A/N: Hello everybody! I'm overwhelmed by the amount of interest in this concept, and I thank everyone who left a review, comment, kudos, fave, alert/follow/subscribe/bookmark, here and over at AO3. Honestly, when I posted the first chapter, I didn't think many people would be interested in it. So I'm really happy to find out otherwise (but I also feel a little pressured now, lol, though in a good way)!
I took some time to flesh out my outline a little bit more, and I'm hoping that you would all like where the story goes!
Chapter 2: Matters of the Kingdom
Videl wasn't daunted by the early rising time that Steban had set for the next morning. Having lived the last two years in a fishing village, it was common for her neighbours to set out at sea hours before dawn, and she'd always been keen to take up the odd job at the docks in exchange for some coins.
She aimed to be at the garage fifteen minutes early, but when she arrived by its entrance, it turned out she wasn't the only one with the same idea. Steban was leaning against the enormous steel doors. This wing of the palace featured more modern facilities — glossy concrete floors, card-activated locks, and long bars of fluorescent lights overhead.
"My hunch was right," he said with a slight smirk. "Folks like you tend to come early."
"Folks like me?" Videl didn't think he was talking about fishers.
Steban pushed himself off the doors and shrugged. "Folks with something to prove."
"Better than being late, no?"
"Fair enough."
It was only then that Videl noticed that Steban was carrying a pack. From inside, he pulled out a bundle of neatly folded clothes, black and made of the same material as what he was wearing. "This is your uniform. Head on over to the shower room and put those on. Then we'll get your geared."
The shower room was conveniently located just to the left of the garage. The scent of strong bleach hit Videl's nostrils as she entered. A row of five sinks stood like sentinels against one wall. Across from them were five stalls with tiled floors and white waterproof curtains. The rest of the space was taken up by five wooden benches.
Videl entered one of the shower stalls and pulled on the uniform. It was a jumpsuit, covering her from ankles to wrists to neck. It was loose enough that she could move without restraint, but not so baggy it might get easily snatched by branches or twigs. She was quite impressed that Steban managed to get the right size for her.
The leader of their team thought so too, because he nodded with approval as she emerged from the shower room. From the pack he carried, he pulled out a compact bag with many straps.
"Now, turn around." Videl did so, and found her shoulders saddled with the bag. Steban then stepped in front of her and arranged the straps across her chest and waist, clicking shut each of the buckles with familiar ease. "Practice putting this yourself after our shift," he remarked, adjusting the fit of the straps. "The bag contains a parachute. If you ever fall, pull this rope at the bottom right.
"And this," he continued without waiting for a breath. He snatched yet another item from the pack. Videl wondered how often he'd done an orientation that he seemed to have everything memorized. In his hand was a bar of metal as long as her forearm. "This is what we use to hack the stalks. Watch your head."
Videl had barely taken a step back when Steban pressed a button, and the bar elongated on both sides. Then the top-most end shot forth a four-feet curved blade. She realized after a moment that she was looking at a sickle. A giant sickle that could probably behead three people at once.
"Keep it in this loop here by your waist," Steban said and he retracted the tool to slide it in place. "It's handy when scaring off the dinosaurs too."
"D-dinosaurs?"
But Steban was already walking towards the garage. He swiped a card across a reader above the knobs. A heavy click followed, and he pushed open the doors.
Videl entered without prompting, enticed by the vastness of the space she glimpsed within. Bright lights blinked open the farther they forayed into the garage, which was too humble a word for this. Hangar, might be more appropriate. It housed multiple jet copters of various models, motorcycles, cars, bicycles, 4-wheelers. All were stamped with the logo of Capsule Corps.
"Here's your ride." Steban dragged a sleek-looking white electric scooter by its handles. It had one large wheel at the front and two at the back. "Power lever is up here, you can't miss it. Push the handles away from you to speed up, towards you to slow down. Rotate them to whichever direction you want to go. Push the handles down to gain altitude, up to lose it. It's the opposite direction, remember that. But you've flown a copter before, right? Same thing."
"Wait, this is a sky-scooter?"
Steban chuckled. "How did you think we get to the mountain tops?"
"Uh, copter?"
"There's no place to park a copter," he said in a tone indicating he was disappointed she hadn't thought of it.
Videl reached for the straps of her parachute bag. Suddenly, it felt not quite as much protection as she had thought.
"I'll be frank with you," Steban said. "I have no qualms with you or your father. Never gave him a dime of my money, so what's it to me if he was a sham? I'm a fair man, so if you do a good job, all will be well between us."
