/*
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.
*/
/*
General remark:
Things seem to be moving rather quickly I suppose. But then they always do in DBZ. // I like that combination, then they, Dende :).
*/
/*
Response to reviews:
To Videl2008:
Have Veggie-chan shut up. On the Namek front, his clothes were sort of like Piccolo's and the movie was aiming for a comedy effect so I though, turn him into a hairy Namek for the heck of it.
To Kat:
It's about as bad as my other one, thanks for the compliment. I hate cliffhangers in other people's fics, guess this is my revenge.
To MGRJTYAESSAIYAN:
The lemon is not in this story and isn't going to be. I wouldn't have rated it PG-13 if there was going to be. If you want a lemon write one yourself.
To edward-tivrusky-5:
* Grins * I get more reviews when I leave cliffhangers. And yes things are moving pretty fast but as I said above, that always seems to happen in DBZ.
To Z:
I do pay attention to detail, most of the time, but if you read carefully you'll see that in some scenes I don't for example we never find out what they had for dinner, or even what type of restaurant it was. Thanks for the compliment though.
To Gillian:
They are probably going to do something, like after the wedding which is still a couple of chapters away at least, but I'm not going to write about it, well maybe a couple of smiles and blushes afterwards and Krillin doing some teasing.
To Nemi:
There are going to be bad guys. And I think Vegeta may see the movie, I've got a lot of ideas right now so I'll have to work them out in the next couple of chapters, neither one is happening in this chapter though.
To Lady Queen: A special message from my sister, Patricia (Pteska):
Dear Lady Queen, I really like your Idea of sending your little brother. I'm sure he would do good job. Being a big sister myself I know how bugging little brothers can be (especially if they are taller by at least one head)
However, if you are not capable of sending your little brother anytime soon, just let me know and I'll try to do his bugging until he gets here.
To Lady Queen: My own reply:
Go ahead, send you evil little brother, I'm sure we'll get along great, I'm an evil little brother myself and could really use some help in pestering Pteska. Besides at the very least we could exchange tactics. Not sure if it'd be an effective way to get at me though.
On the subject of animals, I guess there are some other creatures running around, but you rarely see any of them, so I didn't really know how to place them. Also people do seem surprised that Piccolo is green, and stuff like that, so we could also argue that as pigs aren't a known intelligent race it would freak her out.
To Goku's Daughter:
In a manner of speaking I guess you are getting a sister in law, even though it's in different Alternate Universes.
To everyone:
Thanks.
*/
Life Is Strange
Saga: Truth
Chapter 8: The Answer
Videl came to a sudden halt in mid-air as Gohan appeared in front of her.
What does he want? She thought.
He got into a crouching position in the air and held out a small box, the lid opened to show a beautiful silver ring with two stones, an onyx and a sapphire, set in it.
She still didn't understand what was happening until she heard his voice.
"Videl Satan, will you marry me?"
She was stunned. She'd been expecting him to maybe make a move one of these days, but this hadn't been what she'd had in mind.
Hell yes. A voice in her mind screamed but she couldn't get the words out. Dende, why can't just say what I've been waiting to say all this time. She thought. Her concentration drifted and she suddenly found herself falling rapidly to the ground. She was to stunned, she just couldn't get herself under control. Gohan, with his amazing speed suddenly appeared out of nowhere, catching her just as she was about to hit the ground.
Now that she was in his arms, feeling his body against hers she finally found the strength to whisper a reply.
"I do." Two simple words that up until a few weeks ago seemed like something she'd never say. Well not in this way anyway.
She felt one of Gohan's arms leave her, though he was still holding her safely with the other, and felt his fingers, so soft, so gentle, and yet so strong, slowly slide the ring onto her finger.
She looked at it, the onyx and the sapphire looked perfect next to each other. It was evening and the light of the setting sun was sparkling in the two stones.
"It's beautiful." She whispered.
"Not as beautiful as you." Gohan replied, whispering also. "But it reminded me of you. The onyx is as black as your hair, and the sapphire sparkles blue like your eyes."
He put her back on her own feet and she hugged him, giving him a kiss on the lips.
"We do need to talk about this a bit though." He said.
She gave him what she thought was a puzzled look, but knew he was right.
"For one thing, do we set a date? Or do we just leave it for the time being at being engaged with the intention to marry eventually?"
"Hmm." She said, relaxing her body against his. "I think we should set a date, I think I remember your mother mentioning that she and your father got married at the World Martial Arts Tournament?"
Gohan nodded.
"Well there's another one coming up next fall, what if we both enter, and then we can get married there."
"It's a deal." Gohan said with a grin.
"So is there anything else?"
"Lot's of things I'm sure." Gohan said. "But let's not worry about that just yet. I think it's time we told your future mother in law the good news."
"At least she'll agree it's good news." Videl said, feeling a bit sad. "I doubt my dad will take it as such."
"We'll face that problem when we come to it." Gohan said. "And we'll face it together."
She smiled again as he put his arm around her shoulder reassuringly.
"Mom, Goten." Gohan called as they entered the front door.
"What is it sweetheart?" Chi-Chi asked as she walked into the room, followed by Goten who bounced in.
"Videl and I have something to tell you." Gohan stated.
"Yes. Yes."
Mom sure sounds eager. Gohan thought.
He was about to open his mouth again when Videl spoke up.
"Just look at my finger Mrs. Son."
She held out her hand showing Chi-Chi the engagement ring.
Chi-Chi's eyes turned to stars as she turned to Gohan.
"You asked her?"
"And she accepted." Gohan said with a smile that felt like it was going wall to wall.
"What are you talking about?" Goten asked.
"Videl and I have gotten engaged Goten, we're going to get married." Gohan explained.
"I'm getting a sister. I'm getting a sister." Goten was literally bouncing of the walls in that special way only a pint-sized Super-Saiyan could manage.
Gohan smiled at this for a while. Until Videl caught his attention. She was smiling too, but her face was becoming more serious.
"We really should go tell my dad." She said. "I have a feeling I may be moving out today."
"Let's go then." Gohan said. Putting his arm around her shoulders.
Videl did her best to fly as fast as she could next to Gohan, but she still felt she was slowing him down. She didn't just feel it, she knew it. From what Gohan had told her he could get to Satan city in a matter of minutes if he had to. But it was still a half an hour flight for her. He didn't seem to mind sticking to her pace though.
It was really strange how familiar she'd become with flying and Ki thanks to his training these past few weeks. About a month ago she would have called it all just a bunch of tricks, following her dad's explanation because it had been the only one offered to her.
She didn't like the prospect of facing her father so she started thinking about her training and Gohan.
I hope I can get him to teach me those more difficult Ki attacks one of these days. She thought. I'm certainly strong enough now, even if I'm nowhere near his level. What if I just Ki-blasted my father when we get there? It wouldn't be nice, but man it'd feel good.
She giggled a little at the scene that played in her mind at the thought:
'Oh daddy.'
'Yes Videl.'
'Remember what you said about energy blasts being cheap tricks?'
'Well they are sweetheart, it's just a bunch of lightshows.'
'Very well, how does that lightshow feel?'
She pictured herself firing a blast at this point and giggled some more at the prospect of using it to take off that ridiculous hair of his.
"I'm glad to see you're still enjoying yourself." Gohan said.
"I was just thinking what it would be like to Ki-blast my dad, just to get him to shut up on the it's all just a trick front."
"I can see how that would appeal to your sense of humour, just don't make it a lethal blast. You may not realise it, but your Ki-blasts are already quite capable of killing human beings."
"So when are going to teach me the more difficult moves. If I can already kill people, I should be ready for those."
"You are. But it takes time to learn, and it's taking time for me to remember exactly how I was taught, or on most counts, how I taught myself. Saiyans have a talent for reproducing any technique they see. It took master Roshi fifty years to master the Kamehameha, and from what my grandfather, on my mother's side, told me my dad managed it within five minutes. So that's the way I learned most of what I know as well, just seeing others do it. Also the Masenko I thought up myself, it's never been taught to anyone. Piccolo can do it as well though, but he just picked it up from watching me."
"So tell me, how did you make it up? You told me it was because Piccolo wouldn't teach you his attack, but how do you think up a Ki attack?"
"I guess it just came naturally. Because the Masenko is my own attack it's also my most powerful, if you look at the power that's in it compared to my Ki. The only thing I can get to the same level is the Kamehameha. Roshi originally invented that but my dad sort of developed it through, he taught me how to do it perfectly when we were training for the Cell-games. But I guess I still like the Masenko best. What I did to invent it was basically look at the other attacks I'd seen. They all worked by concentrating Ki first, and the letting a beam shoot out of the concentrated stuff. So that's what I did, finding my own style of doing it."
