Following their shared collection of remarks over the woman's preposterous sounding concept, the group of enamored Z-fighters continued to listen in as Bulma spouted some more plans and details regarding the suit she wanted to design. She even brought up some drafts she'd been able to come up with right there on the spot through her computer's assorted programming.
It was just as the brilliant young woman was panning over the many features of her first pick and was in the process of presenting them to her audience that the equable Gohan suddenly felt a cold and very unpleasant chill run up his back. It was a sensation that caused every strand of his hair to stand on end.
Puzzled by this involuntary reaction, the demi-Saiyan then looked over his shoulder in the direction the unusual current of electricity had come from.
It was there that he saw it.
Standing just a few paces behind him, bathed in shadow, he saw a very familiar person staring back at him. Adorned in all black, with traces of red and white trim and stylish embellishments, the figure was a very fit and curvaceous young woman around eighteen years old, with a patch strapped over her right eye, long, pale-blonde wavy hair that grew down her back, and was tied into a long ponytail. She was also sporting a noticeably revealing outfit, a low-cut neckline that went down below her naval, revealing a toned stomach and ample chest, giving the suit the appearance of a swimsuit. Along with a long, black cape that hung behind her waist, she was also wearing shin-high, black heeled boots, and a black wide-brim hat with a pointed tip, which had a tiny gold bell at the end of it. Overall, this strange looking person had the appearance of a witch, minus the broom, wand and cap, with a hat that was comically large for her head, about half her own size, but fit nice and snugly over her cranium nonetheless.
Aside from having perfectly smooth skin, as the half-Saiyan noticed above her skimpy outfit, the woman also had a fair complexion, grey sclera, and a blood red eye that shone brightly from beneath the shadow of her hat. It was when Gohan's gaze met hers and he saw the woman smile at him, his entire body unexpectedly seized up.
It was a sensation the demi-Saiyan couldn't describe. On one hand, the appearance of the mysterious young woman surprised him, and even caused a momentary wave of serenity to flow through him. But the instant his charcoal stare met hers, all warmth, happiness, and strength in his body was swept away, and was replaced by the cold, iron grip of fear and terror. Looking into the eye of the shadowy figure, it was almost like all the power the young man once held was scared out of his body and sent running off into the distance, leaving him standing in place, with every bone in his body trembling uncontrollably. His breathing stopped when all his organs ceased functioning for the briefest of moments, leaving him in a state reminiscent of death.
The only time he could remember ever feeling this close to it was when he found himself in the vice of Bojack, multiplied exponentially by all the horrors and moments of sheer hopelessness he'd experienced over the course of his young life. The feeling now encasing his rigid body was stifling and suffocating, leaving him choking on words and bleeding sweat.
His mouth moved, attempting to utter words in a desperate attempt to warn his friends of the imminent danger standing behind them. He even tried to force his body into action through sheer willpower, but for some unexplained reason… he couldn't even get his finger to budge. Simply being captivated by the stranger's blood red eye, the demi-Saiyan had become powerless and unable to act under his own power. It was like the intruder's will had completely overpowered his and, with only the smallest of glances, now controlled his every thought and movement.
Unable to fight the sensation confining him to this space, all Gohan was able to do was gawk back at the person standing in the room in front of him. When he finally managed to get a good look at her face beyond her devil's gaze, the teen's mind instantly processed an identifiable profile of the figure.
There was a reason why this stranger seemed so familiar to him. Maybe it was because he'd known her for the past seven years and had become bonded to her through both happiness and grief. There was no way he could forget an angel like her; someone who gave him courage in his darkest times, who lifted him up whenever he was down, who gave him company and friendship, and whom he shared an invisible and unbreakable bond with.
Ironically enough, it was the image of this particular person that allowed the teen to free his body from the overpowering hold of the stranger and speak their name.
When his voice broke, all fears and feelings of doubt broke with it.
"Videl?"
In response, the witch standing behind him grinned menacingly.
…
…
…
"Gohan?"
…
…
"Gohan?"
Letting out a gasp of shock as he was shaken out of his trance, the spiky haired half-Saiyan quickly looked down to see his girlfriend was gripping his shirt and was tugging on it with a worried look on her face. It was this very expression and showcasing of emotions that immediately captured the dazed teen's attention, and had him swallow nervously.
Seeing her classmate finally respond to her calls, the concerned martial artist gave the boy an inquisitive nod. "Hey? Is everything alright?" The tone she spoke with emphasized her state of unease and care for her boyfriend.
Confused by the panicky expression on the girl's face, the surprised Gohan then glanced around at the others, and saw that Piccolo, Vegeta, Erasa and Bulma were all looking in his direction. Blinking at the reception, he then quickly looked back at the entity that he'd been staring at moments before, and had been filling his body with an overwhelming sensation of dread and alarm.
