Happy New Year guys! I'm back! It's been a while. I actually got obsessed with Attack on Titan (Shingeki No Kyojin) for a couple weeks, so that's what I've been doing. Just taking a small break now, waiting for the second season to come out for the anime.
To the guests who reviewed: thanks for your feedback. Yes, I am planning on a confrontation with Videl and Gohan soon, but I just have to get through the first day first. It's taking much longer than initially planned. Great ideas though. I may use them in future chapters, if I can fit them in.
Also, thanks to Ern Estine 13624 and Aaron Leach. I'm glad you guys like the story so far. It's my first time trying to write a full one with chapters and everything. Hope you guys keep reading.
Thanks also for all my followers. I feel really bad for making you guys wait so long, so I've decided to put in two chapters in this update instead of the usual one. Hope you guys like it.
Chapter 4 - Suspicions Arise
"So Gohan, what do you do for fun?" Erasa says, turning her chair to face him once the professor leaves. "I mean, it must be pretty boring where you live, with no shopping malls, movie theatres, or anything."
"Well, my brother and I like playing rough a lot," Gohan replies, trying to be careful with his words.
"Playing rough, huh?" Videl butts in, "how old is your little brother?"
"He's six now, soon to be seven."
"Aww, that's adorable," comments Erasa, squealing. "I would love to meet him someday."
"Erasa, Gohan lives in the 439 mountain district. It would be a complete waste of time to bring his little brother over just so you can see him," Videl states, seeing the overwhelming excitement start to drain from Erasa's face. She focuses on Gohan again, "though, I would like to meet him sometime too. He's one lucky kid, being born after Cell. I still remember those days. They were horrible."
Erasa nudges Videl. "Good thing that golden fighter was there, huh?" Gohan looks away as his face flushes. "Otherwise we would all be dead right about now."
"Yeah, I guess," answers Videl as she glances at Gohan. "Hey, are you okay? Your face is red."
Gohan turns his head back to the girls. "Yeah, I'm fine. It just seems hot all of the sudden."
"That's funny, I didn't feel a change," Erasa commented, "Did you Videl?
"Nope. You sure you're okay Gohan?"
"I'm fine," Gohan quickly says right as the next professor walks in. Saved again, he thinks as the girls look over as well, Videl's eyes lingering a little more that Erasa's before turning to face the professor. The classroom becomes quiet as the lesson starts. A few minutes in, Gohan receives a note.
"From Videl," Erasa whispers as Gohan picks it up. He opens it: Something's up. Meet me after school. We need to talk.
Gohan breathes a sigh of relief. Last period of the day… and the riskiest, he adds. He can't show what he is fully capable of, or everyone will know. It's PE after all, the class he is likely capable of surpassing everyone in.
"Hey nerd," Sharpner calls behind Gohan, "you may be strong mentally, but let's see how strong you are physically." He laughs. "Nobody is better than me at sports. Just try to beat me."
Gohan smiles to himself as he keeps on walking without turning back to face Sharpner. If only you knew...Gohan thinks as the long blonde haired continues to stare at him, challenging him.
"Okay kids, we're gonna start with a few laps around the track. I'll set a timer for ten minutes. Do as many as you can and report to me once those ten minutes are up, got that?" the coach instructs as he walks out with a clipboard and stopwatch in hand. Several kids groaned and a few nodded while others kept talking amongst themselves. "Okay, go to the white line. Ready… set… go!" He clicks a button on the stopwatch, starting the timer. Many people start at a slow pace, still talking with their friends. Gohan, Videl, and Sharpner pull ahead of the group easily, Gohan being in the lead.
About seven minutes later, Gohan looks back, only now realizing how far ahead he is. Maybe I should slow down to match the others, he thinks, embarrassed. He slows down to what is to him a very very slow jog, falling back to where Sharpner is.
"Man, how can you run that fast?" Sharpner pants as Gohan reaches him.
"I guess the mountain area really helps to boost my stamina. I go out alot with my little brother," Gohan replies, having not even broken a sweat.
Sharpner eyes him closely. "That's it? Just nature hikes?" he asks, an unbelieving look on his face.
Gohan shrugs. "Yeah, I guess. Though if you put it like that, it seems kinda ridiculous." Although what's more ridiculous is what these people come up with to interpret my life. It's more than nature hikes; it's sparring in the natural setting with no air conditioning, level ground, or innocent people to get hurt. But of course I can't tell him that…
Sharpner lets out a small laugh. Yeah, 'cause it is ridiculous. You sure that's all?"
"Yeah, that's about it," Gohan lies, "it's actually harder than you think."
"Yeah right."
"Time!" the coach shouts as the stopwatch reaches ten minutes. "Everyone come back and tell me your scores. Single file line, please!"
