* * *

That Warm and Fuzzy Feeling From the Back of a Saiyan

A fanfic by ShaggyDiz

Chapter Four

* * *

“Erasa…I think I have a problem.”

It was Thursday afternoon. School had just let out and Videl had chased after Erasa. Sharpener went to lift and Gohan disappeared shortly after the bell rang. Videl had mentioned to Erasa that they needed to talk later, which brought them to now. They were talking about random things before they got to their location – the popular ice cream parlor located not too far from school.

The two went inside and ordered a couple of sundaes. They took an empty seat near the back of the store, where no one would disturb them. The girls went here because of the sometimes-overbearing volume level that this place had at times – perfect for a discussion like this.

“Well…what is this problem of yours?” the blonde asked, taking a bite from her ice cream.

“I never told you what happened back on Saturday at Capsule Corp. It’s for good reason too.”

“I see. Just keep it down. Rumor Ville has it right now that you two are an item.”

“Damn it. I never wanted that to happen.”

“Videl…that’s what happens when you sit at the same table with him every lunch period. You’re bound to get noticed one way or another.”

“Fine. Who started this anyway? I might want to inflict some pain soon.” Erasa giggled lightly.

“It was one of those girly high school clubs where they decide who goes out with who and what not. Gohan is a pretty popular kid among them. I think they’ve been bugging him non-stop to have a chance to go out with him.”

“You should know how clueless that kid is. It’s down right hilarious to see him sometimes. Like on Saturday…”

“What about Saturday, dear?”

Videl took a bite of her sundae and looked around, checking to see if anyone was close by. There were some students near them, but they were in large groups and involved with their own conversations. “Erasa, I scared the boy half to death.”

“Oh no,” Erasa said, shaking her head. “What happened?” Videl thought for a second.

“I nearly seduced him.”

Silence.

That was followed by an earth-shattering shriek that could have been heard miles away.

* * *

“Shinji…I think I have a problem.”

At approximately the same time, Gohan was having a discussion like this with Shinji, sitting on top of the second highest building in Satan City. Gohan was currently in super, while Shinji donned his usual getup. Gohan got there first and sat on the ledge, looking down at the city below. Shinji arrived shortly thereafter, and that’s when the conversation started.

“What is this problem? Ten bucks its Videl.” Gohan looked over to him before looking back down.

“How’d you guess?”

“What else would it be?”

“You got a point.”

“Good. Now where’s my ten bucks?”

“Huh?”

“I said…you know what…never mind. I’ll tell you later. Now what is this problem you have with her?” Gohan thought it over for a second.

“It happened back on Saturday, when we were hanging out. She…kind of seduced me.”

“Seduced you?”

“She seduced me.”

Silence.

That was followed by an earth-shattering shriek that came from about a mile away.

“I wonder what that was about?” Gohan thought out loud.

* * *

“What is everyone looking at?” Erasa yelled. “Go back to eating whatever you were eating and stop looking at me!” Everyone returned to what they were doing. At first came the uneasy silence, followed by a few brave souls restarting their conversations. A minute or so later, everyone seemed to forget Erasa’s outburst.

“Erasa…that hurt my ears.”

“Oh…sorry. You should have warned me though.”

“What?!…Oh forget about it.” She took a bite from her sundae. “I don’t know what came over me though,” she said, continuing where she left off.

“Continue.”

“Well…I was a little distraught in calling Mrs. Briefs Miss Briefs. Gohan tried to calm me down and I asked him what he meant by something.” She paused for a second.

“And?”

“He said I have nice eyes.”

Silence.

“Wow…what a romantic. You got to bag him Videl, you just have to!”

“Erasa!”

“Oh, right. Um…continue.”

* * *

“So…I told her that and then I realized that I made a huge mistake.”

“How huge of a mistake?”

“Well, when you’re in that close of a proximity to a girl, screwy things happen. At least I think that’s what happens.”

“Gohan…you are clueless. Continue though.” Earlier, when the shriek happened, they had paused for a second. Gohan didn’t know what it was, and Shinji just passed it off as some girl crying over a guy or something. They resumed their conversation like Erasa and Videl did.

“Okay…all of a sudden she just grabbed the back of my head and started playing with my hair. I started to panic before but now I nearly lost it. She told me something about me having nice eyes and then started leaning into me, wanting to kiss me!”

Silence.

That was followed by a bellowing laughter from Shinji. He laughed so hard that he nearly fell off of the ledge. Of course…prayers could always be answered.

WHACK! That was the sound of Shinji being sent off of the building by Gohan’s fist.

“Dude! What was that for?!” yelled Shinji

“You are constantly pissing me off, you know that?!”

“You bring it on yourself Gohan!” Shinji floated back up to where was sitting at. “I’m sorry. You have to be careful with these kind of things though, you know?”

“You’re right…I guess.”

“It’s one of those many things in life we have to deal with. It would have been nice to deal with it somewhat sooner than now. Blame your mom for that.” Gohan nodded. “Now, where did you leave off at?”

* * *

“So then, after I leaned in, he lost his balance and we both fell on the floor. My hands were at his head and his hands were on my hips. The look on his face was priceless.”

The scene was totally different at the ice cream parlor. Erasa got into a small laughing fit about Videl leaning in to kiss Gohan. Since then, it’s been a rather big joke to them. Videl was relieved to get it off her chest with at least one person. She still had to talk about it with Gohan soon, but with they way they’ve been acting towards each other the past couple of days, it would be a challenge that she would easily accept.

“Hold on. Hold on. Did it look like this?” Erasa contorted her face and held her hands in a way that looked eerily reminiscent to Gohan’s panicked expression. Videl giggled hysterically.

“Yeah! Yeah! He looked exactly like that! Hee, hee, hee! That’s too much Erasa!”

“Okay, okay. So what happened next?”

“Okay. We were like that, and I was like,” she turned her head slightly and closed her eyes some. Her voice went from happy to seductive. “ ‘So…Gohan, have you ever been in a position like this?’ And he goes, ‘Um…no Videl…I haven’t.’” She did her best impression of Gohan for that line. “And then I go, ‘That’s good. Why don’t I just give you a quick kiss.’” Her expression went back to seriousness for the last part.

“What’s wrong, Videl?”

“I got so close. I was so freaking close to kissing him.”

“What happened?”

“My watch beeped. Erasa…I was this frigging close!” she said, using her finger and thumb on her right hand to show the blonde the short distance between hers and Gohan’s lips.

“You were pissed, huh?”

“Yeah. Some of it went to Gohan though. I kind of told him to not tell anyone in my ‘deep threatening’ voice.”

“Hmm…I guess that’s what alienated him.”

“We still talk. It seems different, though, especially after the way he acted towards me last Thursday and Friday.”

“What did he do those days?”

“He was more…caring for some reason.”

“Hmm…maybe he just started liking you a bit more and decided that was a good way to show it.”

“You know…that could be it. I have no idea how to find out though.”

“Oh, I got an idea…”

* * *

“Man, girls are tough.”

“You got that right. At least for you. I’ve never had that problem before.”

“Well, that’s good for you Shinji. It’s not good for me though. I got scared! It’s not fun when you get scared because you got a girl straddling you!”

“Heh. You got a problem though. It appears that you have a girl after you that you just want to be friends with, correct?”

“Yes,” Gohan said immediately.

“Why don’t you just tell her that?”

“I…erm…um…”

“You know what,” Shinji said, reaching his arm across and slapping Gohan’s back, “You got it made.”

“Got…it…made? What do you mean by that?”

“Well, either one of two things. One, you like the girl, or two, you are scared shitless because of her. Of course, I think it’s a mix of both.”

“But…but…”

“It’s a good thing your mom decided to let you go to school. This is the perfect place for you to learn about these things. You’ll get the hang of it eventually.”

“I hope so.”

“Good. Now just remember, it’s you decision about what you have to do with Videl. You could tell her that you’re not interested, or that you like to take it slow with her.”

“But, I don’t like her that much.” Shinji got off the ledge and floated forward. He turned around to face Gohan. With the sunglasses on, Gohan didn’t see the look of concern that was currently set in Shinji’s eyes.

