"Gohan, it's almost time for dinner! Can you go get your dad?"
"On my way, mom!" Gohan jumped at the chance, slamming shut the calculus book with a vengeance. Normally he might feign regret at being interrupted from studying to win Chichi's approval, but Goku was er... 'sparring' with mister piccolo and Gohan didn't want to miss a chance to see his idol. Mister Vegeta was probably there too, so he'd have to listen to another lecture about true saiya-jin warriors but it'd be worth it. Maybe mom would even invite Mister piccolo to dinner or something... except he didn't eat and all... "Hey, Icarus!"
Chichi *insisted* that when they fought it was way way away from the house, she'd learnt that lesson the hard way, so Gohan and Icarus took about five minutes to reach the site, where all three fighters were frozen and looking away form him... not literally frozen of course.
"Hey dad! Mom said..."
"Gohan! Can you feel that?" His dad interrupted.
"Huh?" Gohan extended his senses as much as he could, and felt a strong power. "Hey! It's coming from capsule Corp! It doesn't feel evil... just really really angry...?" It'd taken a few seconds to recognize the power, since it was one he'd felt niggling at the back of his senses for a while, just now it was a lot closer.
"Vegeta! What'd you do to get Bulma so mad this time?" Accused Goku.
"WHAT?!?! I haven't done anything!" *Lately.* He muttered under his breathe.
"Shouldn't we... like go check it out or something? Bulma might be in trouble!"
"The brats right! That stupid woman can hardly be relied upon to defend herself!"
Goku looked worriedly back toward the house regretting having to skip a meal before wavering and putting on his 'serious' face. "Right! Lets go!" besides, with a power level like this the fight might be interesting. Only Gohan had registered when Piccolo had disappeared.
~CAPSULE CORP~
"Er... miss? Can I get you anything?" Bulma asked sweetly. Bulma was no martial artist but anyone could see the battle aura boiling off the petite blonde seated in the waiting area.
"No thankyou."
"Are you sure you want to wait? I could ring you when..." Bulma was cut off by the icy stare of the schoolgirl. She was definitely not the sort of girl Bulma would have picked for a fighter, she couldn't be more than 14 or 15 years old and was wearing a school uniform and an oversized travel pack.
"No, I'll wait."
The girl had arrived over two hours ago and Bulma couldn't really understand how she'd known about her connection with the saiya-jins or why she was here... just that she seemed to be pretty peeved about something and wanted to get in touch with one of the Z fighters. Bulma had called chichi, but everyone had been out, so she had no other option than to humor the girl until one of them returned.
***growl***
"Huh?" Bulma noticed the previously somber girl clutch her stomach with a nervous grin, her bright blue battle aura fading to be indiscernible to Bulma's untrained senses.
"Ehhehhe.. heh... got anything to eat?"
Bulma really really wished she'd never seen anything like it, but in fact she'd seen at least three of them before as the girl all but inhaled all the food Bulma could prepare. Bulma had been prepared to call in reinforcements... or at least pizza when the girl seemed to choke and pass out... or at least that's what she'd thought until she heard a loud snore erupt from the quiescent body. 'No way?!?!?!' She thought.... it couldn't possibly be another saiya-jin... sure the girl didn't look saiya-jin (and she was tempted to peek under the girls skirt for a tail, she restrained her curiosity on the grounds that it'd have to be considered gross misconduct) but she sure acted like one... and who was to say what a female saiya-jin looked like anyway? She'd never actually seen one, and it wasn't like Vegeta had ever mentioned his mother in conversation... at any rate she hadn't caused any damage yet so maybe she wasn't a saiya-jin after all.
~~~~~
"HEY! It's gone!" Yelped Gohan, feeling the power level drop away he came to a complete stop.
"Huh. Maybe that woman can do something right after all."
"Uh... I still think we should check it out guys. Lets go!"
~~~~~
"You're kidding me? That... that little brat had a power level that high?" Demanded Vegeta pointing at Serena who was sprawled half on a chair, half on the floor snoring. Bulma had the decency to at least look alarmed as the girl squirmed in her sleep, back handing the Saiya-jin prince before slurring out, "jusht five more minitsh Luna..."
It took Vegeta all of five seconds to choose between a bakuhatsuha or renzoku, finally rejecting them both for the big bang attack. Or at least that would have been the plan if he weren't being restrained by Kakarot and his brat.
"Mister Vegeta, Sir, doncha think we should find out who she is and what she wants first?"
