Hiiii, Creature here! (Finally…)
First of all, thank you for all those kind reviews, you guys are awesome! There is no way to put into words the joy I feel whenever I get a comment. I'm always eager to know what you guys think. XD
By the way, it's been so long… hasn't it? Sorry about that, I've been really caught up with real life.
Oh, right… As you may have noticed, English is not my first language, so please don't hesitate to point out my mistakes (misspelled and misused words, or grammar… or anything, really) and if you have time maybe give me a couple of suggestions as to how I could improve. Thank you very much guys! J Btw, I left some review note at the bottom!
Encounters of the Fifth Kind
Chapter 2
SKP-4
Her head was spinning violently, that was the only thing she was sure of right now. All around her people were murmuring, screaming, or even petrified, just like her. What was the meaning of all this? Aliens? They were not the only species on this planet, which could only mean…
Hey, Videl, remember those thoughts you sent to the recycling bin earlier today? The ones in which we're not alone in the universe? Well, it's time to bring them back…
She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Now was not the time to be thinki- no, wait, wait, wait, now was exactly the time. This place was surely plagued with aliens and what not. She also had the small suspicion that humans were probably not the dominant species here, with them barely being a handful and all that… Great. Just great, they had escaped a planet with two androids only to end up in one full of (potentially harmful) aliens.
What were the odds of something like that happening? Was this some sort of cosmic joke?
Lovely. Videl thought wryly, now she felt like going home. She just wanted to crawl into her bed and sleep through this madness. She glanced at a certain spot of the star craft longingly. Boy, and to think that just a while ago she was blissfully beating the living dead out of Sharpener and the other guys.
The feeling of an elbow digging into her ribs distracted her form her thoughts. Damn it, it could only be Sharpener. "Videl, did you hear that? Aliens, who would've thought!" the blond whispered loudly into her ear, making her eye twitch. Finally some sort of reaction from her body.
Of course I did, I'm not deaf Sharpener. She really wanted to throw a sarcastic retort at him, or scoff, or anything, but she simply nodded, still too perplexed to do anything else. Sharpener chuckled, throwing an arm around her shoulders, "I know I'm a total hunk, but I never imagined my hunkness would leave you speechless, Vi." he joked, preparing himself for the usual punch, but the seconds went by and nothing happened. Her blond friend, noticing the lack of reaction, rolled his eyes and turned back to Erasa. Unlike Videl, her reaction had been far more interesting. Hell, even Lime and Angela had turned out to be quite a show.
In her catatonic state, Videl faintly heard Bulma-san trying to calm the mass of restless humans. She watched her turn to that Son Gohan guy for help but he was too busy glaring daggers at the younger looking boy, who in turn was repeatedly bowing apologies; the whole exchange would've been fun in any other circumstance.
Bulma huffed, muttering darkly to herself as she moved away from the crowd, bumping into Dr. Brief in the process. He had somehow sneaked behind her and was about to surprise her when she'd turned. They stared at each other for a few seconds and then Bulma broke into a watery smile, quickly embracing him. They stayed like that for a few minutes, until Mrs. Brief appeared, stealing Bulma away for the old scientist. Videl almost smiled, it was refreshing to see Dr. Brief act this way. So happy. She could almost hear the laughter…
Videl's eyebrows twitched slightly, as her eyes narrowed. What was that?
…Wait. They were not the ones laughing.
The one sound that seemed to wake Videl was a muffled laugh coming form her right. She quietly turned, trying to pinpoint the person who was making that noise. Her keen eyes found the culprit soon enough. It was a chubby guy with untidy black hair named Yajirobe, she didn't know him personally, but he was a well-known coward; or as he liked to called himself, "intelligently careful".
Yeah right. He was a total coward, that's what he was.
What really intrigued her was the reason behind his laughter. He didn't look bothered at all, what was up him? Slowly she began to realize that others were relatively calm too. Dr. Brief, Mrs. Brief, who were too busy chocking Bulma to death with all those hugs, Yamcha… for some reason sulking in a corner, the old pervert, even little Goten seemed unfazed, he wasn't even paying attention to the whole mess of desperate humans, he had his eyes worriedly fixed on the ship… wait, where was his mom? Was she still inside? She had to find out. At least this would serve as a little distraction from this madness.
