Chapter Nine

Vigilante Justice

xxxx

"So I was thinking that Shu has gone too far this time."

"And you chose to wait to tell me this at three in the morning?"

It was the night after Lime had lost it in front of Shu, and it had taken Gohan forever to get to sleep. He was worried about his friend, and was rather annoyed that he had spent so much time and effort on the motorcycle only for their highly strung mentalist teacher to confiscate it.

In all honesty, they hadn't seen a problem that Lime hadn't passed a formal test to ride it, they lived in a pretty remote area, and Gohan had seen children as young as Trunks driving tractors whilst helping their parents on the farms. But of course Shu was the kind of nutcase that would have completed a thorough background check as soon as he saw them pull up on the bike in front of the school gates.

When Gohan did finally get to sleep, he didn't expect to be woken up a mere two hours later by a loud tapping at his window. And it was loud, he was surprised that his mother didn't wake up from the sound. Opening his bedroom window, he nearly jumped a mile when he saw Lime floating outside his window, waving cheerily at him. It took him a couple of seconds to realise she was sat on top of Icarus.

"I've been up all night plotting!" she whispered excitedly, "That greasy git won't know what hit him!"

"Lime, I'm way too tired for this, Piccolo and Vegeta will be here in a few hours and I -," Gohan sighed, before cutting short, "Wait, did you say plotting?"

Lime's eyes twinkled in the starlight, "Gohan, were going to get my baby back."

The young saiyan stared at her for a moment, when it dawned on him that she was all dressed in black. "Oh no, ohhh no we are not breaking into school! Have you officially gone mental?" he whispered harshly.

"We're not breaking in," she sighed with a roll of her eyes, "We're just going to quietly jump over the fence and take back what's rightfully mine."

"So whats with the black clothes then?" he argued.

Lime grinned, "Stealth mode."

Gohan snorted, "You have a mode?"

He was immediately awarded with a smack on the head.

"Stop taking the piss!" She pressed, "If you can have a costume then I can have a mode."

"There's a bit of difference."

"Shut up," Lime ordered, "Are you in or not?"

Gohan looked at her, the top of her auburn hair covered by a black beanie and her petite frame sporting black leggings and jumper. She had even cut out a piece of cloth from Kami knows where so that Icarus had his own black mask. Lime stared back with so much hope in her eyes, that he couldn't bring himself to refuse her.

"Fine," he sighed, giving in and causing the girl to let out a small squeal, "But what do I wear? I can't go as The Gold Fighter just in case someone catches us."

"Oh don't worry I've thought about your little alter ego problem," she smirked, before thrusting a duffle bag into his chest, "I got you an outfit all picked out."

"This is surreal," Gohan blinked.

"I know right!" she beamed, "Now get a move on, strip off and hop on!"

"Now there's a phrase I've heard before - Ow!"

xxxx

There was not a soul around when they arrived at Chazke Village, much to Gohan and Lime's delight. They landed a couple of yards away from the cricket fields so they wouldn't be spotted, and after Gohan had ordered Icarus to stay put, they made their way to the back gates which was the easiest way to get into the school.

"It looks so creepy in the dark," Lime whispered.

Gohan rolled his eyes, "Don't tell me your getting cold feet now!"

"Of course not!" She scoffed, approaching the wire fencing that separated them from the gymnasium, "Come on, I'll give you a leg up."

The halfling gave her a confused look. Lime had squatted low, and had her hands clamped together in front of her, waiting.

"Why do I have to go first when this was your idea?" Gohan whispered harshly, "and you can't lift me!"

"Shut it," she growled back, "You have to get over and kill the security cameras first you plonker, how do you expect me to do that?"

Gohan groaned, "Can't I just fly us over?"

"Certainly not!" She frowned, "You're ruining the thrill of adventure!"

Giving up, the young saiyan sighed, placing his foot on her hands; "You're having way too much fun with this."

Not waiting for a reply, he clambered up the fence, but almost instantly was confronted with a problem. "Bloody hell Lime," he swore, "Why did you make me wear your skinny jeans?!"

She sighed from below, "Because your's have holes in and someone might notice your pale skinny knees!"

"What?!" Gohan whirled around to face her, "My knees aren't pale or skinny!"

