Author's Note: This story came to life, after I started wondering about the unseen World Martial Arts Tournament in DragonBall Z. You know, the one held during the seven year gap, between the Cell Games and the Saiyaman plotlines.

We know Videl won the Junior Division in this tournament, and that Hercule defeated Spopovich in that tournament (thanks to a flashback in the episode with the fight between Spopovich and Videl), but that's about it.

So I decided to have Gohan enter this tournament. Other people have played around with the idea of "what if Gohan and Videl met when they were younger?" in their stories. The general consensus is that Gohan and Videl would get off to a better start, if they met before high school.

That's not what happens here.

The day was Sunday, and it was Gohan's thirteenth birthday. He was trying his best to enjoy his special day, but he was having a little bit of trouble, due to the fact that a crazy girl was trying to kill him.

Almost effortlessly, Gohan dodged the fierce volley of punches that came at him.

"I'm going to destroy you, Gohan Son!" Videl shouted. "You'll wish you were never born!"

This girl is absolutely insane, Gohan realized. She is literally out of her mind.

"WHY CAN'T I HIT YOU?" Videl demanded.

How on Earth did I get into this mess? Gohan wondered, even though he knew the answer. It was his idea to sneak out of the house, after all.

Originally, Gohan wanted to celebrate his birthday by having a big party, with all of his friends. Chi-Chi flat-out refused. She never liked the Z-Fighters to begin with, and she didn't want to celebrate the fact that her precious baby boy was becoming a surly, rebellious teenager.

"Rebellious" was apparently the right word to use, because Gohan made secret plans to sneak out of the house and meet up with Bulma. They were going to have a party at Capsule Corp, but while the two of them were planning, Gohan learned that the World Martial Arts Tournament was being held on his birthday.

Gohan immediately changed his mind, and he decided that his birthday present should be going to the tournament, instead. He only wanted to be a spectator, but Bulma had convinced him to sign up to compete in the newly-formed Junior Division.

"It'll be a cinch for you to win," she said. "And once your mother hears about the prize money, she won't be mad at you for sneaking out."

Gohan reluctantly agreed, and before you knew it, he was in the final round, facing off against Videl Satan. He had never met her before, and quite frankly, he was glad. While she was the most interesting fighter he fought against all day, there was no denying the fact that she was completely bonkers.

"RAAAAAGH!" Videl shouted. "Stop! Dodging! Raugh!"

Gohan had never seen such rage since the time Vegeta flew off the handle and attacked Cell, right after Future Trunks died. Gohan was somewhat scared that this strange girl could get so angry at a complete stranger.

"You have to realize by now that you're too slow," Gohan said, trying in vain to reason with his opponent. "There's no way you can hit me."

"I'll show your [bad words] too slow!" Videl said.

"You know, when I first heard that they were instituting a Junior Division this year, I was a little skeptical," the announcer said into the microphone. "But this championship match is amazing! The children of the two previous champions, going up against each other, in a battle of skill, determination and—"

Videl's concentration broke for a second, as the announcer's words penetrated her mind. Previous champion? Does he mean—?

There! Gohan thought. He sprang forward, ducking under Videl's arm. As he quickly moved past the girl, he gave her a quick shove from the side. She was pushed towards the edge of the arena, but she was better at martial arts than Gohan expected, because she was able to turn around before she fell out.

The look on her face was pure hatred. The look on his face was pure annoyance. What was wrong with this stupid girl? Didn't she know when to quit?

Videl ran towards Gohan, and at the last possible second, she jumped into the air for a kick attacked, aimed right at his head. Gohan lifted his arms at unheard-of speed and grabbed her leg in his wrist.

"What the—?" Videl asked. For a second, she was being held in midair, by Gohan's grip on her leg. But that was impossible, wasn't it? No one could hold another person several feet off of the ground, simply by holding her ankle.

Gohan dropped Videl. "Just give up, already!" he said. "I don't want to hurt you!"

Videl landed on the ground, and tilted her head up, getting the hair out of her eyes. "I want to hurt you!" Videl said. "I want you and everyone else to suffer!"

"You've got major issues," Gohan realized.

Videl's rage boiled, and she said the dirtiest words she could think of. These would later be censored out when the tournament was shown on TV.

"Fine!" Gohan said. "Don't blame me when you end up in the hospital, you freaking idiot!"