"Goten-kun" she whispered to the boy when she was close enough. Goten raised his dark eyes, giving her a shy smile, which Videl gladly returned. The boy was too adorable for his own good, even Videl had to admit that.
"Hey Videl-san" he said as she kneeled in front of him.
Videl's expression relaxed a little, feeling more at ease. "Where is your mom? Still inside?" she asked, nodding her head toward the spacecraft. She thought everyone had exited the ship.
The little boy nodded his head effusively, glad that someone had finally asked him. "Yeah, grandpa told me to stay outside, to see what was going on… but I don't wanna stay here, I just want to see if she's ok…" Goten's hands closed into tight fists as his eyes showed the worry he felt. He truly wanted to run back to his mom and grandpa.
Videl's eyebrows furrowed in concern. Chichi was one of the few people she could get along with, and the thought of her being injured worried her. "Really? What happened to her?"
"She fainted when she heard we were finally landing…" she let a sigh of relief, that didn't sound so bad.
"Well… I don't think there's anything left to see here, let's look for your mom, hmm?" she suggested gently, grabbing his tiny hand and heading toward the ship, Goten gladly skipping beside her.
Videl sighed, feeling a little less worried. Maybe things weren't as bad as they… sounded.
Maybe they weren't even sentient beings…
Yeah. Perhaps she shouldn't be so scared. If Bulma-san and the others were still alive and seemingly happy, how bad could these so-called aliens be?
It wasn't very often that he got angry, but to say he was annoyed right now was a bit of an understatement.
"News like this one are supposed to be delivered slowly, smoothly. You have to be subtle about certain things, Trunks…" Gohan muttered darkly, still pinching the bridge of his nose almost painfully. His eyes were shut tightly as he tried to chant a soothing mantra.
I shall not lament my misfortunes. I shall not lament my misfortunes. I shall not lament my misfortunes…
Gohan was restless, and when he was restless his tail was restless; crap, he didn't need this right now. I shall not lament my misfortunes. He tightened his tool belt around his waist… directly on top of where his tail was secretly wrapped. Stupid tail, stupidly growing back against all odds! I shall not lament m- And stupid mantra not working at all!
He sighed for the umpteenth time.
Trunks' voice interrupted his -useless- chant. "Gohan-sensei, I'm really really sorry! It just came out, I mean, that guy was sooo stupid, I just couldn't help myself! I swear I didn't mean to be so… uh, blunt?" his apology ended with a pathetic mutter. God he hated when Gohan-sensei looked like that. It only meant his mantra chanting was useless, and things were never pretty after that…
Gohan opened his eyes once more, doing his best to ignore the whining boy pulling at his pant leg and begging for forgiveness. His tired eyes slowly found the crowd…Yeah, hell was still breaking loose all around them, and no, sorry was not going to make it any better this time. This boy really needed a lesson on subtlety. His tail gave another anxious twitch. Ha, when morning came he would make that boy work to exhaustion. One way or another he would drill that lesson-
"Hey, what's all this ruckus?" Gohan jumped slightly. He turned, and found Krillin a few feet away, watching the whole circus act with amusement. When had he gotten here? Had he been so focused on this problem that he had completely disregarded his surroundings?
Pathetic.
A seasoned fighter with his guard down. Hah, Vegeta and Piccolo-san would have a field trip if they knew. Gohan was glad that neither of them were around to witness his little slip.
Well, no use crying over spilled milk, from now on he just had to focus.
Gohan allowed himself to sigh in relief -or frustration, he wasn't sure anymore-, Krillin was here now, he could deal with this. The ex-monk was a lot better at dealing with this kind of things, anyway."Oh Krillin, where have you been!? I had to deal with this all by myself." he nearly whined, pointing at the mess of despairing humans helplessly.
The human fighter shrugged, patting him on the shoulder "Sorry squirt, Bulma asked me to set the decon showers and… without an instruction manual –well, let's just say it took me a lot longer than I expected." he trailed off, his voice getting lower with every word.
Why would she do that, seriously? Gohan scoffed, slowly raising an eyebrow. It was no secret that Krillin seemed to repel technology like oil and water, but this was just too much. "All you had to do was –never mind…" Nah, his explanation would've been useless anyway. He paused briefly and furrowed his eyebrows, remembering something else "and why do you insist on calling me squirt? I've been taller than you for over a decade now."