Steps echoed from the entrance of the garage. The four others on the team strolled in, wearing the exact same uniforms and carrying the exact same gears.
"With them, however," Steban continued. "You'll need to play things by ear. So I'll save you the awkward introductions. The short boy there is my nephew, Miki. Quiet lad, shouldn't give you any trouble, but he tends to ignore things that don't interest him. Mind that if you need to get his attention.
"The woman beside him is Yanni. She's a professional, but enjoys a good joke or two at someone else's expense. Just don't take things too personally. The young lass with the glasses is Lin. She's technically not a stalk gatherer. She's our paramedic and mechanic rolled into one, so be nice to her.
"Finally, muscled lad at the far side is Sharpner. Don't know if you've ever ran into him in the past, but he was from Orange City. Came here when work dried up there."
Of the four, only Yanni gave Videl more than a fleeting glance as they made their way to grab their own sky-scooters. She had a glint in her eye and a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
"Up bright and early, I see. Looking forward to the dinosaurs?" she said.
If Videl said yes, it would be a lie, and people had a nose for lies when it came to her. She didn't want to start off on the wrong foot. But if she said no, would it seem like she wasn't eager to do the job? "It would be a new sight, I suppose," she replied, which was neither here nor there.
Yanni's brows rose, her smile disappearing. But she turned the frown to Steban. "Hey, you already told her about the dinosaurs? That's my thing with the newbies." At Steban's shrug, she sulked. "Spoilsport."
Steban pushed a helmet onto Videl's arms. "Put that on, and ready your ride. We're heading out now."
Three sky-scooters whipped past towards the opposite side of the hangar. Miki, Sharpner, and Lin raced ahead, and the gate lifted as they approached it. The view outside stole Videl's breath. After a lead of about a hundred feet, the ground fell away into a broad expanse of predawn sky decorated by a mosaic of stars. Darker shadows loomed in the distance, outlining the tall, rocky outcroppings that peppered the land across Mount Paozu.
Yanni had joined the other three as they sped out of the garage, gained momentum over the ground, and shot off to the sky.
"Follow my lead," Steban said, now also sporting his own helmet and sky-scooter. He revved up the vehicle and accelerated out of the garage.
Hurrying so she wouldn't get left behind, Videl pushed the handles of the scooter away from her, and she shot forward. She braced her feet tightly on the narrow platform, trying not to think about how exposed she felt to the environment, how easy it would be to fall. If someone like Sharpner and Lin was able to do this, then surely she could too.
Steban was waiting for her, floating just beyond the drop. "Go faster, then pull down the handles!" he instructed.
Videl ramped up her speed, the wind rushing across her hands. Then just a few feet away from the cliff, she pulled down the handles, and the sky-scooter lifted off. Pressure mounted on her feet, her ears popped, and at that moment, there was nothing between her and a long, fatal drop except for a length of rubber and metal. The view hundreds of feet below was a shadowed carpet of treetops. Good thing she wasn't afraid of heights.
"Good going," Steban said. "Now stick close to me."
He veered left, and Videl followed suit.
The scooter was smooth and easy to control, a top-notch model from a clearly reputable company. Even the helmet was snug, clear-viewed, and allowed voices to carry while drowning out the wind. Was the Ox Kingdom really this wealthy to have an entire garage filled with Capsule Corps' bleeding-edge products?
Steban glided through the air, Videl not far behind. The other four were dots ahead of them. It seemed like the entire team knew which mountain they would be harvesting from today. For now, Videl focused on the scooter navigation, memorizing the resulting speed of every push and pull, the angle of rotation, the altitude gained or dropped.
Between one blink and the next, a handful more dots appeared in the distance. They were soaring higher up in the sky and lowered gradually towards Lin, Yanni, Sharpner and Miki as the group neared one of the high, rocky peaks. Steban and Videl drew closer, and she found that the dots were gliding on long, muscular wings. Goosebumps rose on her skin, inspite of herself, inspite of all the warnings she'd been given. Her hand went to the weapon by her waist.
"Careful," Steban warned. "We're not here to kill the dinosaurs. They're an important part of the Paozu Stalk ecosystem."
"And if they try to eat us, what then?"
Steban laughed. "That species doesn't eat humans. They're not hunting us, they're playing with us. We dub them dolphins of the sky."
That wasn't reassuring. Aggressive dolphins could kill, couldn't they?
As if to prove her point, one of the dinosaurs swooped down, head inline to bump Yanni's scooter. The woman's sickle lashed out just in time, and the blunt edge of the curved blade whacked the dinosaur on the head. It pulled back, wings pumping to gain altitude.
