"Videl-chan, can you check if Chayote-san arrived already? She's got a baby with her and a pretty mean attitude so the last thing we want is to keep her waiting outside with those carnivores stalking us and making a ruckus!" Mark Satan yelled out from across the room, running around his oversized mansion and correcting various objects he thought to be out of place.
A girl in her early to mid-teens walked out from the corner and into her father's field of vision. She had blown out her cheeks and was flushing with red while her lips wavered like the surface of an unruly ocean. The twitching in her eyes made it often look like they weren't on the same level. That was the level of discomfort that this action-oriented girl felt wearing an elegant dress for the greeting of her father's ex-boss.
"Is this get-up really necessary?" Videl moaned. She looked at her father and his monkey suit, wondering how come he was okay with this. Her father had been a quite capable martial artist during his young days before entering the field of private security and earning a fortune as a high-ranking officer of Chayote Security. Often he led the charge straight into active battle zones and pulled out civilians while the others fought the grueling battles.
"Oh… I wish your mother could've seen you like this!" Mark Satan rushed to his daughter and wrapped his arms around her, pressing her to himself and cuddling her for a few swings and spins. Videl struggled against it but, despite her intense training sessions, her father was still stronger than her when he got his hands on her. Therefore, the teen only regained movement in her entire body when his arms let go of her while her feet still weren't fully touching the ground. Videl wobbled with a petrified look on her face, finding it difficult to maintain balance after landing on heels.
"I just don't get why all this hassle is necessary. This lady used to be your boss, right? Isn't she just as rich as you? Why does she have to live with us?" Videl rolled her eyes. The teen returned to capricious pouting, ignoring her father's request to check the conditions outside for some more piece of her mind.
"Chayote-san's house was utterly wrecked during the Android conflict. She's been living in the God's Temple this whole time. We owe her our entire fortune, so it's only fair that we offer her our home. We've got five floors and over forty rooms in this mansion. I'm sure somehow we'll find some place for a mother and her baby to live until her house is rebuilt," Mark Satan waggled his finger in front of him posturing at his daughter. Not having received any input about the situation outside, he rushed to the oversized wooden door and pushed it open to take a peek outside.
Like rabid wild cats, the press jumped up with roars and echoing howls from the other side of the yard where they could park and wait. Each journalist tried yelling their piece from across the yard, hoping that the humanity's greatest hero, the Salvager of the Innocent, Mark Satan would walk out and talk to the press for just a few more interviews. Heck, they'd have settled for the hero to yell his answers from his doorway. Despite his exploits working for Chayote Security being most of what the press wrote about, even after entire months of this, people still couldn't get enough of it.
"It's your name on the company logo, technically, she works for you now so you don't owe this Chayote lady anything…" Videl grumped, crossing her arms in disgruntled submission after realizing that the only way she could have made this dress feel looser and more comfortable would be if she ripped it apart. The white collar constantly got in her face, the frills were itchy and the cute, decorative, pink hat constantly threatened to slip off of Videl's head and roll off onto the deluxe carpets if she didn't move gently and with elegance, always having the hat in mind.
"I won't have any of that objectivist talk in my house, young lady!" Mark Satan scolded his teenage daughter with a point of his finger, signaling to her she stepped over the line with this complaint. "It was our mutual decision, started by Chayote-san herself, to sign the company over to me. My name has been all over the news so it was what was best for the business, also, Chayote-san said she wanted to step away from the limelight and spend more time training and taking care of her son. We owe Chayote-san everything around you, so if she moves here forever, I won't as much as blink twice before nodding."
"Ew, dad, do you have a crush on that lady?" Videl stuck out her tongue.
"Don't be ridiculous! Your collar's stuffed down under, pull it out, here…" Mark Satan rushed to his daughter and pulled the corner of her collar from being stuck underneath the upper layer of her dress. Videl appreciated the help since she couldn't move her head to look down without her hat falling off, so she'd have to remove it and fix her hair again to put it on again.
Chayote's heels gently clacked against the ground. She turned her head to check if Navy was still holding on to her. Despite being less than a year-old baby, the little guy had an iron grip hard enough to keep himself planted to his mother even during flight at a controlled pace. It was to be expected, given that a quarter of his gene pool went back to the Saiyan royal bloodline, meaning he had a fair shot of being a Saiyan elite.