“It may not seem like that now. Like I said, take your time. You’ll be fine.” He was about to fly away when he remembered something. “One more thing, Gohan.”

“Yeah?”

“Rumor has it that you two are already together. One of those silly clubs started it I think. Just be careful what you do around her, because it might get out of hand.”

“Thanks Shinji.”

“No problem. See you tomorrow.” He blasted off, back towards the Kame House.

“I wonder what I’m going to say to her,” Gohan wondered out loud. He was looking down in the city streets, letting the time go by. He perked his head up after a couple minutes when he got a thought. “I wonder what she’s going to say to me!”

* * *

“A party?”

“Yeah, a party! It doesn’t have to be a lot of people, and with that you don’t have to worry about letting other people interfere with you and Gohan’s affairs.”

“What do you mean by that?” Videl asked, a slight distain in her eyes.

“I figure you would want to talk to him, that’s all! Jeez, don’t look at me like that. I was only saying that so that you can figure out how you feel about him.”

“Feel…he’s a friend for crying out loud!”

“Sure, sure. Don’t tell me that a little while from now.”

“Grr…Erasa. You’re pissing me off now.”

“Okay, okay! Chill, girl. You know, at least this will give you a chance to talk to Gohan; get yourselves back to more than a ‘just talking’ basis.”

“All right…that’ll work…hopefully. I just got to…call him and ask him.”

“Yeah.” They sat in silence for a moment.

“Erasa.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s his phone number?”

* * *

The search for the phone number was easy. Videl went back to the high school after the girls finished their sundaes, and was able to acquire Gohan’s phone number easily. She was lucky to have a rich dad since the cost for the phone call would be rather expensive, to say the least. She dialed the number and took a seat in a chair next to her bed. It rang a couple times before it picked up.

“Hello. Son residence,” a female voice said.

Son, huh? “Hi…is Gohan there?” Videl asked timidly.

“I haven’t seen him yet. Can you hold on one second, I’ll ask his younger brother.”

“Oh…um, sure.” She heard the phone being set down followed by a yell. This gave her a bit of time to ponder. Hmm…who do I know that’s a ‘Son’? The name is rather archaic. I have heard of it before though. She stopped her thought for the moment when she heard a bit of yelling occurring in the background. Videl tried to listen, but could only pick up some words, like ‘coming home’ and ‘minutes’. She suddenly heard footsteps coming closer to the phone.

“Hello?”

“Yes?”

“My son told me that Gohan should be home in a few minutes.”

“Oh, okay.” She was about to say goodbye and hang up, but Chichi took the current opportunity to find out about this caller.

“So…which girlfriend of Gohan’s is this?”

“Girlfriend? I’m sorry…but you got me mistaken. I’m just a friend of his. My name’s Videl.”

“Oh! So you’re Videl…Gohan has said so much about you.”

“He has?”

“Well, yeah. He hung out with you last week, right?”

“Yeah. But – “

“Bulma had some nice words to say about you to.”

“Bulma? As in Bulma Briefs?”

“She called me after you two left.”

“You know Bulma Briefs?”

“We’ve known her for years. Why?”

“How come Gohan didn’t tell me this?”

“I think it was some plan he had between him and Bulma. Some sort of surprise for you I believe.”

“Really? That’s cool, though I’m going to have to talk to him about it.”

“I see. So how come you’re calling?”

“Oh, I wanted to ask him if he wanted to come to a party on Saturday night.”

“Oh really?” A slight smirk formed on Chichi’s face. “Can you care to explain who will be at this party?”

“There isn’t going to be a lot of people. It’ll just be me, Gohan and two other people.”

“Will there be any alcohol there? I don’t want my son having any alcohol to drink.”

Damn, she’s tough. “Nope, I won’t be serving any alcohol,” she said, lying. My dad’s out of town, so we might as well have something there to drink. “We’re just going to sit, listen to music and get to talk about stuff.”

“That’s good. I think I’ll let him go. Should be a good learning experience for him.”

“Really? Thank you!”

“No problem dear. Do you still want to talk to him when he gets in?”

“Um…it’s all right. I’ll talk to him in school tomorrow. Can you tell him about the party though?”

“I will. Anything else dear?”

Might as well try this one. “Well…I was thinking…”

“About what?”

“Last week, when I took Gohan home, it took a good two hours to get to your house. I was wondering if, instead of taking him home, that he could stay the night on Saturday.”

“Hmm…are your other party guests going to stay the night?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Gohan can stay the night. I trust that nothing will happen between the two of you.”

“What makes you – “ She was cut off by the sound of a door opening and closing.

“Gohan! Is that you?” Chichi asked from the kitchen.

“Yeah.”

“You have someone on the phone.” She redirected her attention back to the phone. “Videl, dear, Gohan is home now. He’s coming over to talk to you.”

“Okay. Thank you.” There was a shuffle on the other end. Chichi handed the phone to Gohan.

“Hello?”

“Hey Gohan!”

“Oh, hey Videl. What’s up?”

“I was calling to invite you to a party Saturday night. Your mom is letting you come to it.”

“Really? Wow! This is so cool.”

“Yup. It’s also a slumber party, because I am not flying your butt back home that night.”

“Slumber…party?”

“Don’t worry, Gohan. It’s just a sleep over, nothing more.”

“Oh, okay. Who else is going to be there?”

“Erasa and Sharpener. They’re the only people I can stand – as well as you – in that damn school.”

“I hear you. Hey…can Shinji come too?”

“Hmm…I don’t see a problem with that. He still reminds me of someone I knew from a few years ago.”

“Okay.”

“Hey, Gohan…can you do me a favor?”

“A…favor?” Gohan gulped.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing big. For now, just act normal and don’t do anything to catch the attention of your mom.”

“Okay…”

“I kind of lied to your mom about what’s going on. It’s a sleep over, but I’m doing it because my dad and no one else are going to be there. He normally wouldn’t let me have parties, especially those where alcohol is involved.”

“Al…”

“Gohan. Be quiet.”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” he said sheepishly.

“Now…I want you to stay quiet about this. And, if you don’t want to drink, it’s fine by me. I’m sure Sharpener and Erasa will have some, and I’ll probably have a couple.”

“Shinji might too.”

“Well, all the better. Be at my house by seven, if possible, okay?”

“Okay, Videl. I’ll be there. Thanks for the invite.”

“Sure thing. I’ll see you in school tomorrow.”

“Okay. Bye Videl!” he said, hanging up. He walked into his room and closed his door. He locked it and proceeded to throw himself onto his bed. Looking up into the ceiling, Gohan began a daydream of thoughts.

I wonder if we’ll get the chance to talk during this party. She seemed like she wanted to talk to me. It’s a good thing I got Shinji coming. I’ll have someone there to back me up just incase some strange thing happens between Videl and me. He soon closed his eyes, continuing his thought. Gohan fell asleep for a couple hours, wearing a smile on his face.

* * *

“Damn it…I’m late!” yelled Gohan as he flew over Satan City.

I know what you’re thinking; that he’s probably late for school.

That’s not the case tonight. He had trouble preparing for Videl’s party, and by the time he was ready to leave – in his usual school clothes, of course – it was six fifty-five PM. He grabbed his backpack and bid his mother farewell before blasting off towards his destination: Videl’s.

Gohan decided along the way that, since he would be late, that he just take his time there. No super saiyan change, just normal flight with the white aura. He did some energy checking and found three people in the house, with a fourth person waiting outside at the gate. That must be Shinji. Damn, he’s going to give me hell.

He landed in an alley a couple of blocks away from the mansion and began a brisk walk to it. He arrived a couple of minutes later and saw Shinji leaning against the gate, impatiently tapping his foot and keeping his arms crossed over his chest.

“You’re late.”

“Shut up. You’re late too, you know.” Shinji uncrossed his arms and laughed. He took a step to Gohan, who was now standing at the gate.

“I beg to differ. I got here a half hour ago and told them that I would wait for you out here. I could tell just by your panicking energy level that you wouldn’t get here till seven thirty.”

“Hey, I was just trying to find something good to wear.”

“Yeah. Don’t worry though; it’s pretty laid back. Sharpener brought some poker cards and a case of Japan’s Finest. Erasa, by now, is on her third, and I think she’s going to be out by eight thirty.” Gohan’s jaw dropped after the Erasa comment.

