What You Will

AN: So I apologize if the first two chapters had been a little dry. I really need them though to set up the plot for the story. I'll try to take things a little slow this chapter, so the relationships can develop quite nicely. Sometimes I forget, being so caught up in the plot, that I also need to develop the characters' motivations in order for the story to work out. Otherwise, it'll feel a little disconnected and forced? Ugh, writing is hard!

Chapter 3: Of Superheroes and Long Lost Friends

The books came by the end of the week, just like her father promised. They were delivered to Videl's dorm at the crack of dawn – these West City deliverers sure were hardworking – on Friday morning, right on time for her to quit her self-pity before she once again attended her classes that day.

Her classes, though not as dreadful as the first day had been, were still cruelly irksome. The teachers were pitiless, assigning readings and question sets that took hours to complete, all expected the next day. Videl tried to avoid staying up so late at night, because she knew how damaging that would be to her brain, but now she had to wake up at 5:30 am in the morning to continue working on her homework. It was only the fifth day in, and she was already exhausted.

Not good.

She took the books out of the box, admiring their shiny new covers and the smell of freshly pressed papers. Flipping through them, she was almost disheartened to find that she still could not understand any of the ideas she came across, but perked up a little when she found lots of diagrams, with understandable captions written on the bottom. Like her father promised, the books were filled with images. She'd always been quite a visual learner.

Videl snatched her mobile phone out from beneath her sheets, and sent her father a quick thank you message.

7:32 – Thanks, Dad! That was fast.

A few moments later, the device beeped with a response from her father.

7:39 – No problem, sweet pea. Just a reminder you don't need to be stressing yourself out too much. The money is back. That's the most important part for us.

7:41 – I know, Dad. But Miso is right that this is at least worth giving a small shot. If things get too bothersome, we can call it quits.

She put the books on her desk, picking up a couple she thought she needed to begin with. The troubling thought remained that if she hardly found time to finish all of her homework, how could she expect to engage in a personal ramp-up and keep up with the lessons? Maybe... maybe she should accept Gohan's deal after all.

No! She told herself she wouldn't get too involved in the social life here at school. She would be putting everything at risk!

Despite that, she couldn't help but think about Gohan's kind smile and gentlemanly manners. If she was careful, she could maintain a warm friendship with Gohan without endangering her mission. Even if she made a mistake, Gohan did not look like the type to pick up on oddities like that; he was from the mountains after all! Like her, he was in strange territories, which meant he was probably not well versed in what constituted an ordinary life here either. Besides, if Del Natas was required to be a shy, socially-challenged guy to keep attention away from herself, wouldn't Gohan be a perfect companion to observe and to model?

Alright, but I have to think through this clearly. I cannot jump into decisions, just because my pride is at stake.

For now, all she would ask him was to point her out to the most important parts of the book, to the sections most relevant to their syllabus, and to the fundamental concepts she must certainly know at the outset. That wasn't too unreasonable, was it?

Videl took one last peek at herself in the mirror, ruffled her wig at the front, then exited her dorm room. One of the things she was infinitely glad about was that up here in the higher floors, each room was given their own bathrooms. The lower floors had to share one common shower room, which would obviously be extremely problematic for her.

The elevator came and went twice, but she ignored it until Gohan came out of his dorm. From the past four days, she had an estimate of when her floormate was most likely to leave for school. Like usual, he wore a shy but energetic grin. His bag was slung casually over his shoulder. And like usual, his attire was spotless, free of wrinkles and stains.

"Good morning, Del! How are you doing?"

Videl shrugged, and assumed the lower-pitched voice she donned when she was in her role. "Doing alright. Had to wake up early though to finish the Lit reading."

His eyes widened. "Oh, what did you think of Kernel's short story? It was fascinating, wasn't it?" Videl chuckled, just in time as the elevator opened again. Gohan had a unique – and she had to admit, quite endearing – trait of actually listening to a person's response when asked how they were doing. Most people she had interacted with, since probably junior high, would shrug off the answer, and instead talk about something else. People were rarely interested in how you were doing these days. But she noticed that Gohan genuinely was.

"I thought the first part was a little boring, filled with flowery prose that did nothing to improve the piece," Videl replied. "But that ending – wow, what an intelligent woman Ms. Pebble was. I wouldn't see that twist if it had hit me on the face!"

Gohan laughed good-naturedly and agreed with her. They made their way to the school building, and proceeded to their classroom for math class. By the time lunch break came around, Videl had solidified her resolve about asking for Gohan's help, telling herself that educational endeavours did not necessarily entail personal closeness. It may lead to it, but she was confident that she'd have enough self-control to prevent that from occurring.

"Hey Gohan," she began as they settled down to eat. "Remember your standing offer about helping me out with some of my courses? I was thinking I'd accept after all."

"Sure thing!" Gohan grinned back at her as he unpacked the lunch he carried. They were outside on one of the wooden benches parked strategically under the canopy of a bushy tree. She watched as he took out tupperware after tupperware from his lunch bag, each one containing a delicious feast. When he caught her looking at his lunch, he laughed uneasily and scratched the back of his head. "It's a lot, huh? I didn't expect the school to serve so little food, so I got hungry the first few days. Thankfully though I have a friend in the city and she offered to give me capsulized lunch boxes each week."

Videl blinked. The school served so little food? She could hardly finish the three course meals during dinner. At lunch time, the students were given only one pack of meal, but it contained quite enough to sustain the students through the next three hours.

"Want some of these?" Gohan tilted one of the containers to reveal seafood fried rice and large spring rolls. Now that she thought about it... yeah, she did.

But she couldn't! Not food. She wasn't ready to go to that level yet. Things always become more complicated after two people had shared food. Mild tutoring? Sure, that wasn't that problematic. Food? Not an option for now.

"Ah, no thanks! Mine is more than enough."

"So what do you need help with? Is it math?"

She pulled out the textbooks she brought along. "Math, among other things. I got these books today, and I was wondering if you could point out all the relevant topics I really need to know about, like right away."

Gohan shifted closer to her – which made her want to pull back, but she thought it would appear strange, so she held her breath and stayed where she was. He inspected the books, flipping through them back and forth, and marking the pages that he told her she might want to look over.

