Son Residence, Early Morning, The Following Day
If Gohan's life could get any more complicated, he wasn't going to tempt Dende by asking him to try. After Videl had arrived at Elche Island, the teenage Saiyan had managed to convince Videl to sleep elsewhere on the island for the night to avoid having to explain anything to Chi-Chi. However, Videl was exactly like Chi-Chi, and she arrived at their home at five in the morning — mercifully, after Erasa had woken up and gotten started training — to demand they begin.
"You're going to be the death of me, you know that?" Gohan quipped bitterly as he opened the door to let the ebony-tressed girl.
"I'm only ensuring you keep your part of our deal, Golden Fighter," Videl stressed that last four syllables with a sly smile on her face. "You teach me how to fly, and Satan City's mystery Superman remains a mystery to everyone but Erasa and me."
Gohan couldn't help but grit his teeth in frustration at Videl. Running a hand through his hair, he led Videl into the kitchen, and they were soon met with a rich, earthy aroma; the scent of brewing coffee. "Would you like any?" Gohan gestured to the brew, determined to be at the very least hospitable to his unwelcome guest.
"Sure," Videl replied, pulling out one of the wooden chairs at the table and sitting in it, inclining backwards.
"When I think about it, Gohan's actually cute when he's visibly frustrated," Videl thought to herself, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks as Gohan busied himself irritably over the kitchen sink, gently filling a cup with the vigor of an angry adult human. "W-Wait, what I am thinking!? This is the guy stealing Erasa from me and making a mockery of justice in my own city! Focus, Videl, remember why you're here!"
Gohan poured the coffee into the mug, the steam created an odd feeling of warmth at this early hour. "Cream and sugar?" He asked in an off-hand manner.
"Black," was Videl's simple reply.
With a shrug, Gohan took the mug to Videl, who drank it with something resembling gratitude. He then took a seat as well, and the two sat across from each other in the most awkward silence — the blackmailer and her victim. If Videl had astute hearing, she would have been able to hear the gears in Gohan's head turning, formulating a way to introduce this new girl to his mother.
The sound of footsteps, however, told Gohan that he didn't need to plan, and that Dende had a very sick sense of humor.
"Gohan, are you in there?" Chi-Chi's voice sounded from the doorway, Gohan turned to see his mother standing there in a flowery pink morning kimono, with a light blue towel wrapped around her head. The scent of shampoo wafted around, telling him she'd just come out of the shower; the towel must have been to dry her hair.
"Hi mo-," Gohan began, only to be cut off by Videl.
"Hello, Mrs. Son," Videl smiled, making a polite, brief bow. "I'm sorry for the sudden intrusion, but Gohan failed to give me the correct address. I was going to come with you all to train, but I had some issues I had to take care of first." This was true enough; the injuries Videl had sustained when she attempted to stop those two thieves in her exhausted state had been severe. The fact that she was up and moving now was a miracle; and then there was a miracle that she'd avoided something far, far worse.
Before Gohan could even acknowledge the two-faced nature of this girl, he saw his own mother's draw jaw in brief surprise before she gathered her composure and steeled a polite smile onto her face.
"Birds of a feather," Gohan thought bitterly, seeing Chi-Chi fall right into Videl's trap.
"Oh, of course!" Chi-Chi replied with a cheerful façade that she reserved for guests. "I'm so sorry my son was so thoughtless," She flashed Gohan a very brief glare that went entirely unnoticed by Videl, causing Gohan to shrink back on reflex.
"Oh believe me, I know all about Gohan's less than thoughtful nature," Videl immediately took to Chi-Chi's polite and coddling nature, sneering at Gohan over her shoulder, away from Chi-Chi's prying, onyx orbs, "especially when it comes to prioritizing over someone else's friends."
"Does that mean you're friends with Erasa?" Chi-Chi inquired.
"That's right," Videl turned away from Gohan, who sighed in relief. "Is she here?"
"No, she's currently out training. Do you want to join her?" Chi-Chi replied.
Videl flashed a sugary sweet smile, one that Gohan immediately knew was false, even if she did genuinely appreciate Chi-Chi's warm reception. "I will in a bit, but first I'll just put away my things-"
"There's no need to worry about that," Chi-Chi pointed in the direction of her room with a generous sweeping gesture, "you can always sleep with me and Erasa in my bed. We have plenty of room."
