Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Truth Hurts More ❯ School Again ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter VI: School Again

 

Everything was going rather well in the Son household early the next morning. That is, until a scream split the silence of the empty mountains.

Goku and Goten burst out of their respective rooms an instant later, Goten still in his pajamas and Goku dressed in nothing besides the blanket he clutched around his waist.

Chi-Chi stood at Gohan's open doorway, frozen in shock. “Chi-Chi, what's wrong?” Goku asked, worried.

Goten moved forward and looked into his older brother's room. It was empty. Goten instantly burst into tears, drawing his parent's attention to him.

“Goten, sweetie, what's wrong?” Chi-Chi asked, picking up the young boy.

Goten spoke brokenly through his sobs. “I saw him… in the bathroom… last night! He was all bloody! But he said he was… all right!”

“My baby!” Chi-Chi screamed, rounding on her husband. “What in the world is happening to my son?!?”

Goku shrugged. “I don't know.” He was more than used to his wife blaming him any time Gohan or Goten did anything improper or strange.

Chi-Chi burst into tear to join her youngest son. “Oh, my precious baby! Now he's injured and missing!”

“But… Gohan's right up there.” Goku pointed up at the ceiling.

Chi-Chi stared at her husband in confusion. They had a one-story house. There was nothing `up there'… except…

“Gohan!” Chi-Chi screamed, rushing out the front door while Goku retreated to get dressed. Chi-Chi stormed outside, glaring up at the roof. Sure enough, Gohan was up there in a seemingly meditative state. “Gohan! Get down from there before you fall and break your neck!”

Disturbed from his calm meditations, Gohan opened an eye. “What?” He asked. “Mother, it's gonna take a lot more than a ten foot fall to break my neck.”

“Don't talk back to me, Mister!” Chi-Chi yelled. “Get down here this instant!” Gohan stood up and floated down to the ground, landing gently. “Do you have any idea how terrified I was when I found your room empty this morning?!?”

“I'm sorry, Mother.” Gohan said quickly. “I needed to clear my head.”

“On the roof?!?” Chi-Chi demanded. “You couldn't do that in your room?”

“It's hard to explain.” Gohan said, trying desperately to hide his blush.

Chi-Chi glared at him. “Inside.”

Gohan flinched and swiftly moved past his rather terrifying mother into the house.

“Get dressed Gohan. And remember what your father told you about your tail.” Chi-Chi paused. “Well, at least if your tail is exposed, we'll have a good excuse.”

“What excuse?”

“A lot of people saw that your father had a tail at the 21st and 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament.” Chi-Chi said. “We could just say that it's a family trait.”

“Oh, sure.” Gohan said unenthusiastically. And let people think that one of my ancestors mated a monkey. “Okay, Mother, I'll go get dressed now.” Gohan assured her. He quickly realized that the lingering Saiyan pheromones had no more effect on him. Probably had something to do with the Full Moon and my tail growing back. Gohan thought to himself, and was rather glad of the fact.

He dressed quickly, wrapping his tail around his waist and hiding it under his clothes. He was pleased to see that his pants did a fairly good job of hiding his tail. Like Goku had said, as long as he kept it still, no one would notice it.

He finished off with his ugly uniform and walked down stairs to join his family for the mountain of food that his mother prepared.

The Saiyans ate quickly and quietly, and once Gohan was done, he grabbed his school bag and ran out the door, taking to the air quickly.

As usual, he made the five-hour-by-car trip in only half-an-hour, and he arrived at school on time for once. Thank Kami all the criminals are hiding out in the wake of Majin Buu. Gohan thought to himself.

School had been a pain since the last World Martial Arts Tournament, since the whole world now knew the identity of the Great Saiyaman. People were now throwing comments his way in the corridor. The most common of which was calling him a “Spider-Man wannabe”, whatever that is.

He made it on time to Homeroom, something the other students were quick to notice. “So, Gohan, no early-morning crime-fighting today?” Erasa asked.