"Which school did you come from?" Gohan asked. "I think most schools would have covered these concepts here," he pointed to several chapters, "but I'd need to know what you already know to point you to the right path."

Videl shrugged, and decided to tell the truth. Sometimes the best way to keep track of all your lies was to align them with some kind of honesty. "Orange Star High."

"Orange Star?" Gohan looked at her with wide eyes. "Isn't that in Satan City?"

Videl nodded. "Yup. City of the World Champ, alright."

"That's a long way away!" Gohan remarked. Videl was surprised that that was the first comment he had to make; usually Satan City residents were asked if they had ever met the very Champ himself. Well, Gohan was from the mountains after all; perhaps Hercule Satan wasn't as luxurious a topic over there as he was in his own city.

She felt a warm pleasantness. It was nice. Nice to not be associated with any kind of prestige and celebrity status – and all the implications that came with them – for the first time.

"Long way? Look who's talking, mountain boy," she retorted, smiling back at him. "I don't think coming from another city, even though several hours away, can really be compared to coming down from the Paozu mountains."

"Hehe, that is true," he chuckled, and begin flipping through the pages again. Videl told him which concepts she was already familiar with, but apart from the first couple of chapters, she couldn't offer any more comments.

For a while Gohan was quiet while he continued to mark some of the pages of the textbooks before them. And then he looked back up at her with a shy gleam in his eyes.

"Have you heard of Videl Satan?"

She choked on the fried noodles in her mouth.

Shit! Holy smokes!

Time's up. Her internal alarm was going off. She must flee this now red-zoned lunch table.

How could she have ever hoped that they would not cross this bridge? She brought up the topic of Satan City herself! How careless! What a lousy time to start thinking about keeping track of her lies.

"Uh... what made you ask that?" Videl began packing her chopsticks away and putting the lid back on her plastic food container.

"Well, you're from Satan City," he explained. "I heard Videl Satan helps fight crimes there. Have you ever seen her?"

"Nope. Never. I'm quite... reclusive, you know. Even back home. Never really had much opportunity to go outside, so I don't really get to interact with vigilantes, if you know what I mean." She placed the lunch box inside her backpack, and began reaching for her books.

"Oh, you're leaving already?" Gohan asked looking disappointed. "But I haven't taken a look at the Physics textbook yet!"

"Uh, yeah, I really have to –"

"Oh, I know what it is!" Gohan exclaimed, eyes wide with chagrin.

"...wait, you do?"

"You don't like talking about the Champ, do you?" he smiled kindly. "That's okay. I can understand. If you've lived in Satan City for a long time, I'm sure you're pretty fed up with talk of him."

Videl blinked. Okay, she could play along with this. "Yeah," she sighed. "You're exactly right."

He beamed. "Well, why don't we talk about something else, huh? Actually, I know a few things you might be interested in!" his smile grew wider, more excited.

Really, now? And here she was just thinking that Del couldn't have been so transparent that his motivations could be read so easily. Ugh, she really needed to take acting classes.

"It's about a science fair!" he whispered, as if sharing a vile secret conspiratorially.

Oh! Well, at least her efforts of making Del look like a nerd was going well.

"Wow, a science fair!" she exclaimed, trying to act excited about the prospect.

"But bigger," Gohan said. "Much bigger! It's going to be an international tournament among high school kids. There are major companies who would be funding the research projects. The winner of the fair would be recruited to the company who gave the highest funds to the school the winner came from, and their project would be fully patented."

"Interesting," Videl said. And she realized that she wasn't pretending anymore. If major companies were giving out funds to schools – and this whole tournament thing sounded like it would be pretty expensive – could this perhaps be related to the financial thefts in West City Academy? "How come this isn't well known yet?"

"Oh, they are trying to keep things on the down low right now, while the details are still being ironed out. They don't want anyone to get a lead on anything, but I got insider access!" He beamed. He truly seemed as if he was zealous about this whole thing.

"Insider access? What do you mean?"

He leaned in closer, and much to her chagrin, she found herself blushing. Videl, stop that! She reprimanded herself. She looked away from him instead, but still she could feel his breath on her cheeks the way he spoke to her so closely.

"I received the news from Bulma Briefs herself! Capsule Corps is investing quite a bit in it."

Hold on. Red flags.

"Bulma Briefs?" she glanced back at him, incredulous. "You mean, the CEO of Capsule Corps?"

"Yeah!"

"You're acquainted with her?"

Gohan nodded. "She's an old family friend."

What? Bulma had connections in the Paozu ranges? This was startling news! How could a humble boy from the mountains be friends with one of the richest women in the world? She didn't mean to be so judgmental, and it wasn't like the prospect was entirely impossible, but she just thought... she had always assumed people like Bulma (and to an extent, her own father), would be spending their days making connections with other powerful people.

This could mean two things: her assumption had been wrong and totally baseless, or that Gohan was actually from a powerful lineage that had somehow managed to evade the attention of the rest of the world.

"She even helped me pay the tuition fees for this school," Gohan went on.

"Oh, I thought you were on scholarship," she said, trying to mask the sound of gears turning in her brain. She had to keep up some semblance of conversation.

'I am, but WCA doesn't give nearly enough to cover the expenses." He even held up his tupperware. "She's also the one who gave me the capsules for these!"

"I hope you don't think I'm being too nosy, but what's your family name?"

"Son." He didn't look like he was bothered she asked.

Son Gohan. There was a familiarity to the sound of that name, not exactly the same, but similar enough; it was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't quite get a grasp on it.

Hmm... Videl made sure to file this new information away in her mind to dig up later. She was sure there could be more to this than it seemed. It could be entirely innocent, but her hunches tended to be right, and she wasn't going to ignore the insistent pulsing in her guts that told her there was something fishy about all this.

When she realized that Gohan was gouging her reaction, she smiled. "That's really interesting! I didn't know you were affiliated with such an amazing woman, Gohan. But looking at how well-mannered you are, I don't doubt that you probably have a hoard of them at your beck and call!"

Gohan blushed, and denied her insinuation. "Nah, it's just Bulma, really. She met my parents years ago, way back when. It's nothing recent." He laughed.

-o-

That afternoon once classes were all over, Videl locked herself away in her dorm room.

Reporting time.

