Towards the end of third term, everyone was instructed to clean out their
lockers. Vicky, who was a real clean freak, brought spray and wipe to
thoroughly clean out her locker.
She was scrubbing away when she noticed the back wall in her locker was loose. Pulling on it, she saw that it was only a loose plank and she could easily slide it out. Behind it was a secret compartment and something shimmery and purple fell from it and landed in Gohan's lap.
"Is this yours?" Gohan asked.
Vicky shook her head. "I found it hidden in the back of my locker."
Gohan studied the locket that had fallen into his lap. It was a large amethyst that glowed a light lavender colour. It hung from a silver chain that could easily slide over someone's neck. It didn't take a genius to work out what it was.
"Vicky, I think this is Lavender's locket." Gohan whispered. "The one she lost, all those years ago and still searches for."
Vicky face turned to a place white. After her experience in the graveyard, she decided she didn't like ghosts at all.
"Are you sure?" She stuttered. "I mean, it could be anything."
"We both have seen Lavender with our own eyes, we know the story is true. And this locket is just like the one from the story."
"But doesn't that mean Lavender will come after me?" Vicky squeaked.
"Not if you give the necklace to me." Gohan put the locket safely in his pocket. "I'll make sure that Lavender doesn't hurt you."
Vicky's face burned red and she turned back to cleaning out her locker.
*****
"Guess what?" Vicky cried as she sat down beside Kylie, Emily, Hannah, Faye and Videl for lunch.
"What?" They all asked in union.
Faye could hardly believe her ears as Vicky explained her story to them. The other girls hung on her every word, listening intensively.
"Sure Vicky." Videl joked.
"What? Don't think a boy could be interested in me?"
"No, I'm not talking about what Gohan said about protecting you. I'm talking about the Lavender story. Honestly, you don't really believe that do you?"
"I saw Lavender with my own eyes." Vicky argued. "It is true."
"Oh yeah." Kylie giggled. "The whole school thought you and Gohan were crazy."
Vicky scowled, pretending Kylie hadn't said that. "Gohan says that he's going to return Lavender's locket to her tonight so that I won't have to do it. He said that he would make sure Lavender doesn't hurt me."
Vicky and the other girls swooned. Videl and Faye gave each other a sideways glance.
"Did Gohan say where he would take the locket?" Faye asked them irritably.
"No, but I'm willing to bet he'll go to the graveyard. That's where we saw Lavender last time." Vicky sighed exhilaratingly, her mind still on Gohan.
Faye stood up to go to the bathroom. In her mind, she was working out a plan to meet Gohan at the graveyard that night.
*****
Night was setting in and the wind was howling, pelting down on Gohan's tiny window. The young, now thirteen year old Sayian closed his books and hurriedly pulled on his training outfit, putting the locket round his neck and tucking it inside his clothes.
The dorm was full of year seven boys, talking excitedly about the upcoming holidays. Gohan slipped out from behind his curtain and dashed across the room to the door, praying he wasn't seen. But luck was against him.
"Hey Gohan!" Hiro called. "Where are you going?"
All eyes turned to Gohan, who had one arm ready to open the door. He blushed, fiddling with the doorknob behind him.
"I'm going for a walk." Gohan lied.
"In this whether?" Drew joked as the wind wrapped fiercely against the windows.
"I'm going for a walk around the school building."
"Then I'm coming too." Drew replied, making his way to the door. Greg, Mitchell, Daniel and Hiro followed him. Gohan had no choice but to let them come and tell them what he was really doing.
"You seriously still believe that?" Mitchell joked after Gohan explained. "You're too much Gohan, really."
"You'll believe me when you see Lavender for yourselves." Gohan said in reply. "I'll bet you anything she'll be at the graveyard tonight."
He opened the door and the bitter, blistering wind beat against their faces. The dark sky loomed above them, shrouded with thick clouds. It was going to rain anytime soon.
"I don't know about you guys but I'm not so sure about this anymore!" Greg called to them over a harsh gust of wind. "I'm going back inside."
