If someone were to ask Yamcha what he thought his life would be like at 16 he probably wouldn't have said "Trying to escape from a prison cell with a shapeshifting cat, a perverted pig, an overpowered child with a tail and the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen so they could stop a small blue elfish creature, his bodyguard, and a ninja dog man from making a wish on a giant magical dragon."

And yet there he was, looking out of a small hole in the wall and hoping that Puar made it to the dragon first. They could steal one of the Dragon Balls before Pilaf made a wish, right? It had to be possible. His cell mates weren't all as optimistic.

"I can't die here! I'm too young! I'm too pretty! I haven't gotten my wish!" Bulma rambled. She was right on a few of those points, Yamcha knew, but dying was not one of them. He turned his gaze away from the darkened sky outside to look at her.

"It's gonna be okay. We'll survive this. I'm sure of it." he tried to reassure her. She looked over at him with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Promise?" she said quietly. Yamcha gave her his best smile.

"I promise." he said. Before he could say anymore there was a huge flash of light from outside. The sky started to lighten again as the dragon disappeared. He moved out of the way as Puar and Oolong came flying back thought the hole and transformed into their normal states. They both looked exhausted but for some reason Puar was smiling.

"I made the wish! I did it!" they proclaimed proudly.

"Cool! What did you wish for?" asked Goku, the previous danger quickly forgotten. Puar grinned.

"I wished for Lord Yamcha to have the voice he's always wanted! I was going to wish for him to have the body he wanted but the last time I heard him talk about what he wanted to change the most it was his voice. Did I make a good wish?" they rambled as they floated over to Yamcha, looking concerned, waiting for a response.

"YeaAAAAAGGGHHHHH!" Yamcha's agreement turned into a startled scream as he discovered that his voice was at least a few octaves lower than it was before.

He started to laugh, overjoyed with the change, and the laughed some more at how his laugh now sounded. The others were looking at him with mixed emotions. Puar was beaming from ear to ear while Oolong, Goku, and Bulma all looked confused.

"Holy... wow - this is my voice? Aaaaaaa I'm not used to this yet it's so cool! I love it! Thank you!" Yamcha exclaimed, hugging Puar and laughing some more.

"Can one of you explain what's going on?"

Yamcha and Puar turned to see Bulma standing with her arms crossed and eyebrows raised. Puar floated towards her a little.

"Yamcha didn't tell you yet?" they asked.

"Why no, she hasn't told me why she wanted a man's voice, although she doesn't talk much to begin with." Bulma huffed. Puar turned back to look at Yamcha with concern. Yamcha hung his head slightly and looked at the ground. He already had enough problems just trying to stay in the same room as Bulma, let alone hold a conversation with her. Puar sighed and cleared their throat.

"Yamcha wished for a man's voice because he IS a man. He may not have been born as one but he's one now. He's also super shy around women so I'm not really too surprised he hadn't told you yet. As his best friend I'd like to ask you to respect him for who he is." Puar explained.

Yamcha continued to look down. His heartbeat was rapid. He was scared before, imminent death will do that to you, but now it was even worse. That fear was coupled with a sick feeling in his stomach and a light feeling in his head. They were going to hate him, he was sure of it, and all he could do was wait for the silence to break.

"Okay."

Yamcha smiled slightly. Of course Goku had no problems with it. Nothing phased that kid

"What? You don't think that's at least a little weird?"

And there was Oolong. Nothing shocking about his response.

"It's not weird!"

Puar at his defense, as usual. They were a great friend. Yamcha felt a light touch on his arm and finally looked up. His face promptly turned bright red as he saw Bulma looking at him his more emotion then he thought was possible.

"Why didn't you tell me? I've been calling you she for weeks. That must have been horrible!" Bulma asked. Yamcha took a deep breath.

"I... uh... I was s-scared. O-Of what you'd t-think of me..." he stammered, every fiber of his being screaming at him to get as far away from Bulma as possible. How was she so pretty? It wasn't fair.

"You're my friend, Yams, you being a man won't change that." Bulma assured him with a small smile. Was she pink in the cheeks or was that just his wishful thinking? Yamcha attempted a grin in return.

"O-okay." was he managed to squeak out before Pilaf and his goons stormed in angrily. Now this was happening. Great.

The rest of the night followed in a similar fashion to the rest of the day. Meaning it was full of insane things happening with no warning.

He'd have to apologize to Goku later about cutting his tail off.

Things somehow worked out in the end, it seemed, as Bulma insisted he come to the city with her. He wasn't about to argue with his new and first girlfriend so off they went, wishing Goku and the others good luck.