"Make sure you don't telegraph your attack. Keep your opponent guessing," Videl instructed. "A punch that can be easily avoided is useless. Like I said before, there's more to it than just making contact."

"I see what you mean," said Gohan as he frowned. Somehow, Videl's explanation left something to be desired. He blamed Piccolo. "I don't see how this is going to help, though. I can't imagine ever wanting to punch someone."

"Self-defense," Videl answered for what felt like the tenth time. She even groaned in frustration. "You can't just dance around your opponents forever; sooner or later you have to strike back. Although, I get the feeling that you wouldn't lay a hand on a fly unless you had to."

"I guess I'm just not very confrontational," responded Gohan. "I suppose that didn't do me a lot of good the other day."

It had been three days since Gohan had the misfortune of running into a group of thugs with his own personal stalker watching in the distance and it was back to business as usual. When donning his Saiyaman suit and fighting crime, he made sure not to get too close to Videl because the bruising along his jawline hadn't fully vanished and the last thing he wanted to do was make the girl any more suspicious.

"It's okay. I can work with that," said Videl, limbering her upper body up as she stretched. "I'm not doing this for me, after all. So are you ready for a bit of a practical demonstration?"

"I guess," he said with an unconvinced smile.

"Don't worry, I'll pull my punches." Videl laughed upon seeing the expression on his face. "I'm not a complete psycho, y'know. It's only been a few days since you got hurt."

"Thanks?"

Videl took that as her cue. She stepped forward and made a big show of settling into a stance before she reached out with her right fist and gently thwacked Gohan on his shoulder.

"Ouch, I understand that one crook's plight now," Videl remarked as she retracted her fist. "What are your bones made out of? Steel?"

"Mum always made me, uh, eat my vegetables," said Gohan lamely as his hand fell back into a familiar position behind his head.

"Anyway, my point still stands," said Videl, taking a moment to confirm that no-one could see them up on the school rooftop. It wasn't that she cared what others thought, but rather that it could prove problematic if someone were to get the wrong idea; a new rumour could work itself through the high school grapevine in no time at all. "Did you see how even though you knew I was going to hit you, I didn't show where by charging at you with an already outstretched fist?'

Gohan nodded. "That's just common sense, though, don't you think?"

"Okay then, mister," Videl said as she placed her hands on her hips. "Why don't you show me what your punch looks like then?"

Gohan inwardly cursed. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I wouldn't want to hurt you. I mean, no offence, but you're a fair bit… tinier than me."

"So you think I'm too short to be a good fighter?" asked Videl as the distance between the two shrank, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"No, tha-"

"Relax, I'm just screwing with you," Videl laughed. "I don't mind people underestimating me because it's more advantageous to be the underdog. My favourite thing about martial arts is that it doesn't matter what your opponent thinks of you as long as you can sweep them off their feet and land a solid blow to their chest."

"Why would people underestimate you?" asked Gohan. "I mean, you're Mr. Satan's daughter and you've been helping out the police for years, so they've got to know you mean business."

"Beats me." Videl shrugged. "Anyway, are you going to try and throw a punch my way or not?"

"L-Like a real pun-"

"Yes," Videl cut him off. "Really, you said it yourself. I've been fighting criminals for years, Gohan. I'm one girl that you're more than welcome to take a swing at."

Gohan gulped before taking a step back to give himself a bit of a run-up. He charged at her, his fist already cocked back before punching at the space beside Videl's head. Unfortunately, he punched a little too quickly and in Videl's attempt to dodge his blow, the side of his knuckle bristled against her ear and a few strands of hair.

'Too close for comfort,' he decided. He would need to do something about his strength lest he hurt the girl. It was like trying to swat a fly, but not crush it, while moving at the speed of light.

Videl didn't seem to notice his dilemma. "Not bad considering that's probably the first time you've raised a fist towards anyone."

She took his hand, the silky smooth skin of her fingers a sharp contrast to the roughness of her fingerless gloves, and adjusted his arm's position. "Don't go into the punch with your arm pulled back like this."

Gohan's face flushed at the contact. He gazed towards the sky, trying to avoid eye contact as Videl demonstrated how to hold his forearm back. Even though it was far from the first time Gohan had had physical contact with a girl, there was an element of intimacy at play that was completely foreign to the young Saiyan.