Krillin chuckle lightly, waving his hand dismissively. He was about to retort when the blue haired scientist and her new-found parents materialized behind Gohan, giving him a start. Seriously, again? He really seemed to be out of his game today.
"Oh good, Krillin, you set the decontamination showers. Could you be a sweetheart and organize them in two groups, males and females?" Bulma ushered him away, for the second time in a minute leaving a reply in his mouth.
Gohan chuckled, watching Krillin walk toward the noisy mass of earthlings. Ha, it would take a miracle for him to calm them down. A miracle. His eyebrows furrowed, as he stared at them pensively. He had those at his disposal… well, not quite, but perhaps Porunga could do something about t-
His rough master plan was cut short when Bulma's parents joined them. Before he knew it he was pulled into a bear hug by Mrs. Brief, or at least he thought she was, he didn't exactly remember her. Who would've thought she was so strong?
Finally letting go, Mrs. Brief beamed at him "Oh, Gohan-kun you're so tall, all grown up! And look at how handsome you've become!" she said, pinching his cheek lightly, like she did once or twice when he was a kid. Huh, weird how he could suddenly remember something so trivial, Gohan wondered as he rubbed his cheek lightly. Guess his cheeks had better memory than him. Speaking of cheeks, he blushed a little bit at her nice compliments.
"Ah, thank you very much, Mrs. Brief." Said a very flustered Gohan scratching the back of his neck as he laughed nervously. He heard her squeal a 'how cute!' while Dr. Brief chuckled lightly, a tiny black cat suddenly appearing on his shoulder. Gohan's smile lingered for a few seconds as he watched the tiny feline rubbing its face against Dr Brief's cheek.
There was a soft whimpering close by, and they al turner their attention to the sobbing guy on the floor. Yamcha -how long had he been there?- was in a fetal position a few feet away from Gohan, hugging his knees to his chest "And why are you still there? Stop sulking and help around, will you?" Bulma said, nudging him lightly with her shoe.
Gohan flinched. Ouch, poor guy. On the floor and still being kicked by whom he'd heard was the love of his life.
"How could you?" he simply whispered, still starting blankly at a rock by his head.
"Mom! Please tell Gohan-sensei I didn't mean what a said earlier!" Trunks begged her at the same time Dr. Brief turned to Gohan. "Gohan-kun, your mom is somewhere around here, why don't you look for her? She was really excited to finally be with you again." Gohan nodded shyly, not meeting his eyes, instead watching the poor guy on the floor, trying to conjure a plausible excuse to prolong that meeting. He didn't feel ready to meet his mom yet. What would he say to her, anyway?
"Mom, please! Gohan-sensei won't talk to me!" Trunks insisted, pulling at her sleeve urgently.
"Why? Why him?" muttered Yamcha from his spot on the floor, next to Gohan. Was Bulma planning on ignoring him the whole time?
"Oh, that's a good idea, you can surprise her!" exclaimed Mrs. Brief, clapping her hands. "you can sneak behind her and say:" she cleared her throat, trying her best to adopt a boyish tone (and failing miserably, by the way) " Yo, mom. Long time, no see, huh?"
If Mrs. Brief noticed the awkward silence that followed, she didn't show it.
Gohan squirmed uncomfortably. He blinked a couple of times and then turned to Bulma. "Can you help me?"
Bulma shut her eyes tightly. Just when she'd managed to break away from her insistent son Yamcha grabbed her foot. "I'm kinda busy right now Gohan, can't you see?"
After a moment of silence, Gohan finally said what was in his mind. "Bulma… I can't remember her. Her face, her smell, the sound of her voice… nothing. What if I can't recognize her?" his eyes watered slightly at the thought of not being able to recognize his own mother.
"She's not that hard to miss, really. Just look for a woman with a frying pa-" Yamcha's monotonous voice was suddenly interrupted by a well-placed kick that left him whimpering and nearly barren.
Bulma ignored him, turning to look at Gohan softly. She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled motherly, the kind of smile she reserved for her two boys. "Gohan, be a sweetheart and double check those showers, ok? We'll deal with everything else later, don't worry." Gohan nodded reluctantly, his eyes downcast. Bulma patted him on the back, softly pushing him toward the decontamination showers. "We'll figure how to cross that bridge when we get to it." she said softly, knowing he'd listen.
