Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or any of its characters.
Paradise Lost
"Relax your muscles. It won't work if your body is all tense," Gohan instructed.
Videl released her pent up breath in a heavy sigh. Taking a few deep breaths, she did her best to do what he said, but she had a hard time relaxing. They had been at it for nearly an hour now with no success, and she was getting frustrated. Why couldn't she seem to do this?
"I don't get it!" she groaned, throwing herself back on the grass. They were still on the plateau above the lake. Gohan said he wanted her to 'pull her energy out,' but she had no idea how she was supposed to do that.
"You're forcing it," he told her, "The energy is there. All you have to do it guide it. Here, I'll show you."
Curious, Videl sat back up to see what Gohan would do. He was sitting cross-legged across from her with his hands held slightly apart in front of this chest.
"First, make yourself completely calm. Then listen. Listen to the center of your body, until you start to feel a pull. Don't force it. Just open up a path and let it flow. Then…you just bring it out."
Suddenly, in the space between Gohan's two palms, a small ball of light appeared and steadily grew in size until it was the size of a baseball. Videl stared it in awe. It had come from nothing, spontaneously appearing as if from another dimension. Hesitantly, she leaned forward to get a closer look at the miraculous sphere. The light it emitted held a hypnotic beauty that begged for her to reach out and seize it for her own. As her hand got closer to the light, she felt warmth. It felt alive.
"Don't touch. It's hot," Gohan warned before she could actually touch the light, and she withdrew her hand reluctantly. The light disappeared as suddenly as it had come into existence. With it gone, Videl felt unexpectedly cold and empty, as if something precious had just been lost forever.
"Alright, now you try," Gohan said.
It took her a while to return to reality after being snapped out of her trance. Sitting back in her original position, she shook her head violently a few times to refocus her mind on the task at hand. It was her turn, now, to produce that ball of light that Gohan had showed her.
Alright, first calm my mind, she said to herself, going through Gohan's instructions. Once her mind was calm, instead of turning her focus outward, like when sensing energy, she looked inwards. Then she simply listened, not seeking anything out, but waiting for it to come to her. Soon, she was rewarded when she felt a strange tug and the familiar warm buzzing she had come to associate with ki. Her ki. Now she just had to bring it out.
She had to resist the urge to try to force it out. That had been her downfall up until now. Instead, she tried to 'open a path' to her hands. She felt the tug get stronger and stronger and she realized: It wanted to get out. All she had to do was to give it direction and let it go.
With that realization, she felt the energy begin to trickle toward her hands, between which a tiny light began to flicker. Encouraged, she tried to open up the channel a little wider. A sudden surge of energy rushed from somewhere deep inside her. Panicking, she rushed to slow down the flow. She could hardly believe her eyes. There, right between her hands, was a glowing yellow sphere, just like Gohan's. It looked a little different than his—brighter and a little bigger—but it was there!
Before she had time to celebrate, though, a wave of exhaustion crashed over her, sapping her strength and shaking her focus. Feeling as if she had just a marathon, she fell forward onto her hands. She didn't understand. She had felt fine just a second ago, if a bit tired from all the running in the woods she had done, but that was nothing compared to this. Her breathing was heavy and her muscles felt like jelly. Tiredly, she looked up to Gohan.
"You used up too much of your energy," he answered her unspoken question. "You need to control the flow and only allow the amount of energy you need to be released. Otherwise, you end up like this." He gestured towards her. "Theoretically, you could even kill yourself by if by using all the energy in your body, but don't worry. That's not something you could do by accident. Ordinarily, you would pass out from exhaustion far before you reached that point."
Videl absorbed everything he told, but made no reply. Her body was so sapped, she had difficulty thinking of anything else, yet alone forming a coherent sentence. It was several minutes before she finally felt a modicum of strength begin to return. With it, her brain finally started to function normally and she could try to process everything that had just occurred. As she did, she smiled widely. She had done it! It wasn't perfect, obviously, but she had done it, and it was incredible.
"What can I do with this?" she asked Gohan, getting more excited the more she thought about it.
