Disclaimer: (see chapter one)
However I own Lettusu, Cauli, Kale, Asparu, Nasubi, Avocco and all the other characters appearing in this fic unless I state otherwise.
Chapter 9:
How would you like to be vest'harian?
All the heads turned in the direction of the voice and took in the imposing form of the newly arrived saiyajin prince. He was standing some steps from the door, flanked by two women and a tall man.
Slowly, Trunks turned to face his father, who, by the way, sported his very common stoic expression. The boy's heart thundered in his chest, but he wasn't about to ridicule himself or his father acting like a scared little gaki. So he just gulped slightly, hoping that his voice didn't crack.
"Ne, obviously otousan" Trunks answered at last to his father's question, mimicking his stance.
Not a sound. Only gawks from the academy's students and crew. Father and son remained staring intently at one another. For several seconds, all you could hear was the deaf thumps of the groups training in the other rooms and... Was that right? Crickets chirping on Vejiita-sei?
At the realization that his father wasn't about to give in breaking his expressionless mask first, Trunks raised a lavender eyebrow at his sire, trying to elicit a response, for small it might be. Surprisingly for the blue-eyed demi-saiyajin, Vejiita relented. He sighed, as he shifted his weight to his other leg, arms still folded across his chest. Usually, he would stubbornly refuse to admit being anything but perfect, but life with Bulma did not leave place for that kind of arrogance.
"In any other circumstance, I would have. However, I suppose you can be forgiven, given the fact that I haven't bothered to explain the rules to you yet."
Trunks was dumbstruck. No. He was flabbergasted. Had his short-tempered father just acted with diplomacy and forgiven him because he admitted it was HIS fault the boy messed up? Trunks blinked blankly.
"Then what we did was bad?" Goten inquired automatically cutting through the awed silence wrapped up in the room.
Vejiita turned his gaze to the youngest Son briefly. He couldn't help but be cloyed by the boy's ridiculously excessive innocence. He had to make a great effort not to grimace.
"Not exactly. But that will be explained later." Then he turned to look at the other people who were still gawking.
After the reality of the situation dawned, all of them bowed at once at their long lost prince. It was kind of funny really, to watch them scramble to their knees under his casual gaze while he inwardly chuckled. Both chibi demi-saiyajin almost couldn't contain their snickers.
"Arise"
After all complied, Vejiita unfolded his arms, walking up to his son.
"Your highness. On behalf of all the students, I wish to announce how very honored we are of your visit."
"It is appreciated."
"However, I must entreat your forgiveness, your highness, for my ignorance of the child prince's identity." Vejiita looked at Trunks, who was still standing by his side in silence.
"Were you not at the celebration last night? The King presented both my mate and son there."
"I'm very sorry to say I was not, your highness. I was right here at the office." The sensei retracted from further explaining that even though he was aware of the celebration, he was not allowed to leave his post as night shift supervisor.
"Are you mad?" Trunks' voice ventured after his father slightly nodded to the large man. Vejiita looked down at him and just grunted.
"Let's just say you shouldn't push your luck. However, I think it is quite convenient that you came to end up here of all places."
"Why?"
"When I was a gaki I was home schooled" he shot a sideways glance at Gohan "But I used to be sent here to test my abilities as a fighter."
"Sou ka!?"
"How would you like to be Vest'harian?"
"You mean it!? This kicks ass! I get to go to school at last!"
"Language, young man!" Bulma was suddenly behind him, arms folded, cerulean eyes frighteningly narrowed at him. There was nothing more frightening for a Chikyuu raised saiyajin than a furious mother or mate.
"Uh-right, kaasan..." The child cleared his throat "Yeah, that's wonderful, otousan. Goten gets to come with me, right?"
Vejiita cocks an eyebrow. He didn't know about that. True, Kakarotto's brat was a saiyajin elite now, but they were the Super Demonic Duo from Hell. He would be endangering the whole academy to complete obliteration. One look at Bulma's warning glare and he knew what would come if he didn't comply.
"Hai."
"Sugoi!" both children yelled at the same time, jumping around the saiyajin prince. "However " This made them stop. "So will Gohan. I want him to keep you both in line."
The Super Demonic Duo from Hell looked nervously at the evil glint in Gohan's eyes. It wouldn't have phased them had the look not been accompanied by that innocent, almost goofy grin of his. Oh, yes. Gohan could be scary.
"But what about Videl!?" Chichi asked the man in a worried tone "The poor thing will bore with us, and she can't be wandering around either."
