All questions will be answered in due time! ;) Thanks to everyone who's been reading the story so far! You warm my heart! :D

Chapter 3: Conflicting Information

"Hey! Hey!" someone shouted as the door to my bedroom burst open. "Hey! Wake up!"

I groggily sat up in my bed and tried to make out who the person standing before me was. "Who is it? And what do you want?"

"It's Videl. Who else could it be?" she asked.

I shrugged and realized that she probably didn't see my gesture because the light was turned off. "I don't know, a maid maybe?"

She turned on the light, and my eyes burned temporarily. "Well, I'm not a maid. I had to wake you up because I have some exciting news!"

I rolled my head over to the clock. "It's practically three in the morning. Can't it just wait until tomorrow?"

Videl roiled her eyes. "Technically it is tomorrow...but this is something that you might want to hear now!"

Ever so slowly, I took in a deep breath and let it out. As I did so, I noticed how unkempt Videl looked. Her hair was a tangled mess, as if she had just tossed and turned all night instead of sleeping. Her eyes held a crazed look in them. She wore running shorts and a tank top. Something told me that she was up all night thinking about whatever "news" she was about to tell me.

And then drank a gallon of coffee to get all hyped up.

"So what do you want to tell me that can't wait until I'm fully rested?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

She grinned in a manner that made her look a little insane. "I remember something!"

I furrowed my brows. "Isn't that my job?"

Videl laughed lightly, still with that crazed look in her eyes. "Yes, but I remember something about you that might wake up some more of your memories! And then you can finally leave my house!"

"Then would you quit acting like a crazy person and just tell me?!" I begged, ready to fall back asleep.

"So, do you remember when I said that you looked a little familiar?"

"Somewhat..."

"Well, I did! Anyway, I kept trying to think about where I had seen your face from, and I remember now!"

"JUST TELL ME ALREADY!" I screamed, letting my impatience get the best of me.

Videl jumped back, a little taken aback by my sudden outburst, but she soon planted herself firmly on the ground again. She was now slipping back more into her normal self. "You are a wanted criminal."

"I'm a what?!" I exclaimed. "That can't be right! I'm sure I'm a good person!"

She smirked a little, and I noticed an even greater change in her behavior. She was finally calming down from her lack of sleep or whatever. "Or at least...you were. I think you were eventually turned in and they worked it out or something. In any case, I don't see any wanted posters anymore."

"I'm supposedly a criminal, and you're just letting me stay in your house?" I asked her, jumping out of my bed. "Does that not freak you out?!"

She shrugged, and I realized she was fully back to her typical nonchalance instead of that crazy woman that invaded my room earlier. "Not really. You don't remember anything, and you seem like a nice guy, so I'm pretty sure you're not a threat. It's only for the one night anyway."

I was speechless. All this time trying to figure out who I was, and I was a criminal?! I wasn't sure what to say, so I began to pace around the room. Videl, however, looked very uncomfortable, and I stopped once I realized that she was staring at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, half-expecting her to freak out because it had finally sunk in that she was housing a former criminal.

Her face flushed a little. "It's just- You're not wearing- You're in your underwear!"

I looked down at my body. Earlier I had been wearing long pants and a long-sleeve shirt, but I took them off when I went to bed. Now all I was wearing was a white undershirt and navy boxers.

Shrugging, I looked back over to her. "It's fine. I mean, I'm not naked or anything."

Videl's long night of staying up must have finally began to hit her hard because she yawned and rubbed one of her eyes. "Yeah... You're right. Well, I'm gonna go to bed. I'll see you in the morning, but then I expect you to leave. Tell me if you remember anymore then."

She left my room, and I turned off the night and went back to my bed. I stared at the ceiling. I was hoping she knew something about me, but I didn't expect it to be that I was once a wanted criminal! I wondered what I did that caused me to be wanted. I also wondered if any new memories would stir from this. None have so far. I only got this weird feeling that something wasn't right. Maybe Videl was mistaken.

I didn't realize I had actually fallen asleep until I woke up. It was 9 am. I quickly got dressed and decided to confront Videl about her new information. When I walked over to her bedroom, she wasn't there. I went down the stairs and fortunately bumped into Patrick, the butler, along the way.

"Do you know where Videl is?" I asked.

"I believe she may have gone to her training room," he answered.

I stared at him blankly. "And where is that?"

Patrick gave a friendly smile. "Let me just show you. Follow me."

