*Nervous laugh* Sorry?

Disclaimer: (see last chapter)

Chapter 8:

Chibi trouble at Vest'har Academy!

Identical goofy grins adorned both faces. Identical awe their looks betrayed. However, different thoughts crossed their minds. The one, thinking of how cool it was to be able to see the place where his father was born, to be able to meet more like him. Innocent pride welling in him at the knowledge that there were more legendary and that he belonged to them. The other, thinking of all the strong warriors around, though warriors not as strong as himself... the more, the better. Just more people to order around.


"Wow", both sighed still in awe.

"Do you think they're strong?" Goten asked.

"Well, obviously. They're saiyajin after all."

"You think they'd spar with us?"


"They'd probably think we're too chibi and think they'd beat us up."

"I want to fight!" the younger Son exclaimed cheerily.

"Hmm. Look at those guys over there. They look tough." Trunks said over to his friend, nodding in the direction of five young saiyajin, all between fifteen and seventeen.

"You think they'll fight us?"

"Watch this." The lavender haired child smirked, sauntering over to the group of teenaged saiyajin.


Aggressive black eyes fell on a patch of lavender silk, a frown creasing on them. Automatically, those eyes fell to confront bright blue pools and a much younger face than his.

The pint sized little freak stopped right in front of the young saiyajin. The head of the group snorted derisively.

"What the fuck are you supposed to be freak?" Trunks scowled dangerously for a second, but immediately smirked.

"You hurt my feelings. And I just wanted to be nice." The young prince announced sarcastically.

"Too bad, phlegmwad (Is that a word? I think I've heard it somewhere). Now get out of my sight before I crave of beating you to a bloody pulp."

"Oh, but I doubt you'd be able to do that. Takes someone stronger than I to do it... and someone as smart as I to determine just what a weakling you are." Now all the other boys started growling threateningly, rising from their position and closing the distance between the children and them.

Goten took this opportunity to speak. "Uh... Trunks-kun? Are we gonna fight or not? Cause my niisan's getting closer and maybe he told our kaasans."

"Well, don't you wanna have a little fun, Goten?" Trunks stated quickly, turning to his friend with his arms akimbo.

"Yeah."

"Well, this is it!"

"You wanna fight the grownups? Well, guess this is your lucky day. Just that you'll end up spending some hours in a regen tank." The same guy from before said.

"Lead the way."

~*~

"Where are they!?" Gohan exclaimed exasperatedly.

"

They must be pulling one of their antics." Videl said looking one way and the other.

"I swear... if those two are up to some prank and they get in trouble, I'm gonna give them both to Vejiita-san myself."

Videl turned to look at him with a frown. "I've never seen you so ticked about it before."

"That's because if they got in trouble, they definitely couldn't get hurt. But we're on Vejiita-sei, a planet full of saiyajin. Now there's more chance of them getting hurt. And who's gonna take the blame? No other than dear ol' Son Gohan, who was supposed to watch them!"

"You know, it IS your fault they ditched us. YOU were the one to get so engrossed drooling over food that it took me 10 minutes to get your attention."

Gohan pouted, mocking hurt, folding his arms childishly in front of his chest.

"Well, don't put up that face and start looking!"

"It would be so much faster if you helped me."

"Oh, I'll do my best sensei." She said bowing some in sarcasm.

They walked around for a few minutes until Gohan picked up the children's ki flying away behind him. He quickly got Videl's attention and immediately followed the ki signature of the young half-breeds.

~*~

Ok... Now what's all this about? They said they'd fight, but they never said anything about THIS. Trunks and him were supposed to fight five, not fifty! Trunks and his big mouth... Always getting him in trouble. Why did he listen to him anyway? Why did he have to tag along and play around everything the older boy did? Now look where it got them: inside this weird looking building with gray metal walls, standing in front of fifty hostile looking saiyajin kids, just like the first five.

Sure, they could take them on, but as his father said: "Never be fooled by appearances". It was true. He was aching to fight, but maybe Trunks had gone a little too far now. After all, they weren't on Chikyuu anymore, so the same rules did not apply. If Vejiita-san found out he might flip! Cause, really, that man was the most complicated being in the universe, even more so than his mom was. At least he knew what to expect of her... His eyes widened a notch and his next breath caught in his throat... 'She won't be happy with this. And neither will Gohan.'

Oh, what had he done to deserve this!? 'Oh, right. I just listened to Trunks-kun. Why is it that he always convinces me?'

