Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Guardian Might ❯ Hide and Seek ( Chapter 6 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: LaurenaGarret 
The game of hide and seek the Dragon Balls had not originally been a part of the schedule that he and Trixx were adhering to.
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Martial Arts / Thriller / Action / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.25.2015 | Pages: 8 | Words: 4.8K | Visits: 420 | Status: Work In Progress
The game of hide and seek the Dragon Balls had not originally been a part of the schedule that he and Trixx were adhering to.
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Martial Arts / Thriller / Action / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.25.2015 | Pages: 8 | Words: 4.8K | Visits: 420 | Status: Work In Progress
A/N: I've had a couple of people asking about
why Gohan didn't fight in Super Saiyan during the previous chapter.
When I was writing these first few chapters, I had to do a lot of
back checking, to make sure that everything matched up, one of
those things was making sure that I never said that Gohan went back
to his base form. The whole past few chapters Gohan has been in
Super Saiyan 2 form, like he was in those days leading up to the
Cell Games. I didn't write that he was still in that form because I
didn't really think that it needed to be put in, seeing as I never
said that he was back to his normal dark haired self.
It has been pointed out to me that from a stamina point of view it would be draining and that is one of the things that I have thought about, it will be answered a long with a few other questions that will be answered in this arc of the story.
---------
Chapter 6: Hide and Seek
Dark hair poked over the top of a rock, followed by two dark inquisitive eyes that glittered with repressed laughter. They darted left and right before the rest of the head and body appeared. Gohan pulled himself up onto the Rock and looked down at the ground below him, making sure that the girl and two small boys that were searching for the Dragon Ball weren't closer than he could sense, unless she - like the two boys - was secretly part Saiyan. As far as Gohan was aware there were only three part Saiyans in existence, one of which he had only just learnt of, plus the two full blooded versions he could sense sparring over at capsule corp.
Gripping the Dragon Ball tightly in his hand, he walked towards the pterodactyls nest and carefully set the ball amongst the eggs.
The game of hide and seek the Dragon Balls had not originally been a part of the schedule that he and Trixx were adhering to. When he found out that he and Trixx were being sent to Earth, they made sure that they set aside some time so that Gohan could see his family. When they arrived at the house, Gohan had stayed back, watching from the shadows of a trees as Bulma and his mother chatted outside.
Bulma hadn't changed much at all, Gohan thought watching the blue haired woman as he laughed at something that Chi-Chi said, more than likely about his father. She had a little more crinkling around the eyes then e last time he had seen her; laughter lines as Sergi would have called them. It was his Mum that had changed the most.
His mum was looking older then he that that she would at her age. All of her hair was drawn back in a bun, making her look older than she was. The only thing that hadn't changed was she was still dressing like a traditional Japanese house wife, only in yellow and orange instead of purple and pink.
If he was honest he would have to say that he preferred the clothes and the way she looked before Cell.
He stood there watching, unsure how to approach when three figures walked out of the house. The first one Gohan guessed was Trunks, in a child version of the man that he had known. Gohan did the math - he would be almost six now. The way he walked and talked was filled with confidence, but Gohan expected nothing less after being raised by Vegeta and Bulma. The girl who was with him was a mystery, she was pretty with dark hair in pigtails and bright blue eyes, and dressed in what Gohan figured was the latest thing for teenagers of Earth to wear; the problem that Gohan had was that he couldn't place her, but his seemed happy to chat with her. The third small figure made Gohan do a double take. He was a miniature version of his Dad, right down to his playful goofy smile. He tore his eyes away from the moment he was witnessing when he heard Trixx moving around behind him.
Trixx studied her best friend as he watched his family. Personality wise, Gohan hadn't change a bit. He was still the fun loving kid that she had met in the gardens that first time, and was just as deadly on the battlefield if not more. It was his appearance that had changed the most, but that was only to be expected. The pre-teen had changed into a handsome young man, his dark hair still standing up in thick spikes (only cut a little shorter) and still wearing the same style uniform that Lani had given him that first day.
She herself had changed with him, growing taller (though still a good head shorter than Gohan) stronger and faster and almost being able to keep up with Lynial in their hand to hand sessions. She had accepted long ago that she would never be as good as Gohan in battle, but she was handy in other ways, which was why she was with Gohan instead of him being sent on this scouting mission alone. Looking from Gohan, to his family and back again she was tempted to give him the push he needed, literally, but she held back.
'And people thought you looked like your Dad,' Trixx said from beside him.
'Yeah,' Gohan replied.
'So are you going to stand around all day and watch them? Or are going to actually walk over there and say hi?'
Looking from his best friend over to the group once more, Gohan shook his head. 'Let’s go and see if we can locate what Az wants us to find. I'll come back later.'
'Well you've been away for five years, what's a couple more hours?' Trixx said, pushing off the ground and taking off towards the south, narrowly missing being hit by a brown tail in agitation.
With a final look at his family, Gohan pushed off the ground and flew off after his friend, but not before pausing and looking to his left at a green figure who had been watching them from beneath his own shadowy tree. Blinking, Gohan waited to see what would happen before the figure disappeared from his sight.