Videl lunged at Gohan, from her position on the ground. He stretched out his arm and put his hand on her forehead. Gripping her head tightly, like a basketball, he lifted her up into the air. With his arm facing up to the sky, he looked like a strange version of the Statue of Liberty, with a squirming Videl in place of a torch.

"Hey!" Gohan said, calling to the announcer. "If I broke her arm or something, would that count as excessive force?"

"Yes, I believe so," the announcer said. "Part of the reason they invented the Junior Division was to avoid injuries like those."

"Just checking," Gohan said. He didn't want to hurt Videl more than he had to in order to win, but holding back his Saiyan strength was not always easy.

Videl was tugging on Gohan's arm, to no avail. In frustration, she grabbed the large lock of hair that hung over his forehead and pulled.

"OW!" Gohan said. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed Videl aside and grabbed his head. "That hurt, you crazy [bad word]!"

"Yeah, we're definitely going to have to censor this," the announcer told his cameraman. The cameraman nodded.

Videl didn't respond with words, but with her fists and feet. A furious barrage of attacks followed, and Gohan dodged them all, until he decided it wasn't worth the effort. Imitating Cell, he stood up straight and didn't flinch at all as Videl attacked him.

"Ha!" Videl said. "Not able to dodge anymore!"

"I'm not trying, you idiot," Gohan said.

Videl scowled, and she rubbed the back of her hand, which was hurting for some reason. After delivering another punch, she realized the problem was Gohan.

"What are you, made out of concrete?" she asked. "And why don't you seem to be hurt when I hit you?"

"You're too weak to be able to hurt me," Gohan said. "Sorry." He drew his arm back, then punched her in the chest. She flew backwards, sliding on her butt and landing outside the ring.

"Gohan wins!" the announcer cried.

The crowd cheered loudly.

"No!" Videl said. "NO NO NO NO!"

Like a true champion, Hercule was busy curling his hair, while sitting inside the private champion room. When he heard the tournament crowd cheering outside, he scowled.

"Great, I missed the whole thing!" he said.

Interiorly, he cursed at his soon-to-be-fired hairstylist, who had the worst sense of timing ever. Seriously, he had all day to prep Hercule's hair for the tournament, and when does he schedule the appointment? Right when Videl was fighting in the final round of the Junior Division!

Hercule checked his watch. There were still five more minutes left to go on his hair curlers. Angry, Hercule turned his head towards the TV in the wall. The sports channel covering the fight was still on commercial break.

"Live broadcast, my foot," Hercule said, plopping down in front of the TV.

I hope Videl won, Hercule thought. It's going to be impossible living with her if she lost. Then again, it's been impossible living with her for the past week or so...

In particular, Hercule was thinking of an incident which occurred two days earlier. As usual, Videl was in the mansion's basement gym, beating the stuffing out of a punching bag.

"Videl?" a hesitant voice asked.

"Hey, Dad," Videl said, without turning around or stopping her attacks. "What's up?"

"I just looked at the clothes you packed away," Hercule said. "Is there a reason you're throwing out all your dresses?"

"I told you, I'm too old for that stupid girly stuff now," Videl said. "Don't you ever listen to me? Sheesh!"

"Is it because your mother bought those clothes for you?" Hercule asked softly.

Videl stopped punching the punching bag and turned around.

"What?" she asked. "Why would you...?"

"You've changed ever since she died," Hercule said. "You cut your hair, you're obsessed with training, and you never want to talk to me anymore."

"I...that's not true!" Videl said. "I just...I'm growing up and changing now, that's all! I just turned thirteen, you know!"

"I know that!" Hercule said. "But I'm still worried about you! Do you know how hard it is for me?"

"Hard for you, yeah, right," Videl said. "You have such a hard life, Mr. World Famous Millionaire."

"My wife died two weeks ago, and now my daughter is acting like a complete stranger who hates me!" Hercule said. "I lost Denaira; I don't want to lose you, too."

"I'm fine, Dad," Videl said, turning back around. "I don't need your help. I can...I can get through this alone."

"No, you—"

"RAAAAGH!" Videl shouted, delivering an extra-fierce punch to the punching bag and hoping her dad would take the hint.

"Winning the Junior Division won't bring her back, you know," Hercule said.