Goten was brought back to reality by the annoying poking on his right shoulder.

"Nande?"

"Uh... You kinda spaced out there." Trunks told him in a slightly curious tone.

"Just thinking what my mom will do to me when she finds out." The younger Son replied in a dazed tone and both children shuddered.

"Ok, brats. This is the Vest'har Academy for higher classed saiyajin. All brats old enough to fight must come here to be instructed in the proper ways of the warriors. You are old enough, but you don't attend here. So... that must mean you're lower classed. And lower classed should never mess with Vest'harian pupils." The same boy from the street finished in a sneer.

With a wave of his hand, two of the boys behind him launched themselves at the younger demi-saiyajins. Trunks was inwardly delighted. Not only because he was going to fight other saiyajin like him, but also because this pathetic excuse for a leader was so wrapped up in himself that he failed to recognize the Vejiita-sei no ouji in front of his very nose. He couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he found out!

Goten felt a low rumble threatening to escape his throat while his fists clenched and his brows creased in an unfitting scowl. He didn't know why it happened, but being called a low class in that way, and by that creep, just hit something new in him he just couldn't fathom. True, he used to be a third class, but not anymore. Vejiita-ou had said so himself. That guy had taken a hit at his pride and now he wanted no more than pound him to the ground in humiliation. Huh?... Was that really sweet dopey Goten?

"To hell with trouble! I want to kick some hide." He said, earning him the startled look of the young prince. "The big mouth's mine." Goten finished in a vicious snarl, his eyes not leaving the cocky form of the saiyajin teen.

Trunks just shrugged nonchalantly and moved to intercept one of the attacking kids. 'There might be some hope for you yet Goten', he thought silently to his younger friend.

By the time they blinked, both boys were lying on the floor in a heap, Trunks leaning over one, looking curiously for a sign of movement whatsoever. Goten was still poised like a statue in the same place, eyes nailing the full-blooded teen. The only expression that betrayed their surprise was the slight widening of the youngest ones' eyes and one or other twitch of a tail.

"Is that all you've got?" Trunks asked the teen in a deliberately childish tone, still looking at the crumpled full bloods on the floor, biting his index finger nail.

The older boy growled and motioned for the next group to attack. This time, there were five attackers, all of them older that the first two. Trunks launched at them this time, fists and boots meeting with a thump in the middle of the room.

Now we were talking. THIS was a fight. The young prince actually had to try to keep up with the five. Two of them had very good skill and he had to keep a close eye on them, while the other three were very easy to read. 'Guess the harsh training with tousan's paying off pretty good'. It was exciting to fight someone new, to be presented and sometimes taken aback by the different fighting style, the alien technique, the unknown strength.

From his position in front of the mob, the young man watched in contempt as the (to him) queer colored little freak made short work of his team. Then he noticed HIM. The younger boy. This one looked more saiyajin than "chibi lilac". Then he noticed he wasn't fighting. The boy was just standing there, assassinating him with his eyes. The little rat thought he could get away without fighting, ne? Well, not in this lifetime. With a significant look behind him and a nod of the head in the direction of the young child, five more launched at Goten...

... Only to have them searching for the Son the next second.

Goten materialized in front of the teen leader in the blink of an eye, embedding a tiny ki-infused fist in the taller boy's gut. Dark eyes bulged out at the strength of the blow, that being enough to allow the gaki to deliver a mighty punch to the face. The teen was hauled to the floor several feet away.

When the initial shock wore off, the teen jumped to his feet self consciously, determined to beat the little boy who dared take him off guard. They engaged in a battle where little Goten easily managed to sneak through his defenses. The rest of the Vest'harian mob was too shocked to move. They had all thought the new children brought up to be lower classed, but apparently they were very strong and had very good skill, skill unknown to them as their fighting style was completely new to them.

Trunks knocked out the last of the five and stood, looking one way and the other.

"Pathetic. Can you at least give me a little more of a challenge?" He snorted.

Another squad shot up at Trunks and a couple more flew at Goten, only for the last group to get growled at by their proud teen leader.

"The booger's mine! Now piss off!"

The others immediately obeyed, deciding then to watch if they were needed against the other little boy. That little display of pride was enough to cost the young man a merciless kick to the face that left him sprawled on the floor, stunned.

