/*
Disclaimer: DBZ isn't mine, Gohan is, well in my dreams he is at any rate.
Anything between /* and */ is just me budding in, so is anything after // up until the next hard return.
For those of you that realised, I'm trying to learn to program in C++ as a hobby, that's the origin of the commentary codes.
*/
/*
Response to reviews.
To Nodles:
My first somewhat negative review. * Runs around screaming and crying * Don't worry I'm just kidding on the screaming and crying. Gohan telling Videl all that is unfortunately a necessary evil in the story. Chapter 5 certainly wasn't the greatest, but I need Videl to know everything and this was the only good way of doing it. I tried to keep that scene as short as possible but I didn't want to move it entirely off camera either.
On the Hercule front, I don't like him, and that shows in how I portray his character, also he only becomes nicer after he meets Majin Buu and they become friends. So I think that this angle on his character is actually pretty accurate, just watch the way he's acting during the Sayaman saga. I guess I did make Chi-Chi a bit more reasonable than usual because I moved her right into her "I want grandchildren" mode, but I thought a fic where she isn't to pushy might be nice for a change.
As far as the hair cut is concerned. If you don't like it, ignore it, for me it's hard to think of Videl as having the long hair, so I decided to put in the hair cut, as the reader you can ignore it, or style it however the hell you like.
To everyone:
Sorry for taking so long * grovels humbly at your feet * I had some writers block, so I needed to get some things on another story out of the way first. Also I had to do some rewriting on this. Anyway here it is, please review.
*/
Life Is Strange
Saga: Truth
Chapter 6: Close Encounters Of The Weird Kind
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Chapter title note:
For those of you who don't know, a close encounter is an encounter with aliens, there are types of close encounter, the third kind, actually seeing aliens being the most famous, followed by the fourth kind, visiting their ship either voluntarily or after abduction (this used to all fall into the third category in older versions of the system).
The weird kind of close encounter is when you've discovered that your boy-friend is half alien and he decides to introduce you to his friends, several of whom are aliens.
*/
Videl was woken by sunlight falling on her face the next morning. She groaned, still tired. Gohan had taken her home shortly after all the revelations of last night, and she'd kept up a brave front the whole time. But inside she'd been very shaken up. The truth about one of the things that had the most influence on her life had been completely shaken. Not to mention that, though she knew he'd never hurt her, she was still a little shocked about Gohan blowing up a mountain seemingly without effort.
After he'd left she'd locked herself in her room. It would take her dad some time to get home, as Gohan had flown her at top speed again, but she didn't want to face him when he got there.
She remembered looking back at her dad wanting him to explain in someway. But he hadn't said anything even when she asked him he'd just stood there looking scared his mouth wide open sweat running down his face.
When she'd looked back over at Gohan again, he was looking more relaxed. Soon his hair went black again, as did his eyes.
In a few seconds he picked up his helmet, which had landed nearby, and put it back on.
"I'll take you home now Videl." He'd said. Taking her in his arms again and flying her back. The whole journey back had been a fight for her. She'd been fighting herself, not wanting to show him her weakness. She'd been so lost in that struggle that she hardly noticed when he landed on her balcony.
He'd apologised. He'd lost his temper, and he was sorry. She wasn't sorry, she thought. But she wasn't quite sure.
The world as she knew it had been changed. The life she'd lived in the spotlights turned out to be nothing more than a lie.
He'd left after a good-bye kiss. And she'd locked herself in.
The door was still locked now. Her father had stood outside it for hours last night. Trying to get her to talk to him, but she wouldn't.
He'd left after a while and she'd finally abandoned the last of her pretence. She'd cried, she'd screamed and she'd sobbed, she'd thrown things around. She'd gone to bed only to toss and turn. She'd gotten up again kicked her punching bag so hard it had split, tossed and turned again, and finally managing to get to sleep around four in the morning.
Now it was only nine and the sun was waking her. She groaned again. It was way to early for yesterday being such a late night. But she wouldn't get to sleep again, she knew herself well enough to realise that. She could never get back to sleep after waking up. She let out a third groan, followed by a yawn and then forced herself to get out of bed.
An hour later Videl was sitting in the downstairs dining room, having her breakfast. Mary smiled at her and she smiled back. She knew Mary had known her long enough to sense that something was going on, but fortunately the housemaid knew better than to try to question Videl.
"Do you know how my dad tracked me yesterday?" Videl asked the older woman.
"I think he said something about using the locator in your watch." Mary replied.
Damn. Videl thought. The police can use it to keep track of me, but I didn't know that my dad could too. Maybe he's got more brains than I give him credit for. He just needs a reason to get them focused on something other than himself.
"Any idea as to why he came?" She asked.
"I'm not sure. I think it had something to do with some promotional things he wanted you to come to, I think it was the launch of his new range of boxing gloves."
Videl sighed. It was always about him, all the interest he ever showed in her was really about him. Even the one thing that she for a while had loved as well as hated, the way he was over protective about boys, wasn't because he cared for her, and wanted her to have a boy-friend that would in his words 'be able to protect her' but because it wouldn't do for his image if his daughter got involved with someone weak. Well Gohan certainly wasn't weak. But Videl honestly didn't know what to make of their relationship at this point. She'd believed him yesterday, her father hadn't even tried to deny it after coming home. But it still left her faced with a world that had changed greatly from one day to the next. A word in which her father wasn't the strongest man alive, and in which there were suddenly powers that she couldn't even begin to fathom.
She finished eating and headed out side. She hesitated for a while before getting in her jet-copter, and heading for Gohan's. On the way she switched of the locator circuit in her watch.
I don't want to face my dad again just yet. She thought to herself. And I certainly don't want him to drop in on us again.
Gohan meanwhile was feeling the full effects of Saiyan puberty. His Ki level had about doubled and he was beginning to notice what Bulma had meant when she said he might weaken himself. Hell forget weaken, his own nearly uncontrollable Ki had already given him a black eye and two bruised ribs. He'd told his mother and brother about everything last night. Including that he had no idea what the situation between him and Videl would be now that he'd told her everything. Goten had said he wanted Videl to be his new sister, while Chi-Chi had started looking for the patterns she needed to knit socks for her grand-children.
Gohan had told them that he wasn't sure what would happen with him and Videl now. Goten had looked worried at this, and had started saying he really wanted a sister, and Chi-Chi had tried to reassure Gohan that everything would work out.
He hoped it would. He loved her. But with her world being shaken like this, he had no idea how she would react, and however she did react he couldn't blame her.
He winced as another bit of his own Ki attacked him, this time striking at his shoulder, leaving it slightly painful.
Damn this Saiyan puberty. He thought. Wait, is that Videl's jet-copter I hear.
Slowly, because apparently his left leg too had suffered a self inflicted Ki blast, he walked outside.
Videl heard the door of the Son home open as she recapsulated her jet-copter. She put the capsule in her pocket, and turned to see Gohan standing in the doorframe.
He doesn't look well. She thought. I wonder what's going on.
"Hey Gohan." She called out approaching him. "Are you okay?"
"Within reason." He answered. Giving her a small kiss on the lips. "But you need to keep your distance from me. I can't keep myself in check much longer than this."
"What do you mean by that?" She asked puzzled, but walking a way a bit all the same.
"See this black eye?"
What does that have to do with anything? "Yes."
"I gave it to myself, my own Ki attacks me, and if you get to close I might not be able to stop it attacking you."
"So I can take care of myself."
"You don't fully realise who you're dealing with yet. The force needed to give me a black eye would put you in hospital."
He's right, I do keep forgetting how different he is from me.
"If it makes you feel any better I won't even let my mom near me. Just my little brother, and only when he's turned Super."
"You mean Goten can do the thing with the gold hair too?" Videl asked.
"Yeah, and that makes him strong enough to take these stray Ki attacks. He's still really young to be able to transform though, I didn't learn myself 'til I was eleven. But I don't think you came her to talk about that."
"Well actually I did, more or less. It's just that though I do believe what you've told me, I have a hard time dealing with it." Gohan nodded. "And I just need someone to talk to about the whole thing."
That's only natural. Gohan thought. If my world had just been turned upside down I'd want to talk about it to someone as well.
"The only problem is." Videl continued. "That if I were to discuss it with anyone I know they'd just end up being as shocked as I am."
Gohan nodded. That's true, I'll have to set her up, but with whom? My mom would just talk about grandchildren. Goten wasn't really around when it happened. Krillin would just make fun of her, for being my girlfriend, and this stuff is way to natural to him, he may not be as strong as any of the Saiyans, but he still is a Z-fighter.
