Author's Note:
Once a week, guys. Just hang in there.
Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
"Ah, erm, uh, um, err..." Gohan stammered, his face beet red. He was more comfortable than the pillow?! What the heck was Videl trying to do, embarrass him to death?! Piccolo merely raised an eyebrow at Videl's odd choice of words, but made no comment.
"Videl, Gohan, you two are coming with me." Piccolo said.
"Huh?" Videl rubbed the sleep from her eyes, fixed her hair, and stood up straighter. "What are we doing?"
"Has Gohan explained what the Dragon Balls are, Videl?" Piccolo asked. The girl simply nodded in understanding and tilted her head.
"What do we need them for, Piccolo?" she asked.
"To repair the Lookout." Gohan and Videl both nodded, looking around sheepishly at the cracked, broken Lookout. The floor was in pieces, cracked and broken in every single tile. The walls were ruined, all the bedrooms half caved in. There was rubble everywhere, and the palm trees had fallen. Mr. Popo's garden was nonexistent now, crushed underneath fallen pillars and bits of the Lookout. Gohan rubbed the back of his head in the familiar Son gesture, (the first person who tells me how many times I've said "the familiar Son gesture" in this fanfic will get a oneshot about Dragon Ball Z, anything they want!) embarrassed about his destructive fight.
Piccolo smiled at his pupil and allowed his ki to rise, causing Gohan to turn around and look over at him. Piccolo floated above the ground, pushing his ki beneath him. He started flying, leaping off the Lookout. Gohan grabbed Videl's arm and ran after him, whooping. The boy grinned at Videl, who smiled back. She pressed forwards alongside him, her hand in his. They jumped off the Lookout holding hands, freefalling until they caught up to Piccolo.
All three grinned at each other as they fell towards the Earth. Piccolo rocketed towards Capsule Corp, Gohan and Videl following. Soon, they had flown right into the Capsule Corp gardens. Piccolo touched down on the ground as Vegeta and his son Trunks walked out of the house to greet them.
"What do you want, Namekian?" Vegeta snapped. Trunks was hiding behind Vegeta, without touching him. He was slightly terrified of Gohan, since the older boy had knocked his dad right on his butt as easily as he cut butter. Trunks gulped, trying to remind himself that this was Gohan, Goten's big brother. If Goten didn't want to kill him, then Gohan probably wouldn't want to either... right?
Gohan wriggled his fingers in hello to Trunks, smiling gently. Trunks left his father's side and walked over to Gohan. Gohan took a knee , coming down to Trunks' level.
"Hey there." Gohan said, ruffling Trunks' violet hair. Trunks merely looked up at him.
"Are you Goten's big brother?" he asked, wanting to confirm.
"...Yeah, I guess I am. Goten... Goku's other son." Gohan mused.
"Wow." Trunks said. "You're really powerful, aren't you?" he asked.
"I guess I am!" Gohan laughed.
"You have a special transformation, right?" Trunks gathered his courage as he prepared to ask Gohan the question he really, really wanted an answer to.
"Yup. It's called Parity, which basically means 'Harmony'." Gohan explained.
"Can you teach me how to do it?" Trunks asked eagerly.
"Hm... I dunno, squirt. I could only use this transformation because my human and Saiyan sides hated each other. The Parity transformation brings them together long enough for me to fight properly, with all the wits of my human blood and the strength of my Saiyan heritage." Gohan said. "You seem to be pretty comfortable within your own skin, so it's unlikely. For me, I had two voices screaming in my head constantly about what I should do. One voice wanted me to kill everyone who attacked me, the other wanted to me to simply duck my head and run."
"Oh. Yeah, the only voice in my head is my own."
"Is Bulma here?" Piccolo broke the conversation. Gohan stood up, flanking his mentor protectively. He was wearing a purple gi, with the weight shoulders + cape that Piccolo had.
"Why?" Vegeta's aura went from indifference to aggressiveness in a matter of moments.
"We need the Dragon Radar." Piccolo explained. "We are going to use one of the wishes to restore the Lookout to it's original form."
"What about the next wish?"
"I'm not sure."
"Why not erase all the stuff Erai did to these kids? Then Kakarot and I could have a proper spar. Last time, he only moped around and said he didn't feel like fighting."
"No."
"Why?!"
"Even if we erase the memories, it will not change the fact that Goku is not a fit guardian for either of these children. He still did do awful things to Gohan, and I will not let Gohan out of my sight again."
"Fine then." Vegeta went inside and grabbed the Dragon Radar, tossing it to Piccolo. The Namekian caught it and threw it to Gohan. Gohan caught it easily, clicking the button and reading where the locations were. He powered up and flew off, Videl and Piccolo following closely.
"Vegeta? Was someone here?" Bulma called, hearing her husband rummage around in the drawers, then throw something out the window.
"No." Vegeta said. "Trunks, back to training." his son nodded and followed him into the Gravity Chamber.
(another reminder: whoever is the first to tell me how many times I've said the phrase "the familiar Son gesture" gets a DBZ oneshot of their choice!)
Piccolo, Gohan, and Videl landed on the cold arctic, following the Dragon Radar. Gohan directed everyone as Piccolo dove underwater in search of the Dragon Ball. Videl had ended up falling in, and then Gohan had to rescue her. Then Piccolo threw the Dragon Ball at him, and then he had to dodge Videl's ki blasts, because he got snow on her. But they had the four star ball! Gohan looked down at the ball, feeling memories swarm him. He simply put it in his gi pocket and flew off.
