(Sometime later)
After the two fighters had shaken hands with one another, the announcer took a moment to congratulate Gohan and Videl for their stellar performances in the tournament and the winner on his success. Telling the demi-Saiyan that he looks forward to seeing him compete at the next Junior Division in a couple years time and the adult division later, he then invited the current World Martial Arts Champion onto the stage for a complimentary match with the youngster.
Understandably enough, Hercule was more than a little bit hesitant about making an appearance before the super powered youngster and his fans. But with some gentle encouragement from his beloved daughter, the world champ bucked up the confidence necessary to step up and face the boy.
It was a brief fight. Gohan let the guy lay on the punches and blocked all of them before lightly tossing the man out of the ring, all the while putting on an entertaining show for the audience. All things considered, everything worked out well in the end. The champ said his loss was all in good sport for the kid, much to the chagrin of his daughter and Gohan's amusement, and then he left. This then allowed the announcer to move on to the adult division of the tournament.
After being told how he would be receiving his cash prize through the mail, Gohan then took Videl through the waiting room and out of the stadium.
Hearing the clamor of the coliseum just down the road, the demi-Saiyan breathed a sigh of relief and stretched out, earning a curious glance from his best friend.
"Tired?"
"Yeah. Sore too. Man," Gohan chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck at the same time. "I really got my butt kicked around in that semi-final fight didn't I?"
"After she transformed, yeah. But you managed to pull through just fine." Videl gave him an amused look as the pair wandered down the road at a comfortable pace, passing by civilians who pleasantly waved and greeted the two finalists of the Junior Division. While they returned their gestures kindly with waves of their own, the two of them mostly focused on their conversation. "Still, that didn't stop her from going to town on you."
"I figured I could handle her as she was, but she turned out to be a lot tougher than I thought. She transformed so quickly. Not to mention I couldn't tell what her real power level was since her energy was jumping all over the place. It really caught me off guard there," the half-Saiyan replied with a nervous grin. "But now that I know what she can do, I'll be ready for her the next time we meet."
Beaming, the girl with pigtails then stepped over and playfully nudged him in the side, "I'm really glad you were able to come out here today to compete, Gohan-kun. It was a lot of fun."
"Yeah. We should really do stuff like this more often." The half-Saiyan grinned excitedly. "If the next tournament is going to be anything like this one, I want in."
A giggle escaped his friend's lips. "Just make sure to leave the ring out of it next time. Honestly, it was starting to look like a crumbling sand castle out there by the time you and Paprika were done with it."
"Heh. Don't worry. I'll try to keep the damage to a minimum in the 26th Junior Division."
Videl's expression then warmed even more as she sided up closer to the boy, drawing his attention back down to her, "Thanks for not holding back, by the way. I'd be pretty disappointed if you didn't try to win… being the strongest guy in the world and all."
A little bit puzzled by her admission, Gohan then decided to roll with it and smiled fondly back at her, "No problem." While he was exchanging smiles with her, the youngster then jumped when he got a hard pinch to the arm. "Ow!" When he looked back at the smirking girl, he saw her hold the offending fingers up and mimic a crab's pincer.
"That's for knocking me into the wall," she said, before slipping her hands behind her and grinning proudly.
Staring at her cheery expression, Gohan couldn't help but shake his head and smile. "Girls are complicated." He then looked ahead of him again and stretched his arms above him. "Come on. Let's go grab something to eat."
"What about Piccolo and Zangya?"
"Oh, I'm sure they'll be able to find us once they realize we're not in the stadium area anymore."
Videl shrugged, "Sounds good to me."
As the two fighters ambled down the road side by side, completely engrossed in their conversation and the atmosphere of it all, the pair then stopped when they suddenly saw a figure step out into the middle of the intersection up ahead. At first surprised at the man dressed in the same style of orange and blue gi that they were wearing, it only took a couple of seconds before Gohan realized exactly who it was standing in his path. When it clicked, his eyes widened and his mouth fell open in shock.
There was no way he could forget that man's face. No way in hell.
"Hey, son."
"D-Dad?" Gohan swallowed, eyes starting to shimmer as he looked upon the face of his father.
"Huh? That's…" Videl, noticing the boy's reaction, looked between the two men quickly before turning back to her friend in surprise. "What's going on? I thought you said your dad was dead."
"H-He is," the boy murmured, still unable to take his eyes off of the Saiyan standing just a couple yards away.
Goku, chuckling at his son's slack jawed expression, placed his hands on his hips and tilted his head at him curiously. "What's up, Gohan? Are you just gonna stand there and stare at me for the rest of the day?"
"Dad!" No sooner had the man asked that question, the spiky haired youngster practically teleported forward and caught the man around the neck in a big hug. His father actually had to take a few steps back since the speed his son hit him with nearly knocked him off his feet. Despite this, Goku returned the hug enthusiastically and laughed as his son smothered his face into his shoulder. "Dad! I-I thought… you… I…" Sniffing and wiping away his tears on the man's shirt, the teen floated back down to the ground, stepped away, and looked up at his father's visage in confusion. "This isn't… why are you here?"
"Well, when you were up on Kami's Lookout talking with your friend, I heard through King Kai that you were planning to enter the World Martial Arts Tournament, so I asked Baba if I could pop down here for a couple of hours to see you compete." His smile widened even more so. "You did really well, son. I'm so proud of you."
The compliment from his father had Gohan's eyes shine with tears of joy. Clearing them away with a decisive swipe of his forearm, the boy sniffled, "Thanks dad." He then wasted no time in hugging him again, this time wrapping his arms around his back, "I… I missed you so much."
