A/N: Sorry if this story feels like it's going to slow and has too many "slice of life" type moments. I promise there will be action in the next chapter and lot of action in the chapters after the next one. I was going to pair Gohan up with Tsuki the Glasses girl from last chapter but I would like my readers opinion on that. If you think Gohan should be with a specific girl (or multiple girls), or have any strong opinions about anything else relating to the story, let me know in the reviews. I have some time off from real life stuff so I will be updating more often.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z.

Chapter 8

It was a beautiful day in Orange city. The sky was clear, the sun was shining brightly and school had just let out for the weekend. The school doors of orange academy burst open as a flood of students rushed out to enjoy their first weekend of the school year. Boys and girls of all ages began forming into their groups and were making plans for karaoke, or gaming marathons. Every young mind was carefree and content to just enjoy their youth. Well… Almost all of them.

"So, like, this 1st year is just like, soo amazingly cute. He literally got mobbed by like, every first-year girl." A blonde 2nd year girl was gossiping to her friends rather animatedly.

"Well, Have you like, even seen the kid? He's absolutely frickin' gorgeous!" Put in another member of the group, this one a redhead. "Like, if there was a guy like that in our year, I might just resort to blackmail to make him mine."

"OMG Angela, you're such a freak." A blue haired girl teased her friend. "Still, you totally have a point. Not only is he super cute, he's also supposed to be some kind of genius. I heard he aced all the exams."

"Wow! Brains and a bod, What a catch." Stated the blonde girl. Then she turned to the fourth girl in their group. "What do you think Videl? Videl?"

The raven-haired girl had been silent the whole time, with a sour look on her face, and really wasn't paying any attention. She liked her friends, really, she did, but sometimes their school girl chatter was a little annoying. Why couldn't they talk about something other than boys? Like martial arts, or… well that would really be the only thing a girl like Videl would care to discuss.

"Hey, earth to Videl. You in there girl?" the blonde girl waved a hand in front of her best friends face.

"Huh?" Videl looked up.

"Are you ok Videl?" asked Angela

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind. What was the question Erasa?" she asked the blonde girl.

"We were just talking about the new boy in first year. You know, the one who nearly got mobbed the other day. I was asking what you think of him." Erasa explained and finished with a questioning gaze.

"Well, I've never met him so I can't really answer that." Videl shrugged.

"Oh, come on!" exclaimed the blue haired girl. "You can't tell me you haven't at least seen him? He's cute and really polite. You can't tell me you wouldn't love for such a cute little underclassman to call you senpai. So romantic." She sighed

"Why would I want that?" Videl questioned.

Angela and the bluenette looked at their friend appalled that any girl wouldn't love the chance to corrupt an underclassman. Erasa, on the other hand, had known Videl a lot longer and was used to her opinion (or lack thereof) on the opposite sex.

"Easy Ashley." Erasa said to the bluenette "You ought to know that the only thing in Videls head is fighting. So, I think a better question would be what do think of the Gold fighter" She asked with a sly grin. Surely a guy that strong would catch Videls interest. Especially when he was the protégé of her father, the great Hercule Satan. She hoped that Videl would give a shy girly reaction, maybe blush and stammer. While her face did go red, it was certainly not from embarrassment.

"Grrrrr. Don't talk to me about that Poser! Just because he can fly and he can do a few tricks doesn't mean he's strong! I bet I could take him out no sweat!"

It was obvious to the three girls that bringing up the gold fighter was a mistake. Videl was normally quiet and composed. If she was a guy, she would be labeled as "the strong silent type". Now the floodgates were opened.

"Why would my dad take on that punk as his apprentice is beyond me! It should have been me! I'm the one who he's trained since I could walk. I'm the one he taught all his techniques to! I've won the Junior world martial arts tournament three years in a row! What has this kid done?"

"Well he did save a bunch of people after that gas explosion." Said Angela.

"Yeah, and didn't your dad say he fought those aliens from that tournament?"

"Whatever!" Videl yelled even more upset. "My dad probably just told the press the kid helped him so he could introduce his Precious protégé" the word protégé was said with sarcasm and the word itself left a bad taste in her mouth. "I am the strongest of our generation! I am the daughter of the savior of the world! I should be by his side and fighting evil. Not this Blonde punk from nowhere!"