Strange, Gohan thought, as he picked up speed to catch up with his friend.
It didn't take long for the two teens to once again be flying side by side and once they were they began tofor the energy signature that they were looking for.was harder than they originally thought it would be, even with the help of Trixx's additional abilities on top of their ki sensing. Az had warned them when they had left that it was possible that whoever they were after wouldn't be as easy to capture as they were making everyone believe. Three hours later Gohan and Trixx were starting to believe that the person that they were looking for was deliberately making this harder than it needed to be.
Landing in a clearing Trixx kicked a rock and sent it flying into a
'What is with Earth? I thought it would be easy to track an energy signal here. The largest signatures I can feel all belong to people you know,' Trixx said.
'Something or someone is masking it,' Gohan replied. 'A being that is jumping from realm to realms, draining people of their life force should have some kind of a signature, either singularly or as a giant clump.'
'They shouldn't be able to hide it,' Trixx said.
'But they are.'
'This is more frustrating than the time Sai and Kai decided that we should play multi realm hide and seek,' Trixx said. 'It took us six week to find them and then another six weeks to get off probation with Az and Mount, not to mention Lani.'
'Those two can be craft when they want to be,' Gohan muttered.
'I'll say,' Trixx said. 'What do we do? Report back the problem?'
'I-' Gohan began before grabbing the back of her jacket and pulling them up into a tree.
'What the-' Trixx growled.
All she got in return was a finger to her lips and two eyes motioning downwards. The two teens looked down as threethrough the bushes.
'Are you sure that it's this way?' the girl with the pigtails asked as she rubbed a place on her arm that had a faint red line on it.
'Bulma's dragon radar doesn't lie,' Goku's look-a-like grinned.
'Yeah, Mum's too good to create something that doesn't work. Besides, it worked the last time they were trying to find them,' Trunk said.
'When was that?'
'Ummmm,' the look-a-like said looking at Trunks. 'When Gohan died.'
'Oh,' She said.
'But nothing has happened to it since then. I'm pretty sure that Mum has forgotten about it anyway, she's not going to miss it,' Trunks said. 'It should be over there.'
The look-a-like turned and ran over to where Trunks was pointing, jumping into a bush and returning seconds later with an orange ball with stars decorated on it. The little boy handed it to the girl who look impressed before putting it in the bag slung over her shoulder. It clinked against something. Gohan guessed that it wasn't the first Dragon Ball that they had found.
'Where's the next one?'
Trunks studied the radar and turned. 'That way. Not far, about one hundred miles.'
The girl rolled her eyes at Trunk's comment of one hundred miles not being far. 'Let's go then.'
'NIMBUS!'
'Goten! You don't have to yell!'
'Sorry Videl.'
Trixx and Gohan stayed hidden in their tree until they had disappeared, before falling to the ground beneath them.
'Videl and Goten,' Trixx said. 'Do you know who she is?'
Gohan shook his head. 'Nope. Never seen her before. Goten is a surprise.'
'He is? I thought your parents were always planning on giving you a sibling. At least that is what you told me.'
'That's not it,' Gohan explained. 'Before all this stuff started, before Raditz came, I told Mum and Dad that I wanted a brother.'
'So? What is surprising about that?' Trixx asked.
'I told them I wanted a brother and his name was going to be Goten.'
'That is a surprise,' Trixx said. 'What’s with the look?'
'What look?'
'The look on your face,' Trixx said. 'It's the same one that you get when you're going to prank Sai, Kai or Zean.'
'Well I was thinking.'
'About?'
'What kind of brother would I be if I didn't play hide and seek with my brother?'
Trixx smiled. 'What do you have planned?'
'Can you hone in on the dragon ball that they are after?'
Trixx was able to find the dragon ball Easily and with a little help of Instant Transmission, the both of them were able to get their hands on the dragon ball easily.the duo began the game. They would find a dragon ball before the other three and a game of cat and mouse would begin, ending with Gohan and Trixx hiding the ball and waiting close nearby to get the direction of the next dragon ball before starting the game all over again. The game was entertaining for Gohan and Trixx, not so much for Videl, Goten and Trunks, who began to get frustrated by the third ball in the game. By the final ball, Trunks looked as mad as Vegeta had been when Gohan had surpassed him.
Straiteninghe turned and looked at Trixx who was hovering just above him.
'Well that’s the last of them. Do you want to hang around and see what they wish for?' Trixx asked.
'No, we better get back to what we're supposed to be doing. We'll probably find out later on anyway,' Gohan said.
'It will be a great way for you to introduce yourself to them at the big reunion,' Trixx said, the two of them taking off into the sky once more.
The nest stayed untouched for a good half hour before threeof black hair appeared over the top of the rock, followed by the top of a head and a pair of dark, joy filled eyes. They glanced side to side, in a similar manor as Gohan's had, seeking out anyone who might stop them obtaining what they were after before brightening. The rest of the head and the small four year old body of Goten Son followed as the young child climbed up on top of the rock and started to balance his way towards the nest that he was after. Standing on his tip toes and looking inside, Goten counted the eggs one by one, only stopping when his eyes hit the orange glow that accompanied a dragon ball. With a wide grin, the young boy reached into the next and plucked the yellow-orange sphere out of the nest and darted back to the edge of the rock in case the Mamawas close by.
