A Hero's Troubles

by Flesi Kameez

Disclaimer: I still don't own DB or DBZ. If I did, I would be rich enough to buy the field in front of my home. In fact, I could even effort the one next to it, too. And also the one behind that field. Yes, guys, there are a lot of fields wanting to be bought out there. However, I don't exactly know what I should do with them. So I guess, it's okay that I don't own them. I also won't need all the money to buy them, so I don't necessarily have to own DBZ to be rich enough, right? But well, I don't own it anyway. shrugs

Summary: Gohan has had enough of it. Being the great saiyaman is becoming more and more of a burden. So he decides to neglect his duties as a super hero and let others do the work. Still, he can't stay in the background forever…

Pre-Chapter-Comment: Hello, there I am again! Thank you all so much for your reviews! I'm glad you like my story Ü ( the Ü is used as a happily grinning smile here :p)

To the Fanfic Maniac: Well, I'll try to make my chapters longer, okay? However, I can't promise anything, because I've got that kinda…disease which also keeps me from getting good marks in history and German: I never write more than necessary. But I'm working on it, and anyway, due to the structure I made up for this story, this chapter is probably gonna be longer than the others anyway, so have fun with it!

To MarshmellowDragon: Actually, I haven't thought about the possibility of the criminality increasing dramatically. It is an interesting thought though, I might even use it… thx for the idea!

To everyone: As I said, thanks for thee nice reviews and now let's go on with the show…

And by the way, just in case you don't know: a pullunder is a pullover without sleeves. I'm saying this because I also didn't know until a week ago. And I'm saying it here so that I don't interrupt the story when the word occurs.

Anyway, have fun!

Chapter three – Being just a student

Thanks to his mother's and his best friend's advices, Gohan finally made up his mind; and he decided not to stay saiyaman any longer.

Maybe he should just slow down a bit, instead of giving up completely. But he knew: he'd still feel that it was his duty to help anyone. And after all, nothing would have changed.

Gohan didn't want that, he wanted to be free again. He wanted to spend time with his friends, to learn and to be there for his family. All these were things he had not been able to during the last weeks, due to his missing free time. He was tired of fighting crimes 24/7. Plus, because of his strange behavior an increasing number of classmates considered him a freak.

But now he had made his decision. Now his life would finally get better again.

Gohan lent back in his seat, smiling satisfied at the thought of a stress free future. However, he did not notice that Videl was watching him.

After their talk earlier this day, it was quite obvious that Gohan truly was the great saiyaman. But somehow, it wasn't that important to her anymore. Videl was far more impressed by his caring character than by any strength or abilities he might hide.

Still watching him, she sighed. 'I've always known that he is a nice guy, but I've never expected him to be sooo nice,' she thought. Suddenly, she realized with a major shiver which way her thoughts were going, and tried to make them leave her mind. "Stupid Gohan," she finally mumbled and looked away.

"Why am I stupid now?" Gohan asked irritated, having heard Videl's mutter thanks to his saiyan senses.

"I bet she is talking about the movie," Erasa claimed as she turned around in her seat to talk to Gohan. When she saw his puzzled face, she went on, "We're gonna watch it this evening, remember? It's 'Lysops's Revenge'. They say, it's great – I still don't understand why you don't wanna accompany us."

Gohan thought about it. Now that he would finally have some free time again, why shouldn't he go to the movies with his friends? However, he truly didn't remember that they had ever asked him. So he spoke, "Who said I wouldn't come?"

"You, last week," Videl stated, leaning over to them in order to take part in the conversation.

So they actually had asked him? Gohan looked at the two girls confused. "Then why don't I remember that?"

"Probably because you were half-asleep as always, nerd boy," Sharpner said, now also joining their talk, even though the lesson wasn't over yet.

"Well…" Gohan stuttered, scratching the remaining skin from the back of his head.

"So you're gonna come?" Erasa asked.

"Yaeh, why not?" Gohan answered smiling, "It'll surely be fun."

"Wow, now that's something, having you hang around with us," Sharpner commented sarcastically, causing Gohan to scratch the back of his head once again. However, it really began to hurt by now, so he stopped scratching immediately and began looking forward to the evening instead.

