(Outside the Son Home)
"Hey, Tom. You got that camera ready or what?" the raven haired woman in the black and white suit asked, stopping for a moment to glare back at her co-worker speedily unloading their equipment from the van.
"Hold on a second, Yumiko. I got it. Geez," the young, blonde haired adult in the fisherman's vest and red cap replied, turning away from the vehicle with the device in hand. "There's no need to rush." Upon switching it on, he then began trudging forward to walk alongside the woman, who smiled confidently as her partner adjusted the lens before turning back ahead of them.
"Good. Now come on. I want to see if we can catch an interview with the Son boy and ask him about the Cell Games," the reporter replied, beginning to move across the hill towards the house at a casual pace. Wearing an armband on her right emblazoned with the ZTV logo, the most famous news stations in the world and the one responsible for covering the harrowing events of earth's most terrifying day, it was painfully clear why the two of them were there.
After the events of the Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament, it was expected that people like this were bound to come around sooner or later…
Even though many had come and gone already. The past month had been pretty hectic.
"So… we're just gonna go knock on their front door and hope that the boy is in?" Tom asked, propping the heavy box up his shoulder.
"Well of course. I mean… it's not like we have any security to worry about," the beautiful, long haired Yumiko replied with a smug tone of voice and her nose in the air. "Trust me. This'll be a walk in the park. The public is going to wanna hear the young fighter's side of the story of how the Champ Mr. Satan saved the world from Cell."
It was her vocalized plan that had her skittishly pursuing partner murmur uneasily. "I'm not sure about this. A couple of my friends back at the station warned me that there was a very scary and strong woman living in that house. They said she chased them all away with a rake and even tossed one of them over the hill."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Yumiko replied, looking back at her cameraman disbelievingly as they descended the slope toward the dome-shaped building down below. "They were probably just scared off by the mother with a gun… the cowards. They are country folk after all." The thought of a whole truckload of station workers and reporters being sent away by one woman made her laugh. She bet she could do much better than that.
Unfortunately, in her moment of staring self-assuredly back at her assistant, the well-dressed news worker failed to notice where she was going and inadvertently walked into something small and solid only a few yards away from the Son home. Stumbling backwards and caught completely by surprise, both she and Tom looked to see what it was they'd run into, and immediately became horrified when they saw a blue-skinned woman with pointy ears and long, curly orange hair standing right in their path with her arms crossed.
Upon getting their attention, the earthling-dressed yet still very alien-looking Zangya flared her ki at the intruders ever so slightly, allowing a blood-red aura to surround her lithe form and a menacing shadow to cross her face. Seeing the two news crew members back off in an instant, trembling from head to toe and huddling up close to one another at the sight of her threatening form, the former lieutenant of Bojack's gang frowned.
"Scram."
With a terrified scream, the two news reporters took off like the road-runner, charging back up the hill and leaping into their van. As soon as they were in, they started the engine and drove off, trying to put as much distance between them and the 'devil woman' guarding the house.
After watching the ZTV vehicle disappear over the horizon in a cloud of dust, Zangya snorted, "Good riddance." A smile then crept across her face at the mild sense of amusement the act had brought her and nodded in acknowledgement. "Consider yourselves lucky it wasn't the banshee that chased you off." From what she'd seen the last time the news reporters had come to the house wanting to interview the demi-Saiyan, the Son mother proved to be just as terrifying as she was.
Only she didn't have pointy ears.
Making sure that there was no one else left in the area, Zangya looked back at the house momentarily before flying back over to her tree.
No lousy human cockroaches were going to badger Son Gohan before she did. That was a promise.
OOO
(Meanwhile – Inside the House)
"Gohan! Could you come here for a moment please?!"
"Coming!" Quickly shutting off the vacuum cleaner in the living room, the demi-Saiyan set the machine aside and hurriedly made his way into the kitchen. When he arrived, he was promptly greeted by the smile of his mother, who was standing by the table with a few slips of zeni bills and a receipt in her hand. "What's up, mum?"
The Son woman beamed happily, "I have a little errand for you to run today." She handed him the money and paper, which the boy gingerly took from her hand. "A couple weeks ago I ordered a few new sets of clothing from the Cosmopolitan store over in Satan City. You know the big shop I took you to with all the home style dresses and kimonos on display at the front?" When she saw her son nod, she grinned, "I need you to pop into that place and pick them up for me."