“Damn.”

“Yeah. ‘Damn’. Now let’s go. I want to get some down before it’s gone.”

“Oh, right,” Gohan said, sheepishly. The two crossed the short distance from the gate to the front door. They went inside, and Gohan stood in awe at the size of the place. Two staircases lined the sides and curved up to a second floor balcony. There were doors at the bottom of each stairwell, each leading to separate living areas. A hallway extended beyond the stairs, which led to a kitchen, a dining room and another stairwell, which led to a game room. Beyond the kitchen lied one of two training areas and Hercules’ personal sitting area, complete with TV, VCR and tapes upon tapes of previous tournaments, all starring the big simian himself.

All, of which, were empty, except for the game room. Videl, Sharpener and Erasa were the room’s current occupants, soon to be joined by Gohan and Shinji.

That is, when Gohan stops looking at the size of the entrance area.

“Gohan! Stop standing there and let’s go! The other are waiting,” Shinji shouted to Gohan.

“Sorry. Lead the way.” They both went along the center hallway until they reached a door just before the kitchen. Shinji opened it and the two teens descended the stairs into the game room. The room itself was huge on its own rights. There was a pool table and a table tennis located in the front half of the room. Four couches lined the sidewalls, and several love seats were situation throughout. A bar was set up on the back wall with six stools, and two round tables occupied the remainder of the space on the second half of the room. A fridge with an open case of beer sat in front of it was located to the right of the bar, along with Sharpener, grabbing three beers. The girls sat at the table closest to the fridge, and the hanging ceiling light was the only one on in the entire room. The room, overall, could fit thirty people comfortably.

“Hey Shinji! Hey Gohan!” said the girls. Sharpener only waved. He took a seat and opened the beers.

“Hey guys,” Gohan responded. He and Shinji took seats at the table: Gohan next to Videl and Shinji between him and Sharpener. The jock passed a beer to Shinji, and then to Gohan. “Um…I don’t know about this, guys.”

“Gohan, chill. Your mom won’t know. That’s why you’re spending the night here, or did you forget that already?” Shinji said, trying to reassure the confused saiyan.

“I might as well try.” He took a sip of it and cringed at the taste. The other teens simultaneously laughed at his face.

“Dude, Gohan, that’s not how you drink,” Sharpener said.

“Yeah. You can’t sip beer. You got to let it slide down smoothly, like this,” Videl said. She took the beer in her hand and drank a small amount of it, letting the liquid slide down her throat. “See?”

Gohan nodded. He tried it like that, and found it a little better on the throat. “That’s it,” Erasa spoke up. “The only thing now is to watch what you drink. You find that you finish five beers in five minutes won’t do you so good…like my situation right now.”

“How many is that Erasa?” Videl asked.

“I think four.”

Gohan stared wide-eyed at the girl. “Four…? And you’re still okay?”

Erasa giggled. “Of course. I’m a bit buzzed, but I’ll live. I drink a lot, just to let you know.” She directed her attention back to the rest of the group. “You know, we got to take this kid with us one time to one of the teen parties around here.” Nods or ‘I agree’ resonated from the group, except from Gohan.

“I’ll pass.” He took a sip of his beer and focused on what was happening at the table. Shinji broke the short silence.

“So what’s the game?”

“Five card,” Sharpener said. “I’m dealing. Pass these chips around.” The first game was underway. The cards were dealt, five down to each of the players. The focus of this game will be on Gohan, of course, who has only played a couple games of poker in his life, none with money chips involved. He got reassured again when the girls told him that no money would be involved and it would be just for fun. Of course, loss of all chips would result in leaving the game.

Gohan picked up his hand and arranged his cards accordingly, from lowest to highest. He found himself with a deuce and three, both hearts, a seven of clubs, and a pair of tens, one heart and one diamond. All the players went around, placing early bets. Shinji went first, dropping two of his cards and picking up two more. He studied them for a second before tossing them on the table.

“Shit,” he muttered. “I’m out.”

Gohan went next. He looked through his hand and decided to drop the three and seven. Sharpener handed him two new cards. He studied them a bit before leaning back in his chair. “I’m good.”

The two girls each dropped three cards. Videl folded her hand while Erasa flashed an evil smile. Sharpener went last, discarding two of his own. He picked up two more and was satisfied.

“All right, Gohan. You got first bet. How much you putting in?” Gohan thought it over for a second. He then took two white chips and tossed it in the pile.

“Two zenni.” Erasa took two white chips, tossed them in, and tossed in three more.

“I see yours and raise it three more.” Sharpener looked at Erasa, trying to figure out her motive.

“You’re bluffing.”

“Try me,” she said slyly.

“Fine.” He grabbed five chips and played them. “I’ll play your bluff and the original two. Gohan, you still in?”

Gohan looked over his cards for a moment. Is this hand really worth three zenni? I might as well play. Erasa looks to be pulling something over there. “I’ll play your three,” he said, tossing three zenni in. He grabbed another one and tossed that in. “I’ll raise it one more.”

Erasa wasn’t diverted so easily. “I’ll see it.” Sharpener played one as well, taking the risk.

“I’ll call. What you got Erasa?” Gohan asked. Erasa looked at the two boys before looking back at her hand. She tossed her hand down, folding.

“You got me.”

“That’s what I thought,” Sharpener said. He took a swig from his beer and tossed his hand down. He had a three-of-a-kind of nines, with a high card king. “Try and beat that, Gohan.”

“I think I will,” he said happily, showing his hand.

“What the hell…three tens and a pair of deuces.” Sharpener said, staring stupidly at the full house. “Shit…you win Gohan.”

“Yes!” he shouted ecstatically. He grabbed the pile of chips from the center and added them to his own. Sharpener recollected the cards during Gohan’s glory moment and slapped the pile in front of him.

“It’s yours, Gohan. Shuffle and deal.”

The poker game went that way for over an hour. Everyone had their high moments, as well as their low moments. No one expected Gohan to do better than he did, though. He won a decent amount of games, including one where he found out another of Erasa’s bluffs and collected over forty zenni chips. Shinji was the first to bow out, losing all of his chips in about thirty minutes.

Videl went next. She had a nice winning streak but was hasty in some of her decisions, resulting in a major loss of chips. She folded her last hand at about forty minutes into the game, which left Gohan, Erasa and Sharpener. During the rest of their game, Shinji and Videl started a game of pool. Videl easily won most of the games.

The overall winner was decided just after an hour into the game. Gohan was quick to go just as the hour past. His inexperience in the game finally caught up to him at the end, and after some horrible decision making, lost the rest of his chips to Erasa. Erasa, meanwhile, lost shortly thereafter, when she attempted another bluff and nearly won it, except for the fact that Sharpener had something better than her. He played it safe there, and easily won the last hand.

“Hey guys, I’m going to make a beer call. We’re almost out,” Sharpener said. He went upstairs to make the phone call. Gohan and Erasa, meanwhile, joined Shinji and Videl at the pool table.

“Gohan, Erasa, you two want in?” Videl asked.

“Sure,” Gohan responded. Erasa, being the matchmaker that she was, decided to have fun.

“I got an idea. How bout mixed doubles?” Shinji caught on as well, giving Erasa a wink unnoticed by Gohan and Videl.

“That sounds good, Erasa,” he said flatly. “How about me and you versus Gohan and Videl?” Videl looked over to Gohan, looking slightly confused. He was only on his third beer, but with him never having a drink of alcohol before, was losing some control.

“What you think, Gohan? You want to kick some ass?” she asked.

“I guess so. I’ve never played before though.”

“Don’t worry. You just need to put that beer down and I’ll tell you what to hit, that’s all.”

“Sounds good to me, Videl.” The game began quite innocently. It was a regular game of eight ball, with Videl providing the break. She knocked down the seven, giving her and Gohan solids. She quickly analyzed the situation.

“All right Gohan. I want you to hit this six ball into that corner pocket. It’s the easiest shot you got.” Gohan went to the table and saw his shot. He walked around a bit and then took his stance. It was a bit awkward, to say the least. “Hey Gohan, I think it would be easier if you did this,” Videl said, walking up behind Gohan and correcting his hands so that it would be easier to shoot.

