AN: Hello folks! Thanks for the continued interest in this fic! I always look forward to reading your feedback.

I received a couple of comments regarding Gohan's power and strength in this AU. I know a lot of fans wish that Gohan kept training and that he took his responsibility as earth's defender a little more seriously. Sometimes I'm in that camp as well, because I think he's capable of so much. That said, this AU isn't really a battle story. It's a quieter, whimsical, more political maneuvering kind of story. We know he's a strong martial artist and he goes on to be a great scholar, but how would he fare with princely duties? That's what I'm trying to explore in this fic. I'm hoping this would set up the right expectations for Gohan's role here!

Oh, I also forgot to mention in earlier chapters, but I've never seen or read Super before. So I don't know much canon (or "canon" depending on your view of Super) information about Gohan and Videl post-Buu.

All right, that's all! Let's get on with the story.

Chapter 4: The Fire Spirits of Mount Frypan

It would be Sunday tomorrow, the one day of the week that the Stalk Gathering team didn't work, and Videl could already imagine what a long, restful sleep she would have that night. She was unfolding the blankets on her bed, when a soft knock came on the window. The face of the elder Ox Prince filled the pane, a sheepish smile on his lips.

What in the…

Videl hurried to the window, heart beating fast in her chest. Did something happen? Was she in trouble again? And why was he at her window and not at her door?

"Ox Prince?" she said, lifting the lower pane. "Is something the matter?"

"Want to visit Mount Frypan with me? I'll be fanning out the flames," he said, voice soft in the quiet of the night. Gripped in his hands was a fan about a metre in length, deep green in colour with a red strip running around the edges. The Bansho Fan, if she recalled the picture he'd shown her the previous night. "I think it might be a good idea for you to see what it's like."

"It's almost midnight."

"I know, but I'm so busy during the days. If I were going alone, I might squeeze it in between meetings, but together we'll need a bit more time."

Videl didn't know that one person could make such a big difference in travel speed. Efficient copters usually had at least two seats. He must be thinking about giving her some kind of tour.

"Uh, give me a minute to change." She hated the thought of shifting out of her pyjamas, but it would be good for her to learn more about the mountain and see the Bansho Fan in action.

"No need, I brought instant-fits." Gohan fished in his pocket — turned out he was already in his pyjamas too — and brought out two watches. "It's dangerous to be in Mount Frypan in regular clothes. These watches will gear us up with the appropriate protection in just a press of a button."

"Oh." Seemed like he planned this quite well.

"We'll take Nimbus here." Gohan stepped away from the window and waved behind him. Floating above the ground was a golden fluff of cloud.

Videl blinked at it. It hovered in the air, bobbing a little, but otherwise stayed in the same spot. "What do you mean, 'take'?"

"Ride it, of course!" Gohan leapt on the cloud and settled on it, cross-legged.

Another inexplicable phenomenon, Videl supposed. Like Mount Frypan and its magical fires, and the Bansho Fan, and the Paozu Stalk. It was almost like she was discovering that fairy tales really existed. The only thing missing was a genie who could grant her three wishes. Except if she were in a fairy tale, she wouldn't be this stressed and keyed up all the time, would she?

"We're not taking a copter?"

"Oh, copters malfunction near the heat of Frypan fire, so we wouldn't get very close."

Figures.

"If Nimbus makes you nervous, I have a friend dragon that—"

"No, no! Nimbus is fine!" Videl didn't know if she had the capacity to absorb what one could do with a friendly dragon. At least not right now, not tonight. Not when she was still spooked by dinosaurs.

She peeked around the windows, but being in the corner room gave her the advantage of relative seclusion. Trees and shrubs gave the area outside some privacy. Videl hadn't forgotten about the Ox Princess' warning not to get too close to her son. She didn't have spies around, did she?

But surely, going on an excursion to Mount Frypan counted as research. An abandoned, burning kingdom hardly made for a romantic backdrop.

"Don't worry, nobody's watching," Gohan said with encouragement. "Come and hop on. Nimbus is really nice! At least to those who are pure of heart. Otherwise, you'll just fall through."

Videl had just managed to land on the other side of the window, but now she paused. "Pure of heart?" she echoed. That thing could sense whether you were a good person or not? Did it judge you based on who you were right now or your life as a whole? What would happen if she hopped on it and dropped right through?

