Author's Note: I apologize for the delay, I've been working on the rest of my fanfics in hopes to finish as much as I could over the summer. It's merely a week before I get back to school, and it's sending me chills. =s Anyway, I already wrote until Chapter Twelve of Act Two, but just like all my other fics I'm uploading them one at a time. Well, that's it for now, I hope you enjoy --- especially the Trunks/Yumi fans out there. =P

Hikari No Will Power

Act Two, Chapter Four:
Shadows of the Upcoming Revolution! The War Goes On!

It was not easy to board a train and get off it with one's hands full, but not for the Chief of the Tokyo Police Force. She made it in and out of the vehicle without trouble, despite the fact that she was carrying bags of washed-and-ironed clothes along with a dry-cleaned gown which she claimed from a company that offered such services. "I need to hire a househelper," she told herself, but as soon as she did so, she shook her head. She didn't have much money, not as much as she used to have anyway, and she knew that her salary wouldn't be enough for another addition to her family.

Sighing, she pushed the door of her two-story apartment open, and a smile crossed her serious, thoughtful features as she heard the energetic squeals and shrieks of her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Pan. She was happy to note that her little one was growing up normally... except for the fact that she had special abilities that would very soon plunge her into something out of the ordinary. After all, her father was Gohan Son.

Gohan, she called out silently, shutting her eyes to prevent her tears from falling. She did not want anybody to see her crying, not because she had an image to keep, but because she wanted to encourage everyone else to be strong. You just don't know how much I miss you.

Despite her attempt to drive her tears away, droplets of fluid streaked down from her cerulean eyes, and she had to wipe them off with her free hand. She took a deep breath, urging herself once again to be strong, and she walked towards the living room to check up on her daughter and find out what was up. She was barely inside the room when she heard a heartwhelming call.

"MAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! MAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Erasa looked at her and grinned. "About time you returned, Vi-chan. Your little girl is too hyperactive for her own good," she told the other, standing up and carrying Pan towards her mother. "Now, now, Panny-chan, look who's home! It's mama! Go give her a big hug and tell her how much you miss her."

"How's my little girl?" Videl asked, dropping her tone into a childlike one as she cuddled her daughter. As she carried her daughter around, she looked at her best friend and said, "Thank you so much, Erasa, you just don't know how much this all means to me. I hope I can somehow repay you for all this help you're giving me."

"Oh, don't bother. The pleasure's mine," the other muttered, patting her on the shoulder. She then sat back down on the couch and sighed. "It must be hard being a single mother. I mean, you don't only have to work to support yourself and your child, you also have to take care of her little girl and make sure she grows up the right way. And in your case, you have to take care of a paralyzed father, too," she blurted out before resting her gaze on the picture that was taped to the dusty-looking wall. "Vi-chan... you never told me how Gohan died."

Her best friend's comment about her being a single mother did not affect her much, but those last words made the policewoman stop in what she was doing. She turned to look at the blonde young woman, her face a mask of emotions. Part of her wanted to scold Erasa for asking such a thing, for opening such a topic, while another part of her simply wanted her to tell the truth and move on. "The androids," she confessed, shutting her eyes to stop the tears, to stop the pain. "The androids killed him. I was going to tell you, but I couldn't. I know how much you cared for him."

Tears were starting to accumulate at the rim of Erasa's light blue eyes, ready to fall. "He was..." she began, but immediately trailed off, forcing back sobs. "... a great friend. Gohan was a great friend. More than he'll ever know."

That was when Pan reached out with her tiny hands and pulled her mother's hair, demanding her attention in her own little way. "Papa?" she asked, looking at Videl with big ebony eyes that so were so much like Gohan's, apparently knowing who was being talked about.

The two women stared at each other, anguish reflected in their eyes, and then, they turned to look at the little girl instead. Despite Pan's continuous calls for her father, Videl did not say anything. She merely hugged her daughter close, stroked her hair and hummed a lullaby in her attempt to comfort the child.

Briefs-Vegeta... It was... my mistake. The Most High... Ryuurai... He will... He will... He will in---

"Invade," the young woman breathed, her glassy onyx orbs snapping open as she, too, snapped out of the spell that was casted on her. She stared at the rough-looking ceiling, barely visible at the darkness of the room she was imprisoned in, and wondered how long she had been unconscious. She tried to push herself up, but found that she was securely strapped to the cold, metal plate on which she was lying on.

