Puppy Love

Ch.2

Disclaimer: Do not own.

"Mom?" Gohan muttered as he engorged himself with a leg of lamb.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Gohan," ChiChi casually reminded him, as if she hadn't done that enough times.

Chewing the meat into bits, he finally managed to swallow, allowing it to pass down his throat. "Um, mom?" He attempted once more, his mouth clean of food, "I uh, was talking to this girl in front of the supermarket, and-"

It seemed that alone was enough to get a rise out of her. "A girl?" ChiChi burst out as she swung her head to glare at her son, "Gohan! You're much too young to be thinking about girls!"

Despite the fact the half-Saiyan wanted to point out to his own mother that she had her first date with his father a year younger than he was now, he decided to leave that fact in the dust and get to the point he was veering towards.

"N-no, I didn't mean that, mom! She told me there's this martial arts tournament coming up, and well-"

Again, his mother interrupted him. "Tournament?" Her eyes seemed to be shooting daggers at his poor soul. "Absolutely not, Gohan! You shouldn't even have to ask me to know that!"

Gohan sighed at the predictable defeat as his head drooped. He knew all too well his mother would deny him from entering. He figured it was time for 'Plan B'. Peering up from his empty plate, he glanced at his mother with the innocence of an angel. "B-but, you know I would win, mom. The junior division alone honors you with 30 million for first place-"

"Th-th-thirty million?" ChiChi stammered as her eyes widened to the size of his dinner plate.

"…And if they let me enter the adult division, I could win 50 million for first place, mom," he continued as he took full note of her change in attitude.

He watched his mother wobble in place as if she were about to faint. "F-fif-… fifty… fifty million…!"

Unsure if she was actually about to faint, Gohan cautiously observed his mother as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. She startled him by suddenly jolting herself upright, leaning her face in to meet his.

"G-Gohan!" She blurted out.

"Uh?" He craned his neck back in an attempt to distance his face from the close vicinity of his mother's.

"You have to win!"

It took a moment for the boy to register his mother's sudden plea. However, it didn't take much longer for a wide grin to form on his elated face.

o (o) (O) (o) o

Gohan was thrilled his mother said yes. Now, he was able to train freely without any repercussions. However, she did mention that she wasn't going to go easy on him about his studies after the tournament was over. Just thinking about it made him feel apprehensive. Nevertheless, he needed to focus. Although he knew he wouldn't need to train much (or at all, for that matter) for a tournament against normal kids, he took advantage of this freedom as much as he could.

After a good hour or two of practice, Gohan decided to take a break and go visit what was now called Satan City. He figured it would be a good idea to grab some information about the upcoming tournament and see the place for himself.

The boy really didn't care much for the junior division tournament, after all. It was the adult division that his heart was fixated on. He recalled back to the time his father talked about how he participated in the Tenkaichi Budukai as a child, and how there were no rules pertaining to kids his age fighting against adults. Now, because of the change in generations and social constructs, parents of fighting children found it apt to petition for age specific divisions.

Due to this, Gohan needed to figure out a way to surpass the divisional split.

Flying into Satan City on Kinto'un, he scanned the city for where the tournament would be held. It wasn't long until he spotted a large billboard by the city's park. The half-Saiyan hopped off the golden cloud and planted his feet on the sill of the billboard. As he stood there with his face inches away from the enormous sign, he read it, taking note of some new information.

'Battle of the Year: Tenkaichi Budukai Tournament! Do you have what it takes to beat the World Champion? Claim your winnings! Adult and junior divisions! Sponsored by Mr. Satan himself.'

Sponsored by Mr. Satan? Gohan was unaware that the alleged World Champion was funding the tournament. "Videl's dad, huh?" He queried to himself.

"Hey!"

As if it were on cue, Gohan looked down from the billboard, catching eyes with the girl in question.

"What are you doing up there?" Videl frowned at him as she craned her neck to get a better look at the distant figure. "How in the world did you climb up there, anyway? You better not be vandalizing Papa's sign!"