Looking down, the four-year-old started to wave the hand that was holding the dragon ball above his head before shouting down to the two people that he could see below.
'Trunks! Videl! I found it!'
Trunks Briefs and Videl Satan looked with two very different expressions on their faces. Trunks' face went from serious to grinning in seconds as he looked up at his younger best friend, while Videl looked a mixture of shock and worry.
'Goten! What are you doing up here?'
'You two were too busy fighting over who was going to come up here, so I beat you to it,' the grinning pre-schooler replied. 'Here I come!'
With a jump, Goten pushed off from the rock, narrowly missing the swoop of amother and landed with a bump on the ground below, the grin still on his face. Passing the sphere to Videl, Goten turned to Trunks.
'There's a whole nest of eggs up there. We need to come back here in a month and see the babies when they hatch,' Goten said.
'It'll have to be on a weekend, I go back to school in a week,' Trunks replied, his nose screwing up at the thought.
'Oh yeah,' Goten said. 'I forgot about that.'
'You would,' Trunk said.
'I hate it when you do things like that Goten,' Videl sighed as she put the dragon ball into a bag with the others that they had collected.
'Why? It's not like he's going to get hurt,' Trunks said.
'Yeah Videl, it takes a lot more than a jump from up there to hurt me,' Goten said, his face completely serious.
Videl looked at the two boys. Outwardly they looked like normal little boys, if a little more hyperactive than normal with a greater interest in martial arts then many would consider normal.But they aren’t normal little boys, Videl reminded herself for the hundredth time in the year since meeting both Goten, Trunks and their families.
Meeting them had been a complete and utter coincidence. She had gone with her school on a weeklong camping trip only to get lost in the forest during free time. As the hours passed Videl started to wonder if she was ever going to meet up with her classmates again, when she bumped into Goten on his way home, carrying a log that was easily twenty times his length. When he had seen her he had instantly dropped the log, not to make it look like he hadn’t been carrying it, but to walk over to her and find out what she was doing so far into the forest. His eyes got wide when she discovered that she was lost and before she could protest he had grabbed a hold of her hand and started to pull her in the direction that he had been heading in.
‘I don’t know where your school has camped, but Mum or Daddy will, they’ve lived here longer than I have,’ Goten explained. ‘If anyone can help you it’ll be them.’
Goten’s Mum, Chi-Chi, had been hanging up laundry when they exited the forest and had made her feel right at home as she explained what had happened and how she had come across Goten, while the young boy went out to find his father. She was halfway through her tea when Goku walked through the door, a happily chatting Goten on his shoulder, and followed by Trunks and a disgruntled Vegeta.
With Goku’s help, she found the camp ground where she was staying and reunited with her friends Sharpner and Erasa, but before she could thank the smiling man he had disappeared.
A week later, after returning home, she searched out the house that Goten had taken her to with the help of her father’s driver. Goten had been playing in the front garden alone when they had landed and his face had instantly lit up when he had seen her and what she carried as a thankyou gift for the whole family for their help. Goten had instantly dragged her down to play with him and his imaginary friend, Gohan. She could only be dragged away when Chi-Chi came out to get him so they could go to Trunks’ house and when Videl had to leave. But she didn’t leave without promising to come and visit again.
Weeks passed and Videl made sure to come and visit the small boy and play with him and his friend Trunks. Befriending the family was easier than anything that she had ever accomplished before and she soon came to see the Son house as a second home, one that wasn’t filled with boasting fathers. The closer she got to the Son family the more she discovered that they weren’t as normal as she had thought, and she hadn’t been seeing things the day that she had first met Goten.
The whole idea of the last of an alien race living on earth seemed like the plot for some crazy TV show, and yet as Goku showed her everything that he could do bit by bit, she discovered that everything that she had thought about Cell and his abilities being tricks was all a lie. Her father had managed to cover up that there were some seriously powerful people living on earth.
‘Aren’t you mad that my Dad is saying that you’re all tricksters?’ Videl asked Goku one day as he cut fire wood. Goku just turned and smiled at her.
‘No,’ Goku said. ‘I had a hard enough time dealing with people who kept recognising me after I won the World Martial Arts tournament and even before then. Diehard fans have a way of finding you in the weirdest places. Your Dad actually did me and my friends a favour and kept us out of the public eye so we can continue to live normal lives.’
‘But if Cell could do all those things like you can, that means that he was really powerful, right?’ Videl asked, stacking the wood against the house.
‘One of the most powerful beings that I have ever fought against,’ Goku said, cutting through a log. Videl didn’t blink an eye at that admission. She had confronted Goku months before about his part in the Cell games, but had still yet to get the full story out of him.
‘So it wasn’t my Dad who defeated him,’ Videl said.
Videl looked over at the tall man as the sound of him ripping a log in half echoed between them.