As Videl raged, the other girls followed. They had no real destination in mind and were walking around aimlessly. All of them were too focused on their friends' rant to notice the group of guys eyeing them. They didn't notice when they started following them either. They certainly didn't notice that the route they were walking led to a dead end. They did notice the dead end. Unfortunately, by that time the 10 men who were tailing them already had them surrounded, cutting the four preteens off from any hope of escape.

"Hey there little girlies," a guy with slick backed hair and sunglasses said in, what he thought was a charming voice, but to the cornered preteens was just creepy. "Hows about you come with us for a little fun?" The rest of the men laughed and Erasa, Angela and Ashley huddled behind Videl.

"Not interested." Said Videl angrily, "Now get out of our way before I make you." She threatened.

"Oh, now don't be like that," said the leader "We wouldn't want to mess up your pretty face now would we boys?" This elicited another round of laughs from the thugs surrounding the girls.

"I'd love to see you try!" Snarled Videl. She was still angry and was looking for an excuse to let off some steam. The fact that it was a bunch of lowlifes was a bonus.

"Hoho, we got a feisty one here boys. Well, that's alright, I like a little bit of fight in 'em." The leader leered at Videl.

"Y-you all b-better watch out!" stammered Erasa. "Don't you know who this is? It's Videl Satan. D-do you really want to get on the bad side of the guy who beat Cell?"

The thugs all stopped laughing. One of the smaller guys spoke up. "Hey boss, maybe we should let them go. I don't want to be on the wrong end of a megaton punch if you know what I mean." He said nervously and all the other guys nodded their agreement.

"What! Don't be stupid. She's probably lying to scare us." The boss said and his men calmed down a little. "Besides, even if she is his brat, imagine the ransom we could get outta him for her "Safe" return."

The other thugs all nodded and were excited by the prospect of a payday. "Oh ya, good thinkin' boss." Chimed in a particularly rough looking thug.

"Of course, that won't stop us having a little fun first. Get em boys." On their leaders command they rushed the girls. Unfortunately, Videl had a little more "Fight" in her than they anticipated. As the first man reached out for her, she swatted his arm out of the way and kneed him right in his junk. He let out cry of pain as he fell to the ground. The next guy grabbed her by the wrist and grinned at his victory. His grin was premature, however, as Videl stepped in, grabbed his other arm, twisted her body and judo flipped the guy over herself and he landed flat on his back.

While she was distracted a third assailant grabbed her from behind in a bear hug. "Heheh, not so tough now, are you little girl?" Videl just smirked. She stomped hard on his foot, dragging her heal down his shin. This caused the man to howl in pain as he let go. As soon as she was free, Videl spun around and drove her elbow into the man's flabby abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. The man was dropping but Videl wasn't letting him off easy. She pulled her foot back and, with all the power she could muster, launched a kick straight into the man's groin. "Who's the little girl now?" She smirked

"KYAAAAA!" Videl spun around and was about to pounce on whoever made her friend scream, but stopped dead at what she saw.

Angela and Ashley where being held with their arms behind their backs by two of the thugs while the boss was holding a knife to Erasas throat. "Not another move girly, or the blonde gets it."

Videls mind froze. What should she do? What could she do? Her best friend had a knife at her throat and her other two friends where hardly a better position. She had no choice. She dropped her guard and a look of defeat appeared on her face. "Ok boys, you can get her now." The three men that Videl had already downed, got back up, albeit a little shakily. Even though her guard was down the men still hesitated to obey their boss's order.

"What are you all waiting for? She won't do anything, look at her. She aint got no fight left while we have her friend's hostage." With that encouragement, the first man that Videl kneed in his privates walked up and laughed. "Alright, I'll show you what happens when you mess with me!" he pulled back his fist and sent it flying straight for Videls face. Determined not to show weakness to these cowards she refused to close her eyes, or even flinch. As the blow came closer it seemed as if it was in slow motion. In fact, if Videl didn't know any better, she would say that it had stopped completely. That was weird right? Also, why does this guy look like he's in so much pain?