"I know." He said out loud. "I'll ask Bulma if you can come over to CC and talk about it with her. She knows the truth, and she's more or less a normal person."
"What do you mean by more or less normal?"
"Well, most of the people I know that know about what happened are either aliens, or humans that can use their Ki, so a lot of things look normal from the point of view. And Bulma is definitely among the more sensible people I know."
"I see. I guess I do need someone with a more or less normal perspective to talk to."
Gohan allowed a small chuckle to escape his lips. "Well Bulma is probably the closest thing we've got. Now why don't you get out your copter again, and head for Capsule Corporation, and I'll get someone to call her and tell her you're coming. I'm afraid I might destroy the phone if I touch it."
This sounds like a good idea. Videl thought, as she threw down the jet-copter's capsule.
"Anything I need to remember about how to get into Capsule Corporation?"
"Not really, best thing to do would probably be to go in the normal way for friends, set down by the pond in the back yard, then just knock on the back door. You could go by the main entrance, but I'm so used to going the other way, I don't know the security code by heart anymore."
"Okay, now do you think you can contain yourself long enough for a little good-bye kiss?"
"I think so."
"Okay, we'll risk it." Videl walked up to him, and softly pressed her lips into his. She could feel him trembling with the effort of keeping his Ki in check, so she quickly broke the kiss and walked out of his reach.
"Good-bye Gohan, I hope this problem ends soon." She called hopping into her copter.
"Me too Videl, have a good trip."
"Goten!" Gohan yelled as Videl took off. "Get out here and take the phone with you."
"Coming." Goten's voice chirped out of the house.
And soon the little man himself appeared holding the portable.
"Who d'you wanna call Gohan?"
"I want you to call Bulma." Gohan said. "I'm afraid I'd probably crush the phone if I touched it."
Gohan smiled at the shocked look on his brother's face. Goten liked the phone almost as much as he liked to eat.
"Okay." Goten said punching in the number. "What do you want me to tell her?"
"Tell her, that Videl is the girl I talked to her about. That I told her the truth about the Cell-games. And that she's on her way over because she needs to talk to someone."
"Okay."
Thanks to Gohan's Saiyan hearing he could hear the sound coming out of the horn, as well as what his brother was saying.
"Brief residence."
"Hi Bulma this is Goten."
"Hey Goten, you want to talk to Trunks?"
"No, Gohan wants me to call you."
"Why doesn't he call me himself?"
"He said he might crush the phone."
Gohan saw his little brother shudder with these words.
"So," Bulma said, "I take it his Saiyan puberty has started."
"Yep." Goten replied.
"Well why did he want you to call me?"
"Uhm, I don't remember. What was it again Gohan?"
Gohan sighed. His little brother wasn't to good on the memory front. He decided to try another way of doing this.
"Bulma." He yelled. "Can you hear me?"
"Yeah Gohan I can hear you." Bulma's voice came from the phone.
"Good." Gohan yelled back. "Now the situation is as follows. You remember what I told you about a girl in school, when I asked about the Saiyan stuff?"
"Yeah I remember."
"Great. Now what I didn't tell you is that the girl in question is Videl."
"You're kidding me right? Hercule's daughter?"
"Nope I'm not kidding you. Now yesterday I told her the truth about the Cell-games."
"My god. How did she take it?"
"Pretty well I'd say. But she needs someone to talk to about this whole thing."
"I can dig that."
"So I decided to send her to you if you don't mind. You're about the most normal person I can think of, mom is pretty normal, but right now she doesn't talk about things other than grandchildren."
"That sounds like Chi-Chi alright. Anything else I should know about?"
"Nothing much, I told Videl the best thing to do would be to set down in the back yard. And other than that, I pretty much told her my lives story, from Radditz on, but I haven't told her about Vegeta yet, I thought I should leave it up to you, if you want other people to know about that. I'm sure she'd keep it to herself, but I didn't feel it was my place to decide."
"I'll tell her if it's relevant. Besides his royal-highness is more than likely to tell her himself."
"Okay, thanks Bulma, talk to her."
"Don't worry, I'll do some talking and try to get all the juicy details."
"BULMA!!"
"Relax Gohan, I'm just kidding."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye Gohan."
Where did he get this ability to just keep surprising me? She wondered knowing it was not a realistic question. After all, all these surprises were just part of who he was, it wasn't some special ability just a rather extraordinary live.
She could remember him saying it. "I don't know the security code by heart anymore." The guy talked about the security code to the headquarters of the largest company in the world, and the holder of the worlds most valuable patents as if it were a matter of 'I can't find the neighbours spare key right now.'
I wonder what Bulma's really like? She wondered on. We did exchange a bit of chitchat over lunch, but now I'm actually heading for her house. And talking about the truth about the Cell-games, not to mention the my boyfriend is an alien matter, is quite different from an exchange of polite little nothings over lunch.
After that she just concentrated on flying for a while, heading for the Western Capitol. Soon the big yellow dome of CC headquarters came into view, and she flew towards it, setting down on the lawn behind it next to the pond. She got out, recapsulated it and walked to the door.
She smiled a little as she touched the capsule in her pocket and realised that she was literally bringing capsules to Capsule Corp.
She knocked on the door and immediately it was opened by Bulma herself.
"Hi Videl, come on in."
"Hi Bulma."
"So you're the one who got Gohan into his present predicament."
"What do you mean?"
"Didn't he tell you, Saiyan puberty is sparked by love, well it can be sparked by age as well, but not at his age?"
"In that case I plead guilty." Videl said with a smile. "And I'm glad I'm not Saiyan, or I would be going through puberty as well."
"So you definitely love him then." Bulma squealed happily.
"Yeah." Videl whispered looking around. They were sitting at the kitchen table and it seemed that Bulma had ordered her husband and son to stay away because neither was here at the moment.
"Well you'll probably have an easier time with Gohan than I had with Vegeta." Bulma said. "Saiyan's can be a mighty stubborn race, but his mother has raised him well."
"Vegeta is Saiyan?" Videl asked, surprised.
"Yes." Bulma replied. "The prince of Saiyans and the only pureblood left alive."
"Wait a second." Videl said. "If he's a full Saiyan then he must be one of those guys that came to earth when Gohan and I were little."
"Yeah, not exactly part of his life to be proud of, but I've learned to live with it."
"I can understand that. But if he's Saiyan he must have been at the Cell-games as well."
"Yes, it's one of the reasons he hates your dad, you must have noticed the tone in his voice at lunch the other day, when he referred to you as 'his offspring'. He has a hard time with it himself. The eleven-year-old demi-Saiyan son of a third class warrior surpassed him, but he also has a hard time with anyone touching anything Saiyan, including Gohan's victory. You could call it his national pride."
"This whole Cell-games business is still very confusing to me." Videl said. "I understand that Gohan defeated Cell, but all these weird things with Ki. I mean I saw him blow up a mountain without breaking a sweat. What sort of people are we dealing with here?"
"Saiyans." Bulma simply stated. "Super-Saiyans to be precise, but that's hardly needed to blow up mountains. From what he tells me, Vegeta could blow up planets when he first came to Earth, and he was over a thousand times weaker then than he is now."
So it doesn't stop at mountains. Videl thought.
"So tell me how do you deal with it?" She asked.
"You don't." Bulma replied. "You just get used to it. Even Krillin, who is probably the strongest human being currently alive, could blow up the planet without any effort. And the list doesn't stop there, all things considered there's probably at least a dozen people on this planet that could blow it up."
Just then Vegeta stomped into the room.
"Woman. The gravity room is broken again. Fix it."
"Don't get your spandex in a twist Vegeta, I'm talking to Videl. If you broke the GR again, you're just going to have to do without it until I have the time."
"Hmph." Vegeta said, and he stomped out again. Videl just sat there with her eyes wide. This Guy could destroy planets and yet Bulma talked to him like she was in charge.
"How do you do that?" She asked. "Talk to someone as strong as that so naturally?"
"It just is natural I suppose." Bulma said. "The first time we really talked he called me servant woman, and it's been like a war zone between us since, but underneath it all I know he loves me. And he could never hurt me. I just use that as my weapon."
Videl nodded, this sort of made sense. After all, Gohan couldn't hurt her, not on purpose anyway.
The two of them talked on for hours. About the Cell-games, about all the other things in recent years that the public knew little or nothing about. About Saiyans and their habits. And about Gohan.