Closing all the windows and the door, she double inspected her small room to make sure it was impossible for anyone to spy or glance in on her. Then she went to her desk, fired up the app on her computer that created a secure and encrypted connection through a VPN to the West City Police Department headquarters. Since this would be a quick catch up, she wasn't required to visit their headquarters. They set up their interactions that way; Miso thought it would be much more conspicuous if Videl had to frequently go back and forth to their station. They saved those for the big reports and planning.

She logged onto the video streamer, and within seconds, Officer Miso's face appeared.

"Del Natas," she replied. "Here to report on the treasure hunt."

Miso grinned, and winked. "Oh, hello there! Who dressed you up this morning, young 'un? Here I thought you were a shabby bookworm who lost their way in Cyberspace." He let out a good natured laugh.

Videl rolled her eyes. Miso was easy going, but that also made it difficult to bargain with him.

"Oh, I don't know, those shoe platforms you gave me don't seem to be working," Videl teased.

"Well I'll send another pair or two your way, how about that?"

"Thanks." Another window popped up at the bottom right of the screen, showing the video stream for one of their other expected companions.

"Hey, sorry I'm a little late," the woman replied, pushing away her deep blue hair from her eyes. Mrs. Bay B. Blue was their contact in West City Academy itself. She was the one who reported the theft in the first place. In order to contain the scandal, they kept the news within a small circle made up of selected school staff, cops, and Videl and her father.

Speaking of Hercule, he logged on a little after Blue did, looking a little cramped and uncomfortable.

"Are you in a bathroom?" Videl asked.

"Yeah. In the Star 97.1 studio. I have a radio interview in five minutes," Hercule explained, clearly trying to keep his voice down.

"You don't have to come to these meetings at all, Mr. Satan," Officer Miso said. "Videl can relay messages to you if you want. It's more risky if you keep doing this. What if you get caught?"

"Hey, I've got a lot at stake here!" Hercule exclaimed, and then realized just where he was. He lowered his voice as he continued, "I just endorsed this school! What would happen to my credibility if word got out that WCA loses more than half a million zennies on a whim? We have to catch this guy immediately!"

Mrs. Bay B. Blue nodded. "Yeah, something tells me this wouldn't be an isolated incident. The culprit got away with too much for far too little. There's a good chance they'll try again."

"Plus, let's not forget that the value stolen seems much too precise to simply be a mischievous theft. We're dealing with a pro here," Officer Miso said. "Well, Videl, what do you have for us today?"

Videl shrugged. "Not much actually. A couple of curious rumours and a hungry thief raiding the school kitchens. That's about it."

"Tell us more about the rumours."

"Glowing and flying humanoids, cars going through buildings... things you could probably see in a movie."

Blue gasped. "I heard a little bit about those! I thought they were from a movie. They're real after all?"

"As real as rumours can be," Videl said. "But get this. Apparently these strange occurrences happened three days after the theft. At midnight."

She let that fact sink in among her peers. Officer Miso was the first to realize the implications. "Three days! Why, that was when we – hold on, why didn't we know about this then? Around what time did it happen?"

"I really don't know much about the details," Videl said. "Only the vague content of the rumours. Most of the people I've heard talking about these rumours were young people. Which wouldn't be surprising since a lot of youths stay up late at night doing who knows what."

"Well, maybe they were a bit too tipsy to see exactly what was going on," Hercule chimed in. "It could be possible that these rumours hold absolutely no weight."

Miso whistled, his brows drawing close together. "I'd understand why we might have missed it if it happened after the operation. But if it happened during or before... don't you think it's much too big for us to not have noticed?"

"The black out had only been for sixty seconds," Videl reminded them, though if she was trying to reassure them or herself, she couldn't quite tell. Could something so big really have happened in such a short time?

"Rumours don't usually start during an event," Blue said consolingly. "Usually they come to life shortly after the incident. Maybe Hercule is right. It could just be figments of the imagination of some late-night troublemakers."

Videl nodded at the possibility. "Aside from that, on Monday night I found somebody sneaking and eating in the school's kitchens. I didn't get a good look at him, but he was there, and I could tell he wasn't supposed to be, because he ran away when I made some noise. I know that all our prime suspects are from the staff, but couldn't it be possible that the thief is a student?" Videl had realized this after that night, and had made sure to inspect her classmates extra closely.

Officer Miso shook his head. "This can be just a petty brat who feels too constrained with getting whatever he wants, and kitchen theft sounds adventurous enough. But I wouldn't discount it immediately. After all, anyone who is able to steal into the school's well-guarded data centre would have no qualms whatsoever with breaking and entering a kitchen."

There wasn't much that the others could also offer. It was difficult to analyze a situation when there were still so many unknown variables. Videl mentioned the international science fair that many corporations were planning to host, but just like the previous two things she reported, they could not quite make out how everything fit in.

"Perhaps we can find out which companies would be participating," Blue suggested, and Officer Miso approved that as an inexpensive next task. They wrapped up their meeting with Miso telling Videl to keep at it, and to visit the station by Sunday night.

When their conference fully ended, Videl fired up her browser and began to search for the name 'Son Gohan'. What she found surprised her. 'Son Gohan' was a name of a man, now deceased, who had been a martial artist. He had trained under one named Master Roshi. Not much else was known about him, but one document she found reported that the old man lived up in Mount Paozu.

Another document matched the name 'Son' with 'Goku'. He was the winner of the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament – no wonder his name was vaguely familiar! Apparently, this man also trained with Master Roshi and lived up in the mountains. He was documented as a superb martial artist, with impressive reviews from the 21st and 22nd Martial Arts Tournament when he was still a very young boy. He had married the Ox King's daughter (the Ox King, being another one of Roshi's students). There were no recent news of him.

Well if Goku and Chichi married eighteen years ago, that would make Gohan the right age to be their son, Videl thought. Not to mention that if Goku was somehow related to the senior Gohan, then it would explain why the name was the same.

She felt an uneasiness in her core. It might turn out that she made the wrong decision to befriend Gohan. He had martial arts in his blood. It would be so easy to slip up and make a mistake if he ever brought the topic up.

Videl sighed, then shut off her computer, and began writing down what she had on her hands. Perhaps things weren't related at all, but there was no harm in trying to see a much bigger picture.

Odd rumours. Hungry robber. A giant science fair. An attractive home-schooled boy from the mountains, who was simultaneously related to the richest woman in the world and the most powerful martial artists in history, coming down to the city to go to school for the first time.

