Hi, I'm back again with my second story. I know that in my last story I got some things wrong in terms of planning out the actual story. I'm not going to lie, you'll probably find the same flaw(s) in this one. My stories tend to be dialogue heavy so I've tried to fix that a bit in this one but there will still be dialogue heavy parts. I also don't tend to plan them out on paper, I just write how I think the scenes/story should go. That being said, I always say that it's a bit of an AU type story. I don't include the Buu saga or any Saiyaman involvement. The simple reason, I like the dynamics between people, rather than writing fight scenes and letting it steer the ship so to speak.

As for this story, I've tried to imagine how Videl would act if her life were very drastically different so I hope you enjoy this story.

In regards to updates, I've always preferred to have the story fully written before uploading it, that way, you won't be left with a story that goes on an indefinite hiatus. That said, I've not finished writing this one, which is why I'm publishing it, to try and give me the kick needed to get back in to writing this and finish the story, so likely, I'll probably update once a week until I can finish the story, then I might upload it quicker.

Anyway, I'm rambled on long enough, please enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT or Dragonball Super, any of it's film adaptations or the manga.

Chapter 1: Realisation

The day started off like any other, birds were singing, the sun slowly appearing over the horizon, a cool breeze sifting through the windows, yet, for Videl Satan, it was likely to be anything but a normal day for she had just stirred from her slumber and looked about the room, getting her bearings as she sat up in her bed and looked over to her dresser and the mirror atop of it, then looked over to her walk-in cupboard and then to her en-suite bathroom, at least she would have had she been sleeping in her own bed, never mind her own house.

Everything had changed for Videl and her father, Hercule, in the last 24 hours, after it got out that Mr Satan was not the champion who defeated Cell after all and, as a kicker, he was just beaten by a scrawny looking woman in the last 16 of the World Martial Arts Tournament not just a few days ago.

Neither of them knew who had provided the evidence, but there was video footage circulating around all the news and media outlets, showing Mr Satan cowering behind a rock with the first camera crew who had gotten there, whilst the delivery boy that everyone in the world had seen in the original broadcast, and his friends, had truly been the ones to take down Cell.

Now, because of all of this, Videl was waking up in a small bedroom at an inn, in the furthest most reaches of the land and why?Well, that was simple, once Mr Satan lost to the blonde-haired woman, people started questioning just how strong 'The Champ', really was, then the footage was aired and the world had decided that Mr Satan was nothing but a fraud. Videl, had lost her position on the Satan City police force, even though she had been innocent in all of this, as they thought that there was no way she didn't know about this, which meant that the city's trust in her too, was lost.

The city decided that it was going to change its name back to Orange Star City as soon as they could pass the motion in office, which would take some time but, should be fairly straight forward, given the , from every individual person, to cities, to even world governments, wanted their money back from Mr Satan that they had gave Mr Satan had received many gifts, there wasn't as much cash as they would like as most of the monetary gifts were invested in to other enterprises, such as hotels, fast food outlets, dojos, being the case, debt collectors and repossession agencies had swarmed all the hotels, dojos and fast food outlets and seizing the , to top it all off, they then descended upon the mansion, taking everything that they could.

Videl had at least had the sense to grab everything that she could, she had filled up a suitcase by throwing as many clothes, shoes and underwear that she could fit in it, not to mention, filling up every nook and cranny with things like a toothbrush and toothpaste, money, literally anything she could lay her hands father, on the other hand, was trying his best to convince them all to not take anything, but failing , she had taken a precaution and had already packed a suitcase for her father the night before, stuffing as much money and clothes as she could get in to it for him.

She had thrown everything in to her jet-copter and capsulized it, making it easier to had done the same with food, grabbing as much food as she could and placing it on to a dining room table before capsulizing it as well, she seemed to have been much more realistic than her father when she had mentioned to him that they should start packing stuff in the event that something like this might however, laughed it off and thought that his reputation was so great, that the people of the world couldn't live without him, oh how wrong he was.

So, instead of the dresser, closet and bathroom she was expecting, she could see four log walls, a door, two suitcases and a bedside table which sat between the bed she had slept in and the bed that her father was still sleeping in.