"Gohan! What are you doing there all the time!" Chichi shouted upstairs, disturbing her son's fashion session. He had been standing in front of his mirror for hours now, not able to decide which clothes he should wear tonight.

When Gohan didn't answer her because he was too busy to do so, Chichi became angry and went upstairs. She carried her frying pan, just to be sure. After all, she didn't know what was waiting for her in her son's room. And she didn't like to think about what it might be, either. She shook her head and went on climbing the stairs.

Finally she opened the door to Gohan's room and found him thoughtfully standing in front of his mirror, surrounded by huge mountains of clothing. Also, the major part of his shoe collection was scattered about the room, along with all the things he had used recently, such as books, various sheets or empty plates from his last "eat attack".

When Gohan noticed his mother, he blushed and began to utter the strangest things. When he saw the frying pan in her hand, he suddenly realized the mess in his room, blushed even more and began to sweatdrop. And when he noticed the look in his mother's face, he didn't know what to think anymore;

Chichi was smiling widely. Once she had entered the room, she had known what was going on here. "My son has a date!" she screamed happier than happy and ran towards her Gohan to hug him.

"It's not a date! I'm just gonna watsch a movie with some friends," Gohan explained, even though breathing and speaking wasn't exactly easy, thanks to his mother's tight embraces.

Finally Chichi let go of him and looked at him skeptical. "But your girlfriend's also going, right? So it is a date!"

Gohan sighed. Since Goten had met him and Videl together once and told his mother about it, she had considered them a couple. Gohan had often explained that Videl was just his classmate. However, it never worked.

He knew that Chichi wouldn't believe him this time, too. So he just mumbled, "Yeah, right," and tried to shove her out of his room.

Well, Gohan shouldn't have said anything; Chichi's face lightened once again. "My little Gohan's becoming a man!" she said cheerfully and hastily went back into his room, ignoring his attempts to stop her, "Let me pick your clothes, dear!" She went to a random mountain of shirts and began exploring it.

"Mom!" Gohan complained in a frustrated voice, "Why don't you let me do this! I was just about to find a really groovy outfit!"

"You and your groovy outfits," Chichi mused, "Just remember saiyaman." Slowly, she disappeared behind a huge mountain of clothes – or even in it? Gohan didn't exactly know, neither did he want to. But he knew that his mother had a point here: Of course, the saiyaman outfit was extremely cool and all; the problem was just that nobody had ever realized the coolness of this dress. In fact, many people had laughed about it! 'Well, another problem gone,' Gohan told himself when he suddenly remembered that he wasn't saiyaman anymore.

Two hours later, Gohan was standing in front of Satan City's cinema, waiting for his friends. They had told him to be punctual. "Or else…" he remembered Sharpner threatening him. And now, they were late; ten minutes already, and there was still no sign of even one of his friends.

Gohan sighed. It was just so saddening! The clothes his mother had chosen were the same he always wore: brown trousers and a white shirt under a grass green pullunder which featured a nicely checked pattern. Just why hadn't she let him chose his outfit himself? He'd loved to wear his black leather clothes or the blue jeans outfit today, or maybe a mix of both? He'd even liked Vegeta's pink "Badman" shirt – everything, as long as it was just any different from what he used to wear.

Gohan sighed once again as he suddenly noticed Videl hurrying in his direction. He smiled at her. Somewhere deep in his heart, he had wanted her to arrive before the others. So they could at least spend some time together, just the two of them, without anyone disturbing them…

And after all, Gohan had to talk to his best friend in a very important and serious matter, which had been bothering him for quite a lot of time now. "Videl," he said seriously when she arrived, not even giving her the chance to greet him first, "Do you think I'm looking good?"

Videl gazed at him irritated. Was Gohan actually flirting with her? That just didn't seem right. But what else could he have meant? It surely was an attempt to flirt, it had to be. But then, Gohan had just proved that he wasn't a good flirter at all. "Excuse me?" Videl finally said in a rather disturbed manner.