"No problem, mum," Gohan replied cheerfully, at the same time clenching the money in his hand. "It shouldn't take me too long."
Chi-Chi nodded and then gestured to the bills, "That should be enough to cover the cost of the dresses. Be sure to bring them all back in one piece, okay? And if you're quick I'll make you something extra special for tea tonight."
"Awesome," Gohan chirped, being sure to fold up the notes and slip them and the receipt into his blue, gi belt. Making sure the money was secure the youngster then adjusted his top and dashed towards the door, where he slipped on the blue boots of his uniform. "I'll be back soon."
"Okay, Gohan. Be careful, sweetie," his mother replied. Seeing the boy smile, he then moved at super speed out the door and up into the sky. He was airborne before the door had even closed behind him, bringing a warm glow to the woman's face. "Just like his father: lively and eager as ever." She then sighed and, glancing down, rested a hand over her stomach once again."Hopefully things will turn out alright for us."
Unbeknownst to the mother though, and to the energetic demi-Saiyan as his form disappeared over the horizon, the orange-haired figure of Zangya, who was standing underneath a familiar oak tree and watching the house intently, took off from her spot and followed after the boy.
Curious to know where Gohan was going, the woman kept a safe distance from him while he traveled at jet speed northwards.
Of course, she wasn't the only one that was watching him…
OOO
(Meanwhile – Above the Planet)
Back up in orbit above the planet, the spherical pod containing the fiery haired Kana had stationed itself above the easterly half of the continent once again. Able to make out the faint outlines of cities and urban areas far below, the visitor from outer space had a perfect, unobstructed view of all of the major communities and towns in sight. Despite there being over two billion people living on the planet, the investigator was confident that she would be able to track down and find the person she was looking for. Just a quick browse through the information in her system and a few seconds of number crunching, she found her target's home in an instant.
However, having already tried this method twice before, with rather awkward results on both counts, the huntress knew right then and there that she needed to use a more precise method of tracking. Through trial and error, Kana realized she couldn't rely on her old means of searching for her target on such a large and diverse planet. She also realized she couldn't rely on the scouter system either, since she knew that there were many beings out there capable of concealing their energy levels, which was why she wasn't able to pick up anything on the first scan.
She was overzealous in her approach, which led to two muck ups.
Therefore, since she couldn't depend on one system to find what she was looking for, she decided to combine both and expand down her parameters.
So, upon suspending herself in orbit above the planet, instead of just rocketing down to her desired location the moment her sensors honed in on it, she spent another couple of seconds making sure she had all the data she needed before making her next move.
After all, she didn't want to make the same mistake a third time.
"The Son household is located on the edge of the region known as Mount Paozu," Kana murmured, the hologram screen in front of her bringing up a large crosshair over a satellite image of the landmass far below. That was where her target's home was located. "There are currently two family members taking up residence in that domicile. One of them is the mother, Son Chi-Chi, and the other is her eldest child, Son Gohan." A smile crossed her lips when she saw two life signs blink onto her screen when she zoomed in on the site, both of them appearing as red dots. Just as she expected.
Crunching the numbers, Kana then got an immediate readout on the two life forms through her scouter system, the scores of which hovered above both figures. The investigator raised an eyebrow. "The mother has a reading of 140 riki. Interesting." She then looked at the second one. "Son Gohan has a power reading of 135 riki. Hmm… that can't be right…" Her brow furrowed somewhat as she looked upon the profile figure of her target, "For someone to have fought against Frieza…"
However, just as she was watching the signatures mingle about inside the home from her orbital position above the planet, she suddenly saw one of the red dots take off at an incredible speed in a northeasterly direction. This immediately had the numbers on her screen go haywire and a new reading appear above the fast moving Son Gohan, which had Kana's eyes widen.
"15,000,000 riki?" At this, Kana realized the boy must have been suppressing his power inside of his home so that he didn't accidentally damage anything or draw any attention to himself. When she did, an excited grin formed on her face, "Now that's more like it." She then ran through a swift line of code before several new numbers appeared on screen.
