Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Teal Eyes ❯ Chapter 17 ( Chapter 17 )

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ… It belongs to the great Akira Toriyama!! Go Tori-sama! ^o^

mystic_writer: Thank you thank you thank you: Moon Princess, Elenek, twin blades, Vegetas Bondage Queen, petite_angel, LionHeart823, Kachie-chan, and DBZ Lover!

Enjoy!

-

Teal Eyes

Chapter 17

By mystic_writer

-

BAM!

Crystelle gritted her teeth as she slammed her suitcase shut, catching some articles of clothing between the rims.

`How DARE he kick me out?! I was almost to the point I wanted… It's all that little brat's fault!' she thought, standing upright. She grabbed the suitcase and hiked it beside her leg. "She'll regret the day she messed with me!"

-

Hercule stepped over to Gohan and folded his arms. "I was going to ask you this earlier but Videl's news was a shock to me. So I'm saying it now-WHO are you and why are you here?"

Videl stepped in front of her saya-jin friend. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce him to you before." She looked at Gohan. "Dad this is Gohan. Gohan, you know my dad, the Champ, Hercule," she said with a wink.

Hercule smiled and patted his daughter on the back. "Ha, thanks for the nice intro sweetheart." He looked at Gohan and thought for a moment. "So THIS is Gohan!" Just as he was about to open his big mouth again to blast Gohan, the thought of Chi Chi yelling at him over the phone pushed its way into his tiny brain. The champ just stood there, mouth agape as he remembered the dueling conversation they had.

"Erm… Er… As I was about to say…" he stopped, thinking carefully. "T-That any friend of Videl's is welcome here!" He laughed, trying to hide his obvious fear. He took Gohan's hand and shook it really fast, an idiotic look plastered on his face.

"I wanna thank you for taking care of my Videl! I can't believe I didn't pay attention to my own daughter! I was so worried about her!" Hercule said, picturing what he thought Chi Chi would do if he said the wrong thing to her son again-probably turn into a raging lunatic holding an axe…

Videl cocked an eyebrow and looked at Gohan, who cracked his crooked grin. "Well… We'd better get going. We're totally late." She took Gohan by the arm and led him to the large front doors. She stopped and looked back at her father, before running back and giving him a big squeeze.

"Thanks," she whispered into his ear. They pulled away and Videl turned to leave, but Hercule put his big hand on her shoulder. He held out a chain with loads of keys on it.

"…Here ya go, sweetheart," he said, "You can have all your keys back-from now on!" He smiled as she took them, and then put his hands on his hips. "You're not grounded anymore, Videl." He held up his hand. "And… I've decided that we should take a little time off! You know, a vacation-a real vacation, not a publicity thing, just quality time together!"

Videl's mouth fell agape. "Dad, we haven't been on vacation since… mom was alive!" She looked up at him, her cobalt eyes shining. "Thank you dad." She turned her attention to Valerie. "… Please be sure to KICK Crystelle out for me!"

Valerie smiled. "Can do!" The brunette turned to her employer as Videl joined Gohan once more, both disappearing outside, the right door clicking behind them. "Don't they look cute together sir?" she said, sighing. "And that outfit Videl has on is so darling! I wonder where she got it?"

Hercule nodded. "Yeah… Reminds me of me and my wife when we were teenagers!" He looked down at Valerie, who smiled with happiness. "So… about those nice things I gave to Crystelle…"

-

Videl laughed-a REAL laugh for the first time in ages-as she locked the front gate with her newly gotten keys. "Wow, I can't believe it! The spell over him just lifted."

Gohan nodded. "Yeah. He seems like a real nice guy now."

Videl pointed toward the mansion. "That was my father in there-not the glory hog you see on TV." She breathed in deeply. "Oh, I wonder where we'll go? Tamar? Zuhan?"

Gohan listened as she rattled on. `MAN, she's in a good mood. I didn't know Videl could be this happy! She sounds like Erasa now,' thought the half saya-jin. His thoughts were interrupted when arms wrapped around his waist. He looked down, startled, to see Videl giving him a hug…

"Thanks Gohan!" she cried, "You might not think it, but you've done so much for me! Without you, I wouldn't have had the courage or the will to expose Crystelle. You're such a wonderful guy!"

Gohan's insides melted. "N-N-No p-problem!" he said, his voice about three times higher than normal.

Videl finally released her grip and stepped back. She looked at her watch. "Well, we totally missed first period. Care for Biology?"

