Title: Scooby Z

OR

Son Gohan and the Case of the Missing Might-Be Girlfriend

Disclaimer: Don't I have an honest face? (Or, to be more precise, don't you think I have an honest face? What with not being able to actually see me, 'n all.)
Rating: PG ( K ) – Oh yeah, baby, there's vague references to nudity in this. n.n
Spoilers: If you haven't gotten at least to the Saiyaman Saga yet...you probably won't have any idea who Videl is. What the hell are you reading this for? Go away!

Summary: ThreeShot. "Our top news story today: the world's most beloved daughter, Satan Videl, is still missing." Post-Buu, mild-GhVi.

Zoinks! An extra-long last chapter. (And posted early! Lucky, lucky you...)

(Okay, dbz-lover91, it's the last chapter. No more dedications...for now.)

Part Three: Unmasked!

"It can't be blood," Gohan decided with finality, holding Videl's stained shirt up for a proper look. "The consistency and color is all wrong."

Mr. Satan, who was squatting directly behind him, leaned over Gohan's shoulder for a peek of his own. "Are you sure...?"

Bringing the fabric up close to his nose, Gohan took a sniff. It smelled soft and musky, like Videl, and...was that artificial sweetener? Certain that Videl couldn't (or, at the very least, wouldn't) have been wearing perfume, Gohan's opinion on the subject was solidified. "Positive. I think it's cranberry juice."

While they waited for Goten and Trunks at the previously assigned regrouping spot on the outskirts of Satan City, Gohan and Mr. Satan were going through the newly acquired evidence together. The first order of business, of course, was to determine what the red, "blood-like" substance on the front of Videl's shirt was.

"Videl-san stopped by the kitchen on her way upstairs after she got home, right?" Gohan asked, tilting his head as he held the shirt back again for a better vantage. "The radio said something like that."

Mr. Satan rubbed his chin in the thoughtful way that he'd seen smart people do dozens of times. "Uh, yeah...," he agreed, though he really had no idea what the boy was talking about. "I guess that sounds right."

"Well, it's possible that Videl-san spilled juice on her shirt and decided to change. I mean, there was no obvious sign of struggle in the room, was there?" Gohan looked to Mr. Satan for an answer.

The bumbling World Champion shook his head to the negative effect. "No...I saw the room myself and nothing was disturbed. The only thing out of the ordinary was the clothes on the floor."

"At least this means that Videl-san probably wasn't hurt when she left," Gohan said, slumping his shoulders in intense relief. "And she probably just changed clothes instead of...er, having them removed." Geeze, even that sounded awful...

Mr. Satan, finding logic (and hope) in this deduction, also breathed a sigh of relief. So his baby girl hadn't been raped and mutilated in her own bedroom...that was definitely good.

"Problem is, this doesn't get us any closer to finding her," the disguised demi-Saiyan lamented, folding the shirt tenderly and putting it back in its plastic bag.

"No, but it's something," Mr. Satan replied, having basically (and finally) discounted Gohan as a suspect. All thanks to his superior powers of deduction, of course; the way Mr. Satan figured it, there was no way that a country bumpkin like Son Gohan would have the stones to kidnap a girl and – were he to do so – probably wouldn't know what to do with one once he got her alone, anyway. "We know that she's not hurt!"

Even through the glasses and head covering, it was obvious that Gohan was still very distressed, despite knowing that the stain on Videl's shirt was an innocent spill. "No, we just know that she wasn't hurt before she was taken. If something's happened since then...," Gohan trailed off, grinding his teeth.

Unwilling to give up on his optimism, Mr. Satan pounded Gohan on the back with a grin on his face. Wincing, he withdrew the now throbbing appendage as he said, "C'mon, boy. My little angel is good at taking care of herself. I'm sure she'll be okay until we can get to her."

Feeling a sense of solidarity with Videl's father for the first time ever, Gohan managed a small smile. "Yeah...she's pretty great."

Mr. Satan's encouraging smile flipped into a frown. "Don't get carried away, or anything! You still can't have her until you've beaten me!"

'We'll get to that later,' Gohan thought to himself, shaking his head with the smile still on his face. 'Videl-san...hold on!'

"'Niiiii-san!"

