(One and a half years later)
Sitting side by side at the desk in Gohan's bedroom, the practically inseparable teenage duo of the Z-fighters were currently perusing over the various texts and articles that was their schoolwork for the day. Having taken lessons under the demi-Saiyan multiple times before, the ever studious and spirited Videl didn't find the institute-like environment of the boy's study peculiar at all.
In fact, over the past year, she'd taken quite a shine to it.
Dressed in a large white shirt and a pair of jeans, with her hair done up into a ponytail, the famed daughter of the world champion Hercule Satan was presently chewing on the end of her 2B pencil while trying to solve a particularly vexing math problem. Glancing across at her tutor who was, at that very moment, doing some serious cramming of his own, she could see he was flying through the passages without any difficulty whatsoever.
When the boy in the long-sleeved, oriental white top and black pants sensed the girl's eyes boring into him, Gohan looked across at her and cracked a smile. "What's up, Videl? Are you stuck?"
The young fighter sighed and tapped the surface of her page, "I just can't get Part D of question eighteen… the one with the complex geometry sequence. Part A was easy, since it asked me to find the number of shapes and matches, but now the book's asking me to think ahead of the table and to try and find values that just aren't there."
Gohan smiled and leaned across to give her his two-cents on the matter. Without even having to read the question to realize the problem, he began running his pencil over her sheet, "It's essentially asking you to look for a basic number pattern while including the unknowns in the final answer. Just use the equation you were able to come up with in Part C, add the value of X to the formula, and you're home free."
Finally figuring out the answer after a quick look over, Videl shook her head and grinned. "Oh. I see! Thanks." She then began going through it as quick as she could, while at the same time being watched over by her ever cheerful friend and mentor. "Hey, this math stuff isn't so hard after all."
"Wait till you get to the Year 12 material. Then you're in for a real shock."
"Well… as long as I have you for a teacher, then I don't think I'll have anything to worry about," the teen replied, beaming across at the boy after only filling in a third of her answers. A smile framed her face as she fixed a warm gaze upon the Saiyan warrior. "You're the best, Gohan… at fighting and at schoolwork."
The young male chuckled and rubbed his head sheepishly, "You can thank my parents for pulling me in both directions."
Videl giggled as well and rested her chin on her hand, "You know what… I think I will."
While the pair shared a laugh with each other, they were unexpectedly interrupted by the sound of a familiar groan and looked over their shoulders to see Zangya standing by the bookshelf. Having apparently snuck into the room without their knowing, the pair saw the alien woman looking over the stacks of texts and flicking through a book on advanced chemistry.
Skimming over page after page, the Hera then breathed an exasperated sigh and shook her head, "I don't see how the hell you can understand any of this stuff. It all looks like incomprehensible gibberish to me."
Gohan rolled his eyes, "That's because you haven't learned anything about earth sciences… or any of the other prerequisite topics for that matter."
"Yeah, well… it's not like I need any of this math and theory stuff to butt heads with an intergalactic monster or anything like that," Zangya replied, smirking as she shut the text and slid it back into its place with the others. Placing a hand on her hip, she then turned to smile at the teenagers working at the desk, "I'm into more simple things, like entertainment, clothing, fashion, and television… stuff like that. At least with those things I don't have to think so hard and can understand what's going on."
The raven haired girl shook her head, "Maybe you should think about getting a job in one of those areas." She then raised an eyebrow, "You… alien guys do work, don't you?" Her inquisitive gaze then switched over to Gohan, whom she saw scratch his head thoughtfully.
"Well… I know that Piccolo doesn't work. He just flies around from place to place and meditates most of the time. But that's normal for him. Dende's the guardian of the earth so there's no helping that. Mr. Popo is his advisor, Krillin's part-time in construction like me, Tien's working as a farmer with Chiaotzu, and Yamcha has gotten back into Major League Baseball. As far as I'm concerned, the only one who's currently living somewhere but not working is Vegeta."
Videl scoffed at that, "Bulma should think about kicking that guy out of the house to go find a job… or at least something constructive to do with his life."
"Yeah. But think about the resume he would have to type up," the hybrid warrior replied before beginning to scroll through the air with his hand in marketing fashion. "Name: Vegeta. Education:None. Employment History: Prince of all Saiyans and foot soldier under the Planet Trade Organization run by Lord Frieza, who is currently deceased. Hobbies: Training and beating people to a bloody pulp." The more he said the more Videl had to stifle her laughter, as did Zangya. "Trust me. The last thing you want to see is that guy in a MgRonald's uniform doing customer service."
"Actually… that would be the first thing I would want to see," Zangya snickered behind the demi-Saiyan, who was also grinning from ear to ear.
"Yeah. Me too," Videl also said.
"Okay, okay, cards on the table; that would be pretty funny. But in all seriousness, I don't think he would be able to hold down a decent job without leveling the place he'd end up working at." To be frank, he was more concerned about the customers and the people Vegeta would be 'helping', rather than the Saiyan Prince himself.
That guy could walk through just about anything with barely even a flinch. The only thing he couldn't really take was social activity, due to his prideful nature and violent upbringing. It was a character trait everyone had come to tolerate over the many years of knowing him.
"Vegeta is the highly competitive type. Who knows? Maybe he'll surprise us," Gohan continued, shrugging while fixing his attention back onto his work, but not before glancing at the still grinning Hera behind him. "I'll show you how to write up a resume after our training session this afternoon, okay Zangya?"
The orange haired woman nodded, "Sure."