Daniel and Mitchell followed him, leaving only Gohan, Drew and Hiro to continue on to the graveyards alone.
As they neared the eerie cemetery, Gohan noticed the light of two torches beaming in the distance. The torch light was coming from the figures of two girls. When they came closer, Gohan saw it was none other than Faye and Videl.
"What are you doing here?" Gohan asked them curtly.
"We came to see the show." Faye joked in reply. "Vicky told us what you were planning to do."
Videl, who was standing solemnly behind Faye, gave Gohan a sympathetic look. Obviously it wasn't her idea to come down here.
They waited in a group beside Lavender's gravestone. Gohan kept away from Videl and Faye's torch beams. He knew that Faye had once seen him in his training outfit and if she noticed him wearing it again, she would ask questions. Gohan only wished he had been prepared for an audience. This changed everything.
"So Faye," Drew asked into the silence. "Going out with anyone these holidays?"
"No." Faye spat in disgust. "And I certainly don't want to go out with you."
"I thought we could double date. You and me and Gohan and Videl. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Videl is not going out with Gohan, are you Videl?"
"No." Videl was glad it was dark and no one could see her blush.
Silence filled them again. Gohan wished that Lavender would hurry up.
"Hey Gohan." Hiro suggested. "Why don't we just leave the locket on Lavender's grave and she can find it herself?"
"It might blow away then." Gohan replied. "And besides, I want to give the necklace to Lavender myself."
Finally, when midnight finally arrived and rain was beginning to fall softly on their heads, a burst of light filled the graveyard, knocking them all backwards.
Lavender appeared, hovering just above the ground with long blonde hair that whipped about her face in the strong wind. Her pupil-less, dead white eyes fixed themselves on the three boys and two girls that cowered bellow her. The old Ellawin school uniform she wore was stained with her own, dried blood.
"You." She hummed in her dead, droning voice. "The boy in the shining light. Why have you returned to my domain?"
Gohan stepped forward and took the necklace out from inside his training outfit. Lavender gasped, reaching out her cold fingers to grasp it. But Gohan held it away from her, then tucked it back under his clothes.
"Give it to me!" She shouted, advancing on them.
"If I do, you must promise to leave this school and never trouble anyone again."
Videl gasped, struggling to her feet. She had never seen Gohan like this before. In Lavender's strong white light, she could see his eyes ablaze with uncontrollable rage, fixed on the enemy and full of purpose. He was a whole new person; and he was ready to fight.
"I swear. Now return my necklace!"
Gohan removed the locket once more and this time placed it in Lavender's outstretched hand. He saw the evil grin spread across her dead lips as she closed her ice cold fingers around his own.
She howled with laughter. "Shining boy, you shall never break free of my ice grip. And if you try and transform, all your friends shall see. You are trapped."
"Shining boy? Transform?" Faye whispered to Videl. "What is she talking about?"
Gohan knew her words were true. If he transformed into a super Sayian to save himself, everyone would see his power. Yet, saving his own lives and the lives of his companions was more important than concealing his power, wasn't it?
An idea sprung into Gohan's head. "Run!" He shouted to the others. "Get as far away from here as fast as you can!"
But Drew, Hiro, Videl and Faye could not move, their bodies fixed with fright and their eyes fixed on Gohan.
"It's all over!" Lavender laughed coldly. "You shall die and I will continue to haunt and kill all children in this school until they all lye waist. Then the school will be mine to fill with dark spirits which will eventually spread and plague all earth. All will fall beneath the power of my magic locket."
Videl, no longer able to stand it, rushed forward and aimed a side kick to Lavender's head. But her foot glided right through it and she screamed as a cold rush overcame her, and she fell back to the ground, weeping with pain.
"Videl!" Gohan cried, his body filling with rage. He could no longer fight back the temptation to transform. In a blinding flash of golden light, Gohan became a super Sayian.
Lavender let go of Gohan immediately and backed away from him, her mouth ajar with fear. "The light shall burn me! It burns!"
She began to retreat into the darkness, but Gohan wasn't going to let her go that easily. He flew over the gravestones, his teal eyes fixed on her empty ones, and grasped her pale, chalky skin.