Once Gohan had reached the portable showers and Krillin had somehow gathered everyone, she decided to speak up, raising her voice over the cacophony of voices. "Ok people, before we get to the village we need you to go through those showers and-"
"Are you gonna brainwash us with that thing?" Marker asked suspiciously.
Bulma's eyebrow slowly rose in a mixture of incredulity and irritation. "… No. those are just decontamination showers, you know, for safety reasons." she said slowly.
"Is it, really?" another voice from the crown asked, as more and more people started to feel anxious.
"Yeah, what if we refuse!"
"I'm not stepping into that stuff, it seems like something out of a sci fi movie!"
"Guys, let's just get to the vi- GUYS, would you just listen to me!? Once we get to the village, I'll answer all your questions, alright? But now I need you all to cooperate with me." Bulma said, on the verge of losing her patience. She breathed out and tried to calm down. "Look, these are just to wash away any sort of unknown contaminates that may come with you, you know, to eliminate contamination by an alien virus. That is to protect us and the planet. Now, to protect you we`ll get you vaccinated against the most common viruses here on SKP-4 with this direct injection of antibodies." she said cheerfully, holding a tiny syringe in her hand. Bulma grinned slightly. Yeah, it felt good to watch the fear in their eyes at the mention of a vaccine.
"Come on, it's not that bad. It doesn't even penetrate the skin - look" she said, catching an innocent bystander off guard as she pressed the syringe against his arm.
"Ouch!" he yelped, perhaps out of habit, but then frowned as he noticed he didn't feel any pain. " wait… it didn't hurt at all!"
"See? I told you." she said, turning back to the crowd. "Now, let's get going, we have a tight schedule."
There was a murmur of halfhearted agreement, before Bulma led the two groups to a pair of portable rooms, each with ten showers and ten dressing rooms. They were only a few yards away from each other. "Now, let's get this over with. Women to the right, men to the left, once you get inside strip off your clothes and step into the shower, one at the time. Two minutes per head, new clothes will be provided at the end. When you step out hand over your old clothes to this guy -his name's Krillin, by the way- and await for new instructions."
Gohan immediately moved to the left tent, standing next to the control panel while Bulma walked to the right one, grinning slightly at their terrified faces. It made this almost worth it. "Come on Girls, don't be shy. Who wants to go first?"
It was a long process, but Videl and the rest of the Son family were finally out of the ship and, after two hours of waiting in line, it was finally her turn. Chichi was a few girls behind her so she had no one to talk to during the insanely long wait. She glanced around idly, her eyes stopping on the only person who could give her some answers. She watched him work for a few seconds, swiftly typing on some sort of tactile tablet. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration… or frustration, she added as an afterthought as she watched him raise his free hand to his face and rubbed at it fretfully, muttering to himself. She inwardly grinned at his discomfort, for some reason it was almost… refreshing after his goody goody act earlier on. As if remembering something she blinked a couple of times and returned to her suspicious stare.
Almost like sensing her, his eyes easily found hers and she looked away just as quickly. It was always uncomfortable being caught staring, even if it was only a suspicious glare…
"Next, please." she heard the blue haired woman call her. She turned to her and to her surprise, the woman was regarding her with the same glare she had given that Son Gohan seconds ago. What was up with her? "Name, please." she said, and Videl noticed she had one of those tablets too.
Bulma gave her another piercing glare.
"Sa-Satan Videl" she stuttered quickly. Damn, not many people got that reaction out of her.
Bulma did a double take, studying her face intently "Satan? Are you related to the Commander, then?" she said, as she typed her name on the device and quickly scanned her face.
"He's my father." she answered offhandedly, still surprised.
Bulma blinked, frowning a little. "Huh, I don't see the resemblance."
"Yeah, uh, I take after my mom…" she said, glancing back at her dad, who was by now over the shock and joking around with a few crew members and allowed herself a tiny smile. After all, this was the man that had saved her and her two friends' lives. "… though, I've heard I've got his eyes." she added lightly.
"Now that I think about it, you do." Bulma said, her tone softening a little. She then turned her head to glance at the interior of the portable complex as if waiting for some signal. A few seconds later she nodded and turned to her again. "You may come in now, take number nine and wait outside when you're done, ok?"
