"Thank you for attending, ladies and gentleman."
Videl's eyebrow rose in curiosity as she watched her father on the television. As a young girl she had always made it a point to watch every single one of her father's televised events but since about fifteen she had stopped doing it as often.
"Now I'm sure that you all have a lot of questions about why exactly this press conference was called," said Hercule as he glanced to his side where Mackenzie Castrol sat proudly. "And as much as I would love to engage in some idle chatter, the truth is that I'm only here for one reason and one reason only."
Videl rolled her eyes at her father's usual dramatisation. It never ceased to amaze her how the whole world ate up his words but she had to hand it to the man, he really knew how to get a crowd interested.
"I'd like to announce that from this day forward, I will be entering into a partnership with the great folks at Castrol Inc," said Hercule with a warm smile on his face betraying the calculated nature of his words. Videl didn't doubt he was aware that whatever he said would be scrutinised for the next few hours by almost every news station in the world. "I think that perhaps it would be best to allow Mackenzie to explain the finer details of our agreement."
The eldest of the two men cleared his throat. "As many of you are no doubt aware, the world that we live in today is - has been - growing at a staggering rate. Our dependency on technology, and of course, oil, has also increased dramatically over the past few decades."
Videl tossed the remote in the air, contemplating turning it off already. Mackenzie had always seemed nice enough, but something about his demeanor had never ceased to give her the impression that he was an old fart.
"Now obviously, there is a finite amount of oil available to us and once we begin testing the last of our deposits, there is no doubt that oil prices will skyrocket. For the economists out there, we at Castrol Inc fear that Peak Oil is soon approaching - if it hasn't already - and we have decided that decisive action needs to be taken."
"I have agreed to financially support Castrol Inc's search for oil in outer space," said Hercule, taking the spotlight back from the richer man. "To some of you, this might seem crazy. But to those of you who have the ability to see past the present and the vision to see into the future, you must, like me, realise that this is the first step towards settling what will inevitably be one of the greatest crisis humanity will ever face."
Videl tossed the remote aside, her focus completely upon her father now. She had heard a little about what was going on from Azel the other day, but it had been at the back of her mind ever since.
"Make no mistake when I say that fighting off our diminishing oil supplies is just as important as fighting off Cell," smirked the champion, a triumphant grin upon his face as he stared directly at the cameras. "The Castrols are a family of visionaries and I encourage the support of anyone else who can see that."
Videl sighed before making the wise decision to turn the television off so that she would not have to witness the unfortunate sight of a Castrol basking in praise. She wasn't quite sure what to make of her father's decision to agree with their business proposal but she was perfectly content with that.
It was nibbling away at the back of her mind a little but she didn't care too much about it. Things, she reasoned, could either go disastrously wrong or remarkably well when she weighed up all the parties involved.
…
"Please, you've got to let me bring a plus one along," begged Erasa as she clasped her hands together. "I've got this really hot guy lined up and I bet going to such a big event would totally blow his mind."
"I'm not too sure," said Videl skeptically. "The last time I allowed you to bring a date along to one of my father's birthday parties it turned out to just be Brad from school trying to impress me."
"This one will different, sheesh Videl," Erasa rolled her eyes. "Besides, it's not like I would ever ruin his fiftieth. You only turn fifty once, y'know."
"You only turn any age once."
"You're no fun," Erasa waved a hand dismissively. "But seriously, does this mean that I can bring my date along?"
"Sure," Videl shrugged. "There'll be plenty of people there anyway so I don't think anyone will really mind."
Erasa hugged her as a gesture of her thanks. "You're the best Vi!"
"Don't mention it, I guess?" said the crimefighter apathetically.
"Oh, and what are you going to get Mr. Satan for his birthday? Normally my parents buy the gifts but I'll need to get my own because I moved out the other month," said Erasa as she fidgeted with her hair.
"Now that you mention it, I don't have a clue," said Videl. "I don't really think we could finance a life-sized solid gold statue of him to place in the living room and other than that, I'm not too sure what he'd want."
Erasa gasped suddenly and did her best to suppress a grin and the inevitable laughter that followed it.
"What?" glared Videl, not quite understanding what the big deal was.
"You told another joke," said Erasa as she looked at the younger girl with a grin. "That's three today! I bet all that time you've been spending with Saiyaman really has made a difference in your life."
"Not really," admitted Videl. "I mean all I really do nowadays is spar with him."
Erasa slapped her forehead with her palm. "Of course you ended up making this about fighting. I should have known better."
"I keep saying it, I'm just not cut out for any of this romantic stuff," said Videl, hoping that the message would finally get through to her ditzy friend through some miracle.