Without thinking, Gohan decided to jump from the billboard's ledge to plop himself in front of the pigtailed girl. Panicked to see the boy jump from such a high platform, Videl flailed her arms about as she side-stepped frantically, not knowing where he was going to land – or whether he was going to survive, for that matter.

Stumbling over her own feet, Videl fell onto her rear. She looked up in utter shock at the boy standing in front of her visibly unharmed.

"G-Gohan? Is that you?" She finally registered his familiar face.

He grinned back at her, "Hi, Videl. What are you doing here?"

Cocking an eyebrow as her eyes bugged out, she retorted, "Wh-what am I doing here? What were you doing up there!"

Looking back up to the billboard, Gohan realized the height of his jump was… abnormal to say the least. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he nervously laughed her quizzical manner off. "Heh, I just wanted to get a closer look… is all…"

Videl stood up on her feet and glared at the boy, studying his nervous composure.

Wanting to keep her suspicions afar, he attempted to veer the subject away from him. "Uh, so Videl, I didn't know your dad was funding the tournament."

She grinned, "Of course! He was the champion last year. And he's going to fight against the final contestant this year in the adult division."

Gohan thought for a minute. If he were to participate in the adult division, well, that would mean he would fight one on one with Mr. Satan… He couldn't help but scrunch his face up at the burdening thought. Does that mean he would have to lose on purpose? Gohan didn't want the kind of attention Mr. Satan got transferred over to him and his family – he just wanted to fight and bring the prize money home to his mom. It seemed that joining the adult division was going to be more complicated than he anticipated.

"So? Are you gonna compete?" Videl asked, bringing him back to reality.

"Yep!" Gohan's lips turned into a grinning smirk.

Thrilled to hear the news, Videl mimicked his grin. "This is going to be awesome! Finally, I'll have some decent competition! You know, the junior division has been a drag. I haven't fought a single kid yet that was even close to a challenge," she huffed in frustration. Her frown quickly flipped over to a smile again as her eyes glimmered. "But with you around, things will be sure to get interesting!"

The half-Saiyan wasn't sure how to respond but to innocently laugh along with her. He knew all too well that she certainly wasn't going to be a challenge to him.

o (o) (O) (o) o

Gohan decided to pay a visit to the Briefs residence after running into Videl. He figured it would be nice to have some of his friends attend the tournament to cheer him on. And who knew? Maybe Vegeta wanted to compete. It's what he hoped, at least.

Shortly after ringing the doorbell, Gohan was greeted by his father's longtime friend. The blue-haired beauty was cradling her infant son as she flashed a welcoming smile at him.

"Hi, Gohan! What brings you here?" She beckoned him in with a nod, leading him to the living room.

"Hey, Bulma. Is Vegeta around…?" He hesitantly asked.

Bulma twisted her torso around to look back at the young boy. She cocked an eyebrow and questioned him with her eyes skeptically. It wasn't every day the 13-year old boy asked for the Prince of all Saiyans. "Vegeta? Well, he is… but he's training inside the gravity room, like always. Was there something you wanted to ask him?"

"Y-yeah," he quietly answered, "I wanted to ask him about the martial arts tournament coming up. If… if he wanted to join."

"Martial arts tournament?" She questioned, "Hm, well, I can't say for sure, but Vegeta doesn't seem like the type of person who would be interested in that."

"But, I'm sure he would, right? He can compete against other people and-"

"People? Weak people."

Cut off, Gohan turned his head towards the familiar, deep voice. Vegeta casually walked into the living room with a towel around his neck and his arms crossed.

"Aw, it would be fun though, why not give it a try?" The half-Saiyan attempted to coerce his superior.

Vegeta simply sneered as he averted his eyes. "There is no 'fun' in bashing in the heads of weaklings. Give me a worthy opponent, and I may reconsider."