The toddler appeared intrigued by the hordes of press lined up around Mark Satan's mansion. He leaned his head from behind Chayote to scan the area, clapping his little hands and cheering for all the cool vans and jets assembled on the residential area block of Orange City. It may have been this cackling and yells of childish glee that caught the attention of a few journalists hanging out at the back of the line whether because they were late to the early worm party or because they represented shoddy media companies and got bullied to the outer line of the crowd.
"Hey, that's Chayote, the honorary commander of Satan Security!" someone from the crowd of vultures jumped up to the chance of getting an opener for their article. Chayote may have cared a bit about the questions that the press had to ask, seeing how she didn't want to muck things up for Mark Satan's stellar public reception, but because of their swarming human-wave tactics, she couldn't make out a single question.
"Guys, step back, also, one at a time…" Chayote asked, extending her hands to try to pacify the horde, but they seemed ruthless. Before the end of the minute, the woman heard sniffling behind her which made her heart skip a few beats. When the sniffling broke into the heart-rending sound of a baby's cry, Chayote was beginning to see red. "I said SHUT THE HELL UP!" she bellowed out, expelling a bubbling shock wave that pushed everyone around her to fly back like helpless rag dolls, punting jets, vans and trucks aside and thoroughly disassembling and shorting out any recording equipment that the media may have had.
Seeing hundreds of people fly about like rag dolls and grunt as they slowly picked themselves up off the ground, bruised and humbled yet uninjured, Navy began clapping and cheering again. Chayote wasn't sure if it was the natural child's obsession with wrecking stuff and action that drove his love for seeing his mother losing it, or if he truly had a penchant for violence that she'd have to work on curbing. At the moment, it was just too early to say for sure, all she knew at that moment was that she much preferred him clapping and giggling over her little baby feeling distraught.
Carefully, Chayote reached behind her back and grabbed the little Navy's collar, pulling him up lightly, which told him to release his grip on his mother's back. Chayote scooped her little boy up and gently lulled him into her hands to get him to calm down. She didn't like the idea of living with Mark Satan too much, which was why she spent almost half a year holed up in the God's Temple instead, pushing back the conversation for as long as she could.
She had hoped that maybe if she holed up there and acted like she was still grieving the loss of Future Trunks, she'd avoid having to talk to Mark about this forever. The last thing she counted for was Mark Satan climbing all the way up the Korin Tower and then getting approved by that sneaky asshole Korin to get up to the God's Temple the old-fashioned way. Bells and all… Sometimes Chayote forgot that Mark Satan used to be a martial artist, a half-decent one at that. Thus, she had to face the talk, and she just didn't have any excuses to push him away anymore.
Mark Satan insisted on Chayote not bothering on bringing any baggage with her unless it was some family heirloom or something that had sentimental value. He must've felt indebted to her for giving him the position of head of security all that time back and letting him spearhead operations of rescuing civilians from battle zones while Trunks and Chayote did all the large-scale fighting and held Artificial Humans off for the civilians to be rescued. He either still felt grateful about that, or about Chayote signing him off the whole of Chayote Security with the condition he renamed it Satan Security.
By the time Chayote walked into the yard, she realized that she'd not need to knock on the door or ring any bells. The baffled faces of Mark Satan and Videl stood in the doorway, having left their home to check up on the booming and crashing noises outside and seeing Chayote pushing through the wave of media vultures with utmost care for their well-being. Having Navy on her back made Chayote more self-aware of how much she lost herself to wrath than she's ever been. If one was to talk about the spirit of being grateful, Chayote was grateful to Bulma for teaching her about stress management during her little internship stint. It helped tremendously to be able to control herself while a little bundle of joy and excitement cuddled up to her in her arms or hanging off her back like a little spider monkey.
"Chayote-san! Sorry about that! I should've chased those guys off, I didn't think they'd be hassling you…" Mark Satan excused himself by shaking his hands out in front of him and sweating.
"Just who is this lady? She's got dad all scared…" Videl stumbled back a few graceful steps.
"Oh, you're a martial artist? I couldn't help but hear your thoughts," a voice rung in Videl's head. She jolted up and gazed at Chayote with a shocked expression.
"You can read minds!?" Videl pointed her finger at Chayote.
"Not all the time, just if I really focus on it or if the minds are asking to be read like yours was. If you think of something with all of your focus and all of your essence behind it, it's impossible for a martial artist not to read your movements and your thoughts like an open book," Chayote replied.