Vegeta gave the brat one of his most contemptuous looks before crossing his arms over his chest and backing off a little.
"Well what are you waiting for? Wake her up already so we can find out what she wants and get back to training." Grumbled Vegeta from the far side of the room where he'd been temporarily vanquished.
As if on cue the brat started awake, looked around dumbly for a few minutes only half awake, her head to the side thoughtfully. Kakarot was the only non-curious one in the party it seemed, but then he usually had the same vacant look on his face, mused Vegeta. Maybe this was another one of Kakarot's brats, Kakarot didn't seem to recognize her, but Vegeta wouldn't put it past that idiot to forget anything.
"Uhmmmm...? Oh Yeah! Now I remember!" Yelped Serena, smacking her fist on her open palm in remembrance.
Within the second her battle aura flared up and she got that somber look on her face again. Even Goku was startled at the sudden massive power in front of him. Gohan was just kinda stunned. Vegeta took the initiative to flip up the brats skirt to check for a tail.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!!!!" She screeched, backhanding him but this time deliberately, the force of the blow with the power enhancement actually staggering him. The added anger boosting her power level a few thousand. Bulma herself would have said something but since her own curiosity on that count had been answered she let it ride this time. No tail... of course it *could* have just been cut off...
"Kami-sama..." Muttered Goku, and Bulma noticed he and Gohan where wincing in pain and holding their ears.
Vegeta was in the same position on the other side of the girl, but more so due to close proximity. "It's worse than ChiChi and Bulma combined..."
Bulma looked up at the confused girl who was by now standing precariously on the lounge brandishing a rolled up magazine and a cake fork. "Sensitive hearing" she murmured in as low a voice as she could manage. "Now, why don't you tell us who you are and stuff...?"
"Huh? Oh ya... uhm... Serena, 18 years old, blood type..." Yeah right thought Bulma, obviously this was the cover story since she'd checked while the girl had been asleep, her search had brought up that the uniform was from an elementary school in Juuban, and interestingly enough, one Tsukino Usagi had been reported as a runaway only a few hours ago.
"...and I'm looking for this... uh... person." She pulled out a hastily drawn 'sketch' from her bag, which they all crowded around.
"Uhmmm... it just looks like a bunch of squiggles..."
"Well Geez! We can't all be artists y'know!"
"Hmmm..." Reasoned Gohan, "There sure is a lot of green, I guess it could be a namek... unless you ran out of other colors and just used that instead..."
"Nope. He was definitely green... at least I think so... " *sweatdrops*
"Gee... it kinda looks like Piccolo..."
"Daaaaad! You're looking at it upside down... besides, it could be anything... maybe a saibaman..."
"Did he have little things on his head like this?" Gestured Goku putting his hands either side of his face.
"Yeah! That's it exactly!"
"But there's hundreds of Nameks at the compou... er... on Earth at the moment... what makes you think you might find him here?"
"Lucky guess?" She uttered sarcastically. "Anyway... that's not why I'm here exactly... unless you *do* know who he is...?" She asked suspiciously but got no response. "Hmm... anyway I need to go see The Kami and I don't know where to go... he's supposed to know who I'm looking for."
"Soooo... Kami's going to tell you who it is and then what?"
"Then I'm going to kill him."
"Kill Kami-sama?" Asked Goku. Vegeta was the only one that dignified the question with a response (that wasn't sweatdropping). A violent one.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
"GOKU!"
"Whaaaaat?!?!? ... I only wanted to see what everyone was looking at before..."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"So... Usagi... are you in some kind of trouble...?" Asked Bulma after everyone had found somewhere to sleep at the compound. Bulma might not know anything about Usagi's parents, but she knew Chichi didn't want Gohan running around in the middle of the night... in fact she'd expressed it rather violently when she'd called to demand why her husband and son hadn't shown up for dinner.
"Well kinda, I..." Usagi slapped her forehead in realization that she'd just given herself away. "... how did you know?"
"Well, did I mention I'm a genius...?"
"I didn't lie... not really... my name IS Serena... sometimes..."
"18?"
"O.K... so maybe that bit was a lie..."
"Usagi? I won't ask any more questions, and I won't tell anyone who you really are... just you have to be honest with us from now on... we're putting a lot of trust in you considering we only just met and all..."
"Oh come on Bulma... I'm 15 years old with a power level that doesn't even compare to these guys... I'm hardly a threat... I just need to call in a favor from Kami!"
"Huh? How do you know Kami anyway?"