This was one heck of a puzzle.

-o-

Videl, Videl, Videl...

Videl Satan. Daughter of the Earth's Saviour, the World Champ, the Mighty Hero, Hercule Satan. Gohan drummed his fingers on the top of his desk, as he scanned the rest of Dragopedia's article on the young crime-fighter. Satan was the winner of the first junior division in the last World Martial Arts Tournament. She began lending her fighting skills to uphold justice on April 19, 770, during what became known as the Peanut Plaza Bullet Storm.

Most of the article highlighted achievements and popular events. There was actually very little about her personal life. She had a knack for evading paparazzis when she wasn't out fighting crimes. Gohan went back to the previous page, and went through several other sites listed on the results of his query. They all repeated pretty much the same thing. There was a small shrine from a dedicated fan that had collected images of her starting from when she was a young twelve year old competing in the tournament, but they didn't add any more information than what Dragopedia had documented.

The frustrated Gohan.

It wasn't like he was obsessed. People probably looked up other people on the Interweb all the time – otherwise, how did a site like Dragopedia become so popular? And he knew how rabid fans could get; he'd seen it happen with Yamucha, and even Bulma herself. He was definitely not like even the tamest of them.

Gohan was merely curious.

Had it really been Videl that night? Her chi was unmistakeable... but then again, he'd been thinking about her quite often lately. Could it had just been a trick of the mind? A wishful delusion because he wanted so much to meet her again?

But chis didn't work like that, did they? Gohan had over ten years of fighting experience now, and chi sensory had rarely failed or misled them.

So if indeed she had been there, what in the world was she doing?

Gohan rubbed his eyes, and turned off this computer. Was it any business of his really where Videl Satan spent her time? He hardly knew her, and she didn't even know he existed, and the only time he'd actually spent in the same vicinity as her could be summed up in less than half an hour. He'd let it go for now. What was it to him?

In the meantime, he should probably head home.

He tucked in his chair, and snapped on the watch Bulma gave him earlier that week. He still hadn't had the opportunity to use it yet. But hopefully that would change soon. He grabbed his packed back, and shot out from his window to the dorm's rooftop with a speed he was sure would make him look nothing more than a speck of dust blown off in the wind. He pushed the red button, and within seconds he felt the outfit mold itself about his form. His vision darkened with the shaded visor, and his hands were wrapped in flexible gloves. He took off to the sky, passing by the school's tower.

His image was warped on the metal of the parabolic tower, the red and green and black morphing into a distorted image that resembled him only slightly. But Gohan didn't care. He knew he looked awesome.

Gohan had talked with his Mom, letting her know that he was going to come home for dinner. Their arrangement of having him home for the weekends was something he agreed to quite readily, because he didn't think he'd last that long without feeling bitterly homesick for his mother and his little brother.

Gohan marveled at the way the suit reacted to his high speed. Bulma was certainly indulgent when it came to him. It was almost as if she knew he'd resort to these kinds of extra-curricular activity. He wondered briefly what his mother would say about this whole fighting business. He knew she sent him here to secure his future as a competent and well-functioning member of society. Having an alter ego and beating people up wouldn't be her kind of proper preparation for that future. Still, there was a deeply ingrained feeling of justice in him, one that he felt was breached earlier this week by what he saw at the plaza.

The thing was, after all these years, the kind of monsters he and his friends had begun expecting to see were those who fell from the sky, threatening to blow the entire Earth away into the other world. But just because humans were less dangerous, it did not mean they were less culpable, did it? Gohan, out of all people, knew how powerful human emotions could be, and these people around him, all of them, had intentions and motivations. It would be arrogant to think that all of those aligned with his.

He shot off to the sky, knowing that it was difficult to catch even a fleeting glimpse of him that way. He roamed the city for a while, so that he could observe what was going on beneath him. Friday afternoons in the city was a buzz. He guessed that people were just excited to be free from obligations, and were out to have some fun. He himself felt a little too wound up from having been stuck in such an artificial environment for five days. There was a significant difference between studying at his comfortable desk at home and studying in a classroom with thirty other students.

At least he had Del to talk with. His mother would be pretty happy to know that he'd made friends so easily! He was quite surprised himself. Independence didn't really bother him too much, but it was easier to have someone to be with for the next several months.

Below him he noticed a bus winding between lanes on a highway, speeding as if there was a carnivorous dinosaur chasing after it. But there was nothing trailing it, save for the smoke its wheels and exhaust were producing. Even from up here, he could hear the panicked honking of the cars as they tried to avoid the rogue bus. From his vantage point, he could already see that there were crashed vehicles along the roads that it had passed, most likely caused by desperate attempts to avoid it. There didn't seem to be any sign that it would slow down.

Probably carjackers.

Gohan sighed. Just when he was thinking about bad people, they showed up. He swooped down to land on the roof of the bus. He crouched over the front to look through the windshield. The driver gasped when he saw him.

"Hey punk!" he exclaimed, his voice carrying through the opened windows. "Get off the bus! Now! You'll get hurt!"

Hurt? Gohan observed the driver. He was wearing the official uniforms all local transit drivers were required to wear. The wearied and panicked expression on his face told him that it was probably not his idea to drive this bus so recklessly. That would mean that he was being forced to. Somehow.

Gohan swung around and entered the bus. He was welcomed with gasps and blank stares.

"Are you here to help us out?" a voice asked him, and he turned around to see a worried old woman clutching her purse.

"What's going on?" Gohan asked. The commuters were looking at him strangely.

"Just who are you?" the driver asked again. "This is no place for a punk in a Halloween costume. In case you didn't hear of it, there is a bomb attached to this vehicle that would detonate if we reduce the speed limit! This is the slowest I'm allowed to drive!"

Gohan was startled to hear that.

"Then quickly, we need to get the people off!" he said.

"And how exactly are we going to do that when this bus is going 180 km per hour?" The driver asked. "The police can barely catch up to us!"

Gohan looked out the window. They were on one of the many highway bridges across the city. The hover cars were lucky that they were able to float away from the lanes, but the terrestrial vehicles had no such options. The police cars were blocked.

"How much road do we have?" Gohan asked.

"Quite a bit but not for very long."