Goten then decided to give his friend a hand. It wasn't fair Trunks was having all the fun. He wasn't having any fun with the other guy, he was just teaching him a lesson. In a couple of minutes, the fifty hostile kids they were supposed to fight were either sprawled out unconscious or protectively curled up in a ball in agony.

"Oh, c'mon, guys! You tired already?!" Goten asked in a little whine.

"Man! What a waste of time! I thought you'd be more of a challenge." Trunks added.

Goten went over to the older boy that seemed to order around all the others. He was lying on his back, looking up at him. His breath was coming out in rapid gasps and sweat and a little blood mingled on his skin and coated his face and shoulders, as well as little cuts and scrapes adorned his legs and arms.

"So... am I a low class now?" Goten asked him shoving him a little with his foot. The boy just winced slightly.

'Niichan would be sooo mad if he found out', he thought.

"SON GOTEN! TRUNKS VEGETA-BRIEFS! WHAT IN KAMI'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Gohan's growl cut in the boy's thoughts.

'Correction. Niichan IS sooo mad'

~*~

They both landed outside a large, business looking building with great gray and white metal walls. It exhaled this intimidating air that they found so familiar. Intimidating, frustrating, duty-calling, enclosing air that gave them some kind of unease. Girl looked at boy for a while before both silently agreed to go in.

Gohan and Videl quietly walked through the corridor wondering what the little mischief partners could possibly be doing in a place like that. It looked boring to say the least. Not to mention all the other impressions the front view elicited in the teenagers. Finally they came to an open room, rounded in shape and brightly illuminated, that looked like a checkpoint. There were some people fussing around a console with lots of annoying little lights blinking repeatedly. There looked to be several vidscreens in front of the console, which displayed some inner areas of the structure. There was a large door leading to Kami knows where on the other side, after a lately noticed contraption that none of them had a clue as to what it accomplished.

Gohan cleared his throat loudly to gain someone's attention. A burly man of short hair spiked to the side looked up from his leaning position over someone else's work. When he did nothing else to acknowledge their presence, Gohan chose to state his business.

"Gomen, but my friend and I are looking for a couple of children that came in here"

The man grimaced in annoyance at the demi-saiyajin and stated in an irritated tone "What do you want me to do? That's your fucking problem".

Videl's mouth fell open in indignation. How rude of that man! Gohan just got a little angry, but decided to try again.

"You see, we really need to find them or they might cause some trouble." The man raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, them and all the other five hundred twenty nine thousand brats in here. Who cares!? I've had enough of them blasting my surveillance equipment and just flying off without checking in or out. Spoiled high classed brats." He said the last sentence in a lower tone.

"Um... where exactly are we?" Videl took her turn to ask. Only then did the man turn his attention to the chikyuujin girl. He gave her a once over and got too caught up in her different appearance, especially her eye color, that he left the question hanging.

A large woman came next to the man. She was some years younger, with braided long hair that came to her waist. She had the same annoyed look of the man but decided to answer for him.

"What? You've been living under a rock or just got back from your assignment? This is the Vest'har Academy. High class bastards attend here to be properly instructed in fighting and how to be a pain in the ass to the rest of society."

"Oh, well. We just arrived yesterday. We're still getting to know the area." Gohan said.

The woman and the man both looked at him and the woman said again:

"Kappa's pissed cause the brats have once again managed to get the best of him. Anyway, from the thousands of little menaces attending here very few come to Checkpoint, so we can't really keep record of who gets in or who gets out."

"Oh. The two we're looking for are 6 and 7 and they're not exactly a pair that can go unnoticed. One is wearing a very bright orange gi and the other has straight lavender hair and green gi."

They both looked at the boy like a weird bug at the mention of Trunks' lavender hair. They didn't think any of it but what a freak the kid had to be, and a young student that was standing some feet away from the threshold cut off the man's reply.

"I've seen those two". The boy said approaching the mysterious contraption and stepping on a small platform while sticking his hand to a flat panel that was automatically displayed to his right side. There was a low sound as a green laser scanned the boy's frame and palm.

"Asparu, House of Chisha" he said before the machine withdrew the panel once again. He stepped off the platform and in front of the other four hoisting his bag on his shoulder. He looked to be 18 or so, with long black hair tied up to his back, much like Gohan's style from his early childhood but without the spikes on the front, which were 'smoothed' back with the rest of his hair.

"Kale brought them in a while ago. They were going to the arena. Seems he wanted to give 'em a beating."