Pried from his dreamworld of dramatic rescues and grateful damsels in distress, Gohan looked up into the sky to see Goten, Trunks and Mr. Buu approaching at an impressive speed. He unfolded his legs and climbed to his feet, dusting off the back of his costume as he did so, and waved the trio in.

Goten and Trunks both waved back and sped up with an extra burst of chi. "'Nii-san!" Goten shouted again, holding something up in his waving fist. "We found something!"

Gohan could feel his heart pumping blood faster than ever. Could this be the clue that broke the case? "What is it?" he asked as they landed, covering the space between them in three large steps.

Goten held it as high as he could above his head for Gohan's inspection. Even in doing so, the elder demi-Saiyan was forced to bend down to see it properly. "This!" Goten announced proudly, raising himself up on tip-toe.

"A...watch?" Gohan queried, lifting his sunglasses to see the item more clearly. "What does a watch have to do with anything?"

Trunks elbowed Goten in the ribs. "Show him, Goten," he commanded.

Wrapping it carefully around his wrist, Goten fastened it in place; it was loose, but not by too much. "Watch this!"

Goten pressed a green button along the side of the face and, after a few seconds delay, a second Saiyaman was standing in his place!

The costume was the same as Gohan's original, but with a few minor alterations; the helmet, for instance, was mostly white instead of orange and had a little golden heart placed right in the middle of the forehead. The fabric of the body suit was the same stretchy material as his own, but the top layer was a slightly different color green and the cape was...well, more of a pink-ish orange than a red.

"Great, there are two freaks who dress like you?" Mr. Satan said in his booming voice, scoffing as the transformation was revealed. He had his arms crossed over his chest in an impression of authority and Mr. Buu was doing the same.

"Two freaks!" Mr. Buu agreed, nodding sagely.

"Goten found it in Videl 'Nee-chan's desk drawer," Trunks reported, lifting up the wrist Goten was wearing the watch on. "Look, it has Mom's company logo on it."

Frowning at the tiny lettering that read "Capsule Corp," Gohan wondered aloud, "What could this mean...? Could someone have pretended to be Saiyaman to gain her trust and then kidnaped her?"

"I don't think so," Trunks replied, shaking his head. "The watch was in a jewelry box in the back of one of her drawers. What kind of idiot kidnapper would wrap it up and hide it before leaving?"

Goten bobbed his helmeted head up and down in agreement. "Yeah, that would be weird! Besides, 'Nee-chan wouldn't be fooled by this costume; it's way too small to be yours!" He flopped the sagging material around for emphasis.

"Sooo...," Mr. Satan interjected, coming closer to give the new clue the once over. "What's the point of the costume, then?"

"We're not sure...," Trunks admitted, shrugging. "But we thought it was pretty weird so we brought it to show Gohan-san."

The original Saiyaman was rubbing his chin, deep in thought. "I dunno...it's pretty strange, but it doesn't really tell us anything about who took Videl-san. Did you find anything else?"

Goten and Trunks swapped looks, frowning. Looking back to Gohan, Trunks answered for the both of them; "Not really...some of her clothes were missing from the closet, though. The hamper was empty, so they probably aren't in the laundry."

"Laundry day is on...erm...," Mr. Satan paused to think for a moment, his face bunched up in concentration.

"Sunday," Mr. Buu answered for him.

Holding up an I-knew-it-all-along finger, Mr. Satan laughed. "Waha! That's right, Mr. Buu, I was just about to say the same thing!"

"Okay...," Gohan said, shifting his hand to the back of his neck in the hopes that another thinking pose might help. "So that means that the kidnapper, whoever he is, probably took some of Videl-san's clothes with him, as well. Why, though?"

"Maybe they're having a sleepover?" Goten suggested, smiling beneath the copied Saiyaman helmet.

Trunks punched him in the arm. "You only have sleepovers with friends, stupid, not criminals!"

Goten rubbed the spot on his arm, sniffling a little. "Ow, that hurt, Trunks-kun..."

"Alright, boys, enough of that," Gohan commanded, more stern than usual. His mother would have been equally shocked and proud. "We're trying to figure out what happened to Videl-san so knock off the fighting, will you?"

Both boys looked cowed. "Sorry, 'Nii-san..."

"Sorry..."