Alright. There were about fifteen or so passengers in the bus. He could carry perhaps four without harming anyone.

He took the old woman to his right and threw her over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked.

"Trying to save you," Gohan explained as he grabbed a couple of more people, and flew out of the bus. The people in his arms and over his shoulder began screaming their heads off, trying to escape his grip.

"Wait, stop it you guys!" he said. "I'm going to put you down somewhere safe." He flew quickly over down to the ground below the highway bridge. The four people he managed to carry with him landed gently on the pavement, looking at him with bewildered expressions.

"Just who are you?" the old woman asked.

Gohan balked at that. He can't exactly just tell them his name, otherwise the whole point of this disguise would be moot! And silly him for not realizing sooner that he'd need a name for his alter-ego.

"Uh... right. That is a very good question. Let me get back to you." Leaving it at that, he flew back to the bus. When he was inside, he began throwing people onto his shoulders again, when the driver and the passengers near the front of the bus began yelling with horror.

Ahead the bridge was quickly coming to an end. Devoid of choices that didn't require slowing down for a turn, it appeared as if the driver had been forced to take the route of the unfinished bridge.

"What are we gonna do?"

"Jump off!" A panic-stricken man yelled, and he threw open the window closest to him. As he suggested, he leapt out of it, causing more panic to erupt from within the bus.

Gohan quickly shot out of the bus, flew down to the man who jumped out, and added him to the pile of bodies on his back. He slowed down as they reached the ground, where he deposited the shocked passengers. He wasted no time returning to the bus this time around.

However, when he got there, he noticed that there was a copter flying alongside it now. The copter was tilted at an angle, with a harness connecting one of its landing skids to a ridge on the top of the bus. Its door was wide open, and he could see people being helped into the copter by two cops and –

Videl Satan!

He flew straight to the bus door, startling all three of them. Videl quickly recovered from her surprise, but gave him a healthy doze of a curious glare, before pulling another passenger inside.

"Hurry up!" she yelled at one of the commuters, a man, who hesitated at the edge of the bus's doorway. Gohan grabbed the man's arm and flew him the rest of the way to Videl's copter. She looked at Gohan with wide eyes, but helped the passenger enter her copter anyway.

There were only a couple of passengers left now, include the driver. But they were also nearing the dead end.

"Come on! There's not much time!" Videl yelled, as one of the passengers began scaling the connector. From inside Gohan heard a desperate cry. He looked to his side and found that the road had come to an end. The bus tilted over, and caused the remaining passenger to fall down onto the dashboard at the front of the bus. For a moment it teetered there, still tied to the helicopter. The wheels were still turning due to inertia, but Gohan knew that eventually it would slow down and the bus would detonate. He grabbed a hold of one of the window frames to stop the bus from falling down to its demise and carrying the copter with it.

In a quick motion, he tilted the vehicle a little towards the helicopter, so that the man could roll out of it and onto the helping hands of the cops.

"Watch out!" Videl shouted, and she pointed to the wheels that were now starting to slow down.

Gohan waited only a split second to cut off the harness, before throwing the bus up into the sky, where it exploded a moment later.

The group watched the bright, orange flashes and dark fumes as broken pieces of metal rained down on the city below them. Gohan saw that the spot had been cleared by the police, so the falling debris didn't hurt anyone.

He followed the helicopter as it flew down to the ground. He didn't know whether it was okay to stick around, but it seemed a little rude if he just took off without even making sure that the people he had carried to safety were okay. But when he landed, he was told to stay put by the cops. A moment later, Videl stepped out of the copter, and walked towards him.

He thought he should be courteous so he gave her a wave. She ignored it.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

Oh man, I really didn't think this through!

Gohan looked around, trying to see if anything would inspire him to come up with a good name for himself. There was a fake palm tree planted on a pot near a swimsuit store. The Extreeme Hero? Nah, nobody would get the pun unless he had them spell it out. By another corner of the street, a lonely tech shop huddled quietly between two large retail stores. Lightning Voltz? That sounded –

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Videl exclaimed. She was about a foot in front of him now, staring at him with an intensity that might just crack the visor of his helmet.

"That's right!" Gohan said, grasping for whatever shreds of thought remained in his mind. "I'm uh... I'm the... I'm someone named... the Great Saiyaman!" Whoa, that floated out nicely from his mouth.

Videl squinted her eyes, opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again.

Wow! Is she so impressed she's speechless? Gohan thought.

"Do you think this is some kind of a joke?" she yelled, face both furious and incredulous at the same time.

"Wha – no, no! Definitely not. What makes you think I'm not taking this–"

"Why are you here?" she interrupted. "In this weird... attire? This is serious police work. People are getting hurt. They might get killed if we're not careful. There's no time for flash and pomp. And certainly no tricks!"

"Those weren't tricks!" Gohan protested. "You were there. You saw exactly what I did."

"I don't know what you did," she crossed her arms. "So you'll have to explain yourself."

Gohan shifted uneasily. Behind Videl, he saw the paramedics taking care of the people who were in the bus. Some had serious injuries, but others were just told to sit and take a drink. Some of the cops were looking their way strangely.

"Why is this important now?" Gohan asked. "Isn't it more important to find out who installed that bomb on the bus and how to catch him?"

"He'd already been caught, don't you worry about that, Saiyaman," Gohan didn't miss the slight mockery in her voice, and was taken aback by her reaction. "He's a bitter, old employee of the transit company. Dismissed for what he felt were unreasonable terms, and he was out to get them back. I don't even know why I need to tell you this. You weren't even part of the rescue team. I realize that you helped save people's lives and deserve some kind of gratitude, but at the same time, you put us all in a great risk! Having unexpected intervention really threw us off back there."

Although her voice became less harsh by the end, she looked him over again, and her eyes narrowed once again. "Tell me, how are you able to float like you did?"

"Hey Videl!" one of the cops called. "We need you to make some statements for the report." She turned around to glance at the man, and Gohan took this opportunity to leave her interrogation. He shot up to the sky, and barely heard Videl's surprised cry of dismay.

When he was among the clouds, high enough that West City was only a dot below him, he switched off his Saiyaman suit, and rocketed through the sky to get back to his house.

Okay.

