So, another chapter.

Thank you all for reading this far. I hope you enjoy!

After the long flight, Videl had finally made it back to the temple.

The sight that had awaited her had almost stolen her breath from her lungs. The stadium, and the city surrounding it, looked like they'd been caught up in the middle of a war..

Two of the stadium walls had been reduced to rubble; huge holes blasted through them and out into the city beyond. Countless buildings were nothing more than jumbled brick and concrete. Clothes and tournament paraphernalia fluttered gently in the breeze in a macabre testament to the fact that the stadium had been full when this atrocity had happened.

Just what had happened while she'd been gone? Was it already too late? Had that monster already been released?

Hanging in the air over the arena Videl had felt her blood turn to ice in her veins as she realised that one of the destroyed walls had previously been fronted by the seats where Gohan's friends and family had been sitting.

Her mind had filled with horror and questions as she landed and ran in search of Chichi, desperately hoping that the woman was safe and that she wouldn't have to tell Gohan he had lost his mother, too.

Fear had gripped her at the thought of her own father. Where was he? Was he safe?

To both her relief she'd soon heard the dark haired woman's voice over the last of the dispersing crowd and had found her shouting at a man in a beige suit, both of them standing in front of a large yellow air jet.

"Chichi!"

At the sound of her voice the other woman had come running, grabbing Videl by the shoulders and shaking her as she'd demanded answers. Instantly her previous trepidation at facing the formidable woman had returned. Videl had done her best to explain what she knew but as Chichi had bombarded her with questions she'd realised just how very little that was.

It had taken them no time to board the jet and take to the air, heading in the direction Videl had just come from. Videl hadn't needed to tell the suited man anything; he somehow seemed to know exactly where they were going.

Videl's questions about the destruction at the temple and the surrounding city had fallen on deaf ears. The other occupants of the jet had shot cautious glances at Bulma before averting their eyes and changing the subject or falling into silence. The only thing she'd been able to get out of them was that her father, at least, was safe.

Then the interrogation had started. Each time Chichi had asked her to repeat the story of the Monster Buu and the later conversation with the two boys, Videl had felt worse.

Despite all her prayers, Chichi had latched onto the last bit of Videl's story. It really hadn't taken long for the recrimination to start.

"Videl, you're absolutely sure that's where they went, right? I mean, you actually heard them say they were going to fight this Majin Buu character?"

"Yes..."

"You know, I hate to say it," Chichi had started, "but I resent the fact that you let Gohan and the boys go. You could have at least stopped Goten and Trunks!"

Hearing the words out loud, seeing Bulma looking so faint and having even a tiny idea of what Chichi must have gone through after Cell, it had made Videl feel sick. "I'm so sorry Chichi." She'd said weakly, "I wasn't using my head. I should have tried to stop them!"

"Hey, whoa!" Yamcha had cut in, "I wouldn't feel too bad if I were you. Those little imps would have found a way, even if you'd told them a thousand times they couldn't go!" It hadn't helped the guilt any but she also couldn't disagree with the man.

"Stopping pre-K super saiyans from going to a fight is virtually impossible!" He'd finished, turning back to flying and giving her a peace sign over his shoulder. "Trust me!"

To Videl's relief, Chichi hadn't disagreed.

"Gee... Thanks..." Videl had muttered, swallowing her guilt, and her growing questions about saiyans, for the time being

"Sure. Anyway, there's no mistaking they went this way, huh?"

"Right! They went straight ahead, for sure!" She'd agreed. With that, Yamcha had sped up the jet, clearly not too daunted by what lay ahead.

Nothing, however, had seemed capable of breaking though Bulma's melancholy. Nobody had answered Videl's earlier questions about the destruction of the stadium and she frankly hadn't had the courage to ask again and risk drawing Chichi's notice.

"Hey Bulma," Yamcha finally said, "Lighten up would ya? Come on! The worst that can happen is that one of us gets killed, and if that happens we just wish 'em back with the Dragon Balls. No big deal!" The entire sentence had left Videl utterly speechless and entirely unsure what to think. Was Yamcha really making jokes about dying? And what on earth were dragon balls?

"Oh? If that's the case you won't mind if I kill you!" Bulma had screeched at the man who had so clearly pushed her buttons. With a terrified yell Yamcha had fallen out of the pilot's seat, yanking on the flight controls and sending the jet into a terrible dive that really hadn't done anything to help Videl's roiling stomach.

"Look what you've done, you idiot!" Eighteen had snapped as she grabbed her wailing toddler from the air. "Straighten this thing out or I'll kick your butt!" She didn't seem particularly phased by their sudden earthward plummet, only angry that her sleeping daughter had been disturbed.

"Uh! No need!" He said with a placating smile as he climbed back into his chair, straightening out the air jet once more, "Everything's under control!" He'd finished with a nervous chuckle.

Whatever else was happening, Videl had realised, if she intended to spend more time with Gohan – something she had every intention of doing – she would have to completely reassess her view of the world if these people were anything to go by: she'd never heard so many unfamiliar words outside of English class!

"Look, I know you're troubled, Bulma, but he wasn't normal when he killed those people!" It had been the first time Videl had heard the old man speak, but his words were forceful. "The Vegeta we know may be arrogant and hot-headed but he would never do something like what we saw today!"

It had felt like the ground had fallen out from under her feet when Videl had heard those words. Had the man really just said that Vegeta had killed people? Had he somehow caused all that terrible destruction at the tournament?

Videl didn't know Vegeta but the thought of standing so close to a man who had murdered potentially hundreds of people, such a short time ago, was unlike anything she'd ever experienced. And that man was Gohan's friend! She didn't think that Gohan could have misjudged so terribly! And what did the old man by 'he wasn't normal'?