"There, you see what Yanni did?" Steban said. "Just give them a friendly tap and they'll get the message."
Careful to keep her path straight with only one hand navigating, Videl loosened her retracted sickle from its loop and pushed the button on the shaft. Its sudden elongation and the sprouting of the blade tipped her balance to the right, and the sky-scooter wobbled dangerously. One of her feet slipped off the platform. Steban grabbed one of the handles to steady her scooter.
"Thank you," she exhaled.
No sooner after she had planted herself firmly on the platform did she feel a shift in the wind and a scaly creature swooped down from above. Alarmed, she struck out with the sickle, and it connected with the dinosaur's underbelly. The creature released a piercing cry and whirled away. She almost sighed in relief, when she noticed that it wasn't simply flying away — it was gearing up for a stronger attack.
"I said a friendly tap!" Steban admonished. "Now you've angered it!"
Well, how was Videl supposed to know the difference between a soft pat and hurtful shove for a dinosaur?
The dinosaur sped towards her. She dropped some height and ducked low, narrowly avoiding being punctured by its claws. Sharp edges raked against the top of her helmet, and the momentum of the attack tipped her scooter sideways. Both of her legs slipped from the platform this time, and she found herself hanging one-handed on the scooter's handle.
Steban unleashed his own sickle and waved it at the dinosaur. Videl collapsed her weapon for the moment, hung it back in its loop, and pulled herself onto the scooter. Then balked.
Up ahead, the group of dinosaurs 'playing' with their other team mates seemed to have lost interest in them and were now surging towards Videl and Steban. Great, oh great.
Steban sidled up to her, so close that she would have been able to hop onto his platform if she wanted to. He grabbed one of her scooter's handles, and instead of slowing down or circling away, he sped up even more through the mass of winged beasts.
"Hold on tight!" Steban flipped and turned their scooters in sync, avoiding every claw, wing, tail, tooth, and crest that headed their way. It was all Videl could do to prevent herself from lurching off of her scooter, feeling like she was in a roller-coaster that had no belts or guardrails.
When they'd cleared through the crowd of dinosaurs, an immense rockface greeted them. They hurtled towards it at top-speed, but Steban swerved just in time before they crashed. They climbed up, slowing considerably, until finally, he deposited them on a flat ledge near the peak.
Videl stumbled out of her scooter, falling on all fours to the ground. Her bones shook, her belly roiled, and only the desperate grasp to her pride stopped her from throwing up.
"She ain't so tough," a voice said, and Videl realized that the other four were already on the ledge.
"Neither were you on your first day, Sharpner," Steban laughed. "Lin, check up on her!"
"Right away, sir!"
Slim hands pulled Videl up to her feet. Lin's bespectacled gaze roved over her. She patted Videl's shoulders, arms, waist, then legs. Then she looked at the scratches on Videl's helmet and grimaced. She tugged the helmet off and inspected it closer, then squinted back at Videl's head.
"Does your head hurt?" She patted at it, mussing the short strands of her hair.
"Um, not really." Not yet anyway.
"How about your neck? Look this way." Lin pointed right. "Now look that way. Any pain?"
"No."
"You're fine, then. We'll need to get you a new helmet though. This one's no good anymore." Lin pulled out a capsule from a bandolier across her torso that sported rows and rows of other capsules. She popped its button, and in a poof of smoke, there was a brand new helmet in her hands. She strode over to Videl's sky-scooter and dangled it on one of the handles.
"Got your breath back?" Steban asked. "Now, the real work starts."
The sun was now starting to creep over the mountainous horizon in the east, and in its light, Videl got her first good look at the Paozu Stalks.
All around them, crawling across the rockface, were giant vines, each one as thick as seven men hudled together. Fuzzy leaves as tall as Videl herself sprouted from the stalks. There were no blooms, as far as she could see, and she also couldn't find where the plants were rooted.
Steban whipped out his sickle and gestured at one of the stalks. "Our job is to gather three-meter slices of the stalks. Ten slices are usually enough for the restaurant to operate for one full day, but don't let the low number fool you. The stalks are very tough and very heavy." He gave a mighty slash with his sickle — and Videl could tell he was using his full strength — and it barely bit into the stalk. "We usually work in pairs. Go on, give it a try."
Videl whirled to find her own stalk and crashed into Sharpner. The blonde boy hopped back with a face one would make if they'd just stepped on dog poop. Then he rolled his eyes and weasled away.