That definitely was not the reaction he was hoping for. It was a bit underwhelming, if he had to admit so. Well, he certainly didn't daydream about hugs and kisses and fanatical faintings, but a little thank you would have been nice. (And perhaps a little admiration for this incredible costume.) He did, after all, help them out with their task.

Alright. Gohan admitted to himself that he was quite disappointed. That was his very first encounter with Videl! And she wasn't even impressed by his totally fabulous gear! Bulma had probably worked hard on it, and besides, he was certain it suited him well.

Gohan felt his face heat up. Sheesh. He'd known of Krillin's crush on Android 18, and he'd been on the receiving end of many of Yamucha's tales about the girls the former bandit had dated, but Gohan never knew quite for certain how it felt to be interested.

It felt slightly unhealthy, and that kind of worried him.

In any case, perhaps it would actually be better this way. If she was unimpressed, then she most likely wouldn't be interested in who he was. Even though he wanted to interact with her, he couldn't afford to let his identity slip out so easily. Otherwise, what was the point? Son Gohan himself would never be able to fight alongside a high-profile girl like Videl. But as Saiyaman... nobody knew who he was. Nobody would be able to stop him if he popped in to lend a helping hand once in a while.

And as one who always looked on the bright side, none of the people were gravely injured. None of them died, at least not any of the ones that were already there by the time he got to them. Either way, he got his mission accomplished. He kicked some major butts in his new suit! That was the most important part: try to keep the city as safe as possible.

Not Videl. Nope.

With that uplifting thought, Gohan headed home, eager to taste his mother's cooking once again.

-o-

Sharpner watched the commotion from his hovercar with an emotion that was sort of like a mix between amusement, indifference and irritation. The roads had been blocked, so there went his plans for a nice, pampered afternoon splurging on hair products.

What saved him from throwing a tantrum of course, was noticing a certain raven-haired girl appear on the news, which he had been watching on his car's holo-pod while he was stuck on the highway. A certain girl that he had been thinking about quite a bit these past few days, ever since he visited his father, and thrown out the profile for Ms. Little Politician.

A small part of him was in doubt; could he really trust his luck to bring him Videl Satan at the moment he needed it? It seemed a little... out of character for Life to bestow such an opportunity on Sharpner Pencil. It almost made him feel scared, as he rounded his car towards the nearest exit as soon as he could, and to find the intersection where policemen and paramedics stood crowding around the group of victims. He couldn't get in too close, because large orange pylons blocked off the way, so he parked behind an angry ambulance.

He spotted Videl near the edge of the crowd talking with Mr. Helmet-Dude-Needs-Fashion-Tip. Sharpner didn't know what the news was talking about – the guy possessed flying abilities and superhuman strength apparently. He basically had to scrape his jaw off the floor when the video showed footage caught on camera of this guy taking four people out of the speeding bus, and dropping them safely on the ground. It didn't even look like a fake stunt, but the flashy clothes sure made him question whether some F-TV crew would show up and tell them all they got punked.

Unsurprisingly, Videl seemed quite invested in grilling the dude. Sharpner felt an irritation spark inside him. He didn't know much about Videl. For a celebrity's daughter – and a bit of a celebrity herself – she was quite private, and there weren't much on the net he could find lending some light on the types of guys she liked. Papparazzis themselves find it a waste of time to trail her, because they lose more energy than the amount of money they would receive from having her picture taken (surprisingly). But of course, he shouldn't be surprised that a guy who showed as much skill as this man apparently should catch Videl's eye.

So that made things a little tough for him. Shouldn't be a big deal, should it? He's got his charms and good looks to rely on!

The guy flew away after a moment, and Sharpner squinted to look for any harnesses or steam-powered boots, but the guys was so fast, he didn't have the opportunity to do so. Curiosity tugged at him. His father would definitely make this a big deal once he caught wind of the news. His father always made everything a big deal.

Still, he shook himself. It had been a pretty weird day. Hopefully the weirdness would extend to some kind of luck with Videl.

He waited until the crowd had dispersed. Most of the cops had gone, all the passengers had been safely delivered to the hospital. He kept his eyes on Videl, trying to see where she would go. She walked off the scene in a calm manner, crossing the street and heading towards the shop centre. Sharpner made his move, and followed her. He tried to be discreet. He often made sure to look at the window shops to make himself look like he was an ordinary window shopper (but with money).

Videl, for all her casualness, was a brisk walker. She was looking from side to side, almost as if watching for someone. She looked back, almost directly at him, and Sharpner stopped in his tracks, whistling, acting as if something caught his attention. Unfortunately, the shop beside him was a lingerie store, and he blushed when an old woman caught him looking, and shook her head.

"It's for my girlfriend, you old prude!" he yelled after her.

When he looked back up at the street ahead, Videl was gone.

"Dammit!" he muttered, and he sped up. The street forked into three paths, two of them leading into more street shops, and the other one was the beginning of a rundown alleyway. He was sure Videl would never go into the alley, so he focused his search on the other two. Both were extremely crowded. It was Friday afternoon, and the whole city surely thought it was about time to make up for their drab attires from the previous four days. Bah! He hated shoppers. Always got in his way.

A weight pounced on him from the back, arms encircling his neck and dragging him backwards into the alley. Before he could even finish his fearful yelp, a hand smacked him straight across the face, the momentum carrying him to the ground, where he hit his head particularly hard on the stinky pavement.

"Uggh," he groaned.

"Who are you, and why are you following me?" a distinctly feminine voice asked him.

Sharpner was still crouched over, hand clutching his face where he had been hit. He tried to turn his head to get a look at his assailant, but a searing pain shot up his neck. All he could manage to do was roll over on his back, and squint up at the person.

At first he didn't recognize who she was, shadowed by the intense afternoon sun. And then his vision adjusted and he saw –

"Kami!" he exclaimed.

"What?" she said. "No, fortunately for you I'm not, otherwise I would have incinerated you on the spot."

"You're Videl!"

"Oh, so you know who I am?" she asked, before reaching down for his collar and pulling him up. The pain on his neck returned, and he groaned against her hold. She pushed him back against the brick wall. "Tell me, what's your business following me around?" she tightened her grip against his neck.

Spluttering before Videl Satan was not the highlight of his day. Nor his life. But the pain still throbbed through him, and he was way too overjoyed at being within ten inches of his target.

