When a Hero Disappears

The awakening (part 2)

When she re-entered the room, there was clearly tension in the air. Gohan – who had his shirt back on – had a deep frown on his face as he looked through the window, arms crossed. On the other side, next to the door, a man leaned against the wall. She recognized him as the mean-looking one she'd seen flying over the city the other day. But instead of his dead-glare face, he now had an ominous smirk.

"I apologize in advance, Videl," Gohan said to his classmate with an irritated tone, but fell quiet as he looked in her direction. He'd never seen Videl with her hair down, and the clothes she wore suited her really nicely. He didn't know what it was, but somehow he couldn't stop looking and took her in from head to toe. Videl didn't miss his stare, and it made her feel a bit insecure, but those feelings disappeared when Bulma entered the room.

"Ah, I see you went for my Wild Rider Suit, it looks great on you. Don't you agree, Gohan?"

Caught off guard, he muttered something unintelligible as his hand ran through his hair on the back of his neck. A slight blush had appeared on his cheeks.

"I'll take that as a yes," Bulma chuckled softly, turning her attention back to the girl. "I've packed breakfast and lunch for you, but I'll advise you to eat after your journey," Bulma handed over a capsule which Videl accepted and reached to put it in her pouch. However, she felt something in the pouch, and when she took it out, she discovered that it was a small capsule storage box. "Ah yes," Bulma replied when she saw Videl's questioning look, "that's an old motorcycle of mine for off-road racing, a FA4-002116, one of our earlier models. It comes with the suit, so if you like it, you can take her for a spin." The scientist looked at her watch, "You have twenty minutes before your class starts, so it's time to say goodbye."

Still confused at how twenty minutes was enough to travel, Videl nevertheless nodded and placed her food capsule in one of the open slits of the box and put it back in the pouch. "Thank you for everything!" said the girl, offering a bow of gratitude. Then she turned to Gohan, "Get well soon, Goh- AAH!" A scream of surprise escaped Videl's lips as Vegeta grabbed her without warning and threw her over his left shoulder.

"Vegeta! I swear if you hurt her in any way, I'll kill you," Gohan spat out quite out of character.

"Don't make it so tempting, boy, you know that's what I want. But in that condition of yours, you are no challenge. I can wait." And with that, Vegeta opened the window and flew off with lightning speed, the teenager still on his shoulder.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Gohan said, still looking out the window. "It's almost as if he sees me as my father, his whole attitude changed now that you've promised him I'll go one-on-one with him after my recovery. Why did you promise that in the first place?"

"We really needed him to cooperate, sorry, and this was the only way he was willing to do that. If it weren't for him, you'd still be in a coma."

"Maybe that would have been better," Gohan sighed reluctantly, "I'm basically a pig being fattened up for slaughter right now. Once I'm back on my feet, he'll put me straight back into a coma."

"Don't forget you are the stronger one," Bulma reminded him.

"I haven't trained since my father died! He trains every single day. There is no way I can stand my ground against him."

"Well, for now let's focus on your recovery and not on what might happen later. Maybe we can talk him out of it."

Gohan snorted incredulously, "Yeah, right..."

###

A nasty pull behind her belly button was all she could consciously experience of what was going on. Now it was as if she was being sucked into a whirlwind, roaring winds surrounded her as the cold consumed her. She couldn't move, let alone breathe properly. She closed her eyes to keep herself from getting dizzy from all the colors flashing by. She had no sense of time nor place and became just a toy of the moment.