A/N: So, I will Answer a few questions from the reviews I have been getting (Thanks by the way). First, I realize I may not have been clear in the last chapter about Gohan training his SSJ and SSJ2 forms. He is not in them full time since that would be a dead giveaway that he is the gold fighter, but during his training he is focusing on exercising control over them so he can manage the energy output better. Second, I still haven't decided on who Gohan is going to be paired with. I don't think it will be Videl (though she will feature in this story soon.) and I have other plans for Zangya but Anything could happen so stay tuned!
Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ.
Chapter 6: Techniques for interviews and babysitting.
Zangya and Piccolo stood in the middle of the Son house, staring at each other awkwardly. It had been half an hour since Chichi and Gohan left and Zangya was still trying to process what just happened. The two had left her holding Goten as if they trusted her completely. No matter how she thought about it the whole situation made no sense. She looked tentatively at Piccolo, who had been just as silent as her the whole time.
"Is leaving your son with a complete stranger a normal earth thing?" She asked, hoping that the other alien could shed some light on her befuddlement.
"Nothing that this family does is normal." Piccolo sighed. He shuddered at the thought of babysitting. Not because he didn't like the little runt, but to be honest was surprised Chichi would allow him near her youngest son. Seeing as how the last time Piccolo "Babysat" for the Son family was when he kidnapped Gohan and made him survive in the wild for half a year. He was pretty sure that whole incident had gotten him a lifetime pass from watching Chichis children but apparently not.
When she first voluntold them to babysit, both of them tried do decline her "offer" But Chichi was masterful in her persuasions. She told Zangya that it was hard to find People that Goten liked and him being half saiyan complicated matters a bit. Since Goten seemed to already have warmed up to the newcomer she was perfect for the job. For some reason Zangya just couldn't say no to the strangely intimidating person. Not that she wanted to refuse. Chichi and Gohan had applied basic first aid and given her a place to rest in a comfortable shelter without her feeling like a prisoner. They even offered her food. It was to her advantage to just go along with things.
Chichi had taken a different tact with Piccolo. Strangely she didn't have to do much to convince him. As soon as he tried to decline the assignment, she narrowed her eyes, put her hands on her hips and said "Excuse me?" very forcefully. Piccolo recoiled unintentionally and knew better than to fight her when she got that look and he grudgingly accepted with little resistance. Besides, he figured that he needed to be there so he could keep an eye on Zangya. He had grown fond of the Son family and really didn't want any harm to come their way.
Chichi left them a list of instructions and numbers to call in case of emergencies and as soon as Gohan was done getting ready, they left the two aliens alone with a baby. Some might question Chichis choice of babysitters but, despite Piccolos past wrong doings, she knew he wouldn't let anything bad happen to either of her little boys. As for Zangya? Well, Goten seemed to really like her and Piccolo was there, so he would keep an eye on things.
Feeling supremely uncomfortable, Zangya looked around and decided to take a seat on the nearby sofa. She was still Piccolo just stood there glaring at her. She observed the Namekian from her seat. From what she could tell about him, he was strong, but not as strong as BoJack. Even if I fought him at full strength, I don't know if I could win. Zangya thought to herself. But more than just his strength, she could tell things about the warrior by the way he held himself. In his own way, Piccolo was just as much a paradox as Gohan.
Feeling ridiculous for the awkwardness and wanting to satisfy her curiosity (plus annoy him a little), she finally asked the green warrior a question.
"Tell me, namekian, how does a warrior as ruthless and cruel as you come to be in association with this family?" Piccolo stayed silent but she could tell the question was a topic he didn't wish to discuss. Not with her anyway. Naturally, this made her press further. "I mean, Gohan is powerful so there's no reason why you shouldn't ally yourself with him, but I just wondered why he would ally himself with you? After all he seems to have a disliking for thugs and monsters."