Now, Gohan returned her irritated gaze. He apparently didn't know what had caused Videl's confusion. After some moments he decided just to explain his dilemma, "It's just that I need to know your opinion about my clothes. You know, I wanted to wear something really groovy today, but my mother made me wear this." He pointed at his clothes, especially the pullunder.

Videl sighed in relief. So Gohan wasn't flirting or anything. It was just a stupid misunderstanding, nothing else. She tried to clear her mind and concentrated on Gohan's request instead. She eyed his clothes for some moments and finally said, "Well, the outfit isn't that amazing, but it's also not too bad. I guess, it's just your own style, since this is what you wear everyday." She smiled wearily.

So did Gohan. "Well, that's exactly what I hate about them – I'm always forced to wear the same kind of clothes. It's really not surprising that everyone thinks of me as a nerd."

"Maybe that's just coz you are one?" Sharpner suggested, joining the party along with Erasa. "Sorry for being late. Traffic's terrible today cause of that accident."

"What were you talking about?" Erasa asked interested.

Videl had to think a moment, if it would be wise to tell them about Gohan's troubles. Soon she was quite sure that it shouldn't be a problem and stated, "Gohan's fashion dilemma." She shrugged.

Erasa raised an eyebrow, sensing her chance to take the initiative. She questioningly looked at Gohan until he finally spoke, "Well, I need something new to wear, something really groovy." As he had done it quite often this day, he put a special emphasis on "really groovy", which made his wish sound a little… odd.

Because of that, Videl was practically forced to answer, "Gohan, no offense, but I'm somewhat afraid of what you call 'really groovy' clothing, just look at that saiyaman costume of yours."

Gohan was about to scratch the back of his head when he remembered that the skin on it still hurt a little. So he just mumbled some barely understandable words without any special gesture.

"Wait, does that mean Gohan is saiyaman?" Erasa suddenly asked, looking at him perplexed.

Only then Gohan realized that these people were supposed not to know about his little ex-secret. And to his surprise, it hadn't even been him who had let it slip, but Videl – who wasn't supposed to know it, either. Then it hit him: This had been one of her tricks again. She had tried to make him accidentally tell the truth. And this time she had actually succeeded. Gohan got angry about his own stupidity, while he kept looking at Videl irritated. His glare turned shocked as Videl finally began to speak, "Well, I guess, I should tell you something, guys…"

Gohan gasped. Even though he wasn't sure how much she knew, he shouldn't risk this. "Videl, don't," he whispered towards her, sounding angrier than he actually was.

Still, Videl spoke, "Okay, guys… This is top-secret, so don't tell anyone else about it, okay?" Erasa and Sharpner nodded, Gohan gulped instead, afraid of what Videl was going to tell them. So she went on, "Gohan and I have a, well, special friend. He's very strong and always wants to help people. So he just decided to become saiyaman. Gohan happened to be around back then, and he designed the costume for our friend. Right, Gohan?" Videl looked at him, as well as Erasa and Sharpner.

"Well, yeah," he nodded. He was surprised but grateful that Videl didn't reveal his secret. She had even helped him!

"Wow, you know saiyaman!" Erasa exclaimed in amazement. Then she turned towards Gohan and added, "And you actually made our hero's costume! I'm so jealous!"

Sharpner nodded and said, "I guess, if Erasa had designed the costume, saiyaman might have become a cool hero."

"Yay, and as good looking as the Gold Fighter!" the blonde girl added.

Gohan sighed. "That's not a very nice thing to say," he stated calmly. He didn't feel offended, since he actually hadn't designed the costume. He had just liked that really groovy outfit.

"Hey, just kidding, relax," Sharpner apologized.

"Uno momento," Gohan exclaimed all of a sudden, having noticed something that really disturbed him, "Why does everyone complain about saiyamans outfit, while the Gold Fighter's clothes don't matter at all?" He threw puzzled looks in every direction.

"Gohan, c'mon!" Erasa answered at once, "How can clothes matter when someone has golden spiky hair, beautiful turquoise eyes and such magnificent muscles? Darn, he's so hot!"

Videl looked at her friend, sickened by this fanaticism. 'If this was an anime, she'd be drooling by now,' she thought wearily and looked at her other friends. Sharpner seemed disgusted, too, while Gohan just took a look on his watch. "Hey, didn't we want to see that movie?" he eventually asked.

