(The very next day)
(Satan City Hospital)
"Mr. Satan saves world twice," Krillin read out loud off of the newspaper in front of him. Scrunching his face at the picture of the man posing for the camera with X.S Cash's son giving the photographer a 'V' sign, the bald man then tossed the article aside, allowing him to see the sagely form of Master Roshi grinning back at him, as well as well the IV tube plugged into his arm. Revealing that he was lying in a hospital room, the short fighter glanced across to see not only Oolong, Chiaotzu and Puar present and visiting, but Gohan and Trunks lying in beds alongside him. "This guy makes front page while we're in the hospital."
And by 'we', he was also referring to Yamcha and Tien in the two beds on the other side of the room.
Nevertheless, in spite of being wrapped up like mummies, with both Trunks and Gohan having their arms in cast, and the former with his jaw bound and his leg strapped and elevated, all of them were in rather chipper moods. Yamcha especially, since the doctors had given him a heavy dosage of morphine that put a stupid smile on his face and kept him quiet.
Chuckling at Krillin's misery, Gohan beamed at his friend, ignoring the pain in his still aching jaw. "Heh. Say what you like, but if he hadn't crashed into Bojack and his goons, we might not even be here right now."
"I'll say," Tien chuckled, remembering how swiftly he'd been handed his defeat, resulting in a cracked shoulder, five broken ribs and a broken leg, plus some serious rug burn.
Oolong, hanging off of the end of Gohan's bed, chuckled in amusement, "Yeah, when it comes to freak accidents, Mr. Satan's a pro." This drew a hearty laugh from Chiaotzu, Trunks and Tien, a spurt that left one of them coughing from the grievous beating he'd received at the hands of the alien leader.
Shaking his head, Krillin smiled across at his friend, "How you feeling there, bud? Still got all your bits intact?"
Gohan grinned, "All of the important ones. How about you? Those guys didn't exactly play nice with us."
"Meh… the only thing that's really damaged is my pride," the former monk sighed while staring up towards the ceiling. "Didn't I say at the beginning of this ordeal that I'd see you guys in the infirmary? Ah, who am I to complain. There's no way I can ever keep up with you super-powered aliens from outer space."
"Don't sell yourself short. I think you held up pretty well," Trunks encouraged from his bed, at the same time giving the man a thumbs-up. Not that he could help it due to the way his cast had been set, he was giving a constant thumbs-up.
"You didn't even see me fight," Krillin snapped back, pouting a little bit in his misery and earning snickers from the people around him.
Yamcha, having managed to tap into the conversation earlier, then remembered something important and glanced across at their half-Saiyan hero. "By the way Gohan, whatever happened to that orange haired chick? You said you let her go, didn't you?"
Responding to the sudden question from his flank, the youngster nodded, "Yeah. When I went after her in Super Saiyan 2 she completely fell apart. I actually noticed her having second thoughts about being on Bojack's crew while I was fighting him, so I decided to give her a chance. Hopefully she won't cause us anymore problems."
Catching onto this, Master Roshi grinned, "You're Goku's son alright. Kind and gentle to a fault."
Exhaling, the young demi-Saiyan fixed his gaze on the ceiling and beamed, "I've still got a long way to go though. I may have learned from my mistakes against Cell… but I've still got a few more miles to cover before I can even consider being in dad's league."
His remark bringing a round of smiles and nods of approval from those around him, the group then heard a knock on the door and looked to see a nurse enter their midst. When she stepped in, she was quickly followed by Bulma carrying her baby son, Puar, Chi-Chi, and some girl the group had never met before.
They still weren't able to meet her, because for reasons unknown, she was hiding from view behind Chi-Chi. It was only until the group stopped beside Trunks and Gohan's bedsides did the Z-fighters see the newcomer step into the light. Wearing the same clothes as yesterday with her hair in pigtails, Videl peered around at the boy wrapped in bandages and smiled when she saw it was the right person.
Immediately spotting her, Gohan grinned, "Videl? What are you doing here?"
