"So basically, I need something to disguise myself while I fight crime."
Bulma took a long drag from her cigarette and sighed before looking up at Gohan. "A disguise, huh? Got anything in mind?"
"Yeah, actually." Gohan grabbed a piece of paper and quickly sketched a silly-looking superhero costume. "This is Goten's character, Saiyaman. I don't think he'd mind me taking on the persona."
The scientist smiled sentimentally and scratched her head "I can work with this. Might take an hour or so though. Do you mind playing with Trunks while I work on it? It'd make his day."
"I was already planning on hanging out with the little guy. It's been too long since we've seen each other!"
"It's been, what, a week?"
"Exactly!" Gohan turned and left the lab, grinning from ear to ear. This is gonna be great!
After walking through the halls a bit, the teen stopped at Trunks' bedroom door and knocked gently, trying his best not to break anything. He had a bad habit of destroying everything he touched, and he'd rather not add to the growing list of doors he'd accidentally decimated. "Hey, trunks! You in there?"
"GOHAN!" Trunks slammed the door open and embraced his sort-of brother in a death grip faster than the average person could blink. Gohan winced as he witnessed the door tearing off its hinges.
After briefly mourning the loss of the poor unassuming door, Gohan patted the young boy's head affectionately. "I see someone's excited. Wanna go work off some of that energy?"
Trunks was already sprinting down the hallway by the time Gohan had finished his sentence. The teen simply shook his head in amusement and followed after him.
Trunks and Gohan had been halfway through a level of Teleportal II When Bulma burst into the room with a proud smirk on her face, holding a black digital watch in front of her. "It's done."
Gohan shot up immediately and skipped over to the scientist, holding his hands out in anticipation. Bulma dropped the watch into his palms and ushered him to a nearby mirror.
Gohan eagerly strapped the device onto his left wrist, taking a moment to inspect it before looking up to his blue-haired friend. "So, how's it work?"
Bulma nodded to herself smugly. "All you gotta do is press that big red button on the side and presto! Instant superhero!"
"That's so cool!" Trunks was jumping up and down. "Could you make me one, Mom? Please?"
"You bet!" Bulma's smirk only grew.
Gohan couldn't take it anymore. As soon as Bulma had finished her response, he pressed the obvious button on his new watch and marvelled as an orange, red, green, and black outfit suddenly materialized around his form. He flipped his cape and grinned widely as it fluttered.
"I added a little compartment behind the belt for you to comfortably keep your tail. Does it fit?"
"Oh, not only does it fit," Gohan struck a heroic pose and adopted a ridiculous theatrical voice. "It's a super fit!"
Trunks dropped his juice box. "Y'know what? I don't need one after all, Mom."
Gohan arrived home about five minutes before dinner time. He'd considered patrolling Satan City before heading back, but he decided the threat of what his mom would do to him if he was late outweighed his eagerness to make his debut. Goten tackled his big brother to the ground with a bear hug before he could even make his way through the front door.
"Gohan! You're back!"
"You bet I am!" Gohan giggled goofily and ruffled his little brother's hair. "C'mon, I have something really cool to show you!"
The brothers got up and pranced to their shared bedroom, with Gohan stopping to hug his mother before continuing.
Once both were inside, Gohan shut the door. "Okay, Goten!" He gestured to his new device. "Watch this!"
Goten gasped as his brother's school clothes were replaced with his new superhero getup. "Oh my gosh, Gohan! You're Saiyaman! You're really him! This is so cool! Do some poses!"
Gohan obliged giddily, striking many embarrassing poses for his brother.
"Gohan this is so awesome! Say some cool superhero things!"
Said superhero struck a few more poses and put his goofy theatrical voice back on. "Evil beware, for I am the bringer of justice!" He went into a crouched position and ran in place. "Ally to good, nightmare to villainy!" He did a weird breakdance-thing. "I am...THE GREAT…," he paused for dramatic effect, "SAIYAMAN!"
