The pod ascended back into space, once again falling into satellite orbit of the planet. Not even bothering to return to the mother ship, the sphere that was the interplanetary traveler Kana then spent the next few moments hovering there in solitude, safely above the earth's surface.
She remained there for an upward of several seconds. Reason being was that she needed to access the planet's Global Positioning System in order to find the address of this great Hercule Satan, also known as humanity's champion. After looking up the man's exploits on her return flight into space as well as reading into this Cell business that'd taken place over two months ago, the woman knew right away she was in for a very spirited discussion with the man.
This Cell person had been able to move at blinding speeds, wipe out an entire army without effort and destroy a mountain with a single blast, and Hercule Satan was able to defeat this tyrant with a single blow, or so the reports stated. If that were the case, then Kana knew she was bound to have one amazing fight.
So, upon locating Hercule's domain, the pod immediately course corrected and shot back down towards the planet, heading in the direction of the eastern part of the continent where Satan City was located.
Wow. The man even had a city named after him. If someone was able to have an entire metropolis christened after them in honor of their accomplishments, then this man had to be an amazing warrior.
XXX
(Meanwhile – Satan Manor)
"Wow. So you guys actually fought against the same guy that destroyed your home planet all those years ago?" Videl chirped, at the same time smiling at the image of Gohan she could see beaming back at her on the laptop. "That must have been one hell of a battle."
"Oh yeah. No joke. It was absolutely terrifying," the young demi-Saiyan replied, his voice coming through loud and clear over the speakers as he tried his best to recount his experience in brief. "This was back in the days when we were all still low level and nowhere strong enough to fight against someone of Frieza's caliber. The guy was ridiculously powerful back then and only my dad could actually fight him toe to toe. But nowadays… enemies like Frieza and his family are nothing to us."
Having opened up her laptop sometime ago, the daughter of the world champ had spent the past couple hours or so chatting with her best friend from the south. Since accessing his channel, the pair had talked about all sorts of things, but mainly about past trips to new places. Videl was really interested to hear about Gohan's first journey to planet Namek, which he'd only brought up about fifteen minutes ago. It was here he talked about how he and his friends encountered the prick that'd wiped his entire race from existence and fought some of the toughest battles of his adolescent life.
Needless to say, it sounded like an exhilarating and frightening tale.
"Man. You had the craziest adventures when you were younger." Videl murmured, propping her head up on her hands, "Frieza, huh? The biggest adventure I ever had at that age was going to the island to watch my dad dominate the last World Martial Arts Tournament and going to Central City for a month that one time."
"Well, I can say this for certain, you've been to two more places than I have," Gohan chuckled, wrapping his arms over his chest. "I've never been to any of the World Tournaments and I've never visited Central City before."
"Really?" the raven haired girl looked slightly taken aback. But that expression was then replaced by a cocky grin and a competitive gaze. "The boy who single-handedly defeated the greatest terror this world has ever seen and journeyed across an ocean of stars to a planet an entire galaxy away, has never been to two of the most well-known and most visited places on earth?"
Gohan had the right of mind to look sheepish, "I've had a very sheltered childhood?"
This prompted Videl to fold her arms and look at the boy doubtfully, "Somehow I find that hard to believe."
Yeah right. After everything she'd seen in the past couple of months.
Ever since the Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament, the two of them had talked about so many things together. At the start of this entire venture, Gohan had told Videl all about the Cell Games and what'd happened leading up to it. This inevitably led him into a whole string of topics, most notably his encounter with Bojack and his henchmen, as well as the fact that he wasn't exactly human himself. However, Videl didn't seem to mind or dispute that realization at all. In fact, she seemed to accept it right off the bat, seeing as she knew an ordinary man wouldn't have been able to contest with a monster like that maniacal bug.
All of the important stuff was glossed over and soon enough Gohan began filling in the details himself bit by bit. When their conversations reached the same depth of emotion that he'd reached, the young Saiyan even got Videl to talk about the little mysteries in her life regarding her family, as well as a lot of the crap she'd had to put up with at school. Her father's fame brought her a lot of unwanted attention, either as popularity or negativity from people jealous of her position in the community. She had a lot of trouble coping with social structures and bullies at school, which meant she'd had to both physically and verbally defend herself on more than one occasion. By normal standards; that was a rough way to coast through primary school, an experience Gohan could relate to, only his were of the super-human variety. It was all a matter of perspective.
As it turns out, Videl hated being treated like a celebrity and just wanted to be viewed as a normal person by her friends. Unfortunately, a lot of people didn't give her that kind of privilege and it is a reality that has grated on her life ever since she could remember. What she really longed for was to have a normal family like what she used to have with her mother and father years ago… or at least a normal life, away from the fame and her father's postulating in front of the crowd. She wanted freedom in her life.
Gohan was deeply moved by her revealing these details to him, since he figured that it must've been incredibly tough for her to do so. That being said, the two of them found an emotional equilibrium between one another that made them feel a lot more comfortable talking with one another. They didn't have to be afraid of unintentionally revealing anything anymore, which made their conversations feel more wholesome.