"Weeeell... that's kinda a long story... and what happened to no more questions...? Its just I haven't seen him for a while, I don't even know if he'll remember me... or even if it'll be the same Kami..."
"Don't sweat it Usagi-chan... Kami's pretty old, I'm sure it's the same one!"
Serena just gave a weak smile.
"Bulma? Why's everyone keep looking up my skirt...?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The guys had been up for some hours when Usagi finally put in an appearance the following morning. The reasons for this were twofold; 1. to get in some early morning training and 2. to eat as much food as possibly before Bulma decided to cook. In theory it might have worked... had Bulma not woken up extra early to meet the needs of their guest. She glanced their way with bleary, sleep filled eyes before chugging to cups of coffee and collapsing on the table.
"Is she dead?" Asked Vegeta, his voice betraying only mild curiosity.
"We can't all be morning people mister." She replied into the tablecloth.
"You will address me as Prince Vegeta."
This got a response out of her, she bothered to raise her head slightly and glare at him before adding; "Fine, and you can call me Princess Serena, your highness." Her head returned to the table with a thunk.
"Vegeta really is a prince Serena..." Gohan interjected trying to keep the peace, before absently adding, "well at least he would be if his planet didn't get destroyed and stuff..."
"Someone destroyed your planet? Oh man, that sucks! You got revenge, right?" Usagi asked, suddenly serious.
"Hmpf! Well I would have but Kakarot..."
"Oh hey... if you're like from another planet you're like an alien, right? That's so cool!"
"Usagi, Goku and Vegeta are Saiya-jins, Gohan's only half Saiya-jin because his Moms human." Explained Bulma.
"WAHAHAHA!!! Saiya...? Yasai? Vegeta??!?!!? You're kidding, right?" Usagi sweatdropped when no one else started laughing. "Huh. Well you're still better off than me, Vegeta-sama, all that's left of my kingdom is two cats." Bulma just sweatdropped and everyone else kept eating.
"Hey Bulma, why'd you call Serena Usagi?"
"Uh,,, its Gohan, right?" Gohan nodded in response to Usagi's question. "well, like... its hard to explain... uhm... Tsukino Usagi is like my current name even though my real name is Serena but like my Mom that I was born to called me Usagi... understand?"
"No, not really..."
"Uhm... well anyway its better if you call me Serena 'cos I'm kinda not meant to be here and I don't want my Mom to track me down..." Usagi blushed uncomfortably.
"Ohhh! Now I understand! Me and Dad are always hiding from my Mom too!"
"Bulma? Did you make this?" Usagi pointed down at the plate before her distastefully.
"Yup!"
"It tastes awful." Usagi stuffed another forkful of ...egg? in her mouth before looking up at Bulma's deadpan expression. "Whaaat? I thought you said I had to tell the truth about everything from now on?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What did you expect Serena, you did insult her cooking and everything..."
"But did she have to blow up like that? I was just telling the truth..."
"Well we might have been okay if mister Vegeta hadn't said that about it being special training to make your stomach stronger." Usagi and Gohan broke into smiles remembering the scene.
"And then Goku said he must have a weak stomach too 'cos it tasted awful to him as well!" by this time they were both rolling around on the ground in laughter.
There was another loud crash from the room behind them and a moment later they were joined by Vegeta and Goku.
"So... like are you going to take me to Kami's now?" Usagi asked sweetly, trying to keep her face as straight as possible. "Uh... please?"
"Sure Serena!" Replied Goku with a stupid grin. Vegeta, Goku and Gohan each kinda stepped up into the air and hovered there. "If we go to fast for you let us know and we'll slow down, it's this way." Pointed Goku. Serena just stood there.
"Don't tell me someone with your power level can't fly?" Sneered Vegeta.
"Hey... I just never needed to before... I can teleport a bit..."
"Me too! But its probably best if we fly so you know the way if you need to go back."
"Hah! Its too bad you pissed Bulma off so bad or we could have got an aircar."
"Can I help it if my weak human stomach couldn't handle her cooking?" Everyone broke up laughing again... even Vegeta managed to crack a smile. "Huh. Well I guess it'd take too long to teach me how to fly... presuming I even can at all. Someone's going to have to carry me I guess... is that okay?"
Goku and Gohan both turned bright red and started shuffling their feet nervously. Serena was sure she even saw a slight blush across Vegeta's face but if it was ever there it was gone seconds later. When there were no apparent volunteers she added "okay then, I guess one of you will have to go back and reason with Bulma to let us burrow an air car..."
