4A of ?

AN: Warning – blood and Videl-bashing (physical) in this chapter – nothing too major, but I just don't want it to shock you and, no, it won't be a recurring theme.

"The new Turtle Master, Krillen Chestnut!" The class all blinked as one as a short, muscled man dressed in a pair of tan pants and a red shirt walked out of the teacher's office – he wasn't tall, obviously, and his head was covered with a light fuzz, as if he had shaved his head and it was just growing back out, but all of them noticed the almost palatable aura of power and experience around him as he walked out and flashed them the 'peace' sign.

"What's up, guys?" Several people in the class waved at him or nodded back, but as the new coach looked them over, he stopped on one person, "Gohan? What's up, bro?"

As one, the class turned to LOOK at Gohan, who had an oddly amused look on his face, "Hey, Krillen – when did you beat Master Roshi for the title?"

Krillen just shrugged, "A few months ago. I take it your mother finally got her way and sent you to a public school?"

Gohan nodded and the class was in awe – the new kid knew someone who was a verified martial arts legend, who was the new Turtle-style Master, had trained under the Demon King, and he acted like it was no big deal?

After roll was called, Krillen looked at the class and nodded, "Okay, as you've been told, I'm Krillen Chestnut and I'll be your coach for the year; I'll be teaching you the rudiments of the Turtle style and about the Martial Arts in general – any questions?"

Sharpner called out, "Just you for all of us?"

Krillen shook his head and grinned somewhat evilly, "No, not just me – given his knowledge of the style, I think I'll have Gohan acting as my assistant teacher. Gohan? Go get changed, please, your uniform is in the office." Krillen repressed a shiver of fear with the glare that Gohan sent his way, but said nothing as his new teaching assistant went off to get changed, "Any other questions?"

Videl spoke up, "Why did the old Turtle Master turn my father down as a student?"

Krillen arched his eyebrow, "And you are?"

She squared her shoulders, "Videl Satan."

Krillen winced, "You have my sympathies, and your father was rejected because Roshi didn't think he'd survive the training process."

Videl snorted, "Well, then maybe you should train my father is Roshi couldn't."

Krillen's eyes narrowed slightly, "That's Master Roshi to you, student, and you have it wrong – your father wouldn't have survived the training, and not many could."

Erasa raised her hand, "How do you know Gohan?"

Krillen grinned, "His father and I went way back, when we were both students of Master Roshi – Gohan's almost a chip off of Goku's block, but where his father was a touch … er … naïve, Gohan's seen and done more than most people three times his age, so he's a little more worldly."

"That's one way of putting it, Krillen," Gohan said as he walked out of the office, his new uniform on.

Videl was the first to shout, "Hey! That's not the Turtle-style uniform!"

Krillen nodded, "You're right – it's not." Gohan had on the basic pattern of the Turtle-style uniform, though where it should have been orange it was black, and where it was black it was now a deep, deep red, the color of blood, tied off with a red sash and wrist bands. "For Gohan, he's EARNED the right to wear a different uniform, given his training and experience, though he still has a lot to learn."

The conversations pretty much stopped there as Krillen led them all through a general warm up session and then through some basic techniques that revolved around stances, punching and kicking, taking note of just who looked like they could actually survive a fight – the girl, Videl, her friends Sharpner and the other girl, Erasa, all had passingly good techniques to begin with, though each needed some help, but on the whole, the rest of he class was a total loss. Gohan, he noted, had his eyes on Erasa, a slight smile on his lips, and Krillen KNEW he had material to work with now so that he could tease the demi-human. Whether he survived it or not would depend on Gohan's mood at the time, of course, but still, there would be much teasing in the future.

"You're dropping your left, Erasa." She looked over at Gohan, who had this intense expression on his face as he scanned the rows of students, all of whom were in stance and punching in time. He looked good in his uniform, though she could hear a darker part of her mind questioning just what he looked like out of that uniform – she ruthlessly repressed that part of her mind, remember what her aunt had told her about human males her age: they weren't worth the time or effort to get angry over.

After another ten minutes of basics, Krillen had the kids all gather together, "Good beginning, but now Gohan and I are going to show you just what it possible if you ever wish to become a TRUE martial artist. Do not get close, or it could get ugly." Videl growled even as he and Gohan walked away, masking his voice, "Gohan, try to not make me look too bad."

Gohan smirked at him, "You mean not send you into the next life?"

"It'd be much appreciated," he said somewhat dryly. "And let's keep the power level down, okay? I'm not sure the gym could survive you powering up."

Gohan nodded, stepping away, "Right, so just make it a good show." Gohan stood about ten feet away from him, slid into a stance that Piccolo had apparently taught him, and began to power up very slightly, "Haaaaa…."

