Title: Off the Beaten Path
Author: ShadowMajin
Rating: PG – Due to the large number of authors participating in this event, rating is subject to change at any time.
Disclaimer: None of the authors taking part in this Round Robin claim to own Dragonball/Z/GT.

Summary: Round Robin. Gohan and Videl get lost in the woods, and Videl doesn't know about Gohan's powers! What's a demi-Saiyan to do? (donated by texaspeach)

Videl stared at the boy, trying to comprehend what he had said exactly. Gohan had beaten Cell, not her father. For some reason, something wasn't making sense in her head, like two jigsaw pieces being forced together instead of fitting naturally. It was crazy talk, her dad not beating Cell. Why, Hercule had even been retelling the story of his glorious victory with gusto the last she saw him. It had only taken one chop to beat that oversized…

Wait…one chop? Not some powerful special technique that her father had developed and kept secret, but a simple karate chop? Something wasn't right with that.

So she reviewed what she knew. Cell was a powerful monster that could kill people by smirking. As strong as Hercule was, Videl had a suspicion that it would take more than just a simple chop to the head to put him down. Either her dad had some serious strength (which she was pretty sure was true) and everyone had overestimated how strong Cell actually was or, as blasphemous as it sounded, perhaps Hercule hadn't beaten Cell after all. And if that was the case, who had?

Gohan seemed to offer himself as a worthy option so she needed to consider this concept for a moment. She knew that he was Saiyaman, an honest-to-gods superhero with the strength to lift up buses and the speed to catch bullets in midair. Videl was fairly certain that her father couldn't lift a bus (though he could break twenty four out of twenty five ceramic tiles) and she was damn sure he couldn't catch bullets.

Okay, so Gohan seemed to have a decent argument. Actually, it was a very good argument the more she thought about it, but that didn't necessarily make him the Cell Games champion. Hmm, she needed more proof of this boy's claim before she could believe him completely. Time to put the ball back in his court.

Returning her attention to Gohan, she found that he had seemed to lose the confidence he'd shown when he had first made his announcement. In fact, he was looking at the ground, looking as if he hoped it would swallow him up.

"Ehem," Videl cleared her throat, bringing his gaze back to her. "So you defeated Cell, right? Do you have any proof?"

"P-proof?" he stuttered, looking confused.

"Yeah, proof," she repeated, slowly this time. "Do you have anything to prove that you did, in fact, beat Cell?"

"Umm…uhh," Gohan responded, scratching the back of his head as he thought. Patiently, Videl waited to see what he would do exactly. She wasn't expecting him to pull out Cell's head or anything, but this was a good way to get Gohan to willingly give out his secrets, assuming he had more to give. Already he had given her a truckload, so what was one more secret to add to that?

Suddenly, the Son boy's head shot up, his eyes bright with a revelation. "I know!" he shouted, sounding excited. "I'll just turn Super Saiyan!"

"Super what?" Videl asked, sounding a bit skeptical. "What's that?"

Gohan paused for a moment before saying, "Uhh, what do you mean?"

Speaking slowly, so that the boy would understand what she meant, the dark-haired girl replied "What is a Saiyan? I won't know what a 'Super Saiyan' is if I don't know what a regular Saiyan is."

"Oh!" Gohan said, realization dawning on him. "Well, 'Saiyan' is the race my father comes from."

Videl's eyes widened with realization, another puzzle piece clicking into its place. "It's the name of the alien species you belong to?"

"Right!" Gohan nodded vigorously, apparently excited that she was catching on. "So a 'Super Saiyan' is a transformation they go through to get stronger."

Videl mulled that over. It made some sense, she supposed, but she probably would have to see it to believe it. "Alright, so become this 'Super Saiyan' thing."

Gohan nodded as he took a new stance, his hands balled into fists at his sides. Soon, a look of concentration covered his face as the air around him began to waver. A golden glow appeared a second later before it became a roar. The next thing she knew, Gohan was standing in front of her with blond hair and teal eyes, looking down at her with a serious expression.

'Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!' was the first thought that ran through Videl's head. The next one was that this "Super Saiyan transformation" looked eerily like the Golden Fighter that had appeared before the Great Saiyaman.

Wait a second! The Golden Fighter showed up in Satan City on Gohan's first day of school, wearing the exact same clothes as her new half-alien friend. What were the odds? Pretty slim, in Videl's estimation.

"You're the Golden Fighter!" Videl exclaimed. She couldn't help herself, it had just slipped out. She'd meant that to stay in her inner monologue, but each new discovery was eroding her ability to keep her thoughts in her head.

Gohan began scratching his head like he usually did when he felt nervous, an apologetic look on his face. "Uhh, yeah I guess you could say that."

Videl, however, had begun tearing through her memory to the Son boy's first school day, trying to remember anything and everything she had said or thought that day. So far her recognition of Gohan's outfit had been proven to be a connection to him being the Golden Fighter. What else, what else was there? Let's see, Gohan came in, Erasa called him to their row, introductions happened, she mentioned the clothing similarities, then a faint recollection of the Cell Games…

And there it was. The footage of the Cell Games her dad kept around had two Golden Fighters, or 'Super Saiyans' as Gohan would call them. And two others had also changed their hair and eyes just as the Son boy had done a few moments earlier. Two young men, if she recalled right. And the ones who were already that way were a young man and…

…and a young boy about her age.

Oh Kami, that boy was Gohan. He had been at the Cell Games and he had fought Cell. Everything seemed to be spinning all around her, making her feel very dizzy until all she saw was darkness.

000

Gohan had watched as Videl racked her mind, making every single connection that she could think of. It was a bit frightening to see someone figuring out everything about him. He supposed it was inevitable, though, especially with someone like Videl always watching his every move, just trying to figure out what he was hiding.

Uh oh, Videl's eyes were getting very wide. Apparently, she had thought of something because it looked as if someone had turned on a light in her head…no wait, making that a sun. Yep, she was figuring out every single secret he had. He just needed to wait until she began throwing them out to confirm them.

Hmm, no, that was a bit off. Was…was Videl tilting to a side? Yes, yes she was. Now she was leaning towards the other side. Was she losing her balance or something?

And then Gohan saw her eye roll up into her head as her knees buckled. Eyes wide, the demi-saiyan acted quickly, catching the girl before she hit the ground. Well that was unexpected. Out of all the reactions he had thought Videl would've done, fainting was the very last one he thought she'd opt for. Today was just full of surprises.

That's when Gohan realized he had a bit of a problem. With an unconscious girl in his arms, the both of them lost in the middle of a forest, and a hermit thinking he was some sort of monster running round, the Son boy found himself in quite a pickle.

"Oh boy," he muttered to himself. "What do I do now?"

Beta'd by Ms. Videl Son (aka, megaminoeien on DA)