"Hey, are you paying attention?" she asked, snapping her fingers to draw Gohan's attention back towards her. "You need to try and keep your fists in front of your chest before moving them forward. Cocking your first back near your shoulder like some kind of comic book character just limits your mobility."

She let go of him before drawing her fists in front of her own body. She bounced on the balls of her feet before reaching out and gently rapping a set of knuckles on his stomach and right cheek respectively. "This way I can go high or low when I hit you."

"I think I get it," said Gohan as he took the chance to observe the girl in front of him. She was about his mum's height and seemed to keep in pretty decent shape - well, for a regular person, anyway. She had black hair that was framed into two ever-present pigtails and a rounder face than what he remembered. Gohan was well-read enough to understand that at his age attraction to another person was entirely normal, but that knowledge didn't help him navigate the feeling welling up in his stomach.

"Alright," said Videl with a nod. "Show me what you can do one last time before we'll call it a day. West City wasn't built in a day, after all."

That gave Gohan an idea.

…

"I need a favour," Gohan said as he found himself rubbing the back of his head uneasily not for the first time that week.

"It's always a favour with you, isn't it?" asked Bulma as she shook her head. "Never a 'hey Bulma, how's it going?' or a check in to see how ol' Aunt Bulma's doing."

"I'm sorry," Gohan apologised. "It's just that I've been really busy lately with school and now patrolling the skies as Saiyman. It's tiring work."

"That excuse doesn't cut it when you can fly across the globe in under a minute, y'know," replied Bulma. "Ahh Saiyans, what are you gonna do? Anyway, I'm just teasing you. What can I do for ya, kiddo?"

"It's kind of a long story," explained Gohan. "I'm not even sure if there's a way to help me with this problem, but I know if anyone can, it's you."

"Oh please, now you're teasing me," huffed Bulma as she ran her fingers through a loose strand of hair. "Anyway, I have time today since a certain royal asshat complained that I spend too much time buried away in the lab, yet spent the entire day training in the gravity chamber."

Gohan, wisely, decided to stay out of that and followed Bulma back to the kitchen. She gestured for him to sit down before offering him a drink. "Coffee?"

He shook his head and she murmured a brief "suit yourself" before instructing a bot to grab her a mug. Moments later, she sat down with her drink in hand.

"Alright, I'm interested to find out what's going on because you know I can never resist a challenge," said Bulma as she sipped from a mug with her name written across it in a myriad of different fonts and sizes. "Start from the beginning."

And so Gohan did. He described everything from a bit of background on Videl and how he had quickly acquired his own personal stalker to the events that had transpired three days ago.

"Sounds like puppy love to me," said Bulma with a smirk that only a mother could pull off. "I'm not sure I see the problem here, Gohan, unless you're asking me for dating advice. And to be honest, I wouldn't blame you. Between Chichi and Piccolo, you don't exactly have much to go off of."

"No, it's not that." Once again, Gohan couldn't control the blush that rose to his face. "This girl… Videl, well, we had our first sparring lesson today on the roof."

He paused before quickly continuing upon seeing Bulma raise an intrigued eyebrow.

"She wanted me to throw a punch and let's just say that I was maybe a few millimetres away from fracturing her skull," he said before frowning. "I can't trust my own strength because I've never had to hold back this much. When I'm fighting criminals, it's okay because I'm allowed to knock them out or hurt them a little, but I can't do that to Videl without making her suspicious."

"And naturally, coming clean with her about everything is out of the question?" questioned Bulma.

"Did I mention that she's Mr. Satan's daughter?" asked Gohan. "I doubt she'd believe me if I did tell her the truth. And even then, I don't think she'd be too happy to discover what kind of a man her father really is."

"Y'know, if I didn't love ya so much I'd say this should be Mr. Satan's problem and not mine," Bulma said before she stood up. "I'm afraid I won't be able to come up with a solution in half an hour like with your Saiyaman suit. You'll need to give me a day or two to tinker around and find something for you."

He hugged her, noticing not for the first time how strange it was to be so much taller than her given that she'd towered over him for so long. "Thanks, Bulma. You're the best."

"Uh-uh, you don't just get to walk away from here like that mister," said Bulma as she crossed her arms over her chest in a manner reminiscent of her husband. "I'm more than happy to help out, but I'm going to need a favour in exchange for lending you my brilliant mind."