Videl nodded, it made sense. Maybe she'd come up with her own attack one day.
She couldn't stop a shiver from passing through her as they approached the Satan Mansion.
Gohan noticed the shiver pass through Videl.
Apparently thoughts of training and Ki-blasts can't distract her anymore. He thought, eyeing the large mansion as it appeared on the horizon. Not really a surprise I suppose.
He changed his flight pattern a bit so he was flying closer to Videl.
"Worried?" He asked.
"A bit. I know my dad can't hurt me, but still..."
"He still can." Gohan said softly. "Maybe not physically, but he still can. Cell couldn't hurt me, during the first part of our fight, yet he caused me more pain than anyone else ever has."
"What do you mean?" Videl asked looking puzzled.
"I told you, my dad died because of a mistake I made at the Cell-games. Cell tried to blow up himself and the Earth when he couldn't beat me, and my dad sacrificed himself just to get Cell away from here with a special technique. Unfortunately Cell wasn't killed, that's a long story, but he came back, more powerful than before. When he came back he was much stronger, he could actually hurt me physically. When the final showdown came, two Kamehameha waves fired against each other I couldn't use my left arm, but I still managed to defeat him in the end. My wounds healed, Dende can heal anything instantly, and if he hadn't been there I would have just taken a senzu bean. But to this day the loss of my father still hurts. Mostly because it was my fault, I should have finished Cell off at once, so he wouldn't have had the opportunity to try to blow everything up. But I was so much stronger, I was just enjoying the fight, my Saiyan love of battle took over. So even if your dad could punch you at full strength without hurting you, he'd probably break his hand if he did, he can still hurt your feelings."
Videl nodded after Gohan's speech, it made sense. She could also feel the pain coming from him and hear it in his voice as he spoke of his father's death.
I guess for once it's a virtue that I've never been really close to my dad. She thought. At least it won't hurt too much if he rejects me.
She let out a sigh to calm herself as she and Gohan landed on the path to the front door. She could hear him doing the same, probably trying to get rid of some of his sadness.
She gave him a small smile, which he returned, though it didn't look too genuine, before proceeding up the path to the door.
She got out her key and unlocked the door. She knew it would set off a bell somewhere in the house and soon Jeffrey would appear.
Her father's butler did indeed show up in less than a minute.
"Jeffrey." Videl said, trying to stay in control of her emotions. "Would you please tell dad to meet me in the living room."
"And who is this young man?"
"His name's Gohan, I'll take care of him, you just tell my dad to meet me there."
"Very well miss."
With that Jeffrey left them and Videl lead Gohan to the living room.
She sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her to signal Gohan to sit down. He gave her an encouraging smile as he did so. She tried to return it but knew her nervousness was showing. For that matter Gohan didn't seem fully at ease either. He didn't have too much to worry about himself, but she could sense his worries about her.
They sat in silence for a moment when her dad entered.
As she'd expected he didn't even greet her. But jumped right to the topic that confused him, what was Gohan doing here. As she'd also expected, he didn't recognise Gohan from their meeting on the island after all he'd only caught a single glimpse of Gohan in his non Super-Saiyan form before the Sayaman helmet had gone back on.
"Videl, what is this scrawny runt doing here, and who is he anyway?"
"Dad this is Gohan, and he's here because we have something to tell you."
"My God, you're not pregnant by this loser are you cause if you are..."
"No dad, I'm not pregnant." Videl cut him off. "We're..., we're..."
At this point Gohan came to the rescue. "What Videl is trying to tell you is that we're engaged."
She gave him a grateful smile. He was there for her. He'd always been there somehow, even when she didn't know who he was he'd been there to help her as Sayaman. She continued to muse for a while, until her dad's outraged words brought her out of it.
"WHAT? Well I forbid it, you can't get married to him. Look at him, he's puny. I mean he's a nobody. And he looks like a wimp. He can't protect you, he's not strong like me and..."
"Please that stop." Videl said. "First off, you couldn't protect me better than I can myself. And second off he can. Third off, you may not recognise him because you were to scared at the time, but he's the same guy I was with on the island when you tracked me down."
She saw her dad glance at Gohan. And a look of recognition passed of his face. In the next instant Hercule jumped and hid behind the couch.
"Keep him back, he's not normal." He shouted in panic.
"Oh, please." Videl said cynically. "Spare me. He may not be average, but he's just as sane as you or me. Besides, if he wanted to harm you, you'd be hurt, if not dead by now."
"I don't care what you say, just get him out of my house, and if you want to marry him, you can go with him and not come back."
"Fine dad." Videl said, it wasn't unexpected, but she still felt a bit sad. "I hope you reconsider someday, in spite of all your faults you're still my dad. Good bye."
She got up, took Gohan's hand, and the two of them walked out.
The sun had set now, and the moon was up in the sky. Gohan looked at it.
"Beautiful isn't it."
"Yes, but I seem to remember Bulma telling me Piccolo destroyed it after you went Oozaru for the first time."
"Oh, I wished it back, more or less, what I wished for was for the Dragon to make a new moon, that looks exactly like the old one, but it won't let any Saiyan go Oozaru."
Videl nodded and took to the sky.
"Videl." Gohan said.
"What is it?"
"I think we should go to Bulma's first. I'd like to borrow a capsule house for you to stay in, that way you'll have a bit more privacy."
"Okay, let's go there."
Gohan joined her in the air and together they set course for the Western Capitol and CC headquarters.
I hope she'll be okay. Gohan thought as he flew next to Videl to CC. I don't think the truth has settled in yet. At least I'll be close by tonight so if anything should happen...
Videl seemed to be all right on the surface, but that was probably all it was, the surface, he could sense the turmoil underneath her calm appearance.
Videl was slower than him so it took them almost fifteen minutes to get to their destination. After they'd landed he knocked on the back door, which was immediately opened by Bulma.
"Hi guys."
"Hey Bulma." He replied. Videl came in after him and didn't say anything.
"So," Bulma asked, "is what Chi-Chi tells me true, have you two gotten engaged?"
Gohan nodded and Bulma turned to Videl.
"So how did your dad take it?"
"He kicked me out, well not literally kicked, he couldn't do that since Gohan's been training me, but he told me that if I wanted to marry Gohan I should leave and not come back."
Bulma pulled Videl into a hug and to Gohan's surprise Videl started sobbing softly.
"Why did you bring her here?" Bulma asked softly over Videl's shoulder.
"She needs a place to stay, I wanted to borrow a capsule house, so she could have a bit more privacy."
Bulma just nodded. "I'll get you one once she's feeling a bit better."
It took a while for Videl to get herself under control again. Eventually she looked up again and smiled at Bulma. "Thanks." She whispered.
Bulma just smiled back and went into another room to look for a nr. 1 house capsule.
Videl looked over at Gohan, who seemed worried.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit emotional right now." She replied.
Oh god, she thought, he must think I'm weak now.
"Don't worry about it." Gohan said. "We all have to cry sometimes."
He pulled her into a hug and she almost felt like starting to sob again, but this time she managed to stay in control of her emotions. Something about being in his arms seemed to make the whole thing more bearable.
Just then she heard the door open and when she turned to see who it was she was rather surprised to see not Bulma, as she had expected, but Vegeta.
"So what are you two doing hugging in my kitchen?" Vegeta asked in his usual sneering tone. "And where's my wife, she has to fix the GR."
"Videl and I are engaged Vegeta." Gohan stated. "And Bulma is just getting a capsule for me. She'll be here in a little while."
"You're actually planning to marry that fraud's daughter?" Vegeta asked.
"Why not, she didn't do anything wrong. Besides Bulma married you, and boy did you do things wrong in your time."
"Don't get smart with me you brat."
"I'm not getting smart with you I'm just telling you the truth. And by the way, thanks for caring so much about my honour for defeating Cell."
"Humph." Was Vegeta's reply.
I guess Bulma was right about him. Videl thought. He does care about anything to do with Saiyans.
Vegeta seemed to be studying her for a while.
"She's become a lot stronger." He remarked to Gohan.
"Thanks." Gohan said. "I've been training her myself the past couple of weeks."
"I hate to admit it brat, but you've been done all right."
"Thanks Vegeta." Gohan said. "Coming from you that's a huge compliment. But Videl really deserves the credit, I just trained her, she'd the one that's actually getting stronger."
