Hi ya'll. Here's a little X-mas present for you all as it will be probably be Christmas Eve or even Christmas day by the time I finish this chapter and post it. Yes that's right I write my authors notes before I write the chapters.

Anyway I'm glad so many of you liked my Hercule description. To be honest I didn't write that part of the story until I'd almost finished the rest of the story. I just thought it would make a nice touch. Anyway, thank you all for your feedback and I thought that just for once I'd take the time to thank a my reviewers by mentioning you all.

Merry Christmas and thanks for reading miroku-has-darkness, Psycho Dragon Lover, Luna's Meow and gaul 1.

Lord Scribbles same to you and I'm glad your not confused anymore -.

PeaceLover and extra merry X-mas to you for being my longest standing reviewer.

Gadoken King- I thought you'd appreciate my inclusion of Krillin. I was thinking of you as I wrote that part.

FormoriCompletion and CW (the non-anonymous reviewer whom I just don't know who they are) I'm glad you liked the chappy, Merry Christmas to you too.

And I think that that's everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Phew that took ages. I don't think I have time to start the Next chapter now. Lol Joking. Anyway, I'll shut up now and get on to the part of this spiel that you're interested in (or not as the case may be).

Disclaimer: See a previous chapter.

Chapter fourteen

That such a place could exist, miles above the Earth's surface, was a thought that needed a fair amount of encouragement in order to choke it down. But then when you took into consideration that fact that your best friend knew how to fly, an uncommon characteristic amongst the normal people of Earth, certain things, such as palaces suspended on poles in the sky, could be accepted.

What was slightly harder to digest however, a revelation that Videl was finding excruciatingly difficult to come to terms with, was the news that God…was green! For reasons unapparent, the fact that her friend knew, or at least claimed to know God, was not a problem. Maybe the idea had yet to settle in Videl's mind. But the truth of the matter was that when someone mentions God, you think of a man bedecked with a long white beard. Not this!

Thanks to this debilitating shock, Videl was currently sitting in a rather ungainly heap on the tiled floor of the Lookout, mouth open and finger raised in incredulous protest, slight tremors being the only movement she had displayed since the moment that her knees had abruptly given way. Gohan could only blink bemusedly down at her, his expression the picture of surprise as he surveyed his friends' apparent lack of bodily control.

"As I was saying", he tried again, slowly so as to give the incredulously frozen Videl time to take in his words, "Videl this is my friend Dende-God of the Earth"

Gohan paused, waiting for a reaction, or in fact any sign of life at all would have been welcome. When Videl gave none however the demi saiyan made a valiant attempt to cover the silence.

"…And Dende this is Videl"

"Hi!" beamed the little green man abruptly, stretching out an inviting hand whilst the other clutched a wooden staff which towered several feet above its' head, antennae quivering. Videl had to fight her instincts to scuttle backwards away from the miniature threat. It could speak!

Gohan raised a hand to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment, the smile bedecking his featured obviously forced. How could he be so calm? The thing was...it was…Well that on earth was it?

"Gohan", hissed Videl carefully, making sure to keep any movements slow and calculated so as not to set the creature off, her wide blue eyes never straying from the being, "What is it?"

The fear that had governed all the girls' actions to that point was suddenly replaced by outrage as Gohan and the green…whatever it was, burst into uncontrolled raucous laughter. How dare they! No one laughed at Videl Satan and got away with it!

"What is so funny Gohan Son?" demanded Videl, displaying a ferocious Vegeta defying glare. Inevitably Gohan quailed beneath her. Such a glare could send even the strongest to his knees, especially if delivered by a woman.

"I'm sorry Videl I should have warned you", Gohan chuckled, biting his lower lip painfully to try and suppress snorts of amusement, "Dende's a Namekian. He's from another planet."

It was as though somehow somewhere a pause button had been pressed and Videl froze in her berating, body petrified in place, a finger pointing in accusation and eyes glazed over. How could he stand there and say such things so calmly! The thing was…

"…An alien?" questioned the confused girl and then leapt in surprise as the green biped spoke again. The idea of speaking to a creature from another planet was a torturous one to grasp.

"If you like", it giggled. Strangely enough its high-pitched tones were in English, but Videl had to swallow inquisitiveness and settle for glum resilience for it hadn't finished talking yet

"Though Namekian is the usual term. After all, to me you are an alien, however I title you as Human. Besides it's not as if you've never met an…alien as you put it, before. I mean Gohan's a saiyan, well part-"

"What's a saiyan?" commanded Videl, as her genetic curiosity invaded, wiping away all semblance of shock and surprise.

Dende winced at his mistake as Videl swept her eyes accusingly between the being that had previously caused her such distress and her embarrassed looking friend, arms crossed, waiting for her answer. An answer, which she fully expected to get.

Gohan scowled a promise of impending doom down at his small green friend. Of all the secrets the demi saiyan had revealed to Videl, his heritage had been the one he'd kept to himself. After all, he had thought it best to try and not overload Videl's capacity for acceptance. However it seemed as though his actions had failed thanks to a small green turd that wouldn't be around to protest much longer if he didn't learn to keep his mouth shut. Now what was he to do? Well he would have to try and settle this. If he had learned anything about Videl it was that she wouldn't back down until she got what she wanted.

"Well Videl you see-"

But Gohan was saved from making any revelation. At least for the moment anyway for we all know very well Videl was not one to forget in a hurry. However Gohan's rescue might not be considered so advantageous if we take into account what happened next.