She screamed in agony as his searing hot hands burned through her. She backed away, trying desperately to shield her eyes from his glow. Gohan rose further into the sky, positioning himself to fire his father's signature move.
"KAMEHAMEHA!" He shouted and released the blue beam into Lavender's heart, burning heat into her and forcing her to retreat into the shadows. The necklace slipped from her neck and crumpled to no more than a pile of ashes under the force of the Kamehameha wave. She was never seen again.
Gohan landed to the ground, transforming back into his original self and met with the utterly shocked faces of Drew, Hiro, and Faye. Videl lay on the ground, still holding her frozen leg.
"So everything you said about being an alien....." Drew murmured in disbelief. "Is all true?"
"Yes." Gohan confessed. There was no point in hiding it now. "But you must promise me that you will keep it all to yourself. If the whole school knew then I would attract the wrong publicity and it would also put my family in a terrible situation."
Faye could hardly believe it. After spending nearly the whole year trying to figure out who Gohan truly was, it had all been proven in one night. She looked to Videl, who lay on the ground wincing with pain.
"Please." Gohan begged, his eyes glaring into theirs so innocently. "Please don't tell anyone."
"I won't say a word, Gohan." Drew managed to form a sentence. "You're my best friend and I would never want to hurt you or your family."
"Ditto." Hiro said, then added in Japanese. "It has been a comfort to know there is another Japanese person to talk to in this strange new country."
Gohan gave them both a thankful smile, then turned and knelt beside Videl, smiling into her eyes.
"Will you tell?"
Videl shook her head, then said through gritted teeth. "Never ever."
Gohan grinned. "I'll get you a senzu bean later for your leg." He noticed the look of protest on her face and laughed. "Don't worry, it's perfectly safe."
Only Faye remained. She stood on the opposite side of Videl her eyes never straying from Gohan. All eyes were on her as she bit into her lip.
"So now you know the truth about me." Gohan whispered. "Is it enough to know you were right? Do you really have to tell everybody?"
Faye was silent, then firmly shook her head. "I won't say anything, Gohan."
She was scrubbing away when she noticed the back wall in her locker was loose. Pulling on it, she saw that it was only a loose plank and she could easily slide it out. Behind it was a secret compartment and something shimmery and purple fell from it and landed in Gohan's lap.
"Is this yours?" Gohan asked.
Vicky shook her head. "I found it hidden in the back of my locker."
Gohan studied the locket that had fallen into his lap. It was a large amethyst that glowed a light lavender colour. It hung from a silver chain that could easily slide over someone's neck. It didn't take a genius to work out what it was.
"Vicky, I think this is Lavender's locket." Gohan whispered. "The one she lost, all those years ago and still searches for."
Vicky face turned to a place white. After her experience in the graveyard, she decided she didn't like ghosts at all.
"Are you sure?" She stuttered. "I mean, it could be anything."
"We both have seen Lavender with our own eyes, we know the story is true. And this locket is just like the one from the story."
"But doesn't that mean Lavender will come after me?" Vicky squeaked.
"Not if you give the necklace to me." Gohan put the locket safely in his pocket. "I'll make sure that Lavender doesn't hurt you."
Vicky's face burned red and she turned back to cleaning out her locker.
*****
"Guess what?" Vicky cried as she sat down beside Kylie, Emily, Hannah, Faye and Videl for lunch.
"What?" They all asked in union.
Faye could hardly believe her ears as Vicky explained her story to them. The other girls hung on her every word, listening intensively.
"Sure Vicky." Videl joked.
"What? Don't think a boy could be interested in me?"
"No, I'm not talking about what Gohan said about protecting you. I'm talking about the Lavender story. Honestly, you don't really believe that do you?"
"I saw Lavender with my own eyes." Vicky argued. "It is true."
"Oh yeah." Kylie giggled. "The whole school thought you and Gohan were crazy."
Vicky scowled, pretending Kylie hadn't said that. "Gohan says that he's going to return Lavender's locket to her tonight so that I won't have to do it. He said that he would make sure Lavender doesn't hurt me."