“Um… none at all.” Gohan replied, sitting down in his assigned seat. Maybe Saiyaman can make a disappearing act like the Gold Fighter did. Gohan wondered to himself. Man, that would suck. That was such a good name too.

A few minutes later, just as the bell rang, Videl ran in, and the sensei gave no notice of this. Videl was often late and being called from classes due to her crime-fighting. All the sensei's were more than used to it by now.

She took her seat beside Gohan. “Good morning, Gohan. How are you?”

I was up all night, so I'm really tired. “I'm fine.” Gohan said, looking away from her. He had suddenly remembered how they almost kissed the day before.

The same thought suddenly occurred to Videl, and she adverted her eyes also.

They both had resigned themselves to a long, boring lesson.

In fact, the lesson was so boring for one particular tired student that he showed the class something they had never seen before: Son Gohan, the smartest kid in class, falling asleep in his seat.

Videl noticed right away, that behind his propped up notebook, Gohan's head was resting on his arms, clearly asleep.

The professor went on lecturing. “So, using the Quadratic Formula, and assuming the values of a, b, and c are 1, 6, and 3, what is the value of x, Son Gohan?” The classroom became deathly quiet. The sensei glanced up from his notes. “Mr. Son?”

“I think he's asleep, Sensei.”One of the students called.

The sensei snorted, and then picked up one of his erasers. The class fell even quieter so you could now hear a pin drop. This particular sensei was known for his deadly aim at sleeping students.

The eraser went flying, and struck Gohan on the top of his head. He was awakened, and stood up instantly. “What? What?”

“I asked you a question, Mr. Son.” The sensei said.

“Oh… um… could you repeat it?” Gohan asked nervously. The sensei did so. “X is equal to -0.551 and -5.449.” Gohan answered instantly.

The sensei glared at him. “You saved yourself this time, Mr. Son. Thanks to your understanding of the material. But I still do not allow nap time in my classroom, understand?”

“Yes, sir!” Gohan responded instantly. “Sorry, sir.” He sat down, cursing himself for falling asleep in class. Kami forbid the sensei should call his mother! If Chi-Chi found out her son were sleeping in class, he'd be in for the beating of his lifetime! Even worse than when that Ginyu muscle head on Namek broke his neck, even worse than when Cell nearly took off his arm.

He could sense the rest of the class staring at him, so he turned his full attention on Sensei to ignore them.