"She's not bad for a human. A little work and she may just become the strongest of the lot, though that's hardly an impressive distinction."
"That's Vegeta's way of paying you a compliment." Gohan explained.
Videl smiled. They're funny when they get together like this. She thought. And it's certainly helping to take my mind of things.
"Well thanks Vegeta." She said. Smiling again as he scowled.
Just then Bulma came back into the room, followed by Trunks.
"Hey Gohan." Trunks greeted. "Is what mom told me true, are you and Videl getting married?"
"Yeah." Gohan replied. "We are."
"Cool." Trunks said. "Can I come to the wedding?"
"Of course you can Trunks." Gohan said.
Trunks smiled and went back to his room. Bulma meanwhile handed Videl a capsule.
"Here you go." She said. "I decided to make it a Z-55 capsule rather than a normal nr. 1 Capsule house. For one thing I couldn't find a nr. 1, and for another this seemed like the better option to me."
"Z-55?" Videl asked, never having heard of that number.
"The Z range of capsules is a private range." Bulma explained. "Very few people know about them. The Z-16 for example is the gravitron capsule, the gravitron is what makes the GR work. Z-55 is a house, it's just like a normal capsule house, but it can be deployed on any terrain, not just flat surfaces. It has a build in system that evens out the ground it's thrown on. The terrain in the 439 area is pretty rugged, so I thought that might come in handy. Also it's a tad more luxurious than the standard capsule house, it's even slightly above the top of the range models, so you get an extra-large TV, stuff like that, and a larger refrigerator, which will come in handy if Gohan ever visits."
Videl smiled thankfully.
"Thanks Bulma, I think Vegeta needs some Z-16 help. So we'll be on our way."
"Did you break the GR again?" Bulma said turning to Vegeta with a stern look.
He just nodded. "Fix it woman." Was all he said.
"Later Vegeta." Bulma replied.
"Now you two have a good flight home, be careful."
"We will." Gohan said as he led Videl out the door.
"Bye." Videl called over her shoulder.
"Bye." Bulma responded, while Vegeta just stood silently next to her.
"Want to get home real quick?" Gohan asked Videl as they stepped outside into the cold night air.
She nodded.
"Okay." He said scooping her up. "Kaioken times fifty." He immediately felt the surge of strength and speed brought on by the Kaioken and made sure Videl was safely protected by his Ki before taking of.
Videl couldn't believe the speed they were flying now. Somehow using Ki to fly seemed to cancel out the sonic boom but they were not just normally super-sonic now, they were going at least ten times the speed of sound.
In a matter of just minutes they arrived at the Son home. Apparently Goten had sensed them coming because he opened the door just as Gohan landed.
"Hi big brother." He called in that ever-cheery voice of his.
"Hey Goten." Gohan replied.
"Hi Videl." Goten said as his brother went past him inside and she came into view.
"Hi Goten." She replied, running a hand through his wild Saiyan hair as she went inside.
Inside Chi-Chi was reading a book in her chair and Gohan had dropped onto the couch. Letting out a sigh Videl sat down next to him.
"How'd it go?" Chi-Chi asked.
"Like I expected it would." Videl replied. "Once he realised who Gohan was dad basically told me I was no longer welcome at home."
"Ok, I'll go prepare the guest room." Chi-Chi said.
"Don't bother." Videl replied. "We went over to Capsule Corp. and Bulma lend me a capsule house. I'll set it up not too far from here in a minute. It was Gohan's idea, he thought it would give me more privacy."
Chi-Chi nodded. "With two boys running around here privacy isn't exactly the easiest thing to find." She stated.
"Well if it becomes to much for you, you can always come stay with me." Videl joked.
"No dear, I'm used to it." Chi-Chi smiled. "Besides they'll wreck the house if I'm not here to look after them."
Videl couldn't suppress a yawn.
"I think it's time to get you to bed." Gohan stated. "Come on, I'll help you get settled in."
Outside they walked about a fifty paces before Videl threw the capsule, there was no need to put the capsule house right on the Sons' front doorstep after all. When Videl saw the Z-55 house she gasped. It seemed larger than other capsule houses. Once inside she confirmed this and also noticed that it had two bedrooms, rather than the one in the standard capsule house.
Gohan went straight to the kitchen and got out one of the fridge-capsules he always seemed to carry, throwing it, though there was just barely room for the huge fridge, and moving a lot of it's contents to the normal fridge in Videl's kitchen.
"Now you won't have to worry about shopping for a while." He stated as he recapsulated it. "Well not for food anyway. We did leave all your other clothes at the mansion though, but I can materialise you some if you need them right away."
"Nah, I'm fine." Videl said. Getting out her travel bag capsule and throwing it, making a bag not unlike the one Gohan kept his Gis in appear. "You don't think you're the only one who travels with spare clothes do you. This is enough to tie me over until I have time to go shopping."
Gohan nodded. "If you need anything I'll be right next door." He stated.
Videl nodded. "I'll be fine don't worry about me."
"Okay, but don't be ashamed to ask for anything." Gohan said.
"I won't be Gohan, now you go home, so I can get some sleep."
"All right, I'll see you in the morning Videl. If you want you can come over for breakfast. I'm sure it'll be fine with mom."
"Well thanks to you I certainly have enough food here. But I think I may join you. Sweet dreams."
"Sleep well Videl."
As he lay in bed in the darkness Gohan focused on his dad. He hoped his telepathic abilities were strong enough to get through to other world, hopefully to his father direct, and otherwise to King Kai. If he could just get a hold of one of them King Kai could take over the connection and the whole thing would go smoothly.
'Dad, can you hear me.'
No reply.
'Dad, can you hear me.' This time he stressed every word.
'Is that you Gohan?' His dad's voice came faintly in reply.
'No it's a wrong number, of course it's me.'
'Which is it, you or a wrong number.'
Oh bother, I forgot that dad and Goten don't understand the concept of irony.
'It's me, the wrong number was just a joke dad. But could you ask King Kai to take over the connection, this is taking a lot out of me.'
'Sure Gohan, I'll just go get him, hang on a moment.'
Gohan waited for a while and suddenly his dad's voice came into his head much louder.
'I'm back Gohan.'
'Hey dad. Just thought I should update you on things, I asked Videl to marry me.'
'What did she say, did she know what it was or did she think it was a food?'
'No she knew alright, and she accepted.'
'Well I'm glad for you Gohan.'
'Thanks Dad, now about you coming back... Is it okay if we wish you back soon, the wedding isn't for a couple of months, but if we do it soon we could get the trip to New-Namek over with during the holidays.'
'Sure Gohan, I can't wait to see you again. You must have really grown up.'
'I can't wait to see you either dad, and I'm sure mom and Goten will feel the same once I tell them.'
'You mean you haven't yet?'
'No I didn't want to get their hopes up in case Videl and I didn't happen.'
'I see. I guess you were right to do that.'
'Thanks dad, but it's late here so I'd best get some sleep.'
'Okay, bye Gohan, I'll see you in while.'
Gohan felt the connection disappear and then rolled over on his side and fell asleep.
Videl didn't sleep well that night. In fact she barely slept at all. She tossed and turned, the past day playing through her head, or at least the evening. Gohan proposing, his mother's reaction, and then her dad telling her to get out and not come back. She sighed. He was her father and that still meant something to her even if he was a fraud.
She only slept a few hours in the end before she could tell the sun was shining behind the curtains.
She got dressed and stepped out into the cool morning air. She was wearing shorts so she could feel the dew on the high grass as it brushed against her legs. It was still early so she took to the air, heading for the training field. She looked at it from the sky, much of the damage she'd done the day before had already been restored, but most rocks still showed a little crack or something, meaning they hadn't quite regenerated fully yet. Only one rock was undamaged as ever, the rock on which she'd first kissed Gohan, some how she could never bring herself to Ki-blast that one, and today wouldn't be any different.
She flew around firing Ki-blasts at various rocks as usual but after a while she decided to try something new.
If Gohan could come up with his own attack when Piccolo wouldn't teach him maybe I can come up with my own since he's still trying to figure out how to teach me. She thought to herself.
She continued to think for a while, just 'standing' in mid air until inspiration struck her.
She held out her arms in front of her, than crossed them at the wrists so her upper arms were still sticking out front, while her lower arms and her hand formed an X joined at the wrists. After trying it both ways around she opted for having the left hand in front and so she continued from that pose. She relaxed her hands a bit so the palms were lightly curved before gathering up her Ki forming a ball in each hand. When the balls were sufficiently charged, she picked one of the larger rocks as a target and fired a Ki-beam out of each ball. The two beams seemed to twist around each other and joined shortly before they hit the rock.