With a plan made and set, the half-Saiyan and his best friend returned to their studying. But just as they were starting to get into their routine again, the hybrid warrior was once again interrupted from his reading when he felt a tug on his shirt. Looking down to his right, he saw the familiar face of his kid brother, adorned in a similar oriental outfit he'd worn when he was younger, beaming up at him.
"Oh, hey there, little man," Gohan exclaimed, reaching over and gently picking the happy Goten up. "When did you get here?" The sight of the child inevitably drew Videl and Zangya's attentions over to him as well.
Videl giggled, "Hey, Goten."
"Wow. For a toddler he sure gets around a lot," the Hera-seijin chuckled, watching as the older brother sat his sibling in his lap. As soon as he did, the Goku miniature reached up and started playing with his older brother's face, making boisterous noises at the same time. "What an energetic little runt."
"Yeah. Ever since he learned how to walk he's been running up and down this house like there's no tomorrow," Gohan chuckled, feeling Goten pull at his cheek before reaching over to play with Videl's finger when she reached over to poke him. After playing around with his older brother and sister figure, the child then turned in the half-Saiyan's lap and focused his attention on the sheets of paper in front of him.
Looking them over, he then pointed at a document and looked up at his brother, "Oh, oh…"
"Hm?" Gohan's eyes fell on the paper Goten was pointing at. "You want to learn how to do math as well?" The vigorous nod the child gave next was all the answer the demi-Saiyan needed and he quickly shuffled them forward. "Alright then, squirt. If that's what you want. Most of this stuff is a little bit too complicated for you, so let's start off with something simple." He then one-handedly pulled up a blank sheet of graph paper and began writing big numbers on it. Once he was done, he then pointed to the first, "Okay, Goten. Welcome to your first day of school…" He then bounced the boy on his knee, earning a playful laugh from the toddler, and directed the child's gaze to the worksheets in front of him. "See this? This is the number one. Can you say that, Goten? One?"
Pointing down at the number, the half-Saiyan child made a few happy sounds and poked the symbol made in pen. "One…"
"Yes. That's good. Well done." Gohan then playfully poked his baby brother in the side, drawing another giggle from him.
Crawling his hands forward on the desk, Goten then pointed at the number next to the one Gohan had drawn. "One. One."
"No. No. That's the number two," Gohan chuckled, a light laugh also leaving an observing Videl's lips as she watched the young warrior lead his kid brother through the texts. "Two comes after one. One… two." He showed Goten on his fingers before then pointing down at the number. "This is the number two."
"Two," Goten repeated, pointing at the scribble.
"Yes. That's the number two," Gohan continued, before then pointing at the others. "All of these are numbers. Numbers are what we use for counting, adding and taking away stuff, which is really important for us. These are only the first ten." He then smiled at his baby brother, who gazed at him with that curiously cute expression of his. "Do you understand, Goten?"
Blinking a couple of times as he processed his older brother's words, the toddler looked back at the paper, glanced over the numbers, before smiling and then pointing at the one at the end. "TEN!"
Gohan smiled brightly in response, "Yes, Goten. That's right."
For the next hour after that the older brother spent playing with his brother at his desk, going through all the small numbers with him and even making a little game out of it. During this time, Videl also played around with the little tyke, getting him to read a few words to help with his vocabulary before then moving back into her work, while Zangya pottered around close by.
As the orange haired female was busy engrossing herself in one of the novels Gohan kept close to his main collection, she suddenly felt a tug on her pant leg and looked down to see Goten standing right next to her. Obviously having had his fill of playtime with his older counterpart, the toddler immediately went over to the woman he'd often seen wandering around their property, and decided to hang out with her for a little while. So, smiling cutely at her, the hybrid began playfully clapping his hands onto her leg as she set the book down beside her.
The Hera smirked, "What? See something funny, little man?" When the boy stared up at her curiously, inspecting the girl's face and hair, the child then giggled and clambered up onto her leg. Not wanting him to hurt himself, Zangya helped the young explorer up till he was sitting on her lap and facing her. "Goten, huh? It's nice to finally meet you," she spoke in a mature tone of voice, one that had the baby laugh and wave his hands around. Upon which the warrior woman then gave the child a nod of greeting. "I'm Zangya. I used to be your big brother's enemy, but now we're good friends and sparring partners… and that means I'm a pretty tough cookie. So you better behave yourself, mister."
Staring at her quietly after her little warning, the young Goten then tilted his head a couple of times before, from out of nowhere, he smiled brightly and reached out to the woman. "Zangya-oneechan."
His exclamation had the Hera recoil, "What? N-No. Wait a second. I'm not your…"
"Zangya-oneechan."
"Oneechan-nothing, you little runt. It's Zangya. Just Zangya."
"Zangya-oneechan!"
"No, God damn it! I'm not your big sister. Geez, did your annoying brother tell you to call me that?" the orange haired woman growled, earning a giggle of amusement from the child who then pulled on her hair when he managed to grab some. "Ow, ow, ow. Don't do that." Quickly freeing herself from the boy's surprisingly powerful grip, the Hera then tried to stop the kid's flailing hands with her own. It was then she noticed Gohan and Videl looking at her from across the room, the former grinning while the latter was trying to stop herself from laughing.
The sight of the pair staring at her had Zangya blush and turn away to try and hide her embarrassment. "Not a word to anyone-OW!" Her lapse in attention allowed Goten to grab hold of her hair a second time.
==========================
If you want to support me and also access 30 advance chapters, join my patreon with the link patreon.com/EddyHazArd
Or just search "EddyHazArd" in the patreon searcher.