DISCLAIMER: No, the owner of DBZ does not live here. Try again next week.

Alien Patrol Club

News about Orange Star High's newest couple spread through the school like wildfire. The pairing had its fair share of supporters and critics, and there were many, including Erasa, who saw the relationship coming from a mile away.

Arguably the most disappointed person in the school was Sharpener who ambled through the hallways that week moaning, "you get knocked out for 10 minutes and the whole school goes insane! Gohan dating Videl, what's next? An alien invasion?"

Hearing Sharpener's intriguing words, a nerd popped his head out of a classroom to conspire with whoever else had come up with a conclusion similar to his own.

"Say a word and I'll pound your face into the ground," Sharpener threatened.

The nerd put his hands up in surrender and quickly closed the door again. Sharpener smirked in satisfaction and headed to his next class, glad at least one thing at school was still going his way. As he walked, he completely missed the wet floor signs and his next step caused him to skid face first into a wall.

—

A few months later a wish was made on the Dragonballs that erased the world's memory of the villain known as Majin Buu. Gohan carefully considered making a second wish, but ultimately decided against it. And the world went back to normal and so did the lives of Gohan and Videl.

—

On a warm day, two teenagers were sprawled on their backs gazing up at the clouds. They relaxed in silence, listening only to the sounds of the nature around them.

"So, I meant to ask you," Videl said, breaking the comfortable quiet, "why didn't you end up making the wish?"

Gohan sighed and moved one hand behind his head. "Well, one reason was I knew Bulma would have shot it down pretty quickly," Gohan replied.

Videl rolled her eyes. "If that was your only reason, I'd be pretty annoyed. Seeing how big your freak-out was, I doubt you'd be deterred by just the thought of someone saying 'no.'"

"Hey, Bulma's pretty scary. You have no idea." Gohan laughed. "In fact, there was this time where Krillin said she was scarier than an evil galactic dictator that we were fighting against."

Instead of laughing along with him, Videl frowned at his words and said, "I don't think I could ever get used to that."

"Used to what?" Gohan asked.

"You talking about regularly risking your life against some power hungry alien! I mean it's bad enough that your hobby is to run around the city dressed as a superhero fighting, in your words, 'nefarious evildoers.'"

Gohan turned his head to face her. "You can't say that. You do the same thing, and you know it's a lot more dangerous for you to be out there than me!"

"Yeah, well that doesn't change the fact that you've been risking your life since day one."

"It's not like I had much of a choice. I- My life . . . it hasn't exactly been easy," Gohan said.

"Why don't you join the club," Videl replied. "Life isn't easy. And not every battle takes place against some insanely powerful sociopath. Some are a lot smaller, but may have just as much significance." She was silent for a couple seconds, apparently in thought. "Would you tell more me about your childhood if I asked?" She said quietly.

Of all the things Gohan was expecting her to ask, that question was not one of them. He stuttered, "Uh . . . Y- yeah, I guess. But um . . . wh- why would you want to know more about that?"

"Well, it just seems like the things that happened make up a big part of your life. I mean, I know you're an alien, and I know you defeated Cell. But obviously there's a lot more to your past than just that. I just want to understand you."

"Is 'understand me' another way of saying finding out all your secrets, because I thought we were done with that," he said with a small smile.

Videl smacked his arm good-naturedly. "No. I'm pretty sure we got all that covered, didn't we?"

"Well, let's see. We got the whole seven magical dragonballs thing down, right? And then we covered defeating Cell and your dad too. Then we had this whole debacle with me being a part of an ancient alien warrior race. There's some stuff that goes along with that, but it's not very important or relevant. You do know I'm Saiyaman, right?"

"Really? You're Saiyaman?" Videl said in a very sarcastic voice, "And all this time I thought he was a total dweeb. My apologies."

"Ouch," Gohan said while sitting up. "I feel like I should be really offended."

"But you're not."

"Not really," he said leaning back onto the ground.

After a couple minutes of silence, Videl asked, "So did those Alien Patrol guys ever quit? I mean, even if we got rid of all the evidence, and no one else at school seems to care, they seemed pretty determined."

"Well, I don't know if they've exactly stopped, but I haven't really been bothered in a while. No one remembers Buu or even much about the World Tournament we fought in. You know, other than your dad winning it and going on to save us all. I figure there isn't much to worry about."

Videl felt a cold twinge of guilt in the back of her neck at his words and said, "Gohan, I don't know if I've ever asked you this . . . But are you really okay with the way my dad has taken the credit for things that you and your dad have done? I mean, if our situations were reversed, I don't know if I could be as nonchalant as you are. And I want the truth."