He grinned. Instead of saying anything though, he stood up and walked to the nearest tree. It was obviously an old tree with a trunk thick enough it would take at least three people to wrap their arms around it. Before she could tell him to stop, Gohan pulled his arm back and delivered a full force punch to the tree. Videl cringed as she heard a sharp crack. A blow like that could easily break his knuckles. When he pulled his fist back, though, his hand looked none the worse for wear. The tree, on the other hand…. She jumped to her feet, mouth gaping. There was a hole the size of a basketball right in the middle of the trunk.
"How did you…?"
"I used my ki to enhance the power of my punch." He walked back to where she stood gaping.
"How…? You mean, I could do that, too?" She looked back and forth between Gohan and the tree. It seemed inconceivable that he could have done that much damage with one punch. Hadn't he said that he was about as strong as her?
"With enough training, you'll be able to do that and much more. For now, though, let's call it a day. It's getting late and you're exhausted."
Videl hadn't noticed that it was now considerably less bright than when they had arrived. Glancing to the horizon, she was surprised to see that it was already beginning to set. And what a stunning sunset it was. Ruddy light filtered through the clouds, casting the sky a vivid burnt orange. The light seemed to have a physical presence of its own. She could almost see each ray cut through the sky, illuminating every detail of the valley in eerie detail. The mountains to the west, hidden from the sun, were like dark shadows, massive monoliths rising in the background. The entire scene left her in awe.
"This is…" She whispered, but words once again failed her. Wanting to get a better view, she returned to her seat on the log near the edge of the plateau.
"We should get going," she heard Gohan say from behind her. "It'll be difficult to get through the forest when it gets dark." She opened her mouth, but her reply was forgotten amidst the marvel the lay before her. It was so beautiful, so romantic…
At that moment, Gohan apparently decided to join her in watching the sunset. She felt the close proximity of Gohan overwhelm her senses as he sat down beside her. She blushed, immediately remembering what had happened earlier on that very same bench. Never in a million years would she have guessed Gohan would actually hold her hand like that. It had flustered her so much, she couldn't bear to look at him for a while for fear that it would weaken her resolve to keep things the way they were.
Still, she couldn't deny the fact that, embarrassing as it was, she felt better with him by her side. Sitting there, doing nothing but admire the beautiful sunset was a luxury she almost never allowed herself, and having Gohan right there just felt right. There were together in paradise.
Paradise. That was the word she had been looking for ever since they got off the plane. Here, they were isolated from the rest of the world. It was just her and Gohan. Her cell phone didn't even work out here. They were free. Free to enjoy nature's splendor together without interruption. There would be no press trying to worm a story out of her. No calls from her father asking her where she was. No contact from the police with more trouble.
Right on cue, her police communicator suddenly blasted its signature ring. She was surprised it worked out here, given the lack of cell reception. Police technology was something else.
"What is it?" she asked a little crankily. The blasted device had ruined a perfect moment.
"We have a robbery at Satan First Bank," rang the tinny voice of the police chief. Videl stiffened as she realized her situation.
"I'm at least an hour away," she said ruefully. "It'll be too late."
"I see. We'll just have to handle this on our own, then. Head here as fast as you can just in case this drags out and we need your help."
"Understood." The communicator went dead and Videl swore loudly. "Let's go," she said to Gohan and took off into the woods. The lack of light and dense foliage of the forest made it difficult to cover ground very fast, a fact which frustrated her to no end. Luckily, Gohan, who was much more familiar with the area, soon caught up and took the lead, which sped up their progress considerably. It still wasn't fast enough. Finally, they reached the clearing and Gohan immediately decapsulated the jet. Wasting no time, they jumped into the machine and took off in the direction of Satan City.
I failed, Videl thought bitterly as they shot through the sky. Again. It was her responsibility to protect the people of Satan City, and now people might get hurt because she had allowed herself to be so far away.
They made the entire trip in silence, Videl silently berating herself for her stupidity the entire time. Almost exactly an hour from when the chief had called, they touched down in a park about ten blocks from where the bank where the robbery was happening.