Just another inch and that rock's history. Videl thought with a smirk. When suddenly Gohan appeared out of nowhere and hit the beam, sending it into the sky, and probably out of the solar system.
"What did you do that for?" Videl asked.
"Do you realise that kind of energy you had in that attack? You could have blown up the whole area, not to much more and you could have destabilised the Earths core."
"Oops, I didn't realise that."
"Obviously, great work though, what do you call it?"
"Hmm, good question, I just thought of the attack, haven't thought of a name yet, let me think."
A few moments of silence passed before Videl continued.
"How about Super Twister?" She said after a moment.
"Sounds okay." Gohan said. "Shoot one at me."
Videl nodded and started to prepare for the blast. She crossed her wrists again, and soon the balls of Ki were charged up and ready to go.
"Super Twister Fire." She yelled as she released the blast, aiming it at Gohan. To her surprise Gohan raised his hands above his head.
"Masenko." He brought them forward to face her beam and used one of his hands to support his other arm as he shot out his own beam.
Gohan's Masenko cancelled out her Super Twister and she just gave up. Gohan as soon as Gohan noticed he disengaged his beam as well.
"So how'd I do?" Videl asked, anxiously.
"Good." Gohan said. "It seems to work well for you, the Super Twister was about two and a half times as strong as your normal Ki-level. That's about the same as a Kamehameha, Special Beam Cannon, or Masenko would get you. It depends on how well you've mastered the technique and how it suits you, sometimes it's more sometimes it's less. I can get about three times my normal level out of a Masenko, and about the same out of a Kamehameha, with the Special Beam Cannon it's less, but because that's Piccolo's technique it doesn't work as well for non-Nameks."
"Did you really have to do a Masenko?" Videl asked.
Gohan chuckled. "No I'm still so much stronger than you that I could have used a standard Ki-blast, or for that matter just defended with my hands, but I thought I'd give you a bit of a show."
"Thought so." Was all Videl said. "Let's go inside and have breakfast now. You Saiyan show off." But she couldn't quite pull the attitude, she liked him showing off a bit, it gave her all the more reason to be proud of her fiancée.
/* My sister had some doubts about whether Videl could do real damage to the Earth. I think she could, Roshi blew up the moon at the world tournament in the beginning of Dragon Ball, and from the beginning of Dragon Ball Z we know his power level can't have been much higher than 140. At this point I'm giving Videl a power level around that which Gohan and Krillin had when they went to Namek, a bit under it perhaps so she's somewhere between 1000 and 1500. I think that should suffice with a powerful Ki-attack to at least do some damage, though maybe not quite blow up the world yet. */
"So." Videl asked after they'd had breakfast. "What did you want to do today?"
"I'd like to go to the lookout." Gohan said. "I want to tell Piccolo and Dende about us, since they don't have a phone they're the only ones mom hasn't called, and I need to ask Dende about something."
Hmm. Videl thought. What could he need to ask Dende about?
She didn't let him know about this however and just nodded. "Let's go."
They took off and as she had everyday since he'd started training her Videl noticed that she was having less trouble keeping up with Gohan. He could still go a lot faster though, as he'd shown last night, but still she was getting faster every day. Soon they'd reached Korrin's tower and started their ascent.
Videl couldn't help feeling a bit excited. She'd been to Korrin's tower before, and Gohan had told her later that the lookout was right above Korrin's but she'd never been to the lookout before.
They made a brief stop at Korrin's where the cat, who discovered the whole thing by reading their minds, congratulated them. Yajirobi was out shopping so he wasn't there. And after a few minutes the two of them left Korrin alone again heading up to the lookout.
When they reached the lookout Videl was stunned. It seemed impossible for such a large object to be there, just floating, but then it had seemed impossible for humans to fly not too long ago.
The sheer size of the lookout was overwhelming. But Piccolo and Dende soon came to greet them, as well as a short black man she hadn't met before.
"Hi Videl, nice to see you." Dende greeted, while Piccolo just gave a somewhat friendly sounding grunt.
"Nice to see you again too Dende, and you Piccolo." Videl replied.
"Thanks." Dende said. "I'd like to introduce you to my assistant, mister Popo."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Videl said. Extending her hand. Mr. Popo however didn't take it but bowed.
"The pleasure's all mine I'm sure." He replied.
"Now what brings you two up here?" Piccolo asked turning to Gohan.
"A couple of things." Gohan said. "First of all because we have an announcement to make, Videl and I have gotten engaged."
At this both Dende and mister Popo congratulated the couple while Piccolo gave Gohan a look and a semi-approving grunt.
"Secondly." Gohan continued after the congratulations were over. "I need to ask Dende something."
"Go ahead Gohan, what is it?" Dende said.
"Well, like I told you my dad said he'd come back for my wedding, but I'll need to make the wish to Porunga since he's been dead before."
Dende nodded.
What is going on here? Videl thought. I don't remember him telling me his dad was coming back.
"Why didn't you tell me about this Gohan?" She asked.
"I didn't really find the right time to tell you yet. I haven't told my mom and my little brother yet either, didn't want to get their hopes up prematurely."
Videl nodded, it made sense.
"So what did you want to ask me Gohan?" Dende said.
"Well I want to know if the following is possible. Can Shen Long create a direct corridor, like a wormhole, between the lookout and New-Namek? Or is that beyond his wish power?"
Dende looked thoughtful for a while.
"I'm afraid it is." He finally said. "It's even beyond Porunga's I suspect."
Now Gohan looked thoughtful. "Could the two of them do it together?" He asked.
Dende thought again and then nodded.
"They probably could, but you'd have to make the two wishes virtually simultaneously, and since they don't like to be kept waiting, you couldn't use Shen Long to get to New-Namek, he would go back to his lair by himself long before you could gather the Namekian Dragon Balls."
"Thanks Dende. It looks like I'll have to borrow a Z-48 spaceship from Bulma, that should be able to cover the distance in a few weeks. And with the corridor made I could still be back before school starts again."
/* The Z-48 is a newer model than the one Goku used to get to Namek, which fits into my Z range as the Z-15, the Z-48 looks about the same, but it has a new engine that makes it a lot faster. There are also some other minor differences but those will come up later. */
"But why go through all the trouble of making a corridor, why not simply use one of Shen Long's wishes to get there and one of Porunga's to get back?" Dende asked.
"Well I know you don't like to admit it, but I realise that you do miss your people sometimes. So I thought a permanent passage might be nice for you, mr. Popo and Korrin can take of watching Earth for a few hours every once in a while. Besides, we may need Porunga again some time in the future, a passage could come in handy on such occasions as well."
The rest of the group all nodded.
Is he planning to go into space alone? Videl wondered as they stood there.
"Gohan I'm coming with you to New-Namek okay?"
"I thought you might." He said with a smile. "Now we'll just have to convince my mom that we can be together in a closed environment without doing things she wants to wait until we're married, even though she does want grand-children."
Videl smiled at this. Yes Chi-Chi was always the proper woman, she wanted grandchildren, and was looking to the two of them for the first start in that direction, but she wouldn't want them to be born out of wed-lock.
I guess the adventure is really beginning. She thought to herself. Whoever said that getting married is an adventure didn't know how right they were, but I guess most people don't visit alien worlds to complete their guest list.
/*
Next time on life is strange. Countdown and launch for mission complete the guest list. What surprises and adventures await our bold space farers?
Well there it is, chapter 8. Of course Videl accepted. I already knew that when I wrote I didn't know what her answer would be. And I didn't know, I was hesitating between "Yes." and "I do." As you can see above, the latter won.
For those of you who are wondering I've also thought up a Japanese name for Videl's special attack, it's KyoGufuuSen, if my online dictionary is correct that should mean Big Tornado Beam. I couldn't find a translation for twister so Tornado, big instead of super, and Beam because KyoGufuu, didn't sound right without the Sen.
The grammar may be wrong I really don't know. But at least it sounds Japanese enough. Which name do you think I should use, I decided on using the English for the time being as I also use Special Beam Cannon, rather than Makankosappo.
Any way review and let me know what you think, on the technique's name, on the technique itself (don't be to harsh it took me hours to think up) and on anything else in the fic. Also I'd like your opinion on something. Would it be better if I started using a quotes system for thoughts, rather than having them as part of the narrative the way they are now. I already have a system in mind, but I'd like you opinions on whether it's needed or not.