Feeling the powerful boy tremble against him, the man also felt his eyes start to water. Grinning in delight, Goku rested a hand on top of the teen's head and ruffled his hair affectionately. "I missed you too, son." Upon feeling the boy relinquish his hold on him a minute later, the warrior then looked up to see Videl standing a few feet away looking at them with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. Goku promptly acknowledged her presence with a nod and a smile, "Hey there. You must be Gohan's friend."
"Oh." Realizing she was being spoken to, Videl bowed, "Y-Yes."
When his son stepped away, the smiling father turned to him and nudged him in the shoulder. "Hey. Are you going to introduce her?"
Gohan quickly jolted back into reality and, after sucking it up, grinned across at his friend, fighting partner and student, "Videl, this here's my dad." He then did the same to the other, "Dad, this is my best friend, Videl. I met her while I was competing in the Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament about a year ago."
The spiky haired Saiyan nodded his head politely to her, "It's very nice to meet you, Videl."
"Th-Thank you, sir. It's nice to meet you too," the girl replied in a timid and polite fashion, "I've heard a lot about you and your adventures through Gohan. Your son speaks very highly of you."
"He does, does he?"
"Uh-huh. He said that you're the strongest man in the universe, who saved the earth many times. He even said that you were the first of their group to become a Super Saiyan."
Goku chuckled at that retelling and massaged the back of his head, "Yeah. That was a bit of a rough time for all of us. The worst fight though was against Cell."
Nodding in agreement, Videl then took on a curious look and regarded the man inquisitively for a moment. "Gohan… said that you also died during the Cell Games and that you were staying in Otherworld training with the Kais."
"Uh-huh."
"I-If that's true… how is it that you're here now?"
"Well, I had to call in a couple of favors… a couple of REALLY big favors, but I was able to convince King Yemma to let me down for a few hours to have a walk around and see the family." He grinned and pointed at the halo hanging over his head, which had the raven haired girl look at in surprise. "I'm still dead, but I've earned enough credit through my deeds to make one or two round trips to the land of the living."
"Oh. I see," Videl replied, before an understanding smile formed on her face.
"I'm just glad to see that my son is going out into the world and making so many friends," the father said, regarding the girl with respect before then turning to share a grin with his son. It was in that instant the pigtailed fighter was able to see the physical and emotional similarities between the pair, which had her gaze at the adult and child duo in wonder.
As the group stood in the middle of the intersection catching up, they were soon joined by Piccolo and Zangya floating down from above. After tracking Gohan's signature out of the stadium area and further into the district, the pair had quietly taken off from the coliseum walkway and followed the children outside of the sacred battle grounds. It was only until they started their approach of the two fighters did they suddenly notice they weren't alone, and that they were accompanied by yet another familiar face.
The Namekian recognized him almost instantly, whereas it took the Hera-seijin some time to identify the man in the orange and blue gi; someone who looked remarkably similar to a picture she saw back in the Son house.
Spotting the two aliens landing nearby, the Saiyan grinned, "Hey, Piccolo. Great to see you."
"Goku," the green warrior murmured, appearing surprised at first before smiling shortly afterwards, "Well, isn't this the weirdest day ever. First a complete rehashing of our youths happens in the semi-final rounds and then you show up. Did you come here to haunt us or something?"
The man laughed at his rival-turned-friend's comment and rubbed the back of his head uneasily, at about the same time Gohan snickered as well. "Maybe. It's kind of hard to tell. What? Am I looking a little bit transparent to you guys or something?" He then checked his halo and patted himself down.
His actions earned a roll of the eyes from Piccolo, "No. You're not transparent."
"Oh, thank kai. That would have been scary," Goku chuckled, placing his hands on his hips and breathing out in relief. "The last thing I want to come back as is a ghost. Seriously. If I did then I wouldn't be able to eat any of Chi-Chi's delicious cooking."
"Yep. That's Goku alright," the Namekian thought before narrowing his eyes, "So… you popped down here just to say hi?"
"You could say that. I've got some time left before Baba comes around to pick me up, so I'll be sure to make the most of it." It was around this point Goku finally noticed the orange haired woman standing beside the seven-foot-tall fighter and fixed his attention upon her curiously. About several seconds later the Saiyan's hair stood on end and his eyes bugged out of their sockets when he finally recognized who she was. "GAH! Y-YOU?! A-Aren't you one of Bojack's henchmen?!"
Zangya smirked, "Former-henchmen, if you please. I may have been his lieutenant at one stage in my life, but I was officially kicked out of his little gang of Galaxy Soldiers the second he tried to kill me."
Her response had Goku blink a few times before swallowing nervously, "Oh. Uhh… okay."
"The name's Zangya, by the way," the Hera finished, putting her weight onto one side of her body and staring back at the befuddled visitor confidently.
Slowly recovering from the shock, Goku then turned his attention back to his son and smiled his way, "You really are meeting a lot of interesting people, Gohan." When he saw the youngster grin, the man returned it with gusto before then beckoning everybody over, Videl included. "We can catch up soon enough. But I think it's about time I took all of you guys home. It's already getting close to lunch and I bet Chi-Chi is wondering where everyone is."
Slowly, the entire group lined up alongside the Saiyan and made sure they were all comfortably arranged. With Goku placing a hand on his son's shoulder, the youngster in turn then took Videl's hand in his, making her blush at his bold action. Zangya then wandered over to Gohan and lightly gripped his shoulder and Piccolo went over to the Saiyan and rested a hand on his shoulder. Once he felt everyone was onboard, the spiky haired warrior placed two fingers to his forehead and, after a couple of seconds of pause, the entire group vanished in an instantaneous blur.
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