"Hop on," Gohan said, producing a slick, black motorcycle even as he put away the plane. She hopped onto the bike, sitting right behind him. It was a one-seater, so it was tight, but she was in no position to complain. She wrapped her arms around him to avoid falling off, and he hit the throttle.
They zipped through the busy city streets faster than she could have imagined. Gohan expertly weaved through traffic, hardly ever having to slow down at all. The only major delay was one missed traffic signal that they couldn't just blow through. Even with that, however, they reached their destination in five minutes flat.
Police cars and officers were everywhere, but she couldn't tell what was happening. Leaving Gohan behind, she jumped off the motorcycle and rushed to ascertain the situation. Had they caught them? Had they escaped? She needed to find someone in the chaos who could fill her in. Just then, one of the police officers walked by escorting two men in handcuffs towards an open car.
"You got them?" she asked.
The officer looked at her and gave a big grin. "Of course. What do you take us for?" he said playfully.
"Was anyone hurt?"
"Nope. It was a smooth job," he reassured her and returned to his task.
Videl fell to her knees. Relief crashed over her in intense waves. Tears began to form in her eyes, and she was powerless to stop them. As she struggled to contain the sobs, she felt an unexpected hand on her back. She looked up to see Gohan smiling down at her sympathetically. She was too shaken to protest. She just hung her head and allowed herself to draw as much comfort as she could from that small warmth.
A week after the bank robbery incident, Videl sat in class attempting to take notes as her history professor lectured about King Piccolo's attempted coup. She couldn't have cared less about the material—history was never her cup of tea—but that wasn't the only thing that made it difficult to pay attention. As her professor talked about the mysterious origins of King Piccolo, she suddenly stopped her frantic scribbling mid-sentence and added a mark to the top of her notebook. That made eight tally marks.
She glanced over to Gohan who sat next to her. He looked as oblivious as everyone else to her mental ordeal, even though it was he who was making her go through it in the first place.
She had mostly moved past the minor trauma she had experienced the previous week. With nothing to do at the crime scene, she had returned home alone. It was a rough night, but starting the next day, she dived right back into Gohan's training, more determined than ever to master everything he threw at her. She had insisted, however, that they keep their training sessions close to the city. Fortunately, there had been no more incidents since that day.
Their after-school training now consisted of a mix of practicing sensing other people's ki and learning to control her own. She was improving rapidly on the former, but the latter was still mostly a mystery. While Gohan said she was getting better at concentrating the right amount of energy in different parts of her body, she had nothing to show for her efforts. She still hadn't done anything remotely similar to what Gohan had done to that tree. It was more an intellectual exercise than a real fighting technique at this point.
And of course, she wasn't free from the mental gymnastics even at school.
"Count the number of people that enter the bathroom in the hall during each period," he had said. That alone would have been no challenge, but he added that she had to pay attention and take good notes in class as well. He would check her them, as well as the numbers she counted, at the end of the day. That had been Monday. He gave her the same assignment every day that week.
So now, she was using every bit of her power of concentration to simultaneously take notes and monitor the hall bathroom for new occupants. If someone were to look really close, they would be able to see a few small beads of sweat on her forehead. This was the ultimate test of her abilities. Class was a perfect distraction, and there were hundreds of people in the school that made it more difficult to distinguish any one student's energy. If she could do this, she reasoned, she was well on her way to mastering sensing ki.
It was not easy, but she found the very fact that such a feat was feasible for her now to be unbelievable. As far as she could tell, she was doing well so far. She was confident she hadn't missed a single person in her bathroom count. Her notes were...not the best, but definitely passable, she thought. Compared to the notes she had seen Sharpner take before—and the ones she had taken earlier in the week—hers looked like they were taken by a model student.
Just as she felt a short thrill of pride for her success, the teacher said something that tore her attention away from the bathroom.
"King Piccolo was allegedly defeated by a child by the name of Son Goku."
Videl dropped her pencil. All thoughts of her assignment were gone.
"There is no evidence confirming this, however," her teacher continued, "So it is commonly held that this is nothing but a myth made popular by fans of Mr. Son, who was the youngest competitor to ever reach the finals of the World Martial Arts Tournament as well as the winner of the last tournament before our very own Hercule Satan made his debut. No one has seen him since."