Then she noticed him standing there. His hair was golden and spiking in all directions and the look on his face would cause a t-rex to flee. His Gi was a dark bluish purple and his eyes where sea-foam green which went well with their stormy look. His arm was holding onto the thugs wrist and kept it perfectly still. The thug was obviously in pain and tried to release himself by clawing at the hand around his wrist. Everyone was astonished by the sudden appearance.

The Gold fighter looked around while maintaining his grip on the mans arm. He first checked the four girls to see if they had been hurt. His eyes narrowed when he saw the knife at Erasas throat.

"So, ten grown men team up to pick on 4 young girls. What would your mothers say?" What would your mothers say? Come on Gohan get it together, you can do better than that! "Well if you like picking on kids I have time to play around a while." Ya, ya that was better. Now glare at them like Mr. Piccolo.

As the Gold fighter Glared at each of the thugs, they nearly wet themselves. The leader who had a knife and a hostage, felt a little more secure so he said "Sorry Mr. Gold fighter but we got a play date going on already. So, if you don't want us to ruin our play things you might want to get lost, if you know what I mean." He held the knife closer to Erasas neck. He was confident that this would make the Golden brat back off. The next thing he knew he a gust of wind blew causing him to shut his eyes. Then he felt his hand suddenly empty and the girl was no longer in his grasp. He looked at the gold fighter, who was in exactly the same position as before holding onto the mans arm but now he was holding the knife.

Videl didn't know how he did that. The kid didn't even move.

'""Wow""" said three voices in unison and it made her jump. She looked behind her and saw all three of her friends safe and sound. "What the? How did you guys get there" She asked in total confusion.

The three girls just shrugged and Erasa said "I don't know, maybe the gold fighter is a magician."

Now all four girls looked at the Gold fighter. He was looking at the knife in his hand and flipped it so he was holding the blade. He then closed his hand, crushing the knife into tiny bits. Then he glared at the leader. "Play times over."

Now truly terrified, the leader screamed "EVERYONE GET HIM NOW!"

The eight remaining thugs rushed towards the Gold fighter. All that Videl saw was the golden boy flicker briefly then every single thug fell down unconscious. He let loose his grip on the arm of the first thug and he too collapsed. He began walking towards the leader.

With nothing to protect him, the leader backed up until he hit a wall. He pulled out a revolver and pointed it at the Gold fighter. "S-stay back, I'm warning you!" The gold fighter kept coming closer. "HAAAAAAH" the man closed his eyes and fired.

BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG

When the man opened his eyes, he saw The Gold fighter standing right in front of him with the barrel of the gun right against his chest. He put a closed hand in front of the man who flinched. As the gold haired warrior opened his hand six slugs dropped to the floor.

"What else you got?" The Gold fighter smirked.

Then the thug leader did the only thing he could do. He fainted.

"Huh." Said the Gold fighter still glaring at the scum on the ground in front of him. Too bad, I had another great line. Oh well. he turned his attention to the four girls he rescued and his expression softened causing three of the four to swoon. The fourth just stared. "Are you girls ok?" Gohan asked, trying to make his voice as manly as possible.

"We're all ok I think." Said Erasa as she looked at her friends confirming their status. "Thanks to you."

"It was nothing miss. I'm just glad I was flying overhead when I was. I hate to think what might have happened to you if I wasn't paying attention."

This comment brought Videl back to reality from her state of shock. "Well, Mr. Gold fighter, I had everything under control before you got here and almost got my friends Killed with your 'heroics'." Videl knew this wasn't true but her pride was hurt. She wasn't a damsel in distress who needed saving. She did the saving… except for today. Her words seemed to demoralize the Gold fighter a little because he looked like he was sulking.

"Oh… Sorry about that. I'll just be going then" he was about to fly away but was stopped by Erasa.

"Hey wait a minute! Before you go, can you tell us who you really are?" Erasa loved Gossip and this would be a huge scoop. Plus knowing a superheroes secret identity was pretty romantic.

"Well, I guess I can tell you since you asked." The gold fighter replied shocking the 4 girls. The didn't think that he would tell them who he was so easily. Their surprised doubled at his response "I am, The Unmitigated champion of justice!" He struck a pose, bending forward and made his arms into a V shape, before continuing "Who tolerates no evil!" he spun around and changed his pose so that he was squatting down and his arms shaped an M over his head. "The Gold Fighter at your service!" Ha, nailed it. those two ours going over poses with Zangya really payed off.

