"V-Videl." Videl stared up at Son Gohan, dumbfounded.
Son Gohan stared down at the woman below, equally dumbfounded.
He hadn't expected Videl in this timeline to become a police officer.
The contrast was just too great.
Was it just someone with the same name? That was almost impossible.
Now that he knew her name, the more he looked at her face, the more familiar it seemed.
Who else could it be but Videl?
The canon twin-tail look had finally made its debut?
Son Gohan fell briefly silent. He stood high in the air, watching Videl for a while without saying a word, his thoughts unreadable.
Videl, meanwhile, was shocked that Son Gohan could actually fly.
How could a person fly?
Before this, if anyone had told her that a human without wings could fly, she would have scoffed and laughed out loud.
But now, the truth was right before her eyes, relentlessly challenging everything she believed.
"You're doing some kind of magic trick, right?"
Videl still found it hard to believe.
"No. This is called the Flight Technique."
Son Gohan flew a lap around the rooftop, then landed again and explained.
"The Flight Technique? What's that?" Videl asked, confused.
"It's a kind of martial art," Son Gohan said.
"Martial arts? How could there be a technique like that? It's impossible." Videl argued back.
She was a martial artist herself, with a decent level of skill. Otherwise, she wouldn't have become the captain of the East City Police First Division.
Her father, Mr. Satan, had once been the champion of the World Martial Arts Tournament.
As far as she was concerned, she knew martial arts.
And there was absolutely no martial art that could let you fly.
Son Gohan said, "Heh. Don't judge the world based on what you know. As you said, this world is vast. The Earth is just a drop in the ocean. What's so remarkable about a martial art that lets you fly? It's just one way of using ki."
Hearing Son Gohan's words, Videl fell silent.
Just as Son Gohan had said.
This world was boundless, full of too many wondrous things that defied explanation.
And that wasn't even counting things far away.
The Androids, who had terrorized the Earth for over a decade, were one example of technological creations beyond her understanding.
They were just two insignificant artificial humans. How could they possess such power to destroy the world?
She had seen reports about the Androids on television.
The two Androids could fire energy blasts from their hands like rocket launchers. Those blasts could level an entire city in an instant. They were terrifying.
Thinking of the Androids filled Videl with overwhelming sadness.
A few years ago, her father, Mr. Satan, the champion of the World Martial Arts Tournament, refused to believe the Androids could really be that powerful.
He had always insisted they were performing magic tricks, a ruse to deceive humanity.
So he decided to teach the two Androids a lesson.
The result was easy to imagine.
Mr. Satan never came back. The Androids had blown him to dust.
It was tragic.
Seeing that he had left Videl speechless, Son Gohan said, "All right, you should get back to work. I'm leaving."
"Ah!" At Son Gohan's words, Videl snapped back to her senses.
"Wait, hold on a second," she said urgently.
"What is it?" Son Gohan asked, puzzled.
Videl hesitated before saying, "Can you teach me how to fly? I want to learn."
Thinking of how she had assumed he was going to kill himself and stopped her plane to talk him down, Son Gohan nodded. "Sure. Come find me at Capsule Corp in West City at this time tomorrow."
It was only the Flight Technique. It wasn't some closely guarded secret, and teaching her would be no trouble at all.
As he spoke, Son Gohan took off into the sky.
"Could you tell me your name?" Videl shouted.
"Son Gohan!" His voice carried from far away. His figure had already become a shooting star streaking into the distance.
He was unbelievably fast.
Videl watched in the direction Son Gohan had disappeared, unable to come back to her senses for a long time.
Everything she had seen and heard today was so bizarre. It had completely overturned her twenty-one years of understanding of the world.
And this man named Son Gohan had actually agreed to teach her that so-called Flight Technique.
She was so happy. Overjoyed.
Videl couldn't help looking forward to it.
Thinking that she would get to learn a martial art that let her fly tomorrow, she couldn't calm down no matter what.
Then Videl cautiously walked to the edge of the building and stuck her head out to look down.
Yikes, it was terrifying.
Videl felt dizzy, and her legs went weak.
She stumbled backward, then returned to the jet with a lingering look of fear. After resting for a while, she piloted the plane away.
Elsewhere.
Flames of ki surged around Son Gohan as he sped through the clouds, creating sonic booms.
Soon, he arrived above Mount Paozu and descended.
Son Gohan pushed open the door and entered the familiar house. Looking at everything around him, he sighed helplessly, a faint sorrow passing through his eyes.
This place was so familiar.
This house held almost all of his childhood.
His dad, his mom, his maternal grandfather, the Ox-King...
Everything seemed like a memory from long ago, yet it also felt as if it had happened yesterday.
Sometimes, he even felt as though they were still beside him and had never left.
The feeling was hard to describe, but precious all the same.
Son Gohan sat dazed on the sofa for a long time, then went outside.
He followed the mountain path another hundred meters or so up Mount Paozu, then stopped in front of two graves.
They were Chi-Chi and the Ox-King's graves.
Son Gohan took out a Capsule, pressed it, and tossed it onto the ground.
Two bunches of white chrysanthemums appeared out of nowhere, along with some fruit and other offerings.
Son Gohan carefully set everything in front of the graves, then sat down on the open ground before them.
"Mom, Grandpa, I came to see you."
"I'm doing well now. You don't have to worry about me."
"I've killed the Androids. At least I've avenged you..."
Son Gohan sat there, talking to himself for a long time.
The Ox-King and Chi-Chi had died during the few days he was unconscious after losing his arm.
They had been dead for just over a year, so Shenron hadn't been able to bring them back to life this time.
He didn't know whether they were in Other World now or had already been reincarnated.
Son Gohan thought he should find some time to go to Other World and ask King Yemma.
If there was a way to revive them, that would be even better.
After sitting in front of the graves for a while longer, Son Gohan got up and flew back to Capsule Corp.
He told Bulma that Trunks wouldn't be coming back for the next few days. Bulma nodded without saying anything and buried herself in her research.
The next day, a jet descended from the sky and landed at the entrance to Capsule Corp.
Videl jumped out of the plane, then turned it into a Capsule and put it in her pocket. She looked around, taking in her surroundings.
Videl had clearly made an effort with her appearance today.
Her black hair was tied into two ponytails that fell naturally over her shoulders, and she wore a light, elegant touch of makeup.
She wasn't wearing her police uniform today. Instead, she had on a fitted white blouse and a pair of slim-fit jeans.
The white blouse was tucked into her jeans, accentuating her stunning figure and long legs.
On her feet were a pair of white sneakers.
She had gone for a casual look.
Capsule Corp was famous throughout the world. Almost no one on Earth had never heard of it.
Although Capsule Corp had suffered heavy losses after the Android incident and was no longer as glorious as before,
it now had only a handful of employees.
Even so, which surviving human didn't have a few Capsules?
You could say that Capsule Corp had declined and was no longer as prosperous as it once was, but you couldn't deny its influence or its contributions to the whole world.
Capsule Corp stood in a class of its own on Earth. It was an absolute T0-level company.
No matter who came along, no one could shake its position on Earth.
As Videl looked at Capsule Corp, she wondered what kind of relationship Son Gohan had with the company.
Just as she was fretting over how to find Son Gohan, Bulma arrived on a motorcycle and stopped outside the entrance to Capsule Corporation.
Before you continue