However, when his eyes landed on the spot he had been so focused on before, he found the shadowy figure had disappeared. The resulting discovery left him stunned and gaping like a startled mackerel, with beads of sweat trickling down his face.
It was only the feel of Videl's hand against his cheek that shocked the male back into reality and had him turn towards her once again.
When she got a good feel of the boy's temperature, Videl balked, "Whoa. Are you feeling okay, Gohan? Your skin's as cold as ice."
"And you're as white as a sheet," Erasa also spoke up observantly, having taken notice of the teen's state. Taking his arm in her hands, the blonde then pressed her knuckles against his forehead and narrowed her eyes. "Did you catch a cold? How many fingers am I holding up?" She then proceeded to male random numbers on her hand.
Recoiling a little at the attention he was now receiving, Gohan then asked the question that had his mind boggled and his focus knocked askew.
"Di-… Didn't you guys see that?" he asked, his voice all a stutter as he pointed towards the back of the room.
The Z-fighters, puzzled by his question, looked in the direction he was pointing. When they didn't see or sense anything in that general area, Piccolo and everyone else looked at the teen and gave him a strange look.
"See what?" Vegeta asked in his impatient tone of voice, while his arms were crossed firmly over his chest.
Blinking at his friends and companions, the half-Saiyan regarded the space a second time for a few moments. Upon which he then looked at Erasa and then at Videl, unable to comprehend what the problem was. "None of you… saw a person standing there?"
The crime fighter shook her head, "No. We… didn't see anyone."
"You were just staring across at an empty wall with a terrified look on your face," Erasa continued, her concern having failed to lift even for a moment as she addressed her crush. "We thought you were having a panic attack or something."
Leaning back in her seat, Bulma Briefs tilted her head at the teen and spoke, drawing his gaze over to her. "When you didn't say anything after I asked you how the armored suit fought in an enclosed space, we tried calling your name and shaking you several times to try and get your attention." She added to this by nodding towards Hercule's daughter, who was still clutching his shoulder like he was her personal lifeline. "After you didn't respond for three minutes, I was about to have Vegeta come over and give it a try. Good thing you came too when you did, because I don't think he would've been as gentle as your classmates."
Hearing the woman's remarks put an anxious feeling in the pit of Gohan's stomach, which then prompted the young man to look around at the others, particularly the more experienced warriors of their gathering. "So you guys honestly didn't see or sense anything out of the ordinary?"
Piccolo shook his head at his student's question. "It's like your girlfriend said; there was nothing there brat. Only air and computers."
Grunting a little after getting a good look at his supplementary rival's face, Vegeta grunted and cocked an eyebrow in his direction. "Maybe you got hit one too many times in the head during your battle in the city this morning. You're probably feeling a little punch drunk and dehydrated."
Processing the things his comrades had to say to him, rebutting all of his questions regarding the mysterious girl, Gohan then took a deep breath and directed his gaze back towards the spot where the phantom had been standing moments before.
It was the strangest thing. Despite the fact that he was totally convinced that there had been a girl dressed in a witch's costume in the same room as them, all of his friends had failed to sense any intrusive or hostile spirits whatsoever. Hell, they had all just been standing three meters away from where she'd appeared and none of them had even heard her breathing. Even Piccolo, the supposedly sharpest member of their team, didn't detect her presence. It was this fact that filled Gohan with a sickening feeling of foreboding and made him wonder whether what he saw was real or not.
It sure as hell looked like it was real. There had been a genuine, living, breathing person with an ungodly power level standing directly behind them and breathing down their necks. The aura of killing intent she'd also been emitting had been so potent and so intense that it'd quite literally put the fear of Kai in the teen's heart, giving him the impression that he'd been staring down death herself.
Judging from the amount of sweat his t-shirt had also accumulated, it was safe to say that Gohan had never been more scared than he had just been in his entire life.
However, what prevented these same feelings from bursting forth a second time and overtaking his current train of thought came from yet another revelation, which suddenly popped up in the demi-Saiyan's mind. As Bulma proceeded to bring the group's attention back to her drawing board of ideas in constructing a new combat suit, the spiky haired fighter could only think about the blonde girl's face…
And why it looked so much like Videl's.
After a couple of minutes of contemplation and looking down at his girlfriend, who was vigilantly propped against his arm, all worries over his encounter were quickly swept under the rug. Chalking the entire experience up to just a bad migraine as a result of his early morning battle to the death, Gohan spared his training partner and classmate a smile. When he received one from her in kind after she beamed up at him and acknowledged his warm gaze, the demi-Saiyan massaged the back of his head and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders.