‘No. It wasn’t your Dad.’
The way Goku said it told Videl all she needed to know. The subject was closed for now.
It didn’t take long however to notice the slight sadness that hovered over the house during certain times, especially three days before the anniversary of Cell’s defeat and the actual day of the anniversary. It had taken some courage to ask Bulma during a visit what was happening.
‘Goten isn’t Goku and Chi-Chi’s only child. Goten has – had – an older brother who died,’ Bulma said, choosing her words carefully. Videl put two and two together pretty quickly.
‘He died on the day Cell was defeated, right?’
‘Yeah,’ Bulma said. ‘Gohan was a really sweet kid and he didn’t deserve to die at the hands of that monster.’
‘I thought that everyone who was killed by Cell came back,’ Videl said, feeling confused.
‘Everyone except Gohan it seems,’ Bulma said.
‘How? Why?’
‘That is the great mystery and when I die I intend to find out why he wasn’t sent home to Chi-Chi and Goku,’ Bulma explained.
‘He must have been held back for some reason.’
‘No reason is good enough to stop and eleven year old from living the rest of his life with his family,’ Bulma replied and Videl couldn’t help but agree.
‘Does Goten know?’
‘Yeah, why do you think his imaginary friend Gohan is named Gohan?’ Bulma smiled. ‘And why he suddenly disappears whenever Chi-Chi and Goku enter the room when he is playing?’
‘Did they get upset about it?’
‘No, as far as I know they don’t even know of Gohan’s imaginary existence,’ Bulma said. ‘I only know about it because Trunks told me when the two of them got into a fight over it. I think that despite how young Goten is, he knows that while his parents love him with all their might, they miss Gohan a lot as well. Talking about him is fine, but he doesn’t want to do something that is going to make them sad any more than two days of the year. So the imaginary Gohan disappears.’
A year later and still Gohan was disappearing whenever Chi-Chi and Goku came into the room. Trunks understood a lot better now and it had actually been his idea to get Goten out of the house today so that Chi-Chi and Goku could grieve for their son in private who would have been sixteen today.
Videl had wondered what the sixteen year old Gohan would have looked like if he was still alive. She even wondered if they would have become friends like she had with Goten. But those thoughts were always kept to herself.
‘Come on, we better start heading back to Capsule Corp,’ Videl said. ‘Your Mum is going to start wondering where we are if we’re out here much longer.’
‘And where her dragon radar disappeared to,’ Trunks said.
‘Exactly,’ Videl said.
‘Do you think that Bulma will have lunch ready when we get there? I’m hungry,’ Goten said, rubbing his stomach.
‘She always does around this time, doesn’t she?’ Videl said.
‘Nope,’ Trunks said. ‘Mum’s been so busy with this new invention that she hasn’t been doing the cooking lately, Grandma has. Which is better because she always makes desert.’
‘What do you think she’ll make this time?’ Goten asked, his eyes wide with excitement.
‘She said something about chocolate chip, peanut butter cookies before we left,’ Trunks said.
‘Yum!’ Goten said and Videl nodded in agreement. ‘Let’s get back then! NIMBUS!’
'Goten! Yelling!'
'Sorry Videl,' Goten said, grinning and rubbing the back of his head.
The Nimbus cloud flew down from the sky and stopped in front of the three of them, looking excited that it was once again being used for an adventure. The two small boys and teen climbed on top of the Nimbus and took off into the sky, Trunks grumbling aboutactuallyknowing how to fly, unlike Goten.
As the Nimbus levelled out, Videl called for it to stop moving as she spotted something growing in the distance. Large and mushroom shaped, the cloud rose high above themountains reminding Videl of the documentaries she had seen on Volcanoes in school. Trunks was looking at the cloud unimpressed, arms crossed across his chest, andas Goten accidently stood on his hand.
'What's going on?' Goten asked.
'I don't know,' Videl said.
'Do you think a volcano exploded?' Goten asked.
'Erupted,' Trunks said. 'Volcanoesexplode, they erupt.'
'Do you think a volcanoerupted?'
'I don't remember hearing anything about one possibly erupting,' Videl said. 'Or anything else like that for that matter.'
'What do you think it is then?' Goten asked.
'Who cares,' Trunks said. 'Let’s go find out.'
'Boys, no!'
Videl's protests fell on the deaf ears of two small children, who instantly directed the Nimbus to fly towards the largeof smoke.
An hours flight away, Trixx was the first to notice the change in energy. Turning in the direction that she felt it coming from, the dark green haired girl watched as the mushroom cloud billowed out over the sky. Gohan hovered next to her, arms crossed and a frown appearing on his face.
'You think that was caused by the guy we're looking for?'
'No,' Gohan said. 'That isn't the guy.'
'How can you be so sure?' Trixx asked.
'Because the energy that I can sense over there, I've felt before. Just before the Cell games,' Gohan said.
'Are you going to enlighten me?' Trixx asked.
'Remember when I told you about Paragus and his son?' Gohan asked.
'Yeah, the crazy man and his equally crazy super super saiyan son,' Trixx said.
