"Okay, got my tent, my clothes, tackle box," Son Gohan muttered to himself as he stood near the front door of his home, going over his mental checklist. "Fishing pole…" He paused and frowned. "Hey, babe, have you seen my fishing pole?" he called loudly over his shoulder.
"I put it in the back of the truck for you already!" his wife's voice rang from the kitchen.
"Good," he said and looked over the stack of supplies piled up against the wall. "I think that's everything."
"Here. Help… me."
He turned to see his wife struggling to pull a large blue cooler into the living room.
"Don't hurt yourself," he teased, picking it up easily and balancing it on his right shoulder.
She had gone rather red in the face and was panting. "Just trying to help out."
"What did you pack in here?" he asked, glancing at the cooler.
"As much food as humanly possible," she answered. "I don't see how one cooler is going to get you through three nights of camping. Not with the way you eat, at least."
Gohan chuckled. "We usually don't take food when we're camping. Dad and I fish a lot."
"Well that makes more sense," she sighed. "Oh well. Take it with you anyway. I know it won't go to waste."
"You're gonna be okay while I'm gone, right?" he asked as he pulled open the front door and headed out to the drive way.
Lindsey followed him, grabbing his tent and bag of clothes as she went and blinking at the bright, early morning sunlight. "Oh yeah. I'll be fine. Leelee and Eighteen are coming over tonight. We're gonna have a girls' night."
"Girls' night, huh?" Gohan asked, setting the cooler in the bed of the old truck. "What does that entail, exactly?"
"Manicures, facials, sappy chick-flicks and more chocolate than you'd think it was possible to consume," she grinned, tossing the tent and duffle bag into the back of the truck.
"I'll take my camping trip," he said, shaking his head. Girls were so weird.
"I wish Jenny could come to girls' night," Lindsey pouted, crossing her arms.
"Yeah, I wish Piccolo could come camping, too, but you know, they have that doctor's appointment first thing tomorrow morning."
"I can't believe they're having another one already," Lindsey said, shaking her head.
Gohan grinned. "They're getting way ahead of us. We won't be able to catch up if they keep on like this."
Lindsey's green eyes snapped wide. "They have already won that race, as far as I'm concerned."
Gohan sighed. "I thought you said we could have one someday."
Lindsey bit her lip and turned away from her husband's disappointed gaze. After everything they'd gone through with helping Piccolo and Jenny rescue their daughter, Lindsey had pretty well made up her mind that she didn't want kids of her own. Ever. Closing her eyes for a moment to calm herself, she turned back around and smiled at Gohan. "Let's not argue right now. We can talk about it when you get back from your trip."
"Promise?"
She nodded and chewed the inside of her cheek.
"Anyway," she said. "At least Trunks is going with you. It'll be good for him to get a break."
"Nope," Gohan answered. "Vegeta won't let him."
"He's twenty years old for crying out loud!" Lindsey protested. "And his dad won't let him go camping for a weekend?"
"I know," Gohan said, rolling his eyes. "Vegeta's obsessed with using every waking second to train. Ever since the Fates told us that a war's coming, he won't do anything but train, eat and sleep. And he's keeping Trunks and Catie on the same schedule as himself. Dad tried to convince him to take a couple days off and come with us, but Vegeta wouldn't hear it."
"That's ridiculous. We have up to three years before they could show up."
"Maybe," Gohan said, placing the last of his gear into the back of the truck and running a bungee cord over the top of it to hold everything in place. "But Vegeta's convinced it will only be one. He thinks we're all a bunch of lazy bums for taking a weekend off."
"But we've been training," Lindsey said.
"I know, I know," Gohan answered.
"So who all IS going to be there?"
"Me, Dad, Seventeen, Krillin, Tien and Yamcha, I suppose."
"Well at least you have one cooler of food," she snickered.
"Hmm?" he looked up at her quizzically.
"If Seventeen's going, all he's going to pack is beer."
Gohan chuckled. "I didn't think about that. You're probably right." He hooked the bungee on the opposite side of the truck. "I think that's it."
"Okay, well, you be careful and have fun," Lindsey smiled as he walked back to her side of the truck. "Don't get into any trouble."
"Trouble? Me? Neverrrrrr," Gohan grinned and wrapped his arms around her.
"Love you," she said and pressed her lips to his.