"I'll do it!" Said three voices at once.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Thanks Gohan... do you think Bulma will stay angry for long? I didn't mean to insult her, just sometimes I don't think..."
"Don't worry about it Usag...Serena" Gohan corrected himself. "Neither of them have a license anyway so like it wouldn't have mattered if we could have borrowed an air car... unless you can drive." Whispered Gohan mischievously.
"Ah... I may have 'exaggerated' about my age as well..."
"I thought so." Gohan smiled for the first time around his blush, after much maneuvering they'd established it was best if he carried Usagi piggyback, maybe one of the others could have carried her less awkwardly but she wasn't comfortable with them after they'd both looked up her skirt the day before. "I'm seven." (or 8 1/2 in the US?)
"I'm 15. Well... almost."
"Hey! were almost there! Have you been remembering the way...?"
"Uh... no..? But it shouldn't matter," She covered quickly, "once I've been there once I should be able to teleport back."
As Serena first got a look at Kami's lookout she regained more memories, her mother had brought her here to introduce her to the guardian of the earth... she didn't really remember much because she'd been fairly young at the time.
"Kami-tousan!!!!!!!" She yelped, separating herself from Gohan before they'd reached the lookout.
"Serena! No! You'll... fall?"
"Huh? I thought she couldn't fly..." Stated Vegeta as she flew in a low arc on feathered wings.
"Serenity?" Queried a shocked Kami almost to himself before exclaiming, "No! Serena-chan!" He hugged her fondly before she turned to his constant companion.
"Mister Poop!"
"Princess! It's been so long since you've visited us I almost didn't recognize you!"
"You know my mothers in the next dimension...?" She stated suddenly all business. She waited for Kami's nod before taking a deep breath. "You know why I'm here then...?"
"Serena, are you sure this is what you want?"
"Yes I'm sure." Kami frowned.
"I'll keep the promise I made to your mother and train you, but Serena, surely..."
"Kami.. I saw all my friends die, I defeated Beryl... and what for? There's nothing left!"
"But is it worth your pure heart for a few old ruins...?" He saw her anger flare briefly before she sighed in resignation.
"I know it's just for revenge Kami, but I can't just sit back and do nothing."
"Oh! Hello Goku, Gohan, Vegeta-sama!" Exclaimed Mister Po-po, making sure to announce it loudly in case Kami-sama hadn't noticed their arrival.
"Oh hi Mr. Po-po, Kami-sama! Serena asked us to bring her here because she didn't know how...?"
Kami looked at Serena askance. She shrugged slightly, "I lost a lot of memories in this incarnation? Uh.. thanks guys, I think I can handle it from here."
"So Kami-sama, you're going to train Serena?"
"Real subtle Kakarot, way to let him know we were listening!"
Goku looked crestfallen for a moment before exclaiming, "Hey! can I train too? Pleeeeease?!?!?"
Kami sweatdropped.
Vegeta watched with disgust as the little brat wound the old namek so tightly around her little finger he couldn't possibly refuse any request she made... well part disgust, part envy... an attack like that resulted in almost no loss of pride and apparently a 100% success rate, but he doubted it would work for him. Maybe he would try it later on Bulma, she seemed to put up with whatever that idiot Yumcha told her, so maybe she was particularly vulnerable... and he did want the gravity machine fixed sometime this week.
"So brat... how much training have you had?"
"Uh... training? Eh heh..."
"Serena...? You haven't had any training, have you?" Surmised Gohan.
"Well I taught myself a few energy attacks but I still need like weapons and stuff to focus them..." She pulled out the moon rod, brandishing it above her head.
"Hey! how'd you do that?"
"Subspace pocket!" Smirk.
"So what happens when someone does this?" Asked Vegeta grabbing her legs and holding her upside down a couple of feet off the ground. "What the..?" An avalanche of candy wrappers, a few hundred yen, a couple of photos and the moon scepter clattered onto the platform.
"Put me down!" She demanded, and he allowed himself a smirk before dumping her unceremoniously on the ground. After all he did still owe her for that backhand the other night.
"Ite... hey! I never even saw this one before..." She absently slipped the moonscepter back into her pocket with the photos and yen. "Uh... sorry about the mess Kami-sama."
"ehhh... oh that's okay Serena... Mr. Po-po will take care of it..." Mr. Po- po who'd been slowly backing away in hopes of escaping the onslaught of wrappers accepted his fate and began to sweep up the trash.