Vicky and the other girls swooned. Videl and Faye gave each other a sideways glance.
"Did Gohan say where he would take the locket?" Faye asked them irritably.
"No, but I'm willing to bet he'll go to the graveyard. That's where we saw Lavender last time." Vicky sighed exhilaratingly, her mind still on Gohan.
Faye stood up to go to the bathroom. In her mind, she was working out a plan to meet Gohan at the graveyard that night.
*****
Night was setting in and the wind was howling, pelting down on Gohan's tiny window. The young, now thirteen year old Sayian closed his books and hurriedly pulled on his training outfit, putting the locket round his neck and tucking it inside his clothes.
The dorm was full of year seven boys, talking excitedly about the upcoming holidays. Gohan slipped out from behind his curtain and dashed across the room to the door, praying he wasn't seen. But luck was against him.
"Hey Gohan!" Hiro called. "Where are you going?"
All eyes turned to Gohan, who had one arm ready to open the door. He blushed, fiddling with the doorknob behind him.
"I'm going for a walk." Gohan lied.
"In this whether?" Drew joked as the wind wrapped fiercely against the windows.
"I'm going for a walk around the school building."
"Then I'm coming too." Drew replied, making his way to the door. Greg, Mitchell, Daniel and Hiro followed him. Gohan had no choice but to let them come and tell them what he was really doing.
"You seriously still believe that?" Mitchell joked after Gohan explained. "You're too much Gohan, really."
"You'll believe me when you see Lavender for yourselves." Gohan said in reply. "I'll bet you anything she'll be at the graveyard tonight."
He opened the door and the bitter, blistering wind beat against their faces. The dark sky loomed above them, shrouded with thick clouds. It was going to rain anytime soon.
"I don't know about you guys but I'm not so sure about this anymore!" Greg called to them over a harsh gust of wind. "I'm going back inside."
Daniel and Mitchell followed him, leaving only Gohan, Drew and Hiro to continue on to the graveyards alone.
As they neared the eerie cemetery, Gohan noticed the light of two torches beaming in the distance. The torch light was coming from the figures of two girls. When they came closer, Gohan saw it was none other than Faye and Videl.
"What are you doing here?" Gohan asked them curtly.
"We came to see the show." Faye joked in reply. "Vicky told us what you were planning to do."
Videl, who was standing solemnly behind Faye, gave Gohan a sympathetic look. Obviously it wasn't her idea to come down here.
They waited in a group beside Lavender's gravestone. Gohan kept away from Videl and Faye's torch beams. He knew that Faye had once seen him in his training outfit and if she noticed him wearing it again, she would ask questions. Gohan only wished he had been prepared for an audience. This changed everything.
"So Faye," Drew asked into the silence. "Going out with anyone these holidays?"
"No." Faye spat in disgust. "And I certainly don't want to go out with you."
"I thought we could double date. You and me and Gohan and Videl. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Videl is not going out with Gohan, are you Videl?"
"No." Videl was glad it was dark and no one could see her blush.
Silence filled them again. Gohan wished that Lavender would hurry up.
"Hey Gohan." Hiro suggested. "Why don't we just leave the locket on Lavender's grave and she can find it herself?"
"It might blow away then." Gohan replied. "And besides, I want to give the necklace to Lavender myself."
Finally, when midnight finally arrived and rain was beginning to fall softly on their heads, a burst of light filled the graveyard, knocking them all backwards.
Lavender appeared, hovering just above the ground with long blonde hair that whipped about her face in the strong wind. Her pupil-less, dead white eyes fixed themselves on the three boys and two girls that cowered bellow her. The old Ellawin school uniform she wore was stained with her own, dried blood.
"You." She hummed in her dead, droning voice. "The boy in the shining light. Why have you returned to my domain?"
Gohan stepped forward and took the necklace out from inside his training outfit. Lavender gasped, reaching out her cold fingers to grasp it. But Gohan held it away from her, then tucked it back under his clothes.
"Give it to me!" She shouted, advancing on them.
