I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to any of the music pieces you may see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.
Chapter 20: Guests
I didn't wake up in a normal way. Though been jolted awake by a hyperactive demi-Saiyan might be considered normal.
"Get up! Get up! Mom won't let me eat until you get up!" Goten wailed.
"Okay okay I'm up!" I said, exasperated already.
"Gohan!" Goten shouted and ran up the stairs. Gohan emerged a few minutes later, groaning at the day ahead of him. Going upstairs to clean up a little, I quickly realized a huge problem.
"Hey Gohan, these are blue jeans. My tail is going to show," I said, panicking a little.
"Hmm, maybe if you hold it higher on your waist, they will just think its a belt or something. I doubt many people will notice as long as you don't unravel it," Gohan said, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"Oh so you'll provide enough distractions to take attention away from me then?" I chuckled as he frowned back.
"Come on boys, hurry and brush those teeth so you can get breakfast and get going!" I heard Chichi call up to us. Gohan and I brushed quickly, our stomachs conducting action for the promise of food.
"Dig in boys!" Chichi said as we entered, dressed for the school day. On the table were four plates stacked with pancakes, three more with bacon and three with scrambled eggs.
"Chichi I love you," I said, mouth watering at the sight.
"No thanks, I have a husband," Chichi smirked slightly, "It's rare to get such a compliment out of a meal, other than how good it was."
"Is it ever bad?" I asked, grinning.
"Come to think of it, I don't recall the last time I cooked a bad meal. I know Goku never said any meal was bad, but then it was usually gone before he was capable of giving an answer," she sighed slightly at the memory.
"So Gohan, is Videl bringing her Dad?" I asked between pancake bites. Judging by the grimace that Gohan gave me, I wasn't supposed to say that.
"Who's Videl?" Chichi asked.
"A girl at school, nice and all, but kind of mean and suspicious towards me. She fights crime too, most bank robbers run when they see her, even the armed and dangerous. I help her out as Saiyaman but she is really trying to find out my identity," Gohan said, shoving more bacon into his mouth.
"A girl huh?" Chichi had stars and hearts forming in her eyes, "Your girlfriend Gohan?"
"No! It's not that I like her, it's just I don't want to see her get hurt," Gohan denied. I smiled slightly at the scene, wondering where Krillin was so he could give Gohan a ton of crap. However, I decided that I didn't need him, I could handle that myself.
"Aw, don't worry Gohan, I'm sure she'll go out with you. Just ask away," I said, unable to resist.
"SHUT UP!" Gohan said, exasperated.
"That's enough boys. You two better get going now, we don't want you to be late," Chichi said, pointing to the door. Exiting the Son home, Gohan stood on the grass for a minute.
"NIMBUS!" he shouted. The yellow cloud wasted no time in arriving at Gohan's feet as he slipped his backpack around his shoulder.
"Climb on!" Gohan said.
"Correct me if I'm wrong Gohan, but it won't let you ride unless your pure of heart right? I don't think I qualify in that department, even I have evil thoughts and a love for pulling pranks. I don't think it'll let me ride, I'll just fly," I said.
"Well let's find out, climb on!" Gohan urged me on. I jumped onto the yellow cloud, which didn't hold a feather and dropped me to the ground.
"And I'm not surprised," I said, lifting back in the air.
"I knew it wouldn't hold you, that's for giving me the girlfriend hell," Gohan cackled and jumped on with no problem, "Let's go!"
The flight to Satan City was pretty quiet, until the last few minutes.
"Hey Gohan, you never answered me, is Videl bringing her Dad today?" I asked again.
"I hope not, but I never hear anything else about Videl's family except her Dad so it's probably him. Don't say anything, please!" Gohan practically begged me.
"I heard most of the story Gohan and I gotta tell ya, I think I like him about as much as Vegeta does. I'm sure you realize that I don't really like the idea of him taking credit for what you did for everybody on this planet. If he is there, so long as he keeps his trap shut, I won't do or say anything, how's that?" I asked with a small sneer.
"Guess that will have to do," Gohan said, grinning slightly.
"It's not that I would want to embarrass you or anything Gohan. It's just I'm not really big on this keep secrets from everyone routine, especially when they all flock to that buffoon when all he did was hide behind rocks, right?" I scuffed at the idea of Satan actually doing something brave. Gohan nodded and we continued our flight in silence.
Up ahead I saw the outskirts of Satan City, and Gohan started to descend. I followed and we landed right on the outer edge and began walking towards Orange Star High. Then I heard the only sound that could have ruined the morning or possibly the day for Gohan while I was with him. It couldn't be anything else but a bank alarm that was ringing like crazy.
