(Sometime Later)
After successfully locating the registration desk, Gohan and Trunks lined up with the rest of the competitors and spent the next several minutes chatting away and waiting patiently for the counter to free up. Once both of them had their names written down and had received the numbers of the platforms they'd been assigned to, with about an hour or so left to kill on their watches, the two young males then decided to go try and find the others and maybe grab something to eat before the fights started.
While Mirai headed in his own direction to locate the familiar ki he could sense scattered around the place, the younger Saiyan marched straight for the food court. There, he quickly found himself in the center of a buffet paradise, with fast food stalls and cafes dominating his line of sight on all sides.
Taking note of the center space, which was filled with dozens of outdoor tables and seats, all of which were occupied by hundreds of visitors, Gohan took a moment to scan the area for ki signatures.
His senses homing in on a group of familiar presences, the spiky haired youngster brightened up when his eyes landed on the little mime, anthropomorphic pig, and elderly man seated around one of the outdoor tables. Without a moment's hesitation, the half-Saiyan quickly jogged on over to them.
"Oolong. Master Roshi. Chiaotzu. Hey!" the young warrior exclaimed, skidding to a stop at their table.
The moment their names were called, the original members of Goku's crew turned to greet the beaming young man.
"Why, if it isn't young Gohan," the old turtle hermit spoke, his red sunglasses flashing at the sight of the familiar male in orange.
"I knew I'd find you guys somewhere around here! What's up?"
"Not much kid. Just shooting the breeze and checking out the competition," Oolong responded, at the same time sparing a glance towards a cute young blonde in a halter top and figure hugging jean shorts walk by their table. The giggle he and Master Roshi gave when they saw her amble away had Gohan glance after her as well, but then shrug it off moments later. "We've got a lot of potential customers popping up here and there, so you know we've got a lot of information to sift through. Other than that, things have been going great."
Ignoring the pig's off-beat comments, Chiaotzu, sitting quietly with a can of ice tea in his hands, smiled up at the much taller half-Saiyan. "What about you, Gohan? Have you already signed up for the competition?"
"Yeah. Trunks and I put our names down just a few minutes ago, so we're both good," the young man responded immediately, thumbing over his shoulder. "We were both assigned to different blocks, so we'll be splitting up before the starting bell."
"Oh. So Trunks is here as well, is he?" Master Roshi chuckled with a smile breaking through his beard. "This competition sure has gotten interesting."
"Yeah, and with Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Piccolo in it, you know things are going to get rough," Oolong chimed in, bringing up his soda and taking a swig of it. Exhaling afterwards, he then swirled his drink sagely. "Let's face it; this tournament isn't big enough for the six of them. At least a couple of our boys are going to get knocked off the charts in the first round."
"Meh, probably," Master Roshi murmured.
Positively beaming with delight, Gohan then felt something fluffy brush past his ear and looked over his shoulder to see the familiar blue form of Puar hover into view.
"Gohan!" the floating cat squeaked, at the same time throwing himself at the boy in a hug.
Giggling at his other friend's greeting, the youthful half-Saiyan gently pushed the shapeshifter away, "Hey, Puar. Good to see yah. How're you doing?"
"Great! Yamcha's been doing great as well."
"Really?"
The floating shape shifter nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. He's been really excited about this tournament and has been talking about it for days."
"Heh. Of course he was… until he heard that Piccolo had entered the competition to fight against you and the others. After that, his mood just did a complete nosedive," Oolong remarked, shaking his head at the man who was once considered a strong member of their group many, many years ago. "How the mighty have fallen."
"Ah, don't say that Oolong. I think Yamcha's got a really good chance in this tournament," Gohan chirped, beaming down at the pig thinking so poorly of their comrade. "He may not exactly be on Piccolo's level, but he's definitely in the same league as Tien and Krillin. If he's willing to give it a shot, I think he could give either of them a run for their money."
"Whatever you say kid," the pig shot back with a smile. "It is a hundred million big ones after all. Anyone's bound to put up a good fight for that. But as long as you, Trunks and Piccolo are in this tournament, I just don't see him or anybody else making it past the preliminaries."
Gleeful at the banter he was able to share with his companions, Gohan spent a few minutes chatting with them before deciding to duck out and grab a snack. Trotting over to one of the stalls with the shortest lines, the young half-Saiyan found himself rocking back and forth on his heels and checking out the items on the menu. Licking his lips at the sight of some yakisoba being made at the stove, the boy moved a few steps closer and had his gaze drawn to the young man working at the counter.
It was then he noticed the raven haired girl with the pigtails standing directly in front of him.