"Videl? Come, try it," Gohan coaxed. "I doubt you'd have anything to worry about. It's not you that lied to the world."

No, she wasn't the one who lied to the world, but did Gohan think she didn't have other flaws? Made other mistakes? But then again, who hadn't? Surely Gohan himself wasn't perfect, and Nimbus bore him easily.

Tentatively, she approached the cloud. It was almost glowing with its own innate hue in the dark. Videl pressed her hands into the fluff, surprised how something so soft could be so sturdy at the same time. Sturdy. It wasn't giving away against her force. Could it really hold her up?

She pushed herself up onto it, settling beside Gohan. Her feet dangled in the air, but her body was safely secured on the cottony fluff. She could hardly believe what she was experiencing.

"Neat, huh?" Gohan smiled and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Now, we go up!"

Videl's stomach plunged as they rose to the sky, the tops of the trees zooming out in a few blinks of an eye. The horizon widened around her as Nimbus flew past the mountain ranges. The generous dusting of stars in the sky illuminated the fields rushing past below.

"So, what's this Nimbus?" she asked, voice just a tad shaky. "Is it… a sky spirit?" There were fire spirits, so perhaps this was another type of spirit.

"Honestly? I'm not quite so sure. It was given to my father by a friend who owns a really big Nimbus and can give pieces of it away."

Videl rubbed her forehead. She shouldn't have asked. What made her believe she would get a sensical answer?

If all these magical phenomenon seemed to operate differently, how would she ever figure out how to stop a fire spirit from burning? None of the rules of deduction and extrapolation she had learned in the past could possibly help her now. The world that the Ox Family inhabited seemed to be an entirely different world than the one that she'd lived in all her life.

But maybe that wasn't entirely a bad thing. As much drive as she had to make a better life for herself and her father, sometimes she did just want to escape it all.

Gohan shifted behind her, and Videl realized that she'd been avoiding the edge of the cloud so much, she'd leaned right up against him. Warmth bloomed in her cheeks, and she pushed herself away.

"Careful!" He gripped her arm. "Nimbus is pretty good at balancing its load, but if you do make abrupt movements, you could fall. But don't worry, we'll catch you if you do."

Videl swallowed and tried to find a safe spot. Gohan didn't seem all that bothered about their closeness. His gaze remained intent on the horizon. She tried to mimic his nonchalance, even though this was highly unusual for her.

About twenty minutes from when they left the Ox Palace, Videl glimpsed a red blaze in the distance. As they approached it, the air around them began to dry and crackle. Soon, she could also hear the fierce buzzing of the raging flames and smell the acrid stench of smoke.

"We should probably put these on now." Gohan handed her one of the watches, the slimmer of the two. "I got your measurements from Steban, so it should fit you more or less."

Gohan strapped his own watch to his wrist and pressed a white button on the side. Instantly, he was clad in a dark grey bodysuit made of a material that looked a lot like nylon, but was surely something more heatproof. Nylon would melt on his skin in high temperatures. His head was protected by a helmet with a full-faced visor. There was a small circular ventilation by the jaw that Videl guessed helped with the fumes.

"Nifty," she mumbled, as she buckled in the watch. She pressed the same white button as Gohan did, and the next thing she knew, her vision darkened as the visor slid across her face. A freshness blossomed in her nostrils as she took in filtrated air. The sting of the heat vanished beneath the curious grey cloth that wrapped her from neck to ankles.

Nimbus swooped down only steps away from where the first row of houses were engulfed in flames. They climbed off and faced the burning Mount Frypan.

"That doesn't really look like a mountain," Videl said, hoping her voice would still carry despite the helmet. Before her were the skeletal mounds of abandoned homes, but beyond those was something that looked like a craggy hill. It couldn't have been more than several dozen metres off the ground.

Gohan must have heard her just fine. He replied, "The original Mount Frypan was destroyed when Dad and his friends put out the first fire. Those are the rubble."

He took a capsule from his belt and stored away the Bansho Fan in it. "I want to show you something first before we put out the fire." Then he walked right into the blazing town.

Videl followed suit, bracing herself for the stinging touch of the heat. But Gohan didn't lie about the protective gear. Although the fire raged all around them, the warmth she felt was not stronger than an early summer sun.

With the shade of the visor dimming the brilliance of the flames, Videl was able to observe the structures around her. The fires fed on crumbled walls and caved-in roofs, broken concrete and mashed up pavement. Half-melted metal glowed like bulbs beneath the flames.

