Chapter 16: Videl's Decision

Being absorbed by that monster Cell was the second most horrifying thing to happen to me, 18 thought as she kept her eyes closed in an effort to ignore the incessant chirping and chattering before her. And being converted into a madman's science experiment was the first. But this… this is easily the third worst bar none.

All around her, the blond woman was trapped by a circle of reporters from nearly every major news station in the world. All of them were shoving, prodding, and poking her from nearly every angle with microphones. This was the very situation she had been trying to avoid.

"Miss 18, how does it feel to become the first female champion in the history of the tournament?"

"Miss 18, Jimmy Firecracker of ZTV, care to tell the world why you bothered entering the tournament and why you went with a number for your fighting alias?"

"Miss 18, is there any relationship between you, the bald man you fought earlier, and the small child that beat Mr. Satan senseless?"

"Miss 18, any words to any aspiring female martial artists out there?"

"HEY LOOK! Hercule Satan's making a break for it!"

Sure enough, every reporter and news hound in the group froze and began whipping their heads around to locate the fallen former champ.

"There he is!" Jimmy Firecracker exclaimed as he pointed an index finger at the plane that both Hercule and Videl had arrived in some distance away.

The fleeing former champ froze for a moment and turned slightly in the direction of the voice. This proved to be a big mistake, as the horde of news hounds quickly descended onto him like vultures to a freshly dead corpse.

18 could feel a bead of sweat slowly fall down the side of her face as the dust cloud from the reporter's' collective stampede quickly settled.

Better him than me, she thought.

DBZ

The tournament had been over for only a short while, half an hour at the most, when Videl Satan came storming up to Son Gohan (who was alone at the moment), her black eyebrows furled furiously as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Son Gohan, have I got a bone to pick with YOU!"

"You do?" he blinked, a look of confusion on his face. "Well I wanted to talk to you too, but you first I guess."

"You fake flinched on me!"

Gohan's confusion only deepened. "What?"

"When you and I were sparring and training for the tournament, you were only pretending to recoil at my blows, weren't you?"

For a moment, Gohan thought his options over. It was moments like these that showed the down side of growing up on a mountain range, far away from normal civilization and normal people his own age. Hoping that honesty was the best course of action in this case, he said: "Yes."

"And you no doubt told your little sister the same thing, right?"

This time he nodded as well. "I did, yes."

For a moment, Videl only kept staring at him with that intense glare of hers, blue eyes smoldering with fury. "Why?"

"Sorry?" Gohan couldn't help but tilt his head slightly to the side in confusion.

"Why did you do it Gohan? To spare my feelings?"

Gohan's black eyes widened when he realized what Videl was going on about. "I-Well, yes! Or at least it was something like that. Look Videl, I thought that if you sparred against my sister and I and found yourself not even forcing us to flinch, that it would demoralize you and-"

"So you chose to lie to me instead?"

Even someone as socially naive as Gohan could see the hurt on Videl's face, and hear the betrayal in her tone as she said that.

"Do you really think my ego is so fragile that I can't handle the idea of people stronger than me? I might have thought that stuff you and your friends do were just tricks but give me SOME credit in adapting pretty quickly to your brand of insanity. I've shown that I can accept the idea of flight and energy manipulation given a bit of time, the least you could have done was be honest with me when we fought so I could have a better idea of where I stood. It could have given me a goal to work towards, instead of thinking that flight and energy blasts were all you and your friends were capable of and keeping me in the dark like you did."

"I... I'm sorry Videl. Really I am, I never meant to hurt your feelings I-"

"I know," Videl said softly.

For the second time in their conversation, Gohan blinked, this time with a bewildered expression. "Oh. Then why are you upset with me then?"

"I... I don't know." For a brief moment, Videl turned her head away from Gohan, her face flushing a little before she continued talking. "I guess it's just a buildup of things I suppose: The flying, energy attacks, that android's warning, it's all just a lot to take in ya know? I just... I need some time alone now that the tournament is finished. A few hours to clear my head and get my thoughts straight you know?

Gohan nodded slowly, unsure of what to say next. "Does... Does this mean you won't be coming over for training sessions anymore?"

"Well… Not to hurt your feelings or anything, but yea. Not for a while at least. I mean, it's not that I'm ungrateful for you teaching me about ki and flying and all, I am. Really. It's just if that android was telling the truth and some sort of threat is coming, I want to be prepared so I can help out. And… Well-"

"You just don't think you'll be getting that if you stick with me?"

Videl shook her head. "Sorry, I don't. No offense."