"Okay," Gohan continued, lowering his glasses back over his eyes. "The thing about the clothes doesn't really help us, either, so maybe we should take that watch to Bulma-san and ask her if – "

Three of the five gathered jumped suddenly and turned to look towards the east. A fourth lifted his flabby head to the sky curiously.

Mr. Satan, startled by the behavior, raced around Gohan to place himself in front of the costumed teenager. "What is it? What's going on, boy?"

"Videl-san's chi...," Gohan replied, his eyes still trained on the eastern horizon. "It just spiked and went away. I felt it."

"Chi?" Mr. Satan repeated, face falling in confusion. "What the hell is this 'chi' crap? Is it another one of your tricks?"

"'Nii-san!" Goten suddenly shouted, pointing off in the same direction that everyone but Mr. Satan was looking in. "I felt it again!"

"I did, too, Goten," said Gohan, firing up his own chi in preparation to take to the air after the latest and most promising clue. "Let's go!"

The three demi-Saiyans took off in flashes of brightly-colored flames, leaving Mr. Satan behind on the ground looking more confused than ever. "Hey, wait!" he called to the empty atmosphere.

All three were gone, leaving nothing but identical trails of (what Mr. Satan assumed was) that chi-stuff they had been talking about.

Turning to Mr. Buu, the only companion he had left, the gargantuan World Champion shouted, "Come on, Mr. Buu! Let's follow them!"

"Follow them!" Mr. Buu agreed, throwing Mr. Satan onto his back.

They took off after the others at high speed, Mr. Satan screaming, "Slow doooooooown!"

— — —

"I'm coming, Videl-san!" Gohan shouted to no one in particular, taking his speed up another notch. Her chi was spiking again, reaching a level he had never felt her achieve before.

Goten and Trunks were lagging behind him, but managed to mostly keep up with the elder demi-Saiyan's fervor.

Far behind them, Mr. Buu and his passenger could be seen catching up. "Hey! Come back here, boy!" Mr. Satan called, his booming voice only barely audible over the wind whistling past Gohan's ears. "Tell me what the hell's going on!"

Gohan was unwilling to yield to any of them. Videl was close and, if her fluctuating chi signature was any indication, she was in trouble!

"Hey, 'Nii-san!" Goten called, grabbing his brother's attention. "Doesn't this place look kinda familiar?"

Glancing around quickly, Gohan had to admit that it did. They were flying out over the ocean, but the small island chains below them were sprinkled in a way that the eldest demi-Saiyan knew quite well from his childhood and occasional visits throughout his adolescence.

Sure enough, as Gohan and the rest approached the source of Videl's chi, the KAME House came into view. Increasing his sensitivity to her power signature, the eldest demi-Saiyan locked onto the area around the tiny island inhabited by his father's childhood master and best friend's family.

"She's there!" Gohan announced, forcing himself to go even faster.

He was the first to touch down on the sandy beach and race for the front door, Goten and Trunks only a few paces behind. There was no immediate trace of Videl in the quiet front yard, so the demi-Saiyan trio made a beeline for the house. Behind them, Mr. Satan and Buu finally landed, the former shouting and cursing as loudly as ever; "Where the hell are we, boy? Where have you taken me?"

Gohan ignored him, finding himself growing quite adept at the skill (he imagined that this was how Videl managed to live with the buffoon) and, quite literally, ripped the screen door from its hinges. Holding it off to the side and out of his way, he shouted "VIDEL-SAN! Are you here?"

Number 18, one of Marron's unfinished pigtails still gathered in her right hand, stared at him with the usual blank expression she seemed to favor on most occasions. "She's out back," 18 reported, eyeing the detached door that Gohan was still clinging to by the knob.

Throwing the burdensome piece of wood and wire down outside, Gohan raced into the house, his entourage of sleuths in hot pursuit. It was a straight path between the front and back doors and, luckily for the home's inhabitants, the second was wide open, leaving no superficial barriers between the group and solving the mystery of the missing Videl.

Gohan thrust himself back outdoors at the same moment that Videl's chi spiked again, causing him to call out in alarm, "Videl-san!"

" – HA!"

The shout was punctuated by an unnaturally strong gust of wind, backlash from the narrow beam of light that was carving a deep trench into the surface of the ocean. It stretched out as far as the human eye could see, turning the cold blue water below into clouds of hissing steam. It disappeared into the horizon, leaving no trace of it's trajectory behind but a couple of stunned seabirds.