Videl nodded, and entered the portable showers. She quickly spotted the big nine beside a dark blue curtain. She furrowed her eyebrows, frowning at the lack of privacy. They actually expected her to take a shower like this? Moving the curtain aside she was greeted by a sophisticated shower with a timer that was set on 30. Her eyes kept roaming the tiny room, but then did a double take, 30? She found the timer again and this time it read 24. Was that the time she had until the shower went on? She frowned, trying to find a place to put her clothes.
By the time she found it the timer was on 8, so she quickly started to take her boots off. Stupid skin tight suit… she glanced up as she found the zipper of her suit. 2 seconds left. She fumbled with it and managed to zip it all the way down as the timer went off and a cold liquid hit her face, making her gasp and choke.
…Great, real smooth Videl. They better not be recording this.
She took off the wet suit as best as she could and then stood under the cold liquid -what was it, anyway? Water? Some sort of gel? She couldn't tell- for the remaining minute. Crap, why is this thing so cold!? she though shivering slightly as she wrapped her arms tightly around her torso. There was a soft beep as the flow of liquid stopped, leaving her even colder. She looked around, quickly spotting another -this time plastic- curtain. Feeling self conscious, she tried to shield herself as best as she could before slowing moving the curtain an inch so she could peek around. Good, it was empty. The tiny space was some sort of dressing room with a stool in the middle and a set of clothes and a towel on top of it.
Videl eyed the bundle of clothes. Huh, I wonder who puts this here every time someone steps in…
Remembering that she was working with limited time Videl quickly began to dress. Once done, she grabbed her wet clothes and left, easily finding the exit.
She was greeted by that green sky again, and she inwardly smiled. It was kinda nice to be able to see the sky again. A sky that was not full of smoke or tinted orange by the distant flames of burning cities.
"Wow, you seriously took the shower with your clothes on? Ha, a bit paranoid, aren't we?"
Videl's soul jumped a few feet, she quickly turned her head to her left and found the short, dark haired man from before grinning slightly.
"I… uh-"
"No need to explain, you're not the first one, believe me. It happened to the couple of blonds over there." he said, pointing to the familiar blonds with one hand and taking her old clothes and putting them into a plastic bag with her name on it with the other one.
Hah… figures. There was a reason behind their friendship, after all, they shared the common trait of moronity.
"How do you know my name?" she asked, once the blonds were out of her mind.
"Oh, well, Bulma sent me a message with you photo and name on it, so I can easily recognize each person.
"Ah… that sounds a bit creepy" Videl muttered pensively.
That earned a chuckled from Krillin "I'll be sure to tell Bulma, then"
"Wait, no! For some reason she has something against me…"
"Really? Huh, she rarely does that. Maybe you did something against one of her boys?"
"One of her boys?" Videl blinked, Bulma-san had kids? Hm, that lavander haired boy had her eyes now that she thought about it, but Krillin had said 'boys'... and that led to the question of who had she married? Krillin? No, he'd clearly said 'her boys'... she didn't want think of the other possibilities...
"Yeah, I mean, she can get really protecti-"
"Krillin! Get to work!"
Speak of the devil…
"I'm not paying you to chit chat" Bulma yelled from her station at the other end of the girl's portable showers.
"You don't even pay me…" he muttered darkly. Krillin then gave her an apologizing look and went to take off the bundle of clothes from the next in line, which was a guy this time.
Seeing as she was left with nothing left to do, she decided to use her time productively and hopefully get some answers.
"Hey, you!" Videl said, as she got close to his station. She grimaced slightly as she noticed Bulma's piercing glare on her again, but quickly composed herself.
"You forgot my name already?" Gohan said lightly, though his eyes remained glue to the screen of the holographic tablet in his hands, quickly going over the data base he was gradually building with every passing earthling.
"What's going on here? I mean, what's the meaning of all this?" Videl ignored him, feeling a bit guilty. Sure she remembered his name, but that would only prove that his name was relevant enough to remember, and certainly that would lead to misunderstandings. She cared, but only because she felt this guy was somehow hiding something important from them, and if there was something Videl Satan hated was a liar - and deliberately omitting information was lying too!
"Huh?"
Videl rolled her eyes. He wasn't even paying attention to her!