Gohan scratched his head, recovered from the trauma. "Not really, but we really should go to school. Besides, my mom will kill me if I don't go."

Videl thought for a moment, before smiling. "You mean you've never, you know, rebelled before? Like, played hooky?"

Gohan held up his hands. "No, I have! Er, when I was younger…"

Videl smirked. "Ah, so we're not all goody-goody, are we?" She crossed her arms. "C'mon, it'll be fun. Don't worry about your mom. You can just tell her we went on a date! I can tell by meeting her once she'd like to hear that."

"I don't' know…" Gohan stated, looking at the ground. `Well, I got nothing to lose, right? But…'

`But nothing!' his other half thought. `Think about it, you go to school and risk peer humiliation, or you spend the day with this lovely girl and miss a few lessons-which of course you already learned when you were younger.'

Gohan bared his teeth. `I hate it when you do that!'

`I know…'

Gohan sighed, gazing toward the direction of the school before looking back to Videl. "Okay."

Videl put her hands together. "Great! You know you're finally living some, right Gohan?"

Gohan laughed. "You just don't know…"

-

Gohan stared at the huge screen a few feet away and tried to get comfortable in the theatre chair. Popcorn tumbled out of two large full buckets sitting in his lap. As soon as he got as close to comfort as he could, he handed one of the buttery containers to Videl, who sat to his left.

"So, you haven't seen this one before have you?" she asked.

"I've never been to the movies before in my life," the teenage saya-jin replied. `Wow,' he thought, `Spaceship seats are waaay more comfortable than these things.'

Videl looked at the screen. "Oh, right."

Gohan ignored the previews as he snacked on his popcorn, which was already halfway gone. He knew he would be starving in less than thirty minutes and would be too shy to ask Videl for more snacks, so he decided to slow down a bit.

Videl leaned over to him. "I picked this one because I thought you might like it. It's a martial arts film."

Gohan perked up. "Yeah?" He frowned suddenly. "Wait… It's not about the Cell Games, is it?"

Videl shook her head. "No. Afraid not. I've seen it though. It was ridiculous! I was mortified! Dad really screwed up that one."

Gohan laughed. "Yeah." He paused for a moment, before asking the question he'd been wanting to for so long. "So… You said yesterday that you don't think your father defeated Cell?"

Videl nodded. "I don't think he did," she replied, "I mean, my dad's strong, but how could he have defeated a monster they said withstood gunfire from tanks, mortar rounds, AND a nuclear bomb?" She looked at the dark ceiling. "You want to know who I think really overcame Cell?"

Gohan gulped, becoming quite nervous. "Um… I don't know?"

"The Gold Fighter!" Videl announced.

Gohan slumped. "Great… yeah… me too…"

Videl sighed, closing her eyes. "I think the anxiety of the world looking up to him was too great for the Gold Fighter. I think he waited until now to resurface again because now everyone thinks my father is the real champ."

Gohan sunk deeper in his chair. `Or because he decided to go to highschool.'

"And you know what?" Videl said, becoming quite excited, "I think I know who he is."

`Well, there goes my life,' thought Gohan as he waited for the apocalypse. "Yeah?"

Videl nodded. "He's someone I know… I can't explain it. It's a feeling I have. It's just…" She looked into his eyes. "Every time I see him… I think of you."

Gohan stared back, unable to speak. Were… were their faces getting closer?

The subtle rumble from the movie stereos became more intense… Gohan broke away his gaze when the ground began to shake. The movie stopped, and people looked around, confused. The earth trembled harder, this time making grains of block fall from the ceiling.

"Take cover! It's an earthquake!" a woman cried.

Videl stood, the ground shaking beneath her violently. `Oh no!' she thought, remembering those days when she had lived through many of Satan City's worst earthquakes. But this… this didn't seem normal. The loud roar of the quake rung so load people fell to their knees and covered their ears as they tried to hide. The ground pried itself open in a few places, a rarity beyond words.

The roar overwhelmed Gohan's sensitive ears, but he tried to be strong. He looked upward through the collapsing roof, seeing dark billowing clouds in the sky. `WHAT is going on?!'

People screamed in fear, hiding as best they could, some running out of the room and possibly the building. A loud cracking sound engulfed the roar of the quake suddenly.

Videl's eyes widened in horror as the massive movie screen broke free of its place in the crumbling wall, sending it crashing toward innocents. She leaped up and dove over the next row with grace, hopping on each seat to the front of the rows. Many men had already gathered under the edge of the heavy screen to keep it from falling. She joined them and helped hold it up with all of her might. But as strong as all of them were, the huge object and the force of the quake were too much, sending them sinking with pain and exhaustion.