'Well the energy that I'm sensing from over there isof them,' Gohan said. 'What the hell are they doing?'
Trixx frowned and then looked at Gohan in surprise. 'They're seriously not doing what I think they're doing are they?'
'I don't think so, I know so,' Gohan said. 'They're my brother and Vegeta's son, of course they're going to go towards the danger and bring someone with them.'
'The girl?'
'Yes.'
'For fucks sake,' Trixx said.
The two of them didn't need to even think about it before abandoning what they were doing and flying towards the large mushroom cloud, hoping that they would get there before anything too bad happened.
It has been pointed out to me that from a stamina point of view it would be draining and that is one of the things that I have thought about, it will be answered a long with a few other questions that will be answered in this arc of the story.
---------
Chapter 6: Hide and Seek
Dark hair poked over the top of a rock, followed by two dark inquisitive eyes that glittered with repressed laughter. They darted left and right before the rest of the head and body appeared. Gohan pulled himself up onto the Rock and looked down at the ground below him, making sure that the girl and two small boys that were searching for the Dragon Ball weren't closer than he could sense, unless she - like the two boys - was secretly part Saiyan. As far as Gohan was aware there were only three part Saiyans in existence, one of which he had only just learnt of, plus the two full blooded versions he could sense sparring over at capsule corp.
Gripping the Dragon Ball tightly in his hand, he walked towards the pterodactyls nest and carefully set the ball amongst the eggs.
The game of hide and seek the Dragon Balls had not originally been a part of the schedule that he and Trixx were adhering to. When he found out that he and Trixx were being sent to Earth, they made sure that they set aside some time so that Gohan could see his family. When they arrived at the house, Gohan had stayed back, watching from the shadows of a trees as Bulma and his mother chatted outside.
Bulma hadn't changed much at all, Gohan thought watching the blue haired woman as he laughed at something that Chi-Chi said, more than likely about his father. She had a little more crinkling around the eyes then e last time he had seen her; laughter lines as Sergi would have called them. It was his Mum that had changed the most.
His mum was looking older then he that that she would at her age. All of her hair was drawn back in a bun, making her look older than she was. The only thing that hadn't changed was she was still dressing like a traditional Japanese house wife, only in yellow and orange instead of purple and pink.
If he was honest he would have to say that he preferred the clothes and the way she looked before Cell.
He stood there watching, unsure how to approach when three figures walked out of the house. The first one Gohan guessed was Trunks, in a child version of the man that he had known. Gohan did the math - he would be almost six now. The way he walked and talked was filled with confidence, but Gohan expected nothing less after being raised by Vegeta and Bulma. The girl who was with him was a mystery, she was pretty with dark hair in pigtails and bright blue eyes, and dressed in what Gohan figured was the latest thing for teenagers of Earth to wear; the problem that Gohan had was that he couldn't place her, but his seemed happy to chat with her. The third small figure made Gohan do a double take. He was a miniature version of his Dad, right down to his playful goofy smile. He tore his eyes away from the moment he was witnessing when he heard Trixx moving around behind him.
Trixx studied her best friend as he watched his family. Personality wise, Gohan hadn't change a bit. He was still the fun loving kid that she had met in the gardens that first time, and was just as deadly on the battlefield if not more. It was his appearance that had changed the most, but that was only to be expected. The pre-teen had changed into a handsome young man, his dark hair still standing up in thick spikes (only cut a little shorter) and still wearing the same style uniform that Lani had given him that first day.
She herself had changed with him, growing taller (though still a good head shorter than Gohan) stronger and faster and almost being able to keep up with Lynial in their hand to hand sessions. She had accepted long ago that she would never be as good as Gohan in battle, but she was handy in other ways, which was why she was with Gohan instead of him being sent on this scouting mission alone. Looking from Gohan, to his family and back again she was tempted to give him the push he needed, literally, but she held back.
'And people thought you looked like your Dad,' Trixx said from beside him.
'Yeah,' Gohan replied.
'So are you going to stand around all day and watch them? Or are going to actually walk over there and say hi?'
Looking from his best friend over to the group once more, Gohan shook his head. 'Let’s go and see if we can locate what Az wants us to find. I'll come back later.'
'Well you've been away for five years, what's a couple more hours?' Trixx said, pushing off the ground and taking off towards the south, narrowly missing being hit by a brown tail in agitation.
With a final look at his family, Gohan pushed off the ground and flew off after his friend, but not before pausing and looking to his left at a green figure who had been watching them from beneath his own shadowy tree. Blinking, Gohan waited to see what would happen before the figure disappeared from his sight.
Strange, Gohan thought, as he picked up speed to catch up with his friend.
It didn't take long for the two teens to once again be flying side by side and once they were they began tofor the energy signature that they were looking for.was harder than they originally thought it would be, even with the help of Trixx's additional abilities on top of their ki sensing. Az had warned them when they had left that it was possible that whoever they were after wouldn't be as easy to capture as they were making everyone believe. Three hours later Gohan and Trixx were starting to believe that the person that they were looking for was deliberately making this harder than it needed to be.