Gohan jogs back with Sharpner. Wow, that was fast. Almost too easy if you ask me. He looks at the others, including Sharpner who looks like he's about to pass out from trying to keep pace with Gohan for so long. He looks down. Oops. I guess I overdid it.
Gohan and Sharpner reach the coach just as Videl is finishing telling the coach her number. Six? That's it? Gohan wonders, overhearing her number. Maybe I should subtract about ten from mine. I don't need to draw too much attention to myself.
"Eight," Gohan hears Sharpner tell the coach ahead of him. Okay, minus twenty then.
A few seconds later, he reaches the front. "Nine," he says.
The coach looks at him for a moment. "Are you sure? You seemed to lap these students more than a few times."
Gohan puts his left hand behind his head and laughs nervously. "Give or take a few, I guess."
The coach writes ten on his notes with a question mark by it. "Next time, keep track," he says.
"Will do," Gohan replies as he turns and walk away. A few seconds later, Erasa, Sharpner, and Videl come up to him, all drenched in sweat.
"Hey," Erasa calls, "You're pretty fast. I feel like you passed me up at least ten times."
"More like fifteen," Sharpner corrected. He turns to Gohan. "You sure it was just 'cause of hiking in those woods near your house?"
"Well, what else could I have done?" Gohan replies, trying to act innocent. He eyes Videl out of the corner of his eye, and sees her scowling at him with an unbelieving look on her face. Gohan turns away to find that the coach is speaking once again to the class.
"Okay, today we're doing a nice, friendly game of baseball. Team captains are Gohan and Sharpner, since they were able to do the most laps."
Sharpner briefly looks at Gohan, sizing him up, as Gohan shrinks under the attention he is getting for being called out by the coach. They each walk up to where the coach is, and Gohan looks at the group of students hesitantly. I guess I just have to get through this last hour, then I'll be done. He scans everyone's ki level and picks out the strongest, which is surprisingly… Videl. Well, I guess she is the daughter of the World Martial Arts Champion.
He looks back at Sharpner, wondering who's going to go first. Sharpner crosses his arms and smirks. "Since you're a newbie, I'll let you go first." Gohan smiles and turns back to the group of students, picking Videl. Gohan could sense Sharpner's shock as Videl walks down. Clearly, he chose correctly and stole Videl before Sharpner could pick her.
"Lucky pick," Sharpner murmurs. He picks one of the boys as his team member.
They continue to go back and forth picking students until the last one is called. Then, the coach sends Gohan's team to the field and Sharpner's team to bat.
Okay, Gohan thinks to himself. Now I have to get through a game of baseball without revealing any of my abilities. Should be easy, right? He walks to the field with a mitt on one hand and a ball in the other.
Whew! Just lemme take a breather. These chapters are getting long!
…
… okay. And now, the bonus chapter!
Chapter 5 - Power Exposed
"Hey nature-boy, you know how to play, right?" Sharpner taunts as he steps up to bat. Gohan enters the pitcher's mound.
"I've read a few books, yeah. It seems like an easy enough concept." Gohan replies as he feels the ball in his right hand. It's pretty light. I guess I gotta go really easy when throwing it.
Sharpner takes his position. Gohan winds up to throw the ball, trying to focus on only channelling one percent of his ki into his arm. He throws it. Sharpner's eyes widen as the ball sails right past him, missing his left arm by centimeters before landing in the catcher's mitt, smoking as it quickly decelerates. Sharpner looks back at the ball now behind him. Gohan smiles, proud of himself, until he looks around to see everyone else's shocked faces. Oh, I guess that was a little too much… Gohan lowers his head as his ki drops to .01 percent.
The coach, finally snapping out of his state of shock, calls strike one. Gohan turns his head to the right to see that Videl is still looking at him, a look on her face as if she's trying to piece together a puzzle. She meets his eyes and he quickly turns his head back to focus on Sharpner, who has now returned to his stance with a determined look on his face. The catcher throws the ball back to Gohan and he easily catches it, finding a reason to break eye contact with everyone all together. Perhaps they'll think of it as a fluke, Gohan hopes as he winds up for another throw. Sharpner tenses up. Gohan throws it, this time ten times slower than the first one and not nearly as hard. Gohan could see the corner of Sharpner's mouth turn up into a smirk as he hits the ball into what would have been a perfect home run… if Gohan hadn't anticipated the swing beforehand and caught the ball as it flew past the pitcher's mound. Sharpner's mouth drops open in shock. Gohan lands again on the mound with ease and smiles with pride at the ball in his hand. He looks up. The smile vanishes as he sees every student's eyes on him.
"Dude, what are you?" Sharpner exclaims, clearly infuriated that Gohan caught his would've-been home run. "That was at least twenty five feet in the air!"
