--- Disturbance, Book 1: Convergence ---
Chapter C02 - Just Stop
Disclaimer: The fun about this sentence is that by the time you realise it doesn't say anything, it's too late to stop reading it. Also: See previous chapter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Just stop; Enough of the limitless critical comments on my life-
Videl tapped her foot irritably, glaring at the taller man beside her. "Well Gohan, I'm waiting."
While Videl glared at him, there was a little debate going on inside the demi-Saiyan's head. On the one hand, he could tell her the truth, and risk her freaking out. On the other hand, he could lie, and risking pissing her off. Neither seemed like good options. Grinning internally, he reached his decision, replying, "Waiting for what Videl?"
-Just drop the judgment and all of your pseudo-involvement in my life-
She growled at him, "Oh don't think you're getting out of this one Son Gohan! How on Earth did he break that machine?"
"With his fist," he replied, deadpanned.
She rolled her eyes, muttering, "Thank you Captain Obvious."
"Saiyaman actually," Gohan replied, the slightest bit of a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Glaring at him again, she barked, "Are you mocking me?"
Smirking slightly, he replied, "I'm not not mocking you." Her face flushed red with anger, and he could swear he almost saw the steam coming out of her ears. Waiting until she was just about to explode, he commented offhandedly, "You know, you're cute when you're angry."
-Step back a moment, and look at the miracle starting in our life-
All anger left her, as did the breath she'd taken to commence yelling. Her anger being swiftly replaced by embarrassment, she was horrified to realise she had a sudden urge to preen like a giggly schoolgirl. She managed to stutter out, "I-I am not, stop saying that."
His smirk shifted into a grin, "Yes you are. Your cheeks puff out, and you've got the cutest little glare..." He trailed off, studying her for a moment, before adding, "You're kinda cute when you're embarrassed as well."
"I am not embarrassed!" She near-shouted, her anger returning. Crossing her arms, she huffed, "You're just saying that to rile me up. You gonna continue listing emotional expressions that make me 'cute'?"
He smirked again, "I dunno. I've only ever seen you angry and embarrassed."
-Don't stop the moment, and let the incredible happen knowing that-
She opened her mouth to begin berating him again, but got cut off by the short, formerly bald monk behind her, commenting, "Stop messing around with your girlfriend Gohan; the line's moving again."
Turning around, and seeing that true to Krillin's word, the line was moving again, he quickly shuffled forward. When they were stationary again, he turned back to Videl, noticing the faint blush on her face from Krillin's 'girlfriend' crack; honestly, when was he gonna give it a rest, it was seven years ago... Waiting until she noticed he was facing her way again, he commented seriously, "Look Videl, I know you're curious about, well, pretty much everything in my life, so I'm gonna make you an offer: you don't ask questions about my life today, and I promise I will tell you everything you want to know when the tournament's over. Deal?"
She paused, watching him for any sign of deception. Seeing none, she accepted his outstretched hand, replying shakily, "I... okay. Um... thanks Gohan."
He smiled, "No problem." Grinning a bit, he added, "I think today might answer a few of those questions of yours anyway. I'd tell you to keep an eye out, but when do you not?" She just smiled back at him, but before she could reply, one of the monks by the machine called out to him; the try-outs wait for no man. With luck, they'd be finished in time to catch the start of the junior division. Idly, Gohan wondered what the boys were up to.
-All that you want is to criticize-
"Man, this is boring."
"You know Trunks, you really shouldn't complain so much."
The lavender-haired child turned in the direction of the voice, and was met by a grinning redhead. Scowling, he replied, "Shut up girl. How'd you get in here anyway? This area is for entrants only."
"What can I say? Security's not too tight 'round these parts," a cocky male voice commented.
-Something for nothing-
Goten's face broke into a grin at the sight of his friends: Faile, Oran, Lime, Vincent, and Gina. "Hey guys," he chirped, "What're you doing back here?"
Lime grinned back, "We thought we'd keep you boys company 'til they got things started, then slip out again to watch the fireworks."
Still scowling, Trunks asked bitterly, "Why didn't you guys compete anyway? And don't give me any of this 'we didn't feel like it' crap."
-And all that I want is forgiveness one more time-
Oran scowled back at him, "You know what? We don't have to explain ourselves to a brat like you."