"I would like some ice tea and dango please," the girl in the red shirt and long green sleeves spoke.
The worker in the café style uniform smiled and jabbed the order into his till, "That'll be ten zeni, thanks."
Reaching into her pocket, the eleven-year-old spent a couple of seconds patting around her jeans before a murmur escaped her lips. "Hey. W-What the?" Moments later, Videl threw her head up and groaned, "Ah, damn it. I left my wallet back at home." Why the hell did she do that?
Every time she went out she never forgot to bring her wallet with her. But on the very day that she and her father were flying out to one of the biggest events in the history of the world, she'd gone on and left it on her desk by her laptop. She figured since they would be dining with X.S Cash the entire day she wouldn't need it for anything and had forgone standard morning preparations.
She had nobody to blame for this one but herself.
Cursing while the man behind the serving desk waited patiently for the girl to make a decision, Gohan, who'd been observing the commotion from behind, heard the girl's plight loud and clear and looked between her and the cashier troublingly. Recognizing that the girl had no money with her and was now looking forlornly towards the register, Gohan made the quick and easy decision to help her out.
Being the kindhearted soul that he was, there was no way he could leave someone hanging like this, even if they were a complete stranger.
Fishing into his pocket for some bills, the boy stepped forward and held the money out to the man. "I'll pay for it." His words surprising Videl and the worker, Gohan smiled towards the teen and stood up to full height. "That was ten zeni for an ice tea and dango, right? That's cool. Could I also get some yakisoba chicken noodles and a bottle of water with that please?"
Quickly shaking out of his daze, the service man smiled, "No problem, sir." Taking the money, the young worker processed it through the machine and handed Gohan his change. "Please wait off to the right for your orders. They should be ready shortly." Once the coins were dropped into his palm, the half-Saiyan and the raven haired girl stepped aside, allowing the next couple of people to make their picks.
Sensing a set of eyes on him, Gohan looked across to see the girl standing alongside him still staring up at his face with a bewildered gaze in play. Balking slightly at the sight of her striking blue eyes, the young hybrid smiled, "Hey."
"You didn't have to do that for me, you know," Videl spoke, still reeling a bit from the boy's gesture of kindness.
While she wouldn't have minded if she didn't get anything, since she could probably make her way back over the X.S Cash's luxury skybox if she wanted something to eat or drink, it'd still come as a bit of a shock to her that somebody, a person she'd never even met before, had come out of nowhere and used his own money to purchase food for her. In her many years of going out into the big city and shopping for the very few things that she needed, Videl had never seen or had someone do that for a complete stranger, let alone her.
The fact that it was a boy around her age, someone who probably wouldn't have had Good Samaritan approach as the first thing on their mind, that'd done it for her, came as an even bigger surprise to her.
"I could have paid for the stuff myself."
Gohan gave her a look, "Huh? B-But I thought you said you'd forgotten your wallet and that you didn't have any money with you. You also looked pretty upset about it, so I decided to help you out."
"Yeah, well…" Hesitating at first, the girl then threw the boy a momentary glare, "I would have found a way to pay for the food and drink myself. Alright? You didn't have to step in and use your money to buy the stuff that I wanted to get. Normal people don't do that for others." Not unless they were some kind of alien from outer space that lacked the concept of social interaction. Videl folded her arms and looked away, "I would have been just fine on my own."
"A-Alright," Gohan replied, deflating slightly as his gaze fixed onto the ground at his feet.
Noticing the boy's sudden shift in mood, Videl saw the young man's face turn from a once cheerful, farm-boyish vision of brightness to one of hurt and discomfort. It was almost as if his act of helping her had ended up hurting the person he was aiding, which in turn reflected on his actions.
Quickly realizing she may have been a bit too harsh on him in her remarks, Videl took a moment to reconsider her words and looked away shamefacedly, "I'm… really sorry. I shouldn't have responded like that. You did just pay for my food and drink after all." She then glanced across at the young man to see him look up at her in surprise. "Th-Thank you."
His brain processing her words of gratitude, Gohan then broke out his widest grin and nodded back to her happily. "You're welcome."
Beaming at seeing the cheerfulness return to his expression, which in turn brightened up her own mood as if she were standing by the sun itself, the raven haired girl turned to face him fully. "My name's Videl. What's your name?"
"Gohan," the boy chirped in response, at the same time staring gladly towards the teen. "It's… really nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too."
The pair shared a smile with one another, an exchange that had them caught up for the longest of pauses.
They were so engrossed with staring at the person in front of them that they almost completely missed the sound of their orders being called out from the stand.