If she had to be honest with herself, this was rather refreshing. Not many dared to be disrespectful to her, what with being the daughter of the (self-proclaimed) High Commander AND last champion of the World's Martial Arts Tournament. Besides, she had worked her way up and earned a spot on the Earth Special Forces all by herself, being the youngest member of the team. And the way this guy and Bulma-san were treating her, like she was nothing special, made her feel somehow… well, different.
"What's the meaning of all this?" she repeated slowly, making sure of articulating every syllable clearly.
The black haired boy shrugged absentmindedly, not phased by her sour mood at all. "We're just creating a data base." he answered briefly. "Would you step aside? I need to scan the next one in line." he pushed her aside gently with the tablet so he was standing in front of the next guy. He lifted the contraption, scanning the face of the next human and then quickly entered the name and basic information. "Take number seven" he said to the young boy.
The nerve of that guy! He had pushed her aside, PUSHED her aside! "Should I leave, then?" she spat resentfully once they were alone again, watching him out of the corner of her eye.
Gohan raised his eyes for the first time, regarding her with a look of surprise. She had changed clothes. Well, obviously. Everyone had. But now, in the plain white long sleeved shirt, black spandex pants and dripping wet pig tails, she looked less intimidating… well sans the fierce look on her face, that is. Speaking of which, she looked mad and it seem like all that anger was directed at him. Was it something he did?
"No…" Gohan shook his head, clearing his throat. "No. Just stepping aside is enough. We can still chat if that's what you want." his dark eyes focused on her own, analyzing them for a few moments before drifting back to his tablet. Videl managed to suppress a shudder, there was a barely concealed dark edge in those eyes. Seriously, was everyone in this goddamned planet like that? First Bulma and now this guy. She was beginning to hate this new feeling of intimidation.
She needed to stand her own ground.
Videl scoffed. "Chat? I don't need to chat. What I need are answers, not meaningless chit-chat."
Gohan blinked. "Answers?"
"Yeah, nobody's telling us anything!" Videl raised her arms in frustration, flapping them around wildly.
He raised an eyebrow, eyeing her while he scanned another face. "Well Bulma said so herself, you'll get the long explanation once we get to the village to introduce you to the others. I'm not saying another word, not after that fiasco…" he ended his sentence in a dark mutter.
Videl huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. This conversation was going nowhere. "This is a complete madness." There was an awkward silence as Videl stared at the floor pouting. She really wanted to know what the hell was going on…. Besides, curiosity was killing her! Now she had to wait like everyone else until they arrive to the village.
Something then clicked in her mind. Wait… others? What did he mean by 'others'?
Gohan saw her crestfallen expression and decided to throw her a bone. "Tell you what, once Bulma explains things out, I'll answer any of your questions -if they're reasonable, that is. Deal?"
She was about to complain, when she felt an arm sneak around her waist, making her jump slightly. "Videl-chaa~n!" said girl rolled her eyes, knowing very well who was the one pestering her. She turned her head and was meet with a pair green eyes gleaming down at her.
He was a well built guy with auburn hair and a cocky grin. Gohan frowned, he recognized him as the one who had made the stupid comment before. Yeah, he was the one who had started the snowball effect. He immediately disliked the guy.
"How many times have I told you, it's Satan- SAN for you, Marker!" Videl exclaimed, shrugging off his hand in one swift motion.
"Oh, you're playing hard to get again, huh? Come on, you don't have to play tsundere with me." he whispered, raising his eyebrows in what he thought was a seductive gesture.
Gohan raised an incredulous eyebrow. Hah, tsundere?… no offence, but she seemed all tsun and no dere. A girl like her was likely to be violent by nature.
Videl gagged, taking a step away from him and unconsciously closer to Gohan "Ugh, leave me alone before I beat the crap out of you."
Yup. Violent by nature.
Marker took a step closer "Don't be shy, Videl-cha-" Before he knew it, he had Videl's elbow deep into his midsection, not waiting a second she send an uppercut to his chin and then sank to the floor extending her right leg and rotating a full 360 degrees, successfully knocking him out of balance. The boy twitched one last time and then lay unmoving on the floor.
Beat him in three simple steps. Not bad, Gohan's eyebrows rose, as he gave her an appreciative nod. Not bad at all.
"What are you looking at?" she spat, glaring at him through slightly disheveled bangs. Videl then brushed imaginary dust away and raised her head with the grace of a fighter.