"Yesterday during court, there was a man who'd been caught looting here," she said, as she followed Gohan down a walkway that still had its cobblestones intact. "How could he have withstood the heat?"

"He must have worn an outfit similar to ours," Gohan replied. "You can find cheap versions in the black market. Of course, there's no guarantee that the quality would be the same, so it's still risky."

They crossed a bridge that once must have squatted over a flowing stream, but there was nothing beneath it now except for cracked ashy earth. From there, they wound through alleys and streets bordered by blackened skeletons of houses and trees. Gohan seemed to be taking her to the centre of the town.

Not far off from the tall hill of rubble that had been Mount Frypan, Gohan stopped and looked around.

"Aha!" he snapped, and pointed through a broken window of a roofless structure. "Fire spirits!"

Videl approached the window, squinting through the mixture of light and shadows to discern exactly what Gohan was referring to. It took her a while to figure out that there were bright yellow figures moving around the room. They were about as tall as her hand, and that height was taken up by a disproportionately large round head. Videl couldn't see any eyes or nose or mouth, just one shining orb. They had arms and legs in the way a stick figure had arms and legs, but no defined fingers or toes. There were three of them in there, tossing and spinning and somersaulting in the air.

"Those are fire spirits?" Videl exclaimed. "That's not what I was expecting." She had conjured up an image of crackling beasts, evil-looking things that wreaked havoc upon anything they touched. These looked… cute. They could be a mascot for a dough company.

"Took me by surprise too the first time I saw them," Gohan replied.

"How many have you seen in the two years since this kingdom went up in flames again?"

"It's hard to tell. Every time I visit to put out the fire, I see two or three. But there could be more I don't notice."

"Are they the same ones or new ones?"

"New ones, I believe. I'll show you why I think that." Gohan pulled out the capsule he'd stashed in his pocket. With a press of the button on top, the Bansho Fan rematerialized in his hands. "Stay close to me, okay? If you get hit by the wind, you'll shoot off into the sky. Or into one of those burning buildings, which is worse."

Gohan hadn't finished saying his warning yet when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and tugged her right next to his body. Videl tensed. She had the sudden urge to look for the scouts who'd caught the looter. Would they see how close she was to their prince and report to the princess? Would she lose her job if the princess decided she was being too close to Gohan? Surely, even with her prior crime investigation experience, they could replace her easily with someone else.

But she didn't have time to dwell on all of that. Gohan flapped the Bansho fan in front of them, and a gust of wind erupted from it so tremendous that the ground vibrated and the walls of the surrounding structures shuddered. Videl felt its reverberations in her muscles and bones. The flames writhed, then dissipated in wisps of smoke, which themselves vanished with the tide of the wind.

Gohan spun and did the same in the opposite direction. This time, along with the powerful wind, a trickling of rain began to patter down from the sky. The fire all around them vanished. Videl's vision dimmed, made darker now by the visor that shadowed the only remaining source of light: the silver glow of the moon.

Slowly, Gohan released his hold on her. Videl crossed her arms, suddenly cold now that the heat of the fire was absent. Raindrops trailed down her helmet and pattered on her firesuit, which to her surprise, turned out to be waterproof as well.

"Here, take a look." Gohan hid the Bansho fan back in its capsule, and he entered the broken house where they'd seen the fire spirits. She followed him, wiping away the wetness from her visor with an arm. She wasn't sure if it was safe to remove her helmet yet. There could still be lingering fumes from the wreckage that she shouldn't be breathing in.

Gohan pressed a different button on his watch, and a beam of light shot out from its side like a flashlight. He scanned the floor with it, until he came to something that looked like a crisped up doll. "This is one of the fire spirits now."

Videl caught up to him quickly and squatted down. Aside from its shape, very little of the spirit's original features remained. Its surface was dark and brittle, cracked and crumbly, like an overcooked cookie. It lay on the ground unmoving.

"It's dead?"

"I assume so," Gohan answered. He moved the flashlight across the room, and they found the two others slumped on the floor. "I haven't noticed any of them regain their powers from this state. They usually just crumble away into ashes. So, what do you think?"

Videl stood up and rubbed her hands. "Hard to say at this point." Hard to think about all of this at all. "It's probably best to figure out where they come from. Stop them from falling in the first place. How often do they fall?"