"I don't believe that," said Erasa assertively. "You're just not trying hard enough."
"Well, what am I meant to do? It's awkward to be the only one initiating the kisses or the hugs, especially when I don't even really mean them," said Videl as she cast her eyes towards the floor. She'd only kissed her fellow superhero sparingly, but she'd tried to greet him with a hug during some of their most recent meetings, like in the movies.
"Hmmm," hummed Erasa as she thought. "When you're struggling to catch a boy's attention, there's only one thing you can do."
"Let me guess… a makeover?" said Videl sarcastically but Erasa's energetic nod just made her sigh. "Yay, lucky me."
"Oh don't be such a sourpuss," said Erasa before raising a finger to her cheek, still in deep thought. "A regular makeover won't help too much, especially because he's already seen you dolled up once or twice. It won't have the same effect on him as it initially did."
"Right," said Videl, deciding to refrain from commenting on what could not be anything less than an over analysis of a non-existent relationship.
She took a hard look and gave Videl a once over before suddenly breaking into a triumphant grin. "Ah hah! I've got it now."
Videl met her with a blank stare, hoping that whatever wild conclusion she had undoubtedly drawn would not involve her playing damsel in distress again.
"It's those clothes of yours," said Erasa, grabbing hold of Videl's baggy white t-shirt and waving it around for emphasis. "How can you expect him to fall for you if you're wearing these? Your killer figure is completely hidden and I'm sure that even if I got a shirt five sizes smaller than this one, it still wouldn't do any justice to your curves."
Videl sighed and decided to just go along with it. When Erasa got into these moods, the only thing she could ever do was hope that it would pass soon if she cooperated.
"Let's go fix up your wardrobe so you have some proper clothes to wear and then we'll see if Saiyaman can avoid jumping you the moment he next lays his eyes on you."
…
"New clothes, huh?" asked Saiyaman with a telling grin.
Videl blushed, kicking the ground with her open-toed sandals. "A friend of mine confiscated my regular wardrobe. She said it was too boring."
"Well, I think she was right," said Saiyaman as he eyed down Videl's figure. A glare from Videl quickly had him recoiling and placing his hands in the air in an attempt to explain himself. "N-Not to say that there's anything uh wrong with your regular clothes, those are fine… but there's nothing wrong with a little change every once in a while, right?"
Videl sighed. "I guess you're right. And besides, I'm lucky that Erasa settled for purple instead of insisting on hot pink."
"Well it is the first time I've seen you wear a skirt," he said with a chuckle. "And your top isn't large enough to pass as one of mine anymore."
"She actually almost forced me into wearing a dress today - not for any fancy party or anything, just as casual wear," groaned Videl. "Eventually, I was able to talk enough sense into her to get her to realise that if I'm going to be fighting criminals, I need to be able to move comfortably without flashing my lacy underwear to anyone who cares to look."
Saiyaman's cheeks flushed a light pink colour before he smiled. "Well, it's not like there would be any criminals that would give you a hard time with me around."
"Oh yeah," said Videl. "I'm sure the fluorescent green tunic, erect antennae and the posing will send them running off with their tails between their legs."
"Well I didn't really think Bulma was thinking 'intimidation' when she made me this outfit, but I'll take it," he said with a grin.
'Interesting, Bulma made his outfit,' noted Videl as she chuckled along with him. "So anyway, I've been deliberating over something for this entire morning, but I've finally come to a decision."
"Oh really?" he said curiously, arching his head down to meet her eyes with his gaze. Videl felt irritated by the reminder of her height when she mirrored his action by craning her own head back to stare into that thick, black visor of his.
"My dad's fiftieth birthday party is coming around the corner," said Videl. "And as you could probably guess, there'll be a huge party thrown in his honour. I just wanted to invite you to it."
"When is it?" he asked, clearly weighing up the pros and cons of her proposal in his head. It was fair enough, reasoned Videl, Saiyaman wasn't exactly the type of person to do public appearances.
"About three weeks from now, on the Saturday," said Videl, before explaining and deciding to lay a little bit of bait before the caped crusader. "You see, my dad doesn't really like me dating boys. If you could picture your stereotypical overprotective dad and make them about ten times more annoying about it, you have my dad… so I was a little hesitant to extend this invitation to you. In the end, though, I decided that I cared more about us than whatever pettiness he would feel upon seeing you."
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I showed up," said Saiyaman diplomatically. "I'll need a bit of time to erm check my schedule though and make sure that I can attend."
He bit.
"Of course," said Videl with a smile. It was just an added bonus that Azel would almost certainly be at the party; she felt somewhat cruel envisioning the arrogant boy's crushed dreams that lay a mere fortnight and a half away. "All the time that you need, just make sure you get back to me once you make your decision."