"Sure, that sounds fair," Gohan said with a nervous smile. "How can I help?"

"Trunks sometimes gets a little lonely looking at you and Goten. And Vegeta doesn't exactly do much to fill that void," said Bulma. "I'd appreciate it if you could make it a point to come over to Capsule Corp. and hang out with him every once in awhile."

"That doesn't seem too unreasonable," said Gohan, gazing at Bulma with a questioning look as if trying to determine what brought that on.

"He takes after his father in more ways than one and you're about the only other male role model he has that he actually looks up to," said Bulma as she sighed once more. "I guess that's Vegeta's fault with how blunt he can be about the shortcomings of us humans."

"I thought he was blunt when it comes to everything," shrugged Gohan. "I'm sure he means well, though."

"I'll never understand how it is that you Sons fail to see anything but the best in people," said Bulma as she stared out the window, a look of contemplation upon her face. "He'd be so proud of you right now, Gohan. Both you and Goten."

"If I ever get too lonely thinking about him, all I do is think about what kind of trouble he's getting up to up there with King Kai," said Gohan with a warm smile. "Anyway, I'll go say hi to Trunks and Vegeta before getting on my way. Thanks for everything again and I'll see you... uhh around, I guess."

…

Videl shook her head before flinging her math textbook to the side. Calculus was the last thing on her mind right now.

She wasn't sure why she had thought it was a good idea to take Gohan on as her protege. Besides being possessed by guilt, she held no qualifications when it came to teaching martial arts and judging from their mock spar the previous day, Gohan was by no means a natural fighter. She wasn't normally one to second guess herself, but his dismal performance had her questioning the plausibility of her task.

Honestly, who could manage to miss a punch that she purposely moved into?

Videl sighed to herself. Gohan's lack of innate talent for martial arts was nothing new to her so there was no point getting frustrated over it. If not for the nearly-dire consequences, Videl would have thought it almost laughable that he had been her primary suspect for Saiyaman's true identity.

Her problem remained unanswered, though. How was she meant to teach a bookworm how to protect himself when the closest he'd probably come to any sort of strenuous activity was watching wildlife documentaries?

She eyed the television on her wall and headed for her personal collection of video tapes. After a few minutes, she found what she was looking for and a smirk found its way onto her face.

…

"Gohan," said Chichi as she tried to attract her son's attention to no avail. She snapped her fingers twice but still couldn't break him out of his trance. "Gohan!"

"Uh, yeah?" He turned away from the window, startled. "Sorry, I guess I was just zoned out."

"You've been doing that an awful lot lately," Chichi mumbled while her eyes narrowed in suspicion. She looked at his plate, which had hardly been touched in comparison to the stacks of dirty dishes Goten had left her. "Is there something you want to tell me? Maybe something has been troubling you at school?"

"No, I think I've been fine," Gohan said with a frown. As much as he loved his mother, she tended to become a little overbearing every now and then. "In fact, school has been just fine. I learned most of the stuff in the textbooks awhile ago, but discussing some of the content with my teachers is interesting at the very least. Plus, in Chemistry, I get to actually conduct the experiments I used to only be able to read about."

"Perhaps it's those extracurricular activities of yours," she suggested with a disapproving look before she shook her head. "I suppose you get that from that father of yours, so there's no point trying to talk you out of it."

Gohan shrugged. "Heh, what can I say, mum? I get to help the needy and wear an awesome superhero costume while doing it. It's a win-win." It was a shame that Goten had already finished his supper because the little guy loved hearing about his adventures as Saiyaman.

"Just try to remember that helping others doesn't mean always putting yourself second," said Chichi with a sigh. "You're even worse than him when it comes to that because you're too kind to speak up for yourself."

Gohan smiled lightly, about to respond until the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" a prepubescent voice exclaimed as it sped towards the door. Gohan and Chichi tried to stop Goten before he reached the door, but he was too quick. "Oh… you're not Trunks."

"Trunks?" a female voice asked in confusion. "I'm looking for Gohan, if he's around."

"Yeah, gimme a sec, I'll call him for you," Goten said before turning towards his approaching sibling and yelling, "Big brother!" for dramatic effect.