"Can she come with us, ojisan?" asked Goten in a pleading tone, grabbing onto Vejiita's pants. The princes left eye twitched slightly at the child's fixation to call him that, but he seriously had given up trying to tell him otherwise.
"It's against the rules."
Chichi looked at Goku for a little help. Right. When all looks grim, Goku is your man...
He just sighed and shook his head.
"This is Vejiita-sei. My word can't overrule his. Gomen Chi."
Goten turned at his lavender haired friend for help, whispering very low in his ear.
"She's our only hope! She's the only one who can control shakei* besides haha-oya*." Trunks' eyes widened in realization.
"Please otousan! Let her come with us! Pretty please!"
"It's against the rules!" Vejiita said again a little more forcefully. They were asking for an outsider to be accepted at Vest'har, which had never ever happened in the history of the most elitist academy on Vejiita-sei.
'Extreme situations require extreme measures', Trunks thought with a defiant look at his father. Then, ran up to his mother and hugging her legs, looked up at her with the most pitiful puppy dog eyes he had learned of the Son boy.
"Please kaasan. Videl HAS to come along. She'll get bored and she could get hurt" Then he added very low from his position below "If she gets hurt, how can she become Gohan's mate?" His mother perked up at that.
"Vejiita! You do whatever is needed to make Videl come along!" she said stroking her neck in the spot where her bite mark was located.
It took Vejiita some seconds to get her hint, but when he did, he smirked to himself and told the sensei, who was still standing to the side, daring the mob of young saiyajin to misbehave.
"Sensei, I wish to have these four gaki attending your class. You must talk to the head director and notify him of my decision."
"Hai, your highness."
"Very well. They will start tomorrow."
With that, he turned to the door and walked out, the native saiyajin bowing slightly once again at his departure. Bulma followed closely some steps behind him. Then Goku and Chichi followed, leaving the young ones behind.
Gohan and Videl approached the woman from the Checkpoint at the entrance.
"See? I kept my side of the bargain." Gohan said to the slightly shocked woman. She had heard about the return of Vejiita ouji, but she hadn't been able to attend the celebration the night before.
"Well, since you are going to be attending here, I suppose we'll be seeing each other frequently. What are your names again?"
"Gohan."
"Videl."
"I'm Nasubi. And the chibi ones?"
"My brother, Goten", he said while nodding at the little boy. "The other one is Prince Trunks."
"I see." she said thoughtfully, without taking her eyes off the oddly colored half-breed. Strange how she didn't find it that odd now.
"Well, I guess we should leave now. Come on Gohan, let's catch up with your parents."
"Goten! Trunks! Time to leave!"
"Ok! See you tomorrow sensei!" Goten bowed happily to the large man.
Both boys were about to run out when Gohan's voice stopped Trunks short.
"Oh, Trunks? Aren't you forgetting something?"
Glaring, the young man turned to the sensei and bowed just like Goten, not at all pleased with the idea of his father leaving Gohan in their watch. But he wasn't about to risk his father's wrath one more time for being genetically arrogant, which was HIS fault by the way.
************
Later that afternoon, both Videl and Gohan could sneak in some more training. They were in the same spot they had been earlier that day. After another round of meditation, Gohan decided to prepare for a little exercise.
"Make a ki ball" he said making one of his own with relative ease.
Right at that moment, Videl noticed in the back of her mind that it was getting darker by the minute. She did as Gohan told her and smiled a little at the soft golden light both spheres cast around them.
"You know how to control your ki while it is inside you. Well, now we'll work on controlling this ki." He told her while his energy ball left his hand and started making circles and patterns around both of them.
She was fascinated; it looked like an oversized firefly, with its lazy and calculated movement. She focused on the energy in her palm, feeling it like if it was still inside her. She touched it, grasped it and ordered it around. Slight beads of sweat poured from the side of her face at the effort to concentrate. She could do this... The ki ball lifted itself slowly from her hand and later began moving around even slower.
"Don't try to move the ball by focusing on it and commanding it alone. Imagine a pattern and just feel the energy flow, like running the finger of your mind along the edges of an object." Came Gohan's calm voice as his ki ball stopped and drew a circle in the air.
Yes, simple enough. Then, she automatically locked onto Gohan's face and unconsciously began to trace its shape with her eyes. It took her only another while to realize her ki ball was making the same pattern and surprised herself at the ease at which she did so. So easy! She didn't have time to dwell on it, for the boy in front of her produced another ki ball.
"Make another."