"There will likely be new ones in a few weeks."

She rubbed her chin. "Would you be able to loan me some equipment? I'm thinking of maybe installing a camera outside of the town to monitor the area."

"I'll give you a card, but you'll likely have to purchase the equipment yourself. I don't know if we have the ones you need in the palace. If it helps, I'll also give you an access pass to the garage, so you can take a vehicle so you come and go more easily. Unless you prefer Nimbus?"

"Copters," Videl said without pause. "Definitely copters."

"You sure? If you need Nimbus, all you have to do is call out, 'Nimbus!' and it will come to you in a cinch. Nifty, huh?" Gohan chuckled. He seemed like a little kid showing off his cool toys. A wave of unexpected pity came over Videl. When was the last time Gohan had played? What kind of life had he led, being the son of a royal and a martial artist at the same time? Perhaps it was only during stolen moments like this out of his busy schedule that he managed to be playful at all. Which was sad, because he was still technically working.

And he was spending it with the daughter of a criminal.

"It sure is nifty," Videl relented. "But I would be more comfortable in a copter."

"All right, suit yourself."

They found their way out of the town of Frypan, now a very different place than when they'd entered it. It was cold and wet, and the drizzle formed puffs of mists in the corners. Videl and Gohan clambered on top of Nimbus, who had waited patiently at the edge of town, and they took off to the sky. Videl switched back to her pyjamas while they were still in the air, and she returned her watch to the prince.

"You should keep it," Gohan suggested. "If another fire spirit falls, you'd still want to be able to visit Frypan if you need to."

"Ah, good point. Thank you."

Videl pulled herself into as tight a ball as she could, giving herself some space from Gohan while ensuring she wouldn't fall off the cloud. But just like their earlier ride, he didn't seem at all flustered at being so close. His mind seemed simply intent on getting home. Or maybe he often had night rides with girls. Ugh, why was she thinking about this? It wasn't her business anyway.

Soon, Mount Paozu loomed in sight, and Nimbus whirled down to the dark patch in the palace gardens right across from Videl's room.

"Thanks for taking me to Frypan," she said as she hopped off the cloud. She steadied her steps, wobbly from the flight, as she ventured towards her window.

"No problem at all. I hope it helps to have a bit more idea of what you're dealing with. Sometimes I feel like the answer is just staring me in the face, but something else clamours for my attention, and then it's gone."

Videl hooked one leg over the window sill, and stopped short. On the bedside table, she found the folded sheet of paper that had fallen out of Goten's slam book earlier that afternoon. She reached for it and turned back to Gohan.

"Your brother forgot this in the library." She opened the paper as Gohan got off Nimbus. "I think it's a family portrait. He's quite talented with those crayons."

"Ah, thanks! I'll give it to him." He barely glanced at the picture, which surprised Videl. Didn't he think it was strange that he had the wrong hair colour?

"Is that your father? The one with the halo?" she prompted.

Gohan took a closer look, and Videl was sure he was going to notice the odd colours now, but he just smiled. "Yes, that's him. See, Goten was born after Dad passed away, but he still likes to include him in family drawings. The halo's there to show that he's gone."

"I see, it must be hard for poor Goten. I suppose he just draws your father based off of other pictures, then?"

"Yes, we kept lots of photos of him."

"I've never seen a picture of Son Goku with dyed hair and contacts."

It was like lightning had struck Gohan. His muscles froze and for a split second, his eyes roamed the picture as if truly seeing it for the first time, seeing the major discrepancies that for some reason, he hadn't picked up on right from the start.

"Aah, yes, I mean, no, Dad had never dyed his hair or worn contacts! I mean, Goten just does this all the time, plays around with different crayons and such! Mom hates it when he draws us like delinquents, haha! Thank goodness she hasn't seen this, you know!"

"Why are you yelling?"

He grimaced, but continued his rambling in a lower voice. "Goten watches those cartoons with the gang of kids, you know, whatchama call it —"

"The Afterschool Clubhouse?" Videl offered.

Gohan took the bait. "Yes, that's the one! The Afterschool Clubhouse, the one with the main guy who has blonde hair and green eyes. That's why Goten draws us like this."

She smiled at his explanation. "Don't worry about it. I was a doodler too when I was his age. It's great he's expressing himself artistically."

