Chapter 8- Discovery
Gohan finally put down the human biology dictionary his grandfather had bought him for his birthday and turned to the clock. He saw it was no longer his birthday, the day having officially changed just five minutes ago. He turned out the light and went to bed, even though he was keen to explore the book further.
To his dismay, he was woken up again only six hours later. Piccolo's persistent mind connection had fully grabbed his conscious attention. "Gohan, I don't know if the DNA mix was successful or not, but the egg is developing normally. I should actually lay the egg in about two days. I've only accelerated his development by about half of what I was." Gohan vaguely got the feeling that Piccolo didn't want to put his child through the same thing he went through.
"Great," he thought tiredly and therefore a little incoherently. "Let me know if you need any help with anything." He added, before drifting back to sleep for a few more hours. There was still plenty of homework to get done on Sunday, and then it would be back to school on Monday.
Once again Gohan was glad he had left for school early. The frequency of crimes in this city was slightly disturbing. However, this time there was an emergency: the kind that involved faulty brakes on public transport.
He dropped out of the sky, cape snapping behind him as he rushed downward. The bus, which was approaching an intersection at a dangerous speed, took up the entirety of his focus. This was why he didn't notice Videl watching him from her helicopter.
Gohan swooped under the bus, his face mere inches from the bitumen whipping past below. He raised his Ki upwards until both he and the bus were soaring upward and forward. He gradually came to a halt in mid-air so that the people inside wouldn't be thrown out of their seats. The wheels took a good deal longer to stop turning than he thought they would, but eventually he was able to safely set the bus down on a much quieter street.
He peered through the window to make sure no one needed immediate medical attention. By the time he turned away, Videl had landed her helicopter and was approaching him on foot. Suddenly he was very glad he had his disguise. Videl came to a halt in front of him and folded her arms, tapping he foot impatiently, as if awaiting an explanation.
"Um, hi!" He blustered as he backed away, trying to put enough distance between them so that he would have time to safely take off without damaging their surroundings.
Videl, however, continued to advance sharply. "I might not know who you are yet, but I'll find out at school! Shall we go together?"
"School? I don't know what you're talking about!" He claimed wildly, sensing that if he retreated any further, he would be backed up against a wall.
"Humph, suit yourself. I'll find out eventually." She caved surprisingly quickly and turned back to her helicopter. Gohan took the opening and sped off in order to beat her to school so he wouldn't have to risk changing in front of her.
Gohan was fairly distracted by worry throughout the morning classes, so much so that he wasn't able to take his usual notes or finish all the assigned questions. He was almost thankful when the sport period rolled around. It might not be physically taxing for him, but at least it was an excuse to spend time outdoors.
Gohan still didn't fully understand the rules of this 'baseball' game, but he must be getting better because he was one of the first to be picked for a team this time. Videl eyed him suspiciously as he stood in line next to her. They were on the same team, so there would be no avoiding her for the next half hour or so. She glanced at him out the corner of her eye again as she ran a hand through her long hair.
"Um, hi!" he said nervously, hoping she didn't suspect him of being The Great Saiyaman.
This greeting, along with the day's events so far and a few impossibly high jumps and impossibly fast pitches, was all it took for Videl's suspicions to be confirmed. She confronted him after class, before he could disappear into the change rooms.
"Oi, Gohan," she called.
"Er, yes?" He asked, continuing to slowly inch towards the change rooms. He had to get away from her, what if he did something that made her suspect him?
"Look, I know it's you, alright? Let's skip the denial and get on to you teaching me how to fly." She added as he opened his mouth to protest.
He sighed, wondering how she could have possibly figured it out. "I don't have time for that right now." He admitted. He would need all the time he could get to train both himself and however many children happened to be running around at the time.
"Nonsense," Videl insisted, not wanting to give up potential flying lessons, or the opportunity to spend more time with Gohan. Not that she would admit that aloud. "We can train after school tomorrow, and on weekends. The World Martial Arts Tournament is coming up soon!"
Gohan still exuded discomfort and reluctance.
"If you don't teach me how to fly, I'll give away your identity." She threatened. "Don't you want to match up against me in the tournament?"
"Not really," he sighed, "I don't particularly like fighting unless I have to." He cringed as he thought about the battle against Cell for the first time in ages.
Videl failed to notice this and continued to hold the only blackmail she had above his head. "Right, I'll see you tomorrow. We can train for the tournament together... or else."
Gohan agreed, not seeing any other option.
After school the following day, he tried and failed to slip away unseen so that he could visit Piccolo and the egg before he started training with Videl. He ended up having to explain himself, and had a hard time convincing her that he would meet her there, and not just run off once he got away.
