AN: Hello, guys! Yay, I finally updated again. I get so relieved when I do. I don't know why. Anyway, most of the reviewers for this story probably didn't get a reply for their reviews in Chapter 8. The thing is that I got all of the replies written out already, but when I was about to send them, I lost them. There were quite a few of them, and call me lazy (I'm not, just busy) but I couldn't make another one again. However, I should let you know that I've read all of them, and I really really really liked all of them. Thanks for all of the support, even if I don't really update frequently.
During my long absence, I've been planning what to do and what is going to happen to this story. Other than this, there would only be three more chapters. I know exactly what I'm going to do now.
Please excuse if there are spelling or grammar mistakes here. I really wanted to get this chapter out, so I'm going to edit it later.
Chapter 9: Digging In
Videl felt the demi's warm lips caress her own. He brushed against it only softly at first, but gained more pressure as they continued. She began to respond back to his movements, and gave back as much as she received. As the kiss deliberately heated up, Gohan started to nip at her bottom lip. She knew just what he wanted, and decided to keep him begging for it for a little longer.
Gohan, confused with her reactions, nibbled at the soft flesh some more, now with more urge. It took a while before Videl finally gave him a break and parted her mouth slightly just like what he wanted. He slipped his tongue inside. He slowly moved them against her perfect rows of teeth before caressing the roof of her mouth. She responded back eagerly... too eagerly.
After they broke apart, Videl picked up the cracked piece of wood from Gohan's hands, running her lithe fingers along the jagged edge.
"Let's go back. We should decode more of the symbols if we are ever planning to get out of here," she whispered to his ear.
He groaned playfully.
"So soon?"
The black-haired vixen had already stood up, and was already walking towards the forest.
"What do you mean? We've been here for a few days!" she answered back.
But I can't say that I didn't have a good time, Gohan thought. After all, it was this island that had let them confess their long-hidden feelings for each other, and in not just an ordinary moon-lit walk on the park or a fresh breeze by the sea kind of thing. His love interest had almost been eaten by cannibals on a supposedly 'magical island' with an invisible shield. Now, that's what you'd call memorable.
"What are you waiting for?" Videl called out, at the same time she disappeared from behind the thick bushes outlining the forest. "If you hurry up, you might be able to catch me taking a dip by the lake!" she added teasingly.
The demi's ears perked up by this statement, and almost in Super Saiyan speed, caught up with the small but tough fighter.
The young Ms. Satan felt a strong breeze pass her, and when she blinked her eyes, the demi had already caught up.
"Wow, I can't seem to think of any reason why you were so fast," she replied sarcastically.
Remembering what she had said about the lake, Gohan's memories automatically swirled back to the time when he had caught her taking a bath. He suddenly felt an urge to tell her and be honest. Hopefully, she wouldn't get angry.
"Uh, Videl I have something to tell you…"
"Shoot," Videl replied.
"Umm, remember that night when you fell from that tree and I… kissed you?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, remember earlier that day when you asked me what was wrong because I seemed sort of out of it?"
"Get to the point, already!"
"Okay. Isawyoutakingabathbythelake."
"What?" Videl stopped dead on her tracks and faced her boyfriend.
Gohan sighed, "I said I saw you taking a bath by the lake."
Videl shook her head. "No, I heard what you said. But WHAT?!"
Gohan grabbed her small frame in his arms and held her tight.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. Please don't be angry," he told her.
"It's okay, Gohan. I'm not," she whispered back to him after a while.
He slowly let go of her tiny figure. "Why not?"
The raven-haired girl glared at him. "Why do you want me to be?"
"NO, no. Not that," Gohan said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "It's just that… I didn't expect you to be…"
"I told you, it's okay," she repeated. "…because I saw you taking a bath too."
"WHAT?!"
"Oh, please. Don't act so surprised. Why do you think I climbed up that tree?"
"Uhmm, didn't you tell me that there was a lion or something?"
"Yeah, but I wouldn't have run away and met the lion if I didn't see you naked."
The demi-Saiyan began walking once again and Videl right behind him.
"Well, I guess we're even now."
Videl shrugged, "Yeah. I guess so."
Whoa. I hadn't expected that, the young demi thought quite relieved.
They were met by the little droplets of waters splashing from the falls on the lake. Gohan took off a bit of the clothes he was wearing, preparing to dive into the nice cool waters. Videl didn't even bother.
The cold water was a rather nice alternative to the warm weather they had recently been experiencing. It only got cold during the nights, but the days were, if not warm, steaming hot. The couple swam gracefully to where the cave was, entered the invisible barrier and were able to breathe oxygen once again.
Gohan set the wooden translation down on the cold stone floor of the cavern. He got down on his knees as Videl began groping around the symbols etched on the solid ground. She eyed the curving figures carefully and settled on a certain spot.
"Here," she replied. "Here's where we left off."
Gohan smiled, "Great. Let's begin."