"Haha, yeah, for sure." Gohan rubbed the back of his neck. Sweat beaded on his forehead even though it had been half-an-hour since they were surrounded by the heat of Frypan's fire.

"Well, I'm gonna try and catch some sleep. Why don't we call it a night, Ox Prince?"

"You know, that is an excellent idea. Good night, Videl. I'll see you around tomorrow." He leapt on Nimbus like he couldn't get away fast enough.

Videl entered her room through the window. Son Gohan was a little liar. The Afterschool Clubhouse wasn't a cartoon show about a gang of delinquents at all. It was a cooking show about how people across the world made different sandwiches. Why would he lie about Goten's drawing? Why did he seem so stressed out about it?

She sighed as she slipped into her bed. This was the kind of curiosity that would have nagged at her a few years ago, the kind that nipped at her senses until she had it gripped in her palms and laid it all bare. But now, it was easier for her to nudge it to the back of her mind. So what if Gohan had secrets? She did too. Besides, one could hardly expect royalty in positions of authority to be an open book. And so long as it didn't stop her from earning an honest living, why should she care so much?

-o-

Videl had planned to wake up a little later on her off day, but she was wide awake by 6 am and getting restless before 7 even hit. Her body was getting used to waking up before dawn, it seemed. So although her bed and room were comfortable, she surrendered and finally got up.

Breakfast was a freshly made pot of congee, and Videl took her bowl to a corner of the dining room. There were a few others lingering here this morning, but not enough to make her aloneness feel deliberate. In the past two days, she had eaten dinner leftovers to avoid having to make the trip to the dining room before going to the garage, so she wasn't sure what to expect here in the mornings.

"Oh, look, it's the Ox Prince's new bestie, finally deciding not to skip breakfast!" An arm swung over Videl's shoulders, and she found Yanni smiling down at her with a teasing glint in her eyes.

"I never skipped breakfast," Videl answered. "I just had them in my room. And I'm not the Ox Prince's new best friend."

"I suppose you're right." Yanni's smile widened as she settled herself on the bench beside Videl. She set her own bowl of congee on the table. "'Bestie' isn't what we typically call someone who visits your room at night."

Ugh, Videl could kill Cant Merches for spreading that rumour. She imagined the man's fancy little neck squeezed between her fists. Then her imagination balked. Cant just might be the kind of man who would enjoy getting strangled. Videl shuddered.

"If you must know, the prince asked me to work on a project," Videl deflected. "I can't say much about it, but Steban will say the same thing if you ask him."

"No need to ask 'him'," a new voice said, and Steban took a spot on the bench across from them. Instead of one bowl of congee, he'd brought two. "I already explained to the others, but it seems they'd rather believe unsavoury rumours."

His nephew, Miki, and Lin and Sharpner materialized as well, and settled by the table, taking Videl by surprise. Two days ago they made it quite clear they weren't interested in spending time with her outside of work, and now they were cozying up. Did Steban get them to be more agreeable towards her? Or did the rumour make her seem more interesting? Videl wasn't sure if that was the kind of attention she wanted.

"We don't believe the rumours, exactly," Lin said, spooning a heap of congee into her mouth. "It's only that nobody else ever had a private audience with both the Ox Prince and Ox Princess on their first two days here."

"The Ox Princess rarely ever talks to any employee not working at the restaurant," Miki added. That was the first time Videl had ever heard the boy speak. His voice was lower than she initially thought it would be for his age.

"Well, she heard of the rumours too, so she warned me to be careful." Videl didn't think the others would stop teasing or needling until she'd given them something. "It's not an unreasonable request from a mother."

"Did you know you have a strange way of saying something and nothing at the same time?" Sharpner quipped. "Did they slap you with an NDA or something?"

"How's your girlfriend, Sharpner?" Videl asked. She knew Erasa was doing well, but did he? She'd never actually seen them together around the palace. "Don't you think you ought to be worrying more about her than me? If we're discussing hearsays, after all, one of the newcomers is getting a bit handsy."

"You talking about Merches?" Lin asked. She was already halfway through her congee and was surreptitiously eyeing Steban's second bowl through her glasses. "Glad I'm not the only one who finds him sleazy."

"Oh no, has he bothered you?" Videl squinted at Lin, but the young woman seemed all right.

"Not me specifically, but servants talk."

"We should invite him to the Mimosa Courtyard," Sharpner snickered. "It's a convenient place to have an accident."