She complied. Now it was easier. It was like driving, all a matter of coordination. Her ki balls began to move faster around them, then slower, as she produced a third without being told, making them all dance around happily. She saw Gohan smile and decided to take it a bit higher. She made another ball, but upon trying to control it, they all jumbled together and condensed in a single larger sphere. Videl gasped in surprise, looking with wide eyes at the ki ball that floated in front of her.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Impatient little Videl. You shouldn't have rushed it." Gohan reprimanded playfully.
"Why did it do that?" she asked still baffled.
"Because you still don't have the skill to manage so many at a time."
Their looks met and remained. For a couple of minutes none said a word or looked away. It was so strange, but it was like they had made an agreement stay in complete and total silence, motionless, sharing a touch only through the other's look. A small cargo carrying foods of all types on the way to the palace was all it took to snap them out of their trance.
It was curious how they managed to ignore the night as it comfortably placed itself over them without notice. Videl kept her eyes on the cargo and after rising from the ground, absently suggested getting back to the palace.
*************
The next morning, everything was hectic. They both slept in and woke up just to the embarrassment of being snuggled to each other. However, Kami-sama was looking after them from Chikyuu, for just after they were ready, it was that Vejiita came throwing the door without even bothering to knock. He gathered the four young ones in the meeting room and sent them to Vest'har, escorted by commander Lettusu, who kept scowling every time a question was directed to them.
They touched down at the front and walked down the hall to Checkpoint. There they found Kappa, who remembered the teens from the day before, but Nasubi was nowhere in sight.
After meeting briefly with Sensei Avocco, the same from the day before, they were lead to the yard. There were saiyajin kids scattered all around, waiting to start their katas.
Gohan's heart thudded in his chest. Once again he found himself in his first day of school. However, this time he wasn't supposed to hide his strength; he was supposed to show it off, not to mention to keep an eye on the two boys and protect Videl how he had promised. His eyes swept the yard. Saiyajin going from tender ages of five, to well of nineteen could be seen here and there. It was curious though how you almost couldn't distinguish the boys from the girls, with the exception of the older ones. All of them seemed to act up to their class. Petulant and snobbish, all seemed like younger versions of Vejiita almost twelve years before.
The chibi kodomo* twitched in excitement. Ever since Gohan went to school, they had wanted to tag along. At last their wish was made true, and the best part of all was that they were together.
Videl gulped on her dry throat and tried to calm her beating heart and crazy breathing. She was so nervous her hands were sweating and she started cracking her knuckles rapidly one by one.
Sensei Avocco came out with another man and immediately they saw all the students rushing in formation neatly.
"Attention!" The new man said. "The Vest'har Academy once again has the honor of receiving royal blood in our premises. And as the most elitist school on Vejiita-sei, honor the crown and welcome such an important personality, as is tradition before starting any routine this day. Behold, the last of the House of Vejiita, Prince Trunks the 1st."
All the students bowed as one. The silence was deafening while the seconds passed, as Trunks and his friends glanced at all of them. In a flash of sudden understanding, he realized they were waiting for his approval. The lavender haired child straightened, and mustering his most mature voice, he commanded them to rise.
The man walked in, leaving Sensei Avocco to handle the group. He roared an order and the crowd separated into ten groups with practiced ease. Another roar and nine of those groups filed inside through different entryways in ant-like harmony. The last group remained, as it was obvious they were going to start outside.
The three half breeds and ningen were ordered to take their places in the group and after finishing a kata along with the other students, they were told they were going to spar. Of course, Trunks and Goten chose each other and Videl chose Gohan. Only then did they realize Kale was in their group, as well as Asparu. Both had been matched together by the sensei.
After long minutes in spar, the center of attention had become the children as they blurred and showed, and then blocked and attacked with awesome speed and skill.
"They're like the two from the celebration!" one exclaimed.
"Impossible!"
"Just look at them! They have to be the ones."
"Amazing."
"Ouji-sama! Goten! That's enough!" Sensei Avocco boomed as he watched all the attention being directed to them. Both boys walked up to the man and catching their breaths asked:
"What is it sensei?"
"Where did you learn to fight?"
"I learned from chichi-oya*" Trunks answered. "He's trained me personally since I was able to walk." Then the man turned to Goten.
"I first learned from haha-oya, cause chichi-oya was away and then I learned from shakei," he pointed to Gohan who was absently dodging Videl's attacks. "And now I learn from both shakei and chichi-oya."
The sensei looked up towards Gohan and Videl and just grunted. He watched as the boy just kept dodging the girl's punches and kicks without going on the offensive. He also noticed the relative strength of the girl compared to all the other students. 'She has the strength of one of the weakest third class warriors, maybe a little stronger'. He sighed inwardly. Had it not been a direct order from Vejiita ouji, he would have never let the girl in his advanced class. But he liked his job, and it brought good remuneration. However, he was also a teacher, and teachers did what they had to do. And that's exactly what he was going to do with this young female foreigner. He would make her as strong as she could be.