"Well, I guess that settles that," said Saiyaman as he settled into a stance, beckoning for Videl to initiate their spar. "Now let's see what you've got in store for me today."
"Oh, one more thing!" said Videl suddenly, causing the superhero to drop his stance. "Since there'll be a lot of people and I'm not really trying to provoke dad… it would be great if you could, uh, try and keep a low profile at the party."
"Me? Keep a low profile?" he snickered, teasing her in a way that very few people got away with. "I'm not sure that's even possible."
"Well try and keep all the yelling and posing to a minimum and take it from there."
…
Videl tried to catch her breath desperately. The purple top that Erasa had forced onto her earlier in the morning was already drenched and ripe with sweat. Her knuckles were beginning to ache; more often than not she missed Saiyaman with her strikes and ended up making contact with a tree or something behind him, however on the rare occasions that she did indeed manage to hit the man, it hurt even more than hitting the trees.
"You need to work on your endurance," said Saiyaman effortlessly, as if he hadn't dodged a barrage of attacks that would almost certainly put any criminal in hospital. "Your fighting style relies on speed far more than it does heavy hitting. It's not really any use, though, if you wear yourself out just as quickly as your opponent."
"My endurance is fine," Videl grit her teeth. She wasn't one to take criticism - even if it was constructive - lightly. "I run like three marathons a year."
"That's all well and good if you're fighting street criminals but against proper, disciplined martial artists that won't get you very far," said the taller crimefighter. "When I was a boy, I was made to live in the wilderness for six months. And let me tell you, the wilderness out in the mountains is filled with some mighty fine dinosaurs."
"Dinosaurs," repeated Videl, almost in disbelief. "You're telling me that you fended off dinosaurs as a little kid all by yourself in the wilderness."
"I probably have a scar or two somewhere to prove it," shrugged Saiyaman. "But the point is that almost anyone who makes it past the preliminary round would be able to finish a marathon. Some, like you, probably participate in a few every year."
"But that's not enough," said Videl, nodding in realisation as she cut him off. "If I want to be the best, I need to up the ante, then."
He raised a gloved hand to the back of his neck. "Well, I'm not saying that you need to run a marathon every three days - there are other more effective ways to train your endurance - but it would be a good idea to play to your strengths."
"So what do you have in mind?" asked Videl as she tilted her head slightly.
"While I do like your new clothes," said Saiyaman with a cheeky grin, "they might have to go if you're serious about becoming stronger."
Videl smiled mischievously. "Well, you wouldn't hear me complaining if they were accidentally torn to shreds during a spar."
"That's not really what I was thinking," said Saiyaman as he shook his head. "Tell me, have you ever heard of weighted clothing?"
"You mean like in all the old kung fu movies?" asked Videl. "What's next, are you going to have me catch things with chopsticks?"
Saiyaman laughed a bit before rubbing the back of his helmet in a way that Videl was quickly beginning to realise was something of a habit. "I wouldn't really know, I didn't watch many movies as a kid."
"Right, you were too busy fighting off bears in the wilderness and practising your superhero poses," teased Videl as she stuck her tongue out. "But in all seriousness, you're not really suggesting that I try and wear weighted clothing are you?"
"Well, why not?" asked Saiyaman. "It's been awhile since I've resorted to that, but it's a simple and effective way to train."
"What difference is a kilogram or two even going to make?" exclaimed Videl, unable to accept the superhero's ridiculous suggestion.
"Well, I never said you should lowball it," shrugged Saiyaman. "Going by your current level, I think about one-fifth of your current weight would be a good starting place."
"Are you for real?" asked Videl incredulously. "How am I going to fight crime when I have to lug around an extra fifteen kilos on my body? I'll get shot or something… you said it yourself, my fighting style revolves around speed!"
"I wouldn't let that happen to you," said Saiyaman protectively before frowning as he came up with an answer. "Well think of just how much faster you'll be whenever you take the clothing off."
Videl opened her mouth to respond but paused. She could think of one very recent moment when she hadn't been fast enough, when she hadn't been strong enough, and it had cost another person their life. Was her pride really more important to her than the people of her city?
In the end, there wasn't even a choice for her to make.
…
"I need you to come with me," said Hercule, barging his way through her door and offering her his hand.
Videl shut her laptop but remained lingering on the bed. "What for?"
"There's a business meeting that's come up and I would really like for you to be a part of it," said Hercule, impatiently.
"With who?" she pressed unrelentingly.
