Chapter 12
While Gohan and Lime were having their tryst off in the skies above, Videl was standing alone in the woods, focusing on her ki with immense concentration. The air around her was slowly pulsing with each breath she took. The flies and wildlife of the forest became wary of her and her presence. Her two pigtails were gently floating up and down as she channeled her ki. The heatwaves emanating off of Videl were intense. If someone were to place a hand on her, they might walk away with minor burns.
She was in a state of complete tension, all the energy in her body was being consumed to set her afloat. Her mind was completely still, with the single minded goal of achieving flight. Videl had a goal, and she never lost track of it.
She was going to defeat her father and she was willing to die to achieve the strength needed. She had coerced Gohan through all of her various means to learn how to control her ki and fly, and now she was finally here.
She thought of her father and how much he had changed after defeating Cell. Before he had accomplished the impossible, they had just been a normal happy family. Her mother was a famous singer, while her father was a broke martial artist working his way through the training in Satan Castle. Despite it all, they made it work. Videl remembered that as a child her mother would pick her up and hug her, and then her father would pick both of them up and hug them both. Those were some of her happiest memories.
Only then did she notice the hand on her shoulder.
"Videl? I think it's time to take a break."
The surprise on Videl's face was evident, but even more surprising was her sudden lack of strength. She felt her legs collapse from underneath her. It was as if she had just come out of a 100 round fight and gassed herself out completely.
The deluge of sweat and exhaustion spread throughout her body as she began to gasp for air. She took a minute to regain her breath, but one thing bothered her more than anything else. More than the buckling knees, more than the wet clothes she suddenly found herself in, more than the embarrassment of collapsing in front of Gohan and Lime, it was hunger.
growl*
Lime and Gohan both looked at Videl, whose face was buried in her hands in embarrassment. Through her fingers she sheepishly asked, "Do you guys have any food?"
Gohan laughed heartily and replied, "I'll ask my mom, she's the best cook around!"
"Sorry to be a bother."
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure she'll be glad to have more people around," Gohan gestured for her to follow them, "Come on!"
Videl slowly got up and made her way over with Lime and Gohan.
"I'll run on ahead to let my mom know, you know how to get back to my place, right Lime?"
"Yup."
Gohan dashed off from the clearing in the woods and left a trail of dust in his wake. Lime and Videl took their time walking towards the dome in the mountains that the Son family called home.
The duo spent a decent amount of time in silence just listening to nature and enjoying the fresh autumn air. Lime noticed Videl awkwardly scratching her nose as they walked.
"Are you okay Videl?"
"I'm utterly exhausted and starving," Videl replied, "but yea other than that I'm doing okay."
. . .
Videl took a deep breath before asking, "Can I ask you something?"
"Hmm, what's up?"
Videl's face contorted in discomfort and her eyebrows furrowed with confusion, "Do . . . do you hate me?"
Lime was taken aback, she had never expected Videl to ever ask her something like that. Videl had seemed supremely confident in herself and comfortable being who she was. It felt out of character for the superwoman that Lime had painted Videl as.
Lime rushed to reassure Videl, "No no, I definitely don't hate you."
"Oh okay, that's good to hear."
"I just didn't know why you were interested in Gohan, and I certainly didn't approve of the way you manipulated him into training you."
Videl took a moment to reflect on her actions. "I know it wasn't the nicest thing to do, but you have to understand, I need to get stronger."
"You? Stronger?"
"Yes, I know I'm one of the strongest martial artists in the city, but I'm just not strong enough."
"Strong enough for what?"
"To defeat my father!"
"Your father? ?"
"Yes, he's the strongest person in the world, but lately it seems like he's just lost himself. He's coasting off his win over Cell. I wanna beat him up so bad."
"I don't . . . I don't understand, don't you admire him?"
"Well . . . yes. But also he's . . . just . . . " Videl looked frustrated beyond belief as she tried to form words to convey the way she felt about her father.
Lime slowed down and sighed. "Do you hate your dad?"
"Well, no."
"But you need to defeat him?"
"Yes."
"I think I get it."
"You do?"
"Maybe?" She laughed, "It must be really hard to live under the shadow of the hero who saved the world from Cell."
"Exactly! I'm not Videl, I'm 's daughter. If I was just stronger than him, then I could become my own person, someone strong. Someone who could've held it all together."
Lime was left a bit speechless at that last bit, but she was beginning to put the dots together.
"Videl, I need you to know. You are strong, you're so incredibly strong, stronger than me. It couldn't have been easy, and I know you're chasing more and more strength, but the way you manipulated Gohan wasn't okay."
"I . . . I know," Videl took a long sigh and continued, "I'm sorry, I respect you and Gohan too much to have done that."
Lime flashed a confident grin and put her arm around Videl, "all's forgiven!"
They reached the Son family house and found Chichi cooking up a storm. Literally, there was a breeze of air coming from Chichi's aura in the kitchen. She turned around and noticed the two girls standing in the doorway of her house.