Most of Videl's time the next few days were spend in trying to evade her father. When they did meet it usually lead to a fight of some sort, so the effort was more or less mutual. While Videl agreed, not so much with her father as with Bulma, that the truth about the Cell-games shouldn't come out, not yet anyway, it didn't stop her from questioning her dad every time he started on the subject of his own greatness.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday passed like this. But on Thursday morning she was startled by a knock on her balcony door. She opened the curtains to see Gohan standing there in his Sayaman costume.
"Hey Videl, can I come in?"
"Sure Gohan." She replied opening the door. "I just hope nobody saw you, or my love affair with Sayaman will be all over the papers tomorrow."
"Well are you having a love affair with Sayaman?"
"Maybe." She said closing the curtains again.
"Just maybe huh?"
"Well," she put her arms around his neck, "I guess you could say I am." She softly kissed him on the lips. "But," she continued after breaking the kiss, "I guess I'd rather have an affair with the man behind the mask." She kissed him again and during the kiss pushed the button to turn him back into Gohan.
After a while they broke their kiss and moved apart.
"I take it your little bout of puberty is over." Videl said.
"Just about." Gohan replied. "My Ki is still a little stronger than usual, but that may be a permanent change. Or its just do to the recovery, Saiyans get stronger whenever they are injured but not killed."
"So how did you recover? I was half expecting you to still have a black eye or something."
"Well there are these things, they're called senzu beans. They're really hard to grow, I think Korrin is the only one that knows how to, though that doesn't really matter. What does matter is that they can heal any injury instantly. So I took one this morning. They're quite rare though so you can't just take them for a simple headache, but after my puberty experience I was pretty bruised."
"I can understand that, just one thing, who's this Korrin?"
"A friend. I'll introduce you to him some time."
"Okay. Now what were you planning on doing today?"
"I don't have any plans yet to be honest. As soon as the self inflicted Ki attacks stopped last night I just wanted to come see you."
"How about we go on a picnic?" Videl asked.
"Sure. I think I've got a fridge-capsule with me, so that takes care of the food. Do you have anything we could use for the cloth?"
"Hmm, change into Sayaman for a moment?"
"What?"
"I'm going to need someone's help but I can't explain how you came in by way of my balcony, Sayaman I can explain."
Gohan nodded as he transformed.
"Mary!" Videl called.
"Yes miss Videl." A few moments later the housemaid entered the room.
"Mary, I'm going on a picnic, could you get me something we could use to set things down on?"
"I think I could probably find something, but who are you going with?" Then she noticed Sayaman. "What's he doing here? How'd he get in?"
"Oh, he came in through the balcony door."
"What?"
"Well if you could fly and wanted to get to me quick what door would you knock on?"
"Good point. Are you going with him?"
"Yes."
"Well then you could just use his cape couldn't you. But I'll see if I can get you an old tablecloth."
Mary disappeared again, and a few minutes later she came back with an old red and white blocked tablecloth.
"Here, have fun."
After Mary had left Gohan extended his arms and Videl jumped into them.
"Let's go." She whispered into his ear.
He had to walk for a few paces, to get out the door, but then he took off. Videl shivered slightly with joy and cold at feeling of the air rushing past her before Gohan extended his Ki to fully surround her.
Gohan felt Videl relax into his arms as they flew over the countryside.
Dende I love her. He thought to himself. And she loves me, but God only knows what will happen when she meets my friends.
I can just see the introductions now: 'Videl, this is Dende, he's the God of Earth. This is Piccolo, he blew up the moon.' That would sure get her to relax. He thought ironically. Let's just cross that bridge when we come to it. His mind continued. Today let's just enjoy some time alone with Videl.
After flying for a few more minutes Gohan landed in a clearing in the woods. There didn't seem to be any trails so the woods might be untouched. Videl spread out the tablecloth on the ground as Gohan searched his pockets until he found the fridge-capsule he had on him. These capsules were rather bulky, compared to the standard model, as they capsulated anything put into the refrigerator as well. He tried never to travel without one and indeed found one. Soon there was a refrigerator standing on the grass beside them, and he moved to get the food out of it and onto the tablecloth on the ground.
Videl sat watching in amazement as Gohan started to eat. He didn't hold back anymore nowadays, and even though she knew the full truth about him now she was still stunned by the way he was eating.
It must have something to do with the Saiyans being a warrior race. She thought to herself. Having to eat between battles and not wanting to be caught of guard must have slipped into their DNA.
Slowly, at a snail's pace compared to Gohan, Videl started eating herself. After about thirty minutes Videl slowed to taking small bites. So did Gohan who had apparently managed to put a somewhat sizeable dent in his rather large appetite.
As they were just approaching the moment where they'd start talking again, Videl's cell-phone rang.
Great, probably another criminal to interrupt lunch. She thought to herself.
"Videl." She answered the phone.
"Hey Videl, Bulma here." The response came.
Bulma? Why is she calling?
"Hey Bulma. What's up?"
"Well, Chi-Chi told Goten who told Trunks who let something slip while he was training with Vegeta, who told me, because he wanted me to fix the GR and needed to suck up, that Gohan's Saiyan puberty was over. Do you know if that's right, because Gohan isn't home."
"Yeah it's right." Videl said. "He's here having a picnic with me."
"Oh good. Then I can invite you both at the same time. I want to throw a party tonight to celebrate Gohan being back to normal, so if you guys would come, there'd actually be a reason to throw it."
"Well I'll talk about it with Gohan, hold on for a moment."
She covered the phone with her hand.
"What do you think Gohan, should we go?"
"I don't see why not, but there'll probably be a lot of my friends there and well, some of them are a bit odd."
Gee, he's an alien, what does he think, that I expect all his friends to be average people?
"Don't worry about that. I'm not expecting an average group. I'll live. In fact I'd like to meet your friends."
"Well in that case tell Bulma we'll be there around eight if that's okay with her. Oh and ask her if Piccolo and Dende are on the guest list."
Videl repeated the time and the question into her phone.
She nodded at Bulma's reply and politely ended the conversation. Before turning to Gohan again.
"She said they'd both be invited, though she isn't sure that Dende will be able to get away."
"He'll be there." Gohan said. "He's probably dieing of curiosity anyway. Besides Popo can take over for a few hours."
"So what are we going to do for the rest of the afternoon?"
"I don't know, I guess I could take you up to see Korrin, he definitely won't be at the party even if he is invited, he never leaves his tower."
"Sounds like an unusual."
"That's an understatement."
"Why?"
"You'll see."
A few minutes later Gohan was enjoying the sensation of Videl being in his arms again as he flew towards Korrin's Tower, for a moment he contemplated whether he should fly on to the lookout since he was so close, but it would probably be better for Videl not to get to see that until after she'd met some of it's occupants at the party.
As he landed and set down Videl, Yajirobi came out to greet them. In his usual rather annoying way.
"Hey Gohan. Is there some crisis on Earth or something? That you need my help with."
Gohan looked at him, he had rather little tolerance for Yajirobi in spite of the one time in his life the fat warrior had been brave and had cut of Oozaru Vegeta's tale.
"Trust me Yajirobi." Gohan said trying to remain polite. "There is no chance of any crisis on Earth that I need your help with happening within the next couple of millennia."
"Of course there isn't." Korrin's voice came. "Besides Yajirobi, can't you tell he's just here to introduce me to his girlfriend."
Shit. Gohan thought. I forgot he can read minds.
"Well you shouldn't be so careless then." Korrin replied to the thought.
"Why are you talking to a cat Gohan?" Videl asked. "And how come he's talking back?"
"Videl this is Korrin. He may be a white cat but he's very intelligent, also be careful what you think cause he can read minds."
A cat? Videl wondered. The guy that grows the senzu beans is a cat?
"Well of course I'm a cat." Korrin replied. "Do you know any human that can grow senzus?"
"Uh, no."
"Of course you don't, that's because there aren't any. Besides I know more about what's happening on Earth than almost everyone save Dende."
"Gohan mentioned him before what's he got to do with it?"
"I'm not going to tell you, your boyfriend doesn't want me too. He seems to think it's better that you wait until the party tonight."
She shot a look at Gohan who was blushing. It seems that he isn't used to having his mind read either.
"No he isn't." Korrin said. "He doesn't drop by anywhere near enough."
They stayed at Korrin's for a while longer, and Korrin explained the working of senzu beans to Videl in a bit more detail. After a while Gohan checked his watch and said that it was time to get going.
Gohan flew slowly towards Capsule Corporation and Videl wondered why.
"Gohan?"
"Yes."