Yup, he needed to stay away from this girl, that was for sure. Well, after today he wouldn't be seeing much of these people, hopefully. Gohan shrugged, looking at her evenly. "Nothing. Nothing at all…" he broke eye contact, glancing at a spot just above her left shoulder.
Videl, being as curious as ever, turned around and immediately grimaced, noticing her blond friends and a two other girls heading their way. She gave a tiny groan when she saw that Lime and Angela intended to stick with them. Great, just what she needed, her daily dose of angelical lemon...
It wasn't that she hated them… she just couldn't get along with them, probably because they didn't have anything in common, except sharing Erasa as a friend. Speaking of Erasa…
As soon as she reached her, the blond girl tackled her into a bone crushing hug. "Vi-chan, you didn't wait for me!" Videl cringed a little at the sound of her nickname. She didn't mind when it was just the three of them, but when they were in public she felt really embarrassed. She tried to break away from her death trap but then noticed that Lime and Angela were still there and scowled, returning the embrace halfheartedly. They already thought she was some sort of emotionless brute, and well… she really did care about Erasa and Sharpener… she just saw the meaningless display of affection as a weakness, as something people could use against her.
She finally broke away, "Sorry Erasa, I was about to, really, but I bumped into this guy"- Gohan rolled his eyes- "and I thought I could get a couple of answers out of him"
Erasa laughed, pinching Videl's cheek and addressing Gohan. "That's our Videl-chan, always sniffing around for clues." she said cheerfully as Sharpener and the other girls laughed; even Gohan gave a lopsided smile, enjoying the small moment of embarrassment, as Videl's cheeks acquired a very crimson hue.
"Erasa, Stoppit!" Videl cried, trying to slap Erasa's hand away, but somehow failing miserably.
Sharpener shook his head, raising a taunting eyebrow at her "How can you beat the living snot out of a guy twice your size and not be able to break away from this weak and feeble girl." he said, nudging the fallen boy with his foot.
Weak my ass. Videl thought darkly as Erasa finally let her go. She had found something slightly more interesting.
The three girls gathered around Gohan, smiling at him in ways that made him feel very uncomfortable. The blond one took a step forwards and battered her eyelashes.
"I'm Erasa, with an E"
"Um hi, Erasa Withanee, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Son Gohan at your service" he shook her hand gently, smiling politely at her. "At least someone has the decency to introduce herself."
The blond girl gasped dramatically, her eyes flickering between Videl and Gohan "You mean she hasn't even-?" Gohan was about to correct her, but Erasa raised her hand to stop him and then turned to her friend with a disapproving frown. "Videl! How do you expect to find a cute boyfriend if you keep being so cold to everyone!"
"I'm not interested in that sort of thing!" exclaimed the flustered girl.
Erasa ignored her, smiling at Gohan apologetically "Sorry about my friend, she's not really a people person."
"Erasa!"
"Oh cut her some slack Erasa, she has to be tough, she's the daughter of Mr. Satan! Anyway, this is Satan Videl, daughter of the High Commander and World Champion, Hercule Satan." sharpener said, staring at him suspiciously. "He's the strongest man on Earth." he added, narrowing his eyes at Gohan.
"Impressive- by Earth standards, I suppose. But you're not on Earth anymore, are you?" Gohan said, hiding his mocking smile behind a mask of polite indifference and then turned his head to acknowledge the only -conscious- boy present, missing Erasa's crestfallen expression completely, she was supposed to be hitting on this hottie and Sharpener had stolen her spotlight!
"Hey again Sharpener."
The blond furrowed his eyebrows, but nodded nonetheless. This was the first time someone had reacted with anything but awe to Mr. Satan's name. He told himself it was probably because this boy had yet to have the honor of meeting his hero, but that didn't stop him from glaring at him suspiciously. Sharpener noticed there was a pair of cerulean eyes also joining him. Good, if there was someone who could put pieces of a puzzle back together, it was Videl.
They were so absorbed in their glaring fest that they missed the two -until now- invisible girls cornering Videl and Sharpener's subject of investigation.
"Hi" the brunette said, smiling shyly at him. "my name's Lime."
"Oh, hey, I'm Son Gohan. Nice to meet you, Lime." he said, smiling back at her and offering his hand in a polite handshake gesture. The girl blushed and shook his hand happily. Gohan chuckled, perhaps not a all humans were as odd as Videl Satan. The girl hadn't stop scowling since he met her.