"I appreciate the offer, Mrs. Son. but," the younger girl pulled out a capsule case, revealing a yellow capsule," I've already brought my own futon to sleep on. I'll just sleep near your bed, if you don't mind that arrangement."
"Not at all," The mother smiled and nodded, giving the girl brief directions to her room, "take as much time as you need."
"Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs. Son," Videl gave another polite bow, and this time, she smiled with sincerity behind it, crisply walking past them, heading towards Chi-Chi's bedroom down the hall to unpack her own things.
When Chi-Chi was relatively sure Videl was out of ear shot, she turned to her son, and when she spoke, it was far too sweet, "Gohan~?"
With an intense feeling of dread, Gohan turned to Chi-Chi, giving her his full attention. "Y-Yes, Mom?"
Chi-Chi leaned in towards her son, lowering her voice to a sharp whisper, "Why are you juggling between two girls' hearts?! Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Easy, mom! She's a friend," Gohan held up his hands defensively. Upon realizing he'd said the word friend, however a grimace crossed his face, "well, she's more like Erasa's friend whom we were trying to be distant from. She's been acting a bit...crazy at school."
"I don't want to hear it," The mother of two jabbed her finger at her eldest son, "a proper gentleman is to greet his guests with dignity and kindness. Excluding poor Videl was likely to make things worse, now wasn't it?"
Unwilling to start an argument, Gohan conceded to his mother's forceful demands with a simple, "Yes, Mom."
Elche Island, Elche Island Wilds
After Videl had finished unpacking, she, Gohan, and Goten met up outside the Son home, in the wilds of Elche Island. Gohan was beginning to experience a very vivid case of déjà vu; it hadn't been that long since 'flying class' was in session with him as the teacher. The only difference here was two things; the students, and Gohan's level of enthusiasm.
"While my teaching credentials aren't the best," Gohan began with some trepidation; Videl was staring daggers at him, and it hardly did well for the young man's attitude at the moment, "teaching the both of you to fly shouldn't be too hard. Goten, you were already making basic progress, so hang back for a moment, while Videl draws out her ki."
"Ki?" Videl flashed Gohan a look of stubborn confusion, masking Goten's groan of dissent. Videl didn't like to sound stupid; she'd heard of 'ki' before, if only vaguely. The term was well known in martial arts, but at the same time, her father, Mr. Satan, was becoming equally well known for trying to dismiss the existence of latent energy off as a hoax and a trick. The masses, crowding around her showboat father like sheep, took the bait hook, line, and sinker. As such, she hadn't put much stock into the term, and hadn't bothered any further research into it. "Isn't this ki thing just a trick; you know, explosions, mirrors, and whatnot?"
"No, it isn't a trick, every bit of it is real," Gohan assured, stressing the point because he knew this was going to become very frustrating, very fast. Though, he had to assume all humans were different; Erasa had simply gone with the flow. Videl was very stubborn and unlikely to take a viewpoint from another person without the evidence being clearly on display.
"I don't believe anything is genuine without some kind of proof," Videl snapped, becoming frustrated at only receiving words from Gohan. "Show me this ki if you want me to believe it's anything more than a parlor trick!"
With an exasperated sigh, Gohan raised a hand towards one of the boulder's that littered the area. He couldn't understand why she needed proof; she'd seen everything that the 'Golden Fighter' was capable of, but if she pressed the matter, he would at least deliver. Focusing his ki, a soft glow enveloped his palm, forming a sphere of white energy with a vibrant yellow outline. With a flash, he released this discharge of energy from his person; the superheated plasma made contact with the rock, destroying it utterly.
"..." Videl was stunned speechless; her eyes wider than saucers as small fragments of rock flew in their direction from the resulting explosion.
"Ki is like that," Gohan explained, happy to have finally provided Videl with 'proof' solid enough to render her silent, if only for a moment. "Every living being has it, and for those who can harness it, we can use it to perform feats beyond normal humans. My ability to fly, among several other abilities, all come from my ki."
"So I need this...ki...nonsense to fly?" Videl leaned in, her sharp stare piercing.
