediately kicked him in the shin. "Ouch! Stop it, will ya?!"
Mirai Trunks snickered. "Help the lady up, Gohan!"
"I'll pick my own self up," she grumbled, getting off the ground and brushing off her clothes.
M. Trunks cleared his throat. "Okay . . . now that you two are done sucking each other's faces off, I just wanted to let you know, Gohan, that my mom wants to see you inside of her lab, and pronto."
I wonder what it could be about . . . "Okay. Videl, why don't you tell Trunks that idea."
"What? Hey-"
"No, man, it's good," said Gohan reassuringly. "Better than the other one, that's for sure. You two spread the word about it, and I'll go talk to Bulma."
*~*
Gohan found Bulma rummaging through and old pile of junk in the middle of the lab. He cautiously stepped around the parts and tapped Bulma on her back.
"What's up?" he asked. "You wanted to see me?"
She whirled around and pointed a gun directly at his chest. He yelped and jumped back. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Just looking through some of my older inventions," she replied calmly, looking the weapon over. "I think that this was one of my first . . . a laser gun." Bulma tossed it over her shoulder and it hit the floor with a bang, shooting off a stray ray of red light, burning the wall in the process.
"I'm not even going to ask why you started out making ray guns."
She just laughed. "Sure thing, kid. Hey, I wanted to ask you wheter or not you-"
"Let me guess, listened to Videl's plan. Yeah, I did, and yeah, I think it's okay. We've got very little other choices, so we might as well try it."
Bulma smiled. "I'm glad you're hearing her out." She looked him over, wondering if he was feeling okay after his big fight. He seemed fine but . . . what was this? She grinned slyly. "Gohan . . . are you happy to see me?"
He looked confused. "Huh?"
"That bulge in your pocket, boy."
He looked down and bluashed, then reached into his pocket and took out the wad of money. "Oh, no! Haha, this is just some award money that Mom gave me."
"What are you going to do with it?"
" . . ."
"Treat Videl with something nice. She's feeling left out because she can't compete with the others."
" . . . left out?"
"Yeah! I know you love her and all, but you've got to show it once and a while. Women like that," Bulma said wisely.
"Of course I love her . . . a lot . . . but with everything going on there's been no time whatsoever to be a couple like normal teenagers."
"Oh. You mean, movies, dinner, dancing . . ."
"Yeah. Besides . . . I'm not really into that kind of stuff. I want to show her how I feel in a different way, to show her that I'm totally committed . . ."
"Got any ideas?"
Gohan paced back and forth, leaving Bulma to dive back into her pile of crap. Within the time span of fifty minutes, she'd found twenty-five laser guns, all of different models, from her earlier days. Hmm . . . what in the WORLD was I thinking back then?
Just then, Gohan shouted, "I'VE GOT IT!!!"
Bulma jumped and her finger slipped, pulling back the trigger. A red beam escaped, hitting Vegeta, who just happened to be walking past the door, right in the side of the head. Gohan choked back a laugh while Vegeta looked dazed for a second.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" he roared.
"N-nothing dear! Just your imagination . . ."
"Woman . . . I'll get you later . . ." He stalked off.
"Now, Gohan," replied Bulma, carefully putting down the gun, "What have you got?"
He grinned widely and whispered something into her ear. She shrieked and said, "That's PERFECT!! I can help you! I know some really reliable people who can take care of ALL of your needs. Ohhhh, this is SOOO exciting and SOOO romantic!!!!"
"PLEASE don't tell me mom. She'll freak and ruin the surprise."
"My lips are sealed, Gohan! Now, when . . .?"
"Sixth day. We could have a nice little dinner with everyone there . . ."
"Great! I'll have some caterers scheduled to come by and . . . okay! I'm gonna call up those people who can help you with . . . they can come tomorrow afternoon . . . ohhh, ohhh . . .!"
Gohan chuckled slightly under his breath and watched as Bulma ran around the room in a big circle. He went over to the door and called her name loudly. When he caught her attention, he placed a finger over his lips. "Not a word. Shhh!"
"Okay, okay, okay!!! Get out, there's a TON of work to do . . ."
Gohan left the lab, trying to block out Bulma's loud chatter as he walked down the hallway with a hand in his pocket, firmly clasping the money in his palm. He was going straight up 'his' room to hide the thick wad. It was his ticket . . .
On his way, he met Krillin going in the other direction. The short man eyed him and asked, "What's up with you? You look awfully cheesy today, Gohan."
Gohan just laughed loudly and continued on his way, whistling as he went.
Author's Note: Digital cookie goes out to anyone who can guess what Gohan's up to. It's quite obvious but remember, don't say a word in your reviews. You might spoil it.
Next Chapter: A continuation of this chapter, with Shin detailing his plan. THEN . . . Day One- Gohan and Videl make a trip to the Supreme Kai's planet, where his newest plan will go underway. Gohan holds secret meetings with Bulma about his surprise . . . hmmm . . .