"Why are we going slow? I know you can go a lot faster."
"Oh I could, but not everyone else is there yet."
"How do you know that?"
"Well one of the things people that can use their Ki are usually capable of is sensing other peoples Ki if it's strong enough. So I can tell that my little brother is there already, which means my mom must be there also. Krillin also seems to be there with his family, Yamcha is there too, but Tien, Chaozu, Dende and Piccolo are still on their way."
"So you're waiting for them?"
"Yeah, I thought it would be easier for you to face the whole gang at once."
"Why are you making this sound like something dangerous?"
"Oh they wouldn't hurt you, they'd have to deal with me then, and lord knows even Vegeta doesn't like that thought, but I am a bit worried about how much sanity you'll have left after an evening with them."
"That bad huh?"
"Well they are rather different than most people, you'll see."
About fifteen minutes later they landed at Capsule Corporation. Gohan knocked on the back door and Bulma was immediately there to let them in.
"Hi Gohan. Hi Videl." She greeted as she opened the door. "The others are all here already, but I'm sure Gohan already knew that."
Gohan nodded.
"So when do I get to meet everyone." Videl asked, feeling rather curious about Gohan's friends.
"I'll introduce you to everyone." Bulma said. "Then Gohan can go help Trunks, Goten and Vegeta plunder the buffet before those three eat it all."
Videl looked over at Gohan who was looking at her pleadingly. She understood that look well, he'd stay at her side if she wanted him too, but she could hear his Saiyan stomach growling for food. She gave him a small nod and he ran off, seemingly following his nose.
Videl herself meanwhile was being lead inside by Bulma, through the kitchen they soon reached the living room where the party was taking place.
Bulma immediately started walking around the room with Videl in tow, dragging her from one person to another.
First on the list was a guy with some scars on his face called Yamcha.
"Videl this is Yamcha, Yamcha this is Videl." Bulma introduced them.
"So we've lost another girl to the Saiyans." Yamcha stated.
"What do you mean by that." Videl asked.
"Well way back when Bulma and I used to be together, but then Vegeta came along and the rest as they say is history." Yamcha said, sounding rather bitter.
"Come on Yamcha don't be so gloomy."
To Videl's utter surprise the words came from a man who had just walked up behind Yamcha, while that in itself wasn't surprising the fact that he had three eyes was.
"Hello, I'm Tien. And this is Chaozu." He said indicating a small man, who was white with red cheeks that was floating next to him.
"Videl." She barely managed to say. "So what do all of you guys do?"
"When I gave up fighting I went back to playing baseball." Yamcha said. "It's a way to get food on the table."
"I still spend most of my time training." Tien said. "I'm Chaozu's chief body-guard so I need to be able to protect him."
"I help him train and I govern my empire." Chaozu said. "Though it's a rather small empire I'm still the emperor."
Videl was stunned by their explanations. I guess Yamcha did look familiar, but I've never been much of a baseball fan, as for the other two, I have no idea what to make of them.
"Come on Videl." Bulma said. "I'll introduce you to the rest of the group."
They walked on to one of the sofa's, which was occupied by a short man with messy black hair, a tall slim blond woman, and little blond girl that was sitting in the woman's lap.
"Videl, this is Krillin, his wife Eighteen, and their daughter Marron. Guys, this is Videl."
"I think Gohan mentioned you to me once." Videl said to Krillin.
"I should hope so." He replied. "I was his dad's closest friend. And he and I have been through a bit together. I'm sure he's told you about our adventures on Namek."
"He did tell me about that yes." She turned to Eighteen. "I hope I'm not being rude or anything, but why do you have a number for a name?"
"I'm an android, I was designed to terrorise the world, but I've decided not to, my creator Dr. Gero, didn't bother giving us names, he just numbered us."
"If you're an android, how did you have a daughter?"
"She started out as a human being." Krillin said. "Dr. Gero turned her into an android, but a lot of her physiology is still human, enough of it to make reproduction possible."
Videl nodded, she felt as though her sense of normality had gone numb, it all just seemed usual around these people, mountains being blown up, tiny emperors with three eyed body guards and androids designed to terrorise living happily ever after.
"Well who are you lovely." A voice from behind her called out. "I'm Roshi the turtle hermit." She turned around to see a little old man standing there.
"I'm Videl." She replied.
"If he goes to far just hit him, everybody does." Bulma whispered in her ear.
"So are you single." The old man asked.
"No I'm here with Gohan."
"Too bad, but that boy is one guy I don't want to mess with, I'll go see if I can't find some chick around town." Roshi said, disappearing out the door.
"That was polite for Roshi." Bulma remarked. "Now there's two people in particular you should meet." She led Videl over to a corner of the room.
"This is Piccolo, and this is Dende." She introduced. "Their good friends of Gohan's I'm sure you'll have a lot to talk about."
"Uhm, is this just me or are you guys green?" Videl asked.
Piccolo snorted but Dende smiled.
"No it's not you, we're Nameks."
Boy, talk about close encounters, Videl thought.
"So why are you here on earth, Gohan told me your people relocated to a new planet."
"Well Piccolo still thinks of Earth as his home." Dende said. "Though he's given up trying to rule it. As for me, they asked me to be God of Earth when Piccolo fused with my predecessor."
"Fused with? God of Earth?" Videl was so stunned she could barely get the phrases out.
"Of course, you wouldn't know." Dende said. "Nameks can fuse with one and other. The whole is much stronger than two are before the fusion. My predecessor was a Namek as well, actually, he'd split himself into two, separating his evil side which became Piccolo long ago, and once they fused that couldn't be repeated. Anyway, when me predecessor disappeared, because of the fusion the earths Dragon Balls lost their power. So they wanted a new Namek as God or guardian of Earth so he could create new Dragon Balls. This was shortly before the Cell-games and they wouldn't have been able to bring back the people Cell had killed otherwise."
Okay, Videl thought to herself, my sense of weirdness isn't completely numb yet. But I suppose it's like Bulma said, you just get used to this type of thing.
"So what does a God do?" She asked.
"Well mostly I keep a watch on what's happening on Earth, and when things really go wrong I have to try to make them right again. I don't do too much fighting, I would if I had too, but I'm more a healer, and Piccolo and the other's are a lot stronger than me anyway. I just coordinate, or try to, when things get out of hand."
"So if you're here now who's watching Earth?"
"My assistant mister Popo is doing that. And Korrin always keeps an eye out even when I'm home, so there's nothing to worry about."
Videl looked over at Piccolo. He was just standing there, quietly leaning against the wall, looking at her occasionally and at Gohan most of the time.
"He's not much for talking is he?" She whispered in Dende's ear, and she could have sworn he blushed a somewhat brighter green.
"I've never been what you'd call a people person." Piccolo replied. "I listen more than I talk, and these ears hear a lot, they don't just line my face, my hearing is even better than a Saiyan's. Besides, Gohan was the first friend I ever had, and even that I didn't really want, but the little guy grew on me. I guess with Dende and Popo I have three friends now, but the latter two I inherited. Dende was Nail's little brother. Nail is someone I fused with on Namek. And Popo was Kami's friend, Kami was Dende's predecessor."
Boy does this guy need a course in social behaviour. Videl thought. But I guess if you only have three friends, and don't talk to anyone else that's to be expected.
She continued to walk around the room talking with various people for a while, but mostly hung around Dende, where Gohan later joined her. She could see that Gohan was very close to Dende, as well as to Piccolo, and while Piccolo seemed somewhat distant, she too had found a friend in Dende.
Finally at eleven in the evening Gohan dropped her off on her balcony. They had a quick goodbye kiss, before he took off again, heading home.
Well it's certainly been another interesting day. Videl thought thinking back to the party. With some weird close encounters, I can't wait what the rest of the summer will bring.
/*
Next time on Life is Strange, are those bells we hear? And will this mean the return of Son Goku? Do new adventures await our heroes?
Well that was a long chapter, even for me. It also took a long time to write, but I had to write three versions of the last part of the chapter before I liked it. As you can tell from the next time on, I'm thinking of an engagement being for the next chapter, but I still have a lot of things I'm not sure of, will Hercule object to the wedding? Will the truth about Gohan, and the Cell-games become more widely known. Will there be some villain they have to get passed in their quest to use the Namekian Dragon Balls to revive Goku. How will they get to New Namek, I have several ideas on the last point, but haven't decided yet.
Anyway I'd love to hear from you. Any suggestions are welcome, though in the end I'm the one doing the writing, so whether they're used or not is my prerogative.