"None taken." Gohan shot her a dorky uneasy grin that was supposed to comfort her, but Videl could tell that she had still hurt him a bit with her comment.

"It's just," Videl added, " that I think now that I have the basics of flying and got the idea behind those fireballs you and your friends are so fond of using, I just thought that the next step up would be to improve my physical body. Toughen it up and stuff. That sort of thing."

"Oh. Well, that does make sense."

Videl bit her lower lip for a moment before continuing. "Gohan, if it wouldn't be asking too much, do you have a person in mind who could help me out in that regard?"

"Well… There is Piccolo-"

"You mean the grumpy green guy who kept to himself for most of the tournament?"

Gohan nodded stiffly. "Yea…. Though now that I think about it, Piccolo might not be the best idea for being your teacher Videl. I'm basically the only one he's ever really liked, and at the moment I don't think he'd be willing to take on another student with this whole androids thing going on."

Videl nodded. Made sense really, that green skinned guy didn't look like he would be the type to hold with the idea of taking on another student for training even in his better moods. Assuming a sourpuss like that even had a better mood that is. "Well, who else is there?"

"Yamcha, but when he's not being bombarded by baseball fans from his days as a Titans player, he mostly lives out in the desert. So unless you want a tan to go along with you're training..."

"Point taken," Videl said with a sigh. "Keep going."

"There's also Tien and Chouzu, but those two are never the easiest to find unless someone's threatening to blow up the planet, so I wouldn't count on finding them. How Marron managed to do it I'm not really sure."

Videl shrugged. "Alright. Anyone else you can think of?"

"Well, Krillin could work I suppose. He, 18, and Marron all live with Master Roshi at Kame House and Roshi was the one that trained both him and my dad when they were kids, so he might be worth a shot I guess."

"Roshi..." And in her brain, a switch was suddenly thrown. "Wait, you mean THE Roshi? As in, Turtle Hermit Roshi? THAT'S who that blond girl kept calling master? I thought you guys were just humoring him and that he was just some delusional old fart!"

Gohan shook his head. "Nope, he's the real deal and actually over 300 years old. Something about having owned a phoenix that died before he first met my dad as a kid all those years ago… But he doesn't take students anymore."

"What about that Krillin guy?"

"Krillin?" Gohan thought it over before nodding firmly. " Krillin's never taken on a student before… But he has been training his daughter-"

"Which means he's at least got experience right?" Videl's eyes were now shimmering with hope that Gohan found, though he wouldn't admit it out loud, quite cute. "Besides, he seems like a pretty nice guy."

"Oh, he is; trust me, there's a reason why someone as distant and cold as 18 married him."

Videl grinned as she pumped a gloved fist into the air. "So it's settled then, I'm off to-"

"Kame House."

"To Kame House to train! Wish me luck Gohan."

Gohan couldn't help but chuckle as he saw Videl rise up in the air in the opposite direction of the small private atoll. "I'll do better than that, I'll even point you in the right direction."

Videl felt her face flush again, though this time it was of far less intensity. She muttered a quick thanks and flew off to the east, the sun at her back.

DBZ

18 still felt a hurricane of emotions hours after the tournament had ended with her so-called victory; even her normally indifferent expression was replaced with one of visible annoyance and anger. And annoyed she was, as well as angry, furious, and a whole lot of other synonyms for being just flat out mad.

Partly she was mad at that wimp of a blimp Hercule for being so weak that a simple sneeze of hers was enough to knock him out of the ring like that.

Partly she was mad at the world; now that she was the "Strongest woman in the world" the press wouldn't stop hounding her or Krillin, or Marron if given half a chance.

Escaping the horde of newshounds had been damn near impossible until Bulma had helped bail them out with her jetplane. It had taken them a few hours to reach the small lone tropical slice of paradise, and when they had, 18 had never felt happier to return to the small pink framed, red roofed shack in her life.

Said happiness quickly deflated when she, Krillin, Roshi, and Marron all saw Videl waiting near one of the three palm trees. Great, 18 thought bitterly. Less than a day and I've already got groupies.

"H-Hello." The short-haired girl gave a small, quick bow.

"Hey yourself," Krillin said with a smile. "You're Gohan's girlfriend Videl right?"

Videl's face turned a bright shade of red as a look of great annoyance appeared on her face. But, the daughter of Hercule kept her anger under control. "Gohan and I are just friends sir, nothing more."

"Suuurrreee you are," Krillin gave her a knowing wink. "So what can we do for you?"

"I am here for training."

"I'm flattered child," Roshi said as he stroked his beard, a smile on his face. "But I'm retired. Besides, I'm not into tomboys."