Of course, it was more milk for the batter for Shinji and Erasa.

“Give them till the end of the night,” Shinji whispered to the blonde.

“End of the night? I’m surprised that they haven’t gotten on the table yet!”

“Nah. Gohan would have to sober up a bit. Right now he’s just a clumsy buffoon.”

“So true. But look at them now!”

“I see. Chances are though, Gohan doesn’t know what’s happening.” He was right. Gohan was a little on the ‘no clue’ side of things. His expression shown otherwise, since he was blushing madly with Videl up against his back. She got off soon enough though, which brought him some relief.

“Okay Gohan. Go ahead and shoot now.” He looked back at the table, seeing his hands and body in a good position. He lined up the shot and took some pullbacks. Satisfied, he shot the ball, ever wary of his power, and knocked the six ball into the corner pocket. The cue ball bounced away harmlessly.

“Wow…” he said, awestruck.

It went this way for a while. Videl and Gohan won a most of the games, with the girl doing most of the hard work, while Erasa won the remainder of the games with Shinji. Sharpener returned downstairs at about nine-twenty with a couple of six-packs and placed them into the fridge. Gohan, by then, was drunk. He was the only one drunk there, and was forced to take a seat. Shinji took a seat next to him and watched as the girls teamed up against Sharpener.

“How’s it going?” Shinji started.

“Bad,” Gohan said lazily. Shinji could only laugh.

“I hear you. How many have you had?”

“Um…four or five.”

“Four or five in an hour an a half. Did you eat anything before you came here?”

“Only…dinner.”

“Damn…might as well be that first time drunkenness thing.”

“Yeah…how come your…not drunk?”

“I drink a lot with Krillin and Roshi. Eighteen doesn’t mind, though she prefer that Marron doesn’t see it.”

“I…see.”

“You’re not doing so good, huh?”

“Nope,” Gohan said, implanted in the chair, starting to look around the place. Shinji stood up and started towards the pool table. “Where you going?”

“To get Videl. I’m going to have her move you upstairs to relax a bit,” he said over his shoulder. Gohan watched as Shinji made his way to the pool table. He saw look up for a moment when Shinji arrived. Even with his hearing, he couldn’t make out what was being said.

“Hey Videl,” Shinji said, arriving at the table. The girl looked up and saw a bit of worry on his face.

“What is it?”

“It’s Gohan. He’s not doing too good.” He pointed to where Gohan was on the couch and saw him swaying ever so slightly from right to left.

“Damn it. I got to get him upstairs.” She was about to go over when she felt a hand on her arm. It was Shinji’s. “What?” He got in close so that he could whisper in her ear.

“He’s pretty drunk. If you plan on doing any talking to him about you know what, I would wait till he’s sober or in the morning.” Videl looked at him, seeing a serious intent on his face.

“What do you – “ Shinji cut her off.

“We talked a couple of days ago about what happened. He needed to get something off of his chest and he did so. Don’t worry, the secret is safe with me.”

“All right. I’m going to talk to you once I get back down here though.” Shinji wasn’t worried at all.

“Very well. Um…you going to need any help with him?” They both looked at Gohan, who appeared to be doing the same exact thing as before.

“Nah. I can handle him. Thanks, though.” She walked away from the table, over to Gohan. He was looking on the ground, still swaying slightly from left to right. He looked up when a shadow appeared over him, seeing that it was Videl, with her hands on her hips. She had a silly smirk on her face, which showed her amusement of the situation.

“Hi Videl…I am drunk.”

“I can see that silly.”

“You came to talk to me about something?” Videl laughed it off, already knowing that the two had something to discuss. She was surprised that he was able to remember something like that so easily.

“Not now Gohan. I’m going to take you upstairs so you can relax some. Now come on.” She extended her hand to him, which he gladly accepted. She pulled him up and placed herself under his left shoulder. She threw her arm across his back to steady him, and then they went off to the second floor. Videl was surprised that Gohan was able to walk most of the stairs steadily. He fumbled his footing a couple of times, but overall did an impressive job for a first time drunk. Along the way they picked up Gohan’s bag.

Videl led Gohan to a room on the second floor next to hers. She opened the door and led him to the bed. He sat on it and watched as Videl placed his bag on a chair. She opened it and grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she told him. “I figure you would want to get into something more relaxing. You must be hot in those clothes right now.”

“Yeah. I am kind of hot.” He started undoing his vest. Videl took his shirt and walked around to the other side of the bed. She hopped on it just as he got rid of the vest.

“Lift up your arms,” she commanded.

“Why?” he asked, confused.

“I’m going to change your shirt for you. Now arms up!” Gohan raised his arms. He could have changed his own shirt if he wanted to. It was too late for that now. Videl pulled up on the sleeves and stuck his head into his shirt. She pulled it completely off and was in complete shock. She saw an incredibly muscular back, completely free of all fat. It wasn’t bulky, but lean. She got lost in it, and after a while Gohan turned around and waved a hand in her face.

“Earth to Videl. Earth to Videl. You in there?” She was snapped out of her thoughts only to go back into them when she saw the front of Gohan. All of it was well developed lean muscle – no bulk whatsoever. How the hell did he get like this?

“Gohan…” She couldn’t think.

“Yes…Videl?” She finally looked up to his face, one of wonder and confusion.

“How did you…get to be like this?” He looked down to see what she was talking about. He blushed madly.

“Oh…that! Just…working out and stuff. It’s good to keep in shape, you know.”

“That’s true.” She turned and grabbed his shirt. She got on her knees and walked to the edge of the bed, seeing Gohan was off now. He stuck his arms forward, and Videl went to work, placing the shirt through them and over his head. It floated down over his waist, conveniently hiding his tail, which, through that whole sequence, she didn’t see. She turned back around and grabbed his shorts. “The bathroom is over there,” she said, pointing behind the bed to a door. Gohan walked over to the door, grabbing his shorts along the way, and stumbled slightly into the bathroom.

Videl was screaming inside her head. Holy shit! He looked incredible! If it weren’t for his drunkenness I would be all over him right now! Can’t let Erasa know…can’t let Erasa know…Damn, and I still have to talk to him too. Shinji said that Gohan wanted to talk to me. Talk to me about what though? It had to be about last week. Damn me and my unwanted desires. Damn! Damn! Damn! Hopefully he’ll sober up in a couple of hours so we can talk. I stay up here with him and make sure he’s all right. Where’s that remote? We’ll just watch TV. Yes. TV. I still have to talk to Shinji though. Hmm…those guys are bound to be up till two in the morning or something. What time is it now…nine-forty? Damn. I wonder what’s taking Gohan so long.

She rolled off of the bed and walked towards the bathroom. “Gohan?” she asked, knocking on the door.

“Yeah, Videl?”

“What’s taking so long?”

“I had to use the bathroom. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry. You’re staying in this room for the night. Just make sure you don’t piss all over the place.” She got no response. “Gohan?”

“Um…erm…oh shit.”

“What?”

“I…um…missed the toilet a couple of times.” Videl sighed. She didn’t want to put up with this all night, but if that were what it came down to, then she would have to give in.

“Just wipe it up then. Don’t overdo the toilet paper though. I don’t want the damn thing clogged up.”

“Okay!” She waited a minute. Finally, the toilet flushed and the sink went on and off. The door opened a few seconds later with Gohan standing there, calm, as he’ll ever be.

“Hi,” he simply said.

“Hey,” Videl responded.

“You got the TV on. Got any movies up here?”

“Let me see…” She walked over to the cabinet under the TV. She looked through it and picked out something that would intentionally get Videl next to Gohan. “How bout this scary thriller?”

“That looks good. Pop it in,” he said, hopping onto the bed, kicking his feet out in front of him. Videl joined him on the bed as soon as she put in the tape and pressed ‘play’. The tape was mislabeled, though, and ended up playing one of the many Godzilla films.

“Damn it,” Videl muttered. She got up to change it but Gohan grabbed her arm.

“Don’t worry. Just leave it in there.”

“Okay.” He let go of her. She went over to the watch and hit the light switch, then went back to the bed.