Why do I get the feeling this is gonna be a long day? Gohan wondered to himself.

~~~~~~~~~~

Lunch, one of Gohan's three favorite times of day, the other two being breakfast and dinner.

As usual, to avoid the staring of students as he ate his mountain of food, he ate his lunch on the roof; he ate his lunch on the roof. Most of his classmates had a lunchbox or lunch bag, but Gohan had a specially designed Saiyan lunch Capsule, courtesy of Bulma's genius and knowledge of Saiyans. It could hold enough food to satisfy even the ravenous appetites of a Saiyan.

In an instant, Gohan's lunch was revealed… enough food to feed his entire homeroom and then some.

Gohan began to drool, and then began to eat from the bountiful spread of all his favorites.

“You know, I don't think I'll ever get used to that sight.” A voice spoke calmly behind him.

Gohan looked around. It was Videl. “I can't help it. If there are two things that Saiyans love, its food and fighting.”

Videl walked over and sat down next to him. “Something's wrong, Gohan? I've never seen you fall asleep in class before.”

“It's nothing much. I just didn't sleep last night.” Gohan said, and Videl glared at him. The young demi-Saiyan knew that she didn't believe that he was telling the full story. “It's complicated.”

“Is it a Saiyan problem?” Videl asked.

Gohan knew that, like his father, he was pathologically honest, and a terrible liar. So he did something that Piccolo taught him a long time ago. He told a half-truth. “Yeah. My… uh… tail grew back last night and it was a full moon. It was a long night.”

“Your… tail?” Videl gasped.

“Yeah.” Gohan said. He looked around. They seemed to be alone, so he unwound his tail from the confines of his pants. Videl gasped when he saw the brown, furry, monkey-like tail expose itself.

“Oh wow! You were really telling the truth!” Videl said.

“Yeah.” Gohan said, getting back to his food, his tail curling up next to him. “I've had to keep it hidden under my clothes all morning. It's been really annoying.”

“Well, I think it's sort of cute.” Videl said, gently petting the soft fur, remembering how sensitive Gohan said his tail was.

Gohan began to zone out, like a dog getting its stomach rubbed. Untrained sensitive tails were ultra-sensitive to pleasure as well as pain.

“Gohan?” Videl asked. When he gave no response, she looked up at him and nearly laughed out loud. His eyes were glazed over; he had a goofy smile on his face, and was nearly on the verge of drooling on himself. She stopped petting his tail and Gohan returned to normal as if nothing had happened. “Gohan?”

Gohan looked her in the face. “Yes?”

“What do you remember about the Cell Games?” She asked, almost managing to sound innocent.

“Huh? The Cell Games?” Gohan repeated. “Well… no more than anyone else, I guess. The broadcast was cut off.”

Videl glared at him. “Don't lie to me, Gohan. Your dad all ready told me that he was at the Cell Games and that he actually fought Cell. I should have known when I found out that he died the day of the Cell Games.”

“Well… maybe I didn't want to talk about my Father's death.” Gohan said defensively. His father's death still haunted him, even thought Goku had been brought back to life and told him that he didn't blame him.

“Well… I can understand that.” Videl commented.

How can you even imagine what it's like to know that you killed your own father? Gohan thought bitterly.

“But the person who I am most interested in is the Golden Delivery Boy.” Videl said leadingly. “He was obviously a Super Saiyan… around eleven or twelve years old. Do you know any eighteen year old Super Saiyans, Gohan?”

“Uh… crap…”

“I knew it! You are the Golden Delivery Boy!” Videl gasped. “So, not only were you at the Cell Games, but you actually fought against Cell! How did you survive?”

“Look, I don't want to talk about the Cell Games.” Gohan said. “It's not exactly a very good memory for me.”

“But I want to know…”

“Cell was destroyed. That's all that the planet should care about.” Gohan said shortly.

Videl stared at the boy. She had never met anyone who didn't agree that her father's defeat of Cell was the greatest event of modern history. Except the Z-Warriors. It was like the Cell Games were an inside joke with them. Anytime someone mentioned Mr. Satan's defeat of Cell, they would exchange knowing looks and smirk or roll their eyes.

They knew something that the rest of the world didn't. And, no matter what, she would find out what it was.

Suddenly, a voice spoke from the stairway. “Hey, Videl, I thought I'd find you up here with Gohan… AUGH!!!” Both teenagers looked around and saw Erasa staring at Gohan with a look of utter horror on her face. “Gohan! Don't move! I'll get it!” She rushed towards the confused demi-Saiyan.

“Get what?”

But it was too late. Erasa stomped hard… right on Gohan's tail.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Time seemed to freeze. Videl's jaws dropped, knowing that in a few seconds, Hell was going to break loose.

And break loose it did…

Gohan cried out in pain, unable to even get Erasa off his tail.

Videl took action. “Erasa! Get off!” She shoved Erasa off Gohan, not really caring how the blonde reacted. Erasa may have her feelings hurt, but Gohan was actually injured. Gohan was doubled over in pain, his tail was twitching spastically.

Videl tried to assess his injuries, but his tail thrashed away violently.

“Don't touch it!” Gohan growled.

“But, Gohan, it looks broken!” Videl said. “We have to get you to a hospital!”

“Not a hospital!” Gohan spat. “They'll just lock me up as a freak!”

“Then where?”

“Capsule Corporation in West City.” Gohan said.

As Videl helped Gohan stand up, Erasa noticed that the brown thing she had tried to stomp on was actually attached to Gohan. “Wait… is that a tail?!?” Erasa demanded.

“Now is not the time!” Videl growled, struggling to get Gohan on his feet. The guy weighed a lot more than he seemed. Videl knew that muscle weighed more than fat, and that Gohan was a lot more muscular than his school uniform made him seem; but this was ridiculous! “Stop staring and help me!”

“Huh? You can toss criminals around like dolls, but you can't life one teenage boy?”

“Hey, he's heavier than he looks!” Videl growled.

So, without further complaint, Erasa stepped over to help Videl. Once she had Gohan's arm around her shoulder, she realized that Videl was right. Gohan weighed a ton.

“Wow! For a guy who is capable of flight, he sure weighs a lot!” Erasa commented.

“Be quiet, Erasa! We've got to get him to Capsule Corp.” Videl got out the Jet-copter Capsule and unleashed it.

“Capsule Corp.?” Erasa asked. “Why?”

Videl was wondering the same thing. Capsule Corp. was a lab for creating Capsules, not a hospital. What could they possibly do for Gohan's injury?

“Just trust me, okay. I'll explain later.” Gohan growled as they worked together to load him onto the Jet-Copter. Once he was safely stowed, Erasa backed down off the ramp.

“I'll tell the teachers you went to fight a gang. Please call me when Gohan is all right.”

“Okay.” Videl closed the door and took off for West City at full speed. Thankfully, it wasn't that far away from Satan City. “Hang on, Gohan.” Videl whispered urgently.