I followed him down the stairs and through an open living space to a long hallway with a few doors. Around a corner and near the end of the hallway, there was a door that had a sign reading, "DO NOT DISTURB!" Patrick told me that this was her training room and then he left.

I took a deep breath in and out. She probably was not going to appreciate my coming in. I knocked lightly on the door before slowly opening it. When I looked around inside, I saw a large space filled with punching bags, boxing gloves, treadmills, and all sorts of other exercise equipment.

"Wow," I said as I continued to look around the large room.

In one corner, a familiar looking lady with black hair punched one of the punching bags. She wore the same black running shorts and purple tank top from last night, but her hair was now done up in a messy ponytail. She dripped with sweat and breathed heavily, but continued to punch the bag.

"Did you not read the sign?" she asked as she continued to beat on it. "I'm kind of busy right now!"

I slowly stepped toward her. "Well, I did see it, but I thought you might want to talk to me."

"Ha!" she yelled as she threw a large punch. She spun around on her heels. "What I want to do is train, but I guess I can spare a few moments and talk to you."

I didn't beat around the bush. "I don't think you're right about me being a criminal."

Videl strolled over to one of the benches and sat down. I followed her and picked up her towel off the bench and handed it to her before I sat down too. She thanked me and began to wipe off some sweat but said nothing else.

Getting tired of waiting for her to say smething, I spoke up. "Are you positive it was me you saw on those wanted posters?"

She stopped wiping her face and held the towel in her lap. "Well, I mean, the guy in the picture looked like you! I can't be certain though because I don't have the poster with me. I actually did have one of them, but when I looked for it I couldn't find it..."

"Why did you have a wanted poster of me?" I asked her with great curiosity.

Videl looked down at her shoes and her cheeks began to redden a bit. "Because I have this friend who saw the poster and thought you were cute, so I took one down, but I never gave it to her..."

It was hard to tell if she was lying or not, but I went with it anyway. "You couldn't give it to her because you lost it?"

"Um, yeah," she answered. "But if I find it, I can show you that it is you! The guy on it looks exactly like you! Except maybe the hair...but it's a fairly old poster! You could have changed your hairstyle! It's either you, or you have a twin brother."

Somwthing stirred in the back of my mind. "I know for a fact that I do not have a twin! But I also know that I am not a criminal..."

"Maybe not anymore," she told me. "You were turned in. So...maybe you changed!"

"No!" I exclaimed, racking my brain for memories. My temples began to hurt. "I was never a criminal! Because..." I closed my eyes and furrowed my brows. "I remember something about someone protecting the city. It's really clouded, but I think it was me...and you. Both of us!"

"What?" Videl stood up and gave me an accusatory glare. "This is crazy talk...once again! First you think that you go to my school, and now you think we protect the city together?! There are several reasons why that's ridiculous!"

My temples were burning, and it felt like my brain was on fire. "Why is it so ridiculous?!" I barely managed to say even that because my head was nearly exploding...or so it felt. I showed no signs of weakness on the outside though.

"For starters, I didn't even know you until yesterday! Secondly, we wouldn't need to protect the city because it's already being protected!" She walked back over to her punching bag as if she was done with the conversation, but I wasn't.

I could have sworn that we were protectors of the city at one point. That's what the back of my mind told me. "Wait! Videl!" I rushed over to where she was standing and was about to throw the first punch at the bag.

"I said you could stay the night," she spat, throwing a punch. "I wanted to help you, and I did the best that I could, but all I get in return is some crazy talk! I think it is time for you to leave!"

"Earlier you said that the city is already being protected! Maybe they'll give me answers! You have to at least tell me who's protecting it!" I begged her.

She quickly spun to face me and had a frustrated look on her face. "They're not really a who, but more of a what. Anyway, to answer your question, the androids are." An eerie chill went down my spine. "Now get a clue and get out!"

Android... That word gave me a funny feeling. I couldn't place that feeling, but I knew that I definitely had a past with androids. Did I protect the city alongside them? No. That doesn't seem right. I tried to search for any memories, but the more I thought, the more my temples ached. It was no use. I couldn't remember.

"Are you going to continue standing there, wasting air, or are you going to leave?" Videl rudely asked.

I crossed my arms defiantly. "You weren't this rude yesterday. Or even earlier this morning."

She clenched her fists tightly. "Yesterday, I didn't have my head screwed on correctly! And earlier this morning, I was extremely tired! I didn't get much sleep last night thanks to you, so now I am extremely cranky! I actually started to believe you, but now, I guess I've finally realized that I'm housing an insane criminal! Give me one good reason to believe you again, or you'll become my human punching bag!"

