Chapter 7

The change was not something that a normal human could have noticed or felt, when Gohan's power began to flood the stage. A few whispers were beginning to be heard among the audience as the air around Gohan sizzled with an almost electric charge. Then his power started arching around him, and the tiles of the stage crumbled under his feet. Chunks of debris and dust began to whirl around in the tornado of ki. As the spectacle continued, a crater formed beneath him as the air became too thick with power for physical matter to handle – he didn't fall into the gap though, he just floated above it, staying in the same spot the entire time, staring Mr. Satan down.

Goku, Goten and Vegeta all turned their heads from the screen in front of them to briefly stare at the spot on the wall that would have been a direct line to the beacon of power that Gohan was setting off right now. When they turned back to the screen, a wider angled shot was being used, and they could see Trunks standing off to the side of the ring – a very concerned look on his face. Goku instantly IT'd to his side, leaving the others behind in his rush.

"What's happening?" he asked Trunks.

"I'm not sure..." Trunks said hesitantly.

Neither of them expected Gohan to hurt Hercule, but Gohan's display was becoming unnerving. Just as Goku was wondering if they would have to intervene, Gohan smiled and began moving toward his opponent. Hercule didn't run, he only flinched when Gohan's feet hit the edge of the crater and started walking toward him. There was no point in defending himself, in doing anything really, if Gohan had decided to end it all right now. His little charade had been an unspoken weight between them the entire time Videl had been married to him, but even with that he still liked Gohan much better than the punk his daughter was currently seeing.

Gohan stopped a few feet in front of Mr. Satan. He was actually looking pretty relaxed as he grinned broadly and held out his hand, still lighting up their quadrant of the universe with his power. Hercule looked down at the hand, confused for a second, then reached out to shake it as offered.

"Thank you" Gohan said softly. Hercule nodded his head, and Gohan kept genuinely smiling as he let go of the handshake, turned around, and walked off the stage. Trunks breathed a huge sigh of relief. He and Goku both followed after Gohan as he headed backstage to the contestants area.

"Are you ok, son?" Goku asked him straight off.

"Yeah, never been better Dad" he beamed as he pulled Trunks over to him for a kiss.

"Oh... ok, well, yeah... I... see... I guess I'll just catch up with you guys later then!" he said in an embarrassed squeak as Gohan slipped his tongue into Trunks' mouth. Gohan didn't stop kissing him until he was sure his Dad had IT'd back to where ever he came from.

"What was all that about Gohan?" Trunks asked to be let in...

"Let's just say I've recently realized that I never could have dealt with all this as a child – The things that come along with the 'recognition'... I just wanted to let him know there are no hard feelings... Really!" Trunks looked at him skeptically, but trusted him.

"And what about kissing me like that in front of your Dad?"

"Oh, that – I thought you said we weren't going to hide?" Gohan replied with a mock sheepishness.

"Not hiding, and flaunting, are two different things" Trunks retorted. Gohan grinned evilly at him.

"Oh God, now what?" he pretended to be perturbed by Gohan's attitude.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about not flaunting in front of your Dad later..." Gohan winked. Trunks groaned louder than he needed to about being dead men, but didn't let go. As a heard of reporters made their way backstage and over toward them, Gohan took off running around the corner with a laugh, pulling Trunks behind him. Then they quickly took off to the sky before anyone could catch up with them, heading home toward the dark and thundering skies with smiles on their faces.

The End