"Oh great, just what we needed!" Gohan said, ducking into an alley and hitting the button on his wristwatch. The Saiyaman outfit emerged over him, helmet in all.
"Stay here, I'll go stop the crooks!" Gohan said, starting up his ridiculous poses and his horrible sounding voice.
"Oh brother!" I said, smacking myself in the head, "Just point me in the general direction of the school and catch up later," I said, mentally counting how many more times I might have to see this terrible sight.
"That way son!" Gohan pointed with a bright smile and in a ridiculous tone. Then Gohan was gone, flying through the air toward whatever crime had taken place. I walked at a decent pace, but not in any real hurry, we still had an hour to get there. I began to hear an engine of some kind in the distance, close to where Gohan's ki was, and then I felt Videl's low ki signal close in on him.
Great, just great, now she'll be even more suspicious when I show up today. That'll tie Gohan in with the Briefs, basically proving he's Saiyaman with what happened yesterday, but then again maybe she'll keep quiet if she learns of it.Wait, why do I give a shit? She's going to figure it out anyway. I continued the walk past a mini-mall when the first thing I saw was a Mr. Satan official fan club building at on the end. I wanted to gag going past it, and basically did. All I could see was Mr. Satan things inside, a few Cells, most covered in blood. Then I saw a sign that looked promising: "Mr. Satan will be here from 9 to 11 am signing autographs!"
Thank God, or whoever is running the show today. I walked on by feeling much better. About five minutes after the mini-mall, Gohan rushed back towards my direction and ducked behind an alley again to change back.
"So what did I miss?" I asked.
"Another bunch of crooks, I showed up and was chasing them down when Videl showed up and challenged me to a fight. Then one of the crooks pulled an officer's hand gun and grabbed a hostage. I made short work of him anyway," Gohan explained, probably doing poses in his head.
"Well as long as she didn't follow you or something," I said, letting my head hang a little at Gohan's mishap.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Above us, was a yellow helicopter, descending.
"Oh no, I must have forgotten to look back behind me. I hope she didn't see me change back," Gohan panicked.
"I doubt it, but she's smart enough to put two and two together Gohan. Don't count your chickens before they hatch," I said, shaking my head. Videl landed in the chopper, and her eyes darted right away at Gohan, then in astonishment at me.
"Hey Gohan, did you see Saiyaman fly by here? I was trailing him and he vanished on me?" Videl asked.
Gohan didn't seem to know what to say, "Umm, no I didn't see him. I just came back from a restroom."
Argh, clueless, "I saw him fly over and disappear in the distance over there," I said, pointing to nowhere in particular.
"Oh okay. So Gohan, I didn't know you knew the Briefs," Videl said, that suspicious glint in her eye. Gohan's frown fell in tune with mine, I hate being right.
"Yeah I've known Bulma since I was five. She was a good friend of my Dad's when he was that young," Gohan said, grin ever present.
"Really? That's good to know. So did you bring your Dad for your guest today?" she pressed.
"No..." Gohan seemed to shut down.
"I'm his guest today Videl, his little brother wasn't feeling up to it today so I met him here," I lied real fast.
She seemed to accept that, "You guys want a lift?" Videl asked. At least he didn't say no this time.
The chopper ride was short and silent, nothing really was said between any of us, until Gohan just had to ask.
"Hey Videl, who did you bring today?"
"Well I invited my dad, but he said his schedule was pretty tight today. Knowing him like I do, he's probably already made a huge display of everything, so he may or may not show," Videl hung her head a little. Not, not, not! Please not! No more words were said after that as we descended upon Orange Star High. There was a pack of students below, waiting for Videl to land. When she did, they rushed the doors, giving us a tad bit of trouble. It was more of a problem not to hurt someone while trying to get out. Videl jumped out and the mob rushed to her instead, giving me and Gohan the chance to slip by unnoticed.
"Nerd boy getting rides now? What's next?" I heard a very arrogant voice say. Gohan turned to face a blond haired muscle boy, who was probably known as the world's dumbest jock by the looks of him.
"Hi Sharpner!" Gohan said cheerfully, but I knew that he probably didn't like this one.
"So Brains, who'd you bring?" Sharpner asked, sneering all the way.
"A friend of mine, Verto," Gohan said, gesturing to me. The jock looked me up and down,
"So what's so great about this tiny runt? My six year old brother could probably beat him in arm wrestling, and what the heck kinda name is Verto?" Anger twitched inside of me as Gohan was taken aback by that remark. Gohan's telepathic reminder not to do anything rash was about all that held me back at the moment.