"That is not good. When Kale goes to the arena, he usually takes his whole mob with him." The woman said.

"Can you take us there?" Videl asked the woman.

"What am I gonna get in return?" she asked planting her hands on her wide hips.

Both Gohan and Videl blinked blankly at the saiyajin woman in front of them. The muscular older man known as Kappa snorted at her and headed back to work. On the other hand, the boy, Asparu, kept glancing at the pair of teenagers with curiosity.

"Well, I don't know-"

"You're gonna get a good show and maybe the chance to meet Vejiita-ouji himself." Gohan cut Videl off. This earned him raised eyebrows from the woman, who by this time, hadn't yet bothered to introduce herself.

"You're tailless." The blunt, yet sudden comment of Asparu cut short any reply that might have come from the woman before them. Eventually, she lowered her gaze to Videl's and then to Gohan's waists. True to the high-class student's remark, there were no furry appendages wrapped around them or waggling behind them.

"Well, obviously. I'm not a saiyajin" Videl stated matter-of-factly. Both the woman and Asparu raised their gazes to the girl.

"And mine was cut off when I was a kid. Now, are you taking us to this arena before hell breaks loose?" Gohan insisted folding his arms and leaning forward to the woman.

"Well. You can't go in without an escort, so I'll have to come with you and get one of the sensei to put Kale in place when we get there. Just go check in and follow me." She pointed to the machine Asparu had used earlier and went to the door.

Gohan went over to the machine and after a little stare asked the older woman again.

"How do I do this?"

"Just step on, get scanned and state your name and house."

Gohan did as told, stepping on the small, rounded platform. Immediately the little panel was off to his right side and he put his hand on it. The green laser scanned him from head to toe at the same time he felt the panel below his hand heating slightly.

"Gohan, House of Bardock" he said to the machine after little thought. The panel was once again stored away and the demi-saiyajin stepped off.

All the while, Videl had been aware of the piercing gaze Asparu kept on her. It unnerved her how little discreet he would be about it. She guessed it was not in the saiyajin to be polite. 'Vejiita-ou though is an exception to the rule', she thought.

The Satan girl unconsciously brought her arms up to embrace her in an attempt of shielding herself of the insistent stare of the young saiyajin.

"Your turn." She heard Gohan's voice and turned to him, nodding.

Videl walked over to the machine and repeated the same process Gohan had, with the exception of her name. Then they silently followed the woman out the door and into a large yard extending between the checkpoint and the real building that housed the academy.

They went in and got one of the sensei, a very large male with a military attitude and a bunch of scars covering all his exposed skin. Together they headed up the corridor until they reached the arena... Only to find the awkward sight of a couple of pint sized gaki whining over a bunch of bodies scrambled all over the arena.

No surprise. He should have known they might be doing something of the like. But he didn't. He was actually getting tired of their obsession with causing disaster. He was mad at Trunks for being the intellectual author, but also at Goten for letting Trunks lead him to do those things. He saw Goten go over to an older boy that was lying on his back, looking up at his little brother.

"So... am I a low class now?" Goten asked him shoving him a little with his foot. The boy just winced slightly.

That did it.

"SON GOTEN! TRUNKS VEGETA-BRIEFS! WHAT IN KAMI'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Gohan growled.

Goten turned slowly to face his older brother, immediately making his best display of the Son Grin™ and pulling his little arms to his back cutely, he said in the most innocent tone he could muster:

"Hiyaa niichan!"

"Uh-oh" Trunks said getting closer to Goten for each slow step Gohan took in their direction. "Gohan! Don't do anything you would regret later!" He said again.

"You're not getting away this time. I caught you red-handed and as a weapon, I'm going to use it." Both boys gulped at Gohan's words.

"We can explain." Goten attempted again. He jumped when Gohan turned his gaze on him again.

"What were you thinking!? Beating up on the weak like that! You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Gohan yelled, earning him a guilty look of both boys, and several indignant huffs all over the room, as some of the beat up kids were getting to his feet as they saw that only the two chibi oni were getting an earful.

"But we just wanted to fight new people." Goten went on in a little voice. "And then they challenged us. And then they took us here. And then they were a lot more than the five we were supposed to fight... AND THEN HE CALLED ME A LOW CLASS!!" Screamed sweet precious adorable lovable cute pissed off little Goten.

"That's no excuse to-" Gohan blinked. "Since when did you care being called a low class? You never had a problem with it before."