Over the years, Videl had noticed that those who displayed the most disdain towards her and her father were actually the ones who had had some skin in the game. Perhaps an avid fan, a business partner in a company Hercule Satan was endorsing, a gambler betting on his fights. Which bucket had Sharpner fallen into?
She shrugged off the matter for now and faced a heap of stalks that looked like giant boa constrictors slumped on the ground. Videl opened her sickle, hefted it in her palms, and took one shot at the nearest stalk. The blade struck the flesh and stopped a couple of inches in. She heaved with her entire body to get it back out.
All right, Son Gohan was correct. This did require quite a bit of physical prowess.
For the next few minutes, Videl hacked into the stalk, muscles tight, shoulders burning. By the time she had sliced through the stalk, her back muscles were cramping. Ignoring the possibility of snide remarks from her team mates if she rested, she took a few minutes to stretch out her muscles. Then she found a new position three meters down, and started the process all over again.
Once she had a complete chunk separated from the main body, she looked for Steban. She found him with his nephew, Miki, working together on chopping their chunk of a stalk. Sharpner and Yanni were paired off a little farther away.
"What do I do with this, now?" Videl asked.
Steban and Miki looked over, and their eyes widened. Miki's mouth formed a shocked 'o'. Even Sharpner and Yanni paused to stare at her.
"You finished one by yourself, huh," Steban remarked. He wiped sweat from his forehead. "I thought you were just practicing. Anyway, good job. Get Lin to capsulize it."
Lin, for her part, had been wiping down the scooters and checking their mechanisms. At the mention of her name, she jogged across the ledge and pulled out a capsule from her bandolier. Videl stepped away from the piece of stalk to give Lin some room.
"Show off." Although mumbled, Sharpner's comment reached Videl's ears. "Her father used to do that all the time."
"At least she didn't strike a pose," Yanni said, although Videl wasn't sure if she was defending her.
Videl crossed her arms and did what she was good at: pretending she couldn't hear other people. Minutes earlier, Sharpner had been unimpressed with her ride to the mountain. Now that she'd shown some competence, he thought her arrogant. It just proved that most of the time, what people thought of her had more to do with them than herself.
When she was much younger, she used to pride herself in not caring much about what people thought. But she no longer had the luxury of discarding other people's opinions so casually. Unfortunately, now their opinions dictated whether she went hungry or not.
In the horizon, wide bands of brilliant yellow sunlight slipped over the shadows of the mountains.
It was going to be a long morning.
-o-
Back at the Ox Palace, they were served a delicious lunch of grilled salmon, purple rice, and some creamy mushroom soup. It was so tasty that Videl hardly noticed the incriminating circle of empty seats around her, as if people thought their food would curdle in her presence.
When she finished, she headed out of the dining area. She wanted to write a letter to her father, telling him she'd finally found a job and that she would be staying at Mount Paozu for the time being. Perhaps she would visit him at the end of the month with a decent stash of savings.
"Psst, hey, Videl!"
She turned around and found the source of the call by the door to the kitchens. It was the young girl from yesterday, the one that had led her to Goten.
"Oh, hello there," Videl said.
The girl waved her over, anxiety furrowing her brows. "Videl, I just want to say I'm sorry."
"What?" Videl couldn't remember the last time anybody had apologized to her.
"For leading you to the wrong prince yesterday!" The girl twisted her apron in her fists. "The truth is, I also thought he was the only Ox Prince at that time. I just assumed that little kid was really impressive and important to have been doing everything I heard the prince was doing. I hope I didn't get you in trouble in your interview."
"No worries. As you can see, I passed well enough." She smiled at the girl.
"What a relief." The girl sagged against the wall. Videl wondered what it was that made her so nervous. Did she think Videl would get angry and take it out on her or something? "I don't want you to think I was pranking you or being mean to you just because of… well, you know. I didn't even know who you were. And even if I did, Ma always said we should be nice to people, even the ones who lie and cheat!"
"Oh." Videl wasn't sure if the girl was implying that Videl herself was a liar and a cheat. Oftentimes people simply conflated her with her father. "I suppose that makes your Ma a wise woman."
"My name is Maisy, by the way. I want to give you something to make up for the mishap." She ducked her head around the door to the kitchen. "Erasa, is it ready?"
"It's here, it's here!" A young woman about Videl's age rushed out of the kitchen. She had short blonde hair, a dolled up face, and manicured nails long enough that Videl wondered if she had a habit of puncturing through a pair of oven mittens or ripping dumpling wrappers. But in her hands was a very colourful cupcake.
"We made this for you," Maisy said. "Erasa helped me decorate it."