"And Sharpner is the greatest thing in the dictionary of names?" I snorted.
Sharpner seemed unaffected, "Does he think he's a know-it-all too?"
"Hey Blondie, why don't you go jump off a cliff? Or better yet since you're probably concerned, lift weights until your arms fall off. Either way, get your punk ass out of my fuckin sight!" I said coldly. The jock looked slightly surprised, but then angered.
"Better keep your friend out of trouble Gohan, wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him!" Sharpner said with an all but totally threatening tone.
"I'm waiting, do your worst," I said, turning my back. Sharpner though just boiled off, muttering about bratty kids.
"That could have gone better," Gohan said.
"Yeah well he deserves it I'll bet," I said, wondering how this day got off to such a rotten start. It would only get worse.
The first bell rang and Gohan motioned for me to follow him inside. The halls were pretty much the standard for a high school, crowded. Since people had to bring guests, it was twice as bad. Gohan led me up to his classroom, which looked more like a forum type of setting. All of the seating spots had two chairs as well, one for guests I assumed. All except Videl's, which struck me as odd, but I also didn't mind if her Dad didn't show. The less I'd have to see of that moron the better. My tail twitched and wanted free, but I kept it wrapped up like a belt, with a weird looking knot in the back, something my shirt barely covered. Gohan's seat was on the end of the fourth row up the stairs, out of five rows. There was a rather pretty blond sitting there already, next to a mirror image of herself, only about a foot and a half taller.
"Hi Gohan!" She said, batting her eyes a little.
"Uh…Hi. Erasa," Gohan said nervously, patented Son confusion was displayed. I was starting to wonder if this was a Saiyan trait, or just something Goku developed when he hit his head as a kid.
"Who's your little friend?" Erasa asked, giving me the lookdown next.
"Oh this is Verto, my little brother couldn't make it so I brought one of his friends," Gohan explained quickly.
"He's a cutie too, is he smart like you?" Erasa asked.
"I manage," I said, sitting down next to her where Gohan directed, he was obviously nervous about sitting next to Erasa. Right after I sat down though, I was right back up as I had just been the victim of a pinching attack. Then she noticed something I was hoping she would miss.
"Is that a fur belt? It's been awhile since I have seen one of these, they're so soft! And this one is really soft, and warm!" Erasa said, running her hand over my wrapped tail like she would pet a cat. At once my body no longer responded to anything, except the wonderful feelings coming from my tail. I felt myself ready to give off a very animalistic noise at any moment. The tail petting was great, and it was preparing to squirm out from my waist whether I allowed it or not, fortunately Gohan stopped her by pointing out that Videl had just come in.
"Thanks, I don't think she would have stopped,until she screamedthat is," I thought to Gohan as she removed her hand. Videl walked up on our left and passed behind Gohan and me. She stopped momentarily behind me, but only for a second.
"Hey Erasa," Videl said, going on past to her seat. As Erasa introduced her mother officially to Gohan and Videl, I took a gander around the room, seeing the rest of the students present along with their respective guests, mostly adults. Then the blond haired goon made his presence felt again, and behind him was a blond haired man in a business suit, carrying a briefcase.
"Hello Videl. I'd like you to meet my father, he's a lawyer," Sharpner said proudly.
"Hey Gohan, want to see if I can get the lawyer to sue us for permanent brain damage to his son?" I asked in a low voice. Gohan didn't reply, just gave me that "I hope you don't" look. I just smirked slightly and watched as the instructor came in and stood at the front desk.
"Attention class, I see many of you have guests today. We will go around the room, stand and introduce your guest and what they do, or like to do," the teacher said, starting in the front row.
"So what do you want me to say?" Gohan asked while the front row was going.
"Just say I like martial arts or sports or something, I can tell this day is going to be a long one for both of us. I'd love to blast that Sharpner in two, such a shame he's not an enemy or I would have awhile ago," I said, chuckling a bit. After a few minutes the turn rounded to Erasa, skipping Videl completely, which told me that Mr. Satan might indeed show up, but perhaps not for awhile. After Erasa introduced her mom, Gohan stood and cleared his throat.
"This is Verto Briefs, Verto here likes football and martial arts," Gohan said, gesturing for me to stand. I stood up, observed the faces gaze at me, and more specifically the "brown belt" and then sat down.
"Martial Arts huh? I bet you can't even get above beginner, those scrawny arms won't do much ya know! You better beef them up first!" Sharpner mocked, prompting the class to chuckle a little. "And a Briefs huh, why don't you tell that muscle freak...was it Vegeta, that he should leave his light show tricks at home and leave the press alone. How could the benevolent Bulma Briefs marry someone like that?" I shifted to a death like gaze ala Vegeta and pointed it straight at the blond idiot, my blood starting to boil as he mocked the prince of our race. The prince thing didn't matter as much as the fact that he was my mentor.