"On my way, mom!" Gohan jumped at the chance, slamming shut the calculus book with a vengeance. Normally he might feign regret at being interrupted from studying to win Chichi's approval, but Goku was er... 'sparring' with mister piccolo and Gohan didn't want to miss a chance to see his idol. Mister Vegeta was probably there too, so he'd have to listen to another lecture about true saiya-jin warriors but it'd be worth it. Maybe mom would even invite Mister piccolo to dinner or something... except he didn't eat and all... "Hey, Icarus!"
Chichi *insisted* that when they fought it was way way away from the house, she'd learnt that lesson the hard way, so Gohan and Icarus took about five minutes to reach the site, where all three fighters were frozen and looking away form him... not literally frozen of course.
"Hey dad! Mom said..."
"Gohan! Can you feel that?" His dad interrupted.
"Huh?" Gohan extended his senses as much as he could, and felt a strong power. "Hey! It's coming from capsule Corp! It doesn't feel evil... just really really angry...?" It'd taken a few seconds to recognize the power, since it was one he'd felt niggling at the back of his senses for a while, just now it was a lot closer.
"Vegeta! What'd you do to get Bulma so mad this time?" Accused Goku.
"WHAT?!?! I haven't done anything!" *Lately.* He muttered under his breathe.
"Shouldn't we... like go check it out or something? Bulma might be in trouble!"
"The brats right! That stupid woman can hardly be relied upon to defend herself!"
Goku looked worriedly back toward the house regretting having to skip a meal before wavering and putting on his 'serious' face. "Right! Lets go!" besides, with a power level like this the fight might be interesting. Only Gohan had registered when Piccolo had disappeared.
~CAPSULE CORP~
"Er... miss? Can I get you anything?" Bulma asked sweetly. Bulma was no martial artist but anyone could see the battle aura boiling off the petite blonde seated in the waiting area.
"No thankyou."
"Are you sure you want to wait? I could ring you when..." Bulma was cut off by the icy stare of the schoolgirl. She was definitely not the sort of girl Bulma would have picked for a fighter, she couldn't be more than 14 or 15 years old and was wearing a school uniform and an oversized travel pack.
"No, I'll wait."
The girl had arrived over two hours ago and Bulma couldn't really understand how she'd known about her connection with the saiya-jins or why she was here... just that she seemed to be pretty peeved about something and wanted to get in touch with one of the Z fighters. Bulma had called chichi, but everyone had been out, so she had no other option than to humor the girl until one of them returned.
***growl***
"Huh?" Bulma noticed the previously somber girl clutch her stomach with a nervous grin, her bright blue battle aura fading to be indiscernible to Bulma's untrained senses.
"Ehhehhe.. heh... got anything to eat?"
Bulma really really wished she'd never seen anything like it, but in fact she'd seen at least three of them before as the girl all but inhaled all the food Bulma could prepare. Bulma had been prepared to call in reinforcements... or at least pizza when the girl seemed to choke and pass out... or at least that's what she'd thought until she heard a loud snore erupt from the quiescent body. 'No way?!?!?!' She thought.... it couldn't possibly be another saiya-jin... sure the girl didn't look saiya-jin (and she was tempted to peek under the girls skirt for a tail, she restrained her curiosity on the grounds that it'd have to be considered gross misconduct) but she sure acted like one... and who was to say what a female saiya-jin looked like anyway? She'd never actually seen one, and it wasn't like Vegeta had ever mentioned his mother in conversation... at any rate she hadn't caused any damage yet so maybe she wasn't a saiya-jin after all.
~~~~~
"HEY! It's gone!" Yelped Gohan, feeling the power level drop away he came to a complete stop.
"Huh. Maybe that woman can do something right after all."
"Uh... I still think we should check it out guys. Lets go!"
~~~~~
"You're kidding me? That... that little brat had a power level that high?" Demanded Vegeta pointing at Serena who was sprawled half on a chair, half on the floor snoring. Bulma had the decency to at least look alarmed as the girl squirmed in her sleep, back handing the Saiya-jin prince before slurring out, "jusht five more minitsh Luna..."
It took Vegeta all of five seconds to choose between a bakuhatsuha or renzoku, finally rejecting them both for the big bang attack. Or at least that would have been the plan if he weren't being restrained by Kakarot and his brat.
"Mister Vegeta, Sir, doncha think we should find out who she is and what she wants first?"