The four girls took in this display and sweat dropped. Videl was beginning to understand why her father chose this idiot. The were both great at hamming it up.

Meanwhile the other three girls thought: Well… At least he's cute.

Break

Gohan woke up the following morning later than usual. He would usually get up around 5 am to train, even on a weekend, but today he decided to take a break. He had been working pretty hard, what with school work and training and patrolling as the Gold fighter, so he thought he had earned a break. He looked over at his alarm clock to look at the time. "730 huh?" his stomach growled. "Heheh, I guess it must be time for breakfast. He got out of bed and pulled on some grey sweat pants and a white t-shirt before walking to the kitchen. He was a little surprised when he didn't see his mom already cooking. "Maybe she's taking a break today as well." Gohan thought out loud. "Hey I know I'll make breakfast today! Mom will be so surprised." Gohan grinned and pulled out some pots, pans and bowls for cooking.

"let's see, it's Saturday so something fun would be good… I'll make pancakes!" Gohan set to work pulling out ingredients and putting them into the bowl. "Wait a minute this recipe says it only makes 16, that doesn't make any sense. Who only eats 16 pancakes?" gohan scratched his head genuinely confused. "Hmm. Must be one of moms' diet books or something. No problem I'll just multiply everything by 10. That should be enough for me and mom. Oh, and Zangya might drop by so maybe I should make it 15X the recipe." Using his quick maths he figured how much of everything he needed and kept going. Even with the abnormally large bowls Chichi had for baking, Gohan still ended up using 5 or 6 of them.

"Ok, mixing is all done." Gohan said with his face splattered with batter. "Now to cook them." he looked at all the pans but didn't want to cook one at a time. He looked around for something he could use as a griddle. Gohan looked out the window and noticed that the woodshed had a tin roof. "Perfect." He ran outside, pulled the roof off "I'll put that back later" and went into the kitchen to set up his griddle. The only problem was that there wasn't really a way to regulate the heat on it. "I guess I can use my ki to heat it up" he reasoned. He put several cubes of butter onto the tin roof griddle, followed by the batter and began cooking. "Man, moms gonna be so surprised." The boy said with glee.

About 30 minutes later Chichi woke up to the smell of something burning. Immediately she thought the worst. She ran to grab Goten and was yelled for Gohan to evacuate the house when she noticed that the smell, along with a cloud of smoke, was coming from the kitchen. Gohan popped his head out of the room. "What's the matter mom?"

Oh no, please don't tell me "Um sweety, what are you doing in the kitchen?" she asked her son casually, though there was a nervousness to her tone. Let it be a science project. Let it be a science project.

Gohan smiled his biggest smile "Well mom, I know how hard you always work making us meals and doing the house work. I thought I should do something for you, so I made breakfast.

NOOOOOOOOOO! "Well that was very… thoughtful of you dear." This is just like when his father wanted to do something for valentines' day. I shouldn't have slept in. "The thing is Gohan," Chichi thought fast for some excuse to avoid eating her sons cooking. "I'm actually on a diet. Yeah, that's it I am actually skipping breakfast today." Few dodged that bullet.

"So, you're not gonna eat any of the pancakes I made you?" The look on Gohans face was heartbreaking. Just like the one Goku gave Chichi when she said she wouldn't eat his "Special valentines day meal". Just like that time, Chichi caved.

"Well, I Suppose a few pancakes won't hurt." I hope.

Gohans face brightened up immediately. "Great! I'll get you the first round!" he dashed into the kitchen and came back with a mountain of charred black pancakes giving off a purply aura. He set them down in front of his mother and with a flourish said "Bon appetit maman."

"Oh… My. Well it looks wonderful" she poked a pancake with her fork and it wobbled like jello. She took the butter knife and had to use all her strength to cut through the black pancakes outer crust. She finally succeeded in chiseling off a piece and Gohan watched anxiously as she brought her trembling fork to her closer to her mouth. Just as the pancake from HFIL was going to touch her closed lips salvation came in the form of a ringing door bell.

"Don't worry mom I'll get it; you just sit there and enjoy your meal." Gohan left for the door and Chichi breathed a sigh of relief before taking the entire plate of pancakes over to the window and throwing them as hard as she could.

