A/N: I did promise. Here we go. One more chapter after this. Can't believe it. I'm almost finished with the first fic I ever posted. I dunno if I should be happy or in mourning. It's a difficult emotion to describe.

ANYWAYS.

Since I haven't done this since the first chapter, I will remind everyone that I have absolutely no ownership of Dragonball Z. Never have, never will, it's one of those sad yet undeniable facts of life.

Chapter Nine: An Ode to the Awkward Silence

There were only three people in that stupid human helicopter, though none of them had quite realized how idiotic they were being in their venture yet. This was nowhere near the first time they had approached potentially dangerous situations to do their job properly. They were, after all, the best pilot, camera man and reporter that the number one news channel in the city had to offer. So naturally, they were willing to throw caution to the wind to provide the day's news to the otherwise ignorant people of the city.

Although, the reporter had to admit that approaching a group of floating people who had caused an explosion high over one of the most famous cities in the world was pushing it. Only a little though, he was up there, wasn't he?

There were five of them, something they hadn't been able to see from the ground. Two of the men were holding two women and the third being looked to be a pissed off teenage boy. Which wasn't all that abnormal, except for the fact that he was glowing yellow. And three of them seemed to have the ability to fly.

"Hover," the reporter instructed, his voice raised to carry over the dull roar of the propellers, "And keep filming them." He leaned forward, his eyes locked on their targets, "Can you pick up what they're saying?"

"Lemme see," the camera man was quiet for a moment, "Er…yeah. I…I think one of the girls is Videl Satan…"

The reporter swung his head around, his eyes wide and his mouth twisting into a wildly triumphant smile, "You're kidding. How do you know?" Videl Satan almost guaranteed a leading spot in the six o'clock news. He had hit the news story jackpot.

"Because the glowing dude just said 'I'm going to kill you, Videl Satan.' And he sounds…like he's seriously going to do it," the man was sweating slightly, "Um…if he starts trying to kill people, should we-?"

The camera man broke off suddenly, his free eye shutting as he focused on something he was seeing through the lens. The reporter waited patiently for an explanation for all of three seconds before demanding, "What?" and when his colleague ignored him, added a punch on the arm to punctuate his point.

"It is Videl," the camera man muttered, sounding extremely nervous.

"And…?" the reporter prompted, gritting his teeth in annoyance. He loathed it when people gave clipped answers and this stupid camera man was notorious for it, which was why the reporter loathed working with him, despite the fact he was the best. It was like pulling teeth and there was a reason he had chosen not to be a dentist in college.

"And she's waving us off. She looks kind of freaked out…maybe we should-?"

Again, he cut off, his eyes widening with terror. The reporter jerked his head around, cracking his neck nastily as he moved, and came face to face with something he probably should have been prepared for, but hadn't even considered, despite actually seeing the first explosion with his own, news hungry eyes.

There was a small, blue sphere forming at the hand of the glowing boy that was about the size of a basketball and, though they were at least one hundred yards away from the group, it was obvious that his attention was turned on them. The kid lifted his arm and he distinctly heard, even over the sound of the helicopter, Videl shriek, "GOHAN, DON'T!"

Evidently the one called Gohan was in no mood to follow directions, it was written all over his defiant body language. The reporter vaguely wondered if teenage angst was really as big a problem as the Orange Star High School psychiatrist had claimed the previous year. He suddenly regretted laughing at the woman's words behind her back after he finished covering the story.

Gohan, the glowing demon kid, let loose the light ball. He had aimed it directly at them.

The camera man dropped the camera out the side of the helicopter and let out a scream that the reporter normally would have classified as 'girlish and wimpy', though he had to admit that his own cry of terror was hardly manly, though he, at least, managed to keep a hold on his microphone. He grabbed the handle above the doorway, though he wasn't sure why because, obviously, he was staring certain death in the face.

The light exploded a few feet away from the helicopter and sent the group of them buffeting sideways. The pilot cursed as he fought to remain control.

So much for certain death.

The one called Gohan was shouting now, though the reporter only zeroed in on one sentence, namely, "Get the hell out of here!" And, because the stupid camera man had dropped the stupid camera, that was suddenly looking like a very good idea. The reporter turned to tell the pilot to return to the news building because this was obviously too dangerous to continue.

Then the green, alien man appeared.

Gohan was too busy trying to glare the humans away to really notice that all four of the people he had been chasing, who had miraculously not been hyperventilating before, all really needed brown paper bags now. That was a welcome change to Vegeta, who had been seconds away from high tailing it out of there and leaving the boy's father to deal with the problem. Of course, at this point he was too shocked that Gohan had actually attacked a bunch of humans to make himself move, so the whole 'escape and leave Kakarott to rot' plan was really out of the question now.