"Oh don't be so vain Gohan," she tutted, "They're just knees, no one cares."

"Well I care!" he yelled, causing several dogs to bark from nearby gardens.

"Hurry up!" Lime panicked, her eyes darting around her, "We won't even make it over the gate at this rate!"

Shooting her a glare, Gohan managed to jump the last bit of the fence before quickly phasing in and out, disabling every camera he could find with a small shock of Ki. Within a matter of seconds, was he able to unlock the gates and allow Lime entrance.

"My lady," he bowed mockingly.

Lime rolled her eyes at him.

Gohan was surprised just how easy it was to break into school, all it took was the use of one of Lime's bobby pins to unlock the gymnasium doors. Once they were safely inside, Gohan was able to cut out any CCTV he came across, though there wasn't much of it. He supposed that not much expense was spared on security measures for a small school in a mountain town.

The halls were dark and deserted, and Gohan had to agree with Lime that it had an eerie feel to it. As they walked, their shoes squeaked on the tiled floor, the sound echoing throughout the empty corridors.

"So do you have any idea on where your bike might be?" Gohan asked after they had been walking a while.

"Nope!" Lime replied cheerily.

The halfling stopped in his tracks, "What do you mean, no? I thought you had a plan!"

"I did," she blinked, "The plan was to break in, which we just did, I didn't really get this far."

Gohan face-palmed, how did he get roped into this?

"But its alright!" She grinned, "I have a hunch that it might be round the old technology buildings."

"That's the other side of the school!"

"I know," Lime smiled wickedly, "But I want to get back at Shu first!"

And with that, she ran down the hall away from Gohan, leaving him in the dust.

"Lime wait!" he hissed, before making the quick decision to follow her.

When he reached her, he found that Shu's office door was thrown wide open, and Lime was already rummaging through the desk draws.

"How the hell did you manage to get in here?" he asked in bewilderment.

"Hair pin wouldn't work," she said matter of fact, without looking up, "So I used this trick my Dad was telling me about with locks! And Shu had a lot of them!"

Gohan frowned, "I'm beginning to think your father's a bad influence on you."

"Oh don't be so jealous," she said, sticking her tongue out before continuing to search, "Now where -? Aha!"

The halfling couldn't help but laugh when she pulled out her confiscated bangles with one hand and her Gold Fighter figurine with the other. She beamed, kissing The Gold Fighter all over its face, "Yes!"

"You don't kiss me like that," Gohan pouted, folding his arms across his chest.

Lime took no time in bounding over to him and giving him a long kiss on the lips. "Better?" she grinned, leaving the halfling flushed, "Now get over here, look at all this rubbish he's got!"

As Gohan stepped further into the room, he realised just how much of a psychopath his teacher was. Professor Shu's office was dark, having no windows and with only a dull light bulb that hung from the low ceiling. His desk was of a shiny mahogany, books and papers were neatly stacked and filed on shelves that lined the walls. There was a fireplace behind the desk, that looked like it hadn't been lit in years. Above it was a mantel piece, where hung a large oil painting of the man himself, that gave off a cold and domineering presence.

Shu's desk had various sizes of canes lined upon it like a posh set of silverware, with eerily empty photo frames facing towards the chair. The draw Lime was rummaging though showed just how much stuff the man had taken off students since he had been here. Jewellery, stink bombs, bouncy balls, frisbees, various scraps of paper and -

"No bloody way," Lime gasped, a brown file open in her hands.

"What is it?" Gohan asked, yet his eyes widened as soon as he caught sight of it.

It was his school record, his own face grinning out at him. It had the usual sort of stuff like address, birth date, grades etc; but was was more unusual was the various newspaper clippings and hand written notes that were stuffed in between the usual pages. Images of The Gold Fighter, old tournament records connecting him to his father; Son Goku Vs Piccolo Jr. East Kingdom news; 'Ox-princess weds World Martial Arts Champion'. The Cell Games; who was this mysterious delivery boy? Pages and pages of diagrams and articles, a file proving, or at least proposing that he, Gohan was the boy who fought Cell. The Gold Fighter.

"G-Gohan," Lime whispered, "He knows, he knows your-"

"Knows, or is having a pretty good guess of trying to expose something unfavourable about me," Gohan spat bitterly.