"If I do, you must promise to leave this school and never trouble anyone again."
Videl gasped, struggling to her feet. She had never seen Gohan like this before. In Lavender's strong white light, she could see his eyes ablaze with uncontrollable rage, fixed on the enemy and full of purpose. He was a whole new person; and he was ready to fight.
"I swear. Now return my necklace!"
Gohan removed the locket once more and this time placed it in Lavender's outstretched hand. He saw the evil grin spread across her dead lips as she closed her ice cold fingers around his own.
She howled with laughter. "Shining boy, you shall never break free of my ice grip. And if you try and transform, all your friends shall see. You are trapped."
"Shining boy? Transform?" Faye whispered to Videl. "What is she talking about?"
Gohan knew her words were true. If he transformed into a super Sayian to save himself, everyone would see his power. Yet, saving his own lives and the lives of his companions was more important than concealing his power, wasn't it?
An idea sprung into Gohan's head. "Run!" He shouted to the others. "Get as far away from here as fast as you can!"
But Drew, Hiro, Videl and Faye could not move, their bodies fixed with fright and their eyes fixed on Gohan.
"It's all over!" Lavender laughed coldly. "You shall die and I will continue to haunt and kill all children in this school until they all lye waist. Then the school will be mine to fill with dark spirits which will eventually spread and plague all earth. All will fall beneath the power of my magic locket."
Videl, no longer able to stand it, rushed forward and aimed a side kick to Lavender's head. But her foot glided right through it and she screamed as a cold rush overcame her, and she fell back to the ground, weeping with pain.
"Videl!" Gohan cried, his body filling with rage. He could no longer fight back the temptation to transform. In a blinding flash of golden light, Gohan became a super Sayian.
Lavender let go of Gohan immediately and backed away from him, her mouth ajar with fear. "The light shall burn me! It burns!"
She began to retreat into the darkness, but Gohan wasn't going to let her go that easily. He flew over the gravestones, his teal eyes fixed on her empty ones, and grasped her pale, chalky skin.
She screamed in agony as his searing hot hands burned through her. She backed away, trying desperately to shield her eyes from his glow. Gohan rose further into the sky, positioning himself to fire his father's signature move.
"KAMEHAMEHA!" He shouted and released the blue beam into Lavender's heart, burning heat into her and forcing her to retreat into the shadows. The necklace slipped from her neck and crumpled to no more than a pile of ashes under the force of the Kamehameha wave. She was never seen again.
Gohan landed to the ground, transforming back into his original self and met with the utterly shocked faces of Drew, Hiro, and Faye. Videl lay on the ground, still holding her frozen leg.
"So everything you said about being an alien....." Drew murmured in disbelief. "Is all true?"
"Yes." Gohan confessed. There was no point in hiding it now. "But you must promise me that you will keep it all to yourself. If the whole school knew then I would attract the wrong publicity and it would also put my family in a terrible situation."
Faye could hardly believe it. After spending nearly the whole year trying to figure out who Gohan truly was, it had all been proven in one night. She looked to Videl, who lay on the ground wincing with pain.
"Please." Gohan begged, his eyes glaring into theirs so innocently. "Please don't tell anyone."
"I won't say a word, Gohan." Drew managed to form a sentence. "You're my best friend and I would never want to hurt you or your family."
"Ditto." Hiro said, then added in Japanese. "It has been a comfort to know there is another Japanese person to talk to in this strange new country."
Gohan gave them both a thankful smile, then turned and knelt beside Videl, smiling into her eyes.
"Will you tell?"
Videl shook her head, then said through gritted teeth. "Never ever."
Gohan grinned. "I'll get you a senzu bean later for your leg." He noticed the look of protest on her face and laughed. "Don't worry, it's perfectly safe."
Only Faye remained. She stood on the opposite side of Videl her eyes never straying from Gohan. All eyes were on her as she bit into her lip.
"So now you know the truth about me." Gohan whispered. "Is it enough to know you were right? Do you really have to tell everybody?"
Faye was silent, then firmly shook her head. "I won't say anything, Gohan."