Vegeta gave the brat one of his most contemptuous looks before crossing his arms over his chest and backing off a little.
"Well what are you waiting for? Wake her up already so we can find out what she wants and get back to training." Grumbled Vegeta from the far side of the room where he'd been temporarily vanquished.
As if on cue the brat started awake, looked around dumbly for a few minutes only half awake, her head to the side thoughtfully. Kakarot was the only non-curious one in the party it seemed, but then he usually had the same vacant look on his face, mused Vegeta. Maybe this was another one of Kakarot's brats, Kakarot didn't seem to recognize her, but Vegeta wouldn't put it past that idiot to forget anything.
"Uhmmmm...? Oh Yeah! Now I remember!" Yelped Serena, smacking her fist on her open palm in remembrance.
Within the second her battle aura flared up and she got that somber look on her face again. Even Goku was startled at the sudden massive power in front of him. Gohan was just kinda stunned. Vegeta took the initiative to flip up the brats skirt to check for a tail.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!!!!" She screeched, backhanding him but this time deliberately, the force of the blow with the power enhancement actually staggering him. The added anger boosting her power level a few thousand. Bulma herself would have said something but since her own curiosity on that count had been answered she let it ride this time. No tail... of course it *could* have just been cut off...
"Kami-sama..." Muttered Goku, and Bulma noticed he and Gohan where wincing in pain and holding their ears.
Vegeta was in the same position on the other side of the girl, but more so due to close proximity. "It's worse than ChiChi and Bulma combined..."
Bulma looked up at the confused girl who was by now standing precariously on the lounge brandishing a rolled up magazine and a cake fork. "Sensitive hearing" she murmured in as low a voice as she could manage. "Now, why don't you tell us who you are and stuff...?"
"Huh? Oh ya... uhm... Serena, 18 years old, blood type..." Yeah right thought Bulma, obviously this was the cover story since she'd checked while the girl had been asleep, her search had brought up that the uniform was from an elementary school in Juuban, and interestingly enough, one Tsukino Usagi had been reported as a runaway only a few hours ago.
"...and I'm looking for this... uh... person." She pulled out a hastily drawn 'sketch' from her bag, which they all crowded around.
"Uhmmm... it just looks like a bunch of squiggles..."
"Well Geez! We can't all be artists y'know!"
"Hmmm..." Reasoned Gohan, "There sure is a lot of green, I guess it could be a namek... unless you ran out of other colors and just used that instead..."
"Nope. He was definitely green... at least I think so... " *sweatdrops*
"Gee... it kinda looks like Piccolo..."
"Daaaaad! You're looking at it upside down... besides, it could be anything... maybe a saibaman..."
"Did he have little things on his head like this?" Gestured Goku putting his hands either side of his face.
"Yeah! That's it exactly!"
"But there's hundreds of Nameks at the compou... er... on Earth at the moment... what makes you think you might find him here?"
"Lucky guess?" She uttered sarcastically. "Anyway... that's not why I'm here exactly... unless you *do* know who he is...?" She asked suspiciously but got no response. "Hmm... anyway I need to go see The Kami and I don't know where to go... he's supposed to know who I'm looking for."
"Soooo... Kami's going to tell you who it is and then what?"
"Then I'm going to kill him."
"Kill Kami-sama?" Asked Goku. Vegeta was the only one that dignified the question with a response (that wasn't sweatdropping). A violent one.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
"GOKU!"
"Whaaaaat?!?!? ... I only wanted to see what everyone was looking at before..."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"So... Usagi... are you in some kind of trouble...?" Asked Bulma after everyone had found somewhere to sleep at the compound. Bulma might not know anything about Usagi's parents, but she knew Chichi didn't want Gohan running around in the middle of the night... in fact she'd expressed it rather violently when she'd called to demand why her husband and son hadn't shown up for dinner.
"Well kinda, I..." Usagi slapped her forehead in realization that she'd just given herself away. "... how did you know?"
"Well, did I mention I'm a genius...?"
"I didn't lie... not really... my name IS Serena... sometimes..."
"18?"
"O.K... so maybe that bit was a lie..."
"Usagi? I won't ask any more questions, and I won't tell anyone who you really are... just you have to be honest with us from now on... we're putting a lot of trust in you considering we only just met and all..."
"Oh come on Bulma... I'm 15 years old with a power level that doesn't even compare to these guys... I'm hardly a threat... I just need to call in a favor from Kami!"
"Huh? How do you know Kami anyway?"
