Chapter 4: Do I Know You?
Three days have passed since the strange occurrences with Chi Chi and Vegeta, things have been calm, and there was no word from Piccolo and Dende about this "Dark Force." Gohan was getting ready for school. Today should be a good day, last day this week. Gohan was smiling then he thought Gosh, I can't wait for the weekend. He grabbed his bag and went out into the kitchen. There, his mother was cooking breakfast, and Goku was asleep hunched over the table.
"Good morning son, what are you planning on doing today?" Asked Chi Chi.
"Well, if I can, probably go around the city after school." Gohan replied with a laugh.
"Oh, I see. So you're going to stall a little while before you come home right?" Chi Chi said.
Gohan looked down and blushed. "Yes mom, remember what we talked about the other day." Said Gohan. "You already approved of it, so just make sure Dad doesn't eat all of the food for the weekend."
"Oh, don't worry son, I'll keep him in line." Chi Chi said with a smirk. "She'll make a lovely bride Gohan."
"Mom stop embarrassing me!" Gohan yelled. His mother looked at him confused and his father sat up and yawned. Gohan then stopped and turned away. "I'm sorry mom, I didn't mean to yell. I have to go. See you guys later." Gohan opened the door and flew off.
"Hey Mom, does that mean Gohan is having a guest over?" Goten asked.
"Yes it does Goten."
"Yay! Alright! I love it when there is guests over!" Goten yelled in excitement. "Is there anything you want me to do?"
Chi Chi looked at Goku, who was sitting back in his chair, still half asleep. Hmm... that man is so handsome. "Yes Goten," she said, "Go out and catch some fish, I'm sure your father would be really happy to have fish for dinner."
"Okay." Goten said. "I'll be back later, I'm going to try and catch the biggest fish possible." Then he turned around and flew out to go fishing.
"Mmmm... what is that smell?" Goku said while yawning. "It smells amazing!" Chi Chi looked at her husband and smiled.
"It's breakfast, but I don't think you're getting any." Chi Chi said sarcastically. "Unless of course..." Chi Chi began to blush and bite her lip. Goku looked at her, then at the food, then at her again. He thought I'm so hungry, but then again, it has been a while. But I'm hungry. Goku thought for a minute, then answered...
"Alright Chi Chi, how about this. If you let me eat breakfast, then I'll be more than ready, cause right n" Goku said with a smile.
Chi Chi sighed. "Well at least you're being honest." She bit her lip again. Goku watched. "Alright..." Chi Chi said, "You get your breakfast, but you'll be in trouble if I don't get a 'reward' for feeding you this morning."
Goku jumped out of his seat. "Oh yeah! Alright! Breakfast and..." Chi Chi cut him off.
"Shh! Goku, we don't want the whole world to know now do we?"
Goku whispered. "Oh right. Sorry." This is going to be awesome! Food!
"Wow, it's rather dark this morning." Said Gohan flying toward School. On his way, he spotted Videl flying as well. "Hello down there." He Called. Videl looked up and saw him waving to her.
"Hello Gohan, good morning, you can fly next to me ya know." Videl yelled back. Gohan flew down to where Videl was flying and greeted her with a smile. "You're quite cheery today Gohan. What's gotten into you?"
"Well, I guess i'm just.. umm..." Gohan quieted down.
"Just what Gohan?" Videl asked.
"Oh nothing." Videl, he thought I really want to take you out after school, but I don't know why it's so hard for me to ask. Videl looked at Gohan.
"Did you say something?"
"Who, me? No, I don't think so."
"I could have sworn you said something to me." Videl was curious. Well, if you want to go out, we can Gohan. Thought Videl.
"What?" said Gohan.
"Huh, nothing Gohan." She replied. "I was thinking, maybe after school, we can go hang out." Said Videl, who began to blush. Gohan looked at her with delight.
"Sure, that would be nice Videl." Gohan said. She Smiled at Gohan. They sped up so they wouldn't be late.
School started. They sat next to each other in each class. They would occasionally get distracted by one another, and when called upon, say something completely off topic, and the class would laugh. At lunch, they discussed their plans.
"So, Gohan, what do you think we should do after school?" Videl asked.