"Oh really?" piccolo sneered. "Sorry that my moral compass doesn't measure up to the lackey of an insane space pirate." Piccolo knew she was trying to bait him but he refused to let her get to him. He knew he wasn't a saint, but he didn't need to explain himself to her.
"Fine, fine. I was just trying to make conversation." She turned her attention toward Goten and started bouncing him on her knee.
Hurry back soon Gohan. Both of them thought.
Break
Miles away, in Orange academy preparatory school, Gohan and Chichi made their way to the interview.
"Now remember Gohan, sit up straight and look them in the eye when they are talking to you."
Gohan nodded as he straightened his tie. He was dressed in a dark light blue suit with a red tie and white shirt. He had tried to style his hair to something other than the palm tree style he had had since the cell games but was unsuccessful as it still stuck out in all directions.
"Remember if they ask you what your hobbies are, try not to say "Training to defeat powerful opponents." Also, your favorite words should not be the names of food."
Gohan kept nodding. He was already nervous and his mothers coaching was not really helping. From all the things his mother was saying it sounded to Gohan like this interview was the Cell games of the academic world. Just like that fateful day, Gohan felt woefully Underprepared.
"Oh, and one more thing Gohan, remember to smile, that's very important." As Chichi finished her sentence they arrived at the office where the interview took place. Mother and son braced themselves and Chichi knocked on the door.
"Come in." A friendly voice called.
The two of them walked through the doorway and sitting at a table was a rather portly, balding gentleman in a pinstriped suit. On his left was a lady with kind face, wearing a white blouse and a pencil skirt. On his left was a man in suspenders who had a thin mustache.
"Ah welcome, Mrs. Son I presume?" The Portly man asked.
"Hem, Yes I'm Mrs. Son and this is my son, Gohan." She gestured to her son, who tensed up and almost shouted as he bowed.
"It's nice to meet you!"
"Er, yes well, Gohan, Mrs. Son, I am Mr. Azure. I am the head of admissions at orange academy. This gentleman is headmaster Berrymore and the lady next to me is the guidance counselor Ms. Ichigo. Why don't the two of you have a seat and we can begin the interview." He could tell that the boy was nervous and was trying to be genial.
The two Sons sat across the table. Chichi was nervous for her son but she showed full confidence that Gohan would do great. Gohan on the other hand, was stiff as a board. He was sitting so straight that he was shaking and his eyes where incredibly wide trying to keep eye contact with the board of interviewers. His smile was the biggest, cheesiest and most forced smile Mr. Azure had ever seen. Trying to Ignore this strange behavior He decided to ask the first question.
"So young man, we have already received your transcripts and I must say that we are very impressed. You show outstanding aptitude in every subject. This interview is more to try and get to know you on a more personal level, so we can determine if this school is a fit for you. So, why do you want to attend this school?"
At being asked the question, Gohans eyes opened even wider and focused intensely on Mr. Azure. "This school has the best records for getting the students into college." Though his answer was a good one, his delivery was so awkward and off putting that it, once again, threw his interviewers off. They had planned on following up and asking what college he was looking at and what programs he wanted to pursue but, instead, an awkward silence hung over the room. It was broken by Mr. Berrymore.
"What kind of interests do you have? Do you play sports at all? You know, we have a crack baseball team at both the middle school and high school levels."
Gohan turned toward the headmaster, who recoiled at the serial killer-esque smile Gohan was directing at him. "I actually have never played sports. I enjoy reading, Fishing and…Things" Gohan was about to say martial arts but remembered What his mother said about steering clear of the training topic.
"Oh really? What sort of books do you read Gohan?" Ms. Ichigo, who was the only one not too put off by Gohans awkwardness asked kindly.
"Well…" Gohan looked up as if to think but quickly snapped back to his wide-eyed expression after remembering what his mom said about eye contact. "I enjoy all Kinds of books but I Particularly like books about physics." Ms. Ichigo smiled and nodded.