"Man, Gohan was right," someone laughed from the shady area off to the side yard. "You really are a quick learner!"

Gohan's glasses slipped to the end of his nose, his eyes wide and surprised at what he had discovered. "V-Videl-san...?"

Satan Videl was standing at the edge of the shore, waves licking her bare toes fondly as the glow of chi surrounding her dimmed to its normal invisible state. Her hands were cupped together and she was lowered into a fighting stance, panting a bit, but otherwise looking perfectly healthy.

Finally aware of Gohan's presence, Videl turned her head in his direction, brow furrowed in the curious expression she often used while she was still involved in unmasking the oh-so-mysterious Great Saiyaman. "Gohan-kun? What are you doing here?"

"M-Me?" Gohan asked, pointing to himself. Was she kidding? "What are you doing here?"

Videl lowered her hands and took a more relaxed standing position as she wiped sweat from her face with the back of her forearm. With a blush, Gohan realized belatedly that she wasn't wearing a shirt, just a pair of her favorite shorts and a hot pink sports bra. "Training, what does it look like?"

Taking advantage of Gohan's lax state of shock, Mr. Satan shoved him out of the way and raced across the beach to Videl. Wrapping his arms around her in a gigantic bear hug, he lifted her off the ground and began sobbing. "My baby girl! You're safe! Do you have any idea how worried Daddy's been?"

Videl, struggling fiercely against her father's grasp, complained, "Daddy! Let me go, I can't breathe!"

Goten and Trunks, who had been piled up in the doorway behind Gohan, also made a break for the celebration on the beach. "'Nee-chan's okay!" Goten cried, tripping on the cape of the copied Saiyaman costume.

As the two youngsters attached themselves to her legs (one for each of them), Trunks cheered in victory. "Yeah! She wasn't kidnaped after all!"

"Hey, what's up, Gohan?"

"Huh?" Gohan lowered his head to see Kurririn staring at him, hands comfortably stuffed into the pockets of his khakis and one eyebrow lifted questioningly. Muten Roshi stood next to him, leaning heavily on his walking stick and featuring the same expression as his former student. "Wh-What? Haven't you seen the news? Videl-san has been reported missing!"

"Missing!" Kurririn repeated, lifting both brows now. "She's been here since Friday afternoon! She wanted me to teach her how to shoot chi so we set up a little training weekend."

"That's right," Roshi corroborated, his mouth suddenly dropping open to allow drool to drain out. "We went to pick her up after school yesterday...ooh, yes..."

Kurririn quickly covered his former master's mouth with his hand, looking oddly nervous. "G-Gohan doesn't need to know about that! It's not like you saw anything, anyway!"

Gohan's mind suddenly flashed to the pile of clothing that had been left on Videl's floor, the evidence that had initially sparked concern over her welfare (and that they had all accidentally left behind to chase after Videl's chi signature). It seemed like all of it was there, meaning that when Kurririn and Muten Roshi had gone to pick her up she could have been...

"Only because you were hogging the view for yourself!" Roshi accused, bopping Kurririn on the head with his staff after extricating himself from the silencing hold.

Gohan's face flushed in a mixture of embarrassment and jealousy as he asked, "What view?"

Kurririn held his hands up before him in a placating manner, waving them around in obvious hope that Gohan would take pity on him. "It was an accident, man! I swear!"

Roshi sighed wistfully, cheeks blushing pink as he began to fall back into his world of fantasy. "The sweetest mistake..."

"Hey!" Gohan shouted, taking a step toward the old man with fists clenched. He didn't care if the old man forgot his own name, but that mental image of Videl he was drooling over would be removed from his memory...by force, if necessary.

"Gohan-kun!"

Gohan was distracted from his goal of restoring Videl's honor as samesaid person called his name. He turned her direction and found her still burdened with her father and the two boys, now pinned to the ground under the weight.

"A little help would be nice!" she shouted, trying to pry her openly crying father's arms from her torso.

Quickly changing course, Gohan began jogging to her rescue. "R-Right! Coming, Videl-san!"

