A Simple Change
Chapter 9
AN: Hello all, it's been a while. Firstly I want to apologize since I hadn't realized its been nearly a full year since I last updated this story. That said I'm kind of glad I did since that let's me incorporate a few idea's that Daima gave me. SSJ3 Vegeta is now cannon and I'm here for it. Anyway as always thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter and I'll try not to go so long between updates for this story going forward. A Foxes Tale is still my main focus but that's almost done, I honestly just got kind of stuck doing a fight scene for that. Anyway lemons for this story, I'm leaning towards yes. Anyway that's all I've got so here is the new chapter.
PS: For the character of Sarada I tend to picture Yaoyorozu from MHA when thinking about her and Vasha I picture Tatsuki from Bleach, at least for the hairstyle. As for Lime I imagine a redhead version of Lucy from Fairy Tail.
Start Now:
As the early morning light shined over the 439 mountains Son Gohan could be found outside of his house in meditation. Beside him his younger brother Goten could be found also in meditation, the one time other than when he was sleep when his energy could be contained. The past month had been a great one as far as Goten was concerned as his big brother was home every day and they got to train together and hang out again. Unfortunately, that time was over as Gohan would be returning to school today and as such Goten woke up early so they could spend a bit more time together.
Their meditation ended due to the sound of a loud roar covering the area and upon opening their eyes they were greeted to the sight of a giant dragon diving towards them. The creature landed in front of them dwarfing both of them with its size and even as it leaned its head down neither of them reacted in fear. Goten instead grinned widely as he reached out and hugged the dragon's face as best he could, Gohan smiled even as he reached out a hand to rest on the dragon's head.
"It's good to see you too Icarus." Said Gohan.
Icarus the dragon was Gohan's first friend with no relation to his father. He'd met the dragon when he was six only a few weeks after he returned to Earth from Namek. His mom had been terrified at the time but considering all that he'd gone through hadn't put up too much fuss, at least after his grandpa finished talking to her. When his dad finally returned from space he'd made Icarus a cave close to the house, but he'd outgrown it quite some time ago and had to move further away for a bit more room, which made sense considering he was nearly 135 feet long and still growing.
"There you boys are."
Three heads turned as one when Goku appeared walking up on them and easily catching the blur that was Goten when he dashed over for a hug. Lifting Goten and holding him in one arm Goku made his way to Gohan and Icarus giving the dragon affectionate pats on the head.
"Morning dad." Said Gohan.
"So why are you boys out here so early?" questioned Goku.
"School starts back today." Said Gohan.
"Wait that's today?" questioned Goku.
"Does Gohan really have to go back there?" questioned Goten.
"Sorry kiddo, but yeah. I sort of made a deal with your mom so she would let Gohan train for the fight against Cell." Said Goku.
"I wish there were still bad guys for me and Trunks to fight." Said Goten with a pout.
"No you don't Goten. I started fighting when I was younger than you and dad and had nightmares for a long time because of it." Said Gohan catching his little brother's attention.
"You and Trunks like to train because its fun for you. It took a long time for me to have a different view of training and fighting that wasn't so scary." Said Gohan.
"But you got to go to space! I want to go to space!" said Goten.
"We will when you're a little older. Space is pretty dangerous." Said Goku.
"But you and Gohan are the strongest!" said Goten.
"Maybe, maybe not. That's another reason why we train. Like Master Roshi once told me there is always someone stronger." Said Goku
Two hours later found Gohan walking the familiar halls of Orange Star High. While it was the first time he himself had been in the city since the school shut down he'd made a point to use a clone to send out as Bardock every day since then. He was surprised by the amount of people who greeted him, many of whom he didn't even know himself. As he neared his locker he was surprised to find Videl standing against it with her arms crossed. Upon spotting him she pushed off of his locker and punched him in the chest before hugging him tightly.
"You idiot, Erasa's been worried sick." Said Videl into his chest.
"We'll I'm sure she'll be happy to see that I'm okay." Said Gohan softly not surprised to feel her nod into his chest before she pulled away.
"Where have you been? We've been trying to contact you for the last month." Said Videl.
"Oh, I went home. What happened had my mom and little brother kind of freaked out." Said Gohan.
Videl responded by thrusting a folded piece of paper at him which he accepted in confusion.
"It's my personal phone number. Get yourself a phone and make sure we all have the number, so we don't lose touch like that again." Said Videl.
"I'll ask Bulma for one today, I promise." Said Gohan.
"Good. Now hurry up, you're walking me to class." Said Videl.