"No wonder he went off on one yesterday about The Gold Fighter," said Lime, "He's frustrated that the public adore you! The nutcase probably drew this up when you were still a wanted criminal."

"Bastard," the halfling growled, "All this 'cause I had a bit of a go at him when I was seven."

"And your mum threw him out your window," she offered, trying to lighten the mood.

Gritting his teeth, Gohan grabbed the file off of Lime and tucked it under his arm, "Come on, we've got to get this and us out of here."

The girl nodded, about to follow him when she gasped, throwing the rucksack she was carrying off her shoulder and rummaging through it.

"What are you doing now?" Gohan whispered as she grabbed two spray cans and tossed him one.

"I say we leave our mark, stick it to the man!" she grinned.

"Are you mad?" he said sharply, "He'll know its us!"

"Not if we don't sign our names you barmpot!" She shot back, wasting no time in jumping on top of the desk and defacing the painting above the fire place.

Gohan couldn't help but laugh when she sprayed Shu a new bright pink moustache and glasses, along with goofy teeth and a rather generous bosom.

"Your turn!" Lime grinned, jumping from the desk, "Let's see what you've got Gold Fighter."

The young saiyan frowned, not really sure what he should do when an idea came to mind. The sound of the air canister setting to work filled the room as Gohan moved the canister around. After about a minute, he stood back, admiring the newly defaced wall.

'Vigilante Justice!'

"Nice touch," Lime smiled, as the halfling looked rather proud of himself, "But what's with the kiss at the end?"

Gohan immediately turned back to the wall in horror.

'X'

"Fuck!" he whined, "It was supposed to be an ominous marking! Do you really think it looks like a kiss?"

Lime scoffed, folding her arms across her chest, "Honestly? You might as well have put 'lots of love' at the end. You're not too good at this are you?"

Gohan groaned, "Do you think we should spray over it?"

The girl shook her head, "Nah, leave it now. If there's anything that will shake Shu up it's a bit of affection."

Gohan laughed as she grinned at him.

"Come on, lets move it lover boy."

As it turned out, Lime was right on the money when she guessed her bike was being stowed away behind the old tech buildings. The Comprehensive was rather old, and dated back to a time where all the boys had to study mechanics and every girl had to do domestic science, which certainly wasn't imposed now. Thus, the technology complex wasn't used anymore, only for the occasional storage purposes. The buildings were mainly comprised of old garages, where workshops used to take place fixing up cars and doing carpentry, which was exactly where Shu had locked Lime's motorcycle away.

"He's it chained to the floor!" Lime huffed, struggling to pull the bike free of its restraints, "When the bloody hell did he have time to do that?!"

"Stand back," Gohan growled, he had had enough. Lime moved aside, just as the halfling shot out several balls of Ki at the shackles.

"Woohoo!" Lime cheered, wrapping her arms around the front of it and jumping up and down, "She's free! She's free! She's -!"

"OI! What's going on in there?!"

The teenager's froze, as a gruff voice penetrated the air, along with a heavy pair of footsteps.

"Oh bollocks!" Lime cried, "It's the caretaker!"

Gohan blinked, "We have a caretaker?!"

"You seriously need to start paying more attention in school," she stated, just as the jingling of keys and footsteps grew louder.

"Who's there?!" The caretaker bellowed, "There's no use trying to escape, I've already called the police!"

"Shit!" the teenagers chorused.

"We must have missed a camera somewhere!" Lime whispered harshly.

"Damn it!" said Gohan, "Come on, I'll fly us out of here!"

"No!" she cried, tearing her arm away from him, "We've come this far, I'm not leaving without my baby!"

"Lime," the halfling said carefully, "It's just a bike, its really not worth getting arrested over."

"It's not just a bike!" she yelled, angry tears springing into her eyes, "My Dad passed it on to me, and he seemed so excited that it was all done up. I just wanted -"

"Lime, you've got nothing to prove to him," Gohan soothed.

"What would you know?!" she spat, taking him by surprise.

"I'm sorry," she mustered after a beat of awkward silence, "I was upset."

Gohan sighed, "No I'm sorry, its important to you."

Lime gave him a watery smile, before swinging one leg over the bike. "Come on then, get on! They'll be here soon!"