Calculating the boy's speed and trajectory across the country, the visitor to the planet figured that she would be able to intercept the super human directly over Satan City. So, upon punching the numbers into the system, her pod then shot straight down towards the planet at breakneck speed, piercing the atmosphere seconds later.
OOO
(Satan City)
"Man, there are so many people out today," Krillin mumbled to himself, looking through the window of the coffee shop he was in and watching as hundreds of civilians ambled down the road in two different directions. Seeing the multitude of bodies on the move and hearing the clamor of the crowd seep in through the open door brought a chuckle from the short Z-fighter as he quietly reached for his cappuccino, "Good thing I'm not on the street right now… otherwise I'd be swamped."
He was a little guy in one of the biggest cities in the world. How could he not think about stuff like that? Having lived on a tiny island for so many years surrounded by only a couple of people in his life, the transition into a concrete environment where the population suddenly skyrocketed definitely had more than a few compasses spinning.
Smiling as he stirred his coffee, the man turned back to the quiet store laid out around him, where he could see only a couple of people occupying the tables and booths. "Ah well, as long as there aren't any wars going on or evil aliens dropping down from the skies to invade our planet, then I'm not complaining."
Determined to make the most of the free time that he had, the young Z-fighter had decided to drop out of his training for the day and dropped by Satan City to have a look around. With the earth now in a state of peace and with no diabolical villains threatening to spoil their days, Krillin was adamant in getting back out there in the world and living it up. He even thought about giving Yamcha a ring to see if he wanted to go clubbing tonight and mingle with the common folk. It'd been a while since either of them had really done something like that, and it was high time the scar-faced former ranger and mercenary got himself a girlfriend.
Krillin on the other hand wasn't fussed about that. Reason being was that he had his eye set on somebody else and would often think about whenever he was on his own.
Speaking of which…
"I wonder how Android 18# is spending her day," the short man thought curiously, taking a sip of his coffee while staring down at the table.
It'd been a while since he last saw her. Ever since the group left the balcony of Kami's Lookout two months ago, he swore he'd only seen her twice; once when he was training on another island and he swore he saw her watching him from a distant tree, and another time when he was out in the village doing shopping and he caught a glimpse of her in the streets.
Since then, there'd been no other signs of her. Complete and utter radio silence, which sort of brought the man's mood down a couple of pegs.
A heavy sigh escaping his lips as he absently stirred the contents of his cup, Krillin spared a moment of thought to the beautiful blonde android that had, for all intents and purposes, disappeared from the limelight. "Is she going to show up out of the blue and say 'hi' or something? It'd really make my day if she did." She did say that she would. To be more precise, she'd said to all of the Z-fighters within ear shot while her back was turned to them that she would drop by to see him sometime soon. It was a pretty comforting notion, "Unless my heart's just playing tricks on me."
Damn it. Being a love struck fool was not an easy thing to live with. It made him all gushy, paranoid and edgy.
"Well… I can't blame her if she's not interested in seeing me again. I mean, there are a lot of better looking guys out there… and after all the crap we had to go through, I wouldn't be surprised if even she just wanted to have a little bit of normal for a change," Krillin sighed, bringing his cup up and taking another sip. Pondering on the idea of a long term peace and what it would be like to spend with the blonde girl, the man looked up with a murmur…
He then did the most hilarious spit take ever when he saw Android 18# standing right there in front of him and made sure to aim the hot brew to the side.
"E-Eighteen!" the monk exclaimed in shock, drawing a few glances from the surrounding bystanders. Hitting his chest and coughing out the rest of his coffee, he looked up at the woman standing there with her arms folded, "W-What are you doing here?"
The cool beauty, wearing a casual set of clothes consisting of a pair of jeans and a black halter top, stared back at the man momentarily with her ocean blue eyes. After which, she then shrugged and looked away, "I was just…" She paused for a second, "walking around the shops and having a look around, seeing if there was anything new on sale. I then spotted you from outside and came in to see how you were doing." She said that in the same tone of voice she was best known for.
"Oh. Really?" Gulping and feeling his insides turn to jelly when she glanced his way, the man then mustered up whatever courage he could and smiled warmly in her direction. "I mean… that's great! It's… it's really good to see you again, Eighteen."