It didn't take Gohan long to get his things for class, he'd simply reached inside and removed his backpack before placing what he would need inside for his first class. Once he was done he closed the locker and the two of them were off. Inside the classroom when they arrived were Erasa, Sharpener, Vasha, Lime and Sarada along with several other students. Erasa practically flew from her seat upon spotting him and he had to catch her when she leapt for a hug.
"Kami Gohan I was so worried. I tried calling so many times, but I kept getting stone walled by the Capsule Corp people. I'm so glad you're okay." Said Erasa, the words coming out in one big breath and only the time he'd spent around Trunks and Goten on sugar highs allowed him to make sense of it so easily.
"Sorry Erasa. I went back home and we're kind of disconnected from everything out there. I'll try and get a personal phone today and make sure you have a way to contact me." Said Gohan softly.
"You don't have a house phone Gohan?" questioned Sharpner.
"We do, but only my mom really uses it to talk to Bulma. My grandpa calls sometimes but I usually go see him in person, so he rarely does that." Said Gohan.
"It's true. We don't even have the number but since we were at his house all the time we didn't need it." Said Lime.
"So I've got to ask Gohan why did that mercenary guy react like that with you?" questioned Sharpner, a question Gohan was honestly expecting from Videl.
"Oh, well did you notice how his body was mostly robot parts?" questioned Gohan getting several nods.
"When he was around twelve my dad ran into Mercenary Tao who was contracted by the original Red Ribbon Army. To make a long story short when they fought Tao threw a grenade at my dad and not knowing what it actually was he kicked it right back at him and thus robot body." Said Gohan.
"Geeze no wonder he reacted like that. I don't think anyone would forget something like that." Said Erasa shuddering.
Of course, what Gohan didn't realize was that more than just his group was listening to this and as such before the end of the day everyone in the school would know this story. Regardless the topic was soon changed, with Videl mentally placing that information in her Gohan file for later. They chose to speak on less violent subjects like what everyone had been up to during the last month since they hadn't had to worry about school. Their time catching up was brought to an end by the ringing of the bell which led to the teacher finally standing from their seat.
"Alright guys welcome back. Before we get to our schedule I have a few announcements to make. Firstly the school security has been increased after the attack and members of the Earths Special Defense Force have been hired by The Ox King and Bulma Briefs herself."
This news certainly surprised the teens and even Videl's eyes widened in shock. She knew all about the ESDF, well as much information as was publicly available at least, it was her goal to join up after she graduated.
"Secondly our school has been offered to travel to several destinations throughout the year across the country. Your class was rather lucky in the selections as you will get to spend a few days in the Capsule Corp headquarters next month. Our other two destinations will be later in the year compared to the other classes as in May you'll be able to visit the Ox Kingdom and even attend a ball. From there you will be travelling to Papaya Island where not only will you be able to stay at one of the luxury resorts free of charge but will also be able to attend the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament. So make sure you grab the permission slips from my desk, they are due next week and if you don't have one signed you don't get to go." Said the teacher.
For the rest of the day all anyone was able to talk about were the newly announced school trips. This was how Gohan learned that some classes were getting to visit the King Castle in Central City, the home of King Furry and Coral Reef a rather popular vacation spot apparently. Gohan didn't really care about any of it as with the exception of Papaya Island and Coral Reef he'd been to almost every spot mentioned before. He did however wonder what Bulma and his grandpa were thinking inviting his class to visit but wasn't really bothered either way.
Instead he occupied most of his class time that day with a new idea, or rather an old one that came back to him. During the break after his first class he and Tasha stepped away and he'd used Instant Transmission to go home. His mother wasn't happy to see him already back when he should be at school but a quick explanation that he'd forgotten one of his books was enough to quell her. In his room he found what he was looking for in one of his old notebooks before once again using Instant Transmission to get back to Vasha. He spent the rest of the day jotting away in his notebook fleshing out the idea he'd had.
As classes let out for the day he found that the vast majority of the students were being picked up and wondered how long that would hold up before their parents stopped worrying. He, however, headed to Capsule Corp with Lime, Sarada and Tasha. Upon arrival they headed immediately to Bulma's lab where they knew she would be based purely by the time, though Gohan would have still been able to find her tracing her ki even with Vegeta's ki flaring due to his training. The genius inventor was indeed in her lab, though not working, instead she was sitting back watching the news with a wicked grin on her face.
"Hey, Bulma, anything interesting?" questioned Gohan.