He obliged, as the sound of sirens reached their ears. "You think we can outrun them?" he asked, holding tightly onto her waist.

"Baby, you just worry about yourself back there, it's going to get bumpy."

With that she revved the engine. The motorcycle roared to life just as the garage doors swung open and they were greeted by one frantic caretaker and four police cars.

"Stop thieves!"

But their words were drowned out by the skidding of tires upon the mud, as Lime sped clean through the gap in the cars and away from the complex. It didn't take long for the police to be hot on there tail, so Gohan quickly blasted open the school gates they had previously jumped over, leaving them a clean break for the path up to the mountains.

"You alright back there?!" Lime shouted over the engine.

Gohan coughed, the wind causing her hair to blow into his mouth. "Yeah but at this rate I'm going to end up coughing up a hairball!" He yelled back.

"What?!"

"I said-!"

Neenaar Neenar Neenar Neenar Neenar WOOOOOOOO WOOOOOO WOOOOOOO

"Looks like they called back up!" Lime cried as more sirens joined the others.

Gohan looked behind them, where the blue lights were quickly catching up to them. He swore under his breath, apparently breaking into a school was a much bigger deal than he had originally anticipated.

"Lime! LIME!" Gohan roared, as he caught sight of the forest in the distance.

"WHAT?!"

"You carry on!" He yelled, "Get to the forest where they can't fit through!"

Lime glanced behind her quickly, "Oh no Son Gohan you are not ditching me now!"

"I'm not ditching you!" He argued, "Just go! I'll handle the coppers then catch you up!"

"Gohan, what are you-?!" she started, but the young saiyan had already leapt from the motorcycle and flew high above the clouds. He pressed the button on his wrist watch and powered up to his super saiyan form, as soon as the visor slid over his green eyes did he descend, just in time to see Lime's blinking tail light approach the edge of the forest.

With the sudden appearance of a glowing golden teenager in the middle of the road, the police chase screeched to a halt, the nearest car stopping just inches away from his boots.

"G-Gold Fighter!" One of the police men gasped, as they clambered out of their respective vehicles in shock.

"Evening gents, what seems to be the problem?" Gohan asked calmly.

The officer's shared a look, until another spoke. "Well you see Mister Gold Fighter, we were in the middle of a car chase and-"

"Were you really?!" Gohan gasped in mock horror, "Blimey! Well I am terribly sorry, I had no idea!"

An awkward silence encompassed them, a cricket sounded from somewhere in the long blades of grass.

"Er yes," The policeman coughed, "You see, a couple of youths broke in to the school down in the village…"

"Hmmm, a school you say…interesting…," he pondered thoughtfully.

"Indeed," the man spoke warily, "and they're sort of… getting away…"

"Aha!" Gohan cried suddenly, causing them all to jump, "Say no more my good men, I'll hunt them down for you, they couldn't have gotten too far."

"Oh Mister Gold Fighter, there really is no need-"

"Nonsense! I'd be happy to help!" he boasted, hoping that Lime had made good enough distance by now, "Seems as though they've gotten into that forest from what I gather, there's no way you could fit your car's down there."

"We could always follow you on foot!" a rather enthusiastic young officer called out.

"No, no," Gohan replied, thinking quickly, "I'm afraid it's far too dangerous. You are aware of the fearsome dragon that roams these woods at night aren't you?"

"Come off it," a burley gentleman griped, "They're just stories made up by the villagers!"

"I don't know," the young saiyan said ambiguously, "I've heard that all you have to do is whistle, and if he's hungry enough, he'll come."

With all officers eyes on him, Gohan put his thumb and forefinger into is mouth and blew, emitting a rather loud whistle that echoed over the mountains.

Nothing happened for a good few seconds, but then Gohan caught something out of the corner of his eye.

"Ah, there he is!" He called, as Icarus circled high above the clouds, emitting a mighty roar. The police officers cried out in horror when the large dragon landed beside his master.

"Would you look at that," Gohan said in mock awe, looking the beast up and down, "Absolutely terrifying."

But when the teenager looked back, he found that the officers were already speeding away in their cars back to the village. "That's the right idea lads!" he called, "No worries, I'll handle this!"