"Weeeell... that's kinda a long story... and what happened to no more questions...? Its just I haven't seen him for a while, I don't even know if he'll remember me... or even if it'll be the same Kami..."
"Don't sweat it Usagi-chan... Kami's pretty old, I'm sure it's the same one!"
Serena just gave a weak smile.
"Bulma? Why's everyone keep looking up my skirt...?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The guys had been up for some hours when Usagi finally put in an appearance the following morning. The reasons for this were twofold; 1. to get in some early morning training and 2. to eat as much food as possibly before Bulma decided to cook. In theory it might have worked... had Bulma not woken up extra early to meet the needs of their guest. She glanced their way with bleary, sleep filled eyes before chugging to cups of coffee and collapsing on the table.
"Is she dead?" Asked Vegeta, his voice betraying only mild curiosity.
"We can't all be morning people mister." She replied into the tablecloth.
"You will address me as Prince Vegeta."
This got a response out of her, she bothered to raise her head slightly and glare at him before adding; "Fine, and you can call me Princess Serena, your highness." Her head returned to the table with a thunk.
"Vegeta really is a prince Serena..." Gohan interjected trying to keep the peace, before absently adding, "well at least he would be if his planet didn't get destroyed and stuff..."
"Someone destroyed your planet? Oh man, that sucks! You got revenge, right?" Usagi asked, suddenly serious.
"Hmpf! Well I would have but Kakarot..."
"Oh hey... if you're like from another planet you're like an alien, right? That's so cool!"
"Usagi, Goku and Vegeta are Saiya-jins, Gohan's only half Saiya-jin because his Moms human." Explained Bulma.
"WAHAHAHA!!! Saiya...? Yasai? Vegeta??!?!!? You're kidding, right?" Usagi sweatdropped when no one else started laughing. "Huh. Well you're still better off than me, Vegeta-sama, all that's left of my kingdom is two cats." Bulma just sweatdropped and everyone else kept eating.
"Hey Bulma, why'd you call Serena Usagi?"
"Uh,,, its Gohan, right?" Gohan nodded in response to Usagi's question. "well, like... its hard to explain... uhm... Tsukino Usagi is like my current name even though my real name is Serena but like my Mom that I was born to called me Usagi... understand?"
"No, not really..."
"Uhm... well anyway its better if you call me Serena 'cos I'm kinda not meant to be here and I don't want my Mom to track me down..." Usagi blushed uncomfortably.
"Ohhh! Now I understand! Me and Dad are always hiding from my Mom too!"
"Bulma? Did you make this?" Usagi pointed down at the plate before her distastefully.
"Yup!"
"It tastes awful." Usagi stuffed another forkful of ...egg? in her mouth before looking up at Bulma's deadpan expression. "Whaaat? I thought you said I had to tell the truth about everything from now on?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What did you expect Serena, you did insult her cooking and everything..."
"But did she have to blow up like that? I was just telling the truth..."
"Well we might have been okay if mister Vegeta hadn't said that about it being special training to make your stomach stronger." Usagi and Gohan broke into smiles remembering the scene.
"And then Goku said he must have a weak stomach too 'cos it tasted awful to him as well!" by this time they were both rolling around on the ground in laughter.
There was another loud crash from the room behind them and a moment later they were joined by Vegeta and Goku.
"So... like are you going to take me to Kami's now?" Usagi asked sweetly, trying to keep her face as straight as possible. "Uh... please?"
"Sure Serena!" Replied Goku with a stupid grin. Vegeta, Goku and Gohan each kinda stepped up into the air and hovered there. "If we go to fast for you let us know and we'll slow down, it's this way." Pointed Goku. Serena just stood there.
"Don't tell me someone with your power level can't fly?" Sneered Vegeta.
"Hey... I just never needed to before... I can teleport a bit..."
"Me too! But its probably best if we fly so you know the way if you need to go back."
"Hah! Its too bad you pissed Bulma off so bad or we could have got an aircar."
"Can I help it if my weak human stomach couldn't handle her cooking?" Everyone broke up laughing again... even Vegeta managed to crack a smile. "Huh. Well I guess it'd take too long to teach me how to fly... presuming I even can at all. Someone's going to have to carry me I guess... is that okay?"
Goku and Gohan both turned bright red and started shuffling their feet nervously. Serena was sure she even saw a slight blush across Vegeta's face but if it was ever there it was gone seconds later. When there were no apparent volunteers she added "okay then, I guess one of you will have to go back and reason with Bulma to let us burrow an air car..."