If memory served Videl well, Mimosa Courtyard was situated at a vantage point on the mountain. It was outlined in red on the map she'd been given as a warning not to go there, because the fence that bordered the cliff was still being repaired.

"I'll have no such talk around me," Steban barked. "You all better be on your best behaviour when I'm around."

"Well good thing you're almost finished your breakfast, old man," Sharpner retorted. "Aren't you and Miki visiting your family village today?"

Videl finished the last two spoonfuls of congee in her bowl. "Speaking of places to visit today, I have a few errands of my own to run." She took her bowl and sat up from the bench. Awkwardness pooled in her belly as five pairs of eyes followed her. She was never sure if she ought to be prompt and formal with them, or offer a little bit of friendliness that may or may not be returned. Erasa and Maisy were easier to get along with. She added unconvincingly, "Thanks for the chat."

Back in her room, Videl found a package waiting for her by the door. True to his word, Gohan had sent her an access pass to the garage and a sleek metallic credit card. Videl smiled. He may be a liar, but at least he was an an accountable one.

It wasn't difficult to find a hardware shop on the way to Mount Paozu. Videl checked out one of the smaller copters from the garage and navigated in the same direction that Nimbus had taken her and Gohan last night. She recalled a small town whose lights had twinkled in the dark not far from the foothills of Paozu, and there, she was able to purchase a wireless camcorder.

Finding a good position for it, though, turned out to be quite tricky. Videl couldn't put it too close to the town of Paozu. Gohan had mentioned how copters malfunctioned when they neared Mount Frypan when it was blazing. If a fire spirit did fall, the camcorder should at least have enough time to upload the footage before breaking down. But it also couldn't be too far that she wouldn't be able to see enough details of the fire spirit.

In the end, she placed it about five blocks away from the outskirts of the town. There was a group of rocky outcroppings there, and she embedded a tripod in a little recess between them. She attached the camcorder on top and trained it towards the sky. It had about a week's worth of battery. If a fire spirit hadn't fallen by then, she'd come back and replace it. This would do for now.

-o-

A week passed, and no fire spirit fell on Frypan. Videl continued gathering stalks in the morning and doing research in the afternoon. Gohan hadn't summoned her for another meeting yet, and she hadn't found out enough information to deliver any meaningful ideas to him. It was difficult to even find resources on fire spirits. Even when she searched on the cyber network, what came up were usually music videos by a band called Fire Spirited, which were not at all helpful.

In the meantime, Videl poured her efforts into mastering all aspects of stalk-gathering. In some of her free time in the afternoons, she would ride the sky-scooter to better familiarize herself with its controls. She also practiced swinging the scythe in the gardens outside of her room, memorizing its heft and the way its centre of gravity changed whenever its blade was retracted. Slowly, she began to incorporate the workouts she used to do back when she was a volunteer crime fighter; not because she wanted to fight again, but because it helped her gain strength and get back into shape.

Their Saturday morning shift came, and Videl noticed a rushed exuberance in the way her teammates performed their tasks. She hadn't been aware of it the previous week, but it must be because it was their last shift before their day off. She remembered a similar energy back when she was a student and everyone couldn't wait until Friday classes were over.

After collecting their customary ten slices of stalks, they hopped on their sky-scooters to head back to the palace. They hadn't gotten very far, when a deep sense of foreboding sunk in Videl's belly. She wasn't sure what it was, but something felt off. She scanned the horizon, her gaze taking in the peaks of the mountains and the tree-covered flats below. Nothing seemed different, but there was something strange she couldn't shake off.

Then she knew. There were no dinosaurs in sight. Not for miles. She might be a metropolitan girl but even she knew that when animals acted strangely, it meant danger.

Only a split second after that realization, the mighty buzzing of jet copters swooped overhead, casting the stalk gatherers in shadow. There were two of them, crudely made and heavily patched, but slim enough to be fast and high. A sharp-pitched whirring echoed in the air, and the tip of the mountain they had just passed exploded into pieces. Wind, dust, and shattered stalk blasted outward and rocked the gatherers on their sky-scooters.

"Everybody, make for a landing!" Steban cried out. Videl was at the back of the group but she could hear the note of panic in the voice that entered her helmet's earpieces. "Don't head for the palace, just land!"

Videl was about to pull up her handles, when one of the sky-scooters ahead of her swayed erratically, emitting smoke. A moment later, Sharpner dropped from it and the scooter erupted in a cloud of flames.