Two thuds, and a look of confusion followed by a groan of despair from Gohan were all that announced the rather large and unexpected distraction.

"GOHAN SON", came the ear bleeding screech as the petite dark haired woman with the cherubic lips, now set in a thin line, appeared around the edge of the plain yet imposing building, fists clenched and sleeves rolled up with menacing intent. An apologetic Krillin followed close behind though with enough distance between the two so as not to be caught by a flailing fist.

"Hi mum", placated Gohan nervously raising his hands defensively before his chest though resisting the urge to hide behind Videl. Best not to draw too much attention to her.

Chi Chi peered at her son menacingly, shoving her face a little too close for comfort as she inspected the unfortunate boy. A firm hand reached. Gohan twitched with worry. It was straying a little too close too his scalp and Gohan had no desire to become a victim of premature baldness.

And then, before Gohan could even squeak in surprise, a set of arms wrapped themselves round the unlucky boys' neck meaning that any action at all, breathing for example, became practically impossible.

"Oh Gohan why haven't you been in touch I've been so worried?", cooed the woman before her tone took a drastic change, "What have you done wrong? Oh…"

Gohan blushed and prayed with all his might that what he thought was about to happen wouldn't. Dende merely looked at him and shrugged. There was nothing he could do.

Chi Chi turned with a slightly bemused expression, hands still draped around Gohan's shoulders though they paused in the their excessive squeezing.

"Is that a girl?" she whispered to Gohan. Leaning closer to the object of her curiosity and dragging Gohan's neck with her.

"Yes Mum, that's a girl", Gohan managed to choke out. There were times when it was best to humour Chi Chi however there were also times when it wasn't. Sadly this was one of those times.

"Don't you use that tone with me!"

The frying pan came flying out of nowhere and stopped buried in Gohan's hair, centimetres above his head. Gohan winced as he imagined the unfelt pain.

Relieved as he was however, Gohan couldn't help but wonder what had stopped the onslaught? And suddenly the demi saiyan knew and wished he had been hit with the frying pan instead.

Chi Chi was in starry eyed bliss.

"A girl", she breathed.

"No mum it's not like-", Gohan tried to placate, waving his arms wildly. He did try to save his friends pride we have to give him credit for that, but his attempt to calm the woman, a difficult task in itself, was all in vain.

"Marriage", she gasped to herself in quiet elation. But sadly that wasn't everything on her mind.

"Grandchildren!" she wailed clasping her hands and twirling dizzyingly.

And so giggling joyously to herself Chi Chi skittered away across the Lookout through the sparse foliage leaving the others in a shocked but thankful peace. The general thought that it would be best if Chi Chi toppled off the edge of the Lookout in her delirium and gave them all some peace was quickly suppressed in a flurry of guilty glances. It would be a short respite from he interrogation but anything was welcomed.

Gohan sighed, massaging his cheeks as he did so, smiled apologetically at Videl and shrugged.

"She gets a little carried away."

"Huh no kidding!" gasped Videl, mouth hanging open, eyes wide.

This brought a rather abrupt end to the short conversation however and well as we can all imagine, Gohan wanted to draw as much attention away from his mother's antics as possible. So a poor unsuspecting someone suddenly found himself the focus of a demi saiyan's attention.

"Krilin", cried Gohan, How are you?"

"Hey Buddy", the bald monk smiled nervously, "It's been a while."

And silence. Damn, that had been supposed to break the silence. And it would have worked too if it weren't for the betrayal of memory and past actions. For though it had been a while since Gohan and Krillin's last encounter both remembered how it had gone. In fact it had ended in a pile of rubble, not that Gohan had been around to witness this as he had left long before the dust had cleared.

Thankfully there were times when ignorance was bliss and a confused but curious Videl was there to scoop Gohan out of his hole.

"Who are you?" asked Videl, sticking her nose into the awkward conversation.

Blunt and to the point as usual. Though Gohan couldn't help but feel immensely grateful.

Videl peered at Krillin, rather too close for comfort and frowned. What had she got into her head now? In the end Gohan sincerely wished he'd never found out.

"Why don't you have a nose?"

Our poor demi saiyan almost died of embarrassment.

There was one advantage of an overly curious, and rather rude it must be said, Videl taking an unhealthy interest in the miniature man that was Krillin and that was that Gohan got the chance he was looking for. To speak to Dende alone.

"Things have got out of hand Dende", murmured Gohan, gazing at Videl as she darted round the Lookout after a nervous Krillin.

The demi saiyan sat beside his Namekian friend, head resting in his hands. How much did he need to say? How much did Dende know already?

"I know Gohan."

Well that answered the demi saiyan's thoughts somewhat. Well it was time to get his ideas out in the open. No point putting off the inevitable.

"I can only think of one way to sort out this mess. It won't be pretty but-" he drifted into silence. It was too painful to say.

"I know Gohan", Dende finished for him, saving his friend from his plight, "In six months time we'll gather the dragonballs."

Btw I've decided that Gohan has been with Videl for 3months. And as the cell games were 3 months ago that means the dragonballs will be active in 6months rite. Ooh and btw I think that there are only gonna be a couple more chapters in this story. I hope you like this chapter peeps. Please R&R

MERRY X-MAS (x-mas day is tomorrow incidentally)

Honey Nut Loop

P.S. I felt that this was written in a very different tone to all the other chapters. Don't ask me why this is just what happened when I sat down and started to type.