After a few disorienting minutes, Videl was finally free of the clutching grasp of her would-be rescuers. "Would somebody tell me what's going on?" she demanded, sidestepping her father as he made another lunge for a hug. Due to their close proximity, Videl was forced to grab onto Gohan as Mr. Satan barreled past them, sobbing and shouting about how happy he was she was alive. The rest of the group – Goten, Trunks, Kurririn, Muten Roshi and even a Marron-toting 18 – were gathered around the two teenagers, patiently waiting for a reasonable account of what was going on.

Gohan, feeling her half-nude body up against his own, felt the heat blooming in his cheeks again. Consciously keeping his hands where he was sure that everyone could see them, he explained, "Everyone thinks you've been kidnaped, Videl-san. We've been looking for you all day! Half the world's in a panic!"

"Huh?" she queried, looking up at him without bothering to let go of his arm. "Why would anybody report me missing? I told Daddy where I was going!"

"You did not!" a sniffling Mr. Satan retorted, pointing an accusing finger in Gohan and Videl's direction. They both looked at him, one with curiosity and the other skepticism. "Daddy was so worried, pumpkin! You could have left a note, or...or something!"

Finally relinquishing Gohan in favor of placing her fisted hands on her hips, Videl countered, "I did! I put it in your den, right on your TV table! I also left you three voicemails!"

Mr. Satan paused in his sniffling long enough to say, "...Oh. I thought that was fan mail and threw it away."

Every member of the group was silent for a few seconds, identical drops of comically-large sweat trickling down the sides of their faces.

"Figures...," Videl said, sighing in exasperation as she wiped the perspiration away. "But that still doesn't explain why the whole world thinks that I've been kidnaped."

"Well, the shirt you left on your floor," Gohan began, glaring in Kurririn and Muten Roshi's direction. The former winced, the latter was unabashed. "Looked kinda like it had been stained in blood. The police automatically assumed foul play."

Videl rolled her eyes at that one. "I spilled cranberry juice on myself! It doesn't look anything like blood!"

"Yeah, well, maybe if the police force in Satan City wasn't so lame they would've noticed that," Trunks commented with a snort of laughter.

"What about this, 'Nee-chan?" Goten queried, holding up the cape of the costume he was wearing for emphasis.

It was Videl's turn to blush, for once. "It was supposed to be a surprise...," she muttered, looking pointedly away from Gohan. "I was saving it for Monday. And I would've kept it a secret, too, if it hadn't been for you meddling kids..."

Goten, who still hadn't bothered to remove Videl's version of the Saiyaman costume, and Trunks both rubbed the backs of their necks sheepishly.

"Sorry, 'Nee-chan..."

"Yeah, oops..."

Videl's mock scowl relaxed into a greatly amused expression. "Well...I guess as long as you were trying to help me, it's okay."

Simultaneously, both boys grinned with relief. Goten, just to be sure, asked, "Really? You mean it?"

Videl laughed aloud at them both, her eyes squinted in mirth. "Yeah, you're forgiven. It's actually nice to know that you'd come looking for me if I were really missing."

"Any time!" Trunks agreed, flashing her a thumbs up and a wink. Goten imitated him, making the gesture all the sillier.

"D-Does that mean...," Gohan queried, calling Videl's attention back to himself. He was a bright shade of pink that the evil Majin Buu would have been proud to call his own. "You were saving it for our d-date?"

Videl crossed her arms and shrugged. "I thought we could, y'know, fight crime together, or something...or did you want to go to some crappy movie instead?" she asked, glancing up at Gohan from the corner of her eye. She wasn't as exaggeratedly embarrassed as Gohan was, but there was still a shy glow in the apples of her cheeks.

"N-No!" he replied, mimicking Kurririn's panicked hand movements from earlier. "Crime fighting sounds great! Lets' do that!"

Videl quirked a soft smile at Gohan's expense. "You're cute when you're nervous, Gohan-kun."

"R-Really...?"

Reaching out for Videl's backside with a sly hand, Muten Roshi commented, "You know what else is pretty cute...?"

With a shift of mood so quick that even Chi-Chi would have been given whiplash, Videl's expression changed to one of hard ferocity. "Touch me again, you old perv, and I'll shove your groping hands down your throat!"

"Ooh, feisty! I like tha – AUGH!"

— — —

"I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to the world for my behavior over the past couple of days," Videl said, looking earnestly into the cameras. "I didn't mean to concern anyone and I feel terrible about doing so. I'm also sorry to the police force for wasting so many of their man hours searching for me when I wasn't, in fact, missing." She paused for a moment and allowed the flashbulbs to go off in her face without complaint.