"Chayote-san, this is Videl-chan. Videl-chan's my daughter. I'm all she's got since her mother died of the heart virus. I try to teach her martial arts and she's a keen and focused student. Videl-chan, Chayote-san here is an amazing martial artist, maybe she can teach you a few things some time?" Mark Satan stepped out of being in the direct line of sight in-between both ladies. He chuckled and let out a goofy laugh, sensing the atmosphere tensing up and getting cloudy from Videl's side, while Chayote just stared back at the little lady with curiosity.
"She must be really talented. She's already a match for you and you've been able to climb the Korin Tower. With proper training, she can trample right through Earth's martial arts tournaments," Chayote observed.
"Are you saying that my dad's not training me right? You've never traded blows with me, so don't be so obnoxious, missy, you're just a guest here!" Videl lashed back and stuck out her tongue. "For your information, my dad's the strongest martial artist I've ever seen! When they finish rebuilding Papaya Island, he's going to sweep right through the World's Martial Arts Tournament, you'll see!"
"The fact that you still think we need to trade blows for me to know how strong you are shows you're still a little green. Sensing one's Ki won't tip you off about how skilled one is at martial arts, but it'll tell you all about how strong, tough, and how fast someone is," Chayote replied calmly, pushing her free hand into her pocket. "I'd love to show you a few things some time. I think it should only take a single training session for you to leave your father in the dust."
"Oh, I see… You're one of those Empty Fist charlatans that think they can knock people out with hypnosis and mystical energies? Boy, I'd love to humble someone like you. We just have to have a sparing match soon!" Videl cracked her right knuckle, looking cartoonishly tomboyish for her exuberant and fabulously girly attire.
"That's what I've been suggesting this whole time, don't shoot at me or it if you're going to suggest the same thing…" Chayote shrugged with indifference.
"Did you… Just… Shrink a little?" Videl pointed at the woman with a minuscule O-shape to her mouth.
"Yeah, I get crazy beefed up when I power up so I keep most of my strength at bay to preserve stamina normally," Chayote shrugged. "Frieza may have been a murderous tyrant, but he had a good call about this one thing, I guess."
"Well, I'm glad to see you two are hitting it off!" Mark Satan clapped his hands and bowed with a goofy chuckle that never stopped breaking out of his chest throughout the entire morning. "Now, let me show you around the mansion, Chayote-san, as I've said, treat this whole place as yours, just as much as it is mine."
"Right," Chayote nodded before handing little Navy to a very shocked Videl, who wobbled left and right from the sudden bundle of warmth and cheers being dropped onto her lap. "All the walking around will bore Navy, so he'll get cranky. Be a good girl and watch over him for a bit, will you?"
"M-Me!?" Videl blushed. "B-But I don't know anything about taking care of little kids!"
"Sometimes you have to learn and hope for things to work out by just jumping into the fray of 'em and doing your best. I trust you, Videl-chan!" Chayote gave the teen an enthusiastic thumb up. "Plus, it's handy knowledge for a girl to have. I sort of wish I didn't have to learn all that stuff by myself. There were days when I wish that the reception in the God's Temple was a little better, I'll tell you that for free."
Videl strutted into the dojo, wearing a white karate gi over a tight black undershirt, tightening her hands over a black belt tied over her waist. She stood up in front of Chayote and took a fighting stance while the Saiyan sized the teen up with her eyes. Chayote could feel Videl sizing Chayote up too, but she got the feeling that the kid didn't yet know what she was supposed to look for in an opponent. Right now, she was just judging what she saw as Chayote's lack of preparation for a training session.
"I seem to recall asking you to take care of Navy," Chayote said with a bit of grumpiness in her tone. "This house is so massive, it'll be a pain finding him until he starts crying and when he does, it'll be a hassle to calm him down again. Usually, it involves something getting smashed."
"I handed him over to the servants to take good care of him," Videl reported. "They've all got children of their own, so they're better suited for that sort of task anyway. I've come here for the promised sparring match. Please change into your fighting clothes now."
"No need," Chayote shrugged. "The way you are now, you won't stress me out enough to tear these anyway."
"You'll be sorry for taking me lightly. This black belt over my waist isn't just for show, you know. I've earned it when I was just six years old!" Videl beamed a stare she tried to induce instant death with. Without warning, the young woman took off. What a bratty teen! Even after thinking that Chayote was just mocking and looking down on her, she didn't give it her all. Instead, the twerp went for being flashy.