How could she have forgotten? Son Goku, the most renowned fighter in the world before her father. People rarely talked about him anymore, too preoccupied practically worshipping her dad, but he had immediately piqued her interest when she first heard of him. Growing up, her entire time practicing martial arts was spent learning about her father and his techniques, so she became excited at the prospect of learning about another great martial artist.
For days, she had researched him as much as she could. On a few message boards, she found reports that Goku using strange techniques that were almost like magic, although there was nothing official. She tried to find out more, but when her father discovered what she was doing, he told her she was wasting her time. He was just a "coward who used cheap tricks, just like those fakes that showed up at the Cell Games." Young and impressionable, she had believed him.
That was five years ago. Now, she wasn't so sure. What Gohan had taught her about sensing and controlling ki seemed like magic, but she knew firsthand it was very real, not some trick. If Goku was Gohan's father and trained him, maybe there was something to the strange reports. Seeds of doubt had lodged themselves firmly in her mind, and they were growing fast. If all the things her father called tricks were real, did that mean that her dad hadn't really…?
It couldn't be. It just couldn't be.
No matter how many times she repeated that in her head, however, her misgivings still remained. The best way to find out for sure would be to ask Gohan, but she had promised Krillin she wouldn't mention Goku again until Gohan brought it up himself. Videl valued honesty above all else and made it a rule to keep her promises no matter what. This was one time she was tempted to break her rule. Everything she had ever believed to be true was on the line.
She glanced surreptitiously over to Gohan. On the surface, he seemed not to have been affected at all by the mention of his father's name. Something appeared off, however. If she looked close, his face seemed oddly tense, and she thought she could see a slight tremble in his hand as he wrote.
His father was a painful topic for Gohan. She didn't know the exact circumstances of Goku's death, but whatever happened, the grief was obviously still fresh for Gohan. Even assuming he would answer her, was she willing to put him through even more pain because of her own selfishness?
One look at his face answered that question for her. She couldn't do it. Not to Gohan.
That meant she would have to find another way. If her father had been lying to her this entire time, she couldn't trust him. The only other people she knew who might be able to help were Krillin and Bulma. Both had connections with Gohan's father, but she doubted Krillin would give her any more. That left Bulma. She seemed friendly, but would she agree to speak with her?
She wouldn't give her a choice, Videl decided. She needed answers, and soon. She was training with Gohan again after school, but after that, she would fly over to Capsule Corp. herself and demand to speak with Bulma.
Just then, the bell rang, startling her. She had not written any notes for the last part of class and had completely lost count of the number of people that went to the bathroom. Gohan would not be impressed. She would have to do better.
The rest of the school day passed without incident. Lunch was…awkward, to say the least, with Erasa being sure to make at least one suggestive remark about her and Gohan. Sharpner chose to studiously ignore the possibility that there was any truth to Erasa's insinuations, and continued to shamelessly hit on her. Somehow, she endured it, and when they returned to class, she resumed counting and taking notes, much more successfully this time and with no more surprises.
Their last class, gym, had changed drastically now that Krillin wasn't there training them in martial arts. They couldn't spend the entire time meditating, now. Instead, for the past week, they had been playing volleyball. It was no surprise that she quickly became one of the star players. What few people saw coming, however, was that Gohan did as well. He never did anything fancy, but people quickly noticed that he would never miss a ball, no matter how difficult it was. The coach never put them on the same team, and many a whispered prayer could be heard wishing that if they couldn't have Videl, than that at least Gohan would end up on their team.
Videl was a competitive person, and usually she did her best to win every match. This was especially true when she was playing against Gohan. Today, however, she couldn't focus enough to really get into it. When she missed a spike driven right at her feet, she knew she was off. She was too eager to get done with the day and get answers from Bulma.
The final bell couldn't have come fast enough. She wasted no time in getting changed and heading to their meeting spot. Gohan soon joined her and they set off. Walking alone with Gohan, Videl again felt an overwhelming urge to just straight out ask him if all those 'tricks' were real and her father hadn't actually defeated Cell. Patience had never been a virtue of hers. If his father was really Son Goku, he would almost definitely know, and that way she wouldn't have to wait to try to get answers out of Bulma.