"Oh my, I heard you're all hungry. I'm in the middle of cooking, so just take a seat and I'll have it ready in no time" Chichi said.
Lime noticed Chichi's welcoming attitude and quietly asked Gohan, "I'm surprised your mom was so receptive to us coming over, what happened?"
"Well, Videl might have mentioned a decent amount of money to my mom as 'tuition' money for me to teach her how to fly, and that somehow seemed to go over pretty well with my mom"
Lime was stunned and proceeded to nod her head slowly, unsure of what to make of the incredible power of the Satan family fortune.
Videl leaned over and asked Gohan, "So how am I doing?"
Gohan replied, "Well, I think you're doing pretty well. To be honest, this is my first time teaching anyone about ki. Ever since I was born, all the fighters around me already knew how to use it."
"All the fighters around you? Right! There were a bunch of other people with you at the Cell Games. Don't tell me all of them can use ki like you do?"
"Pretty much."
"So how come the other fighters didn't turn golden too?"
"Oh that."
Gohan remained silent for a little while, unsure of how to respond.
Gohan was comfortable with sharing this information with Lime, but he was unsure of how this news would go across to Videl, Gohan continued to think. Scratching his head, he started to mumble a little bit.
"Uhh I guess I can't really hide the facts anymore," Gohan took a deep breath and said, "I'm a half saiyan. My dad is an alien, a saiyan who came to Earth when he was a baby."
"What? You're an alien?"
"Half of one, yes. That's why I'm able to go golden, it's called super saiyan."
"Is that why your superhero name is Saiyaman?" asked Videl.
Gohan blushed a little bit, "ah yea I just kind of came up with it since I was short on time."
"So only saiyans can turn golden?" asked Videl.
"As far as I know, that's right."
"So other than your dad, there's two other saiyans out there."
"Well, technically there's three, but for one of them it's a really really long story."
Goten poked his head out from a door and loudly asked, "Bro! Who's this?"
"Goten! Mind your manners!" Chichi reflexively said.
"Oh right, sorry," Goten walked over and slightly bowed, "Hi, my name is Goten, I'm Gohan's younger brother, may I please have your name?" he asked Videl.
"Hi there," Videl leaned down and bowed back to Goten, "I'm Videl, a friend of Gohan and Lime from school."
"Wow! There's a lot of people in school!"
Videl laughed, "What does that mean, don't tell me you've never been to school?"
"Nope!"
Chichi proudly chimed in from the kitchen, "That's right, I've been teaching him myself, the same way I taught Gohan!"
"Oh wow, you really weren't kidding when you said you've never been to school before," Lime said.
Gohan chuckled and said, "Yea I was really excited to go."
"What were you all doing outside?"
"Gohan was teaching me how to fly," Videl replied.
"Wait, no fair! How come you haven't taught me how to fly but you're teaching her?" Goten protested.
"Ah well, I guess there's no reason why i shouldn't teach you how to fly," Gohan then switched his attention to his mother and asked, "Mom! Is it okay for me to teach Goten how to fly?"
Chichi sighed, and bitterly replied, "I just didn't want to have to deal with a flying child, but I guess that's okay." She turned towards Goten and asked, "Just make sure to behave yourself okay?"
"Alright! Let's go!"
After their very filling lunch, Gohan bid Videl goodbye as she entered her capsule helicopter and flew back home.
Their days of training before the world martial arts tournament continued much like this. After Goten joined them, Gohan and Goten would begin training together, with Gohan discovering his brother's amazing potential.
On a sunny afternoon, Lime came over and approached Gohan in the hallway.
"So?, you ready for the Fall Ball later this week?"
"Yes! I told my mom and she pulled out a suit for me!"
"Oh wow, I can't wait, I'm sure you'll look good in it."
"I hope so. Are you heading to your job now?"
"Yep," she grinned and waved bye to Gohan.
As Gohan waved back to Lime, he suddenly heard a familiar voice in his head.
"Hey son!"
Like a bolt of lightning surging through his head, he could recognize that voice anywhere. It was a warm voice that brought up warm memories, bittersweet ones as well. He almost couldn't believe his ears, but he found himself reflexively responding, "Hey dad."
Goku giggled like he always did, it seemed like the 7 years hadn't changed him at all.
"What's going on dad?"
"Well, I've been talking it over with King Kai and since I've got a lot of time to kill while waiting for the Grand Kai's training, he allowed me to come back to Earth with the help of old lady Baba for a day and I figured what better day than the Tenkaichi Budokai!"
"Wow! You're really coming back?"
"Yep! You're the first person I wanted to tell, I've got a lot of things to get ready for on my end, so could you do me a favor and tell all the gang?"
"Of course! I'll be sure to inform everyone! They'll be so excited, I know Mom's missed you a lot."
"I'll leave you to it okay son? We'll catch up more when I get back to Earth."
"You got it dad!"
And with that, the incoherent sounds of a high school filled Gohan's ears again and he was sent back to reality. He thought to himself, making a list of everyone to visit and after sneaking away to a corner, he flew off to the various corners of the Earth.