"It's not nonsense, and yes, you do need it," Gohan replied, scratching his head in frustration, "I can show you, but it won't be easy. Learning how to use your own ki is easier when you start as a child; but since you've been doing martial arts all your life, you may find this easier than most."
"Stop beating around the bush already, and show me," Videl pressed the matter by quite literally pressing her finger into Gohan's muscled chest, glaring at him as if she wanted to give new meaning to the phrase 'if looks could kill'.
"I'm getting to it," Gohan replied, sitting down on the grass cross-legged, and indicating Videl do the same. As Goten tried to capture a butterfly in the background with a net he'd procured from somewhere, Gohan cupped his hands in front of Videl, deciding to use the same method he'd used with Erasa to introduce the aspect of drawing out one's ki.
"Watch me," Gohan insisted, and Videl heeded him, keeping sapphire orbs locked on Gohan with genuine curiosity.
"When manifesting your ki, you have to empty your thoughts and meditate on what's within. If you sense that heat build up at the core of your being, focus on it! Drag it all out with your will and then concentrate on that furnace of warmth within. When you start pulling it out, do so delicately, and draw it up as best as you can," A dim, blue light began to shimmer between the space of Gohan's open palms. It coalesced as it gained mass, shape, and rotation, as if forming a structure akin to a miniature star using Will alone, "when you do that, you form the energy that's called, ki."
"This is ki..." Videl murmured, utterly entranced by the floating sphere she saw before her. Unlike the energy blast Gohan had released less than a minute ago, the sphere he held now was fine-tuned and controlled; beautiful, even. He was holding a form of power in his hand and it resembled a kind of beauty she wasn't familiar with.
"The same reaction as Erasa," Gohan noted. Wondering if all humans reacted this way to ki, he wished his own first experience with the energy had been as whimsical; aside from his usage of it when Piccolo left him alone in the wilderness for several months, the first time he remembered seeing ki from an observer's perspective was when Piccolo trained him. Unlike Erasa and Videl's experiences, it was not beautiful.
"Now, you give it a try," Gohan insisted, letting the sphere within his palms dim and peter out, leaving air once more.
Videl took a deep breath — a perfect action to calm her unsteady mind, as well as showing her own intuition as a martial artist — and cupped her hands out in front her. She knew that breath was power in martial arts; it flowed in in every movement they made, and the same held true here.
And yet, despite what she thought of as perfect execution, the girl found herself unable to bring out the glowing orb that Gohan had shown off only seconds before. "Why can't I do it...!?" She thought, feeling her hands and shoulders tremble with irritation; and yet, a small amount of trepidation as well. "What if I can't do it?" She thought, wincing with the difficulty of trying to call forth a force she didn't even believe in.
"You need to relax," Gohan urged; his eyes didn't miss the slight trembling of the ebony-tressed girl's slim figure, and felt the need to caution her. Tension the likes of which Videl was putting on her body would make gathering ki far more difficult, as as well stressful and detrimental to the body as a while; he and his father had long since discovered ki was best drawn out when one felt relaxed and in their natural state.
"How can I relax? I'm supposed to bring this ki out, right? How can I be calm and just gently pull it out? That's like asking me to pull a mountain while sleep walking!" Videl shouted out exasperatedly.
"I got it, I got it!" Gohan waved his hands to ease the girl's temperment. Scratching his head, Gohan tried to think of a way to better demonstrate Ki control other than through words. Even the orb of ki wasn't much of a show of what controlling one's energy could do. That's when the dawning realization of what he had could be a perfect emphasis for the young martial artist.
"Right," Gohan fist palmed, looking over Videl's head, as if looking at the answer materialized in the horizon.
"Huh?" The daughter of Mr. Satan tilted her head to the side in query.
"Alright, I'm going to give you another example of how ki control can be brought out to the surface. Make sure to pay attention, I'm not going to show it more than once," Gohan waved his hand at Videl, causing her to lean closer, catching her attention perfectly.
Nodding with a smile, Gohan stood straight and clenched his fists at his sides. Slowly he inhaled and exhaled, his breath in sync with the environment's gentle breeze. As blades of grass fluttered over his right and Videl's left, the tresses of black hair glittered with the faintest golden hue. In a calm, purposeful manner, Gohan's body began flare in a bright solar glow that thrummed audibly before Videl's eyes. When his brows turned a pale blonde as his head of hair had done, Gohan's fists slackened into open palms, causing the energy to completely solidify. Like an exhale the power he quietly pulled out released like a gust of wind, bristling over Videl's hair, causing her pigtails to whip behind her head as the grass and soil parted with the pressure of wind.