Videl struggled to help keep the screen from falling on civilians hiding under the their theatre seats but she and the others were quickly loosing their strength. Suddenly, the screen became lighter and seemed to be moving back. Videl opened her tired eyes when she felt a soft radiant of heat tickling her right hand. A glowing hand placed near hers shone with the sunlight, pushing the screen backwards. Videl let out a relieved sigh, for she knew exactly to whom that hand belonged to. She looked up to see the teal eyes of her knight in shining, golden armor, a smile spread across his face.

"I'll take care of this," he said, letting out a yell before giving the screen a mighty push, sending it through the wall it was once bolted on to. Videl and the others who had helped hold the mighty screen relaxed, but the rest was brief for the rumbling of the quake continued. Most people had evacuated from the building-which was the worst thing they could have done. Some, however, still remained inside trapped under their seats. Gohan turned to look at Videl.

"I want you and the others to find a safe place! I'm going out to see if anyone needs my help!" As he turned to leave, Videl grabbed his arm.

"No!" she cried, straining to be heard over the roar. "I'm going with you!"

"Videl, I-" About that time, a huge piece of debris fell from the ceiling, crashing down onto Videl and the others. Gohan watched in horror as she disappeared under a mountain of debris.

-

Hercule sat on his lounger, pondering about all the events that had happened in less than an hour: His daughter had left with that Gohan boy, he lost the love of his life who was really a witch in disguise, and had discovered that 30,000 Zeni had been stolen from his bank account, not to mention he had just finished off his very last bottle of vodka.

The champ let out a loud belch as he tried to ignore the spinning room. Three women suddenly stepped into the room known as the lounge. It was funny, though, because they all looked like Crystelle.

"I'm leaving," the blonde stated, walking over to the drunken man. "For good."

"…Yeah."

She `smiled.' "I'm packed and ready to go."

"…Yeah."

Crystelle put her hands behind her back. "…I'm going to miss you, you know that."

"…Yeah."

The blonde woman's eyes narrowed. "Don't you have anything to say to me?"

"…Yeah."

"Besides that!!"

The Champ sat up straight as best he could. "…Yes, as a matter of fact I do: Get the hell out, you scheming, selfish…" He blinked, shook his head briefly, and then looked at Crystelle, giving her a funny look. "…Who are you again?"

"Agh!" Crystelle rolled her eyes and turned on her heels but stopped as the room began to shake. She looked around, frantic as the force of the quaver intensified. Hercule just sat there, drunk out of his mind, probably trying to figure out who HE was.

Valerie ran into the room and over to her incapacitated employer. "I just saw it on the news! The quake started on the east side of the city! We need to take cover! Help me get him in the safe room!"

Crystelle scowled. "Me? Help YOU? Help HIM? NEVER!" she yelled, just as the grand mansion's walls caved in.

-

Sato sat, content, as she watched her mother and brother train. Chi Chi kept striking at Goten, who blocked each blow with his arms.

"Very good Goten!" she praised as she and her son stopped for a rest. "You're learning fast!"

Sato leaped from her place on the porch steps and latched onto Goten, squeezing him tight.

"Yaaaay oniisan!" the little one cheered as Goten turned purple. He was glad when she let go.

"I can't wait `till `niisan comes home!!" Sato exclaimed, "I want to see him train nice lady Videl again! It was funny!"

"Videl's only coming over on the weekends," reminded Goten as he knelt to drink water from a nearby stream. "Well that's what Gohan told me."

Chi Chi settled down between the roots of a tree. "And that's a shame too!" she barked, "She should come over every day! I have so many things to teach her! Why, I bet the girl can't even cook!"

Sato giggled at her adopted mother's comment. "Kioshi could cook. He was great! He said our mom taught him."

Goten splashed some water on his face. "Yeah?"

Sato nodded, gazing at the sky, where she was sure her real brother was at that very moment. Some birds fled from the forest's edge, the trees seeming to vibrate. The ground tingled slightly, the hum getting firmer and louder with each passing moment until it made the three Sons actually move up and down.

Chi Chi looked around and shot up from her place on the ground. "Kids! Get inside, NOW!" She ran to Goten and Sato, gathering them in her arms before running inside their quaint home, screaming the whole way.

-

mystic_writer: Hmmm what IS going on?? Find out in Chapter 18 of Teal Eyes!