As the red tail lights disappeared, Gohan scratched Icarus behind the ear, "Thanks boy, you got me out of a right pickle there."

The dragon purred, drenching the young saiyan with his long wet tongue.

"Come on," Gohan laughed, floating up from the ground, "Let's go find Lime, I'm sure she's got far enough away by now."

Gohan and Icarus managed to locate the girl a few minutes later, completely beside herself that she had been involved in a real life car chase. When she had calmed down, they had made their way back to the village, Gohan flying the both of them and the bike this time. They had securely tucked it away in the safety of Mr Lao's garage, and both agreed they wouldn't overuse it so that no one would get suspicious.

Mister Shu, on the other hand, was very suspicious of the pair of them, although he certainly could not prove a thing. The Headmaster, Mister Shilling, had stated that only some kind of security specialist have found a way to shut down the cameras, as the way they had been blown apart inside was a mystery, which only made Shu all the more furious.

It was concluded that it had been an unprovoked robbery, and Shu had actually been called to Mister Shilling's office for keeping a motorcycle on school grounds, apparently, it wasn't within their protocol. The attack to his office had been overlooked in favour of focussing updating their security systems. In the meantime, he had been given the store cupboard by the gym changing rooms as an office until his was repainted.

The news with what had happened to Shu spread around the school like wildfire, and the students were particularly delighted that he had finally got a piece of his own medicine. There were various rumours circulating about who had done it, but one in particular had caught Gohan's attention in maths class on Thursday afternoon.

"My Dad works for East City police," a girl named Erin Chang whispered when the teacher's back was turned, "And he said some of his work mates on patrol saw The Gold Fighter around last night, said he fought off a dragon and went after the thieves!"

"Come off it!" The boy next to her scoffed, "I don't believe a word, what would The Gold Fighter be doing in Chazke Village?"

"Imagine though," another boy chimed, "What if he somehow heard how Shu was treating us and did something about it?! Word is that he knows things you know, shows up when people least expect it. I suspect Shu is terrified. Serves him right, the git."

"Vigilante Justice…," Erin said slowly, "That's what was written on Shu's office wall, it could have been him!"

"The Gold Fighter looks out for everyone, he's so cool."

"Drop dead gorgeous too."

Gohan was busy trying to bury his face in his textbook when Lime nudged him and mouthed, "See, you are a superhero!"

The following day, the young saiyan was particularly irked, he had nearly given the game away numerous times last night and people were starting to make connections, not to mention that Shu was right on his tail. Speaking of tails -

"Bulma, I need to hide my tail," he stated boldly, slamming down the sadistic file Shu had made upon the woman's desk.

Bulma stared at him, wide eyed after flicking through the document and Gohan had finished explaining, rather colourfully, just what an absolute nutter his teacher was.

"Right, okay," she said slowly, placing a hand on her baby bump, "So you've got to be a bit more careful around him, but what does that have to do with your tail?"

"Bulma, if anyone sees my tail as Gohan or The Gold Fighter, someone, if not Shu, will make the connection to my dad from the old tournaments and then to me, my secret identity would not be so secret anymore!" He explained hotly, tearing at his hair.

"Pressure of being famous getting to you kid?" Bulma mused.

Yet Gohan wasn't listening, "I'm already so tired I'm getting sloppy, first Shu and now my class mates are already connecting me to writing that stuff on the wa-"

Gohan immediately clamped his mouth shut, realising his slip. It had been on the local news that his school had gotten broken into, and no doubt his mother would have informed Bulma in their daily hour long conversations. Seriously, what do women have to talk about for so long?

"What stuff on the wall?" Bulma's eyes narrowed dangerously at him.

Gohan cringed, looks like Chi-Chi had told her about his school getting broken into, the parents had received an emergency phone call explaining the break in, and they had yet to catch the culprit, though they were assured that no one had been harmed.

"Nothing, I don't know what you're talking about Bulma, are you sure you heard me right?" Gohan laughed nervously.

"Gohan…"

"Oh alright it was me!" He sighed, "Shu confiscated Lime's motorbike off her so we got it back."

"YOU BROKE INTO A-!" Bulma started, before she realised that she was indeed sat within her office complex, someone might hear. "You broke into a school?!" she continued to a harsh whisper, "Gohan what on earth were you thinking? Is that how you managed to get this file?"