A bit of warmth appearing in her cheeks at the man's smile and words, the blonde looked away again in another direction. The two of them remained quiet for several moments, one rubbing his head and thinking about what else to say, while the other stood there, trying to focus on something else that wasn't the short Z-fighter.
After a bit of uncomfortable silence, the girl turned back to the warrior and nodded down to him, "You mind if I join you?"
"Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sure! Of course," Krillin exclaimed, beaming enthusiastically as he hopped to his feet and pulled up a chair for the woman he hadn't seen for ages. When she sat down and tucked her hair behind her ear, the man came back around and sat down as well, looking completely nervous. "Would you like me to get you something?"
Finding a comfortable position, the woman then looked back at the man and smiled a very small smile. "Sure," she nodded. "I'll have a black tea. Plain."
Grinning, Krillin looked over to see the waiter come stand with his hands gingerly laced in front of him. "The lady will have a standard black tea, please. No sugar."
"Very good, sir," the young man nodded, before quickly hurrying off to tend to the order.
Gently nudging aside his cappuccino and leaning against the table, Krillin gazed across at the woman now sitting quietly across from him with her hands in her lap, "So…" He began nervously, "What've you been up to lately?"
The blonde android shrugged, "Not much, just up and down… trying to find some things and a place to fit in."
"How's that working out for yah?"
"Not very well I'm afraid," the woman replied with a distasteful frown. "I haven't been able to find my brother, wherever the hell he is… so I've been on my own for the past couple of months."
"You're not upset about it, are you? I mean…" Krillin quickly rephrased his question by clearing his throat, "Are you doing okay?"
"I can't complain," Eighteen answered, giving it a moment of thought while suddenly finding an interest in the wall across the way. "I've been moving around quite a lot lately, not really settling down anywhere, and I've had plenty of time to myself to think. After the whole Cell ordeal, I just needed a bit of space to clear my head." She then glanced at the martial artist, giving him a genuinely straight look, "And you? I heard you got into a bit of trouble at the Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament a month ago…"
"Oh? You heard about that, huh?" Krillin laughed uneasily while scratching his head, but then saw the woman staring at him without so much as a twitch. Swallowing a little, the monk continued, "Yeah… we got into a bit of a fight with this guy named Bojack and his gang, some hotshots who wanted to conquer the universe or something like that. I don't know… it was all pretty much of a blur to me. The person I ended up fighting knocked me out with just a few kicks and sent me into a wall."
Eighteen blinked, her expression relatively unchanged, "Are you alright?"
"Uh…" A little bit surprised by the woman's sudden question and seeing her staring at him with great intent, Krillin quickly came up with an answer, "Y-Yeah. I mean, I got a few nasty cuts and bruises here and there, but I'm feeling great now." He chuckled and brought his arm up, rotating it while gripping his shoulder. "It'll take more than a few hits to bring this guy down. Don't you worry about that."
This news brought a relieved sigh from the woman, who then gave the man another small smile, "Well… I'm just glad you're okay."
Noticing the strangely pleasant look she was giving him, Krillin remained speechless for a moment. But after a few seconds of gathering his thoughts, the man chuckled and rubbed his head, "Th-Thanks. I'm… glad to see you're doing okay as well."
Beaming, Eighteen was then about to move on to another question until something in the air suddenly startled both her and the Z-fighter out of their conversation. Eyes snapping upwards, the pair then leapt out of their seats, with the monk inadvertently knocking his over while the two of them focused all of their senses on the thing that was fast approaching them. Sweat broke out on both their faces when they got a better read on it.
"S-So much power… what is that?" Krillin asked, looking absolutely stunned.
Whatever it was, it was heading straight towards them from above the planet…
XXX
Feeling the wind whipping at his hair as he traveled along at his regular speed, Son Gohan was making excellent progress towards Satan City. Looking down to see the land whiz past him in a sweeping montage, with the fields and valleys soon being replaced by farmlands and suburbs, the youngster spent the final leg of his journey taking in his surroundings, which he had seldom done in the past. Most of the time, whenever he'd been required to fly places, he'd always been in a hurry, never really taking the time to admire the countryside.
Now, with the opportunity presented to him, he could truly appreciate the sights and sounds of the planet around him. What made it an even greater splendor was the fact that it was peace time and he had no galactic threats to worry about.