Muttering a curse between her breath, she tried to figure out what was holding her in place and how to free herself from whatever it was, when what she thought were ropes tightened around her like a huge snake coiling around its prey. She gritted her teeth as she stopped struggling, presuming that it would stop what it was doing as well, but instead, it squeezed her against the wall of metal even harder.

The pain was excruciating. She wanted to cry out in pain, but she did not want to give the Ryuujins the pleasure of hearing her that way. She shut her eyes instead, absorbing the pain instead of forcing it out --- and to her surprise, it worked. She no longer felt the pain, as she no longer felt anything. Her entire body was numb, and there was nothing she could do, for if she would release her hold, the pain would surge back like a tidal wave.

"I can't die, not when I haven't avenged Lord Hyouko's death," she whispered to herself, determination flashing in her eyes. And that was all she needed. A different kind of power then flowed through her, a power that she could rarely access, and as her aura exploded like a supernova, the creature that bound her fell to a heap on the cold, marble floor. She jumped away immediately, proceeding to blast a hole on the wall for her to go through, when she yelped as something overcame her from behind.

The creature had grabbed her tail.

She fell to her knees, the pain swallowing her whole. The creature, on the other hand, seemed to realize that what it was holding on to was its opponent's weakness, so it latched on even more, making the female warrior shriek in agony. Damn this stupid tail, she thought fiercely with clenched teeth before she focused on the wall that was one of the two things that was keeping her away from freedom at that moment.

Her cold, blue eyes darted towards her hand, which she then held up, forcing herself to do what must be done. You want to get out of this planet, don't you? she encouraged herself, and then, she began recharging the ki-blast she prepared earlier. She knew it that she would feel an even greater pain at the execution of her plan, but she had no other choice.

It happened very fast. In a blink of an eye, by only moving her head to look at her target, she blasted the creature, driving it away from her and towards the wall, slamming it to the hard surface with much impact and killing it without much trouble. She stopped in her tracks, hesitation filling her mind --- but only for a moment.

She then cut her tail off.

"Here you go," Goten announced with a smile as he set down three large plates filled with delicious-looking food, before he sat down on the chair that was reserved for him. He looked at his companions who were gaping at what he had cooked, and told them what he had cooked for them, pointing to each plate as he did so. "Beef steak with cauliflower, fish fillet with sweet and sour sauce, and vegetable soup. Eat away before I gobble them all up."

Yumi could not help but flash him a smile as soon as she tasted every dish. "Oh, Goten, you're just fabulous!" she exclaimed before helping herself with another spoonful of vegetable soup. "I could never cook as well as you do! Thanks for doing all this for us, I can't imagine how our lives --- mine, most especially --- would be if we'd have to eat burnt rice cakes until the end of time."

A sheepish, embarrassed grin crossed the demi-saiyajin's face, then he stared at his food-laden plate to hide the red hue that was crawling up to his cheeks. Trunks, on the other hand, averted his gaze from his plate to the other young man and scowled --- before swallowing another spoonful of vegetable soup.

"Trunks, could you please hand me one of that?" the young woman requested, pointing to the plate filled with rice cakes.

The demi-saiyajin raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at her with his cold, blue eyes. "You have feet to stand up with and hands to get one, don't you? Then just do it yourself," he snapped, frowning. "Or is the ex-Prime Minister's daughter too dependent that she can't do such a simple task all by herself?"

She glared at him, annoyed that he was being the jerk he was again. She was about to return the rude gesture when she realized that she could not find the words to rebuke him. Rolling her eyes, she stood up, grabbed one of the rice cakes, and as she sat back down, she muttered, "He saved the world from the androids, yet he can't do me a simple favor. What a jerk."

"Excuse me?" he asked in a raised voice.

"I said," she spat, turning to look at him with anger in her verdant eyes, "that you saved the world from the androids yet you can't do me a simple favor. You're such a jerk." With that, she rose from her seat, her hard gaze still on Trunks. "Oh well. Looks like I lost my appetite. The food was great --- but someone wasn't."

