Choice to be Different

Chapter 3:Truth Comes Out

"Son-san? Son-san?" Videl called with increasing worry and guilt. The other end of the line had been ominously silent ever since the loud crash several minutes earlier.

"Oh why did I ever call?" Videl exclaimed then ran toward where she, Sharpener and Erasa normally ate lunch. She knew Erasa would have invited Gohan to join them.

Videl skidded to a stop in front of Gohan. "Gohan, I, well, there was a little boy at the bank robbery the other day. He said his name was Son Goku and he invited me to spar with him sometime, and well I was curious after I met you," Videl found she couldn't meet Gohan's eyes. She stared at the ground and her confession tumbled out in a rush of words. "I looked up your phone number in your records. I must have been talking to your mom. I think she fainted when I told her about meeting Goku. I'm sorry! I'll fly you home to check on her and make excuses with the teachers."

Videl squirmed nervously as she waited for Gohan's reaction. After a few seconds she gathered her courage and looked up to see that Gohan had disappeared.

"He took off running when you said 'fainted'," Erasa volunteered helpfully. She pointed n the direction where Gohan had vanished.

"Thanks," Videl called as she sprinted after him. Several blocks later Videl realized Gohan had truly disappeared. "There is no way he can get there as fast as I can in my jet copter. I'd better go too," Videl decided and tossed her copter capsule on the ground.

Over an hour later Videl finally spotted the isolated house that had to be the Son residence. "How can Gohan possibly make a commute like that every morning?" Videl wondered as she landed her jet-copter.

To her immense shock Gohan met her at the door. For a long moment the two teens just stared at one another in disbelief.

"How'd you get here before me?" Videl demanded as soon as she recovered her tongue.

"Um, Saiyaman flew me here. He saw me running and asked what was wrong. When I told him he volunteered to take me home," Gohan improvised. "We found the phone off the hook and the truck gone. I figured Mom must have taken of as soon as you told her about the robbery. My little brother's a really good fighter, but he's only seven. Mom wouldn't like him fighting criminals. Saiyaman went to check the roads. I was going to check around the house and make sure Mom wasn't here."

Videl wanted to interrogate Gohan about his connection to Saiyaman but with his mom missing due to her earlier snooping she just couldn't bring herself to do it. "What do you think happened."

"I think Mom heard about someone matching my little brother's description getting involved in something dangerous. Then she forgot everything else in her hurry to rush off to the rescue... and to lecture him about not worrying her." Gohan replied honestly. To himself he added that Goten and Goku were both with Trunks and if anyone could lie their way out of this mess it was Trunks.

"Your little brother was really unbelievable," Videl commented.

Gohan smiled a proud, wistful smile. "He really takes after my dad," he said.

"Your dad?" Videl asked.

Gohan walked inside and handed her a picture of Goku and Chichi at the twenty-third Tenka'ichi Budokai, right before Chichi had dragged Goku off to get married.

Videl's eyes popped open. "Your dad was the twenty-third World's Champion?"

Videl felt acutely uncomfortable. At the twenty-forth Tenka'ichi, the one her father had won, the announcer's disappointment at the lack of contestants from the previous tournaments' top contenders had been obvious. That had been what started Hercule's talk about how the previous champions had been frauds who used tricks to win; that they were afraid to face a real fighter like Hercule Satan. It was apparent from Gohan's manner that, in spite of the evidence of the Cell Games, he believed his father's tricks were real. Still Videl knew she would have had a hard time believing that her father would lie about something like that so it was likely Gohan felt the same about his father.