"Is that what you are planning on as a career? Being a physicist?" She was doing her best to help him loosen up but he was still stiff as a board.
"Yes." Was all Gohan answered.
The interview went on like this for ten minutes but the longer it continued, the more rigid Gohan became. The Interviewers were also becoming more freaked out by his intensity and even Ms. Ichigo was starting to think that maybe this boy wasn't Orange academy material. True the Boy was bright on paper, but there was more to life than books and it seemed to them that Gohan was very one dimensional. The three Teachers looked at each other as if sharing the same thought. Barring a miracle, Son Gohan would never attend Orange academy.
"Well, would you look at the time?" Mr. Azure said hurriedly. "We don't want to take up anymore of your time but thank you for coming by. We will let you know our decision within the week. Drive safe on your way home." With their final goodbyes Gohan and Chichi were ushered out the door and the door slammed behind him.
Gohans face reverted to his normal smile. "I think that went great, don't you mom?" he questioned his mother happily as they walked down the hallway.
Chichi had to force a smile. She had never regretted raising her son in solitude until now. "Um… Sure sweety, you did very well in, er… You did very well." Chichi knew that the interview was a disaster but had know idea how to break it to her son.
"Yup, it's a good thing you gave me all those tips about looking them in the eye and smiling, I think that really made an impression." Chichi nodded "I'll say it did."
"I can't wait to tell Mr. Piccolo about getting in. I told him how worried I was, wont he be glad to hear I was nervous for nothing." Great now how was she supposed to say he blew the interview
"Sweety?" Chichi began. "I've been thinking that maybe this school isn't the best for us."
"What are you talking about mom? We already talked about this. This school is the best prep school in the city. It has a 90% placement rate into the College of the students' choice and it's not even that far from home." Gohan talked to his mother as if she'd gone crazy.
"Well, yes that's true, but," How was she supposed to put this. "Hey, I know! How about we go out to eat today to celebrate?" in her experience, breaking bad news to a saiyan always worked better when they were full.
"Really? That sounds great!" Gohan cheered. He was pretty hungry after all.
Break
About an hour later, Chichi and Gohan left the restaurant after Gohan had nearly eaten through their whole stock. Somehow in that hour she hadn't been able to tell her son that he probably didn't make it into the school. Gohan may have had better table manners than his father, but conversations were still not easy to maintain when the other person had their mouth constantly full.
Maybe I should just wait till the rejection letter comes. That would be easier. Chichi was lost in thought as they tried to make their way to a discreet spot where they could call the flying nimbus.
BOOOM
Somewhere behind them, a huge explosion sounded. Without thinking Gohan turned around and flew toward the sound.
"Gohan what are you doing!?" Chichi yelled. Gohan stopped and turned around
"Someone might be hurt mom. I have to go and see if I can help." Without another word he sped towards the location of the explosion.
"GOHAN!" yelled Chichi, "Just be careful." She said almost to herself.
It didn't take long at all for Gohan to Get to the site of all the trouble. The street was a mess of broken asphalt and concrete, while the surrounding buildings had caught fire. To Gohan it looked like it could be more android trouble. He went super saiyan just to be safe and started scanning the area. He didn't find any androids but he did see a lot of people in trouble. Some of them where stuck in burning buildings. Others looked to be unconscious in their cars, some of which had flipped and were now stuck upside down. Gohan decided to prioritize the people in the buildings first. He sped from building to building, flying people out safely and setting them down out of harms' way.
Gohan stayed vigilant but there didn't seem to be any sign of an android so he carried on with carrying people to safety. Once all the people where out of the buildings, he started getting those who were stuck in their cars out. The fires were spreading fast so Gohan worked double time to get them away from danger. In some cases, he would just rip the entire car in half to get to the victim and then fly them to his drop point.