Swallowing, I tried to think of something reassuring to say. "Um, I know that your favorite color is chartreuse!" There you go! That seemed to really soften her yesterday!

Out of no where, Videl swung her fist and knocked me to the ground. I wasn't expecting to actually get hit! Something small fell out of one of my pockets and hit the ground, but I made no move to pick it up. I was too stunned that she actually punched me!

Videl hovered over me. "That wasn't good enough. Care to try again and risk getting punched once more?"

I stumbled back on to my feet. "Wait, Videl! I think I dropped something!"

"Nice try!" she said as she threw another punch, but this time I was expecting it.

My hand quickly shot up and caught her fist before she could hit me. I felt her struggle a bit in my grip until she swung her other hand, which I also caught. This time she seemed to be taken somewhat off guard, but she still continued to try and hurt me.

Videl used one of her legs to try to swing and kick me, but I stopped it early with a leg of my own. She struggled under my grip for a few more seconds until she finally gave in and stopped. I dropped her hands and stared at her as she backed away a little. I interpreted this as somewhat of a surrender, so I turned around and searched the floor for whatever fell out of my pocket earlier.

But she wasn't finished! She tried to sneakily punch me from behind, but I could sense her movement and caught her fist once again. After another second, I dropped her hand and turned around. I would search for that thing in a second.

She looked completely stunned. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" I asked. "Catch your fists? It's simple. I just moved my hand to where your hand was going and-"

"You're really funny," she spat sarcastically. "Now seriously. How could you tell that I was going to punch you?"

I gave a cheesy grin even though I knew how frustrated she was with me. "Oh that? Well, I just sensed your movement. It's pretty simple really. Now would you mind not attacking me for a split second because I'm trying to look for what I dropped..."

"No ordinary person can just do that!" she exclaimed incredulously. "Who are you...?"

I laughed as I scanned the floor once more. Whatever I dropped must have been tiny! "If I knew, I would tell you! Heck, I probably wouldn't still be here now, would I?"

She didn't say anything more, and I continued scanning the floor again. I spotted a teeny, somewhat spherical object lying next to the wall closest to where I was at. I assumed that it must have been what I dropped. I picked it up and examined it closer and realized it was a green, small bean thing.

I had no idea what it was, but I was sure it was mine. I sniffed it, but it didn't have much of a scent. I rubbed it between two of my fingers gently. It was definitely a bean. As I began to put it in my mouth, Videl cried out, "Stop it!"

"Why?" I asked. "It's just a bean."

"Yeah, but it fell on the ground," she said making a face. "The floor's all dirty in here."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't mind. I wanna know what it is."

"Don't eat it!" she yelled, stopping me once more. "What if it's poison for your enemies?"

"Are you still stuck on the idea that I'm a criminal?"

"Yes! I mean, it's painfully obvious that you know how to fight!"

"What if I only know how to defend?"

"Well, then maybe that's why you need to poison your enemies!"

"Or maybe you're overreacting, and you've mistaken me for someone else!"

Videl actually bore her teeth like a wild animal. "Look! I know what I saw! And that was your pale little face on several wanted posters throughout the city! I will find the poster that I have and prove it to you, but first, I want to know what else is in your pockets."

"What?!" I asked loudly.

"You did say that the bean fell out of your pocket, right?" she asked slowly, and I nodded. "Okay. So would it be ridiculous to assume that you have more in your pockets than one little bean? Have you ever even checked them?"

A sudden realization hit me when I recognized that Videl was right. I hadn't ever checked my pockets for anything. I quickly did so and found two more strange beans in my left pocket plus an ugly, metal bracelet. In my right pocket I felt a small card, and I pulled it out.

Videl snatched the card out of my hand before I even got a glance at it. "What?! This is a student ID! This says that you're a student at Orange Star High School! But that's impossible! That's where I go!"

A rush of excitement surged through my body. I knew it! "What's my name?!" It was as if I were a small child on Christmas waiting to get their present.

She looked up at me and blinked twice. "Gohan. But this doesn't make sense..."

"Gohan," I said my name aloud. It fit perfectly in my head. It made sense. The back of my brain buzzed with warmth, and I knew that it was correct. It caused other things to stir inside my mind, but nothing stood out. I didn't want to think about it too hard or else my temples would start to hurt again.

I tried to take my ID back from her, but she swatted my arm away. "Look, Gohan, this ID can't be real."