Videl's already flushed face flushed even further. Even Marron could tell that she was holding back the urge to no doubt tell her master off, as women often did when around him. "Respectfully, Master Roshi, I wasn't referring to you. Gohan already told me that you're retired, I wouldn't want to interfere with your retirement... no matter how much of a pervert you might be."

Roshi simply chuckled good-naturedly. "Fair enough I suppose."

"Not to interrupt, but if you didn't plan on Roshi teaching you, why did you come all the way out here?" Krillin asked.

"Well, I was wondering if you would take me on as a student. If it's not asking too much that is.," Videl said, her tone and face bashful as she pointed to Krillin himself.

Krillin blinked once, his expression one of surprise. He blinked again. "Me? You want me to train you? Doesn't Gohan-"

"Gohan's taught me to fly, and I think I can work on summoning basic energy balls from now on my own. What I'm here for is to improve myself physically."

"Oh. Well, in that case, um. Sure I guess. More the merrier, right 18?

It was at that point that 18 spoke up. "If she's staying here than I'm heading out. I need some time to clear my head, I'll be back in a few days." She glanced over to Videl. "For what it's worth, it has nothing to do with you, I just don't want the constant reminder of your father hanging around me is all. No offense."

Videl could only blink in bafflement in response. She then frowned in slight annoyance. "None-taken... I think?"

Krillin blinked at her, but nodded with a more somber expression.

"Alright, just be careful."

18 looked down at him and gave her husband a wry yet somewhat bitter smile. "You are talking to the 'World Champ' aren't you?" She then bent down and gave a small kiss to his hairless head.

18 then turned to Marron. "Keep up with your training while I'm away, understood?"

Marron nodded and gave a small bow. "Of course, mother."

18's lips then turned into the rare smile that only her child and husband could ever seem to bring out. She turned to Roshi. "You know the deal old geezer."

"Right, right. Hands off your kid. For goodness sake, how many times do I have to tell ya: I like my women full grown and shapely, not small and short!"

"But she's not always going to BE small and short, now is she?"

Roshi gulped. "Guess not..."

With that 18 walked past Videl, and a moment later everyone could see 18's body fade further and further into the horizon.

For a long moment, there was not a word said near in the lone pink house on that lone small island.

"Are you hungry?" Marron asked. "If so, you're welcome to join us for lunch."

"I-" a low rumbling from her stomach cut the daughter of Hercule off, forcing her to blush as a result. "I guess I could stay around for a small meal."

DBZ

"So how's your father taking his loss?" Krillin asked, not batting so much as an eye as Videl downed her 5th bowl of rice.

"Haven't been home yet but hopefully now that he's lost he'll get serious about training again if nothing else. Not that it matters much now that I think about it, seeing as how he's turned himself and his school into nothing but a branded franchise by this point. So we won't be hurting for money for a long while."

"Excuse me Ms. Satan-" Marron started, before Videl interrupted her.

"Call me Videl kid, Ms. Satan was my mom."

"Ms- Videl, exactly how much stuff did your father put his face on? My parents and I only know that he made a movie at some point,; we saw that a few weeks ago on cable. But what else has your father been up to?" Outside of taking Mr. Gohan's credit for defeating Cell, Marron added to herself mentally.

"Well, let's see." She began ticking items off on her fingers.

"There was that 16 bit arcade game that's still doing pretty good sales wise, the comic book series, the collector's plate, the action figures, the cut of money he gets from the former Hope City for allowing them to take his name, there's the Hercule Cafe, the collectable card game, that stuff from that Warlord incident in West City some seven years back that he's put on display at the above mentioned Cafe, his autobiography Awesome Power, Awesome Responsibility, the Hercule Cereal, Dad's hit single of that Kami awful song "Eye of the Lions". And finally, the hair care products."

Videl glanced up to see that everyone around her was now staring at her with gobsmacked expressions.

"Mind you," Videl said with a small self conscious blush flooding her cheeks, "I'm most likely still forgetting a whole bunch of other stuff that he's plastered his mug on over the years, but hopefully you get the point. Money is something my dad and I won't be worrying about for a very long time, and even if something did happen, my mom made sure to set up a secret bank account to store a secret select percentage of my father's earnings just on the off chance that something happened to dad's glitzy and shameless selling out these past seven years."

"I can't believe that old gasbag has been that busy, or was able to sell his image that well..." Krillin half muttered to himself.

"Heck Krillin," Roshi said with a toothy grin. "As soon as your wife hears about that amount of money she'll go ballistic! Or knowing her, at the very least raise an eyebrow in mild interest."