He sighed, before throwing his hands up in the air. "I'd hoped to avoid getting to that part until we got in the car. I'm driving over to meet with Mackenzie to talk a little more about this scheme in space that we have."
"And you want me to come along… because?" Videl trailed off. Unbeknownst to her father, there was another reason why she wasn't all that eager to get out of bed and it had very little to do with the Castrols.
"One day, you'll have to sit through dealings like these," said Hercule, reaching for her hand and trying to pull her up. "I've always told you that I might not be able to pass enough book smarts onto you to get you into some fancy university, but I'll be damned if I don't pass on what I've spent a lifetime of mistakes learning."
Videl sighed. Occasionally her father got into one of his more dramatic moods. "Fine, I'll come," she said with a wince as she pushed herself off the bed with her left hand. Yesterday, she had decided to go through her usual routine with the weighted clothing that Saiyaman had suggested she wear… that hadn't exactly been her brightest idea.
Her father noticed the slight hesitation in her step. "Are you alright, sweetie?"
"Yeah, some thief's accomplice caught me by surprise in a purse-snatching case yesterday," lied Videl. It wouldn't do to let him know about her exploits with Saiyaman. She figured that he'd probably seen the news, but he hadn't mentioned anything about it to her and she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"You be careful out there," warned Hercule. "I keep telling you how I proud I am of you doing what's right, but I don't think I'll ever be able to express how worried I feel every time I hear you're going fist to fist with some crazed lunatic."
"Well then you know how I felt when I watched you step up to fight Cell when I was eleven," said Videl with a chuckle. "But alright, I'll try and stay safe or whatever if it'll make you happy."
"Always," he said as he hugged her tightly. "Now, let's get on our way to this meeting and you can tell me about this superhero boyfriend of yours that I keep hearing about."
Videl smiled nervously.
…
"Glad to see I wasn't the only one who brought my heir along," said Mackenzie as he welcomed his two guests with a firm handshake each. "You see, Hercule, you have an aptitude for seeing the future that I admire about you. It's why I reached out to you for this little business exploit of mine… ours."
Hercule gave Azel a nod of acknowledgement before turning towards Mackenzie. "I didn't come here to small talk so let's skip the formalities. In a partnership, I like someone who I can trust, someone who's got my back and I can't feel like I'm meeting with my board of investors everytime I'm having a chat with that someone."
"Very well," said Mackenzie with a curt nod. "Although, if this venture pays off like I'm expecting it to, you can expect to never have to answer to a board of directors again. We'll all be far too rich."
"If that was your idea of a joke, I'm not quite sure I get it," said Videl dryly.
"Ah Videl, someday under that brutish exterior of yours a lady will be made of you yet," sighed the billionaire. "What do you think of this plan?"
"To go out into space to find oil?" asked Videl with a shrug. "Sounds a little stupid, I guess. I mean we don't even really know if other intelligent life forms exist let alone oil or even water."
"I see you're quite the skeptic, then," said Mackenzie, nodding to himself. "I am apart of the crowd that choose to believe that we are not alone in this galaxy of ours. Cell, I feel, may have been an alien. What do you think, Hercule?"
"I think I might agree with you on that one," he said as he stroked his goatee. "Obviously, Cell was no ordinary creature. But at the same time, I think Videl may have a point here - but I'm no scientist - how do we know this won't be a massive waste of time and effort? Furthermore, how far are we going to venture into space? You'd imagine that we'll have to probe even further than most astronauts have gone before."
"All valid concerns," said Mackenzie with a smile as he cuffed Azel, who was beginning to zone out, on the shoulder. "Like with any investment, you never know what will happen to your money. The people that helped Dr. Briefs kickstart the Capsule Corporation would have found themselves at a similar crossroads to you, Hercule, unsure of whether or not to back a pioneer into an entirely new field. I'm willing to wager that they are more than happy with their choice forty years into the future."
"That's like a one in a million chance, though," protested Videl. If only she could get them to see how stupid of an idea the whole thing was. Even if they did find oil in space, the potential profits that Mackenzie was filling her father's head with were almost certainly not going to be anywhere near as grand in actuality.
Mackenzie acknowledged her interruption with another smile - a very businessman-like smile was the best Videl could do to explain it - but continued addressing Hercule. "Capsule Corp. does bring me to your other question, though. Like you said, we'll need to go quite far and deep into space if we're hoping to actually find any oil so for this project I decided to enlist the help of…"
"Hey," Azel whispered discreetly, trying not to catch his father's attention. "Do you want to sneak out of here?"
Videl paused, needing time to consider her options. After a moment or two, she responded with a nod because she figured that even an entire day in the company of Azel paled in comparison to listening to his father go on about oil and economics for a good few hours.
...