"You bet! King Fury just took over the Red Ribbon Case!" said Bulma causing several eyes to widen
"Really, he hardly ever gets involved." Said Gohan stunned.
"He linked them to Dr. Gero and then tied them directly to Cell! You should have heard the silence when he said that before the crowd erupted!" said Bulma her grin only growing wider.
Gohan couldn't blame her for being happy. Despite destroying Cell and having the evidence against Dr. Gero they'd never been able to expose that part. It had honestly been the one loose end in the entire situation and now that had apparently been taken care of.
"How'd they figure it out?" questioned Lime.
"I may have forwarded the information I had after hacking Red Pharmaceuticals to Tien." Admitted Bulma.
"Anyway what brings you by so early?" questioned Bulma.
"We were wondering, do you have cell phones? A couple of our classmates were worried when they couldn't reach us over the last month." Said Lime.
"Actually I had an idea about that, it reminded me of an old project I set aside." Said Gohan surprising Bulma, Lime and Sarada before handing Bulma his notebook with a bookmark inside to show the correct page.
"Really? Let's hear it." Said Bulma even as she opened the notebook.
"It's basically an updated civilian version of a scouter. I threw out the power level detection and tracking parts since we can sense Ki, but I kept the communications aspect. Instead of just audio it will allow video calls, I've also designed it so applications can be installed like phones so it can play radio. I kept the tracking program and added some other tricks for the ESDF version which will function more like the classic scouter. It would still go on the ear, but I got rid of the arm and the glass in exchange for holo-tech." said Gohan
"I trust you Gohan. Power up the workstation, let's see what you've come up with." Said Bulma.
The workstation was a holographic table Bulma created that allowed her to put her ideas together without having to actually build things. It was connected to a 3-D printer that would synthesize the designs she came up with on the table. Gohan had actually helped her build the table and as such knew how to operate it as well as she did. Scanning his design into the computer hooked into the table they were soon looking at his initial design which was a large circular piece similar to the speaker on headphones.
That was considered too big and thus the revisions started and in the end the final design while still circular was smaller and was positioned just over the lower portion of the ear with a hook over the ear to keep it in place. What the 3-D Printer came out with was metallic silver though there was a small strip in the center that was clear and soft blue light could be seen pulsing from.
"Alright it's a nice concept. Since you want to put this in production I'll get this to Communications and see if they can work out the rest and figure out a system for it." Said Bulma.
The Scouter V2 (Version 2) concept was accepted eagerly by Communications, though he was told they would probably have to change the name of the civilian version if they excluded the power reading and tracking functions. That actually kick started the minds of the division to see what else could be included, one person actually suggested a Detective Mode to help police which had gone over well. In the end Gohan and the girls were all given cell phones to last them until they had a working model of the new scouters.
Rather than go directly home Gohan found himself flying towards Kame Island. He had honestly been getting ready to head home when Bulma received a call from Krillin informing her that Master Roshi wanted to see him. It had honestly been a while since he'd seen any of them and as such he decided to head right over; after calling home to make sure his mom had his new phone number. As Gohan reached the small island Kame House was located on a little blonde girl looked up as he landed before grinning widely.
"GOHAN!"
The excited scream got a grin from Gohan even as he bent down to scoop the little girl up and she hugged him around the neck. This little girl was Marron, Krillin's daughter and Gohan's god-sister. Laying back on a lounge chair not far from them was Krillin's wife 18 who didn't even bother to move from her position. Of course one may wonder how an android could have a baby but the truth was neither she or 17 were actually robotic, both of them were born human and were enhanced by Dr. Gero with bio-organic materials down to the cellular level. At this point the only thing robot about either 17 or 18 were the perpetual energy reactors that gave them their energy reserves as both the emergency deactivation controllers and self-destruction devices they'd been initially implanted with had been removed.
"Look at you, you're getting so big!" said Gohan giving Marron a very small toss in the air and catching her easily causing her to giggle.
"How was school?" questioned 18.
"Not bad, I had a couple people worried since they couldn't reach me after what happened, but it was fine." Said Gohan
"Krillin and I were discussing moving to a city but now I'm not so sure." Said 18 frowning thoughtfully.
"Well you could always move out by us. There's a lot more space and you don't have to deal with a city's horrible air quality." Said Gohan.
"You know that's not a bad idea. We could actually go out a bit more that way too."
Gohan smiled as Krillin approached the two of them. Krillin had changed since the trouble with Cell had wrapped up, the most notable being that he'd allowed his hair to grow out. It actually resembled Gohan's hair when they went to Namek all those years ago only without the gel holding it down.