~~~~~~~~~~

Goku landed in the private sector of Bulma's Capsule Corp. estate, which she called the `Landing Pad'.

After a whole group of Z-Warriors landed just outside one of Bulma's private labs and scared the crap out of many of her employees, Bulma had forbidden them from landing where normal people might see them.

Naturally, the first person to meet him was Vegeta.

Vegeta was shorter than Goku, but was nearly as strong as Goku was. The two Saiyans couldn't fight without both sides getting seriously injured.

Vegeta would never call Goku by his Earthling name, always insisting on calling him by his Saiyan birth name, Kakarot. Goku was more than used to it and answered to both names.

“Kakarot, did you come here to spar? We never did get the chance to finish that fight just before Majin Buu arrived.” Vegeta said.

“As fun as that sounds, I'm actually here to ask you a favor.” Goku said.

Vegeta snorted. “If it doesn't include the word `spar' then I'm not interested.”

“Actually, Gohan's tail grew back last night…” Goku began.

“And, let me guess, you weaklings want to remove his greatest power?”

“No. Gohan actually wants to keep his tail, if at all possible.” Goku said.

“You must be so proud, Kakarot.” Vegeta said with a smirk. “Your brat is more intelligent than you are.”

Goku frowned, and then decided to ignore it. Vegeta was always calling him stupid, so he used to that too. “I'm very proud of Gohan.” He said. “Before I had mine removed, I trained it so it wouldn't be so sensitive, so I am helping him with that, but there is another weakness that I can't help with…”

“What weakness are you talking about?” Vegeta demanded. “There are no more weaknesses a strong Saiyan should worry about.”

“I never learned how to control myself in my transformed state. I hurt and even killed people that I had loved. When you fought me in your giant ape form years ago, you had control and could even speak to us.” Goku said.

Vegeta suddenly understood now. It was the same with all the low-class Saiyan babies that had been sent out to destroy a planet. When they were picked up, they were untrained and wild. Of course Kakarot had never learned how to control himself in such a state, and so teaching it to his son would be impossible.

“So… you want me to train your son how to control himself?” Vegeta pondered. “Can he speak in our native tongue?”

Knowledge of the Saiyan language was instinctual. But Goku had not begun to really speak it until Vegeta joined the Z-Warriors.

“I guess.” Goku said. “I don't speak it much unless you're around, but he seems to understand it when I do.”

“Well, hopefully he has the instinctual knowledge. An untrained, transformed Saiyan can only understand Saiyan and certain animals…”

“Like dragons?” Goku asked, remembering when the Saiyan Turles had attacked Earth. Gohan had transformed, and even tried to kill his own father. But then Icarus the Dragon calmed him down.