"Verto don't do anything, he just doesn't know any better," I heard Gohan's voice in my head. Videl saved me the trouble of beating him lifeless though.
"Hey Sharpner, cut out the macho "I'm better than everybody" act. I bet the kid would kick the living crap out of you in about three seconds, either that or I will," Videl turned in her chair toward him. I could sense Sharpner's low ki fill with slight fear when Videl turned her wrath to him. The rest of the guests were introduced, and then a loud beep filled the air, preceding an announcement.
"Attention students and staff, there will be a special assembly during the last three hours of school today! Attendance is required in the field house gym!"
"Special assembly?" I heard Gohan say.
"Yeah! I heard Mr. Satan is going to give a martial arts demonstration and then a speech, and then I think a free lesson to those that want one," Erasa said, a little excited.
"Figures," Videl muttered, turning her head to see the matching grimaces on both Gohan and myself.
"Oh great," Gohan and I thought at each other at the same time.
"You two don't seem very excited to hear my Dad is coming, what's with that?" Videl asked, her suspicious eyes staring us down.
"Oh yeah we think it's great!" Gohan said, a little more enthusiastic. I didn't respond to it though, Mr. Satan giving a demonstration was not my idea of fun. The teacher began to lecture math, but the level of it was ungodly easy, basic pre-algebra. I could tell Gohan was way up in the math levels too, he sort of slumped down and propped his head on his hand and elbow. In the middle of the lecture, Videl's watched beeped. I glanced at Gohan, who noticed right away.
"Go ahead Chief," Videl said into her watch.
"Videl, the Red shark gang has kidnapped the mayor and the leader is threatening to blow up half the city unless Mr. Satan comes down to fight him. We haven't been able to contact your father, can you come help us?" the Chief asked.
"On my way," Videl said, getting up and shooting a look at Gohan and myself, "Hey Gohan, can I borrow him for this?" Videl asked. The looks and gazes shifted right away to me, Gohan was confused.
"I sort of helped her the first day I was here. She knows that I'm a little strong, but that was before my training in the time chamber, and you won't haveto come as Saiyaman for this one," I explained through my thoughts.
"Sure I'll give ya a hand if you really need me," I said, trying to act thrilled.
Sharpner had a priceless look of shock on his face, "What good is the kid going to do you Videl? This is the Red shark gang were talking about. Even if he knew as advanced martial arts as you do, he will only get in the way!" Sharpner declared.
"What's wrong doofus? Upset she didn't ask you?" I grinned.
"You're just gonna get hurt wimp!"
"Stuff it Blondie!" Videl said, motioning for me to follow her. I brushed past the seats and ran down the stairs after her, at least this would be more entertaining then Gohan's class. I ran slowly after Videl, who was running full sprint toward the door. Once outside, she tossed down a capsule and revealed her helicopter.
"Let's go!" she shouted as I climbed in and she lifted off.
"Tell me something, does Gohan study martial arts too?" Videl asked.Well, now she turns to other sources for information.
"He does a little, not anymore though. He doesn't have quite the love for it like his father did, his mother makes him study a lot now," I said, hoping she would buy that.
"I've been meaning to ask him why Son Goku, his dad, couldn't come today. Do you know why?" Videl asked. Oh boy.
"Gohan hasn't seen his father for seven years, and I've never met him myself so I'm not the one to ask," I said, hoping again that it would do. Surprisingly it did, only because we had arrived at what must have been City Hall with all the cops around it. Landing right in front of the hall and in full view of the gang, Videl jumped out of the chopper and set her sights on a big guy in a red shirt, his arm wrapped around some old guy.
"Videl! Thank goodness!" the old fart said, I assumed he must have been the mayor.
"I challenge the greatest fighter in the world and I get his little girl instead? The great Hercule Satan has turned cowardly over these years eh?" the big guy said, he must have been the leader. I hopped out next, causing most of the gang that was around in the windows and bushes start to laugh loudly.
"She brings a kid as backup? What's wrong Videl, get stuck babysitting?" one crony laughed as I maneuvered around the chopper to look over the situation.
"So how fast do you want them down?" I asked Videl.
She looked at me funny, "Uh...fast as you can works," She obviously did not know how to answer that. I sprang into the air and zipped from left to right, taking out gang members as I went, but only knocking them out. The leader stepped out to fight Videl, who was trying to watch me. He caught her off guard and knocked her down with a few hard punches. I turned back to him, dropping another goon on the ground.