"Maybe." Krillin folded his arms in thought. "Though truth be told I can't really see 18 doing any of that stuff unless it paid REALLY well."

"Not to mention mother lacks your father's... unique ability to sell herself to people."

"Well, it was just an idea," Videl said. "Something to keep in mind if you guys are ever interested in making some extra zenni." When she had finished her 6th and final bowl of beef and rice for the afternoon, she thanked everyone and made her way to the door.

"Be sure to come back here after you're done with school, and we'll start your training, sound good? "

Videl nodded with an enthusiastic look on her face. "It does, Master."

When she had left, Krillin turned to his former master. " You don't mind, do you Master Roshi?" Krillin turned to his former master with a questioning glance. "Training Videl I mean."

"My boy, if training that tomboy of a girl is what seems to you like the right thing to do, then far be it from me to interfere. You're your own man now Krillin, you can make your own choices. But regardless, I'll always be proud of you me boy."

Krillin felt his face blush, causing Marron to giggle at her father's embarrassment.

DBZ

"Dad," Videl's voice echoed through the vast walls of Satan Manor as she strained her ears to listen for a sound of her father. "I'm back!" The flight from Kame House to Satan City had been a long one, and although she had left mid afternoon, it had become dark long before the city itself had came into view.

There was no reply. Videl took a habitual step forward to begin her search for her father, when an idea struck her like a punch to the stomach. Instead of just aimlessly looking for her father, she could practice her ki sensing and try locating him through his ki signature.

For a moment, Videl stood there, her eyes closed in thought as she emptied her mind and stretched out her 'sixth sense' as it were. Sure enough, she quickly located a ki that was similar to hers, knowing that it could belong only to her father. The odd part was, though, if she didn't know any better, she would have thought that her father-

"Videl?" Was right in front of her.

Feeling her cheeks heating up as she opened her blue eyes, Videl was only somewhat surprised when she saw the flushed face of her father. One didn't need to be familiar with what her father's 'drunk' face looked like to be able to tell that he had clearly been helping himself to the sauce, as the powerful stench of alcohol and the large wine jug that was held tightly in his ham sized fist attested to.

Videl frowned when she saw the jug. "You've been drinking again I see."

"Oh! T-This?" Hercule looked down at the jug as if he had only just realized he was holding the container in question. "This is just some flavored water I'm testing."

"Oh?" Videl raised an questioning eyebrow. "What's the flavor, wheat?"

Hercule said nothing, but his defeated expression spoke volumes.

Videl let out a sigh. "You know, I didn't think you'd go back to drinking over losing your title dad."

"Can you blame me? Without my title as the World Champ, what am I?" Then, inspiration struck Hercule's deep-rooted Afro infected mind. "Wait a second, I'm still the man who beat Cell and the one who sent that West City Warlord packin' aren't I?"

The former World Champion let out a few hardy, bellowing laughs as a look of relief began to spread across his face.

"Or at least one of those things," Videl said in a soft voice that Hercule's ears nevertheless pricked up at.

The bawdy laughter ceased instantly as Hercule looked at his daughter with a dumbstruck expression. "Y-You- How did you figure it out sugarplum? I've done such a good job at keeping it a secret that I-"

"I figured it out at the tournament dad, when I spent most of the time with Gohan and his friends. I had my suspicions before then, but when I saw the husband of Bulma Briefs and Gohan's dad both turn their hair blond, even if it was just for a second, it all just clicked. After all that spiky haired jerk did look a dead ringer for the first guy who appeared at the Cell Games, the blond hair ability just cemented it."

Hercule was sweating profusely now as he wiped his brow with a hairy arm. The day he had always feared had come true; his daughter had learned the truth.

And even with all the mental practice he had done beforehand, as well as the explanations he had come up with to cast his actions in the best light possible, now with the moment upon him, Hercule's mind was drawing a blank.

"Well, the thing is, what I was doing back then was-"

"It's alright dad, I'm not mad at you for stealing Gohan's credit for being the one who defeated Cell."

Hercule let out a deep sigh, his broad shoulders drooping in the process.

"What I'm ANNOYED with is the fact that you lied to everyone for seven years. You didn't even wait to see if Gohan, or any of his friends for that matter, were even INTERESTED in sharing the credit with you. You just went and snatched it up the first chance you got."

Videl paused as she gave her father a small smile. "That being said, I'm glad you're willing to admit to the truth when I asked you, instead of just digging yourself deeper with even more lies to cover your hide."