Erasa blinked in astonishment as white flames began to surround Gohan even as the sensei copied his stance and did the same, but blue flames surrounded his body – what was going on? This continued for several more seconds before Sensei dashed forwards with ungodly speed, lashing out at Gohan, but Gohan blocked with a single wrist, flicked it wide and began an attack of his own – the two went back and forth, breaking laws of physics left and right as they leapt ten, fifteen, twenty feet into the air, bounced and ricocheted off of ceiling joists and landed on the floor without so much as breaking a sweat, slamming fits, feet, elbows, knees and heads into their opponents defenses, never once scoring a hit on the other, "Unreal."

"Amen," Sharpner said to her side.

"Fakers," Videl snarled at her other side, her eyes set in a hard cast as the pair made their way towards them. Erasa opened her mouth to stop Videl, but she was too late as her friend launched herself at the momentarily-stationary fighters with a battle cry.

It was like watching a car wreck in slow motion – Krillen was arching his head and body back to avoid Gohan's roundhouse kick, Gohan's foot sailing just fractions of an inch away from what was supposed to be his nose, and closing in was Videl, her fist raised even as Gohan's falling foot intersected her flight path.

Time sped back up slightly as the sole Gohan's foot made contact with Videl's face, a wet, meaty smack and crunch filling the air as Videl's cry of war ended abruptly and her head snapped back – the power of the kick, on top of Videl's own momentum, met and not only was Videl thrown back at the crowd of students in a spinning mass of legs and arms and pigtails, but through the air blood sailed as both fighters came to rest on the ground, the elder looking concerned and the younger looking horrified.

"Someone get the nurse!" Krillen's barked order came just as Videl's body hit the ground in a boneless fashion generally reserved for the dead, blood droplets hitting the ground in a pattern. Erasa could only blink as she heard someone run off, shouting, as both student and teacher seemingly teleported to Videl's side.

She watched with awed horror as both Krillen and Gohan worked to check Videl over, their hands running over her neck, arms and legs, obviously checking for broken bones even as her nose gushed blood. Krillen snapped an order and Gohan ripped off his belt sash, using it to first wipe away Videl's blood and to then staunch the flow of it as the nurse came running into the room.

"What happened?"

Krillen looked up, his face grim, "She ran into a spar that Gohan and I were having, even after I specifically told the students to stay away, and this is the end result."

The nurse pulled the belt away from Videl's face and hissed, "Her nose is crushed!"

Gohan snorted, "That wasn't even a hard kick – add to that she was running into the direction of the kick and I'm not surprised."

The nurse glared at Gohan, "Her father's going to be angry with you."

Gohan gave the nurse a blank look, "Like I care what that coward has to say. In fact, I hope someone tells him who did this – he and I need to have words anyway."

Erasa's jaw dropped even as her mind registered the pure disgust in Gohan's voice as he stood and looked over at them, barking, "Class dismissed – change clothes and stay in the locker rooms until the bell rings." She followed her classmates into their locker room and robotically changed out of her gym clothes as her mind went over and over again on what she had seen in the gym – she'd seen Gohan and their Sensei, Krillen Chestnut, perform with the greatest of ease Martial Arts moves that were like something you saw out of a 'wire-fu' movie, she'd seen one of her oldest friends and classmates, Videl, get seriously hurt and had just seen Gohan act as if he didn't care; why was it, then, that she felt so hollow now? She'd known Gohan for less than a day, and already she had some kind of strong attachment to him and it HURT to see him acting like this – why?

The bell rang and she made her way home, quickly, not paying attention to anything along the way, and when she did get home, Erasa vaguely heard her mother tell her that her aunt was in the garage and wanted to speak with her.

"Erasa?" She jerked and looked up into the face of her aunt, the mirror image of her mother save that her mother's face was more rounded and less angular, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Auntie … I think." She looked up and asked, her lower lip trembling, "Why is it that I'm hurting over a guy I just met?"

Her auntie pushed a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear and walked over, her clothes covered in grease, which was obvious as she appeared to be fixing her mother's car, "Tell me what happened."

Erasa spent about fifteen minutes doing just that and when she was done, her Aunt just snorted emotionlessly, "From the sounds of it, you feel bad that Videl got hurt because she didn't listen."

Erasa nodded, "I do … but Gohan … I feel bad for him."

"Why?"

"Because I don't think he felt bad about it, Aunt Juu."

Her Aunt frowned, "Don't call me that, Erasa – my name is Android Eighteen, not 'Juu'."

AN: DUN, DUN, DUN! So, how's THAT for a twist? Chapter's a lot shorter than I wanted it, but as I've lost my notes for this story, I'm playing it by ear – what do you think? Reviews, please.