"No, Sharpner!" Lin called out as she angled her own scooter to dive for him. But Videl was already speeding towards Sharpner's shrinking figure, revving up her scooter to catch up with gravity. Wind rushed past her, rocks and vines blurred past. She twisted the scooter just in time to sweep up Sharpner mid-fall, his body slamming against hers. The scooter rattled as she tried to adjust her balance while carrying another passenger.

"You okay?" she asked.

An indecipherable babble came out of Sharpner. His feet kept slipping off the platform. The scooter wasn't meant for more than one rider.

Videl glanced up at the copters. They were no friends or allies passing for a pleasant visit. They had targeted the stalks on one of the mountains. And she wasn't sure if Sharpner's scooter simply malfunctioned from the resulting blast or if those in the copters shot at him as well. In any case, she couldn't let them head to the town of Paozu. Their trajectory all but announced this was their intention.

"Nimbus!" she called out, recalling Gohan's instructions the previous week. She needed to ride up to the copters to confront their attackers. "Nimbus!"

Videl waited for a second or two, but the golden puff of cloud didn't come. Perhaps someone else was using it. She groaned.

"Sharpner, hang on." She lifted the scooter up until they were close enough to the others. "You take over, okay?"

"How about you?" he said as his hands gripped the handles.

Videl clicked her tongue. "I'm taking a different ride home." With that, she pounced up to the next scooter above them, which was Lin's. The girl cried out, but Videl didn't stay long. As soon as her feet had found purchase on the platform, she jumped again. This time, her hands clasped around the handles of Miki's scooter. Steban was close by, so she pushed herself against the front of the scooter and jumped over to Steban's, who yelled in surprise. A moment later, Videl reached Yanni, who was the closest to the copters above.

"Girl, you're crazy!" Yanni yelled as Videl leapt, arms outstretched towards the lower rail of the nearest copter. Her fingers clasped around it, and she smiled. All right, now she was in her element. How many times had she hovered on her own copter like this when she had fought in Orange City?

Videl pulled herself up the side of the copter until she faced the door. The pilot was a young man, probably a couple of years younger than her. His eyes bugged when he saw her face leaning against the glass window.

She gave a friendly wave, then punched through the glass. The boy yelled, then batted away at her hand. With his focus away from the controls, the copter danced in the air. Still, Videl's fingers latched on the lock inside the door and pulled it aside. The door swung open, and the boy nearly fell out. Videl caught him, and tossed him to the lower railing.

"That's why you should wear a seatbelt!" she yelled before plunging inside the copter.

Only to be shot at. In some ways, she'd been expecting it. Nobody rode solo in a copter while making an attack. She dodged the bullet in time, and it ricocheted off the metallic wall of the vehicle. The man who had fired it looked at her like she was insane — as if she was the one who randomly showed up and started blowing things up on this very fine morning. His hands shook as he aimed again, but Videl's leg struck out and knocked the gun from his grip.

She lunged at him, delivering a hefty punch to his face. His arms slackened and he slumped in his seat, knocked out.

"Well, at least you're wearing your seatbelt," she observed.

Videl turned back to the controls, and took over the navigation stick. She increased altitude until she could see the second copter out of the other window. Aligning herself with it, she punched in commands in the console to maintain altitude for one minute, and then to switch to auto-pilot for a landing afterwards.

Then she hopped over the unconscious man, opened the door on that side, and leapt for the second copter. Gunshots punctured the window, and the glass shattered, scattering broken shards in the wind. Well, that just made her job easier. Videl grabbed the wrist of the man holding the gun and slammed it against the side of the copter. He yelled in pain, and the gun dropped from his grip. She didn't bother opening the door, but summersaulted into the window, and the force of her legs took out the pilot and landed a blow on the passenger beside him.

The second rider seemed to have prepared for her strike. He was a young man who seemed oddly familiar, and he caught her boot in his hands. His fingers enveloped her ankle, and he slammed her against the dashboard. Levers shifted and buttons clicked against her weight, and the next thing Videl knew, the copter tilted to its side, dropping both her and the young man down to the door with the broken window. She hit the unconscious pilot, who spilled out of the opening.

"No!" she yelled, reaching for him, but the other assailant had already recovered and pulled her up. He swung a punch against her jaw, but he must have not been thinking too clearly, because she was still wearing a helmet and it dampened his force. She knocked him aside, hitting him in the gut, and he sprawled against the dashboard. The copter angled a little less dramatically.