The fire department and medics had started to arrive and a crowd started to form. Gohan was Glad that he had decided to go super saiyan because he didn't want to be recognized for this later in school as some kind of freak. He dropped more people off at an ambulance. "I think there's only one more casualty left, I'll be right back." Gohan said to an emergency responder. He could sense one more energy signal but it was faint. He rushed towards it and in an upside-down car was an unconscious "Mr. Azure?" Gohan was surprised to see this man of all people.
He must have been on his way home when he got caught up in the explosion.
He ripped the door off the car and gently pulled the man out.
Once the Portly man was free of the car, he coughed.
*Cough* *Cough*
"Mr. Azure, Are you alright?" Gohan asked concernedly.
"Wh-who are you? How do you know my name?" The man was still hazy but then comprehension dawned as he saw the hair style and a familiar looking suit. "Mr. Son?" Gohan took it as a good sign that he could talk but started to panic internally that his cover was blown already, and by his potential teacher. He was sure to get expelled before he even got accepted. He put his own problems to the back of his mind. There was a job to do.
"It's alright, I'll get you to a medic." Gohan picked the man up, piggy back style, and flew toward the ambulances. The firefighters seemed to be getting the fire under control and though there were some seriously injured, nobody seemed beyond recovery from what Gohan could tell.
"HEY!" Someone in the crowd yelled and pointed at Gohan "IT'S MR. SATANS APPRENTICE! IT'S THE GOLD FIGHTER!" Every one in the crowd looked at Gohan for a moment and then they started Cheering.
"YA WE LOVE YOU GOLD FIGHTER!"
"YOU ROCK KID! JUST LIKE MR. SATAN!"
"AMAZING DID YOU SEE THE WAY HE TELEPORTED TO GET EVERYONE!?"
"HE RIPPED THOSE CARS APART LIKE PAPER TO GET TO THE INJURED! HOW INCREDIBLE HE REALLY IS THE CHAMPS PROTÉGÉ!"
Gohan started Blushing and the cheers got more intense. He touched down and handed his last casualty over to the medics. The fire chief came up to Gohan and started shaking his hand.
"Mr. Satan made a great choice in making you his disciple son." The chief said grateful and excited.
"Does anybody know what happened? Was it an attack?" Gohan asked. The Chief grimaced.
"No, Nothing like that. It seems like there was a leak in the gas main and it exploded. It could have been worse. If it hadn't been for you, it would have been. We owe you our gratitude."
The chief left and went back to dousing the fires. The rest of the crowd tried to swarm Gohan but before they could get to close, he took off and flew back to where he left his mother.
Gohan was feeling pretty good about himself. He had helped people and that was what he always wanted to do.
The Gold fighter huh? It does have a nice ring to it, Maybe I should do this more often.
But before Gohan could indulge any super hero fantasies his heart sank.
Awe man, what am I gonna tell mom?
Break
Chichi was surprisingly understanding and even a little happy that when Gohan told her what happened on the nimbus ride home.
"Aren't you upset that I blew my cover? In front of the head of admissions of all people?" Gohan asked his mother, confused by her good mood.
"Gohan, you did the right thing. You saved lives, if you don't get into this school because of it then oh well." Internally Chichi was pretty happy. She now had an actual good excuse to give to her son if the rejection letter came. Of course, if saving the mans life who made the decision and, while saving it, accidentally you let him know that you're the one who rescued him helped change his mind then that works too.
Either way, problem solved.
By the time they got home, Gohan was still processing that his mom said "Oh well" about something school related. Gohan was about to broach the subject again when he stopped and he noticed the state of his home. Instead of the nice tidy dome shaped house, there were holes in the roof and the door was swinging on one hinge. The smoke was still billowing from the chimney but it was also billowing from everywhere else too.
"What on earth!?" cried Chichi as she and her son rushed inside, fearing the worst had happened.
Of all the scenes that they anticipated in these circumstances, the one that actually greeted them was the least expected.