But she knew she couldn't do that. So, mustering all of her self-control, she managed to make it all the way to Gohan's apartment without blurting something stupid. Now all she had to do was let her focus on her training and let it distract her until they were done.
Instead of going into the building like she expected, however. Gohan walked right by it and continued walking as if he hadn't even seen it. Videl stopped for a second, half expecting him to realize mistake and come back, but soon realized he was not going to turn around.
"Where are you going?" she asked, jogging to catch up to him.
"It's time you put what you've been practicing into practice," he told her. When she realized the implications of what he said, her heart leaped.
"You mean I'm going to do what you did to that tree?" she asked hopefully.
"That's the idea, yes," he answered without missing a step as he led her to the very edge of the city.
Satan City had very distinct boundaries. Eventually, the buildings that rose up all around them suddenly just stopped. Beyond the city limits lay nothing but a vast field with a winding road leading towards some unknown destination. A sign that said "Now leaving Satan City" with an obscenely large picture of her father on it was the only notable landmark for miles. Gohan led her to one of the very few trees that could be found on the plain. It wasn't quite as big as the one that he had punched, but it was big enough to be several decades old.
Gesturing toward the tree, Gohan said, "It's just like you've been practicing. Channel your energy into your arm. This time, though, instead of keeping it inside, you're going to let it out. Timing is key. If you release it too soon or too late, you won't get the same effect."
"How do I know when to let it out?" she asked.
"Picture the energy as part of your punch, moving in tandem with your fist. As you make impact, let it all flow into the tree along with the force of the actual punch."
That didn't sound too difficult, Videl thought. "Alright," she said and took a few steadying breaths as she dropped into stance in front of the tree.
"Remember not to use too much energy," he warned. "You don't want to exhaust yourself from one punch."
Nodding in acknowledgment, she reached for her energy, finding it quite easily after a long week of practice. She willed it into her fist, careful to control the amount she used, and threw a sharp right jab right at the middle of the tree. Her knuckles struck the wood with a dull thud, nothing like the explosive force Gohan had shown her the night a week ago. Surprisingly, though, her hand didn't hurt at all, despite the force with quick she had punched the tree.
"You're letting the energy go in a small stream instead of one burst," he instructed her. "That will shield your hand from harm, but it doesn't have any power. Try again."
Videl repeated the process, this time focusing on releasing her energy all at once. She was rewarded with a distinct crack of wood as her first struck the tree. When she pulled hand back, there was a considerable dent in the trunk.
"I did it!" she exclaimed. She hadn't been this excited since Gohan had agreed to train her. She even had to catch herself before she jumped into arms just like that day. No matter what she did, though, nothing could contain the beaming smile on her face as she looked at him. She was happy to see that he smiled back warmly, something he never would have done a few weeks ago.
"Good, now use your left hand," he told her. Coming down from her high, she did as he instructed and managed to produce similar results. "Now try a kick."
That one made her pause, but a moment, but she realized it was no different than a punch. Directing her energy into her leg, she whipped her foot into the tree, created another sizeable impression in the trunk. She grinned. It felt good wielding this new power. Each snap of wood was more gratifying than the last.
"That's a good start," Gohan said, "But you're wasting energy, which is making your attacks weaker than they should be. Make sure every ounce of energy goes into your target. Don't let it disperse into the air."
"Okay," Videl said and threw another punch, focusing on directing her ki only into the point of contact with the tree. The result was still the same as before, so she tried again. A louder crack and substantially larger hole announced her success.
"Better," Gohan praised. "Keep working on it. Your goal is to knock this tree down. Make sure not to add any extra energy to your attacks. Instead, focus on making each strike count."
She stared at him in disbelief. She was supposed to knock down the entire tree with her bare hands? It seemed like such a monumental task. Then again, looking back at the tree, she saw that she had already caused a substantial amount of damage. Maybe it wasn't as difficult as it sounded.