*/
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.
*/
/*
General remark:
Things seem to be moving rather quickly I suppose. But then they always do in DBZ. // I like that combination, then they, Dende :).
*/
/*
Response to reviews:
To Videl2008:
Have Veggie-chan shut up. On the Namek front, his clothes were sort of like Piccolo's and the movie was aiming for a comedy effect so I though, turn him into a hairy Namek for the heck of it.
To Kat:
It's about as bad as my other one, thanks for the compliment. I hate cliffhangers in other people's fics, guess this is my revenge.
To MGRJTYAESSAIYAN:
The lemon is not in this story and isn't going to be. I wouldn't have rated it PG-13 if there was going to be. If you want a lemon write one yourself.
To edward-tivrusky-5:
* Grins * I get more reviews when I leave cliffhangers. And yes things are moving pretty fast but as I said above, that always seems to happen in DBZ.
To Z:
I do pay attention to detail, most of the time, but if you read carefully you'll see that in some scenes I don't for example we never find out what they had for dinner, or even what type of restaurant it was. Thanks for the compliment though.
To Gillian:
They are probably going to do something, like after the wedding which is still a couple of chapters away at least, but I'm not going to write about it, well maybe a couple of smiles and blushes afterwards and Krillin doing some teasing.
To Nemi:
There are going to be bad guys. And I think Vegeta may see the movie, I've got a lot of ideas right now so I'll have to work them out in the next couple of chapters, neither one is happening in this chapter though.
To Lady Queen: A special message from my sister, Patricia (Pteska):
Dear Lady Queen, I really like your Idea of sending your little brother. I'm sure he would do good job. Being a big sister myself I know how bugging little brothers can be (especially if they are taller by at least one head)
However, if you are not capable of sending your little brother anytime soon, just let me know and I'll try to do his bugging until he gets here.
To Lady Queen: My own reply:
Go ahead, send you evil little brother, I'm sure we'll get along great, I'm an evil little brother myself and could really use some help in pestering Pteska. Besides at the very least we could exchange tactics. Not sure if it'd be an effective way to get at me though.
On the subject of animals, I guess there are some other creatures running around, but you rarely see any of them, so I didn't really know how to place them. Also people do seem surprised that Piccolo is green, and stuff like that, so we could also argue that as pigs aren't a known intelligent race it would freak her out.
To Goku's Daughter:
In a manner of speaking I guess you are getting a sister in law, even though it's in different Alternate Universes.
To everyone:
Thanks.
*/
Life Is Strange
Saga: Truth
Chapter 8: The Answer
Videl came to a sudden halt in mid-air as Gohan appeared in front of her.
What does he want? She thought.
He got into a crouching position in the air and held out a small box, the lid opened to show a beautiful silver ring with two stones, an onyx and a sapphire, set in it.
She still didn't understand what was happening until she heard his voice.
"Videl Satan, will you marry me?"
She was stunned. She'd been expecting him to maybe make a move one of these days, but this hadn't been what she'd had in mind.
Hell yes. A voice in her mind screamed but she couldn't get the words out. Dende, why can't just say what I've been waiting to say all this time. She thought. Her concentration drifted and she suddenly found herself falling rapidly to the ground. She was to stunned, she just couldn't get herself under control. Gohan, with his amazing speed suddenly appeared out of nowhere, catching her just as she was about to hit the ground.
Now that she was in his arms, feeling his body against hers she finally found the strength to whisper a reply.
"I do." Two simple words that up until a few weeks ago seemed like something she'd never say. Well not in this way anyway.
She felt one of Gohan's arms leave her, though he was still holding her safely with the other, and felt his fingers, so soft, so gentle, and yet so strong, slowly slide the ring onto her finger.
She looked at it, the onyx and the sapphire looked perfect next to each other. It was evening and the light of the setting sun was sparkling in the two stones.
"It's beautiful." She whispered.
"Not as beautiful as you." Gohan replied, whispering also. "But it reminded me of you. The onyx is as black as your hair, and the sapphire sparkles blue like your eyes."
He put her back on her own feet and she hugged him, giving him a kiss on the lips.
"We do need to talk about this a bit though." He said.
She gave him what she thought was a puzzled look, but knew he was right.
"For one thing, do we set a date? Or do we just leave it for the time being at being engaged with the intention to marry eventually?"
"Hmm." She said, relaxing her body against his. "I think we should set a date, I think I remember your mother mentioning that she and your father got married at the World Martial Arts Tournament?"
Gohan nodded.
"Well there's another one coming up next fall, what if we both enter, and then we can get married there."
"It's a deal." Gohan said with a grin.
"So is there anything else?"
"Lot's of things I'm sure." Gohan said. "But let's not worry about that just yet. I think it's time we told your future mother in law the good news."
"At least she'll agree it's good news." Videl said, feeling a bit sad. "I doubt my dad will take it as such."
"We'll face that problem when we come to it." Gohan said. "And we'll face it together."
She smiled again as he put his arm around her shoulder reassuringly.
"Mom, Goten." Gohan called as they entered the front door.
"What is it sweetheart?" Chi-Chi asked as she walked into the room, followed by Goten who bounced in.
"Videl and I have something to tell you." Gohan stated.
"Yes. Yes."
Mom sure sounds eager. Gohan thought.
He was about to open his mouth again when Videl spoke up.
"Just look at my finger Mrs. Son."
She held out her hand showing Chi-Chi the engagement ring.
Chi-Chi's eyes turned to stars as she turned to Gohan.
"You asked her?"
"And she accepted." Gohan said with a smile that felt like it was going wall to wall.
"What are you talking about?" Goten asked.
"Videl and I have gotten engaged Goten, we're going to get married." Gohan explained.
"I'm getting a sister. I'm getting a sister." Goten was literally bouncing of the walls in that special way only a pint-sized Super-Saiyan could manage.
Gohan smiled at this for a while. Until Videl caught his attention. She was smiling too, but her face was becoming more serious.
"We really should go tell my dad." She said. "I have a feeling I may be moving out today."
"Let's go then." Gohan said. Putting his arm around her shoulders.
Videl did her best to fly as fast as she could next to Gohan, but she still felt she was slowing him down. She didn't just feel it, she knew it. From what Gohan had told her he could get to Satan city in a matter of minutes if he had to. But it was still a half an hour flight for her. He didn't seem to mind sticking to her pace though.
It was really strange how familiar she'd become with flying and Ki thanks to his training these past few weeks. About a month ago she would have called it all just a bunch of tricks, following her dad's explanation because it had been the only one offered to her.
She didn't like the prospect of facing her father so she started thinking about her training and Gohan.
I hope I can get him to teach me those more difficult Ki attacks one of these days. She thought. I'm certainly strong enough now, even if I'm nowhere near his level. What if I just Ki-blasted my father when we get there? It wouldn't be nice, but man it'd feel good.
She giggled a little at the scene that played in her mind at the thought:
'Oh daddy.'
'Yes Videl.'
'Remember what you said about energy blasts being cheap tricks?'
'Well they are sweetheart, it's just a bunch of lightshows.'
'Very well, how does that lightshow feel?'
She pictured herself firing a blast at this point and giggled some more at the prospect of using it to take off that ridiculous hair of his.
"I'm glad to see you're still enjoying yourself." Gohan said.
"I was just thinking what it would be like to Ki-blast my dad, just to get him to shut up on the it's all just a trick front."
"I can see how that would appeal to your sense of humour, just don't make it a lethal blast. You may not realise it, but your Ki-blasts are already quite capable of killing human beings."
"So when are going to teach me the more difficult moves. If I can already kill people, I should be ready for those."
"You are. But it takes time to learn, and it's taking time for me to remember exactly how I was taught, or on most counts, how I taught myself. Saiyans have a talent for reproducing any technique they see. It took master Roshi fifty years to master the Kamehameha, and from what my grandfather, on my mother's side, told me my dad managed it within five minutes. So that's the way I learned most of what I know as well, just seeing others do it. Also the Masenko I thought up myself, it's never been taught to anyone. Piccolo can do it as well though, but he just picked it up from watching me."
"So tell me, how did you make it up? You told me it was because Piccolo wouldn't teach you his attack, but how do you think up a Ki attack?"
"I guess it just came naturally. Because the Masenko is my own attack it's also my most powerful, if you look at the power that's in it compared to my Ki. The only thing I can get to the same level is the Kamehameha. Roshi originally invented that but my dad sort of developed it through, he taught me how to do it perfectly when we were training for the Cell-games. But I guess I still like the Masenko best. What I did to invent it was basically look at the other attacks I'd seen. They all worked by concentrating Ki first, and the letting a beam shoot out of the concentrated stuff. So that's what I did, finding my own style of doing it."