"Any other clichés you want to shove down my throat?" Videl asked. "Let me guess. It's not your fault she died."

"Well, it's not," Hercule said. "Don't tell me you still feel bad about that!"

"Bad about that?" Videl asked. "She died! She died right in front of me! Those [bad word] killed her, and I...I didn't do anything!"

"They had guns," Hercule said. "You couldn't have stopped them."

"I know that," Videl said. "There was nothing I could do."

She was lying, of course. No matter what, she couldn't shake the feeling that she could have saved her mother from those thugs, if she was strong enough or fast enough. Videl's desire to avenge her mother and stop criminals would eventually lead to her helping the police department, but right now, Videl's main focus was the World Martial Arts Tournament. She couldn't explain why, but it felt like if she could prove herself as the champion fighter, it would somehow make things right.

"Then will you please take a break from training and spend some time with me?" Hercule asked.

"I can't," Videl said. "This is important to me. I...I'll spend time with you after the tournament, I promise."

Hercule sighed loudly. "If that's what you really want..." he said.

Back in the present day, Hercule was shaken out of his memories by the TV station returning from commercial break to show its coverage of the Junior Division fight.

About time! Hercule thought. I need to know who won!

"Why does the audio keep cutting out?" Hercule wondered, as cheered Videl on. The little wimp fighting her got in one lucky hit, and somehow he was able to hold her up without any effort—clearly, it was some sort of trick, or he was secretly an acrobat—but Videl was undoubtedly winning the fight.

Hercule was just about ready to declare victory, when he saw Gohan punch Videl in the chest, and out of the ring.

Hercule immediately spit out the soda he was drinking, and his jaw dropped.

"Hey, no one's allowed to touch my daughter there!" he said. "Not even in a fight! That little punk is gonna get it!"

Hercule removed his hair curlers as quickly as possible, when a short monk entered the room.

"Mr. Hercule, they're ready for your fight with the Junior Division Champion now, so..."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm ready!" Hercule said, getting angry. "How dare that no-good loser hurt my Videl?"

At the ringside, Videl was being forcibly detained by four buff security guards.

"Let me go, you [bad word] idiots!" Videl screamed. "I still have to beat the [bad word] out of that little [bad word]!"

"Not a chance," one of the security guards said. Videl had already broken free of their grip once and attacked Gohan, like a deranged maniac. They weren't going to let her get a second chance to attack.

"Videl!" Hercule said, stepping out towards the arena.

"Dad!" Videl said.

"We're going to have a chat about your language, young lady," Hercule said, putting on a pair of sunglasses. "But first, I've got a scrawny little runt to fight."

"Kick his [bad word], Dad!" Videl cheered.

"These people are insane," the security guard grunted.

"And here's the World Champion himself, Hercule!" the announcer said. "As promised, the reward for winning the junior division is ten thousand dollars, as well as a fight with the Champ! Is there anything you'd like to say, Hercule?"

"Yes, there is!" Hercule said. "I don't know how you beat my daughter, kid, but rest assured, you're not going to beat me!"

"Is...that a hair curler?" the announcer asked, staring at Hercule's hair.

"Uh, no!" Hercule said, quickly grabbing a pink hair curler that he had missed, then stuffing it into his pocket.

Gohan grinned. "You haven't changed at all, have you?" he asked.

"Wha—what?" Hercule said. "What do you mean, I haven't changed?"

"Don't you recognize me?" Gohan asked. "It's been three years, but—"

"I've never seen you before in my life, Runt!" Hercule said. He whirled his strong arm around and pointed right at Gohan's face. "Stop trying to intimidate me!"

"Do the words 'Pizza Delivery Boy' mean anything to you?" Gohan asked quietly, so the cameras couldn't hear.

Something clicked in Hercule's mind. He prided himself on the fact that he never forgot a face, and he suddenly realized that this boy looked a good deal like the boy from the Cell Games. All except for their hair color, eye color, and...okay, never mind, they looked nothing alike.

"You're gonna lose!" Hercule said. "Full grown men, with decades of experience, have failed to defeat the Champ! An inexperienced nobody like you doesn't stand a chance!"

"Hercule! Hercule! Hercule!" the crowd cheered.

"I wasn't afraid of Cell, and I'm not afraid of you," Gohan said. "Bring it."