"We can't start training straight away; I need to see a friend about something important first. You know where the Mountain district is, don't you? Just wait in that area and I'll come find you." Again, he was trying to back far enough away from her that he could take off quickly without damaging anything or anyone.
She still looked sceptical, but she finally conceded to these terms. "You said you'll be training your brother too, right? Ok, but you'd better show up!" She added hotly, stomping to an area open enough to throw out her capsulized helicopter.
Once she was gone, Gohan quickly changed for his flight and sped off to the area he could sense Piccolo's Ki in. When he concentrated, he could sense another Ki right next to it. It was small and very faint, but it was there. He found himself grinning like an idiot at the thought of a baby Namek.
He landed beside Piccolo, who was sitting at the river's edge, wringing out the top and sash of his usual attire. It appeared to be covered in some sort of sticky, green mucous. The Namek glanced at the bundle of material from his cape every three seconds or so. Upon closer inspection, Gohan realised that it contained a somewhat lumpy egg that was off-white in colour, and splattered with the same green mucous.
He looked at the size of the egg, and then looked back at Piccolo rinsing out his clothing. "How the hell did this come out of your mouth?" He blurted, reaching toward it curiously.
Piccolo lashed out with surprising speed and strength, his grip on Gohan's offending wrist was solid, preventing even the tiniest movement. "For Kami's sake do not touch it!" He both hissed and violently impressed upon Gohan mentally. His glare had something of Chi-Chi in it, and that alone sent Gohan reeling backwards in shock.
"Alright, alright, you just had to ask!" He replied, waving his free arm around as he landed on his backside, head aching from the mental lashing.
Piccolo narrowed his eyes even further before slowly releasing his captive. "The shell hasn't solidified fully yet. I managed to get it out because it was rather more flexible about half an hour ago. It should fully dry out by tomorrow and hatch sometime soon after that." He held up the gi, which now only had a small mucous stain left on it. "As you can see, its passage was also well lubricated."
Gohan slowly leaned forward again and noticed Piccolo watching his every movement. His ears and antennae appeared to twitch in anticipation as his muscles coiled, ready spring at any moment. It seemed Gohan wasn't even allowed to breathe on it. Piccolo noticed this upset Gohan for some reason and tried to console him mentally.
'I'm just jumpy around anyone and anything that has a higher Ki than me. I'm hypersensitive to this kind of thing at the moment, so with your blinding strength I have to restrain myself from flying to the opposite side of the globe with it- him.' Gohan also got a brief insight into Piccolo's current state of mind. He backed away from them both after the intense feeling of paranoia abated.
"Sorry, should I just come back tomorrow evening?" He asked, not wanting to interfere. Other than his hair being used, this had nothing to do with him. He had to remind himself that he wasn't a parent or anything like it.
"That would probably be best. Once he hatches and I know he formed properly, my paranoia won't be quite as irrational. Once the fact you're here to help protect my offspring registers, it should all be fine again."
Gohan smiled weakly and slowly began to hover. He was taking off slowly and gently so that he wouldn't send so much as a minor shockwave in the egg's direction. "Alright, I'll see you then." He said before departing.
Now that was done with, he set about trying to find Videl's Ki and keep up his end of their bargain. Or extortion, whichever term was more appropriate.
As Gohan headed back home, he found Videl waiting impatiently. She was surprisingly close to his house. He didn't realise she had a GPS or any other number of locating and tracking devices.
When Goten felt his brother's Ki, he burst out of the house, suddenly confident enough to see what the other weird Ki was doing so close to their home. It seemed to be weak and not at all hostile, but Chi-Chi wouldn't let him venture out alone.
"Hey, Videl," Gohan called. Goten popped up next to him just moments later.
"Who is that?" He asked as he hid behind his brother's leg, suddenly shy again.
"Hey, remember when I told you I was going to teach you how to fly properly? Well, Videl is here to learn, too." His voice dropped as Videl approached so that she wouldn't hear him say, "Remember to be gentle, she's not like us."
"She's like Mummy?" Goten asked at normal volume, not getting the hint.
"You could say that." Gohan answered quickly as Videl narrowed her eyes at them.
"What are you whispering about over there? Is this kid your brother or something?"
"Yeah, this is Goten," he answered, feeling something of Chi-Chi in yet another gaze that wasn't hers. At this rate there would be no point to returning home at all…
"Anyway, I'm just going to get changed and then we can start." He added. He had found out early on that training in his school uniform was not the best way to get on his mother's good side. How will I afford another if it gets damaged or stained!