Gohan broke the kiss and said, "Love you too."
Lindsey returned to the covered front porch and leaned against the railing to watch him leave. Once the truck had disappeared over the first hill, she sighed and went back in the house, wondering what on earth she was going to do with herself for three days. She wasn't used to being alone. But at least Leelee and Eighteen were coming to spend the night with her. She didn't know Eighteen as well as Leelee did, but Eighteen had always been nice to her so she supposed it would be nice to hang out with her for a bit.
Lindsey sat down on the couch and pulled the large, blue paperback into her lap and flipped it open. Grabbing the remote, she clicked on the TV just for some background noise and began to read. Ever since Urdh had told her to remember the Fates and to keep the Old Ways like her grandmother had, Lindsey had become rather engrossed in reading about the old religion. She was amazed at how much she agreed with it, how much it made sense to her.
Gohan had humored her and gone into town with her to purchase the books from a New Age shop that smelled of herbs and incense, its walls lined with books of every size. He'd found a book about world religions that he thought might be interesting to read, although he didn't particularly consider himself religious. It was just something he'd never given much thought to. But he was always eager to learn something new, so he purchased the one book to Lindsey's dozen that she picked out.
Lindsey ran her fingers down the page, her eyes scanning over the protective symbols and their meanings. If a war really was coming, especially as quickly as Vegeta seemed to think, she figured they could use all the help they could get. She may not be training today, but a little research never hurt anyone. Without tearing her eyes from the page, she pulled her pack of cigarettes from her pocket and lit one, inhaling deeply and settled back into the couch with the book resting on her crossed legs.
"Do it again," Vegeta barked.
Without hesitation, Catie flew at Trunks, swinging her right arm with all her might. Trunks threw his arms up and blocked her with his forearm, taking a couple steps back as she spun on one leg and slammed the heel of her foot into his thigh. He couldn't believe her speed at fifty times normal gravity. Any other human would have been nearly crushed by it.
Vegeta leaned against the wall of the gravity room, his arms crossed over his chest, watching the sparring match. He didn't like what he was seeing. Catie was hesitant, unsure of herself. And Trunks refused to fight back – all he did was block and defend himself as though he were a living punching bag. Vegeta narrowed his eyes and frowned at them. He'd taught them better than this.
"STOP," he barked.
They froze immediately and turned to look at him.
"What are you idiots doing?" he snarled. "If you're not going to take this seriously, then get out! You're wasting my time."
"No!" Catie protested. "I'm trying! I-"
"You're questioning yourself," Vegeta interrupted. "Learn from your mistakes, don't be hindered by them."
Catie swallowed and nodded. She shook her right hand involuntarily as the ghostly feel brushed her palm again – she could still feel the vine snapping tight in her hand as Gohan fell through the window of the castle. She thought she'd been hiding her nervousness well, but Vegeta had seen right through it. She mentally scolded herself. She should've known he would catch on. She didn't want to admit it, but the memory was bothering her more and more every day. If Lindsey hadn't been so mad at her, she thought that perhaps it wouldn't bother her so bad. But she understood why Lindsey hated her now. If the Fates hadn't stepped in, Gohan would still be dead.
"Now do it right," Vegeta growled and leaned back against the wall again.
Catie powered up, her hair turning a shocking bright green and her eyes a brilliant shade of purple. She flew at Trunks again, who swiftly blocked her. With a growl she attacked with everything she had, punching and kicking so fast it would have been hard for anyone to keep track of her movements. Even with the increased gravity, she and Trunks hovered in midair, their energy suspending them over the hard metal floor.
Trunks used to enjoy sparring with Catie, always keeping his power level just above hers, to irritate her and make her fight harder, to want it more. On occasion, when she wasn't expecting it, he would throw her a really good punch or sweep her feet out from under her, laughing at the angry expression on her face. But what Catie lacked in strength, she made up for in technique and speed, and because of this, they were often evenly matched.
But not today. Trunks had had a particularly fretful night's sleep, reliving his moments with Mohini in his dreams. He'd been dreaming of her often and he always awoke feeling sick and disgusted with himself and fearing that Catie would hear him speaking in his sleep. Catie was still maintaining a certain amount of coldness with Trunks, and she didn't even know a fraction of the things he'd done. He swore to himself that he would never tell her; he couldn't hurt her any more. Unfortunately, that vow to never hurt her again was spilling over into their training sessions and Trunks found himself unable to even throw her a simple punch.