*/
Disclaimer: DBZ isn't mine, Gohan is, well in my dreams he is at any rate.
Anything between /* and */ is just me budding in, so is anything after // up until the next hard return.
For those of you that realised, I'm trying to learn to program in C++ as a hobby, that's the origin of the commentary codes.
*/
/*
Response to reviews.
To Nodles:
My first somewhat negative review. * Runs around screaming and crying * Don't worry I'm just kidding on the screaming and crying. Gohan telling Videl all that is unfortunately a necessary evil in the story. Chapter 5 certainly wasn't the greatest, but I need Videl to know everything and this was the only good way of doing it. I tried to keep that scene as short as possible but I didn't want to move it entirely off camera either.
On the Hercule front, I don't like him, and that shows in how I portray his character, also he only becomes nicer after he meets Majin Buu and they become friends. So I think that this angle on his character is actually pretty accurate, just watch the way he's acting during the Sayaman saga. I guess I did make Chi-Chi a bit more reasonable than usual because I moved her right into her "I want grandchildren" mode, but I thought a fic where she isn't to pushy might be nice for a change.
As far as the hair cut is concerned. If you don't like it, ignore it, for me it's hard to think of Videl as having the long hair, so I decided to put in the hair cut, as the reader you can ignore it, or style it however the hell you like.
To everyone:
Sorry for taking so long * grovels humbly at your feet * I had some writers block, so I needed to get some things on another story out of the way first. Also I had to do some rewriting on this. Anyway here it is, please review.
*/
Life Is Strange
Saga: Truth
Chapter 6: Close Encounters Of The Weird Kind
/*
Chapter title note:
For those of you who don't know, a close encounter is an encounter with aliens, there are types of close encounter, the third kind, actually seeing aliens being the most famous, followed by the fourth kind, visiting their ship either voluntarily or after abduction (this used to all fall into the third category in older versions of the system).
The weird kind of close encounter is when you've discovered that your boy-friend is half alien and he decides to introduce you to his friends, several of whom are aliens.
*/
Videl was woken by sunlight falling on her face the next morning. She groaned, still tired. Gohan had taken her home shortly after all the revelations of last night, and she'd kept up a brave front the whole time. But inside she'd been very shaken up. The truth about one of the things that had the most influence on her life had been completely shaken. Not to mention that, though she knew he'd never hurt her, she was still a little shocked about Gohan blowing up a mountain seemingly without effort.
After he'd left she'd locked herself in her room. It would take her dad some time to get home, as Gohan had flown her at top speed again, but she didn't want to face him when he got there.
She remembered looking back at her dad wanting him to explain in someway. But he hadn't said anything even when she asked him he'd just stood there looking scared his mouth wide open sweat running down his face.
When she'd looked back over at Gohan again, he was looking more relaxed. Soon his hair went black again, as did his eyes.
In a few seconds he picked up his helmet, which had landed nearby, and put it back on.
"I'll take you home now Videl." He'd said. Taking her in his arms again and flying her back. The whole journey back had been a fight for her. She'd been fighting herself, not wanting to show him her weakness. She'd been so lost in that struggle that she hardly noticed when he landed on her balcony.
He'd apologised. He'd lost his temper, and he was sorry. She wasn't sorry, she thought. But she wasn't quite sure.
The world as she knew it had been changed. The life she'd lived in the spotlights turned out to be nothing more than a lie.
He'd left after a good-bye kiss. And she'd locked herself in.
The door was still locked now. Her father had stood outside it for hours last night. Trying to get her to talk to him, but she wouldn't.
He'd left after a while and she'd finally abandoned the last of her pretence. She'd cried, she'd screamed and she'd sobbed, she'd thrown things around. She'd gone to bed only to toss and turn. She'd gotten up again kicked her punching bag so hard it had split, tossed and turned again, and finally managing to get to sleep around four in the morning.
Now it was only nine and the sun was waking her. She groaned again. It was way to early for yesterday being such a late night. But she wouldn't get to sleep again, she knew herself well enough to realise that. She could never get back to sleep after waking up. She let out a third groan, followed by a yawn and then forced herself to get out of bed.
An hour later Videl was sitting in the downstairs dining room, having her breakfast. Mary smiled at her and she smiled back. She knew Mary had known her long enough to sense that something was going on, but fortunately the housemaid knew better than to try to question Videl.
"Do you know how my dad tracked me yesterday?" Videl asked the older woman.
"I think he said something about using the locator in your watch." Mary replied.
Damn. Videl thought. The police can use it to keep track of me, but I didn't know that my dad could too. Maybe he's got more brains than I give him credit for. He just needs a reason to get them focused on something other than himself.
"Any idea as to why he came?" She asked.
"I'm not sure. I think it had something to do with some promotional things he wanted you to come to, I think it was the launch of his new range of boxing gloves."
Videl sighed. It was always about him, all the interest he ever showed in her was really about him. Even the one thing that she for a while had loved as well as hated, the way he was over protective about boys, wasn't because he cared for her, and wanted her to have a boy-friend that would in his words 'be able to protect her' but because it wouldn't do for his image if his daughter got involved with someone weak. Well Gohan certainly wasn't weak. But Videl honestly didn't know what to make of their relationship at this point. She'd believed him yesterday, her father hadn't even tried to deny it after coming home. But it still left her faced with a world that had changed greatly from one day to the next. A word in which her father wasn't the strongest man alive, and in which there were suddenly powers that she couldn't even begin to fathom.
She finished eating and headed out side. She hesitated for a while before getting in her jet-copter, and heading for Gohan's. On the way she switched of the locator circuit in her watch.
I don't want to face my dad again just yet. She thought to herself. And I certainly don't want him to drop in on us again.
Gohan meanwhile was feeling the full effects of Saiyan puberty. His Ki level had about doubled and he was beginning to notice what Bulma had meant when she said he might weaken himself. Hell forget weaken, his own nearly uncontrollable Ki had already given him a black eye and two bruised ribs. He'd told his mother and brother about everything last night. Including that he had no idea what the situation between him and Videl would be now that he'd told her everything. Goten had said he wanted Videl to be his new sister, while Chi-Chi had started looking for the patterns she needed to knit socks for her grand-children.
Gohan had told them that he wasn't sure what would happen with him and Videl now. Goten had looked worried at this, and had started saying he really wanted a sister, and Chi-Chi had tried to reassure Gohan that everything would work out.
He hoped it would. He loved her. But with her world being shaken like this, he had no idea how she would react, and however she did react he couldn't blame her.
He winced as another bit of his own Ki attacked him, this time striking at his shoulder, leaving it slightly painful.
Damn this Saiyan puberty. He thought. Wait, is that Videl's jet-copter I hear.
Slowly, because apparently his left leg too had suffered a self inflicted Ki blast, he walked outside.
Videl heard the door of the Son home open as she recapsulated her jet-copter. She put the capsule in her pocket, and turned to see Gohan standing in the doorframe.
He doesn't look well. She thought. I wonder what's going on.
"Hey Gohan." She called out approaching him. "Are you okay?"
"Within reason." He answered. Giving her a small kiss on the lips. "But you need to keep your distance from me. I can't keep myself in check much longer than this."
"What do you mean by that?" She asked puzzled, but walking a way a bit all the same.
"See this black eye?"
What does that have to do with anything? "Yes."
"I gave it to myself, my own Ki attacks me, and if you get to close I might not be able to stop it attacking you."
"So I can take care of myself."
"You don't fully realise who you're dealing with yet. The force needed to give me a black eye would put you in hospital."
He's right, I do keep forgetting how different he is from me.
"If it makes you feel any better I won't even let my mom near me. Just my little brother, and only when he's turned Super."
"You mean Goten can do the thing with the gold hair too?" Videl asked.
"Yeah, and that makes him strong enough to take these stray Ki attacks. He's still really young to be able to transform though, I didn't learn myself 'til I was eleven. But I don't think you came her to talk about that."
"Well actually I did, more or less. It's just that though I do believe what you've told me, I have a hard time dealing with it." Gohan nodded. "And I just need someone to talk to about the whole thing."
That's only natural. Gohan thought. If my world had just been turned upside down I'd want to talk about it to someone as well.
"The only problem is." Videl continued. "That if I were to discuss it with anyone I know they'd just end up being as shocked as I am."
Gohan nodded. That's true, I'll have to set her up, but with whom? My mom would just talk about grandchildren. Goten wasn't really around when it happened. Krillin would just make fun of her, for being my girlfriend, and this stuff is way to natural to him, he may not be as strong as any of the Saiyans, but he still is a Z-fighter.