Goten let-loose an earsplitting squeal and hopped from one foot to the other. "YES! This is perfect! Now you gotta do that every time you take on the bad guys!"
Gohan paled. "L-like, in public?"
"Of course, silly!" Goten ran to his brother and squeezed his leg. "I'll be watching you on the news to see how awesome you do"
"Goten, I don't-"
"Boys! Dinner!"
Videl grumbled as she plopped down in her seat, nearly slamming her head onto her desk. She'd been kept up all night yet again; this time by thoughts of the Golden Fighter and his odd powers and physiology. She let out a yawn and buried her face in her arms, trying desperately to block out her surroundings. She at least took solace in the fact that everyone in her class knew not to disturb her when she got like thi-
"Something wrong, Videl?"
Videl let out the longest sigh her lungs would allow and glared up at the fool who would dare break her out of her thoughts. Of course it's the new boy. Nobody else would be this stupid.
"S-s-sorry for bothering you!" Gohan swiftly sat himself down and began furiously sketching in his notebook as a futile attempt to distract himself from The Deadly Glower. Erasa patted his back supportingly as Videl lay her head back down.
"Don't worry, Gohan." Erasa gave him a reassuring smile. "Videl's just kinda grumpy in the mornings. It's best to leave her be."
"So, Brains," Sharpener sat himself down on the edge of Gohan's desk, "you ever gonna take that mask off?"
Uh-oh. They expect me to take this off eventually?! He wrang his hands nervously. I can't do that!
"Well?" Sharpener raised his eyebrow.
"Uh...no?"
Now Videl was interested. She narrowed her eyes at Gohan. "No?! What do you mean no?!"
Gohan couldn't help but squeak a bit at this. Oh, now I've done it! "W-w-well, it's just that, I, uh, I…"
"You…?"
"I, uh…" Gohan flushed in embarrassment. "I wouldn't feel comfortable taking it off…" Well, it's true. I just hope she'll buy it.
Videl narrowed her eyes further before softening her expression. Gohan was freaking out, sure, but he didn't seem like he was lying. She felt kinda bad for pressing him so hard on something he was clearly insecure about. She felt like apologizing, but couldn't really bring herself to do it. Something still feels off about him. It feels like there's more to this than he's letting on…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing bell signalling for class to start. Sharpener sauntered back to his seat as everyone took out their textbooks.
Erasa patted Gohan's shoulder sympathetically. "It's okay, Gohan. You don't have to take the nurse mask off."
"Thanks, Erasa. I-"
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a certain teen's communicator watch crackling to life. "Videl, we've got a situation! Some armed criminals hijacked a prison bus and are headed down Route 15!"
Videl jumped to her feet. "I'll be right there, Chief!" She sprinted out of the classroom without so much as a wave to the teacher.
Gohan sat and considered his next move. Should I go help her? Erasa and Sharpener said she could handle herself, but a hijacking is serious business! Besides, this would be a great opportunity for Saiyaman to make his debut! But if I have to do those ridiculous poses…
After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, Gohan had made up his mind. He raised his hand impatiently.
"Yes, boy?"
"May I go to the restroom?" He tapped his foot anxiously.
"You may."
"Thank you!" Gohan shot out of his seat and sprinted out the door, causing a few papers to go flying. The teacher blinked a few times before coughing curtly and continuing the lesson.
Alright, easy does it. Videl lowered her jet-copter as far as she thought safe before steeling herself and throwing the door open. She took a deep breath and jumped out, rolling as she landed on the top of the prison bus. She stood up carefully and caught sight of a hatch near the back. All I gotta do is get in through there and take out the hijackers. Easy enough.
As Videl entered through the hatch and began taking out the armed crooks, Gohan watched from overhead in full Saiyaman gear. After much deliberation, he'd decided it would be best not to intervene unless the situation got out of hand. The thought of Videl being trapped in that bus with who knows how many armed enemies admittedly made him nervous, but she could handle it. I hope.