"I should take a page out of my dad's book and go for a trip around the world someday. See what's what," Gohan thought, briefly recalling some of the stories his father had told him back when they'd been training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. After hearing about all of the amazing things his dad had done, it made him strongly consider doing something similar.
It'd sure be a worthwhile experience to have.
But just before Gohan could get completely engrossed in the pristine wilderness beneath him, he suddenly sensed something strange and looked up. Noticing he was approaching Satan City, he quickly realized this odd vibe wasn't coming from up ahead and looked towards the sky, above the towering buildings of the metropolis several kilometers away. When he did, he saw through his eagle eye vision an object passing through the atmosphere, trailing fire and smoke while plummeting towards the earth.
The demi-Saiyan balked. "A meteorite?" Sensing a strange ki signature coming from it, Gohan immediately thought the object was volatile and, his eyes cutting from it to the city, the youngster realized it was on course for impact and picked up speed.
A sonic boom rang out when Gohan's body literally broke the sound barrier. The demi-Saiyan made sure to increase his speed enough to align with the falling object and, making a quick calculation in his head, gave it a burst just as he was entering the outskirts of the mega city.
Civilians down below turned their attention to the sky when they heard a series of loud 'cracks' ring out and looked up just in time to see the fireball plummeting towards them. Those directly underneath the falling object and could see it approaching their city immediately clamored in fright and began to move out of the streets. However, as panic started to ensue, what the people saw next came as an even bigger shock to them when, from out of nowhere, a teenager dressed in an orange and blue gi flew into view and tackled the meteorite out of the air.
The boy managed to intercept it when it was only ten feet away from colliding with the nearest skyscraper.
Upon catching the large, human sized sphere and stopping it from making landfall, which would have easily wiped out several blocks and skyscrapers, Gohan flew on. The flames extinguishing themselves as the orb was carried away from the city center, the young male breathed a sigh of relief, as he knew he'd just stopped a catastrophic disaster from befalling the people.
He then took a moment to inspect the object in his arms and saw that the metal sphere was silver, perfectly smooth, with grooves all over it that were glowing a hot orange.
It wasn't a meteorite, though it certainly looked extraterrestrial from a science fiction point of view.
But then, before the youngster could fully examine the strange object he'd stopped from hitting the metropolis, Gohan blinked in surprise when he suddenly saw a burst of steam escape the orb's channels before the ball started to unwrap itself in his arms. A split second later, the boy felt his fingers interlock with a pair of hands and recoiled in shock when, emerging from the dome, he found himself face to face with a beautiful girl about a couple years older than him, wearing a figure-hugging metallic plug suit with a curvaceous figure, and long, orange hair that glowed like the sun, which grew past her legs and was bellowing in the air around her.
A stunning girl with fire-like hair and the face of an angel being the last thing Gohan expected to come out of the pod as he continued his flight over the city, the demi-Saiyan was too stunned to react when the teenage alien removed her right hand from his and slammed a hook across his cheek. The blow crashed across Gohan's face with a thunderclap, cocking the boy's head to the side and causing him to lose control of his flight, sending both him and the girl he was pushing through the air spiraling into the city streets below.
With the sound of jets echoing across downtown, the pair crashed into the middle of the main highway with an earthshaking 'bang'. The impact drawing the attention of every single person on the street and the nearby buildings, the once two airborne people slid along the floor for several painful yards, kicking up a cloud of dust along the way. Then, grabbing the head of the girl on top of him, Gohan gave a loud yell and tossed her, throwing her down the street and spinning through the air.
Performing an acrobatic twirl to slow her down, Kana righted herself and slammed her feet into the tarmac, skidding to a stop and digging two trenches through the ground. Once her movement ceased, the fiery haired girl looked up to see Gohan flying straight at her, his fist loaded back for a punch. Taking a stance, Kana waited until he threw it before catching his arm and, using his momentum, spun him around and threw him back down the highway.
Yelping in surprise at the sudden counter toss, Gohan flew for half a kilometer before slamming into the concrete back first. Bouncing down the road a couple of times, the boy then leapt to his feet and slid backwards along the ground until he came to a smoky stop several hundred meters from where he first hit the highway. Cars coming down the road in both directions literally skidded to a stop at the sight of the 'jaywalker', with the drivers getting out of their vehicles to see what was going on.