Smirking, Trunks commented boastingly, "You're afraid aren't you? You know I'm better than you, and you're afraid to fight me."
Oran snorted, commenting derisively, "Geez, you really are your father's son aren't you? All ego, no brains."
-To be the best in the world-
Trunks scowled again, dropping into his stance and barking, "You wanna back that up with action, or are you all talk?" The twins shared a look for a moment before Lime stepped forward, falling into her own stance. Seeing this, Trunks sneered, "Hiding behind your sister huh?"
Oran snorted again, "Please. I'm stronger than her doofus."
"And I know Oran won't hold back like I will," Lime added, a smirk on her face, "whereas I'll go easy on you and won't hurt you. Much. Come on little boy, if you're not too scared to hit a girl."
-Just stop with all of your little deliberate problems with my life-
With a war cry Trunks leapt forward, aiming to punch the girl right between the eyes. The smirk still on her face, Lime waiting until the last minute before, just as the punch was less than a second from hitting her, she leant to the left, her right arm raised, so that the boy's arm went between her head, and her arm. Following her momentum, she spun around behind him, grabbing him under the left arm with her left, and jerking both the boy's arms painfully behind his head. To complete the hold, she raised her right leg, jabbing him in the spine.
"Come on Trunks," the girl taunted, as the younger boy struggled to break free, "I thought you were better than me. If you're so good, you should have no problem breaking out of this lock." When he stopped struggling, she could sense him beginning to power up, so quickly cut him off by harshly wrenching his arms back further, while driving her knee further into his back, forcing a cry of pain from him. "So you see now," she commented calmly, "how all your power is meaningless if you don't know how to use it properly." With this, she released him, giving him a quick crack over the back of the head, before moving to rejoin her brother.
-Enough of all the crippling, terrible pain we feel inside-
Rubbing his shoulders, he spat, "I'd like to see you break out of it!"
The twins locked gazes again, before, with a shrug, the two assumed the lock, with Oran the one being held; as they explained, she chose to use that lock because someone taller than her, like Trunks or Oran, could have broken out of it. Once they were in position, and demonstrated that Oran was held just as tightly as Trunks was before, the others watched in awe as the boy, with much struggling and obvious pain, latched onto his sisters arms, before tensing his legs and leaping into the air, using her as an anchor point to flip over her head; there was a fairly loud crack as he did so, but in the end, he wound up holding her securely with her own lock.
-Step back a moment, remember how the miracle started in our life-
Releasing again, the two separated, Oran commented, "That's one way of doing it. I mean, there's plenty of simpler ways - she was balanced on just one leg! - but that's the most flashy."
Faile gasped, pointing at his left shoulder and saying, "Your arm! It's-"
-Take back the torment; I won't be enjoying this moment knowing that-
"Oh right, that." The boy replied, calmly forcing the dislocated limb back into place, "It happens sometimes; I wasn't really concentrating, so..."
"You dislocated your arm just to prove a point?" Vincent deadpanned.
The boy shrugged, a grin on his face, "Hey, I've done it for less."
-All that you want is to criticize-
"I just can't believe it."
"Well, you should, you saw it yourself."
"I still can't believe it... It must be a mistake or something..."
-Something for nothing-
Gohan just laughed good-naturedly as the two walked in the direction of the fighter's waiting lounge, intending to visit his brother, and commented, "Videl, why do you have such a hard time believing you scored that high?"
She paused, turning to face him and replying, "Gohan, I scored a 274. My dad only got a 137! Surely I can't be twice as strong as him! I mean, he's the strongest man in the worl-" She trailed off as Gohan started laughing again.
Managing to reign in his laughter, Gohan commented teasingly, "Oh come on Videl, surely you don't still believe that after all you've seen?"
-And all that I want is forgiveness one more time-
Shrugging sheepishly, she replied, "No, not really. I guess old habits are hard to break though..." Gohan smiled to himself, thinking, 'Good. She's finally starting to accept things.' His musings were interrupted by her asking, "If you guys are all stronger than my dad, how come you didn't compete in the last tournament?"
Gohan just shrugged, "Had more important things on our minds at the time."