"I'll do it!" Said three voices at once.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Thanks Gohan... do you think Bulma will stay angry for long? I didn't mean to insult her, just sometimes I don't think..."
"Don't worry about it Usag...Serena" Gohan corrected himself. "Neither of them have a license anyway so like it wouldn't have mattered if we could have borrowed an air car... unless you can drive." Whispered Gohan mischievously.
"Ah... I may have 'exaggerated' about my age as well..."
"I thought so." Gohan smiled for the first time around his blush, after much maneuvering they'd established it was best if he carried Usagi piggyback, maybe one of the others could have carried her less awkwardly but she wasn't comfortable with them after they'd both looked up her skirt the day before. "I'm seven." (or 8 1/2 in the US?)
"I'm 15. Well... almost."
"Hey! were almost there! Have you been remembering the way...?"
"Uh... no..? But it shouldn't matter," She covered quickly, "once I've been there once I should be able to teleport back."
As Serena first got a look at Kami's lookout she regained more memories, her mother had brought her here to introduce her to the guardian of the earth... she didn't really remember much because she'd been fairly young at the time.
"Kami-tousan!!!!!!!" She yelped, separating herself from Gohan before they'd reached the lookout.
"Serena! No! You'll... fall?"
"Huh? I thought she couldn't fly..." Stated Vegeta as she flew in a low arc on feathered wings.
"Serenity?" Queried a shocked Kami almost to himself before exclaiming, "No! Serena-chan!" He hugged her fondly before she turned to his constant companion.
"Mister Poop!"
"Princess! It's been so long since you've visited us I almost didn't recognize you!"
"You know my mothers in the next dimension...?" She stated suddenly all business. She waited for Kami's nod before taking a deep breath. "You know why I'm here then...?"
"Serena, are you sure this is what you want?"
"Yes I'm sure." Kami frowned.
"I'll keep the promise I made to your mother and train you, but Serena, surely..."
"Kami.. I saw all my friends die, I defeated Beryl... and what for? There's nothing left!"
"But is it worth your pure heart for a few old ruins...?" He saw her anger flare briefly before she sighed in resignation.
"I know it's just for revenge Kami, but I can't just sit back and do nothing."
"Oh! Hello Goku, Gohan, Vegeta-sama!" Exclaimed Mister Po-po, making sure to announce it loudly in case Kami-sama hadn't noticed their arrival.
"Oh hi Mr. Po-po, Kami-sama! Serena asked us to bring her here because she didn't know how...?"
Kami looked at Serena askance. She shrugged slightly, "I lost a lot of memories in this incarnation? Uh.. thanks guys, I think I can handle it from here."
"So Kami-sama, you're going to train Serena?"
"Real subtle Kakarot, way to let him know we were listening!"
Goku looked crestfallen for a moment before exclaiming, "Hey! can I train too? Pleeeeease?!?!?"
Kami sweatdropped.
Vegeta watched with disgust as the little brat wound the old namek so tightly around her little finger he couldn't possibly refuse any request she made... well part disgust, part envy... an attack like that resulted in almost no loss of pride and apparently a 100% success rate, but he doubted it would work for him. Maybe he would try it later on Bulma, she seemed to put up with whatever that idiot Yumcha told her, so maybe she was particularly vulnerable... and he did want the gravity machine fixed sometime this week.
"So brat... how much training have you had?"
"Uh... training? Eh heh..."
"Serena...? You haven't had any training, have you?" Surmised Gohan.
"Well I taught myself a few energy attacks but I still need like weapons and stuff to focus them..." She pulled out the moon rod, brandishing it above her head.
"Hey! how'd you do that?"
"Subspace pocket!" Smirk.
"So what happens when someone does this?" Asked Vegeta grabbing her legs and holding her upside down a couple of feet off the ground. "What the..?" An avalanche of candy wrappers, a few hundred yen, a couple of photos and the moon scepter clattered onto the platform.
"Put me down!" She demanded, and he allowed himself a smirk before dumping her unceremoniously on the ground. After all he did still owe her for that backhand the other night.
"Ite... hey! I never even saw this one before..." She absently slipped the moonscepter back into her pocket with the photos and yen. "Uh... sorry about the mess Kami-sama."
"ehhh... oh that's okay Serena... Mr. Po-po will take care of it..." Mr. Po- po who'd been slowly backing away in hopes of escaping the onslaught of wrappers accepted his fate and began to sweep up the trash.