A wall of dust blocking his view, Gohan took a stance and glared into the mist, searching for his foe. Several seconds later, just as the Z-fighter was preparing to go on the offensive, the cloud suddenly parted and the fiery haired girl came flying straight at him; tackling him in the chest and knocking him off his feet. A loud 'oof' escaped the demi-Saiyan's lips when he was knocked back for several yards before the pair collided with an eighteen wheeler's front, slamming into its grill and knocking the truck carrying the stack of cinder blocks into the row of cars behind it.
The people in the cars had to get out of the way to avoid the massive transporter from smashing into them.
Feeling his back wedged into the front of the vehicle, his small body squashing its engine like a pillow, Gohan gave a loud yell and slammed a right hook across the girl's face. The impact snapped her head to the side, the force of which causing a loud gunshot to echo throughout the neighborhood and the girl to stumble away, freeing the Saiyan from the corner.
Expression conveying momentary surprise, Kana turned back to glare at her opponent before, clenching her right fist, retaliated with a punch of her own, cracking the boy across the mug in a similar manner with a second artillery shot ringing out. Though the half-Saiyan recoiled, he immediately came back with another punch that the girl evaded.
The pair began to box; trading lightning fast punches that the two fighters blocked and parried respectively, until Kana over flourished a right straight that her opponent deftly caught. With her wrist in his grip, Gohan spun around her and caught the girl in a standing hammerlock with his left arm hooking around her neck.
With her back against his chest, the half-Saiyan increased pressure on the invader's arm in an attempt to force her into submission. However, just when it seemed like he had her, Kana's eyes suddenly widened, the orange channels on her armor flashed blue and, with a loud growl of effort, she engulfed both herself and her opponent in lightning.
"GAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Gohan gave a cry of agony as he was electrocuted by the girl, the defensive countermeasure forcing him to release his opponent and freeing her from his hold.
Powering down, Kana spun around and pointed her hand at her stunned foe, unleashing a golden blast right into his chest. Gohan looked up just in time to catch the attack that sent him flying into a building.
Civilians screamed and barreled out of the way when the boy slammed into the concrete wall with an earsplitting 'crack', using the building's support to hold back the blast that continued to drill into his palms. Gritting his teeth against the burning sensation, Gohan eventually mustered the strength enough to push the beam away and deflect it into the sky. The blast detonated when it slammed into the top of the tower, taking out a chunk of the roof but managing to explode safely out of reach of any residents.
But then, the second the half-Saiyan deflected it, Gohan was unexpectedly struck in the chest by his opponent appearing and drilling into him with a blow that sent him blasting through every single wall of the office block behind him.
When the boy eventually exploded out the other side, he ended up smashing through a parked car, taking out its roof before crashing into the middle of the road.
"Ow. That hurt." Groaning as he laid there in a crumpled heap, the young Saiyan then looked up in shock when Kana suddenly appeared directly over him with her hand pointed down at his face.
Reacting instinctively from his prone position, Gohan slammed his foot into the side of her leg, tripping the girl at the last second and forcing her to release her blast into the ground, engulfing both of them in an explosion that choked the entire area with dust and smoke.
XXX
Managing to convince her dad quite easily to hand over his jet-copter, Videl wasted no time in unpacking it from its capsule and climbing on board. As soon as she shut the hatch and switched on the engine, she skillfully lifted it out of their mansion's backyard and into the air. It was no difficult task. Having learned how to operate it from an online manual, getting used to it firsthand only took her a few short minutes.
Upon stabilizing the craft, the girl then accessed the GPS and dialed in Gohan's home address. Finding it easily enough, she then maneuvered the copter and began flying in the direction of Mount Paozu. But just as she was in the process of leaving the center of the metropolis, a couple beams of light, smoke, and a series of explosions drew her attention downtown in the opposite direction.
Caught by surprise at the sight of the plumes of black smoke rising from the information district, the girl quickly came to the conclusion that those beams of deadly energy were no ordinary occurrence. In fact, she was pretty sure they were related to that extraterrestrial girl that'd just visited their house.
"Something big is going on over there," Videl thought, quickly changing course and heading in the direction of the explosions.
Whatever the hell was going on now, it was happening all over this damn country.