“Uh… I suppose… why not?” Vegeta commented. “Sure, I'll train your son.”

“Thanks, Vegeta.”

Vegeta snorted again. “I'll never understand how that half-Saiyan brat has become more of a Saiyan than his full-blooded father.”

Goku laughed and scratched the back of his neck. And then he stopped abruptly.

Vegeta looked at his fellow Saiyan curiously. “What is it, Kakarot?”

“Gohan's on his way here right now. He should still be in school.” Goku said. “He's also coming at a pretty slow rate. Definitely not by flying or even by the Flying Nimbus.”

Vegeta silently cursed that damn cloud. He had seen Kakarot's youngest brat riding the thing several times before he learned how to fly. Vegeta had tried to ride it once after Bulma told him that the cloud was picky about who rode it. He was sure that, as a Saiyan Prince, he would meet whatever standards the cloud had. Especially if that moron Kakarot and his moron son could ride it.

But when he tried to jump on, the cloud had dropped him and he fell through it like it wasn't even there. The Woman, Kakarot's harpy mate, his own brat, and Kakarot's brats had seen and laughed themselves silly. The story soon spread to the other Z-Warriors and he had to endure jabs about his `tainted purity' for weeks.

Vegeta extended his senses, but could feel nothing of Gohan's massive energy. But that didn't surprise him. Saiyans always had a strange and not-fully understood connection with their off-spring. Vegeta himself could sense his son practically anywhere on the planet, and it was the same for Kakarot.

On occasions, off-spring could sometimes learn techniques from their parents. It was the only explanation for why every single one of his and Kakarot's brats were capable of becoming Super Saiyans. As far as Vegeta knew, the Super Saiyan of legend never had a mate or off-spring.

A few moments later, Vegeta could feel Gohan's energy on the edge of his senses. That brat always made an entrance now-a-days. Every since that Old Kia gave him control over the Hidden Potential that Gohan had since he was an infant, his power was so great that it was nearly impossible to completely hide.

Maybe it wouldn't be such a great idea to train him. Vegeta thought to himself. Gohan is as close to becoming a Legendary Super Saiyan as any of us. Perhaps it is a bad idea to allow him to unleash his full power. Could his power end up destroying him?

“Something's wrong.” Goku said.

“What is it, Kakarot?”

“His power level is much too low.” Goku said. “He's actually a lot closer than he seems. Even you should be able to sense him from much further away.”

“How close is he?” Vegeta asked.

“He's on the street in front of Capsule Corp.” Goku answered.

“What?!?” Vegeta demanded. “How dare that brat sneak up on my house!?!” Vegeta took off at a run while Goku followed. They quickly moved across the Capsule Corp. estate to the front. Goku was shocked to see Videl's Jet-Copter landing on the street. Vegeta glanced at the look on Goku's face, which changed very quickly from confusion to understanding. “Who is it, Kakarot?”

“Do you remember a man called Hurcule Satan?” Goku asked.

Vegeta thought for a moment. “You mean that moron from the Cell Games and the human who tagged along with us during the Majin Buu incident?”

Goku nodded. “That's his daughter's vehicle.”

Videl exited the Jet-Copter just in time to hear Vegeta's response. “Daughter?!? How could a woman mate with that brainless muscle head?!? Well, Kakarot?”

“And what makes you think I'd know that?” Videl heard Son Goku reply.

“Well, you're a brainless muscle head too. How'd you get your harpy to mate you?”

“I am not brainless! And Chi-Chi is not a harpy!” Goku yelled back.

Videl waited for them to approach. Gohan told her that his father and that Vegeta guy had a love-hate relationship, and at the moment, it seemed to have swung towards the `hate' end of the spectrum. They were both glaring daggers of death at each other as they came into view.

“Um… Son Goku, what are you doing here on Capsule Corp. property?” Videl asked. She had been to Capsule Corp. only once in her life, and that was with a class trip. She could have sworn that Gohan's father and Vegeta had come from the private housing part of Capsule Corp.'s estate, where only family and friends were allowed.