"Yeah! They did something to him!" Chichi had piped in, waving a fist. Bulma had simply stayed quiet, clearly lost in her own thoughts.

Just what kind of madness, Videl had wondered, had she strayed into? What could possibly be done to a man to make him hurt all those people? And what kind of power must he posses to have achieved such a scale of destruction? Did Gohan and his father know what Vegeta had done? Did they know how strong he was?

The thought that they might not had made Videl's knees tremble. The image of them being betrayed by their friend flashed through her mind. And then she'd remembered again the look on Goku's face at Vegeta's challenge earlier that day. Yes, he knew how strong Vegeta was. And if Goku did then Gohan would too. They wouldn't be caught unawares.

But that begged another terrifying question: If these were the people who had faced and defeated Cell; if they could fly and use energy blasts and come back from the dead; if they were willing to race off to face this Majin Buu; just how strong were they?

It simply beggared belief.

Then, out of the blue, the air jet had started to shake uncontrollably and Yamcha had yelled in surprise. Almost immediately the sky in the direction they were headed had lit up in a blinding flash of light unlike anything Videl had ever seen before. Wave after wave of some strange, glowing force assaulted the jet, setting it to tumbling through the air.

Bulma had leapt to help Yamcha grapple with the controls as 18 again yelled at the poor pilot. Even the two of them together hadn't been able to bring the vehicle back under control as it shook around them, buffeted by winds it had clearly never been designed to handle.

And then, as suddenly as it had started, it had stopped.

"That got the old heart-rate up!" She'd said, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, sorry guys. I should have had the 'fasten seatbelt' sign on!" Yamcha responded, catching Videl's drift.

"That was no common turbulence! That was the aftershock of an incredible explosion!" The old man had cut in, trying his best to see out the window as Bulma let out a sharp gasp.

Before anyone had had the chance to ask Bulma what was wrong, Yamcha had exclaimed in panic, "Uh-oh! This isn't good! Darn it! The controls – they're not responding anymore – they've been damaged!" Despite all his frantic shaking of the stick, the plane had continued onwards without change. Then, "Engine one's down!"

With a blast, the plane had lurched to the side and started to plummet once more. Videl had held onto her seat for dear life, her eyes squeezed shut at the sensation of a free-fall, when all of a sudden a weight had settled in her lap and Eighteen's voice had reached her over the screaming of the others.

"Videl! Here – take Marron!" The blonde woman had shouted as she went for the door. Videl had clutched the little girl to her, trying to figure out just what the woman was doing as she opened the door and leaped out of the jet.

The ground had been so close. Far too close!

Then, after an eternity that couldn't have been more than a second or two, the jet had jolted before settling into a slow, steady, controlled descent.

In a joyous burst, the little toddler had shrieked "My Mom's flying the plane!" her tiny hands waving in the air in glee. "Yay!"

Videl had breathed a sigh of indescribable relief and done her best to relax her grip on the giggling bundle in her lap as the jet had come to rest on the ground.

As the stoic woman had walked to the front of the plane, gazing into the distance from which the blast had emanated, Videl had been silently thanking the woman, impressed by her calm, calculating manner, all the while wondering just what had happened up ahead to cause such a monumental shockwave.

It had only taken minutes for Yamcha to recover from his shock and, after searching through Bulma's purse for her capsules, specifically one containing an extended toolkit, he had soon proceeded to begin repairing the plane. It had certainly taken time. During overheard snippets of conversation Videl had learned that Bulma was in fact the Bulma, as in Bulma Briefs of the Capsule Corporation, and that she was usually the first to jump into any kind of mechanical or electrical repair job. But Bulma had hardly made it out of the jet at all, taking a seat halfway down the tail ramp and slipping into an unexplained and seemingly impenetrable melancholy.

It had been there, sat on that deserted little island that Videl had heard about the dragon balls again.

"Perhaps, instead of chasing after those boys, our time would be better spent looking for the dragon balls." The white haired man had said, standing before the small group with his hands clasped behind his back.

"That's a great idea, Master Roshi!" Yamcha had exclaimed, quickly poking his head out from under the jet. "I bet we can find 'em in no time!"

The old master had nodded. "Whatever has happened to Vegeta, we need to leave him to Goku. But we can restore the people he killed to life."

"Yeah!" Chichi had leaped on the idea, "My Goku will stop Vegeta and kill that wizard before anyone else gets hurt!" A pause. "But what about my baby?!"

With a flash of his sunglasses master Roshi had turned to the black-haired woman, his face resolute.

"Those boys are already far stronger than Goku was when he fought Frieza and they don't have that saiyan pride getting in the way. They work well as a team." A nod, "And if they're following the energy of the others they'll be safe."

'Following the energy...' What did that mean? And what did it mean that the old man thought the dead could be revived? Was that what had happened to Goku?

Chichi had slumped in defeat.

Leaving Marron on the boulder beside Videl, Eighteen had approached Bulma.

"Do you have the dragon radar with you?"

It had taken Bulma several seconds to pull herself completely out of her thoughts, "Uh... Yes... I think – yes. Here it is." She'd pulled a small, white, circular device out of her bag and handed it to the other woman.

"I'm nearly done under here!" Yamcha had called from where he'd retaken his position under the jet and true to his words they'd been back in the air not ten minutes later.

It seemed this would be their task for now, whatever it was.

Poor Videl – she really did get thrown in at the deep end!

I wish she'd seen the scene between Goku and Vegeta at the stadium but she didn't and I guess that was good for her sanity - even if it did leave me utterly bummed and uninspired for this chapter. Oh well, I'm already looking forward to her seeing Shenlong, the lookout and SSJ3!

Thanks for reading! Please review!