"And I'm Angela!" the red haired said, pushing Lime aside with her hip. "Got a girlfriend?"
Scratch that.
"Umm, hi there" Gohan said with a hint of uncertainty. This was getting awkward. "Uh… that's a bit personal." he muttered as he took a cautious step back.
Sharpener, getting fed with all that progesterone, took Marker by the cuff of his neck and dragged him away. He stopped by Videl and shot her a meaningful look that she caught right away. They bumped fists and he was gone, their bizarre exchange taking less than 5 seconds.
Erasa laughed awkwardly "Seven years stuck in a spaceship with no cute boys can do that to you." she said taking Angela and Lime by their shoulders and walking away. "Enjoy your interrogation, Vi-chan!"
Videl sighed, closing her eyes for a second. That had been really embarrassing… Seriously, her friends had no self-restrain.
'Wow' Gohan mouthed once they were gone. That had been rather… wow. "Your friends seem… alright." he tried to fill the uncomfortable silence that had fell after her friends had left. "They got over the shock pretty fast, huh?" he joked, looking down at his forgotten tablet. Odd, it had been a while since anyone had been through his post.
"Excuse me sir" he heard a tiny voice say as he pulled at Gohan's pant leg. "I've been waiting for a long while and I think it's my turn now."
Ah, speaking of the devil.
Gohan smiled, at least it was a kid now. He didn't think he had the patience to handle another teen. "Oh yeah, hold on a sec, little buddy." he said turning around, while preparing his tablet for another entry. "What's your n-" Gohan froze, staring at the boy with his mouth slightly open. This boy looked eerily familiar.
He felt something grab at his heart at the vivid memory of a broken body lying on a hospital bed grinning back at him sheepishly. He briefly wondered if his parents had moved on, starting another family… was his dad even alive?
Gohan blinked, why was he even thinking about that?
"…Are you ok, sir? You're staring at me weirdly." Videl snorted, making Gohan jump slightly. He'd nearly forgotten she was still there.
"Sorry" Gohan quickly composed himself, nodding apologetically to the boy. "You look like someone I think I used to know, that's all."
"I get that a lot. My mom says I'm an exact rep… replee-…" he gave up and decided to start again. "that I look just like my-"
"Oh, there you are!" they all turned their heads to find a dark haired woman speed walking toward them, closely followed by Bulma, who was already out of breath.
"Goten, don't disappear like that again!" the woman huffed as she got closer, pulling at the boy's ear.
"Sorry mom" said boy muttered with his eyes downcast.
Gohan's eyes were met with a pair of onyx orbs, identical to his own. He lowered his eyes a little and found a dangerously looking frying pan on her right hand.
Was this…? Could this be…?
"Chichi, hey!" Bulma said as she quickly got to them. She did a few subtle hand gestures as she mouthed 'it's her' in Gohan's general direction.
Time froze for a few seconds as Gohan's heart skipped a beat - or two.
*-*-*-* -*TBC*-*-*-*-*
So… if you got through that looong chapter (17 pages!)… congratulation! I promise it will get better, I just needed to get that long introduction out of the way. There will probably be some explanations next chapter
RubySongbird: Thank you very much! And I'm sorry for the long wait.
Dracarot: I know, I just needed them to travel for a few years haha (I even read somewhere that a Sayan pod can travel that distance in a couple of hours… but I will address that issue later on.) By the way, you comment was hilarious lol. I completely agree with you. XD
Again, sorry for the long wait… and well, replying to your review until now.
Sid89: I guess you will find out next chapter J by the way, frieza did blow up Namek, but I will be explaing that next chapter. Thank you very much for you comment, I got some inspiration from it!
Zealmanclock lover: Thanks! Hope you liked this chapter. J
The0Blind0Writer: thank you very much, you have no idea how much that means to me! :'D I will be introducing all the survivors on the next couple of chapters. I'll try to add as many characters as I can remember! Lol
Your review was really insightful. You were right about a couple of things, and some of your theories were very close to what I had in mind, but I won't spoil it for you! Oh and btw, keep those theories coming! XD Once again, thank you very much and sorry for the long wait!
Books52: Thank you! XD
Darkryubaby: Thanks!
Aleaster: Thank you very much, that really means a lot to me! XD
I hope to see you all next chapter! :D