"W-Well of course sweetheart, the only reason why I've even kept this whole charade up as long as I have is for that boy's sake. Why he-"

And as her father went into another one of his long-winded speeches, Videl could feel herself tuning him out partly. It was only when she added in the comment about at least having the accomplished the Warlord stuff on his own that Hercule froze up again.

Videl's now smoldering blue eyes narrowed as she shot her father a dirty glare: her father's reaction had not gone unnoticed. "You didn't beat the Warlord, did you?"

"…No." Hercule's voice was scarcely above the whisper of a mouse.

Videl could feel her blood boiling; she wanted to scream and question if he had won the 24th World Tournament, or was THAT a lie as well? She wanted to yell, shriek, scream, holler, and a whole host of synonyms related to the action of screaming. But she didn't.

Oh, she ground her teeth, balled her hands up into the tightest fists she could, and wanted to beat her father like the oversized punching bag that he was. But in the end, all she did was close her eyes, and one mental count to 20 later, she reopened them.

"I'm going to be out for a while dad."

Hercule blinked, confused. "But you just got back! It's almost-" He turned to the custom-made, Hercule themed grandfather clock. "Midnight after all."

"Training dad, I think I need a few months away from city life."

"A FEW MONTHS!"

"I've found a teacher daddy, he was a student of Master Roshi himself."

Hercule had half a mind to dismiss this man as being nothing more than a charlatan. After all Roshi was, like the great god of fighting Korin, a myth, a fable. At least that was the general consensus back in his days of fighting, before he had won the 24th World Tournament. But then the Cell Games happened. If those folks with the powers could exist, who was to say that Roshi or even Korin weren't real?

"Why? Why are you doing this baby, I won't stop you, you're too much like your mother for me to try something that futile. I just want to know why you're so gung ho on training is all. Is-Is it the boy?"

"He has a name dad, it's Gohan. And… he's part of the reason why, yes." Even as she said this, Videl could feel her cheeks starting to heat up as they reddened in color.

"You know my rule of not allowing you to date anyone stronger than me, I-"

"Don't start dad! This is just about becoming strong enough to get him to flinch and recoil at my punches and kicks when we spar together, nothing more."

"He doesn't recoil at your blows?" The image of his flying fists plastering Cell in the face all those years ago and the green bugmanthing not even batting an eyelid came suddenly flooding into Hercule's mind.

"I thought he was, but apparently he was just forcing himself and his little sister to pretend to flinch like they were recoiling in pain when I was training for the tournament."

"He did that, really?"

"Yes, and it was embarrassing! It's an insult to my skills as a martial artist to have someone half to pretend to flinch for you because you're just that weak apparently. Can you imagine what that feels like dad?"

Hercule let out a cough and Videl's mind instantly flashed back to the final round of her father fighting number 18.

"Sorry." Videl's blush was only increasing in shaded darkness now. "Bad question."

"It's fine sweetpea, all I can do is wish you luck in your training and hope that this guy's as good as you think he is."

Videl couldn't help but give her father a small smile of joy at his sanctioning of her training. "Thank you daddy."

And with that comment and seeing his little girl smile at him (for Videl would ALWAYS be his little girl), Hercule felt a feeling of pride swell up in his breast. He was not the paragon of morality that he claimed to be for the public's sake, but the least he could do was give his daughter his blessing in her quest for self-improvement. Wasn't that, in the end, what martial arts was all about?

Videl's love, really, was one of the few things that his fame and money couldn't ever buy him. In fact, later on as he was dozing off to sleep in his massive richly made bedroom, he had the idea that he would give up his wealth and cast his reputation to tatters, if only he could make his daughter happy in the end, and that was a dream that the former World Champ felt oddly at peace with for some reason. But as many pre bedtime thoughts are, the idea was lost to the ravages of dreamland once Hercule finally fell asleep.

AN: First off, I sincerely apologize for the lack of updates the past two weeks or so everyone. Been dealing with midterms for collage and I just haven't had the energy to upload any chapters (so basically I have no excuse). But, since I'm done with that and have a small window of time I thought: Why not surprise everyone with an earlier then usual update? Hopefully fans of Videl will enjoy this chapter at least as much as I had fun writing it, Videl (along with the rest of the cast) will be taking a good many levels of badass in the future so be on the lookout for that when the time comes.

On a slightly different note, this is the last of the 'long' chapters, and from here on out it will just be a few more weeks until the 25th World Tournament is finished! The last few chapters won't have much in the way of fights (just did an entire tournament of fights folks, was about burned out on the fights myself) but mostly some good (if somewhat short) interactions between Characters.