With that realization, she became determined to see to it that the tree fell to the ground as soon as possible. Sliding back into her stance, she began her assault. Beginning slowly at first, but gradually growing in speed as using ki to enforce her attacks became more natural, she unleashed blow after blow on the trunk of a tree. With each strike, the impact blasted away more and more wood until exhaustion started to take its toll and she was forced to take a break.
Taking a moment to look at her handiwork, she was amazed at how much damage she had done. Over half of the trunk had been blown to bits from her relentless pounding. It hadn't come without cost. Her breath was coming in haggard gasps, and her body felt heavy and clumsy. The amount of energy she had expended was more than she had expected. The weighted clothing she was still wearing had only accelerated her fatigue. She couldn't afford to stop now, though.
One more, Videl thought. One more solid hit and the tree would fall. Mustering every ounce of strength in her body, she drew back for one final punch. With a shout, she sent her fist, brimming with her last remaining burst of ki, hurtling towards the mutilated tree. As it struck, she unleashed every last bit of it into the wood, making sure not to waste any.
A loud explosion and the distinct sound of splitting wood told her she had succeeded. A satisfied smile graced her face even as her vision grew dark. The groan of the stressed lumber as the tree started to lean directly towards her was the last thing she heard before she succumbed to exhaustion and lost consciousness.
When she awoke, it took her a few seconds for her to recall what had happened. As soon as she remembered, she shot up and looked around. The tree lay on the ground a few yards away. She had actually knocked a tree down! But why was it so far away? She could have sworn the tree was coming right at her.
Gohan. He must have saved her. Not again, she bemoaned. She had already decided she would keep her feelings bottled up for the sake of her training. Even if being with him made her feel more alive than ever before. Even if Erasa thought he felt the same way about her. Even if when he had held her hand to thank her that night, her heart had pounded so violently in her chest that she had to tear herself away from him before she did something she would regret. And now this. Why did it seem everything Gohan did made her even more attracted to him? Just thinking about him brought a bright tinge of red to her cheeks.
Come to think of it, where was Gohan? She did a quick scan of her surroundings and soon spotted him, a few hundred feet away. At that distance, she couldn't see him very well, but what she saw shocked her. It looked like he was going through fighting forms.
Her previous internal struggle momentarily forgotten, she slowly moved closer to Gohan to get a closer look. She tried to keep her footsteps silent so he wouldn't notice her, and when she finally was close enough to see him clearly, she could do nothing but stare in awe.
Gohan balanced on one leg and kicked high above his head three times in quick succession. Right after the last kick, he jumped into the air and with his other leg did a graceful spinning kick right where an opponent's head would be. He landed softly on the ground and used the momentum from his spin to launch into a combination of ferocious attacks aimed at his invisible enemy. The speed and precision with which he moved was simply unreal. At times, she could barely keep up with his movements. And throughout the whole thing, he never lost his balance, not even for an instant. It was the most impressive display of martial arts she had ever witnessed.
Gohan, who are you? From what she saw, she thought he was probably better than even her father by no small degree. That raised so many questions, both old and new. Why had he given up fighting? What had inspired this sudden session of shadowboxing? And most importantly, had her father really defeated Cell? It was starting to seem less and less likely by the second, but she didn't want to believe her dad was a liar. As much as she wanted to stay with Gohan and find out why he started to train again, she needed the truth. She needed to talk to Bulma.
She pulled out the capsule for her jet copter and tossed it on the ground. The sound of it decapsulating caught Gohan's attention. He immediately began jogging towards her even as she climbed into pilot's seat.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I have something I need to do."
"Is it the police again?"
"No. I just have to go, okay?" Without letting him respond, she fired up the engine and took off. She didn't go straight to West City, though. Instead, she headed north for a while. She didn't want Gohan to find out where she was going, and she knew that he could sense where she was using her ki. She kept going north until she was about 50 miles away from him. Figuring that should be safely out of his range, she banked west and set a course for Capsule Corp.
A couple hours later, she was flying through the biggest city in the world for the second time. She was still amazed at the towering buildings and the sheer mass of people bustling around, but this was no time to get distracted. She was on a mission for information.