"What do you mean?" I asked her, narrowing my eyes.

"Your ID says that Orange Star High is located in Satan City." She held it up high as if she were checking for some sort of water mark or other proof that it was fake.

I finally grabbed my ID, and looked at it for myself. "Gohan...student at Orange Star High School...Satan City," I read the card, skimming the information. "Is it not in Satan City?"

Videl looked at me as if I had lost it for real this time. "No! It's not! There is no Satan City! Why would there be a whole city named after my family?"

I shrugged and stared at my ID photo. It wasn't a bad picture of me actually. "Did you guys do something important?"

She shook her head violently. "No! The most important thing that's happened is that my dad won the World Martial Arts Tournament! But that's not that big of a deal..."

"Tournament," I commented. That seemed like an important memory that had some sort of connection to my past.

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"What?" I asked in return.

She narrowed her eyes at me and stuck out a finger. "You can't just say 'tournament' ominously without saying anything else!"

I crossed my arms and met her glare. "I didn't think I said it ominously. It just sounded familiar! That's all!"

Videl suddenly rushed up to the punching bag and threw a punch so hard that one of the seams actually caused it to rip, and its contents spilled out. "Okay. I'm going upstairs. To my bedroom. To take a shower. And to cool down before I lose my mind! Then, I am going to find that stupid poster and prove to you that I am not the crazy one!"

She quickly stormed out of the room, and I stared after her for a second before walking out on my own. I wasn't sure where to go now. I decided to return to my bedroom and wait there until Videl had showered and cooled off. I even remembered how to get there on my own!

I paced around my room for a little bit. Obviously, my student ID was an important asset to my memory. It told me my name. It also made me feel stupid that I didn't check my pockets earlier. But what about the beans and the metal bracelet? Surely there was some reason why I was carrying them with me too.

Videl's primary focus was the ID because that's where she knew she could get information from. That information conflicted with what she knew though. My ID says Satan City although she says that there is no such place. It also had my name on it. I was unsure whether or not the ID itself was real, but I knew for a fact that my name really was Gohan.

I looked at the bed where I had dropped all the items from my pockets. It felt to me as if we were overlooking the three beans and the bracelet. I knew that somehow they were key to unlocking my memories. I didn't know the purpose of either of the items though. Three beans? Was this Jack and the Beanstalk or something? And the bracelet... It was too ugly to be a fashion accessory. Although, I'm not sure I know a whole lot about fashion.

The beans were for some sort of emergency. That much I could recall, but it caused my temples to ache just like before. In fact, it seemed like the more I tried to remember, the more they hurt. I wanted to know why I had these emergency beans to begin with, and what constituted an emergency, but the pain was too much. This was all I could remember for now.

I laid down on top of the bed and closed my eyes, trying to relax and hopefully ease the pain. I hadn't told Videl about how much it hurt to try and remember things because I figured that she would just say something rude in return. She was really grumpy and tired right now. She sure did have quite the punch too...

After closing my eyes and lying there without thinking for quite some time, my throbbing headache went away. I had no idea if temple-headaches were supposed to happen to people with amnesia or not. They were so intense, I highly doubted it.

Soon enough there was a knock on my door. "Come in," I called out.

Videl walked in with something in her hand. She was dressed a lot nicer now. She had on a flowy white blouse, some blue jeans, and a pair of combat boots. She even had on fingerless gloves. Her hair was now neatly tied in pigtails, but they did not make her look childish. She also had on a little bit of makeup, and I realized once more how pretty this girl was.

"How did you know I was in here?" I asked slowly.

She stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, one hand holding what appeared to be a paper. "Lucky guess. I thought I would check the room nearest to mine first. Anything new, Gohan?"

I shuddered. "Why did you have to say my name like that? I mean, it's great that we now know what my name is, but you don't have to make it sound like I've done something wrong!"

"Haven't you?" she asked, placing the piece of paper right in front of me on the bed.

I picked the sheet up and read it. Sure enough, it was that wanted poster that she had told me about. On it, there was a picture of me, my name, a phone number to contact if I was found, and a large amount of reward money for turning me in alive. Only if I was alive though.

"That's strange," I commented after examining it. "It doesn't say what I did wrong or who that phone number even belongs to. Don't you think that's important information to know?"

Videl shrugged. "It doesn't matter. They took all the posters down, so it's obvious you were eventually turned in. But I told you that I was right! That's you, isn't it?"