"Now," Gohan began to say, his blue eyes staring at Videl and a smile stretched across his face, "what did you see when I pulled out my energy to the surface? Was I struggling?"
"N-No," Videl stuttered, her eyes still wide and still adjusting to the teenager's profile identity flashed literally before her eyes. This was his energy? If she didn't know him better, she would have thought he was a god from mythology. Yet, his body didn't bulk up crazily nor did he simply yell out like a ferocious animal. It came out slowly and surely before her eyes, as if he was pulling something by a string rather than a large pulley. "you were so calm and I barely felt any change when you...err...transformed. It's amazing, to be honest!"
"If I can bring out this kind of energy calmly," Gohan said with a grin, complemented with a thumb's up to Videl, "it should be even easier for you if you keep your cool."
"Remain calm..." Videl murmured to herself, trying to act as her own coach as she extended her cupped hands forward once more. Steadying her breathing, she closed her eyes, and had nothing else to focus on but herself.
A few hours had elapsed after Gohan's secondary demonstration, and after a break to try and gather her wits, Videl was sitting on the cool grass, her cupped hands out and quietly trying to draw out her energy. With much concentration, the ebony-tressed girl managed to respond to the calling in the center of her body, and manifested a spherical, spiraling light in her palms.
"I...I did it!" Videl gasped, a unique sensation spreading throughout her body; the feeling of free flowing energy was made known to the young martial artist, and it gave her a sense of elation. "Gohan, look, I managed it!" She held the sphere up for Gohan to see, a wide, joyous smile on her face.
"That's remarkable, Videl," Gohan was surprised to see the orb of ki floating in the young girl's hands. "She got a hold of this even faster than Erasa..." It truly surprised Gohan to no end just how quickly humans could get a handle on things.
"Gohaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" A bell-chime cry came from the sky above, and Gohan looked up to see a blonde figure flying his way.
"Speak of the devil, here she is," Gohan smiled, as Erasa descended next to him, an equally broad smile on her face.
"It's not kind to disappear on me like that," Erasa scolded playfully, "I just got finished plowing the fields and was going to eat breakfast, but Chi-Chi told me you were down here training, and I should come down and see you first! Is there something I'm not getting?"
"I'm beginning to think you're blind," A disgruntled Videl grumbled from the ground, attracting Erasa's attention almost immediately. Not only was Videl very irritated to have her accomplishment go barely noticed by Gohan due to the arrival of Erasa, being ignored by Erasa when she arrived to see Gohan made it twice as bad. "I can't decide which one of these lovebirds is worse right now," The girl thought, staring daggers at both Gohan and Erasa, obviously working on her now patented death-glare.
"V-Videl!" Erasa rather sheepishly acknowledged her best friend's presence, having been so enamored with Gohan that she'd entirely missed the seated girl. "You're here!? Why didn't anyone tell me? Why didn't Chi-Chi tell me, I only saw her five minutes ago!"
"Gohan was nice enough to agree to teach me how to fly, weren't you Gohan?" Videl smirked, looking Gohan dead in the eyes.
"Yeah, that's how it went down," Gohan lied, going along with Videl's story for the sake of simplicity.
Erasa flashed Gohan a brief look, but said nothing directly to him as she caught a glimpse of the sphere of light floating freely above Videl's cupped palms. Gasping, she clutched Videl's hands, causing the ebony-tressed girl to wince out of surprise.
"You already managed to form the ki sphere?" Erasa groaned, a hint of jealousy in her voice, "It took me an entire day to pull it off; it must be because you've been doing martial arts your whole life! It's remarkable, actually!"
"R-Really?" Videl flushed slightly at the gushing praise Erasa was piling onto her. The girl was going to comment about how ditzy it was on Erasa's part to not only miss her, but somehow miss the glowing sphere of energy that she was holding. But something quickly caught her attention; various cuts and bruises that decorated Erasa's hands and wrists.