Landing in a clearing Trixx kicked a rock and sent it flying into a
'What is with Earth? I thought it would be easy to track an energy signal here. The largest signatures I can feel all belong to people you know,' Trixx said.
'Something or someone is masking it,' Gohan replied. 'A being that is jumping from realm to realms, draining people of their life force should have some kind of a signature, either singularly or as a giant clump.'
'They shouldn't be able to hide it,' Trixx said.
'But they are.'
'This is more frustrating than the time Sai and Kai decided that we should play multi realm hide and seek,' Trixx said. 'It took us six week to find them and then another six weeks to get off probation with Az and Mount, not to mention Lani.'
'Those two can be craft when they want to be,' Gohan muttered.
'I'll say,' Trixx said. 'What do we do? Report back the problem?'
'I-' Gohan began before grabbing the back of her jacket and pulling them up into a tree.
'What the-' Trixx growled.
All she got in return was a finger to her lips and two eyes motioning downwards. The two teens looked down as threethrough the bushes.
'Are you sure that it's this way?' the girl with the pigtails asked as she rubbed a place on her arm that had a faint red line on it.
'Bulma's dragon radar doesn't lie,' Goku's look-a-like grinned.
'Yeah, Mum's too good to create something that doesn't work. Besides, it worked the last time they were trying to find them,' Trunk said.
'When was that?'
'Ummmm,' the look-a-like said looking at Trunks. 'When Gohan died.'
'Oh,' She said.
'But nothing has happened to it since then. I'm pretty sure that Mum has forgotten about it anyway, she's not going to miss it,' Trunks said. 'It should be over there.'
The look-a-like turned and ran over to where Trunks was pointing, jumping into a bush and returning seconds later with an orange ball with stars decorated on it. The little boy handed it to the girl who look impressed before putting it in the bag slung over her shoulder. It clinked against something. Gohan guessed that it wasn't the first Dragon Ball that they had found.
'Where's the next one?'
Trunks studied the radar and turned. 'That way. Not far, about one hundred miles.'
The girl rolled her eyes at Trunk's comment of one hundred miles not being far. 'Let's go then.'
'NIMBUS!'
'Goten! You don't have to yell!'
'Sorry Videl.'
Trixx and Gohan stayed hidden in their tree until they had disappeared, before falling to the ground beneath them.
'Videl and Goten,' Trixx said. 'Do you know who she is?'
Gohan shook his head. 'Nope. Never seen her before. Goten is a surprise.'
'He is? I thought your parents were always planning on giving you a sibling. At least that is what you told me.'
'That's not it,' Gohan explained. 'Before all this stuff started, before Raditz came, I told Mum and Dad that I wanted a brother.'
'So? What is surprising about that?' Trixx asked.
'I told them I wanted a brother and his name was going to be Goten.'
'That is a surprise,' Trixx said. 'What’s with the look?'
'What look?'
'The look on your face,' Trixx said. 'It's the same one that you get when you're going to prank Sai, Kai or Zean.'
'Well I was thinking.'
'About?'
'What kind of brother would I be if I didn't play hide and seek with my brother?'
Trixx smiled. 'What do you have planned?'
'Can you hone in on the dragon ball that they are after?'
Trixx was able to find the dragon ball Easily and with a little help of Instant Transmission, the both of them were able to get their hands on the dragon ball easily.the duo began the game. They would find a dragon ball before the other three and a game of cat and mouse would begin, ending with Gohan and Trixx hiding the ball and waiting close nearby to get the direction of the next dragon ball before starting the game all over again. The game was entertaining for Gohan and Trixx, not so much for Videl, Goten and Trunks, who began to get frustrated by the third ball in the game. By the final ball, Trunks looked as mad as Vegeta had been when Gohan had surpassed him.
Straiteninghe turned and looked at Trixx who was hovering just above him.
'Well that’s the last of them. Do you want to hang around and see what they wish for?' Trixx asked.
'No, we better get back to what we're supposed to be doing. We'll probably find out later on anyway,' Gohan said.
'It will be a great way for you to introduce yourself to them at the big reunion,' Trixx said, the two of them taking off into the sky once more.
The nest stayed untouched for a good half hour before threeof black hair appeared over the top of the rock, followed by the top of a head and a pair of dark, joy filled eyes. They glanced side to side, in a similar manor as Gohan's had, seeking out anyone who might stop them obtaining what they were after before brightening. The rest of the head and the small four year old body of Goten Son followed as the young child climbed up on top of the rock and started to balance his way towards the nest that he was after. Standing on his tip toes and looking inside, Goten counted the eggs one by one, only stopping when his eyes hit the orange glow that accompanied a dragon ball. With a wide grin, the young boy reached into the next and plucked the yellow-orange sphere out of the nest and darted back to the edge of the rock in case the Mamawas close by.
Looking down, the four-year-old started to wave the hand that was holding the dragon ball above his head before shouting down to the two people that he could see below.
'Trunks! Videl! I found it!'
Trunks Briefs and Videl Satan looked with two very different expressions on their faces. Trunks' face went from serious to grinning in seconds as he looked up at his younger best friend, while Videl looked a mixture of shock and worry.