"Hit her back!" Vegeta commanded as though he had heard Trunks' thoughts.
Trunks ignored his father and continued to block Catie's attack. In the blink of an eye, Vegeta flew at him, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and slamming Trunks' back against the ceiling.
"What's the matter with you, boy?" Vegeta snarled. "You think this is playtime?"
"Father," Trunks gasped as Vegeta's knuckles pressed harshly against his collarbones, pinning him against the ceiling.
"What's your deal?" Vegeta asked in a dangerously low voice, his eyes searching Trunks' face.
"I can't hurt her again," Trunks choked out.
"What nonsense are you talking about now?"
"I hurt her enough as it is," Trunks answered, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'll not do it again, in any way."
Vegeta released his grip on Trunks' shirt. "Unbelievable." He lowered himself back to the floor and stared at Catie, who had grabbed a bottle of water. "Where's your sister?"
Catie turned to him and blinked. "My sister? She's probably at home with my mom, back in the…"
"I meant Jennifer, you moron," he barked.
"Ohhhh," Catie said. That made a lot more sense. Vegeta had never met any of Catie's family. She wasn't even sure he knew she had a sister. "Jenny said she'd be here. I don't know where she is."
"I'm so disappointed in all three of you," Vegeta said in a low voice. "I've got not one but two of you who are afraid to hurt each other in a sparring match, and one who can't keep her damn legs closed long enough to stop getting herself knocked up!"
Trunks and Catie cringed and looked guiltily at each other.
"Trunks, get out."
Trunks' eyes went wide. "What?"
"You heard me. I said get out."
"You're not going to train with me anymore?" Trunks sounded hurt and disappointed as he dropped back to the floor.
"Of course I'm still going to train with you, you imbecile," Vegeta snapped. "But I'm done training you as a group. The three of you might as well be playing patty-cake instead of fighting. No, from now on, it's one-on-one training with me. Now get out."
"Father, you're being unreasonable," Trunks tried to protest.
"Am I?" Vegeta shouted. "May I remind you, we all nearly had our asses handed to us in that castle and I will not be humiliated like that again! Neither will I continue to be embarrassed by any of you. Jenny is the only one who's actually trying around here anymore, but she can't progress because neither of you two will throw her a decent punch!"
"She's pregnant!" Trunks argued. "You can't expect me to beat up on her in that condition!"
Vegeta snorted. "Condition. She knows the risk she takes when she gets herself in that situation. At least I have her to be proud of. She's not afraid to fight."
Catie stared at the floor, guilt and embarrassment washing over her. She'd always been the one to earn most of Vegeta's praise (no matter how little he offered it) and hearing him say he was only proud of Jenny now really hurt her feelings. She'd fought in the castle, too. She'd helped bring down the Minotaur when everyone else was useless against it. She'd braved going back through the castle to try and find a new way to reach Piccolo's kidnapped daughter. And she'd single-handedly fought against Gohan, who at one time had been the most powerful of all the Saiyans. But no, none of that mattered now because she was still too shook up from accidentally killing Gohan in that battle and was afraid to do permanent damage to someone she cared about. She involuntarily shook her hand again.
"Now get out," Vegeta said again. "I'm going to make her work for it. And when I'm done with her, it's your turn."
Trunks huffed and crossed the room, pressing the keypad beside the door and waiting for it to slide open.
"I'm here!" Jenny cried as the door slid open. She was breathing a little heavy as though she'd just run the length of Capsule Corp to get to the gravity room.
"OUT!" Vegeta bellowed as Trunks grabbed Jenny by the elbow and pulled her out of the room with him.
The doors slid shut behind them and Jenny blinked up at Trunks in confusion. "Did I miss something?"
Author's Note: Here's the start of the new story, as promised! If you're new to my stories, I suggest going back and reading the previous ones that have led up to this. In order they are: The New Z-Fighters, Z-Girls, Fast and Furious Z-Girls, Unforgettable, and Through the Storm. Be Warned: The first two are pretty silly (I wrote them a long time ago.) The third is so-so. I plan on rewriting them at some point. Reviews are always very much appreciated!