Videl reached for it, a surreal sensation coming over her. It was only a cupcake, barely taking up her palm, but it seemed to weigh like a stack of gold coins. Especially after the very lonesome lunch break she'd just had.
"You don't stare at it, silly," Erasa said. "You eat it!"
"Yes, I um… thank you." Videl didn't want to eat it. She wanted to put it in a glass case and display it in her room. Congratulations, an inscription underneath would say. You're still worthy of kindness.
A finger poked her cheek. Erasa had stepped up close to her, eyes wide with wondrous curiosity. "Incredible," she whispered. "The last time I was this close to your face was when you were on the cover of Orange Peel Magazine."
Orange Peel? "Wait, you're from Orange City?" That magazine had been a local publication. And Videl remembered the issue Erasa mentioned. The picture of her had been a candid shot taken just after she'd knocked out a gangster.
"Yup. Just a block away from Central Mall. Remember it?"
"What are you doing here, then?"
"I followed a boy here."
Videl suppressed a groan. "You don't mean Sharpner, do you?"
"That's right! He mentioned you're in team Stalk Gatherers."
Videl looked back at her cupcake. "You don't seem as upset as he is about me."
"Is he giving you a hard time?" Erasa pouted. "Ignore him! He can be such a drama queen about the whole fraud thing. Did you know, he used to have no less than eight posters of Hercule in his room? He also had a couple of yours too. He used to exercise while staring at those posters. Honestly, a few years ago he would have fainted if he'd know you two would be working together."
Ah, he was squarely in bucket 'avid fan' then. "I take it you were… less invested?"
"It was a shocker, sure. But that was two years ago. Do you know how many celebrity scandals have happened since then?" She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, should we all get going? We might not get a good spot if we're late."
"Yes, yes let's go!" Maisy hopped on her tiptoes.
"Late for what?" Videl asked as she followed both girls down the hallway. They were untying their aprons, signalling the end of their shifts. Which made sense; Videl doubted they would be this excited to perform a chore.
"The Ox King and the elder Ox Prince hold court three days a week," Erasa explained. "We can sit in and watch from the balconies."
Interesting. "I didn't realize that the Ox Prince can already make official rulings."
"He's being trained to," Erasa confirmed. "His mother has pretty much relegated herself to the restaurant business and has no interest in governing the kingdom's affairs. The crown would pass directly to Son Gohan. He's currently responsible for managing the estate full-time, while his grandfather teaches him politicking and stuff."
Well, there went her time to write that letter to her father. Videl was not going to miss her first opportunity to watch Son Gohan decide the kingdom's cases. If her interview from the previous day had indicated anything about him, it was that he wasn't easy to sum up. He had an interesting mixture of worldly ignorance and a level head on his shoulders. And as far as Videl was concerned, it was always a good idea to know what kind of person her employer was.
Erasa led Videl and Maisy to a courtroom with wooden vaulted ceilings and pillars sculpted with frolicking oxen. A circular platform mounted on five steps dominated the far wall, which unlike the other walls of the room, was made of rough stone. Videl realized this room was built right up against the rockface of the mountain. On the dais were two heavy chairs, carved with the twining stalks.
One was occupied by the Ox King, a huge man wearing a helmet with long horns. Thick black frames helped to highlight his eyes in a face dominated by bushy brows, mustache and beard. A strip of ox fur draped across his shoulders, over the shiny indigo silk of his tunic. A large, wicked axe hung at the back of his chair, and Videl wondered if he ever used it during court.
Beside him, Son Gohan looked almost diminutive. Similar to yesterday, the young man wore a silken outfit, although this time it was in a deep shade of green not unlike the colour of the Paozu Stalk. It was embroidered with dark gold threads in the shape of koi fish. He didn't sport a helmet with horns, but he did have a sash formed from brown ox fur like his grandfather's shawl.
On either side of the room were recesses into the floor separated from the main area by a low guardrail. A small crowd were already mingling in the two audience spaces. Erasa waved them over to the one on the right, and she elbowed her way to the front of the room near the dais.
"Ah, isn't he dreamy?" Erasa leaned against the guardrail, eyes softening in Gohan's direction. "He's one of the most handsome men I've ever laid eyes on."
"Aren't you and Sharpner a thing?" Videl whispered.
"So? Just because I can't order from a menu doesn't stop me from looking."
That answer took Videl aback. She herself had never gotten into the habit of looking at a menu she couldn't order from, much less afford. Literally, and in a romantic sense too. She'd long accepted that she would live a loveless life, which sounded pessimistic, but there was no practical alternative. No family with a good name would willingly accept her as one of their own.
