Preface

Hi there! This here is the first (non-academic) piece I've ever written in my life that is larger than one sheet of paper. In fact… it's equivalent to 184 pages, and it's not even written in my native language either. So, I'm pretty proud of myself, especially if you take into account that I do have a severe form of Dyslexia.

In my opinion I've done a decent job of writing you a diverse and relatively original story, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I must warn you, however, that at some point, I had to force the plot at the expense of a beloved character, and cast that character in a bad light… I had done some online research to see if I was on the right track while writing it, and I had followed Akira Toriyama's statements and other sources. However, I've noticed some people were offended by it and so I want to apologize in advance. Sadly this 'incident' in the story is unchangeable without rewriting it all, and that's something I'm not going to do. Some parts of the story can therefore appear a bit OOC, although I did try my best to stay true to the dbz universe.

Furthermore, in our country when I was a teenager it was legal to drink at the age of 16 (this has been changed to 18 nowadays). Since this element was part of my teenage years, I did include that in the story, so I hope readers with different alcohol-legislation can have an open mind about it.

And finally, the story contains 25 chapters, so to avoid disappointment: the last 2 chapters - chapter 26 & 27 - are just an epilogue [26] and the credits + post-credits scene [27]…

That said, I still stand behind the story as it is and I really enjoyed writing it, so I want to invite you to come and read it!

Lots of love,

Kipke

P.S. If you find spelling errors, please do not hesitate to send me a PM

Chapter 1: Frustration

It almost felt like there was no end to this day. Videl was staring at the blackboard on which the teacher was writing some sort of equation. She had lost track of his explanation at least twenty minutes ago. Videl sighed, she wasn't used to being at school for so long. Normally she would get a call from the chief, asking her for her assistance to catch some criminal or something. And since she was the daughter of the World Champion, the principal made an exception that she was allowed to leave the school to help the police when needed.

But then 'the Great Saiyaman' showed up out of nowhere, a flying superhero with what looked like unlimited strength. Even though she herself was really strong, this Saiyaman was way out of her league. And a superhero wouldn't be a superhero as he wouldn't fight crime. So every time Videl was summoned by the police, Saiyaman was somehow always there and most of the time he had already finished the job. To make matters worse, he was really good at crime fighting too. So good, that criminals became scared and discouraged, drastically reducing the crime rate in Satan City.

And so it happened that gradually, the teenage crime fighter was called in less and less by the police, almost to the point where she never missed school. Videl knew she should be thankful. All she ever wanted was to create a safer environment for the citizens who couldn't defend themselves, and this was exactly what Saiyaman had created. And to top that, her grades had gone up a lot too.

Though, she couldn't help but envy the man. His hidden identity, his hideous outfit and the ridiculous childish dances he performed when announcing his presence, they all annoyed her. Her blood boiled just thinking about him. Who did this Saiyaman think he was anyway? Just popping up out of nowhere and invading her turf of crime fighting!

A loud snapping sound pulled her out of her train of thoughts. Videl looked to her hand, where the sound seemingly came from. Apparently she had broken her pencil out of anger. She quickly looked around, hoping no one had noticed. To her surprise, her eyes met those of Gohan, a country boy who had recently enrolled in her school. Videl immediately looked away, embarrassed. Not necessarily because Gohan caught her breaking her pencil, but more because of her selfish thoughts.

Selfish, that was it, she was selfish. Gosh, how did she sink so low? She didn't like how her world had changed after Saiyaman showed up, but didn't the end result matter? And he even gave her more space to fight whatever crime was left after she angrily made it clear he really, really invaded her space.

A sigh left her lips and she turned her head towards the window. Videl thought back to that particular day. There was a robbery taking place in a nearby gas station. When the police report was announced on her radio, she was already on her way to that exact gas station to refuel her copter. It only took her an extra two minutes and when Videl arrived, the crime was still going on. Excited to finally be the first at the crime scene in a long time, she burst into the gas station.

The two robbers froze on the spot, apparently fearing that whoever entered the gas station was Saiyaman. But when they saw Videl, they just laughed!

"Oh, it's you. We can handle you," said one of them, relieved.

With a smirk, she got into her fighting stance and opened her mouth to tell them not to be so sure of themselves. But before any words could leave her mouth, a big gust of wind appeared and before Videl knew it, it was all over.

Saiyaman had shown up and within seconds the two robbers were knocked out and the robbery was stopped. There he stood, next to the unconscious bodies of the robbers, "No worries, Miss Videl! You are in no danger anymore," he bombastically said in his stupid fake Saiyaman voice.

Videl was furious to say the least. She had everything under control and she never was in any danger! At this point, conquering her anger was out of the question and before she knew it, she threw all her boiled-up frustration onto an unwitting Saiyaman.

Videl began to yell at him. And with every reason she stated to hate him for constantly getting in her way, she stepped forward and slowly closed the gap between them. She even told Saiyaman she hoped he would rot in the gutter for all she cared. When she had finished her rant, her index finger was resting on Saiyaman's heaving chest. With fury in her eyes, Videl looked straight at him. Even though there wasn't much skin visible underneath his helmet, Saiyaman clearly was as white as a ghost. "Just leave me alone, you complete moron," were her last words before turning her heels and marched out of the gas station.

They never spoke again. Now, whenever Videl arrived at a crime scene, Saiyaman would step aside in silence and let her take over. This was a huge improvement from her current situation, but even with the space Saiyaman now gave her, there was still not much crime left to fight. And after her rant, she felt so incredibly guilty towards him, that she rather not fight crime at all.

"Is everything alright, Videl?" a gentle voice asked. With a jolt she came back to reality as a hand touched her shoulder. She looked up, right into Gohan's concerned eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" It came out harsher than she'd intended.

Gohan shrugged, "Maybe because you're still in your seat after class has finished about ten minutes ago?" With that information, Videl abruptly sat up and looked around. The class was indeed empty. "I'd forgotten something and when I came back, you were still here," he looked at her intently and urged her to answer.

"I... I was just deep in thought, I guess." Videl felt his hand leave her shoulder.

"Alright, if you say so." He looked one last time at her, then turned around and motioned for Videl to follow, "You coming, or what?"

Videl quickly put all her stuff in her backpack and jumped out of her seat and over her desk. Without any exchange of words, the two teenagers walked towards the main exit of the school. Even in this silence she felt quite comfortable in Gohan's presence, even her frustration she just had towards Saiyaman ebbed away.

Outside, Videl opened the capsule containing her copter and jumped onto the pilot seat.

"You sure you're alright to fly?" Gohan apparently was still a bit worried.

"No worries, I'm fine. And besides, how else will I get home?" she jokingly said.

"I can fly you home if you want."

Videl looked surprised, "You can fly a copter?"

"Yes I can," he replied with an awkward chuckle and began to scratch the base of his neck nervously.

Videl blinked in surprise at the country boy standing in front of her. "I never figured you out as a pilot. But no need, I'm fine. Thank you for offering, though. It's kind of sweet," uncontrollably blushing with that last comment.

And without waiting for a response, she took off and tried to hide that blush. Where did that come from? What was the matter with her? Taking a deep breath, she looked back to the place she had taken off for one last time. Gohan still stood there, watching her copter disappear into the distance.

And somehow her blush intensified.