"What kid? You think you can take me, go ahead and try you little shri-OOWWW!" he cringed at the last word because Videl had just kicked him down low where you never want to be kicked. As he bent over, Videl literally kicked him in the ass, he spun and she pummeled him in his stomach and his head. He began to tire very quickly from her quick and hard blows. She finally reeled back, jumped up and kicked him in the head. As he bent back she spun like a tornado and caught him with a sharp elbow in the chest. He went down, and stayed there. Videl caught her breath and stood back up, giving me a thumbs up.
"Boss! Your dead girl!" I heard a goon say. I looked around to spot him past where Videl was, and he had a big rocket launcher armed and ready. He fired just as I lifted to get him, so I changed course and landed between the bazooka rocket and Videl, and had to let the rocket hit me. The only thing the rocket did was explode in front of me and leave a nasty smell, and a lot of smoke. I heard Videl gasp behind me, and then sounded like she was about to cry, as she could not see me yet.
"Hey, I was trying to look decent and you tore my shirt!" I shouted, powering up slightly and letting my aura clear the smoke. Then everyone's jaw plummeted. Mostly the goon who shot the rocket. I rushed him and grabbed his weapon, breaking it neatly in two with ease before sending the little twerp packing for jail. Videl ran over and kneeled down, looking me over like she really was babysitting and I had just suffered a bad accident.
"You took that rocket dead on and you don't look hurt at all. Your clothes are barely dirty!" She said in shock with her hands on my shoulders.
"I'm fine Videl, I'm tougher than I look if you recall," I said.
"Oh come on, that kind of stuff doesn't happen around here! Does Gohan know about this? Can he do it himself? Does that mean he could be..." She stopped herself in her tirade of questions. Oh boy, I think she just figured it out. "Verto?" she whispered, "Is Gohan the Great Saiyaman, or the Gold fighter for that matter?" she asked, holding my shoulders tightly.
"That is something you should ask him, not me, and do you think I would reveal that to you if he were," I said, probably making it clear as water now for her that Gohan was Saiyaman. She looked down for a minute, and then embraced me in a surprising hug.
"Thanks anyway, for saving my butt. I won't bug you anymore, I owe you that at least," she said, letting go and standing back up. She beckoned me to climb back into the helicopter and head back to the school.
When we made it back to the classroom, everyone stood in awe, except for Gohan that is, he was scowling at me a little. Then I saw why, the TV was just finishing telecast the interview with the chief of police, who was describing the events that took place at City hall.
"So there you have it folks, Videl Satan and her amazing young sidekick wrapped up the Red shark Gang, and saved the mayor's life. Back to the newsroom," the reporter finished as the instructor flipped off the TV. The class was silent, most of them staring at me.
Videl frowned at the sight, "What is your problem? So the kid knows some martial arts just like I do, leave him be!" she screeched, causing everyone's ears to become damaged, mostly mine. Heh, she calls that martial arts. Close enough I guess. She went back up the stairs toward her row, and I quickly followed. When I sat back down next to Gohan, I could sense slight anger and disappointment in his ki.
"You call that restraint?" he shouted at me through his thoughts, causing me to wince a little.
"Sorry Gohan, but it wasnecessary, they fired a damn rocket at her! You can't tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing. You know she would have been hurt had I not been there," I responded with a slight glare.
Gohan surrendered the argument to me, "You're right, thanks, I guess this way she can't assume I am Saiyaman."
I snorted slightly, "Actually, she suspects it pretty well. She tried getting that information from me, I don't think she knows for sure, yet. But Saiyaman not showing up this time gave off a pretty good hint."
Gohan mentally hit himself, "Oh well, I'll just need to be more careful." As if disaster had to strike at bad times, Erasa passed a note from Videl that read: to Gohan. I passed it back to him and he opened it, reading it secretly. I saw his face turn slightly downward and then he glanced past me at Videl, full of slight sadness. Then he grinned slightly and nodded, putting a finger to his mouth. She gasped but then closed her mouth and nodded. Erasa and her mother were oblivious to it all, watching the teacher begin a lecture on biology.
Videl opened her notebook back up and joined the listening audience, "What did that note say Gohan," I thought at him.
"She just asked if I was Saiyaman,and if she could meet me after school is through today. Since she's so close to figuring it out, I've decided it wouldn't hurt for her to know, I've been a bit careless trying to conceal that identity. Plus if I'm fighting crime with her all the time she has the right to know anyway. Maybe I can make a deal with her if she'll keep my secret safe."
"About time you realized you can't hide from it forever," I said, smiling and turning back to the front in my chair.