Gohan turned away and propped his head up on his arm. "Truthfully," he sighed, "I can't say that I've never thought about what life would be like if everyone did know the truth. But then I think about the life I live now, and I can't imagine being any happier than I am.

"You know, your dad really did help save the world. Not just this time but even seven years ago." Gohan turned back to face her with a huge grin on his face and continued, "Not to mention that if your dad wasn't around, I never would have met you. I'd let your dad do it all over again if it meant you and I could be together." He moved his arm from under his body, rested it on her cheek and pulled her close for a tender kiss.

—

"This is a disaster!" Lee yelled at the nearly empty room. The club had been forced to relocate from the auditorium to one of the unused classrooms, because attendance was at an all time low.

"It's not the worst thing that could happen," Mark said massaging his temples. "There could be only two of us in here."

"At this rate there will be! Look around!" Lee said while gesturing wildly. "The only people who came are these two sleeping idiots, both of whom I cannot stand!"

The two sleeping with their heads on the desks woke up with a stir. They gazed at Lee's angry expression and the clocks on the wall and decided they should make their exit. Mark shook his head and sighed.

Lee looked at him and said, "I can't explain it. First people shirk from their stalking duties, then they plain stop showing up. This is an utter insult!"

"Maybe this is a sign," Mark said, "this might be the end of the Alien Patrol club."

Lee gasped as if insulted. "Mark, don't tell me you've succumbed to such pessimistic thinking too? This club will never 'end' until we accomplish our goal, unless you're counting disbanding during a Zombie Apocalypse and surely by then we would have legitimate proof aliens exist and even walk among us."

"Lee," Mark said, "you know I agree with you. I really do. But I don't want to waste the rest of my life trying to convince people something they will never believe. We had evidence, pretty convincing evidence too, but even that wasn't enough. As much as it pains me, I can't keep devoting my time to an impossible fantasy." He turned away from Lee and started walking towards the door.

"Mark, what are you–?"

"I'm leaving."

Mark continued walking, body language looking far surer than he had felt about his decision to leave that classroom. As he walked down the hallways, he failed to see Videl as she walked by in the opposite direction with a serious expression on her face.

Videl saw him, however, and stopped immediately to catch his attention. "Mark," she said tentatively. When he didn't look up, she followed up more forcefully.

He looked up the second time she said his name, and his expression immediately turned to shock. He turned away and continued back in the direction that he came.

Videl ran to catch up with him, undeterred by his obvious rebuff. "Mark, listen!" she said keeping pace with his stride.

"What gives you the idea that I want to listen to anything you have to say?" Mark replied.

"Fine, well I'm just going to talk, and you can completely tune me out if you want." Videl paused, waiting for any argument. When Mark didn't reply she continued, "I know I haven't exactly been the best friend to you. Actually I haven't been a friend to you at all. All I did was manipulate you, and you didn't deserve that. No one deserves that."

"Except maybe Sharpener," Mark added. His face didn't change but Videl smiled.

"Except Sharpener, yeah. So what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm sorry. And though we may stand on opposite sides of an issue regarding Gohan, I'll have your back on pretty much anything else."

Mark didn't immediately reply to her words, even though he could tell they were sincere. It took him a couple moments to notice that they had stopped and were standing in front of the same door that he had left a couple minutes ago.

He also failed to notice that Videl had been holding a paper in her hands that she put in front of his face. "I was coming to see you just now at your club meeting." He looked at the paper, which was one of the few flyers Lee had printed out to encourage people to come to the club meeting. "I didn't expect to find you in the hallway. Were you running late?"

Mark took a deep breath and said, "Actually you might be happy to hear that I quit the Alien Patrol Club. Or rather I think it disbanded."

"Really? Wow. I know how important that was to you."

"Yeah, it now has a population of exactly one. And I'm probably going to have a ridiculous amount of time on my hands."

"Hmm . . . well if you're not busy right now maybe I could take you to meet my dad? You could ask him for an autograph or something?"

Mark's eyes opened wide. "Meeting Mr. Satan? Are you kidding me! I mean, he just saved the world! Of course I'm in!"

"I thought you would be."

A/N: Well, writing this story has been a fun ride with its ups and downs. A THOUSAND Thank-you's to everyone who took the time to read this and review. I hope this story was half as fun to read as it was to write. I'll probably be taking a hiatus from writing DBZ fics, but I may or may not return to publish a few one shots in the future. Thanks again!