Gohan opened the door to find none other than Hercule Satan. "Mr. Satan? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by." The champ tried to say casually.

"Mr. Satan, this is mt Paozu. Nobody is in the neighborhood." Gohan replied with a look of skepticism.

Figuring it was best to not beat around the bush Hercule took a deep breath. "Ok kid, you got me. See, what had happened was…"

Flashback

Hercule and Videl were sitting down to a nice dinner, prepared by his personal chef. He was talking about all the usual things. Things like the new prospects at the gym, how great a martial artist he was, endorsements and such. Videl was playing with her food and only kind of paying attention.

"And then they told me they want to name the city after me! Aint that amazing sweet pea?"

Videl gave a noncommittal grunt. Hercule looked at his daughter and thought something was off. Normally she would say something like "Wow dad, that's amazing" or "You're the greatest and it's about time they did something for you" but today she was oddly quiet.

"Hey, um, are you ok sweet pea? Everything ok at school?"

Again, his daughter gave a grunt and shrug.

"Honey you can tell me anythin' what's the matter? Don't tell me it's about a boy!?"

At the word "Boy" Videl slammed her hand on the table, preemptively cutting off her fathers "no boys" speech. "Teach me how to fly!" Videl demanded.

"Um… What?" said Hercule. This was the last thing he expected.

"You said you taught the Gold fighter kid everything he knows right? Well he knows how to fly so I want you to teach me how to fly too." Videl had that look in her eye. It was the look that said "this is non-negotiable" and Hercule always caved like a house of cards.

"Well you see Videl, the thing is, I…" Hercule needed to think fast. "I would love to but I can't right now."

"What!? Why not!?" Videl said standing up and stamping her foot.

"Well I'm just super busy with stuff and things, plus you need to focus on schooling." Hercule mentally patted himself on the back for that one.

Unfortunately, Videl wasn't one to give up without a fight. "Well I could learn during our training sessions instead of the normal exercises. It would still count as martial arts training, right?"

"No means no Videl." Said Hercule deciding to go with the "Being a responsible parent" excuse. "Flying is a dangerous business and if you don't train the proper way then you'll hurt yourself and I just can't let that happen. You have a bright future as a martial artist and I don't want you to ruin that."

Videl started to pout but then perked up a little "So you can start training me when school lets out right?" she asked eagerly.

"Er, um, well… I can't think of a reason not to at the moment." He admitted.

"Alright! Thanks daddy." She left the table and he thought he heard her say something like "I can't wait to show that blonde punk a who the damsel in distress really is."

"What'd I get myself into now?" Hercule said miserably.

End flashback

"So what you're telling us" said Piccolo, who had come to the Son hose in the middle of the flashback "Is that you lied to the public and your daughter about how good of a martial artist you are and now you want Gohan to teach you to fly so that you don't look like the liar you are."

Hercule looked a little embarrassed "Well I wouldn't put it quite like that but, yes I would be much obliged if you could teach me how to fly. What do you say kid?"

"I can't." Said Gohan immediately.

Hercule dropped to his knees and held his hands up pleadingly "Please! I'll do anything just name it!"

"look it's not that I don't want to Mr. Satan, I just have a lot going on right now, with school and everything."

Hercule looked defeated. "Oh, I guess I can understand that. Are you sure you can't help me?" Gohan hated not helping people and wished he could do something to help Hercule not be a liar.

"Wait. I can't teach you but I know someone who can."

Hercule immediately perked up. "Really? Who is it, what do I need to do to train with him?"

"Mr. Satan, If you want to fly then I can only think of one person to make that happen. This person is the best teacher in the world. If he can't teach a person then it just isn't possible. Also, I happen to know he has the time on his hands."

"Come on kid don't keep me in suspense. Who's this great master?"

"He's right here." Gohan said gesturing to piccolo who looked to see if anyone else was standing there for Gohan to point to.

Hercule paled and pointed questioningly at the angry green man

"Yup, and I'm sure that Mr. Piccolo would be more than glad to take you on as a flying disciple."

"WHAAAAT!" Piccolo's outrage could be heard for miles.

xxxxxxxxx

End chapter-

A/N: Well the next Chapter will not be a fun time for "the Champ" I can tell you that. Thanks for reading and, once again, I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a review if you have any suggestions.