'Goten! What are you doing up here?'
'You two were too busy fighting over who was going to come up here, so I beat you to it,' the grinning pre-schooler replied. 'Here I come!'
With a jump, Goten pushed off from the rock, narrowly missing the swoop of amother and landed with a bump on the ground below, the grin still on his face. Passing the sphere to Videl, Goten turned to Trunks.
'There's a whole nest of eggs up there. We need to come back here in a month and see the babies when they hatch,' Goten said.
'It'll have to be on a weekend, I go back to school in a week,' Trunks replied, his nose screwing up at the thought.
'Oh yeah,' Goten said. 'I forgot about that.'
'You would,' Trunk said.
'I hate it when you do things like that Goten,' Videl sighed as she put the dragon ball into a bag with the others that they had collected.
'Why? It's not like he's going to get hurt,' Trunks said.
'Yeah Videl, it takes a lot more than a jump from up there to hurt me,' Goten said, his face completely serious.
Videl looked at the two boys. Outwardly they looked like normal little boys, if a little more hyperactive than normal with a greater interest in martial arts then many would consider normal.But they aren’t normal little boys, Videl reminded herself for the hundredth time in the year since meeting both Goten, Trunks and their families.
Meeting them had been a complete and utter coincidence. She had gone with her school on a weeklong camping trip only to get lost in the forest during free time. As the hours passed Videl started to wonder if she was ever going to meet up with her classmates again, when she bumped into Goten on his way home, carrying a log that was easily twenty times his length. When he had seen her he had instantly dropped the log, not to make it look like he hadn’t been carrying it, but to walk over to her and find out what she was doing so far into the forest. His eyes got wide when she discovered that she was lost and before she could protest he had grabbed a hold of her hand and started to pull her in the direction that he had been heading in.
‘I don’t know where your school has camped, but Mum or Daddy will, they’ve lived here longer than I have,’ Goten explained. ‘If anyone can help you it’ll be them.’
Goten’s Mum, Chi-Chi, had been hanging up laundry when they exited the forest and had made her feel right at home as she explained what had happened and how she had come across Goten, while the young boy went out to find his father. She was halfway through her tea when Goku walked through the door, a happily chatting Goten on his shoulder, and followed by Trunks and a disgruntled Vegeta.
With Goku’s help, she found the camp ground where she was staying and reunited with her friends Sharpner and Erasa, but before she could thank the smiling man he had disappeared.
A week later, after returning home, she searched out the house that Goten had taken her to with the help of her father’s driver. Goten had been playing in the front garden alone when they had landed and his face had instantly lit up when he had seen her and what she carried as a thankyou gift for the whole family for their help. Goten had instantly dragged her down to play with him and his imaginary friend, Gohan. She could only be dragged away when Chi-Chi came out to get him so they could go to Trunks’ house and when Videl had to leave. But she didn’t leave without promising to come and visit again.
Weeks passed and Videl made sure to come and visit the small boy and play with him and his friend Trunks. Befriending the family was easier than anything that she had ever accomplished before and she soon came to see the Son house as a second home, one that wasn’t filled with boasting fathers. The closer she got to the Son family the more she discovered that they weren’t as normal as she had thought, and she hadn’t been seeing things the day that she had first met Goten.
The whole idea of the last of an alien race living on earth seemed like the plot for some crazy TV show, and yet as Goku showed her everything that he could do bit by bit, she discovered that everything that she had thought about Cell and his abilities being tricks was all a lie. Her father had managed to cover up that there were some seriously powerful people living on earth.
‘Aren’t you mad that my Dad is saying that you’re all tricksters?’ Videl asked Goku one day as he cut fire wood. Goku just turned and smiled at her.
‘No,’ Goku said. ‘I had a hard enough time dealing with people who kept recognising me after I won the World Martial Arts tournament and even before then. Diehard fans have a way of finding you in the weirdest places. Your Dad actually did me and my friends a favour and kept us out of the public eye so we can continue to live normal lives.’
‘But if Cell could do all those things like you can, that means that he was really powerful, right?’ Videl asked, stacking the wood against the house.
‘One of the most powerful beings that I have ever fought against,’ Goku said, cutting through a log. Videl didn’t blink an eye at that admission. She had confronted Goku months before about his part in the Cell games, but had still yet to get the full story out of him.
‘So it wasn’t my Dad who defeated him,’ Videl said.
Videl looked over at the tall man as the sound of him ripping a log in half echoed between them.
‘No. It wasn’t your Dad.’
The way Goku said it told Videl all she needed to know. The subject was closed for now.
It didn’t take long however to notice the slight sadness that hovered over the house during certain times, especially three days before the anniversary of Cell’s defeat and the actual day of the anniversary. It had taken some courage to ask Bulma during a visit what was happening.
‘Goten isn’t Goku and Chi-Chi’s only child. Goten has – had – an older brother who died,’ Bulma said, choosing her words carefully. Videl put two and two together pretty quickly.
‘He died on the day Cell was defeated, right?’