"Like what?" When Gohan didn't reply, she filed it away for later, assuming it to be one of those questions for after the tournament. Instead, he asked, "How come I scored higher than you then? Or Pi? Or Kaen?"
Grinning, Gohan replied, "In case you're forgetting, you didn't score higher than Kaen; his first score was 666, remember? He toned it down for the judges, as did Pi and I. I mean, you saw what Vegeta did to that machine."
-I know that / All that we want is to feel inside-
"Just how strong are you anyway Gohan?"
He shrugged, "As I told you a month ago, I'm not exactly sure. I can't put a number to it anyway."
"My father didn't really beat Cell did he?"
-Some kind of comfort-
The spiky-haired teen was saved from having to either answer, or dance around the subject, by an orange missile slamming into his stomach, screaming "Niichan!" all the way; they had arrived at their destination.
"Hey there squirt," Gohan replied, setting the boy on the ground again, "Save some of that energy for the tournament."
"Hey Goten," Videl added, crouching down to his level, "You ready for the competition?"
-And all that we've done-
"Hey there Just Videl," Goten replied, a massive grin on his face; when they'd all been training together, Videl had told him she was 'just Videl', after he had insisted on calling her 'Nice Lady Videl' for a while. Now Goten wasn't stupid enough to honestly believe she wanted him to call her 'Just Videl'; he'd started doing it because it annoyed her, and his niichan had said that annoying Videl was okay, as long as he didn't do it too much, or do anything to hurt her. Goten didn't know why he was allowed to annoy Videl, but he'd been given a golden ticket, and he wasn't going to pass it up for anything.
-We can hide-
Videl scowled at him for a moment, messing up his hair, before asking, "Hey, why is this guy knocked out?" She'd been the first to notice the KO'ed monk for a while.
Trunks was the one to reply, "Oran and the others kids dropped by to wish us luck." Having had some time to calm down, Trunks' inherent brat tendencies had died down a little.
"Where are they now?"
The haired-haired boy just shrugged, "Probably back with their parents."
-We'll be the best in the world!-
"So, how're the boys doing?"
Oran just shrugged, turning to Bulma and replying, "Trunks is being an arrogant prick, and Goten's clueless but excited." The group of adults was across part of three rows around halfway up the stands (so they were close enough to see properly, but far enough away to avoid any flying blasts/bodies/etc.) with enough seats saved for the five children, the kids seated in the middle row of the three.
Grinning, Yamcha supplied to anyone in ear shot, "So, business as usual huh?" He received a crack on the back of the head for his troubles, courtesy of one blue-haired mother, which sent him falling forward a few rows. Righting himself and climbing back up to his seat, he whined, "How come I got hit, but he didn't?"
Bulma gave him a level stare, "Because he's nine, and not my kid."
-All I ever wanted was to be a real source of compassion-
"Where's your brother?" April asked her youngest children, "I know Goku and the others are standing up the back there, and Gohan and Videl are down with the boys, but I can't sense your brother anywhere."
Lime just shrugged, "Niichan said he and neechan were gonna go 'catch up', and to flare our ki when the junior comp was almost over."
Tilting her head to one side, in a manor many present had seen on Goten's face before, Gina asked, "What do they mean by 'catch up'?" The adults shifted nervously as they tried to work out what to tell the young girl, unaware that their assumptions were incorrect.
-From the moment that we found ourselves drowning in-
While the Z-Fighters debated what to tell the young blonde catgirl, the couple in question were spending time together in a capsule house on a nearby island. However, despite what the others may have thought, the two were not catching up in the physical sense.
"So, you ready for the tournament?"
Pi paused in her cooking, turning to her mate with a grin, "You're kidding right?" He just grinned back. Shaking her head, she asked, "So, how far along do you think Gohan and Videl are?"
-All I ever wanted was to be a real source of compassion-
He snorted in amusement, "Please. Oran and Faile are further. I just hope he starts telling her what's what soon; I'm getting sick of dancing around issues."
She sighed, "You and me both." Silence reigned for a while, as Pi finished preparing their pre-fight meal. However, once she'd set the food on the table, she asked, "So... How far along is 'it'?"