The realization of the situation had sunk in hard now, even though she had been preparing for it, it still hit her like a brick wall, harder than she had got out of bed and tip toed her way to the door and creaked it open, looking over to her father, who was still fast asleep, as she slid out of the room and closed the door made her way down the hall to the bathroom as, unfortunately, due to the size of the inn, it was a shared bathroom between occupants.

Videl went about doing her business and made her way back up to the room that they were staying crept back in, her father still asleep and made her way back to her grabbed some clothes out of a backpack she had also managed to secure on their way out of the mansion and got changed under the covers, certain her father would not she had changed, she stuffed the other clothes back in to the backpack and placed it on the floor and grabbed her shoes and again, tip toed out of the she had went out of the room, she made her way downstairs to the reception area, which nobody was manning at the time, seeing as they were the only guests staying there, there didn't seem to be a need for anyone to be manning it this early.

She looked at a table, which seemed to have a wooden box which was holding brochures, the kind you find at most hotels that show all the different touristy things you can do in the looked at them all, more or less each one was showing something that revolved around going to Satan City, or Orange Star City once they changed its was either that or East City as there wasn't anything else nearby, and East City wasn't exactly close either truth be , Videl found a brochure that showed a map of the area surrounding Mt. Paozu all the way to the coast line and all the way to Satan is what she needed as neither her, nor her father, knew anything other than city life as they didn't stop at small towns or villages often, they either lived their lives in Satan City or attended fancy soirees in one of the other big cities for the most part.

Videl put the brochure in her pocket and made her way outside, there she could feel the cool, crisp, clean air as she took in a big breath through her should have been satisfying to breathe air like this, although, uncertainty stood in her way, not knowing what the day would bring or where they would go place was really only meant as a rest stop for, anyone really, seeing as it had no amenities and they didn't have enough money to be living out of inns and motels the rest of their needed a plan, what that might be however, was anyone's guess as her father didn't really say much for the rest of the day after they fled their home in Videls' couldn't even rely on that too much either as they would need to re-fuel at some point and again, money would only go so far.

Videl looked at the map on the brochure and studied it for a while as she sat down on an old tree stump outside the at all the towns and villages in the area, she couldn't decide where to go, after all, most of these places had tv now so, it was most likely that they all knew about what had happened were only lucky that this place had no tv or news coming that way often, but it wouldn't last forever, the owner would eventually go to get supplies from a nearby town or village and would find out from someone best Videl could hope for is that someone would take pity on them and offer to put them up for some time.

Her best friend, Erasa, had offered to take her in, but Videl had declined as Erasa's parents were ok with Videl staying, but not her father and Videl loved her father very much, that she wouldn't abandon him in his hour of need, hence, Videl took her father in the jet-copter in any direction that wasn't Satan kept in contact with Erasa for as long as she could, however, her phone battery eventually ran out and, with no electrical supply at the inn to recharge it, it was no longer a useful item, though she didn't discard it as she would likely find a way to charge it later.

After studying the map some more, Videl heard the door to the inn open turned around to see the sight of her slightly dishevelled father, clearly just awake and out of bed;

"Hi sweetie, what're ya doing?" asked Hercule.

"'sigh', just looking at a map of the area, trying to figure out our next step in this whole mess" replied Videl.

"Oh, I see" said Hercule as he looked down at the ground in shame.

"Videl, I'm sorry this happened to you, I only wanted the best for you" said Hercule ashamedly.

"I know dad, I know, but we need to concentrate on what we're going to do next, we'll have plenty of time to discuss this later, ok?" said Videl.

"Ok sweetie" replied Hercule.

After a while of contemplating, Videl suggested that they head somewhere over in the direction of Mt. Paozu's base, as there were a number of villages there that she hoped hadn't heard the news , not knowing what else to do, agreed with his daughter and stepped back in to the inn with Videl behind him as they made their way back up to their room and gathered their things.

After stopping to grab some breakfast in the small dining area of the inn, they began their trek towards Mt. so often, they'd pass by someone who was on their way to their work or running errands, all friendly enough, it seemed as though maybe news hadn't reached out here quite , it became evident after a while that news had reached out there and that, maybe the first few people they came across were just really friendly, as soon after the first few passers-by, they began approaching a village, where the more people they passed, the more vulgar and annoyed people were shouting at them, booing them, calling them worthless and everything else under the sun.