"He deserved it!" He protested, causing the woman to groan, "He had no right taking that from her! And anyway, I only graffitied words on the wall. It was Lime's idea to give his portrait a pair of knockers."

Bulma attempted to give him a disapproving look, but couldn't hide the amused smile that crept across her lips. "Oh kid, what am I going to do with you?"

Gohan smiled, "Erm, hows about please don't tell my mum and build me something to hide my tail when I transform?"

She sighed, "Well alright but no breaking into anywhere again, am I clear?"

He nodded, "Thanks Bulma, oh and would you be able to make something tonight? I've got to get home by ten."

Bulma blinked, "Since when do you stick to a curfew?"

"Since I know that Piccolo and Vegeta will give up looking for me by then, and also Mum won't realise I'm technically missing until then either," he informed her.

Bulma's eyes widened.

"Yeah I'm sort of hiding from them, I'm skipping out of training tonight - please don't tell Vegeta I was here!" He added quickly.

"Oh Gohan…"

Four hours later and Gohan was stood in his Gold Fighter costume, in front of a full length mirror in the Briefs' living room with his eyes closed tightly, awaiting the grandeur that Bulma was about to reveal.

"Okay, open!"

The young saiyan did as he was told, snapping his eyes open in excitement. Unfortunately his excitement was short lived.

"Its a cape," he stated dumbly, observing the long black and silver cloth that was clipped into the shoulders of his bodice.

"Yes a cape!" said Bulma proudly, "Genius isn't it? Classic, stylish and hides your tail perfectly."

Gohan frowned, she did have a point, he couldn't spot his tail unless he waved it vigorously under the cloth. But still it just looked…

"Well? What do you think?" asked Bulma gleefully.

"Um," he started, "It looks…"

"It looks stupid," piped Trunks from where he was sipping on his juice carton. The four year old had bumped into Gohan when the teen was heading for the bathroom about two hours prior. Fed up of waiting for Bulma to finish, Gohan had offered to play with the boy in exchange for him not telling his father that he had been at Capsule Corp.

"Stupid?!" Bulma gasped, "It doesn't look stupid! Gohan, tell him!"

"Well… he does have a point…" Gohan mustered.

"Oh!" the blue haired women scoffed, waving her arms in frustration, "Oh well then! That's just charming! Four hours of my time and thats the thanks I get! We should change your name whilst were at it to the ungrateful fighter!"

The two boys stared.

"Yeah that was pretty rubbish too Mum," said Trunks.

Bulma growled, collapsing on the sofa in a huff.

"Aw don't be mad Mum!" Trunks whined, "None of the really cool superhero's have capes anymore!"

"They don't?" Gohan and Bulma chorused.

"Nuh uh," explained the purpled haired prince, "Baddies always grab hold of them, they get sucked into vortexes and into plane engines and -"

"See?!" Gohan interrupted, "Trunks knows! I don't want to get sucked into a plane engine!"

"Well you had better not fly too close hadn't you?" Bulma scoffed, "Sorry kid but thats all I've got, I'm way too pregnant for all this suit stuff."

Both boys' pouted.

"Oh it doesn't look that bad Gohan, I think it makes you look more heroic!"

Gohan sighed, "I'm not supposed to look heroic, I'm a vigilante, I'm supposed to be dark and mysterious!"

"That's why I made it black and silver," she smirked.

"Wow Bulma looks like you've thought of everything," he said sarcastically.

"I'll have less of your cheek young man-" she started, when a loud slam caused the complex to shake.

"WOMAN, WHERE IS YOUR BLASTED HARPY OF A MOTHER? I'M HUNGRY!"

"-unless you want me to set Vegeta on you," Bulma added playfully.

Gohan yelped, running to the window and flinging it wide open. He managed to get one leg outside when Trunks called, "Bye Gohan! Come back and play soon!"

Blasting into his super saiyan form, the newly caped Gold Fighter leapt from the window and shot into the night sky as quickly as his Ki would carry him, the bellow of the Prince of All Saiyan's calling after him.

"WAS THAT THE ELDEST BRAT I SAW JUMPING FROM MY WINDOW?!"