Videl nodded, it made sense. Maybe she'd come up with her own attack one day.
She couldn't stop a shiver from passing through her as they approached the Satan Mansion.
Gohan noticed the shiver pass through Videl.
Apparently thoughts of training and Ki-blasts can't distract her anymore. He thought, eyeing the large mansion as it appeared on the horizon. Not really a surprise I suppose.
He changed his flight pattern a bit so he was flying closer to Videl.
"Worried?" He asked.
"A bit. I know my dad can't hurt me, but still..."
"He still can." Gohan said softly. "Maybe not physically, but he still can. Cell couldn't hurt me, during the first part of our fight, yet he caused me more pain than anyone else ever has."
"What do you mean?" Videl asked looking puzzled.
"I told you, my dad died because of a mistake I made at the Cell-games. Cell tried to blow up himself and the Earth when he couldn't beat me, and my dad sacrificed himself just to get Cell away from here with a special technique. Unfortunately Cell wasn't killed, that's a long story, but he came back, more powerful than before. When he came back he was much stronger, he could actually hurt me physically. When the final showdown came, two Kamehameha waves fired against each other I couldn't use my left arm, but I still managed to defeat him in the end. My wounds healed, Dende can heal anything instantly, and if he hadn't been there I would have just taken a senzu bean. But to this day the loss of my father still hurts. Mostly because it was my fault, I should have finished Cell off at once, so he wouldn't have had the opportunity to try to blow everything up. But I was so much stronger, I was just enjoying the fight, my Saiyan love of battle took over. So even if your dad could punch you at full strength without hurting you, he'd probably break his hand if he did, he can still hurt your feelings."
Videl nodded after Gohan's speech, it made sense. She could also feel the pain coming from him and hear it in his voice as he spoke of his father's death.
I guess for once it's a virtue that I've never been really close to my dad. She thought. At least it won't hurt too much if he rejects me.
She let out a sigh to calm herself as she and Gohan landed on the path to the front door. She could hear him doing the same, probably trying to get rid of some of his sadness.
She gave him a small smile, which he returned, though it didn't look too genuine, before proceeding up the path to the door.
She got out her key and unlocked the door. She knew it would set off a bell somewhere in the house and soon Jeffrey would appear.
Her father's butler did indeed show up in less than a minute.
"Jeffrey." Videl said, trying to stay in control of her emotions. "Would you please tell dad to meet me in the living room."
"And who is this young man?"
"His name's Gohan, I'll take care of him, you just tell my dad to meet me there."
"Very well miss."
With that Jeffrey left them and Videl lead Gohan to the living room.
She sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her to signal Gohan to sit down. He gave her an encouraging smile as he did so. She tried to return it but knew her nervousness was showing. For that matter Gohan didn't seem fully at ease either. He didn't have too much to worry about himself, but she could sense his worries about her.
They sat in silence for a moment when her dad entered.
As she'd expected he didn't even greet her. But jumped right to the topic that confused him, what was Gohan doing here. As she'd also expected, he didn't recognise Gohan from their meeting on the island after all he'd only caught a single glimpse of Gohan in his non Super-Saiyan form before the Sayaman helmet had gone back on.
"Videl, what is this scrawny runt doing here, and who is he anyway?"
"Dad this is Gohan, and he's here because we have something to tell you."
"My God, you're not pregnant by this loser are you cause if you are..."
"No dad, I'm not pregnant." Videl cut him off. "We're..., we're..."
At this point Gohan came to the rescue. "What Videl is trying to tell you is that we're engaged."
She gave him a grateful smile. He was there for her. He'd always been there somehow, even when she didn't know who he was he'd been there to help her as Sayaman. She continued to muse for a while, until her dad's outraged words brought her out of it.
"WHAT? Well I forbid it, you can't get married to him. Look at him, he's puny. I mean he's a nobody. And he looks like a wimp. He can't protect you, he's not strong like me and..."
"Please that stop." Videl said. "First off, you couldn't protect me better than I can myself. And second off he can. Third off, you may not recognise him because you were to scared at the time, but he's the same guy I was with on the island when you tracked me down."
She saw her dad glance at Gohan. And a look of recognition passed of his face. In the next instant Hercule jumped and hid behind the couch.
"Keep him back, he's not normal." He shouted in panic.
"Oh, please." Videl said cynically. "Spare me. He may not be average, but he's just as sane as you or me. Besides, if he wanted to harm you, you'd be hurt, if not dead by now."
"I don't care what you say, just get him out of my house, and if you want to marry him, you can go with him and not come back."
"Fine dad." Videl said, it wasn't unexpected, but she still felt a bit sad. "I hope you reconsider someday, in spite of all your faults you're still my dad. Good bye."
She got up, took Gohan's hand, and the two of them walked out.
The sun had set now, and the moon was up in the sky. Gohan looked at it.
"Beautiful isn't it."
"Yes, but I seem to remember Bulma telling me Piccolo destroyed it after you went Oozaru for the first time."
"Oh, I wished it back, more or less, what I wished for was for the Dragon to make a new moon, that looks exactly like the old one, but it won't let any Saiyan go Oozaru."
Videl nodded and took to the sky.
"Videl." Gohan said.
"What is it?"
"I think we should go to Bulma's first. I'd like to borrow a capsule house for you to stay in, that way you'll have a bit more privacy."
"Okay, let's go there."
Gohan joined her in the air and together they set course for the Western Capitol and CC headquarters.
I hope she'll be okay. Gohan thought as he flew next to Videl to CC. I don't think the truth has settled in yet. At least I'll be close by tonight so if anything should happen...
Videl seemed to be all right on the surface, but that was probably all it was, the surface, he could sense the turmoil underneath her calm appearance.
Videl was slower than him so it took them almost fifteen minutes to get to their destination. After they'd landed he knocked on the back door, which was immediately opened by Bulma.
"Hi guys."
"Hey Bulma." He replied. Videl came in after him and didn't say anything.
"So," Bulma asked, "is what Chi-Chi tells me true, have you two gotten engaged?"
Gohan nodded and Bulma turned to Videl.
"So how did your dad take it?"
"He kicked me out, well not literally kicked, he couldn't do that since Gohan's been training me, but he told me that if I wanted to marry Gohan I should leave and not come back."
Bulma pulled Videl into a hug and to Gohan's surprise Videl started sobbing softly.
"Why did you bring her here?" Bulma asked softly over Videl's shoulder.
"She needs a place to stay, I wanted to borrow a capsule house, so she could have a bit more privacy."
Bulma just nodded. "I'll get you one once she's feeling a bit better."
It took a while for Videl to get herself under control again. Eventually she looked up again and smiled at Bulma. "Thanks." She whispered.
Bulma just smiled back and went into another room to look for a nr. 1 house capsule.
Videl looked over at Gohan, who seemed worried.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit emotional right now." She replied.
Oh god, she thought, he must think I'm weak now.
"Don't worry about it." Gohan said. "We all have to cry sometimes."
He pulled her into a hug and she almost felt like starting to sob again, but this time she managed to stay in control of her emotions. Something about being in his arms seemed to make the whole thing more bearable.
Just then she heard the door open and when she turned to see who it was she was rather surprised to see not Bulma, as she had expected, but Vegeta.
"So what are you two doing hugging in my kitchen?" Vegeta asked in his usual sneering tone. "And where's my wife, she has to fix the GR."
"Videl and I are engaged Vegeta." Gohan stated. "And Bulma is just getting a capsule for me. She'll be here in a little while."
"You're actually planning to marry that fraud's daughter?" Vegeta asked.
"Why not, she didn't do anything wrong. Besides Bulma married you, and boy did you do things wrong in your time."
"Don't get smart with me you brat."
"I'm not getting smart with you I'm just telling you the truth. And by the way, thanks for caring so much about my honour for defeating Cell."
"Humph." Was Vegeta's reply.
I guess Bulma was right about him. Videl thought. He does care about anything to do with Saiyans.
Vegeta seemed to be studying her for a while.
"She's become a lot stronger." He remarked to Gohan.
"Thanks." Gohan said. "I've been training her myself the past couple of weeks."
"I hate to admit it brat, but you've been done all right."
"Thanks Vegeta." Gohan said. "Coming from you that's a huge compliment. But Videl really deserves the credit, I just trained her, she'd the one that's actually getting stronger."