Next, the jungle. It was hidden up in a tree, and Trunks and Goten were playing nearby. To not alert them, Gohan stood on Piccolo's shoulders while Videl stood on Gohan's shoulders. They struggled to get the ball without using their ki and alerting Trunks and Goten to their presence, but that failed when Videl lost her balance and sat on Gohan's face. He fell backwards as Piccolo ran backwards to try and save them from gravity. They ended up crashing, to the ground, narrowly missing Goten and Trunks.
Next, they had two mini Saiyans tagging along. Trunks was a little more reserved, but Goten was now sitting on Gohan's head, with a death grip on his hair, and asking one million questions a minute. Videl was laughing and him and Piccolo didn't care.
They had the four star ball and the seven star ball now. Only... five.. more to go...
Now, they had to swing by Goku's house, because he had the six star ball and the one star ball. Goten snuck in and managed to steal it. While they were high-tailing it out of the house, Chi-Chi spotted them and grabbed her frying pan. Fearful for their lives, the Saiyans ran like Cell was chasing them. Now they really couldn't stop the chase! As they were lowering Trunks into a volcano to get the two star ball, they could hear Chi-Chi screeching for Goten to get his butt over here right now, and who was he with? If it was Gohan, then Gohan could stay for lunch and forever!
They grabbed the ball just as Chi-Chi caught up to them. Gohan grabbed Goten and dodged Chi-Chi frying pan expertly, keeping his little brother safe. When one strike came down he knew he couldn't dodge, he turned his back to Chi-Chi and allowed the frying pan to bounce off of Gohan's back. Gohan winced as it hit his spine and tumbled out of Chi-Chi's hands.
She started screaming about how irresponsible Gohan was being, while he got up and ran, holding Goten under the armpits like a rag doll. He quickly caught up to Piccolo and Videl. He had grabbed Trunks on the way there, and Trunks was clinging desperately to Gohan's leg as they ran out of there, hearing Chi-Chi's screams behind them.
Videl grabbed Trunks and climbed a tree, out of sight. Piccolo stood his ground, prepared to deal with the ex-martial artist himself while Gohan and Goten escaped.
They had the four star, seven star, one star, six star, and two star ball. Only two more to go...
Gohan felt that he was far enough away from Chi-Chi just in case Piccolo failed, and was defeated. That was unlikely, though. As Gohan sat down and relaxed, Goten bounced away from his chest.
"Ohmygosh, Gohan, thanks so much!" Goten proceeded to smother his brother with hugs and kisses, Goten climbing all over Gohan's face. Gohan spluttered and coughed, grabbing his little brother by the armpits and holding him away from his face.
"No problem, Goten. Just ease up on the thank-yous." Gohan laughed. Goten giggled too as Gohan dropped him into his lap. They both looked up at Videl and Piccolo. Piccolo's cape was shredded, and he was covering his bleeding ears.
"RUN! THE HARPY IS COMING!" Piccolo screamed, Trunks sitting on one of his shoulder pads. Gohan grabbed Goten, stuffing the kid under his armpit. Goten was now parallel with the ground. Gohan started screaming as he spotted Chi-Chi wildly waving her frying pan. Gohan bolted, leaving Piccolo and Videl in the dust. He looked back and saw that Videl had tripped. Gohan started screaming, powering up into Parity.
His hair flew, spiking straight up in a light blue colour, his eyes shining gold, and his aura a waving blue like an ocean. Goten looked up in awe as Gohan took off, flying faster than the speed of light. During his flight, he put Goten on his bed. The small half-Saiyan latched onto his hair for dear life. Goten had never felt a power like this before. It was incredible! He could even feel Gohan's power thrumming through his hair, into Goten's little, chubby fingers.
Gohan stuffed Piccolo and Videl under his arm. Now they were parallel with the ground, tucked under his armpit. He took off faster than Chi-Chi realized what was going on, having gone halfway across the world by the time she realized they were gone.
Gohan deposited them in a desert, falling to the ground, his hair, eyes, and aura returning to normal as he breathed heavily, gasping for air. Gohan then passed out as soon as Goku appeared in instant transmition.
"What's going on?" Goku asked, having sensed Gohan's incredible ki. He glanced at Goten who was shaking his brother, trying to get him up, Videl who was comforting Trunks (who had his knees up to his chest, shaking) and to Piccolo, whose gi and cape was ripped and torn.
"Your wife." Piccolo groaned, falling down to the ground. He picked up the Dragon Radar, handed it to Goku, and looked up at the confused Saiyan.
"Go find the rest of the Dragon Balls and I will allow you to speak to your... biological son." Piccolo growled at the last bit. Goku brightened and took off, heading straight for the Dragon Balls. Evidently, he had much more success than everyone else and soon deposited the remaining Dragon Balls. He glanced at Gohan, looking like a fat kid in a candy store, eager for his reward.
~Oh man. I only have one question for next chapter - who will survive the attack of Chi-Chi?~
Yukikun: Thank you! I did update soon, so I hope you enjoy this chapter. The marks on Gohan? No spoilers from me, but they're going to be very important in the sequel.