‘Yeah,’ Bulma said. ‘Gohan was a really sweet kid and he didn’t deserve to die at the hands of that monster.’
‘I thought that everyone who was killed by Cell came back,’ Videl said, feeling confused.
‘Everyone except Gohan it seems,’ Bulma said.
‘How? Why?’
‘That is the great mystery and when I die I intend to find out why he wasn’t sent home to Chi-Chi and Goku,’ Bulma explained.
‘He must have been held back for some reason.’
‘No reason is good enough to stop and eleven year old from living the rest of his life with his family,’ Bulma replied and Videl couldn’t help but agree.
‘Does Goten know?’
‘Yeah, why do you think his imaginary friend Gohan is named Gohan?’ Bulma smiled. ‘And why he suddenly disappears whenever Chi-Chi and Goku enter the room when he is playing?’
‘Did they get upset about it?’
‘No, as far as I know they don’t even know of Gohan’s imaginary existence,’ Bulma said. ‘I only know about it because Trunks told me when the two of them got into a fight over it. I think that despite how young Goten is, he knows that while his parents love him with all their might, they miss Gohan a lot as well. Talking about him is fine, but he doesn’t want to do something that is going to make them sad any more than two days of the year. So the imaginary Gohan disappears.’
A year later and still Gohan was disappearing whenever Chi-Chi and Goku came into the room. Trunks understood a lot better now and it had actually been his idea to get Goten out of the house today so that Chi-Chi and Goku could grieve for their son in private who would have been sixteen today.
Videl had wondered what the sixteen year old Gohan would have looked like if he was still alive. She even wondered if they would have become friends like she had with Goten. But those thoughts were always kept to herself.
‘Come on, we better start heading back to Capsule Corp,’ Videl said. ‘Your Mum is going to start wondering where we are if we’re out here much longer.’
‘And where her dragon radar disappeared to,’ Trunks said.
‘Exactly,’ Videl said.
‘Do you think that Bulma will have lunch ready when we get there? I’m hungry,’ Goten said, rubbing his stomach.
‘She always does around this time, doesn’t she?’ Videl said.
‘Nope,’ Trunks said. ‘Mum’s been so busy with this new invention that she hasn’t been doing the cooking lately, Grandma has. Which is better because she always makes desert.’
‘What do you think she’ll make this time?’ Goten asked, his eyes wide with excitement.
‘She said something about chocolate chip, peanut butter cookies before we left,’ Trunks said.
‘Yum!’ Goten said and Videl nodded in agreement. ‘Let’s get back then! NIMBUS!’
'Goten! Yelling!'
'Sorry Videl,' Goten said, grinning and rubbing the back of his head.
The Nimbus cloud flew down from the sky and stopped in front of the three of them, looking excited that it was once again being used for an adventure. The two small boys and teen climbed on top of the Nimbus and took off into the sky, Trunks grumbling aboutactuallyknowing how to fly, unlike Goten.
As the Nimbus levelled out, Videl called for it to stop moving as she spotted something growing in the distance. Large and mushroom shaped, the cloud rose high above themountains reminding Videl of the documentaries she had seen on Volcanoes in school. Trunks was looking at the cloud unimpressed, arms crossed across his chest, andas Goten accidently stood on his hand.
'What's going on?' Goten asked.
'I don't know,' Videl said.
'Do you think a volcano exploded?' Goten asked.
'Erupted,' Trunks said. 'Volcanoesexplode, they erupt.'
'Do you think a volcanoerupted?'
'I don't remember hearing anything about one possibly erupting,' Videl said. 'Or anything else like that for that matter.'
'What do you think it is then?' Goten asked.
'Who cares,' Trunks said. 'Let’s go find out.'
'Boys, no!'
Videl's protests fell on the deaf ears of two small children, who instantly directed the Nimbus to fly towards the largeof smoke.
An hours flight away, Trixx was the first to notice the change in energy. Turning in the direction that she felt it coming from, the dark green haired girl watched as the mushroom cloud billowed out over the sky. Gohan hovered next to her, arms crossed and a frown appearing on his face.
'You think that was caused by the guy we're looking for?'
'No,' Gohan said. 'That isn't the guy.'
'How can you be so sure?' Trixx asked.
'Because the energy that I can sense over there, I've felt before. Just before the Cell games,' Gohan said.
'Are you going to enlighten me?' Trixx asked.
'Remember when I told you about Paragus and his son?' Gohan asked.
'Yeah, the crazy man and his equally crazy super super saiyan son,' Trixx said.
'Well the energy that I'm sensing from over there isof them,' Gohan said. 'What the hell are they doing?'
Trixx frowned and then looked at Gohan in surprise. 'They're seriously not doing what I think they're doing are they?'
'I don't think so, I know so,' Gohan said. 'They're my brother and Vegeta's son, of course they're going to go towards the danger and bring someone with them.'
'The girl?'
'Yes.'
'For fucks sake,' Trixx said.
The two of them didn't need to even think about it before abandoning what they were doing and flying towards the large mushroom cloud, hoping that they would get there before anything too bad happened.