The movie played for a while. The pair watched it half intently, as they were amused by a lot of the cheesy effects and the panicking towns folk running around in circles away from the big green lizard. It was ten thirty when one of them finally spoke.

“You still drunk?” Videl asked.

“A little. I’m feeling a bit better now. How bout you?”

“I was barely buzzed. Nothing too big.”

“That’s cool.” A passing silence went by, as they continued to stare at the TV. Gohan ended that silence. “Videl…”

“Yeah, Gohan?”

“I want to ask you something…about last week.” Videl looked over to Gohan, who continued to look ahead.

“Gohan…I am really sorry about that. I didn’t know what came over me then and I don’t want that to happen to me again anytime soon.”

“Okay. I got really scared, you know.”

“I know.” She paused for a moment. “I told Erasa.”

“Really? I told Shinji.”

“What he say?” He paused for a few seconds. He was trying to formulate words into sentences. His success was limited.

“Well…I wanted to…he suggested that…um…”

“Gohan!” Her patience was wearing thin.

“Right. I wanted to say that if we do anything, that we take it slow.” He paused.

“Go on.”

“I’m perfectly happy with being friends. I hope that you are too. My mom sent to school to learn about these things, since I had no experience whatsoever with communication with people my age. That thing last Saturday, never dreamt of it happening to me.” Gohan tilted his head down. Videl noticed this and ran her hand to his chin. She lifted it slightly and met his eyes.

“Gohan…you intrigue me somehow, you know? It’s strange…this feeling I get from you. Still…I am happy with being friends with you.” She looked down herself, laughing a bit. “I got this ideal with myself that I’m perfectly happy being alone, and that I don’t need anyone.” She looked back up to him, meeting his eyes yet again. “We’ll take it slow, though, and see where things go. Besides, I missed talking to you like we once did.” Gohan smiled, completely happy with what he was hearing.

“You know, we got to stop those silly rumors about us.”

“So you know about them?” He nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it. You just continue being your naïve self and everything will be all right.”

“I’m not naïve!” he said, blushing.

“Shut up Gohan.” She got up off of the bed and started towards the door. “You suck at lying, by the way. Now get some rest. I’ll wake you up in the morning.”

“Night Videl.”

“Night Gohan.” She opened the door and went out.

“Hey Videl?” Gohan yelled. Videl turned around, peaking her head through the door.

“Yeah?”

“I never got the chance to tell you, but…thank you. Thank you for being a friend.” She couldn’t help but smile.

“Your welcome. Night.” She closed the door, leaving Gohan happy and content. He pulled the covers up over himself and laid back against his pillow, watching the rest of the movie. Towards the end of it he falls asleep and dreams thoroughly happy dreams.

It would come soon that those dreams turned into a horrible nightmare.

* * *

In a blink of an eye, an entire week passed. Gohan himself couldn’t believe how fast time had passed. Although he and Videl made up back at the party, their own relationship had not progressed. They talked a great deal more than they had during the previous week, though. Gohan was completely oblivious to the rumors that were occurring about them, and somehow the close encounter that happened between the pair back at Capsule Corp had spread throughout certain parts of the school. Videl blamed Erasa’s loud mouth for that one. Still, she manage to go to all of the offending high school clubs about this and gave them a piece of her mind.

Gohan…remained completely oblivious.

During the week Gohan and Shinji began their case into finding out about Gendo. They found out that he was nineteen, which seemed believable enough. Of course, there had to be something that made the brute so massive. Other than that, they got nothing. They constantly scanned for some sort of energy signature, and all that was there was a deep blackness of energy, yet nothing on the surface. They last thing they noticed was a rather odd object that he had out during certain times, mostly during lunch. Gohan managed one good look at it and saw it to be a rather strange object. It was circular in design, with several point spears coming out of what appeared to be the top. There were five in all, the middle one being the longest. The inner part was black with a center dial. That was all Gohan managed to see before Gendo snatched it away. He stared at the young saiyan for a few moments before grunting and returning to him lunch.

It was Monday after school during the second full week of October. Gohan, Videl, Sharpener and Erasa all agreed to go to the ice cream parlor. Shinji was invited to go, but said that he had other agendas to attend to. They all waited till most of the student body left before they went outside. After about fifteen minutes, they exited the school and made their way to Sharpener’s truck. They crossed the lawn into the parking lot, when they were stopped.

“Gohan!” said a deep, angry voice from behind the group. All four turned to see Gendo crossing the grass to where they were. He stopped directly in front of Gohan and looked down at him.

“Yes?” Gohan asked. He showed no signs of worry as the huge teenager stood there. Gendo’s lips curled up and flashed his teeth. He suddenly grabbed Gohan by his vest and pulled him up six inches to meet him eye to eye.

“You’re mine,” he simply said. He let his left hand drop off of the vest and took a step back. He twisted his hips and launched Gohan into the side of the school, creating a hole nearly ten feet in diameter, and leaving the saiyan teen buried in a pile of rubble.

“GOHAN!” Videl screamed out. She looked on, completely shocked. Sharpener stared on, shocked as well, and Erasa was screaming, clutching Sharpener by his arm and staying behind him. Videl continued her rage. “You – you monster! How could you do that to Gohan?! How could you?!” She paused for a moment. She heard the hideous sound of laughter coming from in front of her. It was Gendo, and he slowly turned back around, head titled to the side with the most evil grin imaginable.

“What you going to do about it, little girl?” Videl had inched back some, along with Sharpener and Erasa, when Gendo turned around. Erasa stopped her screaming now that she was out of breath. Sharpener reached into his pocket and took out his truck keys.

“Erasa…get out of here,” he whispered. “Whatever happens happens. I want you to go and don’t turn around. Videl and I will try to stop him and save Gohan.”

“But Sharpener!” Videl butted in.

“Erasa! Go, now!” With that, the blonde teen turned in full sprint towards the truck. Videl and Sharpener looked her off briefly before turning back to Gendo. “Sharpener…be careful. I got a bad feeling with this guy.” She dropped herself into her traditional fighting stance, ready to take on the beast.

“Right,” Sharpener simply said, dropping himself into his own stance. He was strong on his own right, almost as strong as Videl, but even he couldn’t beat the daughter of Hercule. They had proven that before in several controlled fights. Now wasn’t the time to worry though.

“You’re going down, bastard!” Videl yelled as she charged forward. She jumped up and forward, the knife-edge of her foot taking the lead, aiming straight for his gut. She never reached it, as Gendo threw his arm forward and caught her leg, raising her up with her feet up and her head down.

“Videl!” Sharpener cried out. He launched into his own attack, but Gendo was prepared, and with his free hand swatted away Sharpener like a buzzing fly. He landed nearly thirty feet away, barely conscious.

Back in the school, Gohan managed to shift off some of the wall that landed on him. He struggled to sit up, but when he did, he saw the horrible situation developing before his eyes. He tried to pull himself completely out, but couldn’t, as his legs were wedged completely underneath the remaining rubble.

This is going to take some time…something I don’t have. He began work, and then remembered something. It would be his time saver.

“SHINJI!”

* * *

Shinji was flying slowly back to the Kame House. He reached the outskirts of the city when he felt a drastic surge of energy, followed by a quick drop. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face the city. He searched throughout the city, trying to find the energy source. He suddenly felt a second one, one significantly weaker than the first, rise and then nearly drop out completely.

Something’s wrong he though. He started back into the city when the phone rang.

“SHINJI!”

“Ah shit!” he cried out, clutching his head. “What? I hate when you do this!”

“Shinji! Thank Kami! Quick, get back to the high school at once!”

“What for?”

“It’s Gendo! He’s gone nuts! Sharpeners unconscious and Videl is in trouble. I’m stuck in the high school right now! Get here now!”

“Shit! All right! I’m coming, I’m coming!” He severed the connection and quickly powered up, creating a white aura over him. He blasted off in the direction of the school, with shades and baseball cap all ready for action.

* * *

Videl remained in her current predicament. She was hanging upside down, being held by the sadistic Gendo with Gohan possibly dead and Sharpener out for the count. Her loose T-shirt was falling down, and she decided to abandon it overall, letting it slide off her arms and head, leaving her with only her sports bra and shorts. Gendo pulled her up until her face met with his. His smile turned into a frown when he brought her up.