Videl was doing wonderfully. After several minutes of bobs, weaves, and choice chops, there was only one guy left: the driver. Now all she had to do was find a way to take him out and take control of the vehicle. She dusted off her gloves and charged at the man, hoping beyond hope that this scuffle wouldn't cause the bus to crash.
"Hey, watch it!" The driver dodged Videl's kick and unintentionally jerked the wheel in the process, causing the bus to swerve to the left. The pigtailed crime-fighter reflexively grabbed the closest object to keep from falling. To her horror, the closest object just-so-happened to be the steering wheel, which was now jerked to the right. Both occupants screamed as the bus nearly tipped over from the sudden shift in direction.
Unfortunately, neither party was paying attention to just where the bus had swerved to until they heard the sound of wood splintering outside. They both chanced a glance out the windshield to find that they had barreled through the wooden guard rail and were headed right for the edge of the highest cliff in Satan City with no time to brake. The driver passed out in shock.
Videl dropped to the ground and covered her head, squeezing her eyes shut. So this is it, huh? Killed before I even graduate high school. No, it can't end like this! There's so much I haven't done…
She waited for death.
And waited.
And...waited?
Videl noticed by now that the gut-wrenching sensation of freefalling had slowed to a halt. Am...am I dead? Slowly, reluctantly, she pried her eyes open. She was definitely still in the prison bus, but it had stopped moving. She tried to stand only to fall back down again from the sudden jolt of the bus...moving upward?
Once again, the vehicle came to a stop. Videl stood up and cautiously walked to the door. "Are we...back on the road?" She stepped out and stomped her foot on the asphalt a few times to make sure it was real.
"Hey, you okay?"
Videl jumped and turned toward the source of the voice. What she saw made her do a double-take. Right there, standing in front of a group of police officers, was some dude dressed in full superhero garb. Is this some kinda joke? Who is this guy? Why is he dressed like that?
"Miss Videl?"
The teen in question looked up at the weird cosplayer. "What...happened?"
"That prison bus you were retaking drove right off a cliff, so I flew down and caught it." The strange man recounted matter-of-factly, gently lifting the bus up a few feet for emphasis. She saw the police officers behind him nod vigorously. "Good thing I was here or you might've gotten hurt!" He gingerly placed the bus back down and smiled warmly at her.
Videl's mind was racing. What did...how did he...what the…. She looked from the bus back to the possible real-life superhero. ...Does he have fangs?! "Who...who are you?"
Gohan smirked for a second before grimacing. I guess I'm really gonna do this...for Goten. He sighed and put on his cheesiest grin before striking a few humiliating poses. He put on his dramatic superhero voice and tried his best to keep his shame out of it. "I am...THE GREAT...SAIYAMAN!" He held his final pose for a few moments before standing upright triumphantly. Hey, that wasn't so bad! It was actually kinda fun...if you ignore the whole 'overwhelming humiliation' thing.
Oh no. Nononononononono no. This is not happening right now. Did I actually die? She slapped herself and realized that, no, she was definitely still alive. Saiyaman ran up to her with inhuman speed and started fussing over her.
"Seriously, are you okay? Is your head okay? Do we need to get you to the hospital? Oh, I should probably take you there anyway, just to get you checked out. Y'know, just to be safe? Just to be sure you're alright? Here, I'll fly you there." Saiyaman outstretched his arms and waited.
"No, thanks, I'll just…" she signalled to the police officers, "I'll ride with them."
"Are you sure? It'd be quicker if I-"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Alright, I'll see you around I guess."
"Wait, what do you mean by tha-"
Saiyaman took to the sky before Videl could finish her inquiry. She was annoyed, definitely, but she was moreso shocked by 'Saiyaman' straight-up flying away. What is going on in this city?!
what do yall think about the chapter lengths
also pls suggest stuff i am Suffering