For an hour or so, the pair translated all the symbols and recorded them down. Most of the figures repeated so often that they began getting used to seeing them, almost memorizing over half of what they mean. By the time that they ended, both Videl and Gohan could almost automatically read a set of signs without checking for the translation. Before they decided to finish, they went back to the very beginning to where they had started off earlier that day to check if they recorded it correctly. As it turned out, there were some mistakes.
"I told you we should have checked it out," Videl said casually.
"I never disagreed," the demi protested. "I just had something else in mind at that moment."
Videl smirked at him. "Hey, I never said that I didn't like what you did."
"Good." Then he added, "Because I might just do it again, you never know."
The sixteen-year-old girl smacked her boyfriend playfully on the arm.
"Well, hello mister horny. When did you come out?"
Gohan grinned. "When I met Vegeta."
Videl laughed out loud. When she finally settled down, they decided to read over what they had which was quite a lot.
"Okay, it seems as if all of these are in riddles," Gohan replied.
"Great, we've got some more 'uncoding' to do."
"They shouldn't be that hard to figure out."
Videl shrugged. "So, spill. What's it say?"
"Uhmm... I believed what I saw from the time it was told. The mystery unwinds as the ages get old. It was shown to me, but only to fear. With no one to know and no one to hear. There are three of them. Three to trick your eyes. You buy what they offer, your life is their price. This is getting a bit freaky. Are we in a murder case here?"
Videl nodded intently, "Seems like we're heading that way."
"Yeah. But this next one is a bit more like a clue. Down that familiar path, find the prints on the track. Under all that dirt, you'll discover a crack. Follow it... Follow it..."
"It looks like it wants to lead us into something," Videl stated.
"Path? A familiar one also..." Gohan thought loudly. "Could it be that..."
"I don't know what you're thinking right now, but I suggest we just get going to see where this might lead us.
"Should we uncover more symbols?" the demi asked.
Videl shook her head. "I have a feeling that whoever wrote that wants us to 'follow the crack' right now."
Videl stood up and was about to exit back into the waters, when she remembered that there were some corrections to be made with the first couple of sentences they translated.
"What were the things that we made a mistake in?"
"Oh, the meaning of the sentence didn't change much. We just missed a couple of letters here and there or mixed them up. The angers that it was talking about turned out to be dangers. It's still a mystery though."
"Okay, well I suggest we go and find out right now. I want to get out of this island you know."
With that, Videl stepped out of the barrier and began swimming upwards. Her boyfriend had no choice but to follow.
Once they had reached the surface, both of them came out of the cool place and began walking on the banks. Gohan grabbed his clothes where he left them and placed them back on.
"See, now you're all wet," he told his girlfriend.
The foxy teen sent him a glare. "Gosh, we've only been a couple for one day, and you're already expecting me to take off my clothes?"
The young man blushed furiously and reached up a hand to scratch the back of his head, an old habit he just couldn't discard easily.
"No, that's not what I meant. I was just thinking that you might get cold. You know, since you're all wet."
The blue-eyed female pierced him with a stare.
"I'm serious!" Gohan confirmed.
"Sure,"
"I am!"
Videl sighed and peeled her sight away from him for a moment, but returned it quickly.
"Well, since you're such a nice boyfriend..."
-o-
Videl set aside a couple of branches from her way, comfortable in her best friend's shirt that was currently drooping down on her small frame.
The pair traveled around the woods, lingering around all the places that they usually go to. They needed to find the 'familiar path' that the riddle was talking about. When they couldn't find anything suspicious anywhere, they decided to head back to their base. Noon was almost on them, and they were sure that they were going to get hungry soon. At least Gohan would be.
While the two started striding out of the forest, somewhere close behind them was a shadow, quietly spying. It remained out of their senses, even the keen ones that Gohan owned. It would reveal itself soon enough.
The ground underneath their feet hardened from the muddy soil that crept along the places near the lake. All of a sudden, the female teen felt the ground she was stepping on give in, causing her ankle to twist sideways. She cursed in pain, as she stumbled down. Gohan was by her side in seconds.
"What happened? Why do you always trip over here?"
"I don't know," she answered irritably. "But my ankle hurts, crap."
The demi bent down to examine her leg. It wasn't anything bad, it was just probably...
"Hey Vidy, look at this."
The raven-haired girl shifted her attention from her hurting ankle to where her boyfriend was staring at. On the ground where she tripped, was a crack dividing two levels of the ground, one slightly higher than the other.
Both of them looked quickly at each other, eyes opened wide. They were thinking the same thing.
Gohan looked immediately back at the information they had gathered.
A familiar path... a crack...
"I think we found it," he whispered.
"And we're supposed to follow it, aren't we?" Videl asked back.
He nodded and getting on all fours, he dusted away the remaining dirt the covered the crack.
A shuffling was hear behind them, and standing out from the bushes was one of the cannibals.
AN: Well, that's it! That's it for this chapter at least. About the riddles, if you know something about Greek Mythology, you'd probably guess who the riddle is referring to. Just a little clue. Review please. I know that I haven't updated for a long while, but please please please please review!