"I... I was just admiring!" he confessed. "It isn't everyday a guy meets his crush on the street?"

She made a face, then released him immediately.

"You think I'm falling for that?"

Sharpner coughed. The pain was fading a bit now, and he was able to comb his hand through his golden hair. "You tell me, baby. Are you falling for me?"

She made the same face, and distanced herself a bit more.

Okay Sharpner, you probably need to tone down the cool, Sharpner told himself. Otherwise she'll just keep backing away.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

Sharpner made his eyes big and innocent; he even assumed the pose of someone who was mildly interested but determined. Well, at least he tried. He didn't know if that was possible. He was going with a new pick-up tactic here. Something extra special for an extra special project.

"Not much," he shrugged. "Only perhaps... a date?"

"A DATE?" Videl yelled, then slammed him back onto the wall. Gripping his collar, she whispered to him, seething, "Listen here you punk! The only date you're gonna get is the date I report you to the police. And that would be today, within the next few hours if you don't stop pestering me."

She released him harshly as she backed away from the alley. Then, before completely running away, she turned back and warned, "You'll be lucky if I report you to the police. Otherwise I'd be dealing with you myself!"

Then she was gone. She had blended among the crowds that Sharpner lost sight of her within seconds.

He smirked. That was a wonderful start. First meeting and he had already touched her! How amazing. And their interaction lasted exactly two minutes and thirty seven seconds. That was a lot more than the three seconds he was hoping for. Seems like life has been turning up for the first time since he could remember.

Sharpner wasn't dumb. At least not all the time. He knew that relying on the dragonballs to save him from this life would be a little cowardly. All that would prove was that he couldn't handle this life by himself, and that he needed some divine intervention to make things turn up for him. But courting Videl... that was all in his power. That was all in his skills. If he succeeded with this, it would prove a lot.

It didn't mean those genie balls were out of his plans. Nope... they'd just be plan B. Ha, and here his father thought Sharpner had never learned anything from their projects.

-o-

Videl exited the changing rooms of one of the cheaper dress stores. Their rented space consisted of only wooden walls, and unappealing metal racks of clothes. The changing room itself was only the corner of the room covered by a thick canvas. She liked this place: no cameras. There weren't a lot of people, but there were enough that nobody paid any attention when she entered the store as a girl, and left it as a boy.

Her altercation with the blond guy earlier unnerved her. Although he appeared quite helpless, it could just be some very good acting on the part of a professional spy. She wouldn't know. What if someone had discovered that she was investigating the WCA's financial loss? That could end her mission before it even really began.

Had she been too careless somehow? What had she done, and when, that could have alerted someone of her cover?

There was no helping it. She'd have to bring this up to Miso on their Sunday meeting.

Perhaps she should stop helping around the city. After all, Videl Satan was supposed to be at Satan City, doing her senior year at home with several private tutors. That had been her father's excuse to pull her out of Orange Star High. The records for these tutoring sessions would have to be fabricated, and her grades obtained through the city's standardized tests.

But this also meant that she couldn't be seen too often in West City. After all, it was several hours away from Satan City, and even if they argue that her tutors were lenient, it would soon look too suspicious.

Damn! It wasn't like she could just let people be harmed!

Plus, how could she just disappear right when that Saiyaman dude began floating around? She had never seen him anywhere, and by the looks on everyone's faces on site of the incident, nobody had ever heard of him before either.

And please, one would have to be an idiot not to see the red flags all over this guy's funky helmet. He obviously had super speed – nobody could get eight people off a speeding bus that fast, especially when the bridge was ten stories high. Obviously he also had the ability to float. Trying to think about that mind-boggling ability already made Videl's head hurt. And finally, he had super strength.

He definitely had something to do with those rumours. She was sure of it. There was a warm glow in the pit of her stomach. Finally, she's gotten a lead. What those supernatural beings had to do with the thief, she didn't know. Maybe nothing. Maybe she was just be grasping on straws here, but straws were better than nothing.

Videl had reached a part of the neighbourhood that was only several minutes away from West City Academy. It was a nice suburban area, full of trees planted at intervals beside the sidewalk. The houses, mostly bungalows, were a stark contrast from the high-rise condominium buildings surrounding the WCA campus.

Videl followed a short curb in the road, and found a large, fancy building. Unlike WCA, which borrowed architectural components from the old days, this building was as modern as Capsule Corps.' headquarters. There was a big, central dome, which other smaller domes surrounded in a floral pattern. The walls were painted slightly pink, with gold and silver trimmings for the frames. The low gate that bordered the block proudly displayed the name "Corn Street High".

Oh. She didn't know there was another high school nearby.

"Hi, can I help you?" a voice behind her asked.

Videl whipped back around, afraid that she was being stalked again.

But the person behind her was not someone she would ever expect to be dangerous; still, seeing her made her heart pound with surprise and apprehension.

"Erasa?" Videl whispered.

The blonde blinked hard. "Huh? Hey, how do you know my name?" Then she flashed an eager smile, and laughed. "I'm sorry. If we've met before, I don't remember you. Blame my bad memory for that!"

Uh... darn. I have to be careful! This whole sneaking around business is way out of my comfort zone!

"Nah, I mean... I just mean that you sorta look like someone whose name is Erasa..." Videl lamely explained.

The blonde cocked her head, brows raised high in question. Then she smiled again amiably. "I guess I do! Now, since we actually haven't met, would you mind sharing your name?"

"Del," Videl said automatically, before wondering if she had better kept it to herself. But there didn't seem to be a point in lying. If she were to stop going around the neighbourhood as Videl, then the only option she had was to call herself 'Del'; otherwise, she'd be keeping tabs on too many lies. She could barely keep up with one.

"Well, hello, Del!" Erasa shook her hand. "Are you new around?"

"I... uh, yeah!"

"Then welcome to West City!" she pointed to the building next to them. "I go here. It's an all-girls' school. Though if you're wondering if it's as good as WCA, let me be the first to dispel those rumours! All my classes are so boring! All the teachers do is talk, talk, talk, and when they stop talking, they start giving out tests! That's all. Everyday. Sometimes I think I'm dying of boredom! Well, I bet if Corn Street High is as good as West City Academy, things would be more interesting! But nobody cares, because the boys gotta have it good, you know? Oh!" she stopped, and blinked owlish eyes at Videl.