She wasn't even out of the room when Trunks bolted up from his seat. "Oh yeah?" he called out in a bitter tone, following the young woman with his angry, cobalt-colored eyes as she stomped her way to her bedroom. "As if you are! You know what I think of you, Yumi? You're nothing but a spoiled little girl who wants her daddy back so badly because she can't take care of herself!"

"And you're nothing but a spoiled little boy who wants his mommy back so badly because he can't take care of himself!" her voice boomed from the second floor of their tiny apartment before she stomped her feet one last time in defiance and slammed the door of her bedroom shut.

Trunks stood still, his hand clamped into a fist as he took in all that the young woman had said. He wanted to yell back at her, to tell her that she was wrong, but he couldn't. Because he was right. He wanted his mother back so badly, because he no longer knew how to handle things. Bulma would understand, and she would help him --- if she was alive. Taking a deep breath to push his anger away, he spun around to take another drink from his glass of water, only to look directly at the other demi-saiyajin who, too, was staring at him.

"You didn't mean that, did you?" Goten asked in an almost hesitant fashion. He didn't want to stick his nose into other people's business, but Trunks and Yumi were his friends, and he did not want their friendship to be destroyed just like that. "You know... that she's a spoiled brat and all."

To the younger warrior's surprise, he nodded. "Oh I meant it, all right," he answered in a steely tone, then he averted his sapphire eyes to the half-empty glass of water that was in front of him. He shut himself off from the rest of the world for a few moments, to calm himself down and drive the hostility in him away, before he lifted his head to regard the other young man. With a soft, barely audible voice, he finished, "But that doesn't mean I love her less."

Erasa looked at Videl worriedly; in fact, that was all she did ever since the other young woman answered the said call. Although there was really nothing to worry about phone calls, the expression on the Chief of Police's face was enough to capture the journalist's full attention.

"Don't you ever dare do that!" the other suddenly snapped, clutching her sleeping daughter close to her with an intense degree of protectiveness. Her eyes narrowed drastically. "Is that how you do things now? Threaten people to make them do what you want them to do?"

After hearing the caller's response, Videl rolled her eyes. "All I'm asking is that you keep my daughter safe and out of this," she said sternly, dropping her voice into one that was barely a whisper. "Do that, and I'm going to do my part. Or is that too hard for someone like you? Just tell me, and I will back off from our agreement with no strings attached."

As soon as she put down the receiver, her best friend walked up to her and asked, "What was that all about?"

Videl sighed. "You know, the upcoming revolution," she replied, resting her gaze on the picture of Trunks and Yumi that the other young woman gave her earlier. "They've decided. It's going to take place tomorrow, whether we like it or not. Shidoosha will be assassinated at nine o'clock in the evening, and we will push someone into office to be the new President of this nation."

"And who's that going to be? I mean, there are a lot who would want to be President, but we can't just put anyone on that position, right?" Erasa asked as she calmed down, sitting on the couch as her friend did so. When she turned to look at the policewoman, however, she saw the closed expression she was sporting, and it hit her. "They threatened that they're going to hurt Pan if you won't do what they want?"

"That's how things are done nowadays, I'm afraid," she answered with a heavy sigh, before she smiled. "However, I'm going to give them a surprise that will surely please them. I don't care if I have to do it the same way as they're doing it, but I don't have any other option. After all, we need a President by tomorrow."

"What do you mean?"

That was when Videl reached out to grab the picture that was just beside the telephone, a triumphant grin on her pale features. "To succeed in our endeavor, we need the right person to put into office," she began, looking at her best friend intently. "Young, popular, and easy to bend, so that she will follow whatever we tell her to do. Right now, there's only one person who fits that description. If we can convince her, then our problem is solved."

"Young, popular, easy to bend..." Erasa muttered, analyzing the clues she was given, before a grin spread on her face. "Eighteen years old, attractive, daughter of a popular politician who had a lot of supporters during his reign, naive and unaware of how the world truly works because of her luxurious way of life --- am I thinking of the right person?" As soon as Videl nodded, confusion became the dominant expression on her face. "But how are you going to find her? True, she's with Briefs-Vegeta, but isn't he supposed to be dead?"

"I have my ways, Erasa," the Chief of Police assured her with a knowing smile. "I have my ways."