“So beautiful…so young. Why is it that you attack me when you have no chance of winning?”

“What?” she asked, half confused. “What do you mean? I am the daughter of Hercule, goddamn it! I can defeat you if I wanted to! Put me down this instant!” she screamed. It didn’t seem to faze him. He continued to look on with a perplexed look in his eyes. He knew how strong this girl was. She was nothing compared to Gohan, though, and yet, he easily disposed of him.

“Very well.” He placed his hand holding Videl straight out in front of him. He cocked back his other hand, clenching his fist tightly. Videl looked up to where his hand was going. She didn’t have time to prepare herself. She was ready to throw a kick, but he let go of her leg, letting her drop ever so slightly before sending his fist right in her stomach. The blow sent her flying, landing almost forty feet away.

She was still conscious, clutching her stomach while lying curled up on the ground. “Ack!” she let out. She couldn’t talk because of the pain. Her wind left her and all that she could spit out was blood. Videl looked up and saw Gendo move slowly towards her. She couldn’t tell how far away he was. Her vision became blurred and the sounds around her were becoming lower. She was close to passing out when she heard a voice cry out from the sky.

Gendo, obviously, heard it too, and he as he looked up, he stared straight into a massive energy ball flying straight into him. It impacted his body and sent him flying a short distance. He skidded to a stop several feet away, smoking from the attack.

Shinji floated down to where Gendo once stood, surveying his deed. “Hah! That’ll teach you for the time being.” He looked around and quickly analyzed the situation. He saw Sharpener, breathing slightly. He turned to his left and saw Videl, struggling to get up. He ran over to her.

“Videl! Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’ve…seen…better days,” she managed to say. She cocked her head around. “Where’s…Gendo?”

“He’s out for now. I don’t think what I did was enough to stop him. You better stay put for now.” He looked back to Gendo and saw that he was already getting to his knees. Damn! I expected him to stay out sooner. Gohan had better hurry.

Keeping Gendo in the corner of his eye, Shinji looked over to the school to see Gohan tossing the last pieces of wall off of himself. Breathing a sigh of relief, he directed his full attention back to Gendo, who was back on his feet. He watched him intently as the beast, with his back to Shinji, dusted himself off. He turned his head slightly, seeing Shinji in his peripheral vision.

“You know something…that actually hurt,” he snorted out.

“Good. Cause that’s only a taste of what you’re getting, shit head!” He launched into an attack, throwing himself forward. He threw a punch, only for it to be met by Gendo’s waiting hand. Shinji tried to pull it away, but couldn’t. The grip on his fist was too strong.

“What’s this taste I was expecting?” Gendo asked the struggling teen. Shinji looked up at the brute through his glasses. He smirked ever so slightly, catching Gendo’s attention and distracting him for a quick second.

“This!” Shinji yelled, touching his right foot to the ground. He hopped up off of it and threw his foot under Gendo’s chin, sending him back a few steps and releasing his grip on Shinji’s hand. He took the opportunity and hopped back a few feet, bringing his arms to his sides. He didn’t bother to wait for Gendo to recover, as he stepped forward and thrust his hands out.

“HYPER BALL…HAAA!” he cried out. Energy quickly flowed through his hands and delivered an energy ball twice the size of his hands straight into Gendo. He, unfortunately, recovered at that time and met the energy ball full force, impacting his chest and exploding, causing debris and smoke to filter in the air around him.

Shinji waited there for what felt like an eternity, watching and waiting for the smoke to clear. He was panting slightly, as he just used his most powerful weapon, one he developed with help from Krillin. He cautiously took a step backwards and prepped himself for any type of attack that might come his way. Krillin told him that villains had a knack of not dying from his and several other people’s best attacks, and waited themselves until the smoke cleared.

He wouldn’t get that chance.

As the smoke continued to rise, laughter could be heard emanating from its murky darkness. Shinji took another step back and deepened his stance a bit more, now feeling a bit scared that his best attack didn’t work. A footstep was heard from the smoke, followed by another one, and soon Gendo was out of it completely, barely a scratch on him. He lost most of his shirt, but that was the extent of the damage. He was still laughing as he took another step forward. Shinji froze from there, unable to move as the giant took another step closer.

“My turn now,” he said. Shinji’s eyes widened in shock, but it was too late. Gendo’s fist already implanted itself into his stomach, and he hunched over, spiting out saliva mixed with a hint of blood. Gendo retracted his hand and brought his opposite hand back. He landed a hook right in Shinji’s temple, destroying his glasses and sending the teen flying. He impacted the ground a few feet in front of Videl.

The girl crawled the few short feet to check on the fallen hero. She pulled on him till his back was on the ground. She looked at his face and saw the broken mess. The right side of his face was completely covered with blood. The dark glasses he wore were shattered, and a huge piece penetrated his eye. A welt formed along his temple and several scratches formed along his forehead and cheek.

“Are you all right?” Videl asked. Shinji remained still for a moment before acknowledging her. He looked up at her with his good eye and smiled.

“No. I’m completely wasted. Hold on.” He reached up to his right eye and found the piece lodged in it. It touched it and flinched. “Shit. That isn’t good.”

“What you going to do?” she asked him. She pulled him up to her lap now, giving him some leverage. He carefully took the piece of lens into his fingers and pulled it out. He immediately closed his eye, now unable to use it. Videl finally recognized who the person was. “Wait a second…Shinji?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah it’s me. Where’s Gendo?” She looked up in front of them and saw him standing about thirty feet away. He was looking at the broken pair of teens on the ground.

“He’s in front of us, doing nothing. Shinji, what’s going on?” she said, panicking slightly. Shinji looked up with his good eye and surveyed the scene in front of him. In the distance, he saw Gohan, now as super saiyan, walking slowly across the lawn removing his vest, and then his shirt.

“Help’s arrived,” he mumbled. Suddenly, Gendo raised his right hand up and stuck it in front of him. A low hum was heard escaping his lips as energy began crackling around him. It shot from the ground and ran along the length of his legs and up to his arms. A ball of energy soon formed, and quickly increased in size.

“Time to die,” Gendo said. The ball he formed was the size of his hand. With a quick yell, he released it, sending it towards Videl and Shinji.

Behind him, Gohan was in panic. He saw the ball being formed and went into a full sprint, quickly crossing the lawn. The ball was fired before he got there, and he froze. No! I’m too late! Unless… He continued across the lawn running faster than before. With no time to spare, he placed two of his fingers to his head and tried his last hope.

“INSTANT TRANSMISSION!” he yelled. He disappeared, only to reappeared in front of Videl and Shinji. “Stay down!” he commanded, and turned around. He quickly stuck his hands out and erected an energy shield just as the ball reached him, exploding on impact and blowing smoke and debris all over the parking lot.

The time seemed to pass slowly now. Gendo noticed that, and wondered if anyone survived his attack. The smoke moved rather slowly, making the wait antagonizing. He looked to his right and saw the boy hit flicked away earlier. Sharpener, he recalled. The boy remained unconscious, with only some movement in his chest. It didn’t matter though if he stayed like that or waked up. The jock was no match for him. The girl was no match for him. The kid with the sunglasses was no match for him. The last person that showed up…he was waiting for. He had heard the strange boy yell something inaudible and watched him appear in front of his targets right before the energy ball hit.

Gendo returned his gaze back to the smoke and waited. It had begun to thin some, and from the center of it came a low hum. Someone had survived, but how? The brute questioned himself over and over, thinking of ways in which someone can survive an attack like that. He got his answer shortly, as when the smoke thinned out some more, a shadow appeared of a young man, with his back leg extended, his front leg out bent and both hands pushed out in front of him. The smoke cleared more, and he saw the two individuals he intended that attack for still on the ground, but in the same position that they were in before. Gendo kept his ground, though. He waited to see what his eyes wouldn’t believe.

He got his shock once the smoke completely dissipated a few minutes later. An energy shield was erected, stretching out at least five feet away from the man in each direction. The two teens behind him were still alive, on a patch of asphalt that wasn’t affected. The same wasn’t said for the black top behind them. At least twenty feet of ground was shredded off about five or six inches deep. Gendo looked back to the boy holding the energy barrier. He looked slightly bruised, but seemed physically all right. He was panting rather heavily, something that made him smile.