It was almost like they'd been best friends since childhood, even though they were still technically children.
"I do live a long way from the city and have been homeschooled for most of my life. Even though I've been given more independence now, it doesn't change the fact that for a lot of my childhood, much of my free time has been spent stuck in this room studying," the demi-Saiyan replied honestly. Scrubbing his head and giving it a moment of pause, the young man smiled pleasantly, "I really have to get out more and see the world a little. I feel like I'm missing out on so much."
The young man's remark brought an excited smile to the raven haired girl's face, "You should come by my place then. I can show you around my house and take you on another guided tour of the city… show you all the hot spots you haven't visited yet. There's a really awesome market place and supermall down town."
"Yeah. That's a great idea," Gohan exclaimed from his end, grinning into the laptop's lens before sitting back a little. "And hey, since we're talking about visiting each other and stuff, why don't you come over to my house sometime. Mount Paozu is a really great place to hang out. I think you'd like it."
"Really?" Videl asked, seeing the boy nod and bringing a triumphant expression to her face. "That would be awesome, Gohan." Giving a very excited bounce that was an exact opposite to her usual, serious nature around other people, the girl quickly settled back down when she realized she was getting ahead of herself. Her visage becoming nervous seconds later, she then began pressing her fingers together anxiously. "And uhh… c-can I ask you something, Gohan?"
"Yeah? What's up?"
"You know that I like fighting and martial arts, yeah?" When she saw the boy nod and throw her a curious stare, Videl swallowed heavily and continued, "Well umm… if it isn't too much trouble… do you think… you'd be able to teach me a few things?" Feeling her body tense up, the girl pressed onwards. "You're the strongest person I've ever met and I saw all of the amazing stuff you were able to do. If… If it's possible, do you think I'd be able to learn how to fight like you?"
Appearing surprised at first, Gohan thought about her questions for a moment while rubbing his chin. Following a few seconds of deliberation, the youngster quickly gave her a response, "You're already a really strong fighter, Videl… much stronger than a lot of other people I've met. If you like, I would love to teach you a few things. But only if you really want to…"
Videl immediately appeared excited at his answer, "And to fly as well?" Oh. She really wanted to learn how to fly. That would be the greatest thing ever.
The boy chuckled, "Yeah. Of course, but let's take this one step at a time, alright. You can't rush into something like this." He could see how excited the girl was getting, so he quickly moved to calm her down some so she didn't give herself a heart attack. "These things take a lot of work."
"That's okay. A little bit of hard work doesn't bother me. Heck, I'll train all day and night if I have to." Literally rocking back and forth in her seat, Videl grinned across at the screen, "So… when do you think we can visit each other?"
Sensing she still had a lot of pent up vigor, Gohan chuckled and quickly checked his time slot. "I'll let you know in a little while. I've still got some chores I need to do around the house first, so as soon as I'm done with them I'll drop you a line, alright?"
"Sure," Videl nodded enthusiastically, quickly reaching forward to tap her keyboard. "Thanks so much for this, Gohan. I… you have no idea how happy this makes me. I really owe you one." When she said that, you could tell that she meant every word.
"No problem, Videl," the demi-Saiyan replied with a warm smile, "I'm just glad we'll be able to meet up and hang out some more."
"Yeah. Same here." She could definitely agree on that. Since they both loved martial arts, the two of them had a ton of reasons to look forward to visiting each other. To train and to hang out together, what was there to not get excited about? "I'll… be hearing from you soon, yeah?"
"Yeah," Gohan nodded affirmatively while reaching forward to tap his computer, "See yah, Videl."
"Later, Gohan." And with that, the transmission cut out.
Breathing out a long sigh, Videl leant back in her chair and placed a hand over her chest.
Damn. Her heart was literally pounding against her ribcage from excitement. Hearing that her friend from afar was open to the idea of training her to fight just like him and his friends made the girl all shaky and jumpy inside. The last time she felt something like this was when she was watching Gohan fight those alien guys back during the Intergalactic Tournament, and that wasn't very long ago.
This was a whole new ballpark she was stepping into, one where the stakes were infinitely higher than anything she'd ever encountered before. The world that Gohan was from, where people could touch the skies and smash mountains with a single punch… was an area of freedom and exhilaration that her father couldn't even dream of touching. And now she was being given an opportunity to try her hand at it.
She wasn't sure how she would go, but even though she was scared, the raven haired youngster was looking forward to it all the same. It was something that made her blood pump and her body quiver with anticipation.
"Get back to me soon, Gohan-kun," Videl thought, a warm smile pulling across her lips as she hopped up, stretched, and decided to plop down on top of her bed. Clambering across the large mattress, she then wrapped her arms around one of her pillows and stared out the window to her left for the next few minutes, Gohan's smiling face hovering in front of her eyes. After which Videl closed her eyes and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
For some reason, she felt incredibly drowsy.
It must have been from all the excitement she's gotten from talking with her friend.