"Lastly," she continued, adopting a sincere expression of regret. "I'd like to apologize to my father, Mr. Satan, for neglecting to tell him about my plans for the weekend and making him worry. It was all a terrible misunderstanding and I feel completely responsible; please forgive me."

Hands flew into the air as reporters scrambled to ask her questions. "Videl-san! Please, tell us, were you in danger at any time over the course of your disappearance?"

"No, of course not," Videl replied. "It was all a misunderstanding, like I said. I was perfectly safe the whole time."

She called on another waving hand and another question followed. "Where were you over the weekend, Videl-san?"

"I was at my good friend, Son Gohan's, house studying for midterms. They're coming up next week."

"Videl-san!"

"Videl-san, look this way!"

"Videl-san, just one more question!"

"You look good on TV," Gohan commented, resting his chin on his hands as he watched his new girlfriend perform in front of the reporters on the jumbo screen in the middle of Satan Square. The footage of Videl's press conference following her safe recovery had been on an almost continuous loop for the previous forty-eight hours, reassuring everyone within the viewing area that she was, in fact, perfectly fine.

"Thanks," Videl replied, swinging her legs to and fro over the side of the building they were sitting on. She was decked out in her new Saiyaman Number Two uniform, matching Gohan almost perfectly in miniature. The visor on her helmet was lifted, allowing a perfect view of her face.

Gohan's sunglasses were, similarly, out of his way and perched on top of his head. "Oh, and thanks for letting everyone know that I didn't kidnap you. Mom was beginning to worry that they were going to storm the house soon if you didn't turn up..."

"No problem, Gohan-kun," she said, grinning at him. "So, how's this for a first date?"

Gohan responded with a grin of his own. "Better than 'some crappy movie,' hands down."

Videl extended her face upwards, her lips softly puckered, and Gohan leaned down to meet her halfway. Their lips touched for a few lingering seconds and they both broke away, pleased with the tingling results of their first "real" kiss.

A couple seconds later, however, an obnoxious beeping noise ruined the romantic moment. Gohan moved back, allowing Videl to bring her watch communicator up to her mouth so that she could respond to the call unhindered. "This is Saiyaman Number Two."

"Vid – er, Saiyaman Number Two! There's a bank robbery at Satan First National! Please hurry!" a voice infused with static cried from the tiny speakers in her wristwatch.

"We're on our way," Videl replied, reaching up to flip the visor on her helmet down to its identity-hiding position (as if it mattered).

Gohan followed suit by lowering his glasses and, standing, offered his hand to his new partner in hero work. "Let's go, Number Two."

"Let's!" Videl replied, taking the proffered hand.

Together, they jumped from the rooftop and blazed towards the crime scene, twin trails of white chi running parallel to one another as they flew.

THE END

(Seriously; no more!)

— — —

Authors Notes: I didn't want to post this until Friday (since that's about the time ppl decide that the time is ripe to go read themselves some fanfiction), but I'm going to the beach tomorrow and I have NO idea if I'll have internet access while I'm there. Since I won't be in a position to post again until Monday, I decided not to make y'all wait (assuming anyone cares about the ending, of course n.n; ).

Aside from the crappy title, this story turned out pretty good, I think. It didn't end up being quite as funny as I had originally imagined it, but...oh, well. The sweetness is the same ('specially right at the end). And the pervy elements are as deliciously awkward/embarrassing as ever...n.n (Couldn't resist, I really couldn't.)

Btw, anybody notice the parallels between Gohan and Videl's first date and Goku and Chi-Chi's? n.n

Well, that's the end! If you noticed anything – and I mean anything, whether it be a plot hole the size of a pin prick or one that you could drive a tanker truck through – that doesn't seem quite right in this story, please, for the love of any god(s) you happen to worship, tell me! I've never written mystery before and, if I'm ever going to learn, I NEED to know where I'm weak just like I need to know where I'm strong. Any and all help you could provide as an impartial reader would be greatly appreciated by this author (no flames, though; constructive criticism only!).

. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .

– Who's your daddy? GohanVidel

— — —

Next Chapter...NOTHING! HA! (Sorry, that was mean...hehe.)