A covert door near the dais opened and Son Goten hopped into the room. He carried a bundle of sketchpad in one hand and a tiny bucket of crayons in the other. His creamy tunic bore crayon marks that Videl was certain the laundress would lament over. An ill-fitting horned helmet wobbled on his head, and as soon as he plopped himself cross-legged next to his brother's feet, it slid down his forehead.
Gohan reached down to adjust it, but it was simply too big, and every time Goten looked down to colour his sketchpad, it slid over his eyes. It didn't seem to bother him to keep pushing it up.
Videl was so absorbed by this mindless repetition, she must have missed the signal that the court session was starting. The doors at the far end of the room opened up, and two guards brought in a man whose hands were tied with a rope. He had the haggard look of someone who'd journeyed far and barely gotten any rest.
"Ox King, this man was caught by our scouts in Mount Frypan looting from the remnants of our abandoned homes," one of the guard explained.
"Looting," the Ox King echoed. "From our beloved homes that are, to this day, engulfed in flames! What punishment do we mete out on thieves?"
"Execution!" Goten cried out with a mighty frown and an accusing finger at the man in ropes, whose eyes widened at the declaration.
"Well, now, let's not be hasty," the Ox King replied. "Only if this is an escalated case." Then he turned to his other grandson and waved a hand out for him to take the floor.
Son Gohan stood up, hand rubbing the nape of his neck. He climbed down the steps of the dais. "Right, well. I suppose we should give this man a chance to defend himself. Tell us of your intentions."
"It's not stealing!" the man said, gaining more colour and indignation now. "There are many valuables in those houses that are abandoned for anyone brave enough to tackle the flames. You clearly don't need or want them, and there are people like me who can feed themselves by pawning them off!"
"Unwanted?" Gohan crossed his arms. "You're wrong there. Those treasured possessions were left behind in haste and duress. I'm sure many of our people would love the opportunity to retrieve them, if not for their financial value, then for their sentimental one which may even eclipse the former. I'd say, the more practical move would have been to offer those possessions to the previous residents while charging a service fee for having braved the flames."
The man blinked several times, as if the thought had never occurred to him and he was finding it more palatable.
"But the crime has already been committed," Gohan continued. "And our laws need to be upheld. What you did falls under theft in our laws. You will spend one week in jail for every piece of valuable you took. After that, perhaps you'll think on what I said."
At Gohan's nod, the guards began to take the man away. But the man hesitated. "Your Highness," he called. "Does a pair of earrings count as one piece or two?"
"Good question." Gohan rubbed his jaw. "I'll rule one."
The man's relieved sigh made Videl wonder just how many pairs of earrings he'd stolen.
The next petition was made by a group of hardy labourers requesting a bridge from one ledge of a mountain to another. "It will save time transporting our wares if we don't have to climb down and back up," their representative said.
"Agreed," Gohan said. "You'll have your bridge."
Clapping and cheering erupted from the group.
"I know just the person who can build it quickly." He turned his head to his grandfather. "Maybe Yamcha or Krillin, right? Either one of them can probably do it in two weeks." His voice was low, but the acoustics of the room was excellent, and his voice carried well enough.
The cheering stopped, and the group of petitioners turned to one another, disappointment in their eyes.
"Who's Yamcha and Krillin?" Videl whispered to Erasa. What kind of man would be able to build a bridge singlehandedly in two weeks? And there were two of them?
But the blonde gave her a shrug. "Never heard of 'em."
"Gohan, we can't ask Yamcha or Krillin to build a bridge," the Ox King replied back, similarly in low tones that could still be heard without any straining. "They're not our subjects."
"But it would be so fast," Gohan said.
"These people aren't just asking for a bridge. They're asking for jobs."
"Oh!" Gohan spun around to face the petitioners. "A state-funded infrastructure project!"
"Yes, a state project," the representative nodded, and eager sparks returned to the petitioners' eyes. "It would be so helpful for everybody."
"Let me schedule a meeting to discuss the schematics, the budget, and the timelines." Gohan took out a notepad from his pocket and wrote down a few notes. The labourers chatted happily away from the dais.
Videl was still mulling over the idea of a single man building a bridge, when the next petitioner sauntered across the courtroom. Although with his slicked-back red hair and custom-tailored suit with an accompanying cape, it almost looked like he was the one expecting to be petitioned.