"It looks a lot like me," I said. "And that's my name, but I don't think it is."

"Are you kidding me?!" she suddenly burst out. "Of course that's you! Obviously your hairstyle has changed a little bit, but that's reasonable! This was from a few months ago! You can't just go around denying everything that you don't remember! Who else could this person be?! Just admit it! You were once a wanted criminal!"

I shook my head as I examined the picture of myself some more. "No. That isn't me."

Videl looked at me as if I were an idiot. "It's you! It has to be you! You just don't remember it, so get over it! If you don't want to be a criminal, then just change! All I know is that I'm getting tired of this stupid little game that you're playing, constantly rushing around in circles denying this and that and making up all sorts of trash!"

As I stared at the picture of me on the paper, I walked over to one of the mirrors in the room. "I would like to think I know what I look like. This picture can't possibly be me."

"Are you ignoring me?!" she yelled out, marching over to the mirror. "You can't ignore me! I'm Videl Satan, so you better listen up, punk. I want you to-"

I grabbed onto her wrist to catch her attention. I then took the wanted poster from my other hand and shoved it into Videl's hand that I was grabbing on to. I was dead serious now. Pointing to the bridge of my nose, I said, "No scar." I pointed to the nose of the Gohan on the paper that she was holding. "Scar."

She examined my face really closely and must've realized that there were absolutely no traces of the scar that was on the picture. "It could have faded or something..."

I looked her dead in the eyes. "You said this was only from a few months ago. Do you think a scar like that could fade all the way in just a few months? And even if it is a picture older than that, I highly doubt a mark that dark would ever fade to be completely nonexistent!"

Videl rubbed my nose where the scar should have been. "This can't be real. This is like...some sort of trick. I don't know. You certainly know how to screw things up, Gohan. I just don't understand. There's no explanation. Nothing adds up." She stopped her pointless rambling for a second. "Is this like a prank or something? Is someone going to pop out with a camera and tell me that I've humiliated myself on TV?"

I gave a half-hearted smile. "Nope! You won me fair and square on that game show! I'm no prankster, just the perfect boyfriend!"

"At least we have your amazing humor to rely on," she said sarcastically.

"Look, I didn't ask for this," I explained. "I really am not trying to contradict everything you say. I'm just telling you exactly what I do and don't remember and everything that seems right and wrong. You just have to believe that I'm telling the truth.

"I don't think I'm a criminal because I protect people. I'm pretty sure I go to that school with you, and I know that ID is real. I don't know why it says Satan City if supposedly that doesn't exist, but that's the name for the city that makes sense to me. And I can't explain the beans or the bracelet, but I'm sure they tie into this too!

"Throughout this all, anytime I get snippets of my past or try to remember things that I don't know, my temples ache for some unknown reason. And I don't really want to think about it, because lately, that pain has been worsening with every memory!"

Videl stared at me and said nothing for the longest time. Finally, she let out a long sigh. "It's like you're from another world, Gohan. I just don't know how to explain any of these things!"

That warmth in the back of my mind buzzed once more. "I think...I think that idea may not be as crazy as it sounds."

"What are you talking about?" she asked skeptically.

The aching in my temples returned just like I expected it to when I tried to think about my past. "What if I am from a different world? Maybe not necessarily a different planet, but perhaps an alternate universe!"

She stared at me as if I had lost it, and even though I wanted to explain more, the pain in my brain took the attention away from my words, and directed it to how much it felt like my head was exploding...or maybe imploding. In either case, it was going to be exceptionally painful, and I could not hold my brave face for any longer.

I fell to my knees and held my head with my hands. I cried out in pain. Videl quickly dropped next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder out of genuine concern. I yelled loudly. She said something, but I couldn't hear anymore. My vision was blurring. Everything was blurring. And then everything was gone.

...

(Somehwere else, in that same dark room)

"Sir, your people have found nothing."

"My people? Is that what's going on?"

"What- What are you talking about?"

"Did you send out our human soldiers?"

"Um, yes sir. You said to begin the search for the boy."

"Did you not listen to my specific orders to send our elite?! These human soldiers are pathetic and good for nothing! They don't even function well as guards! One day they will all be replaced..."

"So do you want-"

"Yes! Of course! I want you to use the androids to search for him! They are much better trackers after all."

"But there aren't as many of-"

"Do as I say!"

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this mind-boggling chapter as a whole! Lots of new information and ideas, isn't there? :D Don't be afraid to give this story a follow or a favorite or a review!

-TOW