"I know." He said out loud. "I'll ask Bulma if you can come over to CC and talk about it with her. She knows the truth, and she's more or less a normal person."
"What do you mean by more or less normal?"
"Well, most of the people I know that know about what happened are either aliens, or humans that can use their Ki, so a lot of things look normal from the point of view. And Bulma is definitely among the more sensible people I know."
"I see. I guess I do need someone with a more or less normal perspective to talk to."
Gohan allowed a small chuckle to escape his lips. "Well Bulma is probably the closest thing we've got. Now why don't you get out your copter again, and head for Capsule Corporation, and I'll get someone to call her and tell her you're coming. I'm afraid I might destroy the phone if I touch it."
This sounds like a good idea. Videl thought, as she threw down the jet-copter's capsule.
"Anything I need to remember about how to get into Capsule Corporation?"
"Not really, best thing to do would probably be to go in the normal way for friends, set down by the pond in the back yard, then just knock on the back door. You could go by the main entrance, but I'm so used to going the other way, I don't know the security code by heart anymore."
"Okay, now do you think you can contain yourself long enough for a little good-bye kiss?"
"I think so."
"Okay, we'll risk it." Videl walked up to him, and softly pressed her lips into his. She could feel him trembling with the effort of keeping his Ki in check, so she quickly broke the kiss and walked out of his reach.
"Good-bye Gohan, I hope this problem ends soon." She called hopping into her copter.
"Me too Videl, have a good trip."
"Goten!" Gohan yelled as Videl took off. "Get out here and take the phone with you."
"Coming." Goten's voice chirped out of the house.
And soon the little man himself appeared holding the portable.
"Who d'you wanna call Gohan?"
"I want you to call Bulma." Gohan said. "I'm afraid I'd probably crush the phone if I touched it."
Gohan smiled at the shocked look on his brother's face. Goten liked the phone almost as much as he liked to eat.
"Okay." Goten said punching in the number. "What do you want me to tell her?"
"Tell her, that Videl is the girl I talked to her about. That I told her the truth about the Cell-games. And that she's on her way over because she needs to talk to someone."
"Okay."
Thanks to Gohan's Saiyan hearing he could hear the sound coming out of the horn, as well as what his brother was saying.
"Brief residence."
"Hi Bulma this is Goten."
"Hey Goten, you want to talk to Trunks?"
"No, Gohan wants me to call you."
"Why doesn't he call me himself?"
"He said he might crush the phone."
Gohan saw his little brother shudder with these words.
"So," Bulma said, "I take it his Saiyan puberty has started."
"Yep." Goten replied.
"Well why did he want you to call me?"
"Uhm, I don't remember. What was it again Gohan?"
Gohan sighed. His little brother wasn't to good on the memory front. He decided to try another way of doing this.
"Bulma." He yelled. "Can you hear me?"
"Yeah Gohan I can hear you." Bulma's voice came from the phone.
"Good." Gohan yelled back. "Now the situation is as follows. You remember what I told you about a girl in school, when I asked about the Saiyan stuff?"
"Yeah I remember."
"Great. Now what I didn't tell you is that the girl in question is Videl."
"You're kidding me right? Hercule's daughter?"
"Nope I'm not kidding you. Now yesterday I told her the truth about the Cell-games."
"My god. How did she take it?"
"Pretty well I'd say. But she needs someone to talk to about this whole thing."
"I can dig that."
"So I decided to send her to you if you don't mind. You're about the most normal person I can think of, mom is pretty normal, but right now she doesn't talk about things other than grandchildren."
"That sounds like Chi-Chi alright. Anything else I should know about?"
"Nothing much, I told Videl the best thing to do would be to set down in the back yard. And other than that, I pretty much told her my lives story, from Radditz on, but I haven't told her about Vegeta yet, I thought I should leave it up to you, if you want other people to know about that. I'm sure she'd keep it to herself, but I didn't feel it was my place to decide."
"I'll tell her if it's relevant. Besides his royal-highness is more than likely to tell her himself."
"Okay, thanks Bulma, talk to her."
"Don't worry, I'll do some talking and try to get all the juicy details."
"BULMA!!"
"Relax Gohan, I'm just kidding."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye Gohan."
Where did he get this ability to just keep surprising me? She wondered knowing it was not a realistic question. After all, all these surprises were just part of who he was, it wasn't some special ability just a rather extraordinary live.
She could remember him saying it. "I don't know the security code by heart anymore." The guy talked about the security code to the headquarters of the largest company in the world, and the holder of the worlds most valuable patents as if it were a matter of 'I can't find the neighbours spare key right now.'
I wonder what Bulma's really like? She wondered on. We did exchange a bit of chitchat over lunch, but now I'm actually heading for her house. And talking about the truth about the Cell-games, not to mention the my boyfriend is an alien matter, is quite different from an exchange of polite little nothings over lunch.
After that she just concentrated on flying for a while, heading for the Western Capitol. Soon the big yellow dome of CC headquarters came into view, and she flew towards it, setting down on the lawn behind it next to the pond. She got out, recapsulated it and walked to the door.
She smiled a little as she touched the capsule in her pocket and realised that she was literally bringing capsules to Capsule Corp.
She knocked on the door and immediately it was opened by Bulma herself.
"Hi Videl, come on in."
"Hi Bulma."
"So you're the one who got Gohan into his present predicament."
"What do you mean?"
"Didn't he tell you, Saiyan puberty is sparked by love, well it can be sparked by age as well, but not at his age?"
"In that case I plead guilty." Videl said with a smile. "And I'm glad I'm not Saiyan, or I would be going through puberty as well."
"So you definitely love him then." Bulma squealed happily.
"Yeah." Videl whispered looking around. They were sitting at the kitchen table and it seemed that Bulma had ordered her husband and son to stay away because neither was here at the moment.
"Well you'll probably have an easier time with Gohan than I had with Vegeta." Bulma said. "Saiyan's can be a mighty stubborn race, but his mother has raised him well."
"Vegeta is Saiyan?" Videl asked, surprised.
"Yes." Bulma replied. "The prince of Saiyans and the only pureblood left alive."
"Wait a second." Videl said. "If he's a full Saiyan then he must be one of those guys that came to earth when Gohan and I were little."
"Yeah, not exactly part of his life to be proud of, but I've learned to live with it."
"I can understand that. But if he's Saiyan he must have been at the Cell-games as well."
"Yes, it's one of the reasons he hates your dad, you must have noticed the tone in his voice at lunch the other day, when he referred to you as 'his offspring'. He has a hard time with it himself. The eleven-year-old demi-Saiyan son of a third class warrior surpassed him, but he also has a hard time with anyone touching anything Saiyan, including Gohan's victory. You could call it his national pride."
"This whole Cell-games business is still very confusing to me." Videl said. "I understand that Gohan defeated Cell, but all these weird things with Ki. I mean I saw him blow up a mountain without breaking a sweat. What sort of people are we dealing with here?"
"Saiyans." Bulma simply stated. "Super-Saiyans to be precise, but that's hardly needed to blow up mountains. From what he tells me, Vegeta could blow up planets when he first came to Earth, and he was over a thousand times weaker then than he is now."
So it doesn't stop at mountains. Videl thought.
"So tell me how do you deal with it?" She asked.
"You don't." Bulma replied. "You just get used to it. Even Krillin, who is probably the strongest human being currently alive, could blow up the planet without any effort. And the list doesn't stop there, all things considered there's probably at least a dozen people on this planet that could blow it up."
Just then Vegeta stomped into the room.
"Woman. The gravity room is broken again. Fix it."
"Don't get your spandex in a twist Vegeta, I'm talking to Videl. If you broke the GR again, you're just going to have to do without it until I have the time."
"Hmph." Vegeta said, and he stomped out again. Videl just sat there with her eyes wide. This Guy could destroy planets and yet Bulma talked to him like she was in charge.
"How do you do that?" She asked. "Talk to someone as strong as that so naturally?"
"It just is natural I suppose." Bulma said. "The first time we really talked he called me servant woman, and it's been like a war zone between us since, but underneath it all I know he loves me. And he could never hurt me. I just use that as my weapon."
Videl nodded, this sort of made sense. After all, Gohan couldn't hurt her, not on purpose anyway.
The two of them talked on for hours. About the Cell-games, about all the other things in recent years that the public knew little or nothing about. About Saiyans and their habits. And about Gohan.