He pulled on the blue and red gi she had made for him after hearing about the tournament and approaching danger, before heading back outside. Goten, however, still refused to wear anything that wasn't largely orange.
"Ok," he said, not noticing the way Videl's cheeks reddened when she saw his exposed arms and chest. "Flying is pretty simple, really. You just need to gather your Ki and move it the way you want to move through the air. Just concentrate on going straight up at first."
She snapped back to herself in time to reply. "Um, what do you mean by Ki?"
Gohan stared at her blankly for a while before realising she was being serious. "Wait, how do you do martial arts if you don't know anything about Ki?" He scratched his head, sincerely baffled by this.
Suddenly she was angry again. "What weirdo nonsense are you talking about?" she demanded, seeing Goten float into the air out the corner of her eye.
"Look brother!" he called gleefully. He bolted in another direction, zooming around joyously. "You're right; this is easy when you know how!"
"Be careful!" Gohan called, knowing his worry wasn't really necessary. He still watched his brother for signs of faltering all the same.
He turned back to Videl, only glancing in his brother's direction every now and then.
"Alright, alright, if you seriously don't know then this is going to take a lot longer than I thought. Just ignore Goten, he's been practicing with Ki pretty much since before he was born. Today we should focus on finding and gathering Ki, but I might not be the best teacher. I barely remember learning how to do this." He didn't add that he learnt to do it on the spur of the moment as he was sailing toward a messy death on a sheer cliff face. He was glad Piccolo didn't test him in ways like that anymore…
"Ok," she accepted this and nodded, determined to learn. "What do I do?"
Gohan sat down cross-legged as he replied, "First I'll show you what Ki is and what we're trying to achieve today." He focused on a point between his open hands and a ball of Ki began to take form almost immediately.
Videl made a noise of surprise and dropped to her knees, leaning forward to take a better look at the yellow glow of energy. Her utter fascination just confirmed her lack of knowledge in this area, making Gohan wonder how long this would really take. It could be months, and he needed his weekends to train the kids.
"So first you need to look inside and find your well of energy." He instructed, still watching his brother occasionally zoom around above the tree line, out the corner of his eye.
Videl sat back and tried to do what he said. She wasn't entirely sure what he meant by 'well of energy', but a few minutes later she guessed she had found hers. "Ok, I think I see what you mean."
"Good, now you just need to reach into it and focus it at a point between your hands." He added somewhat absently, showing her once more what it would look like when she achieved it.
The ease with which the boys did it annoyed her to no end, but she was determined to become stronger and more capable. After another several minutes of deep concentration, the only thing that had formed was sweat on her brow.
She swore and huffily folded her arms across her chest. She had been trying to concentrate so hard she had given herself a headache, but she still didn't seem to be getting anywhere.
Gohan took pity on her and turned his full attention to her now that his brother was back on the ground again. "Maybe you should try to imagine you're pouring your energy in between your hands instead?" he suggested.
She set back to work and found this visualisation to be much easier to comprehend. As she felt warmth on her hands, Videl opened her eyes slightly to see a small, faint ball of golden energy.
She was so surprised by her small success that the ball vanished as she lost concentration. "Great!" Gohan praised, relieved he'd found something that worked for her so quickly. "Next time try to keep it out with your eyes open, then practise moving it around like this," he sent his own quickly formed ball whizzing around their heads. "Start off slow, though." He warned.
"Alright," Videl nodded, "I think I can practice that on my own." She stood and brushed the dirt off her bottom. "Thanks for helping me today." She added, fingering her hair and turning red again as she looked at him.
"Sure," Gohan replied, suddenly realising that evening was rapidly approaching. He could hardly believe they had spent so long on what he considered to be such a simple exercise. "Oh yeah, I was just thinking, you should probably cut your hair." He added.
"Huh, you think I'd look better with short hair?" She asked, attempting to flirt but doing it quite horribly. Not that this mattered when Gohan was her target. She'd have to hit him in the face with a sledgehammer to get his attention.
"You're entering the tournament right? It'll just be a nuisance if it's long, and someone might try to use it against you or something." He added.
Videl was embarrassed when he didn't respond as she had hoped. "… I'll see you tomorrow!" she snapped before using her favourite capsulized helicopter to get home.
Gohan shrugged, kind of used to wild mood swings, but that didn't bring him any closer to understanding why she had up and left in such a huff. He sighed and headed indoors, hoping he could train more constructively tomorrow.
Well, happy holidays everyone! If I'm not too distracted by Ultimate Tenkaichi over the next few days, the next chapter will be up early next year. Thanks to everyone who favourited, alerted and particularly to those who took the time to review.