"Do you think your mom would mind us moving that close?" questioned Krillin a bit nervously.
"I don't think so. I suggest calling her and focusing the discussion on Marron though." Said Gohan.
"Good idea. I want to run a few other things by you, but you should head to the back and speak to Roshi first." Said Krillin.
Handing Marron off to her father Gohan headed to the other side of the house where he found Roshi lying back on his own lounge chair. Gohan almost thought the old man was asleep until he turned his head to regard him and sat up.
"Eh, there you are Gohan. I thought you may have gotten distracted by our resident jellybean." Said Roshi motioning for Gohan to sit on the chair across from him.
"Well Marron has that effect." Said Gohan shrugging.
"That she does, but that's not why I wanted to see you." Said Roshi his tone suddenly going from jovial to serious.
"Krillin and I were speaking about the old days and I realized that your teachers were a bit remiss in your training. While physically everything was covered it seems no one thought to teach you the spiritual aspect." Said Roshi.
"Spiritual aspect?" questioned Gohan.
"Gohan your training was always handled under high stress emergency situations. Because of that you became an incredible fighter but there is a distinct difference between a fighter and a martial artist. Take for instance the current World Martial Arts Champion, Hercule Satan is a rather gifted fighter as the inheritor of the Satan School but he's not a martial artist. Tien on the other hand is a master martial artist both are amongst the ranks of Tenka'ichi BudÅkai Champions the way they handle themselves is distinctly different." Said Roshi.
Gohan could only nod. While he had never personally met Mr. Satan he knew that his personality was distinctly different from Tien's. For instance Mr. Satan despite the popularity dip he got for trying to lie about defeating Cell had still used his win to catapult his fame. In the six years since he won the title he had become one of the worlds biggest action movie stars. Tien by contrast didn't even care about the fame he'd won by earning the title and instead was constantly focused on self-improvement along with his duties for the E.S.D.F.
"I've noticed the drop in your power Gohan and if I have then both Goku and Vegeta have sensed it as well." Said Roshi holding up a hand when Gohan went to speak.
"I get it, we are in a time of peace, the longest that you've actually known since Goku's brother first arrived all those years ago. Still even training with the girls and Goten I think we can both admit you were stronger even before you fought Cell." Said Roshi
"Well that's true. But like you said dad and Vegeta are both around. That means I can shift my focus right?" retorted Gohan, ending in a question.
"Indeed and no one has a problem with that, even Goku doesn't train as much as he was before right. With that said this time of peace is the perfect time to catch you up on the spiritual side of the training that you missed right?"
"Well I suppose so when you put it that way." Said Gohan.
"You know Gohan you re the first 3rd Generation student of the Turtle School. I didn't just teach your father you know but Ox-King and your namesake as well." Said Roshi.
"I heard, is it true you had grandpa doing milk deliveries?" questioned Gohan getting Roshi to chuckle.
"Your father and Krillin too. You're farther along in your training though so we can skip that and the turtle shell for you. Now let's start your first lesson shall we." Said Roshi getting a nod from Gohan.
"Well firstly as students of the Turtle School we do not learn martial arts to pick fights or to impress girls. We must master the art of peace in addition to the art of war. We achieve victory by the art of war, victory is won through strategy, strategy is derived from the art of peace. However, if somebody evil threatens you or any other good innocent people with unethical force, it is your duty to defend!" started Roshi starting the first of many lessons Gohan would learn under him.
The next few weeks seemed to fly by in a blur and before he realized it a month had passed. In that time Gohan had quickly got back into his routine of classes and socializing at school as well as doing the odd personal project for Capsule Corp. Along with that he'd begun visiting Roshi twice a week for a few hours at a time. The Scouter V2 had been renamed and christened the Holodeck, and had grown from just a communications device to something much more as several other projects had been rolled into it. According to Bulma it was changing everything, and the goal was to make it so everyone in the world owned one.
Unfortunately for Orange Star City the police S.T.A.R.S unit had been hit harder than they realized by the Red Ribbon army forces when they occupied the school, and it was going to take a while before the department recovered. The criminal element had realized this and were emboldened and as a result Videl was being called on for more high stakes issues which meant Gohan was more active as Bardock. While he often had clones out throughout the day while he was in classes whenever Videl was called out he tended to go out himself while the duplicate would take his place in class.