"I'm coming, squirt," said Gohan as he finally made his way to the door, Chichi in hot pursuit. "Oh… Videl… what are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you too, Gohan," said Videl before placing her hands on her hips.

"Oh, sorry," said Gohan as he spun around. "Videl, this is my younger brother, Goten, and my mum, Chichi. And guys, this is Videl, a friend from school."

"I can't believe I didn't see the resemblance earlier," said Videl as she got a closer look at Goten before turning to address Chichi. "I'm glad to finally meet you, Mrs. Son."

"Pleasure's all mine," Chichi replied as she nodded politely before swatting Gohan on the head. "I raised you better than this. This girl has come all the way from who-knows-where to talk to you, so at least invite her inside."

"Right," Gohan chuckled, careful not to let Chichi see him roll his eyes. "Please join us. We were just in the middle of supper."

"I'd love to," said Videl as she eyed the simple house more carefully. "The flight here wasn't any better the second time around."

"Give it a while and you'll get used to it." Gohan gestured for her to follow the trio inside. "Well, this is home," he said, pointing around. "It's not much, but it's a lot more peaceful than the city is."

"Yeah, no kidding. I don't think you could find another soul within a fifty kilometre radius," said Videl. "It's different… but not in a bad way."

They stopped upon reaching the kitchen. Gohan tried to explain away the sheer number of the dirty dishes that Goten had left in his wake, but gave up halfway through his bumbling explanation.

"I'm amazed that you two are in such good health if you really tuck that much food away on a regular basis," Videl said before snorting. "Boys."

"I happen to be quite the cook, if I do say so myself," Chichi explained, "so I'm able to whip up all kinds of delicious food that keeps all its nutritional value because it's unprocessed. Plus, my boys do have Ox-King blood running through their veins so it's no surprise that they inherited my dad's appetite."

"Uh, right," said Videl, deciding that it was wise to not question it. She was their guest, after all. "On second thought, I think I might have lost my appetite."

"Oh don't be like that, dear," said Chichi, waving Videl's protests away as she motioned for the girl to take a seat at the table. She heaped rice and vegetables onto her plate before covering it all in a thick, green sauce. "I insist. Now I won't stuff you anywhere near as full as these two over here but it's almost a four hour journey back to Satan City from here. You can't make that flight on an empty stomach."

Videl, who had started eating, paused and took a moment to swallow. "Using a standard jet-copter, probably. Thankfully, I was due for an upgrade so now it takes me only about two and a half hours going at top speed."

Chichi's eyes glittered a little as she realised that the girl would have to be very well-off to afford to replace a jet-copter at eighteen. "Is that so?"

Gohan took that as his cue to cut his mother off. "So, Videl, you never did tell us why you flew all the way out here." He ended with a nervous chuckle. The two most explosive women in his life were in one room and he had a feeling that it was only a matter of time until the fireworks went off… or worse, his mother took a liking to Videl.

Videl took her time to finish the rest of the rice on her plate before reaching into her pocket and throwing a capsule onto the floor near their television set. It exploded into a thick cloud of smoke, which took a few moments to clear, revealing a stack of VCR tapes.

"Is that dessert?" asked Goten, unable to keep quiet any longer.

"No, I'm afraid I don't have your mum's magic touch in the kitchen," Videl answered as she wiped her hands against each other. Upon receiving quizzical looks from everyone else, she explained. "Homework."

"Homework?" Chichi questioned. "Do you mean like a group project?"

"You haven't told your mum?" asked Videl as she glared at Gohan. "Somehow I'm not that surprised. I'll do it for you so she doesn't get the wrong idea, but jeez, you need to work on that backbone of yours."

"What do you mean?" pressed Chichi as her eyes narrowed. "I hope you've not been getting my boy into any trouble. I've worked so hard for so many years to make sure he doesn't grow up to become some hooli-"

Videl cut her off. "With all due respect, Mrs. Son, I've been trying to keep Gohan out of trouble. Remember when he got hurt the other night thanks to some thugs who were after his belongings?"

Chichi nodded, remembering that Gohan had mentioned something to that effect a few nights ago.

"Yeah, well I've decided to take it upon myself to teach Gohan how to defend himself," said Videl. "I know you might disapprove because something tells me that you never wanted Gohan to go along the violent path, but you've got to understand that Satan City can be a dangerous place and it's importan-"

"Wait, so let me get this straight," said Chichi as she massaged her temples. "You want to teach my Gohan how to fight?"