Goku chuckled nervously, "I knew he wouldn't actually do it…"

Vegeta snorted, "Is that what you're telling yourself to make yourself feel better about this? Face it, Kakarott. Your son has been driven completely insane."

"By what, though?" Goku shot him a confused glance, "I've never seen him like this. And what happened in the clearing that made him go off like that?"

The Saiyan Prince shot Videl a venomous look and the girl shrunk against Goku's shoulders, blushing spectacularly. Goku cocked his head, "Videl? What'd she do?"

"I…um…" Videl began to explain, but trailed off, her eyes on Gohan, looking stunned.

Vegeta almost concluded that this meant that she was even stupider than her oaf of a father because there was no way she could have just realized that Gohan was transformed…or even that he was there at all. He rolled his eyes, which brought his gaze to the boy as well, and, more importantly, to the person hovering behind him. Then he decided that, despite her obvious death wish, she wasn't stupid, she just obviously didn't have much faith in her own plan, much like himself.

Though, seeing that Piccolo had finally arrived didn't really shock Vegeta, so to speak. He was just surprised by the look of hesitation on the other man's face and by the way he was hanging back almost shyly.

He then decided that Videl was one of the few smart people present, himself being the only other and that it was Gohan and Piccolo who suffered from chronic stupidity. Gohan proved this seconds later, when he launched into a ranting list of all of Videl's offenses, which were, apparently, more than he had originally thought.

"Other than the fact," the demi-saiyan's voice was remarkably shrill and highly reminiscent of the five year old Gohan Vegeta had met the first time he had so gracefully arrived on Earth, "That she made a fool out of me in class, went running off the plan some stupid matchmaking thing with Bulma, nearly giving me a heart attack in the process," he shot said woman an ugly look and she shrank upwards into Vegeta's stomach, "and the tiny detail that she just ruined my friendship with my best friend, NOTHING!"

Goku blinked and Vegeta had a sudden sense of impending stupid.

"Are you talking about Piccolo?"

The Saiyan Prince pinched the bridge of his nose. Gohan stared at his father blankly.

"Yes..."

Goku scratched the back of his head, smiling weirdly, like he had finally just gotten a joke that everybody had been telling for quite some time. Vegeta wondered vaguely if he actually had, then caught the morbidly fascinated look on Piccolo's face and smirked. Oh yes, Goku had caught on and awkwardness was bound to ensue. And now that Gohan seemed to be coming down off his 'I want to kill everyone around me' episode, Vegeta could sit back and enjoy the show.

"I don't think she ruined your friendship with Piccolo," Goku said cheerfully.

Gohan's aura flared dangerously, "Oh no? She announced that I'm in love with him, Dad! How could that not ruin it?"

"Because," Goku replied simply, "he's floating right behind you and, judging by the look on his face I don't think he's not in love with you too."

The reactions to Goku's strangely worded return confession were mixed. Piccolo was clearly mortified. Videl looked embarrassed for both of them. Bulma was snickering and Vegeta was pleased that some of his evilness had rubbed off so well on her. He was chuckling nastily himself. And Gohan…

Gohan appeared to be on the verge of vomiting.

He turned slowly, his eyes making a valiant effort to escape his face, and he stared at his former teacher, his aura flickering and dying when he confirmed that yes, Piccolo had heard everything he had said and yes, he had just confirmed Videl's words himself. Vegeta grinned his sadistic best as Piccolo swallowed hard.

"Hey…Gohan…"

Awkward.

"Er…hi…Piccolo."

Magnificently awkward. Vegeta decided to get involved with teenage drama more often, if only for the sheer enjoyment of watching such brilliantly hilarious awkwardness at its climax. Goku was grinning too, though it was a stupid, giddy grin rather than an evil one. How that man could even have a drop of Saiyan blood was beyond him. Videl was still blushing, though the embarrassment had been replaced with tentative triumph.

"We should…" Piccolo cast an eye over the audience, the muscles in his jaw working overtime under the stress. He shifted slightly and looked out over Gohan's shoulder. There was a pause as the boy, quivering with the obvious desire to fly to the other side of the planet and hide there, waited for the Namek to finish his thought. "We should talk," Piccolo finished and he managed to throw Vegeta a mildly annoyed look through his visible nervousness, "Alone."

Vegeta almost protested, wanting to stay for the awkwardness, but Goku, who was already in the process of flying away, took hold of his leg and began to drag him backwards, "No problem, guys! Work it out!" he called happily over his shoulder, still grinning like a friggin clown.

None of them noticed the still present helicopter, hovering in the backgroud.

A/N: So, um. Yeah, the next chapter's the last. And…I hope this one was okay. And…read and review! Thanks!