Sitting on a smoldering sofa were Piccolo and Zangya, with a sleeping Goten between them. Piccolos turban and cape had burn holes all over and the weights on his shoulders were showing through the cloth. He was a browner shade of green, as if he had been roasted over a fire for the last 3 hours. Zangya had the same Brown coloring as if she had been roasted. Her clothes had more tears than when she arrived and her hair was even frizzier than before. Her hair was also smoldering. Both the babysitters had the same traumatized look on their face, as if they had seen things no alien was meant to. Between them, napping peacefully, was an innocent looking Goten.
Chichi took in the scene, put her hands on her hips, assumed her most intimidating glare and growled through her clenched teeth.
"What. Happened?"
Three hours earlier.
Zangya and Piccolo had reached an unspoken truce, in that, they agreed, silently, to stay silent. Goten had started to get cranky, so they followed Chichis instructions for such occasions and turned on the television to some ridiculous show with giant birds, furry monsters singing about goldfish and a weird grouchy thing living in a trash can. Sunflower rd. or something like that, its name was some kind of seed in it anyway.
Goten really seemed to enjoy it from his seat on Zangyas lap and, despite themselves, Piccolo and Zangya got caught up in the show as well. They were mostly baffled by how earth children were allowed to watch such a bizarre program. As Zangya leaned forward during a particularly catchy song about a rubber duck she didn't realize that her hair was tickling Gotens nose. When she swayed back and forth to the rhythm of the song, it kept brushing against his nose. Finally, he sneezed.
"Achoo."
A bright light of energy shot towards the tv and it exploded
"HOLY $#!+," Piccolo and Zangya Jumped out of their seats. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?" yelled Piccolo
"I SWEAR IT WASN'T ME!" Zangya defended herself
"WELL IT WASN'T ME! THE BLAST CAME FROM YOUR DIRECTION, IT HAD TO HAVE BEEN YOU!"
"AND I'M TELLING YOU IT WASN'T!"
As the two were shouting Goten let off another sneeze and another ki blast launched from his nose. This time hitting piccolo square in the face. Zangya jumped at the suddenness of the blast but, after seeing Piccolos burnt face, she burst out laughing.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh my gosh! You look ridiculous!" she readjusted Goten to face her but regretted it immediately, as Goten chose that moment to sneeze a third time. This time, it hit Zangya in the face.
"Wait a minute." Piccolo realized. "It's the kid! He's launching these blasts when he sneezes."
"What? That's ridiculous." Zangya scoffed but the ducked as Goten launched another ki blast her way, going past her and blasting a whole in the wall. "How is he doing that!? He's like 3 months or something right?" She finally turned Goten away from her just in time for him to launch a double sneeze attack at piccolo, who dodged the first but the second hit his chest.
"GAH! I told you nothing about this family was normal! I don't know how but that's not important! We have to stop the sneezing!" Three more sneezes fired in random directions.
Piccolo had an idea. "Hold him still for a moment." Piccolo ripped off a part of his cape and made his way towards Goten while dodging several more sneeze blasts along the way. When he finally got to the infant, he deftly tied the cloth around the baby's nose. "There!" Piccolo said proudly. "That should stop it."
Zangya looked at the cloth skeptically. "I don't know… Shouldn't we not cut off his breathing passages?"
"It's not like I covered his mouth or anything." He said defensively. "Besides, as long as it stopped the"
Piccolo never had time to finish his sentence as the biggest blast of all built up and fired from Gotens nose.
""WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?"" Both aliens cried in panic and desperation
For the next hour Goten would continue to sneeze and the adult warriors would run around trying to find solutions that were ultimately doomed to fail.
"TRY THIS!" yelled Zangya.
"ACHOO!" PEW
"WHAT ABOUT THIS?" screamed Piccolo
"ACHOO!" KABOOM
"HAVE WE TRIED THIS YET?"
"AHOO! ACHOO! ACHOO!" BOOM! BANG! OTHER EXPLODY SOUND!