Videl glanced around the room before looking the mother of two square in the eye. "Yeah."

Chichi couldn't help herself. She erupted into a fit of laughter.

Goten joined in. "Y'know, my big brother's the strongest in the whole entire universe!"

Videl looked at the two in disbelief before turning to Gohan for an explanation, but the boy was doing his best to squeeze himself into the corner of the room without moving an inch. After a moment or two, she placed her hands on her hips.

"I understand what's going on now. This has just been one big misunderstanding," said Videl. "I never properly introduced myself. The name's Videl Satan. I won the Junior Division of the World Martial Arts Tournament two years ago and I help the police fight criminals in my downtime these days."

"With Saiyaman?" asked Goten. Videl nodded. "Oh you're that Videl! Goha-"

Gohan cut his little brother off before he could say any more. "Easy there, squirt," he muttered to the boy.

Videl raised an eyebrow.

"So when you say the name 'Satan', you don't mean you're related to that buffoon Hercule, do you?" Chichi asked as she wiped a tear away from one of her eyes, taking the break in conversation as an opportunity to ask her question.

"Y'know, I think I like you, Mrs. Son," said Videl before breaking into grin. "You're not afraid to speak your mind. Most of the people I know wouldn't have the guts to talk to me about my father like that, but you do. I respect that."

"Maybe the afro is more impressive in person," shrugged Chichi. "Anyway, I think it's a wonderful idea if you teach my poor little boy to defend himself. Even though he might not look it, he's a big softie on the inside so I'm really glad that he's got someone to look after him while he's so far away from home."

Videl blushed. "I'm glad I have your approval, Mrs. Son. It makes me feel a little better about doing this. My dad would probably freak out knowing that I'm meeting a boy at lunch and after school."

"Sweetie, my dad was the Ox-King," said Chichi with a smile. "I get it. Don't let that get in the way of you doing the right thing."

"Right, so back to the tapes," said Videl as she gestured to the stack of tapes near the television. "I figured that while you're still hurt that you could use that as an opportunity to study the techniques of some of the greatest martial artists known to man. So I brought you my personal collection of World Martial Arts tournaments."

"Uh, thanks," said Gohan as he regarded the cassettes with more attention.

"Unfortunately they don't film the Junior Division so you won't be able to watch yours truly kick ass from a few years ago." Videl smirked. "Still, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have you take a look at these over the weekend. I might even quiz you a little on Monday."

"There's only one problem," said Gohan as he looked down at the ground. "We don't own a tape player."

…

"Videl, you still haven't explained why we're here!" exclaimed Erasa. "Seriously, did you see how many department stores had sales? And you walked right past all of them!"

"Quiet. I'll explain later," said Videl distractedly as she eyed a sign which read SHU'S ELECTRONICS in block letters. Satisfied, she stepped inside, dragging her blonde friend in with her.

"Alright, at least explain what we're looking for?" asked Erasa. "I can help you out since I know as much about electronics as you do."

"A tape player and… uh… a new T.V.," said Videl. "Something big and solid quality, but not too flashy."

"What? You already have like a bazillion TVs at your place," said Erasa as she rolled her eyes. "And you try to tell people you're not about material things."

"It's not for me," hissed Videl. "Now keep your voice down."

"Well who could you be buying a T.V. for?" asked Erasa. "My birthday's still four months away and we both know you wouldn't spend that much on Sharpner."

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, how else will I know what type of T.V. to look for?" asked Erasa.

Videl sighed. "If you must know, it's for Gohan. I swung by his house the other day and noticed that they don't have either a good T.V. or a VCR player so I figured I'd do something nice. Make it up to him for hounding him so much over the past few weeks."

Videl continued on ahead, looking at all kinds of televisions from big box-sets to thinner flat screens.

Unbeknownst to her, her friend was smirking to herself. "So she was over at his house. I wonder…"

…

Happy new year everyone!

We would like to thank everyone for the overwhelmingly positive response to the first chapter.

This chapter was brought to you by Kakarot Son and Darkvoid116.

Team Dragon Star is a collaborative effort headed by different writers who work together to bring you stories like this one. If you would like to join, visit our forums and apply there. It presents a great opportunity to further your own writing skills and join a community.