She touched down in the grass in front of Capsule Corp. and ran up to the entrance, the same door she and Gohan had used the last time they came. Unfortunately, without Gohan she couldn't just walk right into the building. She tried to look for a doorbell or a pager of some sort, but there was nothing but the scanner for an access card and a numeric keypad. That just left nothing to do but knock.
She rapped on the metal door three times and waited, hoping someone would answer the door. When no one appeared after a couple minutes, she raised her hand to knock again, but before she could, the door slid open to reveal a man wearing a skin tight blue suit. He was short—no more than a few inches taller than her—but his wild spiky black hair added at least five inches. Despite his short stature, his obviously ripped body made him plenty intimidating.
"What do you want?" the man growled roughly, clearly irritated by her presence.
"I'd like to speak to Bulma Briefs," Videl answered, trying to be polite despite the man's unpleasant demeanor.
"What does a brat like you want with my wife?"
This jerk was Bulma Brief's husband? She couldn't believe anyone, let alone someone that rich and beautiful, would marry someone as abrasive and rude as him. Videl gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to clock the guy. She needed answers, so she wallowed her pride and pleaded, "Please. I really need to talk to her."
"Tsch. Whatever," he said dismissively and turned to walk back inside. "A weakling like you isn't worth my time. Do what you want."
"What did you say?" Videl demanded, marching inside after him. She wouldn't let anyone write her off as some weak kid. "I'll have you know I'm the daughter of Hercule Satan." She wasn't sure how much that meant anymore, but the way he was patronizing her, she couldn't just say nothing.
"Is that supposed to scare me?" he taunted over his shoulder. "Don't make me laugh. That clown couldn't even lay a hand on my son, let alone me."
Videl was stunned. No one had ever openly mocked her father like that, especially not to her face. Did this guy really think so little of her dad's strength? If so, was it true that her father hadn't killed Cell? On instinct, she reached out to try to sense his ki. Gohan had said you could tell how strong someone was by their ki.He hadn't technically taught her to do so yet, but maybe she could at least get some sense of if this guy was really that strong or not.
What she felt was so far beyond anything she could have prepared for. Instead of the normal warm buzz she normally felt, a lightning bolt of energy seared through her. Suddenly, her head felt like a jackhammer was pounding away at it from the inside and her body started to shake violently until she could barely even manage to stay standing. She tried to shut out his energy, but she couldn't stem the flow before she collapsed to the floor.
"Wha…What are you?" she asked, weakly. "You're so…strong."
The mysterious man stopped in his tracks. "You can sense my energy?" he asked gruffly, finally turning to look at her again.
"Y-Yeah…" she breathed heavily.
"Who taught you a pathetic worm like you to sense energy?" he barked, walking menacingly towards her.
"That's none of your business," she shot back shakily in a weak attempt to mask her fear with defiance.
"Oh?" He smirked. "You know how strong I am, and yet you still defy me? Amusing. I could crush you with one finger if I was so inclined. Now tell me. Who taught you to sense energy?"
Videl glared at him and refused to say a word. Even if he was Bulma's husband, she would never give up Gohan to a creep like him.
"Brave girl," the man said with an evil look in his eye. "You must really like tempting fate." He advanced slowly toward her. She could practically feel the murderous intent in every step. Now fearing for her life, she rose unsteadily to her feet and made to run.
"VEGETA!" a woman's voice echoed through the hall before she could make a move. Turning, she saw Bulma Briefs stamping angrily toward them. "How many times have I told you NOT to scare our guests?!" she screamed.
Vegeta looked at Bulma and back at Videl, apparently to weigh his options. "Tsch. I'm going to train. Don't disturb me, woman." He turned and walked away. Bulma glared after him until he was out of sight before finally turning back to Videl.
"Videl!" she exclaimed as if nothing had happened. "How great to see you again! Where's Gohan?"
Videl couldn't answer. With the imminent threat to her life gone, her mind began to work out the implications of what had just happened. She had felt many people's ki, including her father's, and none of them had even come close to the raw power she had felt from Vegeta. There was only one explanation. Suddenly, she felt nauseous and fell to her knees.