Outside with every new sneeze, came a new blast through the Sons' roof and more cries of terror from the added destruction.
Present
Gohan walked over and picked up his little brother. "Why didn't you just take him outside?" he asked the two, who had stood up to explain the story. Though they were still recovering from their trauma.
"Take. Him. Outside?" Piccolo and Zangya repeated slowly.
"Well, Yeah." Gohan said as if it were obvious, which it kind of was. "That's what we do when he starts sneezing. Hiccups are even worse though."
Piccolo and Zangya fell straight back with swirly eyes.
"Well," began Chichi "It was an honest mistake." The two aliens looked up at her in surprise. "But that doesn't mean your off the hook." Her tone was harsher now. "You are going to fix this right away. Now get to it!" The two scrambled to their feet and got to work.
Gohan looked at his mother. "Mom don't we have extra capsule houses? Couldn't we just activate one of those and send this one in for repairs?" he asked her.
"You know son, there's an old saying. Waste not want not."
Gohan looked at his panicked mentor and Zangya scrambling to clean up the mess they were responsible for. "Whatever you say mom."
Break
At last, the end of the week had come. Gohan had reconciled with the fact that he wouldn't be going to Orange academy. That's why when he answered the door, the person standing there was the last person he expected to see.
"Mr. Azure!?" Gohan exclaimed
"Ah, splendid. Mr. Son, I was worried that I had the wrong residence. May I come in?"
Gohan nodded, too surprised to do much else and let the older man through.
"Is there somewhere we can sit down? Preferably somewhere with a table?" Gohan showed the guest to the dining room table and pulled out a chair.
"Now, Gohan, I suppose you are wondering what I'm doing here." Gohan nodded and the Mr. Azure continued. "I am here to conduct a follow up interview. You see, I feel that the first interview didn't allow us to see the real Son Gohan." Gohan knew he probably wasn't going to get in but now they were going to interview him and make it official.
"Well, what would you like to know?" Gohan said cautiously.
"Our first question. Who do you consider your personal role model?"
This wasn't what Gohan expected. He had thought for sure he was going to ask about him being the gold fighter. Luckily this question was the easiest one in the world for him to answer.
"My Father."
"Not Mr. Satan?" Mr. Azure was a little surprised. Everyone said Mr. Satan was there role model and he would have thought the champs own apprentice would say the same. "Very well, why is your father your role model?"
"Because he was the greatest man I ever knew. He always did the right thing and helped others. He may not have been perfect and he may have been a little goofy, but in all the ways that counted, my father was a true hero, a beacon of justice. He died while fighting Cell. He knew hew couldn't win but he sacrificed himself anyway, just to save me. I'd be lucky if I even became ½ the man my father was."
Gohan finished with a little emotion. He wasn't sure why he was being so open with this man, He supposed that part of it was the fact that he really had nothing to lose in this situation. and he could see that his words had touched Mr. Azure in some way as there was a light mist over his eyes.
"Well Spoken young man." He took out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes. "Now second Question,"
Once again, the interview lasted for ten minutes but at the end instead of the abrupt dismissal, Mr. Azure pulled out an envelope from his briefcase. "Well Mr. Son, I am impressed, you'll be a credit to the school and we would be lucky to have you. I am pleased to present you with this." He handed Gohan the letter.
The young scholar took the envelope, tore it open and read the contents. "You mean it? I got accepted?"
"Yes, Congratulations young man, you've earned it." Azure picked up his things and left for the door. "Oh yes and one more thing." He paused. "If you happen to see the mysterious gold fighter, please tell him, "Thank you for saving my life." And with that the portly educator left the Son home.
Gohan stood still reading and rereading his letter. Finally, after assuring himself that this was real and not a dream he yelled "MOM! MOM GUESS WHAT!"
End chapter
A/N: The moral of the story is that if you have super powers, things will work out, no matter how badly you blow the interview. Please favorite and review if you have time.