"Oh no, we totally forgot the time!" Erasa cried out and panicked, "I'll get the tickets, you go find some good seats!" She ran off.

Gohan, Videl and Sharpner looked after her, slightly confused. "How are we supposed to find some good seats if we don't have any tickets?" Gohan wondered.

Videl shrugged. "Let's just follow her," she suggested and walked towards the cinema's entrance.

Five minutes later the four friends sat down on their seats.

"Great," Videl mumbled sarcastically, "I've always wanted to sit in the first row."

"At least the movie hasn't started yet," Gohan said optimistically.

"Yeah, right," Videl grumbled, "Quiet now, it's starting."

Gohan looked forward to watch the movie. However, his eyes began to ache due to that strange perspective. Not the movie was the problem but the short distance between him and the screen as well as the fact that he was sitting at the end of the row.

Gohan sighed and rubbed his eyes. Fortunately, he could finally see again after that and concentrated on the movie.

All the films he had seen together with his friends so far had been quite brutal action thrillers. Cell-like creatures used to occur in it as the main villains, and every time they would end up as a bloody pulp, thanks to a great hero whose name accidentally was either Hercule or Satan. These movies bored Gohan to death. So he was positively surprised when he realized that this one wasn't a Cell-gets-killed-by-Hercule. It wasn't even an action movie.

'Lysop's revenge' was a film about a boy who used to lie, always and to anyone. But when he went on an adventure with his companions, he realized that his lies just caused more problems for them. So in the end, he finally began to speak the truth and decided not to lie ever again.

Yes. Unlike all the other movies, this one actually had a meaning. Gohan was utterly impressed.

"Nice movie, but a little…boring," Sharpner admitted when they left the cinema.

Erasa shrugged. "Lysop was cute though."

"Don't you understand!" Videl shouted all of a sudden, "Finally we watched a movie that wasn't stupid or senseless, and you just complain or think about Lysop's cuteness? Shame on you!"

Her friends looked at her stunned, even Gohan, since Videl had just spoken out what he was thinking. "I also liked it," Gohan mentioned, "Well, I guess it's just a matter of taste."

"Whatever," Videl grumbled still quite angry, "See you tomorrow at school." Without any further delay she left.

Some rather confused moments later, Gohan, Sharpner and Erasa said goodbye to each other before also went home.

And in this night, each one of them would dream about Lysop, the cute hero of an impressive but boring movie.

End of chapter three

by Flesi Kameez

Post-Chapter-Comment: Well, finally it's done! And it's L O N G E R . But still not long enow. You remember the structure thingy I mentioned earlier? I wanted a lot more to happen in this chapter. But since it's already gotten quite long and I won't have too much time to write on this week, I decided to make two chapters out of this. Probably.

And sorry about the fashion joke – It's a little mean, I know. It's just, I got kinda carried away there. Well, I hadn't planned this story to become humorous to begin with. I'm afraid, that's just how it goes – You never get what you want.

Hey, stop! What am I saying! Even though I hadn't planned it this way, I shouldn't complain, since I'm still quite pleased with it.

What about you? Do you think, it's good? Bad? Strange? Tell me your opinion straight away, in form of a review! As I already told you in chapter one, I need to know what you think, or else I might not be able to write what you like.

By the way, do you want a romance between Gohan and Videl? Yeah, I know, this is already becoming some kind of a GV, but what I need to know is, if you want…

a schmaltzy romance

a normal romance which develops slowly

not a romance at all

Aaaand please, tell me about my mistakes if you find some in plot, grammar, prepositions, word use, spelling or whatever, but especially my beloved commas – No matter where I place one, it just never seems right! So what is the secret (,) how I know (,) when a comma is placed correctly? Anyway, thanks for reading and please

R (,)

RE (,)

REV (,)

REVI (,)

REVIE (,)

REVIEW!

Yay!

PS: I changed a little bit of this chapter because of A-Mans review. I hope it's clearer now, that Videl didn't really know for sure about Gohan being saiyaman until this day.