"Cant Merches, at your service." He gave an elaborate bow at the royals at the front of the room, but when he stood up, he looked down his nose at the audience and servants watching from the balconies. He was a young man, probably not yet thirty, but he held the authoritative quality of someone who held an important position somewhere. Or a nepo kid. Videl used to have something like that too, though she hoped, not quite so blatant.
"Uh, hello, nice to meet you." Gohan's smile wavered at the edges as if he wasn't quite sure what to make of this man. "And how may I help you?"
"On the contrary, I am here to help you. I'm the liaison sent by Merches and Co., the canning company that the Ox Princess had reached out to to discuss opportunities for canning the Paozu Stalk."
"Aha! Yes, I remember now. Mother would be glad to see you."
"And I her. That said, it's been a long journey, and I'm ready to be assisted to my rooms."
"Of course, yes, we have something ready for you." The way Gohan flipped through his notepad indicated he wasn't quite as ready as he implied. "Yes, here. The Lavender Room in the northeast wing." He turned to a servant on the left balcony. "Would you be able to help Mr. Merches there?"
"Your Highness," the servant loud-whispered. "The Lavender Room has broken windows. We reported it to you two weeks ago, remember?"
"Ah?" More flipping through his notepad. "In that case, the Burgundy Room?"
"That would do quite well, Ox Prince." The servant walked up from the balcony, and with a demure bow to Mr. Merches, she led him out of the courtroom.
Gohan barely had time to settle back in his seat, when yet another man strode across the room towards the dais. He, too, was wearing a suit and held himself with an air of importance. But that was where the similarity with Cant Merches ended. He was short, with thinning hair, and his beady eyes appeared enormous through his round spectacles. In one hand, he held a thin device that Videl knew in an instant to be a voice recorder.
Because she recognized that man.
"Mr. Ed Torr," she whispered at the same time Erasa did too. Erasa, who was up to date with the tabloids. No wonder she also knew who he was.
Ed Torr was an infamous opinion piece writer in the world of entertainment, and for the last two years, he had covered Hercule Satan's fall from grace with the most scathing reports. Videl could be sharp-tongued herself, but neither her words nor physical force had ever worked on him. She'd broken his wrist once, and she'd ended up indebted to his insurance company. The next day, the newspapers had printed that she'd lost her civility and humanity. When people said that the pen was mightier than the sword, they were referring to Ed Torr.
And now he was here all the way in Mount Paozu.
I hope it's not about me. I hope it's not about me, Videl thought.
Ed Torr clicked his device. "Greetings, Ox King and Ox Princes. I'm ecstatic to visit this quaint little kingdom of yours."
"Welcome," Gohan said amiably, clearly not yet knowing what kind of man was before him. "And what can we do for you, sir?"
"I'm here to report on your mother's droll restaurant, er, Stalking the Frypan, and—"
"Stalk in the Frypan," Gohan corrected.
"Yes, that's what I said. And as I believe it would be best for my readers to have full context on this restaurant, I hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions about current matters of the Ox Kingdom."
"Not at all, what would you like to know?"
"Your Princeliness, are you aware that yesterday you had hired Videl Satan, the daughter of the biggest fraudster in world history?"
Videl's hopes, which had risen a little upon hearing that Mr. Torr's purpose was to write about Stalk in the Frypan, plummeted immediately. Erasa shifted beside her, and Maisy gave her a curious look.
"Yes, I'm aware of that," Gohan replied.
"So you, the crown prince of a newly re-emerged kingdom, a crown prince working hard to cultivate the loyalty and admiration of his people, hired a person of ill-repute to work alongside those very people?"
"Here at the Ox Kingdom, we believe in hiring people with the right skills for the job." Gohan crossed his arms. "And as I had given Videl a sparring test myself, I believe I can say I have assessed her fairly."
"Meritocracy, I see." Ed Torr adjusted his glasses. "And Princey, would you say that here at the Ox Kingdom, your philosophy is to uphold skills above community and cooperation? That, if given the choice, you would rather patronize genius jerks?"
"Genius jerks?" Gohan's brows drew together. "I'm sorry, sir. I have no clue what you're talking about. Videl Satan, as far as I've seen, is neither one of those."
Videl wasn't quite sure if she should be flattered.
"Apology accepted," Ed Torr said. "And do you believe your mother's business would be safe from the repercussions of your 'fair' decision? That should the Stalking the Frypan incur any setbacks — less clients, damaged reputation — are you confident it has nothing to do with Videl's employment?"
Videl's heart shuddered in her chest. She wasn't even working at the restaurant! Would her presence at the palace really be so detrimental to the restaurant, the kingdom's major source of income?