"She's not bad for a human. A little work and she may just become the strongest of the lot, though that's hardly an impressive distinction."
"That's Vegeta's way of paying you a compliment." Gohan explained.
Videl smiled. They're funny when they get together like this. She thought. And it's certainly helping to take my mind of things.
"Well thanks Vegeta." She said. Smiling again as he scowled.
Just then Bulma came back into the room, followed by Trunks.
"Hey Gohan." Trunks greeted. "Is what mom told me true, are you and Videl getting married?"
"Yeah." Gohan replied. "We are."
"Cool." Trunks said. "Can I come to the wedding?"
"Of course you can Trunks." Gohan said.
Trunks smiled and went back to his room. Bulma meanwhile handed Videl a capsule.
"Here you go." She said. "I decided to make it a Z-55 capsule rather than a normal nr. 1 Capsule house. For one thing I couldn't find a nr. 1, and for another this seemed like the better option to me."
"Z-55?" Videl asked, never having heard of that number.
"The Z range of capsules is a private range." Bulma explained. "Very few people know about them. The Z-16 for example is the gravitron capsule, the gravitron is what makes the GR work. Z-55 is a house, it's just like a normal capsule house, but it can be deployed on any terrain, not just flat surfaces. It has a build in system that evens out the ground it's thrown on. The terrain in the 439 area is pretty rugged, so I thought that might come in handy. Also it's a tad more luxurious than the standard capsule house, it's even slightly above the top of the range models, so you get an extra-large TV, stuff like that, and a larger refrigerator, which will come in handy if Gohan ever visits."
Videl smiled thankfully.
"Thanks Bulma, I think Vegeta needs some Z-16 help. So we'll be on our way."
"Did you break the GR again?" Bulma said turning to Vegeta with a stern look.
He just nodded. "Fix it woman." Was all he said.
"Later Vegeta." Bulma replied.
"Now you two have a good flight home, be careful."
"We will." Gohan said as he led Videl out the door.
"Bye." Videl called over her shoulder.
"Bye." Bulma responded, while Vegeta just stood silently next to her.
"Want to get home real quick?" Gohan asked Videl as they stepped outside into the cold night air.
She nodded.
"Okay." He said scooping her up. "Kaioken times fifty." He immediately felt the surge of strength and speed brought on by the Kaioken and made sure Videl was safely protected by his Ki before taking of.
Videl couldn't believe the speed they were flying now. Somehow using Ki to fly seemed to cancel out the sonic boom but they were not just normally super-sonic now, they were going at least ten times the speed of sound.
In a matter of just minutes they arrived at the Son home. Apparently Goten had sensed them coming because he opened the door just as Gohan landed.
"Hi big brother." He called in that ever-cheery voice of his.
"Hey Goten." Gohan replied.
"Hi Videl." Goten said as his brother went past him inside and she came into view.
"Hi Goten." She replied, running a hand through his wild Saiyan hair as she went inside.
Inside Chi-Chi was reading a book in her chair and Gohan had dropped onto the couch. Letting out a sigh Videl sat down next to him.
"How'd it go?" Chi-Chi asked.
"Like I expected it would." Videl replied. "Once he realised who Gohan was dad basically told me I was no longer welcome at home."
"Ok, I'll go prepare the guest room." Chi-Chi said.
"Don't bother." Videl replied. "We went over to Capsule Corp. and Bulma lend me a capsule house. I'll set it up not too far from here in a minute. It was Gohan's idea, he thought it would give me more privacy."
Chi-Chi nodded. "With two boys running around here privacy isn't exactly the easiest thing to find." She stated.
"Well if it becomes to much for you, you can always come stay with me." Videl joked.
"No dear, I'm used to it." Chi-Chi smiled. "Besides they'll wreck the house if I'm not here to look after them."
Videl couldn't suppress a yawn.
"I think it's time to get you to bed." Gohan stated. "Come on, I'll help you get settled in."
Outside they walked about a fifty paces before Videl threw the capsule, there was no need to put the capsule house right on the Sons' front doorstep after all. When Videl saw the Z-55 house she gasped. It seemed larger than other capsule houses. Once inside she confirmed this and also noticed that it had two bedrooms, rather than the one in the standard capsule house.
Gohan went straight to the kitchen and got out one of the fridge-capsules he always seemed to carry, throwing it, though there was just barely room for the huge fridge, and moving a lot of it's contents to the normal fridge in Videl's kitchen.
"Now you won't have to worry about shopping for a while." He stated as he recapsulated it. "Well not for food anyway. We did leave all your other clothes at the mansion though, but I can materialise you some if you need them right away."
"Nah, I'm fine." Videl said. Getting out her travel bag capsule and throwing it, making a bag not unlike the one Gohan kept his Gis in appear. "You don't think you're the only one who travels with spare clothes do you. This is enough to tie me over until I have time to go shopping."
Gohan nodded. "If you need anything I'll be right next door." He stated.
Videl nodded. "I'll be fine don't worry about me."
"Okay, but don't be ashamed to ask for anything." Gohan said.
"I won't be Gohan, now you go home, so I can get some sleep."
"All right, I'll see you in the morning Videl. If you want you can come over for breakfast. I'm sure it'll be fine with mom."
"Well thanks to you I certainly have enough food here. But I think I may join you. Sweet dreams."
"Sleep well Videl."
As he lay in bed in the darkness Gohan focused on his dad. He hoped his telepathic abilities were strong enough to get through to other world, hopefully to his father direct, and otherwise to King Kai. If he could just get a hold of one of them King Kai could take over the connection and the whole thing would go smoothly.
'Dad, can you hear me.'
No reply.
'Dad, can you hear me.' This time he stressed every word.
'Is that you Gohan?' His dad's voice came faintly in reply.
'No it's a wrong number, of course it's me.'
'Which is it, you or a wrong number.'
Oh bother, I forgot that dad and Goten don't understand the concept of irony.
'It's me, the wrong number was just a joke dad. But could you ask King Kai to take over the connection, this is taking a lot out of me.'
'Sure Gohan, I'll just go get him, hang on a moment.'
Gohan waited for a while and suddenly his dad's voice came into his head much louder.
'I'm back Gohan.'
'Hey dad. Just thought I should update you on things, I asked Videl to marry me.'
'What did she say, did she know what it was or did she think it was a food?'
'No she knew alright, and she accepted.'
'Well I'm glad for you Gohan.'
'Thanks Dad, now about you coming back... Is it okay if we wish you back soon, the wedding isn't for a couple of months, but if we do it soon we could get the trip to New-Namek over with during the holidays.'
'Sure Gohan, I can't wait to see you again. You must have really grown up.'
'I can't wait to see you either dad, and I'm sure mom and Goten will feel the same once I tell them.'
'You mean you haven't yet?'
'No I didn't want to get their hopes up in case Videl and I didn't happen.'
'I see. I guess you were right to do that.'
'Thanks dad, but it's late here so I'd best get some sleep.'
'Okay, bye Gohan, I'll see you in while.'
Gohan felt the connection disappear and then rolled over on his side and fell asleep.
Videl didn't sleep well that night. In fact she barely slept at all. She tossed and turned, the past day playing through her head, or at least the evening. Gohan proposing, his mother's reaction, and then her dad telling her to get out and not come back. She sighed. He was her father and that still meant something to her even if he was a fraud.
She only slept a few hours in the end before she could tell the sun was shining behind the curtains.
She got dressed and stepped out into the cool morning air. She was wearing shorts so she could feel the dew on the high grass as it brushed against her legs. It was still early so she took to the air, heading for the training field. She looked at it from the sky, much of the damage she'd done the day before had already been restored, but most rocks still showed a little crack or something, meaning they hadn't quite regenerated fully yet. Only one rock was undamaged as ever, the rock on which she'd first kissed Gohan, some how she could never bring herself to Ki-blast that one, and today wouldn't be any different.
She flew around firing Ki-blasts at various rocks as usual but after a while she decided to try something new.
If Gohan could come up with his own attack when Piccolo wouldn't teach him maybe I can come up with my own since he's still trying to figure out how to teach me. She thought to herself.
She continued to think for a while, just 'standing' in mid air until inspiration struck her.
She held out her arms in front of her, than crossed them at the wrists so her upper arms were still sticking out front, while her lower arms and her hand formed an X joined at the wrists. After trying it both ways around she opted for having the left hand in front and so she continued from that pose. She relaxed her hands a bit so the palms were lightly curved before gathering up her Ki forming a ball in each hand. When the balls were sufficiently charged, she picked one of the larger rocks as a target and fired a Ki-beam out of each ball. The two beams seemed to twist around each other and joined shortly before they hit the rock.