Most of Videl's time the next few days were spend in trying to evade her father. When they did meet it usually lead to a fight of some sort, so the effort was more or less mutual. While Videl agreed, not so much with her father as with Bulma, that the truth about the Cell-games shouldn't come out, not yet anyway, it didn't stop her from questioning her dad every time he started on the subject of his own greatness.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday passed like this. But on Thursday morning she was startled by a knock on her balcony door. She opened the curtains to see Gohan standing there in his Sayaman costume.
"Hey Videl, can I come in?"
"Sure Gohan." She replied opening the door. "I just hope nobody saw you, or my love affair with Sayaman will be all over the papers tomorrow."
"Well are you having a love affair with Sayaman?"
"Maybe." She said closing the curtains again.
"Just maybe huh?"
"Well," she put her arms around his neck, "I guess you could say I am." She softly kissed him on the lips. "But," she continued after breaking the kiss, "I guess I'd rather have an affair with the man behind the mask." She kissed him again and during the kiss pushed the button to turn him back into Gohan.
After a while they broke their kiss and moved apart.
"I take it your little bout of puberty is over." Videl said.
"Just about." Gohan replied. "My Ki is still a little stronger than usual, but that may be a permanent change. Or its just do to the recovery, Saiyans get stronger whenever they are injured but not killed."
"So how did you recover? I was half expecting you to still have a black eye or something."
"Well there are these things, they're called senzu beans. They're really hard to grow, I think Korrin is the only one that knows how to, though that doesn't really matter. What does matter is that they can heal any injury instantly. So I took one this morning. They're quite rare though so you can't just take them for a simple headache, but after my puberty experience I was pretty bruised."
"I can understand that, just one thing, who's this Korrin?"
"A friend. I'll introduce you to him some time."
"Okay. Now what were you planning on doing today?"
"I don't have any plans yet to be honest. As soon as the self inflicted Ki attacks stopped last night I just wanted to come see you."
"How about we go on a picnic?" Videl asked.
"Sure. I think I've got a fridge-capsule with me, so that takes care of the food. Do you have anything we could use for the cloth?"
"Hmm, change into Sayaman for a moment?"
"What?"
"I'm going to need someone's help but I can't explain how you came in by way of my balcony, Sayaman I can explain."
Gohan nodded as he transformed.
"Mary!" Videl called.
"Yes miss Videl." A few moments later the housemaid entered the room.
"Mary, I'm going on a picnic, could you get me something we could use to set things down on?"
"I think I could probably find something, but who are you going with?" Then she noticed Sayaman. "What's he doing here? How'd he get in?"
"Oh, he came in through the balcony door."
"What?"
"Well if you could fly and wanted to get to me quick what door would you knock on?"
"Good point. Are you going with him?"
"Yes."
"Well then you could just use his cape couldn't you. But I'll see if I can get you an old tablecloth."
Mary disappeared again, and a few minutes later she came back with an old red and white blocked tablecloth.
"Here, have fun."
After Mary had left Gohan extended his arms and Videl jumped into them.
"Let's go." She whispered into his ear.
He had to walk for a few paces, to get out the door, but then he took off. Videl shivered slightly with joy and cold at feeling of the air rushing past her before Gohan extended his Ki to fully surround her.
Gohan felt Videl relax into his arms as they flew over the countryside.
Dende I love her. He thought to himself. And she loves me, but God only knows what will happen when she meets my friends.
I can just see the introductions now: 'Videl, this is Dende, he's the God of Earth. This is Piccolo, he blew up the moon.' That would sure get her to relax. He thought ironically. Let's just cross that bridge when we come to it. His mind continued. Today let's just enjoy some time alone with Videl.
After flying for a few more minutes Gohan landed in a clearing in the woods. There didn't seem to be any trails so the woods might be untouched. Videl spread out the tablecloth on the ground as Gohan searched his pockets until he found the fridge-capsule he had on him. These capsules were rather bulky, compared to the standard model, as they capsulated anything put into the refrigerator as well. He tried never to travel without one and indeed found one. Soon there was a refrigerator standing on the grass beside them, and he moved to get the food out of it and onto the tablecloth on the ground.
Videl sat watching in amazement as Gohan started to eat. He didn't hold back anymore nowadays, and even though she knew the full truth about him now she was still stunned by the way he was eating.
It must have something to do with the Saiyans being a warrior race. She thought to herself. Having to eat between battles and not wanting to be caught of guard must have slipped into their DNA.
Slowly, at a snail's pace compared to Gohan, Videl started eating herself. After about thirty minutes Videl slowed to taking small bites. So did Gohan who had apparently managed to put a somewhat sizeable dent in his rather large appetite.
As they were just approaching the moment where they'd start talking again, Videl's cell-phone rang.
Great, probably another criminal to interrupt lunch. She thought to herself.
"Videl." She answered the phone.
"Hey Videl, Bulma here." The response came.
Bulma? Why is she calling?
"Hey Bulma. What's up?"
"Well, Chi-Chi told Goten who told Trunks who let something slip while he was training with Vegeta, who told me, because he wanted me to fix the GR and needed to suck up, that Gohan's Saiyan puberty was over. Do you know if that's right, because Gohan isn't home."
"Yeah it's right." Videl said. "He's here having a picnic with me."
"Oh good. Then I can invite you both at the same time. I want to throw a party tonight to celebrate Gohan being back to normal, so if you guys would come, there'd actually be a reason to throw it."
"Well I'll talk about it with Gohan, hold on for a moment."
She covered the phone with her hand.
"What do you think Gohan, should we go?"
"I don't see why not, but there'll probably be a lot of my friends there and well, some of them are a bit odd."
Gee, he's an alien, what does he think, that I expect all his friends to be average people?
"Don't worry about that. I'm not expecting an average group. I'll live. In fact I'd like to meet your friends."
"Well in that case tell Bulma we'll be there around eight if that's okay with her. Oh and ask her if Piccolo and Dende are on the guest list."
Videl repeated the time and the question into her phone.
She nodded at Bulma's reply and politely ended the conversation. Before turning to Gohan again.
"She said they'd both be invited, though she isn't sure that Dende will be able to get away."
"He'll be there." Gohan said. "He's probably dieing of curiosity anyway. Besides Popo can take over for a few hours."
"So what are we going to do for the rest of the afternoon?"
"I don't know, I guess I could take you up to see Korrin, he definitely won't be at the party even if he is invited, he never leaves his tower."
"Sounds like an unusual."
"That's an understatement."
"Why?"
"You'll see."
A few minutes later Gohan was enjoying the sensation of Videl being in his arms again as he flew towards Korrin's Tower, for a moment he contemplated whether he should fly on to the lookout since he was so close, but it would probably be better for Videl not to get to see that until after she'd met some of it's occupants at the party.
As he landed and set down Videl, Yajirobi came out to greet them. In his usual rather annoying way.
"Hey Gohan. Is there some crisis on Earth or something? That you need my help with."
Gohan looked at him, he had rather little tolerance for Yajirobi in spite of the one time in his life the fat warrior had been brave and had cut of Oozaru Vegeta's tale.
"Trust me Yajirobi." Gohan said trying to remain polite. "There is no chance of any crisis on Earth that I need your help with happening within the next couple of millennia."
"Of course there isn't." Korrin's voice came. "Besides Yajirobi, can't you tell he's just here to introduce me to his girlfriend."
Shit. Gohan thought. I forgot he can read minds.
"Well you shouldn't be so careless then." Korrin replied to the thought.
"Why are you talking to a cat Gohan?" Videl asked. "And how come he's talking back?"
"Videl this is Korrin. He may be a white cat but he's very intelligent, also be careful what you think cause he can read minds."
A cat? Videl wondered. The guy that grows the senzu beans is a cat?
"Well of course I'm a cat." Korrin replied. "Do you know any human that can grow senzus?"
"Uh, no."
"Of course you don't, that's because there aren't any. Besides I know more about what's happening on Earth than almost everyone save Dende."
"Gohan mentioned him before what's he got to do with it?"
"I'm not going to tell you, your boyfriend doesn't want me too. He seems to think it's better that you wait until the party tonight."
She shot a look at Gohan who was blushing. It seems that he isn't used to having his mind read either.
"No he isn't." Korrin said. "He doesn't drop by anywhere near enough."
They stayed at Korrin's for a while longer, and Korrin explained the working of senzu beans to Videl in a bit more detail. After a while Gohan checked his watch and said that it was time to get going.
Gohan flew slowly towards Capsule Corporation and Videl wondered why.
"Gohan?"
"Yes."