"You two!" He bellowed. Both teenagers stopped. "Boy, what are you doing?" He asked sounding annoyed.
"What do you mean?"
"You are to spar, not play punch and dodge! You're not supposed to go easy on her!" As Sensei Avocco yelled the other kids stopped practicing to watch the scene.
"But if I go serious, I could hurt her pretty badly."
"So? The hard way's the best way to learn. Warriors embrace the pain and get stronger after each hard battle."
"But-"
"Enough! Videl, come over here! I want you to fight Seri."
Out came a tall girl, with short hair spiked to the front. She was slightly corpulent and very tanned.
Videl gave Gohan a troubled look that sent him in a fidgeting fit. She walked up to the girl and lowered to a fighting stance. Videl then gave Gohan a short look and saw him clench his fist in her direction in a reassuring gesture. She nodded slightly and turned her gaze to the girl at hand. Unleashing her senses in her direction, Videl realized Seri was narrowly one of the weakest females. 'It's okay. It's okay. Breath. Just don't get hit.'
Suddenly, Seri disappeared. Videl snorted lightly, jumping back gracefully to let the other young female smash the ground she'd been standing seconds ago. Seri looked up at her, her young face contorting in a snarl. Launching herself to meet Videl once again in the air, she brought her fist back to deliver a punch. Due to her petite form and lithe muscles, Videl could dodge the barrage of assaults coming her way with a good gap of advantage. She reassured herself everything would be alright if her opponent never lay a hit. 'Just keep dodging... When she tires out you'll make your move', she thought quietly, landing on the grass to one side of the onlookers. In a flash, her opponent disappeared once again and she inwardly smirked at the girl's antics.
They were kind of balanced, she reasoned. None knew the fighting style of the other. While one had strength and instinct, the other had speed and ki sensitivity, so they were kind of even... Until, that is, she saw the dangerous glint in the other's eye. To that followed an incredible increase in the other girl's drive, her attacks packed with more energy and strength until Videl had a hard time keeping up.
Then, it was over... after a close range assault that ended in the saiyajin girl kicking Videl's leg soundly to her knee joints.
A sharp intake of air and a crumpled fall to the ground later, Videl was at the mercy of the other girl. Her knee had been effectively dislocated by the swift kick and she had to use all her concentration in blocking out the pain and the uncomfortable sensation the straining of her nerves caused. Even the slightest movement sent a jolt up her leg and spine and she accidentally bit on her tongue, drawing blood in the process.
Seri's next blow was immediately, and unexpectedly, blocked by Gohan's sudden appearance before Videl, his hand raising to cancel the fist flying to meet his chikyuujin friend.
kodomo = kid, child
chichi-oya = respectful way of saying "my father"
haha-oya = respectful way of saying "my mother"
shakei = proper way of referring to your older brother in context (no more: "my niichan this, my niichan that". That's when you're directly talking to him. But I'm not gonna go back and change all the past chapters! O_O )
** Special thanks to DBZ_Fanfiction_Queen for this info. ^_~ I found it in her "Translations" entry a while ago.
Enormous thanks to: otepoti, LadySei, Bobbin (*author giggles like a schoolgirl*), Saturn-hime (uh-right... *sweatdrops*), saiyanprincessvidel, Buruma 97, Katie West, Lady Foeseeker (update Shades of Darkness!!), Niori, name goes here, WeyrdSister, nikki, Teddy (Patience my dear friend. All in due time ^_~), unsigned#1 and unsigned#2
And the first to guess the pun for the saiyajin academy was..... LadySei!!! You get... *digs in a huge box labeled 'PRIZE' in big bold letters* A sneak peak at where this story's going!! (Not too big) And for Katie, who also guessed. Um... *digs in the box a little more* Uh-well, a chocolate mug with Gohan and little monkeys stickers on it. So everytime you drink from it you can say you kissed Gohan. ^_~
Oh. Saiyanprincessvidel gets another choco mug too. I don't want to have her weeping all around through the fic.
Now you can't say I don't give good prizes!
Hey!! I'd like to advertise a story. This, is a wonderful story. A MONSTER FIC, how I call them and it's really unfair the writer just has 17 reviews. The writing style and the great skill this writer demonstrates really blew me away. I truly recommend it:
The way I was before by mibi chan
http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1015719
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