"Yeah, but that was Vejiita-ojisan and Trunks-kun. And we WERE third-classes before, not anymore. Trunks' ojiisan said so!" Now sweet precious adorable lovable cute sulking little Goten pouted. His brother just sighed.

"Yeah, but you can't expect everybody to know that in just one night."

Goten gave a sheepish grin and, hand behind his head, apologized.

"Ok. Is everybody alright?" Gohan turned to the other kids who were dusting themselves up and only received dozens of glares.

"Well, it seems like everybody is okay to me." He heard Videl say from his side.

Apparently, she didn't feel comfortable if Gohan wasn't by her side anymore. Not on Vejiita-sei. Not after the scene with Asparu at Checkpoint.

"Well, then. I think we should go" Gohan said to the children who were still standing in front of him.

All eyes were fixed on them. From the gaki in the sight shattering monstrosity (aka Goten's gi), to the lavender haired, blue eyed chibi oni, to the tailless guy ranting and calling them weak, to the strange, but attractive blue eyed girl that accompanied him.

"Who are you calling weak, you..." the mob leader trailed off at a loss of an insult suitable enough for him, so he decided for, "... tailless." Gohan turned to him.

"Look, I'm sorry my brother and his friend did this. But they're gonna get it soon I assure you", he emphasized the last part looking at the children. "Anyway, I didn't mean to call you weak on purpose, it's just that I know how strong they are." The boy glared even harder.

"Well. Don't go around 'assuming'. You don't know whom you're dealing with. Calling us weak. Such degradation. You're the one without a tail", the boy spit the last part with as much venom as his anger and humiliation allowed.

Gohan hadn't particularly done anything to him, but Goten had, and he was related to Goten, so he could insult the guy all the same.

"Kale, that's enough! You just don't learn when to lay off." The sensei's deep voice boomed across the arena catching the attention of all the kids who hadn't bothered to look his way when Gohan came in.

"Don't worry, sir. I don't mind my condition at all, and I don't know why it's such a big deal that he attempts to insult me about it. It's just a tail."

Some kids gasped and murmured about how he could say such a thing. Even the sensei was dumbstruck.

"You're not serious, are you brat? The tail is the very essence of the saiyajin heritage, our pride."

"Might be so! But that doesn't give the bully the right to insult my brother!" Goten cut in, glaring at the boy. Oh yeah, Kale, wasn't it?

"Hai, that's low. Not even my tousan does that. He might insult Gohan any other way, but never over his tail", Trunks seconded.

"Hai. But don't think your praising will save you from Vejiita-ojisan or my mom."

A lot of people frowned at the mention of the King's name in such an informal manner from the stranger. Then all of them saw Trunks smirk and stand regally in a familiar way.

"Your kaasan might get angry, but I'm sure my tousan won't mind at all. I think he's gonna be most proud."

"Oh. Is that so?" A gruff voice called from the entrance.

Cliffhanger? Where? *looks all around with innocent curiosity*

No. Really. I'm soooo sorry to keep you waiting for so long, but I've got writer's block and haven't had time to pray to my writer angel so it can help me. Though my worker angel is getting a bit outta hand with all the work it's giving me, not to mention my home angel that's decided to teach me a lesson. And my programmer angel's gone!!!!! How could it leave me like this!!!!

Hrm! Gomen nasai minna-san, just blabbering up there.

Arigatou gozaimasu all my reviewers! Mewthecutie, UnseenTraveler, B-Chan, Mirai-Trunks' #1 fangirl, ChibiChibi, mike, Saturn-hime, Teddy, Starlight, saiyanprincessvidel, Nihil, vsd2oc (hi, yo!), Lady Foeseeker (update, update!), Niori, otepoti, Katie West (how many comps do you get your paws on during a week o_O), the untitled and b. Thanks to you all for the reviews! I can't believe I have 70 reviews!

Ok. Now, during my intellectual creativity inhibition I spent my spare time developing the outline for this ficcy and for Saiyajin no Odyssey (that I must point out you haven't checked out yet, except for you otepoti!). As you know, I posted this to see how it faired. And it faired really well. So, now I know where I'm going, though not how I'm gonna do it. Anyway, as I don't know how long it will take me between updates I decided to start a mailing list. You know the drill, non-members leave your email.

Ok. That's about it. Gonna quit my blabbering now. Ja ne minna!!

Oni — demon

A prize to the first one to point out what the pun for the saiyajin academy stands for! ^_^