“Huh? You mean that Gohan hasn't told you?” Goku asked, confused, his attention taken away from Vegeta for the moment. “Bulma is my oldest friend. I've known her since I was twelve years old, and she's like an older sister to me.”

Videl's jaw dropped. The Son family knew the Briefs? The Briefs family was the richest family in the world! They were wealthy in the way that small countries are wealthy! She had no idea that the Son family was so well connected. Even her father couldn't get in with Capsule Corp… not for want of him trying.

Then Goku put a brotherly arm around Vegeta's shoulder, who shrugged him off instantly. “And Vegeta here is Bulma's mate!”

“Kakarot!” Vegeta hissed angrily.

“Mate?” Videl asked confused.

“The human term would be `husband'.” Goku explained. “Sorry, I should have said husband. I'm just so used to people knowing what I'm talking about when I say `mate'.”

“Kakarot! Have you forgotten about your son?” Vegeta demanded in the Saiyan language.

Goku spun on him, replying in Saiyan. “No! I haven't!”

Videl didn't understand what to do when they suddenly switched to a strange guttural language. She guessed that it was their native Saiyan language. But simply knowing what the language was did not help her understand it in the slightest.

Goku turned back towards her. “Where is Gohan? What happened to him?” Videl sighed when she recognized the language as her native Japanese.

“Someone at school saw his tail and stomped on it. I think it's broken. Gohan told me to bring him here.” Videl answered.

“It's a good thing you did.” Goku said. “Bulma's doctor knows more about Saiyans than any other Earthling. He's had to learn a few things when Bulma's husband is a Saiyan and their son half-Saiyan.”

“I'll get the Woman.” Vegeta said, walking towards Bulma's private lab. “Kakarot, you get your brat inside.”

“Gotcha, Veggie.” Goku said playfully, and Vegeta growled. Goku followed Videl to the Jet-Copter.

“So… Kakarot… that's your Saiyan name, isn't it?” Videl asked.

“Yep.” Goku said. “It took a while to get used to being called both Goku and Kakarot, but there was no chance of Vegeta ever calling me by my Earthling name.” Goku giggled, as if at some private joke.

“So, what does `Kakarot' mean in Saiyan?” Videl asked, curious.

“It means `Battle Cry'.” Goku said. “I don't really get it either. I guess Saiyans just loved to name their children after battle-related things.”

 

LES: I'm going to go ahead and end the chapter there since I have a lot of notes to go over.

 

#1: I think that the Saiyaman Saga is a parody of early Spiderman. Come on, a dorky high school crime fighter with a lame costume? Saiyaman=Spiderman.

 

#2: The reason Goku giggled after saying that Vegeta would never use his Earthling name: I decided to have some fun and make `Goku' mean something in the Saiyan language, just to explain why Vegeta would never use it in reference to Goku. Observe:

Goku: Hey, guys, bet I can make Vegeta say something you've never heard him say before!

Krillin: Yeah, right.

Goku: Hey, Vegeta! How do you say `badass mother-f***er' in Saiyan?

Everyone: …

Vegeta: (growl) `Goku'.

Goku: (giggle)

Now wouldn't that be something?

 

#3: Kakarot=Battle Cry. I wanted to come up with a meaning for Goku's Saiyan name. I chose `Battle Cry' because just about every episode, movie, and special where they show Goku as a baby, someone makes a comment about him having the cries of a warrior. (Mostly due to the fact that he is constantly crying his head off). So I figured that “Battle Cry” would be a fitting name for a loud Saiyan child. Let's face it, baby Kakarot's screams were such that they started Broly's life-long grudge. Yep, Broly, or as I like to call him: Mr. Broken Record.

 

Broly: Kakarot! Kakarot! Kakarot!!! KAKAROT!!!! (foam at the mouth).

Goku: Stop shouting my name for the love of Kami and all that is good in the world! Can't you say anything else?!?

Broly: No… Kakarot!

Goku: …