"Are you from WCA?" Erasa whispered.

Videl nodded.

"Oh no! I haven't offended you, have I? Don't tell me, you hate me now, right? Ugh, why can't I just keep my big mouth shut?"

"Hey, it's fine!" Videl said waving her hand to stop her former best-friend's self-reprimands. "Trust me, WCA is pretty much similar to how you describe your own school."

It was strange, seeing Erasa here like this after all these years. They used to be best friends, from kindergarten all the way to the start of junior high. But when Videl's father became a well-celebrated world celebrity, they moved from their hometown to Orange City – later renamed Satan City, after her father. She hadn't seen Erasa since. They tried to keep contact, but... well, it was difficult to prevent their friendship from going stale. She didn't even know that Erasa moved to West City to go to high school.

"Oh, does it?" Erasa asked. "Then I guess you guys also don't have fashion courses or merchandising or slam-bookkeeping?"

"Nope. Well, our marketing class in the business department is probably the closest match to all that, but WCA is oriented more towards the sciences."

Erasa opened her mouth to speak again, when all of a sudden, her eyes darted some place behind Videl, and she wrapped Videl up in a tight hug.

"Oh, you sweetie!" she exclaimed quite loudly.

"Wait, Erasa! What are you doing?"

"What's the meaning of this?"

Videl turned around sharply. Huh, no wonder the voice sounded familiar. It was that blond dude from half-an-hour ago!

"You again?" she exclaimed, punching him on the arm. "Why are you following me?"

"Ow!" he grabbed his arm, and sent a poisonous glare at Videl. "Who the hell are you? I've never even seen you! What makes you think we've met, you crazy dumbass?"

Oh crap. I did the thing again.

But to her surprise, Erasa came to the rescue. "Del here goes to West City Academy. Same as you, Sharpner! You've probably seen him around, and just forgot. I wouldn't be surprised. We all know here how terribly forgetful you are. Oh, but you wouldn't remember that now, would you? And by the looks of it, you've probably been harassing poor Del! Look how distressed he is right now."

"He better be distressed," Sharpner loomed over Videl, a good foot or so above her head. He used his height to his advantage, the way he sneered down at her.

Videl began to squirm within Erasa's hold. Man, this day was just getting weirder and weirder. West City was supposed to be the largest metropolitan in the world! How could she keep bumping into the same people again and again? She wiggled out of her Erasa's arms, and placed herself a good distance away from the two. They both began squabbling among themselves. Clearly they knew each other. What did Erasa call this boy? Sharpner?

"Hey, you leave her alone," Videl said, making her voice extra deep. She wondered how much she could get an official voice-changer for. She was sure she could pay it off... perhaps do a little more cleaning up in Satan City, or borrow money from her father temporarily. Or have Miso pay; this was all his idea after all.

"And who do you think you are?" Sharpner glared back. "You little shrimp. Don't you know who I am? Last name's Pencil. Do the math. How about you? Got anything to back you up?"

"Why, of course he does!" Erasa squeaked. "He's my boyfriend!"

"What?" Videl didn't know who said that louder: her or Sharpner.

"You heard me. Boyfriend. Now why don't you scoot. Run along to your pretty little girls and get some paparazzi mug shots. Because everyone knows that's about the only thing you're good for!"

Erasa grabbed Videl's hand, and locked their arms together, while they stared at the now jaw-slacked Sharpner. For a moment, genuine confusion and hurt flashed on his face, but then he just as quickly covered them up with smugness and indifference. Videl didn't miss a beat.

Interesting.

"You'll regret this," he said, in a voice much lower and softer than he had been using.

"I already regret you, Sharpner. Now scoot!"

He left without saying another word.

When he was out of sight, Erasa rolled her eyes and sighed. "Sorry about getting you into that mess."

"That's okay," Videl untangled their arms, discomfort running down her spine. "You didn't really mean that thing... about me being your boyfriend, did you?"

Erasa's eyes widened, almost as if remembering something she had just forgotten. "Oh that! Well, it's up to you," she winked at Videl.

"Well... you're a nice girl and all, but uh... I'd rather not," Videl whispered, hoping that Erasa wouldn't be offended.

Erasa nodded enthusiastically. So much in fact that Videl had trouble believing that she meant it.

Crap, what have I gotten myself into?

AN: Okay, this chapter was SO much fun to write! I wrote it several months ago, and edited it a couple of weeks past. Still, I've been a little caught up in my Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction, so if you see any glaring mistakes, let me know right away! The good thing about writing chapters in advance is that I'm not pressured when it comes to updates, but it also means I forget how each chapter is connected.

EDIT: Hey guys, just putting this out there for those of you who may also be curious about this. Guest left a review for this chapter pointing out Gohan's failure to recognize Del's chi as Videl's.

I guess the answer to this would highly depend on the mechanics of chi in the Dragonball Z world. As far as I know (and I haven't watched DBZ in a while, so forgive me for my knowledge gaps), our heroes can detect a person's chi only when said person is involved in some kind of strenuous activity, which is why they tend to stop flying when they want to mask their chi. What I don't know is to what extent these exertions can go before someone can sense a chi; does merely walking trigger it? Carrying books? If so, then my workaround of having Del not participate in any physical activity would not work, and I have a pretty obvious plot hole in my story once again (it was also in the previous version, and I really wanted to rectify it... hehe).

However, if it is not the case, the reason Gohan was able to sense Videl's chi in the kitchen in Chapter 2, even though he didn't see her, was because she exerted herself in her jump between the tables, and I was hoping that the energy required for both the stealth and the power to jump in a restricted fashion would cross the barrier between the "unsensable" chi and the "sensable" (and yes, I made those words up).

As to the second part of the question, I actually looked up how a car can detect its speed, and it usually does through the number of rotations the wheels make (which is why sometimes speedometers would incorrectly tell you your speed if your wheels don't have optimal radius). The reason Gohan couldn't have just lifted the bus was because eventually the wheels would slow, and trigger the bomb. But yes, I guess Gohan *could* have kept the wheels spinning manually by rolling it with his hand... though they didn't really have time to figure out where the bomb was... I mean, it would definitely have to be connected to the breaking mechanism, but given the technology in the DBZ world, it really could have been anywhere and *still* have access it. Hmm...