Videl was brushing it off and continued to make her way through the village with her father close least, she would like to have brushed every comment off but in fact, the opposite was happening, she was hearing every one of them and couldn't help but notice the anger that seethed in each person who made a rude gesture or comment towards hurt Videl, deep, seeing just how a person could turn on another like that.

The two of them dared not stay in the village any longer than they had to and in fact, didn't even stop in a shop for fear that anything could happen, they just continued until they had managed to walk right out the other end of the would end up being a recurring theme, they'd find a village, be jeered or booed and would have to make a hasty exit and move on to the lasted for a total of five days straight and they ended up having to go away from Mt. Paozu and towards the coastline after only two days.

They had not been successful in staying anywhere over those five nights and ended up camping out each of them had bathed properly in days, their clean clothes were starting to dwindle and they weren't eating properly as they had already rationed out the food to the point that they were going to have to eat every second day just to make it 's nerves were frayed as she was now constantly looking over her shoulder, not knowing what to was a shadow of his former self, no longer trying to be a heroic leader but instead, following his daughter around as she seemed to have a better grasp of the situation than he did, but, she was still just a kid and didn't know everything, she was just winging it and planning as far ahead as she could, which, admittedly wasn't very far seeing as she had no idea where they could go.

Eventually, after another four days of travelling, they happened upon a small appeared to be quite quiet at this hour, not filling any of their hopes that there would be anything open at this two of them made their way through the town, checking each shop, only to find closed signs everywhere;

"Videl, I don't know if I can take this much more, I'm starving, dirty, stinking and tired" said Hercule to his daughter.

"I know dad, but, what other choice do we have, we have to keep moving" she wearily replied.

Just as they were about to give up, they had seen a shop which still appeared to be of their faces lit up, until they approached the shop, they both became serious for a moment and looked around to see if there was anyone watching, apparently, they had also become paranoid on top of everything , they both decided to walk in to the shop where they were greeted by an elderly man;

"Well, there's a surprise, I don't usually get many customers after 8pm, what can I do for you?" asked Mr Lao.

"Hi there, we're looking to buy food, any food really" said Videl.

"Well, we've got some fresh fruit and veg over there, some bread, cheese" said Mr Lao.

"Great" said Videl as she helped herself to some of each.

Eventually, she placed all the items on the counter which Mr Lao added up;

"Okay, that will be 500 zeni please" said Mr Lao.

Videl reached in to her pocket and started counting out their money, realising that they did not have enough, they were short, by about 200 zeni;

"I-I'm afraid I don't have enough" said Videl dishearteningly.

"Hmmm, well, if we take away the bread and cheese, you'll have enough for the fruit and veg" said Mr Lao.

A disappointed Videl eventually put the food back and paid for what they could , they were properly broke as that was the last of their money, they wouldn't even be able to afford to stay at another inn or motel;

"Excuse me" said Videl.

"Hmm, yes, what is it?" asked Mr Lao.

"Do you know if there is anywhere we could stay the night?" asked Videl.

"Well, I'm not sure there's anywhere in the village that would take you in, after all, the news does get out here too you know" said Mr Lao.

"Oh, I see" replied a defeated Videl.

"I would offer to take you in myself, Kami knows you really need it based on the way you both look, however, I live here with my granddaughter, Lime, and we just don't have the space, or beds, to put you up I'm afraid" said a saddened Mr Lao.

"It's ok, thanks anyway though" said Videl.

The two of them made their way for the exit before Mr Lao spoke up;

"There is perhaps, somewhere you could stay, however, you won't be able to get there tonight" said Mr Lao.

"And where is that?" asked Videl.

"Here, I'll show you" said Mr Lao as he ushered them both out of the door.

"You see that clearing, in the middle of all of that dense forest over there" said Mr Lao, pointing out past the town limits.

"Yeah" they both replied.

"If you make your way towards there, there is a kind-hearted family who I'm sure will be able to help you somehow" said Mr Lao.

"Thank you" said Videl, with a slightly renewed hope.