"Well, I'm not too sure, go to a movie, walk around town? I'm not too sure."
"Well, I was thinking we could just walk around town today, we fly enough as it is." Said Videl with a humorous tone.
Gohan smiled "Yeah, sure. I'd like that." Videl then smiled, and the bell signaling the end of lunch rang.
"So, meet me at the front door after school." Videl said beggining to blush.
Gohan blushing as well. "Sure thing."
In the Capsule Corporation, young Trunks is sitting in his room, reflecting on some of the adventures he's had the past year. So weird, I mean, I knew I wasn't a normal child, but everything I've been through since that disgusting creep Buu, it's so annoying. Grrrr. Then that Hirudegarn guy had to come along and destroy everything. Grrr. I'm just glad that Tapion guy ever came around. He was awesome. Trunks sat on his bed, grabbing the sword that Tapion gave him before his departure. He admired the sword, missing his friend. Thanks Tapion, I'll use this sword wisely.
"Trunks honey... where are you?" Called Bulma. Trunks didn't answer, he was in a trance, staring at the sword "Trunks?" Bulma walked up to the door and knocked. "Trunks, you in there?"
"Yes mom, you can come in ya know." Trunks said. Bulma opened the door and looked at Trunks with concern. Trunks never stayed in his room all day, so what must be bothering him. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to him. "I miss him mom." Said Trunks. "I miss him alot. Just when I had thought that I had another friend, he had to go back home."
"I know Trunks, you really liked him. But you know, people from other planets have their families back home too." Bulma said, "Besides, I'm sure he'll never forget you."
Trunks looked at the sword and sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Hopefully this thing will come in handy." Trunks looked up at his mom and smiled.
"That's the spirit..." Bulma paused as Vegeta walked by Trunks room. She continued "Now come on, Daddy promised to take you and me out to the circus later."
Upon hearing this, Vegeta lost it. "WHAT! I NEVER SAID SUCH A THING WOMAN!" Bulma and Trunks both laughed. Trunks got up and placed his sword next to his bed and walked out of the room with Bulma.
"Come on Vegeta," She said, "It'll be fun." Bulma and Trunks began to walk down the hall.
Vegeta though for a moment. "Absolutely not, I have no time for it. I have training to do. True warriors stay prepared." Vegeta turned his back the other way, crossed his arms, and tilted his head up. Bulma stopped and turned around, and thought for a minute. Her face lit up as she got an idea. She walked up to Vegeta, wrapped her arms around his stomach and rested her head on his shoulder.
She then moved her face close to Vegeta's ear and whispered, "If you take us out to the circus, you'll be rewarded handsomely."
"What kind of reward?" Vegeta asked with interest.
Bulma replied in an arousing voice. "Well, maybe later, you and I can..." Bulma was interupted when Vegeta shook himself free.
"Alright." He said as he turned around. "Be ready in ten minutes, we are going to the circus." Trunks became filled with joy and began hopping up and down.
"Yes sir." Trunks said with excitement. He ran down stairs to get his shoes ready. Bulma winked at Vegeta and leaned in for a kiss. Vegeta did the same and kissed her back. Then Bulma turned away and began to walk toward the stairs. Vegeta watched his wife walk away, he closely examined her curves.
Vegeta thought to himself Yes, I truely am one lucky saiyan prince.
The bell signaling the end of school rang, and Videl was at the front door waiting for Gohan. Unfortunately for her, Sharpner showed up and began trying to score a date. But that ended quickly when Gohan arrived at the door.
"Hey Videl, so what did he want?" Gohan asked.
"Hrmph! Just Sharpner being a total dweeb again." Videl replied.
"Oh, well, ready to go?"
"Sure, I've been ready all day." Videl said. They got up and walked off. Their "date" started off nicely. They first went to an ice cream shop. There, Videl had one bowl of Ice Cream, while Gohan, with his father's ginormous appetite, had about twenty bowls of ice cream. Videl watched him slurp down each bowl, each only taking five seconds to get through. They left the shop, but not after Gohan got a cone to share with Videl. Videl was astounded by Gohan's appetite, but she was feeling something more for Gohan build up, feelings that she hadn't felt before. She didn't want to tell Gohan, not yet. She still needed to figure out what these dreams she was having meant. Before long, the sun had began to set, but this didn't mean their night was over.