"...Sorry," Gohan says, looking guilty. He looks at the ball in his hand again. Maybe I'm not cut out for this pitcher thing. "Hey coach," he begins, looking up at his PE professor acting as the umpire, "Is it too late to switch pitchers?"
"Umm… no, you can at any moment, though I'm not sure why you'd-"
"Hey Videl," Gohan interrupts, turning to her in the right field, "why don't you pitch?"
Videl looks shocked. "O-okay," she says, clearly confused.
Gohan hands her the ball as they pass each other while exchanging spots on the field.
The rest of the game continues with no interruptions, and many of the students make sure not to hit the ball to Gohan, even when he decides to sit down on the field halfway through. They had a feeling if they hit it to him, Gohan would most likely catch it anyway. Gohan also tries to stay out on the bench whenever his team is batting too. He didn't want people staring at him any more than they had to. The few times he steps up though, he makes sure he gets a walk. An hour later, the bell rings and school gets let out.
Gohan grabs his bag and tries to walk towards the exit as Videl comes up from behind him.
"Hey Gohan!" she calls. He flinches.
Oh shoot. I completely forgot. What am I going to tell her? Gohan turns around. "Oh, hi Videl," he says in the most cheerful voice he can do. He smiles timidly as his hand reaches behind his head once again.
"You got my note, didn't you?" Videl crosses her arms.
"Yeah, I forgot about that." I need to get out of this. "But thing is, I need to get home as soon as possible, 'cause my little brother hates being home alone, so can we have this conversation another time?"
"You can't even wait five minutes? I doubt your little brother's gonna die of loneliness."
"Well, but I've already been gone for more than eight hours. He probably misses me," Gohan debates, trying to stall for more time.
Videl sighs. "Fine. Tomorrow then."
Gohan inwardly breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank you." He walks away. Little does he know that Videl is secretly tailing him, wondering if he really was just trying to avoid the conversation altogether.
Gohan exits school without any distractions and continues to walk at a humanly pace down to the city entrance until he hears a noise of a car gradually drawing closer. He quickly steps into an alley near him and turns super for the second time that day, then steps back out just as Videl turns the corner. She stares for a moment at the guy in front of her with blond hair… or is that gold?
The racing car rounds the corner in front of Gohan with the police cars racing after it and gunshots firing in between the two cars. Then time seems to slow once again as Gohan, now the golden fighter, races up and stops the car with one hand on the hood. He then moves the car to the side of the road before the police cars have the chance to collide with it. The rest of the vehicles on the road screech to a halt, trying not to hit any of the two stopped cars and confused with what happened once again. They look over to see the golden fighter for a second before his image vanishes. Meanwhile, Gohan, his hair back to black, reemerges from the alley and looks around to see Videl. He quickly turns around right as her gaze focuses on him. She calls out and Gohan panics but just turns back around, trying not to seem suspicious.
"Did you see that?" Videl exclaims as she finally reaches Gohan near the corner of a building.
"Yeah, but only the end. A random guy stopped a car, right?"
"Random? Gohan, it's got to be the legendary golden fighter! I can't believe I saw him! We haven't seen him in years! I've even tried to train to become stronger than him one day!"
Gohan laughs. "Really Videl? The Golden Fighter? I thought he was just a myth made up by your father." But it's amazing how famous I've become after all these years. Even this girl looks up to me. I can't let her know though. I guess I'll just have to play along. It does seem that she forgot about her suspicions of me…
Videl pouts. "My father did not make that up. Really Gohan, he's a good person. At least he didn't take the credit for defeating Cell when there was no one there to see or tell how he got beat."
Gohan shrugs. "Yeah, that's true"
Videl sees his shrug and pauses. She looks from the shoulders down at Gohan's clothes, her face now deep in thought.
"Hey Videl, are you okay?" Gohan asks after some time, looking concerned all of a sudden.
"Huh?" Videl asks, looking back up at Gohan's face. "Oh, y-yeah. I'm fine, it's just… haven't I seen that outfit before?"
Gohan looks down at his clothes. "Huh? What do you mean? I've been wearing this all day."
"No, I mean on someone else."
Gohan inwardly loses control as realization hits him. Oh no! I was wearing this in Super Saiyan form! He quickly tries to hide his reaction but Videl notices.
"Gohan? Do you remember something? Maybe you can help me place the person?
"Umm… no, it's nothing you would know about, but actually, I should probably get going. It's getting late. Bye!" Before Videl can say another word, Gohan races around the corner at a humanly pace and jumps up to the roof of the building before calling Nimbus. If anyone can fix this problem, it's Bulma, Gohan thinks as he and Nimbus race to West City.
Okay. Officially out of pre-written chapters. It may take a while until I update again, but don't worry. It will come. Feel free to leave a review or fav or follow. It always makes my day when I see it. Until next time! :)
- DBZ S7E185