Videl and Hercule made their way towards the clearing that Mr Lao had pointed out to them, although it was rather late and they needed shelter for the kept walking, looking for anything that might provide even the most basic form of shelter, eventually happening upon what looked like a cave pulled out a flashlight she had managed to bring with her when she was packing and realised that this 'cave', was really only an inlet of a hillside, still, it went in about ten feet and was large enough for both of them to huddle in to for the night.

They tried to make a fire but with little success as it began to rain and they could not bring it inside their shelter for fear of smoking themselves had to make do with the shelter they had, which was keeping them dry but the wind was getting in and out very easily, making it a cold persevered and put on extra clothes and used others as makeshift blankets to keep them warm for the night.

The next day, the rain had thankfully stopped and they packed up their stuff and continued their way towards the for them, the path that they were taking had been blocked as the rain on the previous night had created a few landslides, taking some of the hillside and trees with meant that they had to take a longer route, going around a small mountain in the area which was going to add days on to their journey, days, which they might not have, based on the food and supplies that they had left.

It took them another eight days to go around the blocked road, four days to travel around it, which, ordinarily would have only took two, but there were some setbacks for the pair, including a scuffle in which both Videl and Hercule had to fight their way out scuffle that they had, was a lot more difficult than it should have been for them both, due to their malnourishment and general tiredness.

After the four days of travelling, they had asked someone for directions, who pointed them the wrong way, on purpose, meaning that they lost a day's worth of travel time and had to double back as a last two days, were spent trying to avoid people, it had become clear to them that nowhere was safe for them now as just about every living thing that came near them, wanted rid of them, or long journey was taking its toll on both of them as they had both lost weight and it showed on Hercule more so, due to his bigger muscle mass, even Videl was starting to look too thin and she was relatively thin before this had all wasn't just the physical tolls that could be seen either, even the mental, emotional and psychological ones could be seen now as every sound made in the woods had Videl turning around, afraid of what might be there.

Hercule on the other hand, wasn't worried about the sounds that could be heard, he was more worried about anyone that they encountered, he no longer felt like he could beat a single person away if his life depended on it, never mind any kind of mobs that they might run in didn't really worry about that too much as she was doing everything she could to keep them from running in to more people, but whenever they stopped to rest for the night, she would look up to the stars, wishing for things to be better, and had cried to herself each night for the last 5 nights now, wondering, just how they had gotten in to this situation.

It had now been nineteen days since they had fled their home, almost three weeks and they had run out of money and food and all their clean clothes had been used had tried washing them in streams and even a river, but with nothing to clean them properly, they were basically getting their clothes soaked in cold water and waiting for them to dry, which didn't help when they wanted to press on as they couldn't go anywhere until their clothes had dried, which took some time.

They weren't too far from the clearing that Mr Lao had pointed them towards, at least, they thought they weren't far, truth be told, they weren't really sure anymore since they had to go around the path that was blocked and the map they had didn't show any of the smaller trails so, they were guessing where they were, based on previous happened upon a small house, nestled very close to the edge of the forest trail that they were about to leave and in to a was about to continue towards the house, when her father tugged on her arm and brought her to a halt;

"Hold on a minute Videl, I don't know if this is such a good idea, we've not had the best of luck with people out here" said Hercule.

"What are you talking about dad?We need to at least try" said Videl.

"Hear me out Videl, if we go up to that house and they turn us away, we'll leave with nothing, but look on the picnic table at their back door" said Hercule.

"Yeah, what about it?" asked Videl.

"Well, there's food there on the I don't like this idea anymore than you do sweetie but" said Hercule before he was cut off.

"What?Are you saying we should steal it?" exclaimed Videl.

"Unfortunately, yes, that's exactly what I'm saying" replied Hercule.

"No dad, we can't steal from these people" said Videl, ashamed her father would even suggest such a thing.

"Videl sweetie, I don't think we can rely on people's good nature anymore, where has it gotten us over the last three weeks, not very far and we need to be able to survive too" said Hercule.

"I…I don't know what to say" said Videl.

"You don't need to say anything sweetie, all you need to do is sneak on over to that table and take what you can before anyone inside notices it's missing" said Hercule.