Gohan dropped the barrier and stood straight up. He wasn’t in terribly good shape. He wasn’t prepared for the earlier strike against him, and he only had time to go level one before jumping to the rescue. He was at half power, and with only that much, couldn’t possibly power up to level two.

He got into a staring match with Gendo, looking him straight in his dark, evil eyes. The beast carefully licked his lips, tasting the sweetness of his victory thus far. Gohan backed up some, but not to gather distance from Gendo. He went to where his friends were, to check on their situation.

“How are you guys?” he asked. Videl looked up at him, still trying to catch her breath.

“I’m fine. He hit me real good though. Shinji took it hard though. His right eye is useless.” Gohan looked down at him and saw the mess that his blonde friend was in. Blood covered half his face.

“Hey buddy.”

“Hey G-man. You get him yet?”

“Not yet. I think he’s waiting for me.” Videl checked over his shoulder and found Gendo, standing motionless, awaiting Gohan, the Gold Fighter. He looked up to see Videl, without her shirt, and quickly pushed away any rude thoughts for now.

“Videl, where is your shirt?” he asked. Videl looked down and then looked back up, rather pissed off.

“I lost it fighting him.”

“Darn. I got nothing to help you with Shinji. I sense someone on the way though. You’ll be all right then.”

“Good. Go get him, guy.” Gohan responded with a nod and stood up. He turned around and resumed his staring match with Gendo. Determined, he walked forward, covering the ground on his own between himself and the muscled freak. Along the way, he let is tail unwind, letting it s-curve behind him. He stopped until he was right in front of him. He looked up and looked straight into Gendo’s eyes.

“You hurt my friends,” he said, anger all over his voice.

“So what? I hurt them, and I’ll hurt you next.”

“Try it then.”

“With pleasure,” Gendo said, and he swung a wild haymaker at Gohan. He dodged the attack nimbly, and did the same with the next punch. He did a back flip and sprung forward, landing a knee into the brute’s gut. The forced doubled the large man over, and Gohan flew around and dropped an elbow on his next, slamming Gendo into the ground. He hopped back, awaiting Gendo’s movement.

The large man was slow to his feet, using only one hand to push himself up. His other went to his stomach, still grimacing with pain. He went to his knees before standing erect. Gohan stood motionless, deep in a perfect fighting stance, ready to strike. Gendo let out a roar, gathering energy and kicking dust and debris around, before springing into an attack. He threw a punch aimed for Gohan’s head, which he again dodged gracefully. Gendo turned in midair, however, and landed his foot in the saiyan’s temple, knocking him to the ground.

Gohan landed on his back, but quickly did a kip up, arching his legs over his head and using his hands to push off the ground. He landed on his feet, and met Gendo’s next assault, a massive fury of punches. The young super saiyan easily dodged most of the attacks, ducking and weaving his head around and using his palms to block. Gendo ended his punches and attempted a bear hug next. Gohan used his hands and stopped his, locking up with each other in a classic shoving match, Gendo shoving down while Gohan pushed up.

The pushing match went for almost a minute, as neither combatant gained any ground. Both were powering up, trying to gain the advantage. Gohan, with half his power, couldn’t move Gendo, who was at nearly his full power. The brute, meanwhile, couldn’t move the young saiyan himself. As their power ups continued, energy sparked all around them. The asphalt beneath their feet gave way, and the immediate area of black top around them began to crack.

Gohan’s gold aura sparked, giving him the slight advantage. He pushed up on Gendo, and then let go. He slid back and watch Gendo fall forward, losing his balance. Gohan slammed a punch into his opponents face, rocking his head back, and followed it with another punch, this time the other way, and sent Gendo to the ground. Gohan went down and picked up Gendo, and then rammed another punch into his body. He hopped back and kicked him in the face, knocking the brute down yet again.

The young saiyan kept his ground this time, waiting Gendo’s next move. The massive man was twitching some, first his fingers, and then throughout the rest of his body. He got up slowly, checking himself for damage. He finally stood erect and turned to meet Gohan, standing his ground and catching a much-deserved breath. Gendo cracked his neck to one side, and then to the other.

“Nice hit kid. I felt that one. It won’t be enough to defeat me though.” Gohan let a smirk crawl on his face.

“I know. I figure I’d teach you a lesson first before the real hurting began.” Gendo also smirked, but then his expression turned deadly. Before Gohan knew it, he was sent flying, nailed with a quick, charging shoulder by Gendo, and flew straight into a van. The brute landed, and then sent an energy ball into the van, effectively blowing it up.

“NO!” Videl screamed, witnessing the whole thing. She was scared, seeing as how now the same person killed two of her friends, one real close and the other being her random superhero buddy, in the same day. She started sobbing, hunching down over Shinji, who looked on with a heavy shock. He knew Gohan wasn’t dead before, but now he couldn’t feel anything from the van. He hung his head in defeat until he felt an energy surge coming from the van.

Gendo was standing where he was, laughing his head off. He was completely ecstatic; now killing off the strongest opponent he had faced yet. Or so he thought. His laughter ended when he felt a rumble. The rumble was at first gradual, but it quickly increased in intensity, and he soon realized where it came from.

The van.

No sooner than he began to move, the fiery frame of the van exploded, sending metal debris in all directions. Shinji and Videl were lucky that nothing had hit them. Gendo was lucky as well, covering his face to prevent any shards of metal into his eyes. He wasn’t quite so lucky when he dropped his guard. He looked ahead and saw what he couldn’t believe.

Gohan was standing a few feet in front of the smoking pile. His left shoulder slumped some and blood marks covered various parts of his body. His knees were bent slightly, struggling to keep him up. Still, he held his ground. He tossed his arms out to the sides and clenched his fists. Gohan arched back and screamed, creating a new golden aura around him. He reset himself to what he looked like before, and prepared for the next round.

He didn’t need to fight on, though, as a new face arrived, one that Gendo didn’t know of until it hit him.

“SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!” yelled the new comer. An energy attack consisting of a straight wave and a spiral wave hit Gendo, knocking him back to the ground. He groggily got up and saw the new face land in front of him. A green-faced fellow with a white cape and turban arrived, awaiting the call to battle. Gendo looked him and saw his original opponent, Gohan, limp slightly behind the green man.

“What took you?” Gohan asked his former mentor.

“Be quiet. Don’t concern yourself with that right now. We still have a fight on our hands.” Gendo wasn’t going to have any of it though. He was still rather strong, but with the golden fighter back in the fight and a new player joining the game, a retreat was the call of the day.

“You may have won today, gold boy. But I’ll be back. You won’t know when I’ll come or when I’ll strike. But when I do, you will live to regret what happens.” He created a white aura around him, and then blasted off into the sky, flying into the horizon, escaping the battle scene.

Everything was quiet now. The parking lot was nearly destroyed, and the school sustained damage as well. Besides the hole that Gohan originally made, numerous cracks lined the walls from the enormous amount of energy given off. The only sound that was heard was the whistle of the wind, and Gohan’s golden aura, which is the only thing keeping him up at this current time.

“Piccolo. I need a senzu bean. You have any?” Piccolo turned to his former student when he was sure Gendo was finally gone. He reached to his side and pulled out a bag.

“It was a good thing I stopped by Korrin’s when I did. I got just enough for all of you.” He flicked a bean to Gohan, which he promptly put down his throat. A few seconds later, Gohan’s wounds were gone. The bruises on his chest and arms disappeared and his shoulder slump and leg limp were repaired as well. He dropped his aura, not needing it to sustain or gather any more energy.

“Good.” He looked over to Shinji and Videl. Both hadn’t moved from their spot. They had looked up when they saw nothing happening. “Piccolo, I’m going to need three more beans.”

“Right,” he said, pulling out three beans. He placed them in Gohan’s hand.

“One more thing.”

“What?”

“Watch what you say for the next few minutes. The girl over there, Videl, doesn’t know it’s me. She just knows me as the ‘Gold Fighter’ or something. The guy over there, Sharpener, doesn’t know as well, but I’m going to wait to give this to him till after we leave.”

Piccolo nodded. “I understand.”