Gohan snorted and finally stood up. "Sir, I think you have overstepped the bounds of politeness. I don't know what kind of publication you're writing for, but I can tell you're not here in good faith."
"Evasion, love that!" Ed Torr leaned into his voice recorder. "The Princey stands with tension in his shoulders and his hands are in fists, suggesting an underlying frustration. Perhaps there's fear of ruining his mother's business? Of appearing to have made a lapse in judgment?"
"I'm going to ask you to leave."
"Just one more question, Princey."
"No, sir. You don't deserve to ask any more questions at this point."
"What do I deserve then?"
"Execution!" Goten yelled, and he broke three crayons in half as if to make his point.
"Ah, it appears the Ox Kingdom still adheres to ancient, barbaric practices of—"
"That's enough!" Gohan's voice echoed in the spacious courtroom.
A deep chill blanketed the crowd, suffusing every nook and cranny with the heavy hand of dread. Videl's heart raced, her skin broke out in goosebumps, her breaths came in short gasps. Erasa drew her arms across her chest and shivered. Maisy sidled up next to her. Across the room, the servants and audience members in the balconies shuddered and hunched their shoulders in a cower.
And yet, part of Videl knew this was no normal reaction to a display of anger. At least, it wouldn't be her reaction, anyway. She wouldn't feel so spooked that Ed Torr was getting yelled it; in fact, she would have rejoiced. So why was she getting so fearful? With every step Gohan took towards the reporter, the dread pressed harder.
"Please leave." The words were spoken so softly, yet it still reverberated in the room that had now gone ghostly quiet.
It was probably a testament to Torr's wretched dedication to butchering the truth that he managed not to quail as he walked the long way back to the doors.
As soon as he'd crossed the threshold, the suffocating pressure in the air vanished. Videl sucked in a breath. Erasa started giggling; not out of amusement, but rather, discomfort. She was rubbing her arms for warmth.
"See, things get interesting here, don't they?" she said, and let out an almost deranged chuckle.
Back at the dais, Gohan slumped down in his seat. He rubbed his temples, and his lips were twisted in a grimace.
"You all right, my boy?" The Ox King asked. "I wanted to throw my axe at him, but I didn't want to prove our supposed barbarity."
"We were kind of in a bind, weren't we? But I'm fine. I just… this wasn't what I hoped for." He rose from his seat again and addressed the crowd. "I think that would be all for today. Thank you for coming. If you have petitions we didn't get to, please come back the day after tomorrow."
Goten leapt to his feet and clutched his brother's hand. The Ox King followed the two princes as they exited through the door behind the dais.
Videl followed the shuffle of people out of the courtroom. Everyone was much subdued, and Erasa and Maisy accepted her farewell without much comment.
She headed for her room, still shaking off that strange cold energy. At least the warm afternoon sunlight streamed liberally through the windows lining the hallway of the servants' residential wing. Yet her mind kept replaying what had happened in the courtroom. What did Gohan mean when he said that wasn't what he'd hoped for? What was he hoping for?
"Videl."
Videl spun at the sound of her name, and found the object of her thoughts standing not five steps behind her.
"Ox Prince!" She clutched a hand to her chest. Getting surprised like that while remnants of fear still crawled on her skin was not pleasant. Had he been following her all this time? She didn't even hear any sound, feel any presence.
"Sorry if I startled you. Look, I need to speak with you. Could you come by my apartments later tonight at 10:30? I know it's late, but it's the only slot I could clear up."
She stared at Gohan. There was a small wrinkle between his brows. He'd sought her out himself here in the empty hallway instead of sending a servant to fetch her. She may not be a genius, like he'd said, but she could deduce that whatever he wanted to talk to her about was serious.
Videl was either getting fired or she was in some other, deeper trouble.
A/N: Whew! This chapter is kind of OC-heavy and there are a lot of different things going on. But most of this is going to be peripheral to the story, so don't worry! All I really wanted to do was establish the state of the Ox Kingdom. Going forward, I'll try my best to keep the lenses close to Videl and Gohan by having them work together more. I had planned to include their subsequent meeting here, but I think there's enough stuff in this chapter, and I need to let those breathe a little.
I really enjoyed writing this chapter though! It was exciting to explore situations in which Gohan and Videl are a bit out of their depth.
My family and I are leaving for a trip in early September, and we haven't planned much of it yet, so most of my free time in August would likely be dedicated to that. I don't know if I can post the next chapter before then. But I hope you guys still liked this one and are still interested in finding out more of Gohan and Videl's adventures in this AU!