"Uh oh." Said Dende.
"What is it?" Piccolo asked.
"Yes, please do tell." Mr. Popo added.
"I am sensing that dark force again." Dende said.
"Should we tell the others?" Piccolo said in concern.
"I don't think so, I'm sensing it from Satan City, and right now, Gohan is out on the town with Videl. If anything happens, he'll be there."
"Can Gohan handle it alone?" Piccolo asked.
"I think so, it's not much stronger than him, I think he'll be just fine."
Piccolo sighed. "So, Gohan is out on a date." Piccolo said as he turned to walk back to his meditation spot. "Slacker." He said to himself.
The sun was setting, and it was almost time for Gohan to head home.
"Today was amazing Gohan." Videl told him.
"Yeah, you really think so?"
"Of course." She smiled. "Too bad it's over."
"Not yet it's not." Gohan said.
"What do you mean Gohan?" Videl asked. Gohan blushed and looked down.
"Well, I called your house the other day, and your father answered. I talked to him for a little while, he said you were asleep." Gohan paused. "He said that he wanted this weekend to himself, to rearrange his thoughts." Videl listened to Gohan's words with interest, and looked into his eyes. "I asked if I could help in anyway, and he told me there is one way, he told me that it was alright for you to stay at my house this weekend, if my mother approved of course." Gohan stopped.
"That's odd, my Dad would never let me stay at a boys house."
"Well, he said if it was any other boy, he'd have none of it, but because it's me, he was fine with it."
"That's great Gohan, but... Did your mother approve?"
Gohan sighed, and Videl looked down sadly, thinking that his mother had not approved of the idea. She sighed. Just then, Gohan put his arm around Videl's shoulder. "Of course she did! I wouldn't have told you all of this unless she had said yes. That would have been cruel." Videl looked up, she had some tears in her eyes, but then they dissapeared, and she smiled. "Videl, why were you crying?" Gohan asked.
"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just happy that I get to spend the weekend with you." She said, drying her tears. They stood up, and Videl wrapped her arms around Gohan. Gohan was about to do the same, but was interupted when the ground started to shake. The ground shook violently, causing signs suspended from buildings to crash onto the ground. Videl held Gohan as tight as she could. The shaking stopped, and they thought the worst was over. Down the street however, an explosion erupted from the innards of a coffee shop.
"Lets go check it out Videl, this could be trouble." Videl nodded her head, and the flew over to the coffee shop.
"Please... d... don't hurt me mister." The waiter said. "Please, I'll give you anything you want, just don't hurt me." His clothes were torn up, his red shirt was ripped completley off, and his pants had multiple slash marks in them. He was picked up by the throat by a large figure. His whole body was a very dark shade of grey, his eyes were completely red.
Gohan and Videl arrived. Both of them shocked to see this figure.
"Gohan, what is that thing?" Videl asked in fear.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Gohan said. He walked into the coffee shop. "Hey, who are you?" He yelled. No response. "I said..."
"I heard what you said." The figure replied in a familiar voice. Gohan looked at this figure with his battle face on. "Hmm, so you want to fight huh kid, alright..." The dark figure dropped the waiter. ".. Lets GO!" He yelled.
Gohan got in his battle stance but before he could block anything, he was kicked into the air. The Figure moved faster than Gohan could see, whch left Gohan off guard. Gohan looked down as the figure jumped toward Gohan. The figure and Gohan were face to face, and the battle began. Each of them throwing punches and kicks that would knock regular humans out cold. Each punch and kick was blocked by both fighers, and Gohan knew this was going no where fast. The figure grabbed Gohan's throat and lifted him high in the air, Gohan closed his eyes as he was losing consciousness. The figure looked at him dissapointedly. "Pitifull, I thought a Saiyan would give me more of a fight." Hearing these words Gohan opened his eyes and began to power up. He put his hands on the figure's chest and channeled his ki into his palms. The figure had a sudden rush of fear on his face. Gohan then sent two blasts through the chest of the figure, causing him to let go. The figure fell to the ground, and struggled to get back up, having two holes in his chest. The shadow dissapeared, but his skin remained dark grey, and his eyes went from red to maroon. Gohan saw this and was shocked to see that the figure was wearing armor resembling a saiyan suit.