Pausing for a moment, Gohan thoughtfully looked up at Vegeta before he furrowed his brow. "Well, what about me?"

An eerie silence filled the room as the full-blooded Saiyan shot a daring look the boy through the corner of his eye. It took a moment, but Vegeta's lips curled into a devious smirk.

He guffawed at the boy's gesture. "Kakarott's brat is challenging me to a fight, is he?" He then walked up to Gohan until they were arm's length apart. Looking down at the boy, he smirked again. "Well I accept your challenge."

Mouth agape, Bulma fell speechless as she heard her prince agree to participate in the tournament – something she felt was completely out of character of him. But then again, she supposed if Goku were to compete, he wouldn't let another second pass before he signed up as well. As long as Vegeta had a formidable opponent to face, he wouldn't deny it for the world.

"OK, great!" Gohan grinned before he added, "But there's one other thing."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow.

"If you win the semi-finals, you have to fight against Mr. Satan."

"Mr. Satan?" Bulma piped up.

The prince snorted. "And is this something I should be concerned about?"

"Well, no, I suppose not if you're not worried about the constant pestering you would have to deal with when given the World Champion title," Gohan replied, "but, it is a concern of mine."

The couple stared at him quizzically.

"I really need to win the prize money for Mom. But I don't want people to invade our privacy because of beating Mr. Satan," he explained.

Vegeta quickly retorted, "Well that won't be happening because I'm going to defeat you. Problem solved."

"Vegeta." Bulma shot a glare at him as she suggestively scolded him. Reverting her attention to Gohan, she smiled. "Well, Gohan, I can help you with that. Why don't I make a disguise for you?"

"A disguise?"

"Sure. It will certainly make it easier for you to join the adult division too. They changed the rules, didn't they?"

"Y-yeah, I guess you're right," he agreed.

He thought for a moment, however. Videl would certainly be looking for him in the junior division. If he were to show up as a disguised "adult", she probably wouldn't be too happy.

'She did say she was looking for some decent competition this year… but I wouldn't want to embarrass the World Champion's daughter either. That alone would bring in some attention to me... I feel bad, but I better not let her know about my plan.' He assessed in his head.

"Alright, Bulma, I'm on board!" He agreed to go with her plan.

o (o) (O) (o) o

Back at home, Gohan decided to take a few more hours of his day to train. He calculated that he had about a month before the tournament. And now that he had competition, he knew he had to utilize this time fruitfully.

Vegeta wasn't going to be a walk in the park – far from it, in fact. Although Gohan knew he surpassed the prince's strength back when they fought Cell, he was also aware of how much one could improve from training in the gravity room for a year. Vegeta had certainly become stronger at this point, and he knew it the moment he sensed the man's Ki back at his home. He also knew the Saiyan wasn't planning on going easy on him either. Gohan just hoped that Vegeta at least had the common sense to suppress enough strength to refrain from blowing up the entire stadium.

The fact that Bulma was going to make a disguise for him made him delighted to know he wouldn't have to suppress too much of his strength, since no one was going to be able to recognize him. His plan was going perfectly. Gohan was sure he was going to be able to participate in the adult division.

'Wait a minute.' He then thought to himself, 'Maybe I can compete in both the adult and junior divisions!'

After finding out more information about the tournament from Bulma while he was visiting, Gohan discovered that they actually present the junior division tournament before the adult one. If he could sign up for the junior division as himself, and the adult division as his disguised self, it would be like killing two birds with one stone! The total prize money for getting at least second place in both divisions was surely going to be more than enough to support his family.

Grinning to himself, the half-Saiyan made up his mind.

End, chapter 2.

A/N: This chapter was shorter than I anticipated, but I decided this was a good place to end at. I know the Gh/Vi interaction lacked here, but don't you worry – it will all be coming up very soon! :)

I hope you enjoyed reading, I appreciate your comments and criticisms!

I'll be posting a new chapter soon.