"Why are we going slow? I know you can go a lot faster."
"Oh I could, but not everyone else is there yet."
"How do you know that?"
"Well one of the things people that can use their Ki are usually capable of is sensing other peoples Ki if it's strong enough. So I can tell that my little brother is there already, which means my mom must be there also. Krillin also seems to be there with his family, Yamcha is there too, but Tien, Chaozu, Dende and Piccolo are still on their way."
"So you're waiting for them?"
"Yeah, I thought it would be easier for you to face the whole gang at once."
"Why are you making this sound like something dangerous?"
"Oh they wouldn't hurt you, they'd have to deal with me then, and lord knows even Vegeta doesn't like that thought, but I am a bit worried about how much sanity you'll have left after an evening with them."
"That bad huh?"
"Well they are rather different than most people, you'll see."
About fifteen minutes later they landed at Capsule Corporation. Gohan knocked on the back door and Bulma was immediately there to let them in.
"Hi Gohan. Hi Videl." She greeted as she opened the door. "The others are all here already, but I'm sure Gohan already knew that."
Gohan nodded.
"So when do I get to meet everyone." Videl asked, feeling rather curious about Gohan's friends.
"I'll introduce you to everyone." Bulma said. "Then Gohan can go help Trunks, Goten and Vegeta plunder the buffet before those three eat it all."
Videl looked over at Gohan who was looking at her pleadingly. She understood that look well, he'd stay at her side if she wanted him too, but she could hear his Saiyan stomach growling for food. She gave him a small nod and he ran off, seemingly following his nose.
Videl herself meanwhile was being lead inside by Bulma, through the kitchen they soon reached the living room where the party was taking place.
Bulma immediately started walking around the room with Videl in tow, dragging her from one person to another.
First on the list was a guy with some scars on his face called Yamcha.
"Videl this is Yamcha, Yamcha this is Videl." Bulma introduced them.
"So we've lost another girl to the Saiyans." Yamcha stated.
"What do you mean by that." Videl asked.
"Well way back when Bulma and I used to be together, but then Vegeta came along and the rest as they say is history." Yamcha said, sounding rather bitter.
"Come on Yamcha don't be so gloomy."
To Videl's utter surprise the words came from a man who had just walked up behind Yamcha, while that in itself wasn't surprising the fact that he had three eyes was.
"Hello, I'm Tien. And this is Chaozu." He said indicating a small man, who was white with red cheeks that was floating next to him.
"Videl." She barely managed to say. "So what do all of you guys do?"
"When I gave up fighting I went back to playing baseball." Yamcha said. "It's a way to get food on the table."
"I still spend most of my time training." Tien said. "I'm Chaozu's chief body-guard so I need to be able to protect him."
"I help him train and I govern my empire." Chaozu said. "Though it's a rather small empire I'm still the emperor."
Videl was stunned by their explanations. I guess Yamcha did look familiar, but I've never been much of a baseball fan, as for the other two, I have no idea what to make of them.
"Come on Videl." Bulma said. "I'll introduce you to the rest of the group."
They walked on to one of the sofa's, which was occupied by a short man with messy black hair, a tall slim blond woman, and little blond girl that was sitting in the woman's lap.
"Videl, this is Krillin, his wife Eighteen, and their daughter Marron. Guys, this is Videl."
"I think Gohan mentioned you to me once." Videl said to Krillin.
"I should hope so." He replied. "I was his dad's closest friend. And he and I have been through a bit together. I'm sure he's told you about our adventures on Namek."
"He did tell me about that yes." She turned to Eighteen. "I hope I'm not being rude or anything, but why do you have a number for a name?"
"I'm an android, I was designed to terrorise the world, but I've decided not to, my creator Dr. Gero, didn't bother giving us names, he just numbered us."
"If you're an android, how did you have a daughter?"
"She started out as a human being." Krillin said. "Dr. Gero turned her into an android, but a lot of her physiology is still human, enough of it to make reproduction possible."
Videl nodded, she felt as though her sense of normality had gone numb, it all just seemed usual around these people, mountains being blown up, tiny emperors with three eyed body guards and androids designed to terrorise living happily ever after.
"Well who are you lovely." A voice from behind her called out. "I'm Roshi the turtle hermit." She turned around to see a little old man standing there.
"I'm Videl." She replied.
"If he goes to far just hit him, everybody does." Bulma whispered in her ear.
"So are you single." The old man asked.
"No I'm here with Gohan."
"Too bad, but that boy is one guy I don't want to mess with, I'll go see if I can't find some chick around town." Roshi said, disappearing out the door.
"That was polite for Roshi." Bulma remarked. "Now there's two people in particular you should meet." She led Videl over to a corner of the room.
"This is Piccolo, and this is Dende." She introduced. "Their good friends of Gohan's I'm sure you'll have a lot to talk about."
"Uhm, is this just me or are you guys green?" Videl asked.
Piccolo snorted but Dende smiled.
"No it's not you, we're Nameks."
Boy, talk about close encounters, Videl thought.
"So why are you here on earth, Gohan told me your people relocated to a new planet."
"Well Piccolo still thinks of Earth as his home." Dende said. "Though he's given up trying to rule it. As for me, they asked me to be God of Earth when Piccolo fused with my predecessor."
"Fused with? God of Earth?" Videl was so stunned she could barely get the phrases out.
"Of course, you wouldn't know." Dende said. "Nameks can fuse with one and other. The whole is much stronger than two are before the fusion. My predecessor was a Namek as well, actually, he'd split himself into two, separating his evil side which became Piccolo long ago, and once they fused that couldn't be repeated. Anyway, when me predecessor disappeared, because of the fusion the earths Dragon Balls lost their power. So they wanted a new Namek as God or guardian of Earth so he could create new Dragon Balls. This was shortly before the Cell-games and they wouldn't have been able to bring back the people Cell had killed otherwise."
Okay, Videl thought to herself, my sense of weirdness isn't completely numb yet. But I suppose it's like Bulma said, you just get used to this type of thing.
"So what does a God do?" She asked.
"Well mostly I keep a watch on what's happening on Earth, and when things really go wrong I have to try to make them right again. I don't do too much fighting, I would if I had too, but I'm more a healer, and Piccolo and the other's are a lot stronger than me anyway. I just coordinate, or try to, when things get out of hand."
"So if you're here now who's watching Earth?"
"My assistant mister Popo is doing that. And Korrin always keeps an eye out even when I'm home, so there's nothing to worry about."
Videl looked over at Piccolo. He was just standing there, quietly leaning against the wall, looking at her occasionally and at Gohan most of the time.
"He's not much for talking is he?" She whispered in Dende's ear, and she could have sworn he blushed a somewhat brighter green.
"I've never been what you'd call a people person." Piccolo replied. "I listen more than I talk, and these ears hear a lot, they don't just line my face, my hearing is even better than a Saiyan's. Besides, Gohan was the first friend I ever had, and even that I didn't really want, but the little guy grew on me. I guess with Dende and Popo I have three friends now, but the latter two I inherited. Dende was Nail's little brother. Nail is someone I fused with on Namek. And Popo was Kami's friend, Kami was Dende's predecessor."
Boy does this guy need a course in social behaviour. Videl thought. But I guess if you only have three friends, and don't talk to anyone else that's to be expected.
She continued to walk around the room talking with various people for a while, but mostly hung around Dende, where Gohan later joined her. She could see that Gohan was very close to Dende, as well as to Piccolo, and while Piccolo seemed somewhat distant, she too had found a friend in Dende.
Finally at eleven in the evening Gohan dropped her off on her balcony. They had a quick goodbye kiss, before he took off again, heading home.
Well it's certainly been another interesting day. Videl thought thinking back to the party. With some weird close encounters, I can't wait what the rest of the summer will bring.
/*
Next time on Life is Strange, are those bells we hear? And will this mean the return of Son Goku? Do new adventures await our heroes?
Well that was a long chapter, even for me. It also took a long time to write, but I had to write three versions of the last part of the chapter before I liked it. As you can tell from the next time on, I'm thinking of an engagement being for the next chapter, but I still have a lot of things I'm not sure of, will Hercule object to the wedding? Will the truth about Gohan, and the Cell-games become more widely known. Will there be some villain they have to get passed in their quest to use the Namekian Dragon Balls to revive Goku. How will they get to New Namek, I have several ideas on the last point, but haven't decided yet.
Anyway I'd love to hear from you. Any suggestions are welcome, though in the end I'm the one doing the writing, so whether they're used or not is my prerogative.
*/