"Erasa, what happened?!" Videl asked frantically, the orb disappearing as she slipped her hands out of Erasa's firm grip to inspect the damages to the blonde girl's pale skin. While some cuts were certainly fresh, a majority were already beginning to fade; it was also clear at the touch that Erasa had washed her hands recently. Videl remembered when the girl said she had been 'plowing fields — she must have washed out dirt. On closer inspection, Videl noticed something else, this time decorating Erasa's palms; faint burns.
"It's nothing," Erasa waved it off, easily pulling her hands away from Videl's and trying to reassure the girl to keep her from unnecessary worrying, "I just got these scars while training. It's to be expected, and I've been meaning to hide them under bandages and gauze."
"Are you sure you're alright?" Videl was genuinely concerned; she hadn't even been aware Erasa was doing any training, other than her flying, but that wasn't the pressing matter now. Videl had always felt somewhat protective of Erasa, and to see her the girl not only working so hard it was causing slight physical damage, but moving away from her faster than she could keep up, Videl felt...abandoned. "We've always been there for each other since we were kids...don't hide anything from me, alright?"
Erasa could hear the sincerity behind Videl's words, and she flashed a smile in return, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders. "There's no need to worry about me anymore, I can handle myself. I know what I'm doing."
"If you say so..." Videl conceded, unable to argue back with Erasa this time; there was a conviction in Erasa's sapphire eyes that Videl had never seen before, and it stopped any additional words from leaving the young woman's throat.
"I really should head back, though," Erasa broke contact with Videl as she began to float into the air again, "since Chi-Chi is going to fix me a spot of breakfast and then it's time for studying!" Casting a brief look at her arms, she also muttered something about fragile bandages, before waving at Gohan as she flew off in the direction of the Son household.
"...Gohan?" Videl spoke quietly towards the Saiyan teenager, who immediately turned his attention to the remaining girl.
"What is it, Videl?" Gohan queried, the girl's sudden change in tone sparking a curiosity.
"Erasa's training...it's not just for joining you in the Tenka'ichi Budōkai, is it?" She almost sounded like she was trying to confirm something to herself, as opposed to simply asking Gohan a question. "I can't see her just entering a tournament because she wants to skive off a few lessons."
Gohan hesitated for a moment, Erasa's conviction ringing loud and clear in his head.
"Gohan, I don't want this to happen to Videl again. What if you'd gotten there too late? Or something worse had happened? I want to continue our training, and I want to get stronger. So I can protect Videl, in case something like this happens again. I want to keep her safe, Gohan."
Erasa hadn't waved, either; her conviction remained solid, and every day, she pushed herself harder in training, not simply to better herself or get stronger. No, it was because she wanted to keep Videl safe.
"Yeah," Gohan nodded firmly, "more than you know."
"I see," Videl smiled, a smile that was more for Erasa than it was for Gohan or even herself, "if she's going to work hard, then I can't sit around and take my time! Let's keep this up!"
Elche Island, Elche Island Wilds, Later That Evening
"You did it!" Gohan crowed, clenching his fists in excitement at Videl's accomplishment.
The ebony-tressed girl, was floating a few meters above ground, her tresses bobbing gently as she tried to maintain her posture.
With the setting sun casting rich shades of red and orange across the ground, the day was beginning to say its farewells. The hours, which had moved so quickly, were now moving at a snail's pace in celebration of Videl's singular achievement!
"Shut up, you're breaking my concentration," Videl strained to speak, unable to both float and talk at the same time. Exhaling, she felt herself descend onto the grass with the motion, feeling a mix of relief and regret as she touched down onto the ground.
"That's amazing, Videl," Gohan, for the first time since Videl arrived, sounded excited. Perhaps it was due to the surprise at Videl's own skill. "You learned to float in just one day!"
"Is it really that remarkable?" The ebony-tressed challenged pointedly, gesturing to the blurring figure of Goten, who was zooming around the sky at top speed. Unlike Videl, who had only managed to float, all Goten had needed was slight coaching and he was already slicing through the air.
"Gohan, look at me, I'm a little birdie!" The young Saiyan crowed as he began to dive downward and then pull back up, performing loops, twists, and turns.
"When will I be able to fly like him?" Videl pointed at Goten, red-faced with indignation at the boy's superb talent.