"Videl! Are you all right?" she heard Bulma calling faintly.
"My dad didn't kill Cell, did he?" She asked softly. She already knew it in her head. She had, in fact, known for a while now, but she had to actually hear it before she could really believe it.
Bulma gasped lightly. There was a long pause, before she finally answered, "No. He didn't."
She stared at the floor blankly. Everything she had believed up until now was a lie. She realized that now. Her own father had been lying to her all her life. She had been betrayed, so why didn't she feel anything. Shouldn't she be sad? Or maybe angry? But she felt none of that, just a complete numbness, as if she were just a wandering spirit to whom the things of this world no longer mattered.
Right then, she felt something warm touch her shoulder. Startled, she looked up. Bulma had placed her hand on her shoulder and was looking at her with a warm smile. That small touch brought Videl back to her body and reality and she finally felt something—anger at her father for lying to her and an intense desire to find out the truth.
She stood up and hugged Bulma. "Thank you," she said and ran out the door.
She had a lot to think about on her trip back to Satan City. If her father hadn't killed Cell, who did? It must have been one of the mysterious fighters that had shown up at the Cell Games, the ones with the gold hair. Her dad had said they were nothing but cheap tricksters, but she knew better now. They were the ones with real power. But who were they? The only person she could think of was Goku. She didn't know if he had gold hair, but Gohan had said his father was strong, which if Gohan knew how strong Vegeta was, that was saying something. Plus, he had said that he had died during the Cell Games. Videl was certain that if Goku hadn't been the one to actually kill Cell, he at least knew the person who had, which meant that Gohan most likely did as well.
Like always, it all came back to Gohan. Promise or no promise, she wasn't back down.
It was already dark when she arrived at her house. Her father was nowhere to be found—traipsing around getting drunk with one of his bimbos no doubt. She was actually glad he was gone tonight, though. She didn't think she could face him at the moment without clobbering him in the face.
She went up to her room. Tomorrow was Saturday. She would go over to Gohan's in the morning like normal and she intended to get answers. She had waited long enough. Before then, she intended to find out as much as she possibly could on her own. Starting a pot of coffee in the coffee maker she kept in her room for just such occasions, she settled in for a long night in front of her computer.
Hi everyone! Sorry this chapter is coming late. I was busy almost all yesterday and didn't get a chance to edit and upload this chapter. Now it's here, though, and it's my longest chapter so far! A lot's going on, so let me know what you thought. I was so encouraged at all the reviews for last chapter. We didn't quite break the 200 mark (198, so close), but it was still really awesome. I tried to response to each review individually, but I might have missed one or two. If I did, sorry!
Okay, now for some important news. First, as of this chapter, I have just passed the 150 page mark with this story. I find it incredible that although this story started out on a whim, it has turned into something of this magnitude, and I wanted to thank you for all your support along the way.
Secondly, because you have been such great readers, I thought that I should let you know that there is more to the August 31st deadline that I have set for myself than just self-motivation. I will actually be leaving on a year-long study abroad to Japan on September 1st. After that, my plan is to stop writing. This trip is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I've been looking forward to for a long time, so I don't really want to waste any of it typing away alone in my room (Not that writing fan fiction is a waste. It's just I can do that anytime in America, you know?) At the same time, I really REALLY want to finish this story. It has been a labor of love for two years. Hence the deadline. I'm going to do my absolute best to keep that deadline. If I don't manage to finish in time...well, we'll see. If I'm really close, I may just go ahead and write the last bits while I'm in Japan. Otherwise, I might just shorten the epilogue. I'd prefer to avoid that, though. If you want to help make sure this story gets the ending it deserves, please review. Reviews really do help, especially when writing starts to seem like a drag.
Well, that's it for groundbreaking news. Here's my schedule for updates for the exciting conclusion of "I Will Not Fight." I plan to release it all back to back so that you can enjoy it without waiting a week in between chapters.
Chapter 24 - 8/29
Chapter 25 - 8/30
Epilogue - 8/31