At the moment monitoring Videl was exactly what he was doing, levitating above the Mayor's office while Videl dealt with the Red Shark Gang who decided to take the Mayor hostage. Spotting one fire a rocket launcher towards Videl he vanished only to appear in the path of the rocket and take the shot to the chest. Before many could do more than widen their eyes he exploded from the spot and backhanded the shooter, while he barely put anything behind the hit the man was still sent flying for a few feet before landing out like a light.
Turning his attention back to Videl he found she was just finishing up with the leader slipping through a missed attack and nailing him with a knee to the chin that put him out like a light. With the fighting done the police quickly moved in to secure the place and free the mayor while Videl marched right up to him.
"You know if that would have taken you out I'd have been very disappointed after everything I've seen you do." Said Videl.
"Well I'm glad you have so much faith in my ability Videl." Said Bardock.
"Thanks for having my back." Said Videl.
"Always." Said Bardock beginning to lift away only for Videl to grab his hand causing him to stop.
"Do you have a bit, there's something I need to talk to you about." Said the girl.
"Sure."
Videl smirked before withdrawing a capsule, pressing the top and tossing it causing her jet-copter to appear. As she moved to get in he found himself climbing into the passenger side, glad once more that he'd passed on the version of the suit that came with a cape. Before long the copter was taking off and Videl directed them at a rather leisurely pace.
"So how long did you plan on playing this out, Gohan?" questioned Videl.
"You seem confident in your guess." Said Bardock.
"Oh I am. I always had my suspicions you know, the arrival of two superpowered individuals just after you started school here, one of whom disappeared just after the arrival of Bardock. I admit you threw me off with the duplicate I saw Krillin use the multi-form technique over the weekend." Said Videl.
"Ok, but how did you come to the conclusion that this Gohan and I were the same person."
"After the Cell Games, Bulma Briefs held a press conference where she revealed what she knew about the Saiyan race. I must have studied that information over a thousand times growing up, I still remember it all for the most part. As for your question it's your range of abilities. Only very few people on the planet are capable of as much as you are. First there was the Gold Fighter, I finally got to see a picture of what he looked like and that picture showed all the traits of a Super Saiyan. According to Ms. Briefs at the time there weren't that many Saiyans left alive, let along on Earth and the only one at an appropriate age to match the Gold Fighter was Gohan, the kid who beat Cell." Said Videl smirking though Bardock remained silent motioning for her to continue.
"Information on Gohan is of course extremely hard to come by, purposely so. You happen to be the godson of Bulma Briefs but that wasn't enough, hell its pretty circumstantial evidence. The final bit of proof I needed was provided by you actually. Krillin told me about some of the adventures he and his friends had when they were younger, one of them was a fight between Goku and Mercenary Tao during which Goku kicked a grenade back at Mercenary Tao just before it exploded. So I knew that Gohan is the son of Goku but how does that tie into Gohan being Bardock, well you handled that too." Said Videl.
At that she fished out her phone and after unlocking it and scrolling for a moment handed it to him. Accepting it he found himself looking at a picture of a picture of him holding Marron only he was wearing the Bardock suit without the helmet.
"That's cheating." Said Gohan passing her the phone back and getting a huge grin in response.
"No it's not!" said Videl her tone almost singsong.
"You try saying no to Marron." Said Gohan pressing the button on his watch and causing the suit to disappear.
"You really are him aren't you, The Gohan, the one who beat Cell." Said Videl softly.
"Yeah, that's me." Said Gohan with a sigh.
"This is nuts. You know I'm part of your fan club." Said Videl.
"Part of, the way Erasa tells it you were more than that." Said Gohan getting Videl to actually blush.
"Okay, I was President until I got too busy." Said Videl.
"So now what?" questioned Gohan.
"I'm not going to tell anyone if that's what you mean. How about you teach me how to fly." Said Videl.
"Krillin said you were eager to learn that, but you're not ready yet." Said Gohan after looking at her for a moment causing her to frown.
"What made you want to be a fighter?" questioned Gohan.
"Well first it was my dad, I wanted to be strong like him." Said Videl getting a small smile from Gohan.
"These days, I guess I just want to be able to protect people." Said Videl.
"Krillin and I were talking about the next stage of your training. There are a few things you need to do before you can learn to fly. The first of those is to climb to the top of Korin Tower." Said Gohan.
"That's impossible!" blurted out Videl in shock.
"No it's not, Master Roshi did it and my dad did it when he was younger than we are now. At your current level it should take you about a week." Said Gohan causing her to pale.
AN: Well that's it, the chapter is over. I always liked fighter Videl and don't really like the change of character to a girlygirl that they gave her. Anyway hope you guys liked it and until next time, LATER.