"Um, soon!" Gohan raised his hands up defensively. "He had a pretty good grasp of ki already!"
"Fine, but we'll pick this up tomorrow," Videl huffed, "I'm interested in this ki thing." She turned on her heel, sauntering off and leaving a very stunned Gohan behind.
The teenage Saiyan collapsed onto the ground, his rear making contact with the grass as he groaned in frustration. "If she keeps this up, I won't have any time to get in my own training!"
Elche Island, Elche Island Wilds, Midnight
The moon was high in the sky, casting it's soft luminescence across the forests of Elche Island. In the center of the sky over the island hovered Erasa. Caked in bruises, scrapes and cuts of all manner of sorts from her normal rigorous training she was sporting a thin layer of sweat over her lightly tanned skin. The shell on her back rattled slightly with her body's trembling as her outstretched arms was obscured by small curling tendrils of smoke, coupled by audible trails of steam. If one could look closely, her fingers and palms sported more burnt flesh, a sign of another physical injury while attempting her personal exercise in the dead of night.
Erasa's chest was heaving rapidly, her breath coming out in the form of quick and painful pants. The blonde-tressed girl felt herself sway in the air, as her body drifted down to the crater of her own creation, her knees hitting the ground, falling into a circular crater of her own making. She seethed in pain as her hands hit the cold dirt; the newly acquired burns on her pale skin racked with pain as she made contact with fresh dirt.
"It's still not...it's still not complete..." She confessed to herself, her chest burning with the very action of speaking. "I can't control it...and it just keeps...backfiring..." The teenage girl mentally beat herself up at her own failure. "But I'm not done yet...there's still time...I'll complete this yet!"
Inhaling deeply, the cool air burning the worn inside of her windpipe, Erasa forced herself to her feet. Letting her ki flow freely through her body, she felt revitalized, and a confident smile crossed her face. "Come on, let's try this again!"
A/N: It's finally out; after an entire month, I've finally managed to finish my new chapter. Let me start with an apology to everyone; if you guys expected a chapter this month, it really was my intention to get one out, however, this entire month proved to be one huge distraction. To put it shortly, my family has decided to move, so my mother's been having me help her pack up the entire house, which was very tiring. Additionally, stacking this on top of work, it didn't leave me with much energy left. To make it a bit worse...Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire graced the shores of the world on the 21st of November, and I shut down my entire life for a full week just to play this game; yes, I know, that is entirely my fault, but it was a very effective way to relax and it took me back to when I was a kid.
Additionally, my friends and I had issues that kept us on edge. It's a story I won't go into here, but it honestly didn't help my mood at all. I also had ONE FINAL DISTRACTION in the form of a short story I wrote on Fictionpress; to anyone slightly interested, you can find that one-shot right here:
s/3222754…;
So yeah, I'm sorry I didn't manage to get this chapter up earlier but I promise I'll try to be a little more consistent now that I've beaten the main game and will probably avoid my newest games (Disgaea 4 and Tales of Xillia) for a month or so to get my next chapter up, because trust me, if you felt this chapter was a bit lackluster, that chapter will move us forward, I promise.
Videl, in this chapter, didn't get put in her place (this is to anyone who expected it) because, while Videl CAN be a bitch, she also can be polite when it comes down to it, and if she doesn't have anything against you, she's not gonna bitch at you. Chi-Chi got to meet nice Videl because she was nice in return. Also, to anyone who thinks this felt like Erasa's training to learn to fly...yeah, I couldn't make it different because I didn't know how to make any real changes barring dialogue. Mercifully, I tried to keep this chapter short, and I made sure Erasa got her moments in because...fuck, she's the deuteragonist, how could I exclude her two chapters in a row?
The final scene in this chapter, though short, was something I'd wanted to put in ever since her training began. If anyone guesses what Erasa is trying to do, I will neither confirm nor deny it, given it's going to be something that comes into play later on; it's nothing major, just a nice little surprise.
As always, let's give a thanks to my friend Demod20 for his help in proofreading to make sure this story is readable by you all! Though I have no right to say this, I hope you all will stick through this with me until the story ends, I appreciate my entire readership, and I will see all of you in the next exciting chapter of the Erased Chronicles!