Just another inch and that rock's history. Videl thought with a smirk. When suddenly Gohan appeared out of nowhere and hit the beam, sending it into the sky, and probably out of the solar system.
"What did you do that for?" Videl asked.
"Do you realise that kind of energy you had in that attack? You could have blown up the whole area, not to much more and you could have destabilised the Earths core."
"Oops, I didn't realise that."
"Obviously, great work though, what do you call it?"
"Hmm, good question, I just thought of the attack, haven't thought of a name yet, let me think."
A few moments of silence passed before Videl continued.
"How about Super Twister?" She said after a moment.
"Sounds okay." Gohan said. "Shoot one at me."
Videl nodded and started to prepare for the blast. She crossed her wrists again, and soon the balls of Ki were charged up and ready to go.
"Super Twister Fire." She yelled as she released the blast, aiming it at Gohan. To her surprise Gohan raised his hands above his head.
"Masenko." He brought them forward to face her beam and used one of his hands to support his other arm as he shot out his own beam.
Gohan's Masenko cancelled out her Super Twister and she just gave up. Gohan as soon as Gohan noticed he disengaged his beam as well.
"So how'd I do?" Videl asked, anxiously.
"Good." Gohan said. "It seems to work well for you, the Super Twister was about two and a half times as strong as your normal Ki-level. That's about the same as a Kamehameha, Special Beam Cannon, or Masenko would get you. It depends on how well you've mastered the technique and how it suits you, sometimes it's more sometimes it's less. I can get about three times my normal level out of a Masenko, and about the same out of a Kamehameha, with the Special Beam Cannon it's less, but because that's Piccolo's technique it doesn't work as well for non-Nameks."
"Did you really have to do a Masenko?" Videl asked.
Gohan chuckled. "No I'm still so much stronger than you that I could have used a standard Ki-blast, or for that matter just defended with my hands, but I thought I'd give you a bit of a show."
"Thought so." Was all Videl said. "Let's go inside and have breakfast now. You Saiyan show off." But she couldn't quite pull the attitude, she liked him showing off a bit, it gave her all the more reason to be proud of her fiancée.
/* My sister had some doubts about whether Videl could do real damage to the Earth. I think she could, Roshi blew up the moon at the world tournament in the beginning of Dragon Ball, and from the beginning of Dragon Ball Z we know his power level can't have been much higher than 140. At this point I'm giving Videl a power level around that which Gohan and Krillin had when they went to Namek, a bit under it perhaps so she's somewhere between 1000 and 1500. I think that should suffice with a powerful Ki-attack to at least do some damage, though maybe not quite blow up the world yet. */
"So." Videl asked after they'd had breakfast. "What did you want to do today?"
"I'd like to go to the lookout." Gohan said. "I want to tell Piccolo and Dende about us, since they don't have a phone they're the only ones mom hasn't called, and I need to ask Dende about something."
Hmm. Videl thought. What could he need to ask Dende about?
She didn't let him know about this however and just nodded. "Let's go."
They took off and as she had everyday since he'd started training her Videl noticed that she was having less trouble keeping up with Gohan. He could still go a lot faster though, as he'd shown last night, but still she was getting faster every day. Soon they'd reached Korrin's tower and started their ascent.
Videl couldn't help feeling a bit excited. She'd been to Korrin's tower before, and Gohan had told her later that the lookout was right above Korrin's but she'd never been to the lookout before.
They made a brief stop at Korrin's where the cat, who discovered the whole thing by reading their minds, congratulated them. Yajirobi was out shopping so he wasn't there. And after a few minutes the two of them left Korrin alone again heading up to the lookout.
When they reached the lookout Videl was stunned. It seemed impossible for such a large object to be there, just floating, but then it had seemed impossible for humans to fly not too long ago.
The sheer size of the lookout was overwhelming. But Piccolo and Dende soon came to greet them, as well as a short black man she hadn't met before.
"Hi Videl, nice to see you." Dende greeted, while Piccolo just gave a somewhat friendly sounding grunt.
"Nice to see you again too Dende, and you Piccolo." Videl replied.
"Thanks." Dende said. "I'd like to introduce you to my assistant, mister Popo."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Videl said. Extending her hand. Mr. Popo however didn't take it but bowed.
"The pleasure's all mine I'm sure." He replied.
"Now what brings you two up here?" Piccolo asked turning to Gohan.
"A couple of things." Gohan said. "First of all because we have an announcement to make, Videl and I have gotten engaged."
At this both Dende and mister Popo congratulated the couple while Piccolo gave Gohan a look and a semi-approving grunt.
"Secondly." Gohan continued after the congratulations were over. "I need to ask Dende something."
"Go ahead Gohan, what is it?" Dende said.
"Well, like I told you my dad said he'd come back for my wedding, but I'll need to make the wish to Porunga since he's been dead before."
Dende nodded.
What is going on here? Videl thought. I don't remember him telling me his dad was coming back.
"Why didn't you tell me about this Gohan?" She asked.
"I didn't really find the right time to tell you yet. I haven't told my mom and my little brother yet either, didn't want to get their hopes up prematurely."
Videl nodded, it made sense.
"So what did you want to ask me Gohan?" Dende said.
"Well I want to know if the following is possible. Can Shen Long create a direct corridor, like a wormhole, between the lookout and New-Namek? Or is that beyond his wish power?"
Dende looked thoughtful for a while.
"I'm afraid it is." He finally said. "It's even beyond Porunga's I suspect."
Now Gohan looked thoughtful. "Could the two of them do it together?" He asked.
Dende thought again and then nodded.
"They probably could, but you'd have to make the two wishes virtually simultaneously, and since they don't like to be kept waiting, you couldn't use Shen Long to get to New-Namek, he would go back to his lair by himself long before you could gather the Namekian Dragon Balls."
"Thanks Dende. It looks like I'll have to borrow a Z-48 spaceship from Bulma, that should be able to cover the distance in a few weeks. And with the corridor made I could still be back before school starts again."
/* The Z-48 is a newer model than the one Goku used to get to Namek, which fits into my Z range as the Z-15, the Z-48 looks about the same, but it has a new engine that makes it a lot faster. There are also some other minor differences but those will come up later. */
"But why go through all the trouble of making a corridor, why not simply use one of Shen Long's wishes to get there and one of Porunga's to get back?" Dende asked.
"Well I know you don't like to admit it, but I realise that you do miss your people sometimes. So I thought a permanent passage might be nice for you, mr. Popo and Korrin can take of watching Earth for a few hours every once in a while. Besides, we may need Porunga again some time in the future, a passage could come in handy on such occasions as well."
The rest of the group all nodded.
Is he planning to go into space alone? Videl wondered as they stood there.
"Gohan I'm coming with you to New-Namek okay?"
"I thought you might." He said with a smile. "Now we'll just have to convince my mom that we can be together in a closed environment without doing things she wants to wait until we're married, even though she does want grand-children."
Videl smiled at this. Yes Chi-Chi was always the proper woman, she wanted grandchildren, and was looking to the two of them for the first start in that direction, but she wouldn't want them to be born out of wed-lock.
I guess the adventure is really beginning. She thought to herself. Whoever said that getting married is an adventure didn't know how right they were, but I guess most people don't visit alien worlds to complete their guest list.
/*
Next time on life is strange. Countdown and launch for mission complete the guest list. What surprises and adventures await our bold space farers?
Well there it is, chapter 8. Of course Videl accepted. I already knew that when I wrote I didn't know what her answer would be. And I didn't know, I was hesitating between "Yes." and "I do." As you can see above, the latter won.
For those of you who are wondering I've also thought up a Japanese name for Videl's special attack, it's KyoGufuuSen, if my online dictionary is correct that should mean Big Tornado Beam. I couldn't find a translation for twister so Tornado, big instead of super, and Beam because KyoGufuu, didn't sound right without the Sen.
The grammar may be wrong I really don't know. But at least it sounds Japanese enough. Which name do you think I should use, I decided on using the English for the time being as I also use Special Beam Cannon, rather than Makankosappo.
Any way review and let me know what you think, on the technique's name, on the technique itself (don't be to harsh it took me hours to think up) and on anything else in the fic. Also I'd like your opinion on something. Would it be better if I started using a quotes system for thoughts, rather than having them as part of the narrative the way they are now. I already have a system in mind, but I'd like you opinions on whether it's needed or not.
*/