"Gohan!" Her exclamation drawing surprised glances from everyone, the girl quickly rushed to his side and looked him over. "A-Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah… just a little bit sore, that's all," the spiky haired demi-Saiyan chirped.
After taking in the sight of the bandages and patches covering him, Videl beamed in awe. "Wow. You must have gotten the stuffing kicked out of you. Who the heck were those guys? Were they as strong as Cell?"
The youngster, at first a little baffled by the sudden influx of questions, which raised a couple of questions of his own as to how Videl had managed to piece this stuff together, sprouted an amused yet pained expression and shrugged in response, "It's a bit of a long story."
Grinning, the raven haired girl quickly pulled up a chair, rested her arms on the bed and proceeded to lean against it right next to the bedridden Saiyan. "Well… I don't have to go home for a while, so I've got plenty of time to kill."
Appearing noticeably cheered up, Gohan was about to start a long conversation with the newcomer when he suddenly noticed all of his friends staring at him. Looking around the room, not only did he see the cheeky grins on Oolong and Krillin's faces, he also saw Tien and Yamcha share a glance, Trunks smile rather mischievously, Bulma snickering, and his mother standing there with a wide smile and a dreamy look on her face.
Even Videl noticed the playful looks they were receiving from the others in the room.
Eyes shifting from one face to the next, Gohan gulped, "Uhh… why are you guys staring at me like that?"
Then, in chorus, Krillin, Oolong, Master Roshi and Bulma began singing, "Gohan's got a girlfriend" over and over again teasingly, while Trunks quickly added a humming bass to the repertoire.
Hair standing on end like a startled cat, Gohan flushed a bright red before trying to hide his face underneath his bed covers. At the same time, Videl tried to cover her own shade of red by turning away and shifting on the spot in embarrassment.
"This isn't going to stop anytime soon, is it?" Gohan thought in dismay.
And guess what… it didn't…
XXX
Meanwhile, outside the hospital, across the street and perched on top of the roof of a nearby building, the familiar, orange haired form of Zangya could be seen sitting there with her legs crossed and a forlorn look of curiosity etched into her face. Wearing a blue singlet top showing off her midriff, black pull-on sleeves, black figure-hugging biker pants, yellow boots and a purple scarf wrapped around her neck with a different set of jewels decorating her features, the woman had apparently done her very best to remove the old garb previously draping her lithe form.
Now that she was no longer a part of Bojack's group, as she'd been dismissed from his ranks the moment he tried to kill her, the girl had adopted a completely different look to her old one. And now that she'd taken on a new appearance, had no more bosses to answer to and no more outstanding goals in her life, the girl was free to do whatever she wanted.
Considering her circumstances, Zangya figured she would start her new life by staying in close sight of the very boy who'd decided to spare her in the first place.
"Why?" It was the one question currently lingering on in her mind and one that she really wanted to have answered. However, she figured she would get her answers soon enough and, with her chin resting against her arm, opted to remain where she was for the time being.
While she was sitting there, watching and admiring the very person who'd defeated her former master blushing and bumbling childishly around his friends through the window, a complete turnaround from the fierce warrior she'd faced in combat, she then became aware of a new presence on the scene. Disrupted from her meditation, the Hera-seijin girl glanced to her right to see a blonde haired woman with beautiful blue eyes, wearing tight jeans, a white shirt, black vest and gloves sitting there and looking in the same direction as her.
Sensing a set of eyes on her, Android 18# turned to see Zangya looking in her direction. After a moment of staring at each other, the former quickly returned to gazing through the window, allowing Zangya to do so as well.
While the two women shared that part of the balcony in comfortable silence, a little bit further behind them on the exact same roof around a large water tower, Piccolo and Vegeta were also present. One standing and the other one sitting, both men had their arms folded and their eyes fixed on the distant horizon, not really looking at anything yet still looking all the same.
As a gentle wind brushed by them, ruffling Piccolo's cape and blowing through Zangya and Eighteen's hair, the four personalities remained in the peaceful stillness of the moment, wondering what the not too distant future had in store for them next.