Kaen sighed; this was not something he wanted to talk about. Early in their training they discovered that Nijuushin had left behind a little... surprise. Looking his mate in the eyes, he replied, "It's almost finished. In a couple of days, a week tops, it'll be finished."
-From the moment that we found ourselves drowning in-
Shifting a little nervously, she started, "Maybe we should-"
"No." He cut her off, "I will deal with this myself."
-All that you want is to criticize-
She stood up quickly, exclaiming, "But it'll kill you!"
He smiled up at her calmly, replying, "I'm too stubborn to die, you know that." He shrugged, adding, "Besides, I've already worked out a solution."
-Something for nothing-
She sat down in a huff, muttering, "Stubborn idiot... I still think we should get my father's help, or yours."
He stood up, calmly walking around the table, and putting his arms around her from behind, commenting lightly, "You worry too much."
Melting into his embrace, she commented, "Well, someone has to." Before she could comment further, he placed one hand under her chin, turning her head to face him, and kissed her for the first time in a fortnight; food could wait, his mate needed reassurance, and he would give it to her.
-And all that I want is forgiveness one more time-
"So Gohan, what took you so long? You and your girlfriend sneak off together?"
Gohan levelled a stare at the short man, debating his options; he could either rise to the bait and deny anything, or... Trying not to laugh, he forced his face into the most stoic mask possible, replying in a deadpanned voice, "Yes Krillin, Videl and I snuck off to a secluded area and made such wild, passionate love the Earth shook." As the former monk spluttered, not expecting that answer, Gohan amended, deliberately trying to avoid noticing the embarrassed look on Videl's face, "Of course we didn't. We went to wish Goten luck. Seriously, stop it; Videl and I are just friends. Just because I commented that you may like the woman that is now your wife is no reason to annoy me for the rest of my life, understand?"
-I know that / All that we want is to feel inside-
"So, how's Goten doing?" Goku asked, trying to steer the conversation away from the current topic.
-Some kind of comfort-
Gohan smiled at his father, thankful for the switch, and replied, "Well, he's nervous, but he'll do fine. I've seen the tournament listings; there's no doubt the final match'll be between him and Trunks. From there, it's anyone's guess."
Vegeta laughed, commenting, "Surely you jest. Trunks will emerge the victor."
-And all that we've done-
"I dunno Vegeta," Goku countered, "Goten's been training hard in preparation for this tournament."
"What would you know Kakarott?" Vegeta shot back, "You're not there to watch him. My boy will win because I have trained him myself."
-We can hide-
"In case you forget Vegeta, Gohan's been training Goten," Goku replied calmly, "And, last I checked, he was stronger than you."
"Ha," Vegeta barked, "Cellotto has been wasting his time going to that weakling school. No doubt I'm stronger than him now, and when Trunks pounds your brat into the dirt, we will know the truth." The conversation quickly descended into a verbal dick-waving contest between the two full-blooded Saiyans.
-We'll be the best in the world!-
There was something familiar to Videl about the word 'Cellotto', but she couldn't place it for the life of her. Brushing off the minor deja vu (which seemed to be happening quite frequently, ever since she missed that day of school a month ago) she turned to her dark-haired crush, asking, "Are they always like that?"
-We'll be the best in the world!-
He smiled, "Pretty much. I must admit, it's been a little boring without dad around to rile Vegeta up." Turning his attention to the arena below, he noticed the kids filing out of the building, commenting aloud, "Hey, it's starting."
-Just stop enough of the limitless critical comments on my life-
Setting aside their argument for later, the two Saiyans, along with the rest of the group (Piccolo and 18 having been silent thus-far) turned to face the arena, just as the announcer declared, "Ladies and Gentlemen, let's get this day of competition started! First up, the Junior Division. Which of these thirty-six young fighters will take home the championship. There's only one way to find out. Let the tournament begin!"
-Just drop the judgment and all of your pseudo-involvement in my life!-
To be continued...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's notes:
And so ends chapter 2. I'll be the first to admit that these early chapters might be a little boring, but this is gonna be a long epic, and we need the setup done right if it's gonna work.
I'd also like to thank the 126 people that've had a look at this story thusfar, and to welcome back the first of my regular reviewers. ss7gohan, nice to see you decided to stick around for the party -grin-.
EDIT: Some minor formatting changes.