“Wait here, I’ll be a couple of minutes.” With that, he walked over to Shinji and Videl. He stopped for a moment and looked around. Underneath a pile of asphalt, a white fabric stuck out. He pulled it out, and resumed his walk. Gohan saw that the shirt was primarily intact, with just a few holes scattered on it. He stopped in front of Shinji and knelt down.

“Hey…G-man.”

“Does she know?” Gohan asked. He looked up at Videl, a bit confused at the question. Shinji answered though.

“She’s knows…about me.” Gohan sighed.

“All right Shinji.” He looked up to Videl. “I’m going to need to talk to you in a moment.” Videl simply nodded. He looked back down to Shinji and grabbed his hand. “Here, take this.”

“What is it?”

“Senzu bean. Ever hear about it?”

“Hell’s yeah. Sensei gets them…all the time, back during the early days.” He slowly moved his hand to his mouth and stuck the bean in. He chewed slowly and swallowed. A few moments later, the cuts and welts on his faces healed up, and his damaged eye was restored. He closed his good eye, then opened up both eyes, able to see clearly again.

Videl looked on in shock. She couldn’t believe that a simple bean could restore a person back to full health. She looked up at the Gold Fighter and saw that a bean probably restored him too, after what she saw happen to him earlier. She felt a weight move off of her lap as Shinji was being helped up. Videl looked up and saw the Gold Fighter kneel down in front of her.

“How…does that work?” she asked.

Gohan laughed. “I don’t know the physics of the bean, but I do know that it works to a charm. How you feeling?”

She scanned herself and still felt some pain within her. “I got a monster bruise, and I think a rib is broken.”

Gohan smiled. He stuck out his hand. “That’s more than enough reason for this. Take it, and give the other one to Sharpener.”

“Okay.” She popped the bean down, and like the other two before, she felt much better after a few moments. Gohan extended a hand, which she easily took. He pulled her up, but noticed the immediate change in her expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Gohan. Over there in the rubble…I think he might be dead.” He totally forgot about that. Gohan cycled through random lies, knowing that it would be the death of him, but needed one anyway. He couldn’t just say that he was here, in front of her, in disguise. Piccolo noted the duress in Gohan, and stepped up.

“While coming here I saw a teen walking away from here. He looked to be a bit on the bad side, but overall was all right. We’ll go look for him after we leave.”

“You mean…he got out?” Videl asked, turning happy. Gohan looked out in the distance, pretending to scan for, well, himself.

“He’s alive. I think he stopped for a breather.” That was all Videl could ask for. She threw herself at Gohan and hugged him tightly. Gohan was surprised at the girl’s reaction.

“Thank you. I can go smack him now for walking away from here,” she sobbed. She held him a bit longer, crying slightly on his bare chest, but for the happiness she felt at the moment. Gohan cleared his throat, causing Videl to step back, blushing slightly. “Thank you. For saving my life and Shinji’s. And Gohan’s, wherever he is right now.”

“It’s no problem. I don’t think Gendo will be back for a while.” He backed up and turned around. He saw Shinji and Piccolo waiting for him. “Videl,” he said. She walked up behind him.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t tell anyone about Shinji. He doesn’t need this now, okay?” She looked past him to Shinji.

“Okay. I’ll keep my word.”

“Good. I’ll be around, just incase Gendo decides to return. Shinji will be there too, just don’t expect him to help out all the time. We all have secret identities, and I know you would guess that he has to keep his.”

“I know. Do me a favor though.”

He turned around to face her. “Yeah?”

“Just make sure that Gohan is all right. Take him home or something. I’ll be calling him tonight, just to check on him.”

“Sure. I think my friend here has another bean. We’ll give it to him. We have to get going now though. I think it’s safe enough now that you’ll be able to get home on your own, right?” She nodded. “Good. The police are nearly here now. Talk to them and give that bean to Sharpener. He’ll need it.” He turned and lifted off into the air.

“Good bye guys!” Videl said.

“Bye Videl!” The three flew off, leaving Videl on the ground.

They were exiting the city in silence, contemplating the recent battle. Piccolo was the first to speak up.

“Gohan…when did he first show up?”

“About two weeks ago. He registered as a student, and actually got in. He was nineteen, so they allowed him in on that.

“There was something strange about him. Shinji and I spent all of last week trying to find out how powerful he was. We got nothing on him though.” Piccolo was puzzled.

“This guy…could he be an android?” he asked, going on a hunch.

“I doubt it. His voice wasn’t monotonic. He sounded like a regular person.”

“Well, you know how android’s seventeen and eighteen were.”

“True. Heck, I don’t think he noticed you arriving until you shot at him.”

“Hey guys…I don’t think he is an android,” Shinji said, jumping in. They all stopped in midair, looking at Shinji. “Well, sure. He couldn’t sense energy, and he had no energy level whatsoever. Gohan, tell Piccolo about that one thing you found that one time.”

“Oh, yeah.” He turned to Piccolo. He told him about the devise that he saw Gendo with one of the days last week. Piccolo thought it over for a few moments, deciding on what it might possibly be.

“He can’t be an android. It might be some kind of external scanner. That’ll explain why he didn’t see me coming.” The two teens nodded, and were ready to resume, but Gohan stayed for a second. “What is it, Gohan?” Piccolo asked.

“There was something strange that I noticed about him. It might explain something.” Piccolo and Shinji diverted their full attention to Gohan.

“What did you see?” Shinji asked.

“On his forehead, there was a marking. It was hard to make out, but it was black, and it looked like it was branded on someway. It wasn’t a sticker or anything.”

“You know what,” Shinji said. “It might be the reason why he wore that bandana.”

“Could be. We have to be on guard though. He gave me some kind of warning, and I do think he will act on it. When it’ll be…I’m not sure…”

* * *

“All right Chief. That’s all I know. See you around.”

Back at the high school, Videl finished giving her report. The chief wasn’t totally satisfied with what she said, but was glad that no one was killed, and the fact that her mystery partner, the Gold Fighter, saved the day yet again. She went back over to Sharpener, who recovered just as the police arrived with the help of the senzu bean.

“You still want to get some ice cream?” he asked.

“Not now. I need to get home. I have to see if Gohan is all right.”

“You like the kid, don’t you?” Videl blushed slightly. She decided to come out with the truth…some of it.

“I like him. I never told you what we talked about back at the party.”

“What happened?”

“We…kind of decided to take it slow. To become better friends, in a way.”

“Because of what happened at Capsule Corp?” Videl gave him a strange eye.

“Because of Capsule Corp…yeah. I’m worried about him though. He’s a good kid. He didn’t deserve to let what happened happen today. He’s the nicest freaking kid around…and some muscled freak throws him into the school!”

“Whoa! Calm down Videl,” Sharpener said, placing his hands on her shoulders. “We’ll get him back, don’t worry.”

“Sharpener…we were powerless to stop him. We won’t get a next time if we face him again.”

“Videl…don’t worry. Let’s just go home now. I got to find a phone though. Erasa has my truck, and she really did leave. I didn’t expect her to.”

“Let’s go into the school.” They both walked in the general direction of the school. As they crossed the lawn they saw the hole in the wall that was made by Gohan.

“How could anyone survive that?” Sharpener asked. Videl looked at the hole in the same shock as Sharpener. She diverted her eyes from it, not wanting to see it anymore. She ended up resting her eyes on what appeared to be two articles of clothing.

“Sharpener…what was Gohan wearing today?”

“He was wearing that corny vest he always wears, why?” Videl stood up and turned around.

“What reason does he have for leaving this here?” she said, holding up the blue vest, slightly torn. Sharpener inspected it, but couldn’t figure an answer. He just shrugged his shoulders. Videl looked at it again, as well as the white shirt. Something popped in her head.

“Unless…”

* * *

Shinji’s main attack is rather simple. Arm’s to side, about hip height, then thrust forward with hands cupped, fingers curled at the sides. It’s kind of like Vegeta’s Final Flash, but then again, it isn’t. Shinji isn’t strong enough to fire something that powerful.

Next chapter: School is closed two weeks for repairs, giving Videl opportune time to learn more about Gohan. Meanwhile, Gohan questions his own ability to defend others. In the end, the two of them come to rather startling revelations about themselves…and possibly each other.