"What?Why me?" protested Videl.

"Well, you're smaller than me for a start, that makes it easier for you to hide behind things and less conspicuous that I am" said Hercule.

"Dad" pleaded Videl.

"I know sweetie, I know, of all the people in the world, we shouldn't be stealing from anyone but, desperate times, call for desperate measures" said Hercule.

"Ok dad, I'll try, but I want you to know how much I'm against this" said Videl, with a scowl across her face.

"I know how much it means to you to be on the side of justice and right and how difficult it must be to even consider stealing from another, let alone actually doing about this, when, not if, but when we win back the trust of the people and get our wealth back, we do something nice for these people, eh?" asked Hercule.

"Really?You promise dad?" asked Videl in a softer tone.

"I promise Videl" said her father.

"Ok dad, I'll do it and I'm going to hold you to that promise" said Videl.

After the conversation, she made her way behind the trees and bushes to the side of the weren't any windows on the side that she was approaching, which made it slightly scanned around the home and had seen no movement and crept along the side of the home, looking in to a nearby window as carefully as she , she could see no movement, it appeared to be a kitchen she was looking in to. After a moment of pondering, she looked back at the appeared as if someone was preparing a family meal, there was plenty of food just laying took another look in to the window and still could see nothing, so she turned her attention to the table.

On the table, was a plethora of foods, each one gazing back at Videl as she gazed at was even drooling at the thought of eating all this food, however, she regained her composure and decided to pick a few items, not too many, from the table before checking the window couldn't see anyone, but had heard a door inside the house darted back around the side of the home and back in to the bushes and seemed like Videl had managed to get away with it.

She had returned to her father's side, viewing the home from a distance through the had managed to sneak away with some rice cakes, some sushi rolls, some rice balls and a small bowl of was all she was able to grab before she had heard the noise inside the of noises, they could both hear the man who had came back out the house, exclaim that he was certain he had more food laid out for lunch before heading back inside, declaring that he would just have to make more.

Videl and her father then moved off back down the path they had came from, just enough to be out of sight of the home, and began to eat their quarry;

"It's not much, but it'll do for now" stated Hercule.

"I'd rather not do that again" said Videl.

"Why not?Look at what it got us, we'll not be starving all day today" said Hercule.

"It…just felt so wrong dad, we're supposed to protect citizens from people like…us" said Videl, realising that she was now basically, just a common criminal.

"I know it was wrong Videl, but what other choice did we have, if we had been nice and asked them, it could have blown up in our faces" said Hercule.

"Yeah, I know and I get that dad, but we didn't give them a chance, we just took from them without even asking" replied Videl.

"I get it Videl but, I…I just can't take that chance, not when I've got to look out for both me and you" he said, now starting to show some emotion in his truth, it was more her who was looking out for him than the other way around.

"Look dad, I know we're doing things that are completely weird for us and that, sometimes, we're gonna have to do things we don't want to, so can we please try and not break the law" she said.

"Alright Videl, next time, we'll try it your way, hopefully our luck will change shortly" he replied.

With the conversation over, the two decided that it would be best to not take the path by the home, but instead, go around, using the trees for cover, until they were on the other side of the didn't believe this to be the clearing that they were directed towards as it was too small, compared to the area that Mr Lao had pointed them towards.

They continued onwards until it was dark and once again, had to seek shelter for the time, the found a rock formation which gave them partial shelter, it wouldn't keep them dry had it decided to rain that night, luckily for them, it didn' were even able to make a campfire to keep them warm, something that they had been lacking for some time now, due to the rain that had fallen over a week ago making a lot of the potential firewood in the area, unusable.

Again, that night, Videl looked up to the sky as her father slept, wondering what the next day would bring was starting to lose hope, they'd been walking for a few weeks now and their luck had really only gotten worse, with the odd bright moment here and there, maybe tomorrow will bring something new for them.

Author's Notes:

Thank you to iMysticalDBZ, Ushindeshi, zfj and Gofla for taking the time to review the first chapter. I appreciate the kind words and hopefully, there will be less mistakes than the first chapter. I hope you'll like the second chapter and the characters as they go through a trying time.