He glared at her from beneath the shock of dark bangs across his forehead. And from that look, suddenly Videl remembered where she'd seen him before. Not him, exactly, but a picture of him. It was from that book she'd read about Scar Town in the Ox Palace's library.

"Endy Vora Jr.?" she gasped.

His eyes narrowed even more with suspicion. "How do you know that?" He lunged for her again.

"Wait, stop!" Videl demanded. Gohan had said that gangs from Scar Town sometimes came and terrorized Mount Paozu to catch their attention and remind them that the town was still suffering from Frypan's fire. But there hadn't been a fire in Frypan for a week.

Unless a new fire spirit had fallen since Videl had checked the camera's footage the night before.

Vora didn't stop. He aimed a strike for her belly, but it was all strength and little technique, and Videl had not problem parrying it to the side. His other blows were the same. It was obvious he'd learned to fight in the streets and did so out of the hopes of outlasting or outrunning his opponents. He lacked the finesse of someone who understood martial arts.

"Listen! I don't know what you think you're doing, but this is a terrible idea!" Videl tried again. Normally she wouldn't try to talk sense into someone she's fighting, not when they hadn't shown any inclination to converse. She usually left that for after the fight. But they were up in the air, in an uncontrolled copter, and she needed him to calm the heck down, because whatever he was planning, it would sure make it more difficult for Gohan to help his town.

Vora backed away, eyes wide. For a moment Videl thought she'd gotten through to him, but she realized he was staring not at her, but through the windshield.

Videl dared to shift her attention for a second, and she shot a look behind her. One of the tall skinny mountains of Paozu was fast approaching the copter. She reached for the navigation stick, but her hand couldn't find it. She glanced around, and her heart sunk to her toes when she saw that it had been whacked out during the fight, and now lay on the copter floor.

Vora opened a hatch at the top of the copter and pulled out a small bag. He looped its straps around his shoulders, and jumped out of the opposite door. A moment later a parachute poofed out of the bag, and Vora flew away from sight.

Videl turned to the dashboard, but none of the buttons were lit anymore. Some of the levers were shifting up and down, up and down, and there were dials that were spinning out of control. All the while, the copter sped towards the ragged face of the mountain.

Damn it all, she didn't have a parachute. She was going to have to do this just on faith alone.

Videl copied Vora and jumped out of the copter. Wind slashed at her as gravity grasped her with its hungry force. Her throat strained as she yelled, "Nimbus!"

The copter exploded in a shower of metal and rocks above her. The tops of the trees below grew in size. She spun in the air, head flipping over her toes. Flaming debris rained around her. "Nimbus!"

The cloud did not come.

One last thing to try. She pulled the scythe from her belt and opened it. The bar extended and the blade shot out. With a desperate energy, she struck the mountain face beside her. The blade bit into the rock. Her body jerked as she slowed considerably, and she tightened her grip on the bar as the scythe sliced a vertical scar down the mountain. Dust and pebbles rolled down and Videl choked back a cough.

A creak told her that her scythe wouldn't survive long, and the next moment, the blade snapped, and Videl plunged down again. Thankfully she wasn't too high up this time. Trees now clung to this part of the mountain, and she was able to grab at branches and roots. But her momentum was too fast, and her grasp kept slipping.

Still, when she hit the ground, it was no longer the violent splatter she expected it to be. She rolled to a stop, a few meters from the foot of the mountain. Videl gulped in air, forcing breath into her lungs. Her heart beat like a hummingbird in her chest. She was alive. Bruised and battered, but alive.

She let out a little chuckle and opened her eyes, which she hadn't realized she'd shut.

The momentary respite she felt vanished instantly at the scene above her. A large debris from the wreckage of the copter twisted in the air and slammed against the side of the mountain. Giant boulders spilled from the damaged area, and both metal and rock descended towards Videl.

She had no energy to move. Pain thundered through her body at the impact, then she knew no more.

AN: I'm hoping that the exploration I'm doing in the DBZ world sort of makes sense. I know it's probably not the best idea to try and find a structure to the magic system of DBZ, because it's one of those that hardly has any rules to it. So I'm just going to try the best I can and hopefully the conclusions that Videl and Gohan make about how to solve this problem will feel satisfying!