Videl vaulted through the air for a windmill kick, but Chayote just stepped back, leaving her kiddy opponent to cry out upon realizing she had no footing and scrambling for something to hold on to for balance. Videl's arms shot down but Chayote swept them, making the kid plant on her face and scramble back, afraid of a follow-up pursuit attack. When Videl rolled back on her bottom and looked up to Chayote with a grazed and red face, the Saiyan was standing calmly with both her hands in her pockets.
Kicking off the ground, Videl rushed at Chayote with a step-in diving uppercut. This girl's form was legitimate, but her fighting style was far too honest for someone so slow and so weak. Even with Chayote suppressing her strength to better match Videl's, those moves were too self-evident to ever get hit by. The Saiyan pushed her hand to nudge Videl's elbow gently and make the angle of her uppercut less static while locking her hand back into position at the same time.
Videl soared with a rolling kick again but Chayote stepped to the side and pushed the young woman away with a push kick that made Videl cry out in pain and smashed her through the paper-thin dojo wall and into the dance room on the other side. With a nonchalant expression on her face, Chayote leaned through the hole as she stepped into the dance room while frightened Videl scrambled back with her eyes looking like she felt her whole life being threatened by a monstrous woman she chose for an opponent.
"This room is much better for training. It's got walls that are made of much sterner stuff so we won't bring the house down while working out…" Chayote smirked while tapping the reinforced walls lined up with reflective materials for a better atmosphere for dance training and designed to not let any sound through. "Well, what are you waiting for? Are you tapping out already after getting all dressed up for this? You took more time tying that belt than you lasted against me. Even after all the effort I took to power down to approximately your level… When we train for real, I won't hold back, you know."
"How…?" Videl finally gasped, standing back up on her wobbly feet with trembling arms and taking up a shoddy fighting stance of a sniveling and terrified fighter. "You didn't even change clothes or take a fighting stance…"
"Real fighting ain't in what you wear or the stance you take," Chayote sighed. "It helps to wear something comfortable, sure, a well-selected stance will help you execute your battle plan more efficiently, you're not wrong there. But it looks like you're just dressing up this way because that's what you think fighters wear, not because you're comfortable in this, and you only take this stance because this is the stance you like and not because it's the stance that helps you set-up your game plan. I can teach you how to scrap, but it'll hurt a whole lot and I don't want you whining to your daddy about how mean I'm being to you. We can fake it for a bit and act like you're daddy's little action princess or we can do this the hard way, but it won't be pretty if we do."
Chayote's careless expression broke with her eyes widening a bit when Videl collapsed to the ground and pressed her forehead to the dancefloor. "Please, teach me!" Videl yelled out with power and authority in her chest. She wasn't sniveling or whining anymore. "My whole life I've been watching and studying martial arts and I can't seem to stop the ground from shaking under my feet right now, knowing that everything I've been studying is all wrong. In order to match the expectations placed on the daughter of the great hero, Mark Satan, please teach me martial arts, Chayote-san!"
"You don't really need to learn how to fight for your dad to love you, you know…" Chayote scratched her head with a wince in her right eye. "Plus, I think everyone's gonna be way more freaked out if you become an actual powerhouse that leaves your dad in the dust than if you live an ordinary life of a normal girl."
"Don't presume to be able to give me life advice!" Videl clenched her fists and took her fighting balanced fighting stance again. She was being way too honest with this stance, it showed the enemy all how Videl could attack right from the get-go. That was one thing that Chayote may try to change with this stubborn kid. "You're not my mother and you will never be my mother! You're just here as a guest, not my dad's girlfriend or anything!"
"You won't hear me arguing with that…" Chayote sighed. "Navy's already a handful on his own. I don't need another deadweight brat on my shoulders. Especially if you're gonna be so stubborn and go around talking about things like that…"
Videl ran straight at Chayote, throwing a quick jab with her right. Chayote didn't even bother blocking or dodging that. She scooped Videl up like a stack of pancakes and flipped the teen over her head by the collar of her gi, and slammed her back on the floor in the dojo room. Videl coughed slobber up and panted, lying on her back while clutching her untampered body. She had hardened it up through training and extensive exercise, but she never took any real, hard-hitting punches or slams that threatened to decimate her entire skeleton into dust.
All that would have to change.