"Wow, this is nuts, he looks so familiar, but I can't put my finger on it..." Gohan floated high above the ground puzzled. "And on top of that, he is wearing Saiyan Armor, well, I'm going to find out who he is, one way or another." Gohan then began to channel his ki, and sorted out his thoughts. Then, Gohan put his hands above his head with his palms facing outward, one hand overlapping the other. "This should be interesting, I haven't used this technique in years."
What is this Gohan? I've never seen this before. Videl thought to herself.
The figure got up, and stumbled around a little. "Damn it, I can't believe this is happening to me." He looked up. "What! Oh no! I've seen this technique before! But where?" The figure began to flip through his thoughts. Then, fear filled his face. "Oh no! He's that little brat all grown up! Well, I'm not going back to hell without a fight!" The figure then pulled his arms into his sides, clenching his fists.
Gohan's ki had materialized into an orange colored ball. The dark figure thrust his right hand forward launching a large blue colored ki blast at Gohan.
"Alright then. You asked for it!" Gohan said. "Masenko... HA!" Gohan trusted his hands forward launching a huge energy wave, that consumed the blue ki blast launched by the dark figure.
"Oh no, what, this can't be! No!" Yelled the Dark Figure in fear and disbelief. The energy wave consumed his ki blast and his body, causing a thunderous explosion. Videl was sent flying.
She screamed as she went through the air. "Help me Gohan!" This caused Gohan to look, and he bolted toward Videl who had her eyes closed. Gohan used his super speed to get behind Videl and catch her.
"It's okay Videl, I got you." Gohan said in a reassuring voice. Videl smiled at him. "Hey, I'm going to set you down so I can go find out who this guy is, okay?"
"Sure Gohan, but be careful." Videl said. Gohan nodded, and flew toward where the explosion occurred. He landed and found the figure, who was no longer dark in color, but rather, blue, with a yellowish cap looking thing in the center of his head.
"Hey, I recognize you. You were one of Ginyu's men." Gohan said. "Yeah, I remember now, the one with the super speed, what was your name again. Hmm... it was..."
"That, Gohan, would be Burter." A voice called. The voice belonged to Vegeta, who had sensed the battle from West City while out with his family. "That low life ugly blue piece of scum!" Vegeta added.
"Well, he's not too lively anymore." Gohan said. Burter's body began to stir, but weakly.
"You fools." He said while coughing. "Just you wait, there will be more... where that came from." He said with a laugh. "You will all die!"
"I've had enough, how did you get out of hell?" Vegeta demanded.
"You'll know soon enough, he's the reason that you lost control over your actions at your home." Burter laughed. He will also be your downfall. Each and every one of you! You worthless excuse for a warrior!" Burter started to laugh again.
"Grrr.. SHUT UP!" Vegeta yelled. He lost his temper and kicked Burter high up into the air. He aimed his hand at Burter. "Take this you piece of trash. Big Bang Attack!" Vegeta launched the blast at Burter, which completley destroyed him. Then he looked at Gohan. "Alright, so now it's apparent that we have a problem to take care of." Gohan nodded his head. "Get home and tell Kakarrot what happened today. We need to take action. Burter was stronger than he was on Namek."
"Alright, so that means we should tell the others and meet on the lookout?" Gohan asked.
"Exactly right Gohan, now get going. I'll explain to Mr. Satan that you protected his daughter, not that I want to. Now go." Vegeta said.
"Right." replied Gohan. He flew over to Videl. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah, but, what about my father?"
"Oh don't worry, Vegeta's got that covered." Videl smiled in relief, and with that, the flew off toward Gohan's house.
In the Other World:
"King Kai, King Kai sir." Yelled a voice.
"Yes, what is it Olibu?"
"There is a serious problem, Grand Kai told me to gather you and the other Kais up to meet with him Immediately.
"It worked my lord."
"Excellent. We will soon be ready to take them out once and for all."