"Maybe they're right. Must've just been my imagination," the young warrior thought as he proceeded to watch Bulma dash around the room and pluck random bits of hardware off of the desks to show her visitors. The scientist was obviously super excited about her project and after witnessing what the mechanical abomination before them had been capable of firsthand, neither one of them could blame her.
"I hate to interrupt while you're in the middle of an important brainstorming session, but shouldn't we be trying to find out where this thing came from and who sent it?" Piccolo asked, arms still folded and serious scowl slapped across his face. When the blue haired woman skidded to a stop beside the operating table in the middle of the lab, the green-skinned warrior then nodded towards the motionless suit in front of her. "While it's good that you were able to deconstruct this impressive piece of equipment for its technology and capabilities, maybe now is as good a time as any to be answering the question as to why it was built in the first place?"
Processing the man's words carefully, Bulma then straightened up and gave a nod. "Yeah. I guess you're right." She then placed a thoughtful finger to her chin and tapped another against the table. "Since I can't trace it through its parts or software, or find out anything about the guy that was driving it, then what's our next option?"
Also getting in on the action, Videl pursed her lips and meekly raised a hand. "The dragon balls?"
Piccolo shook his head. "Not a good idea."
"We only use those for real emergencies, like when planets and populations have been unjustly wiped out, or to help a person in need. Though using Shenron to wish for the mastermind's location will definitely make things easier for us, I think it would be best that we save our wishes for a time that we need them most," Gohan stated, looking down at his girlfriend with a warm smile. "You never know when another crazy God, demon or alien will come out of the blue to wreck the place for whatever grievances he or she may have suffered."
Considering his words earned an understanding nod from the girl. "Hm. Good point." Knowing the kind of trouble the Z-fighters annually got into gave the demi-Saiyan's words credit where it was due.
Vegeta, narrowing his eyes on the team, then focused on the world's strongest fighter. "Alright then, so if we can't use the blasted dragon, then how do you expect us to find this cretin?"
After several moments of thought, Bulma's head perked up and she snapped her fingers in success. "I know. We can go ask Baba for help. If she was able to find a dragon ball stuck inside an anti-tracking box, then surely she's more than capable of tracking down the mastermind behind this suit."
Remembering who the woman was referring too, Gohan grinned widely. "Oh yeah. Now there's an idea."
"Baba?" Erasa murmured to herself, looking up at the half-Saiyan in confusion. Considering she'd only met half of her friend's group, it was understandable why she would be the most in-the-dark about their circumstances. "Who's that? A relative?"
"An old friend of ours who makes a living ferrying the dead between worlds and practicing divination on the sidelines whenever she's not hosting private tournaments at her summer home," Bulma said, placing her hands on her hips and nodding towards the teenagers in front of her. "She's pretty much a witch that travels around on top of a crystal ball."
The blonde city girl nodded, "Ah."
Folding her arms, Videl then took on a questioning look. "Alright then. So who gets the job of going over to visit her?" She glanced towards the clock, before then turning to her boyfriend with a serious frown. "We're already late for our first two lessons. Any longer and we're going to get reprimanded by our homeroom teacher."
Piccolo grunted when he saw Gohan prepare to raise his hand to volunteer. "I'm sure we'll be able to find someone to go say hello to her." The look he gave his student quickly stopped the demi-Saiyan from acting and had him drop his arm resolutely.
"Preferably a person who's already met Baba on a previous occasion and isn't as busy as the rest of us," Bulma said in agreement.
Just as she was about to dial up a couple of names and put them out on the table, there was a sudden knock on the door followed by the entrance to the lab being opened. When the team looked in that direction, they saw the familiar, scar-faced form of Yamcha, sporting a new shortened haircut and a trimmed suit, come strolling into their midst. The sight of the gang put a smile on the martial artist's face as he waved at them in greeting.
"Hey guys. What's shakin'? I was just on my way over to my team's big game over in Pepper City and I was wondering if anyone wanted to come watch us play this Saturday." He then stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed the eyes of every single person in the room were glued onto him, creating a rather humorous moment of silence. The collection of stares had the yellow-suited baseball player balk in surprise. "Uhh… hi?" He then noticed the mech lying in the middle of the room and the corpse just a few feet from him. Staring at it for a couple of seconds, Yamcha then pointed at the soldier. "Who's the stiff?"
Sparing a glance amongst each other, everyone from Vegeta to Erasa smiled, before Bulma threw their visitor a mischievous smile.
"Why, good morning, Yamcha," The scientist then leant against the operating table in a nonchalant manner and set her eyes on her old fling. "Your timing couldn't be any more perfect. As it so happens… we've got a very important job for you to do."
The former mercenary and rising sports super star blinked in confusion. "What? A job?"
"Uh-huh… and just so you know… we won't be taking 'no' for an answer."
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