Chapter 3: Bodily Changes

Dang, what the heck happened to me? was Trunk's immediate thought as he woke up. My vision's all blurry, my hearing sucks, and I feel weaker than that one time when Dad refused to feed me for a week as endurance training. Ugh, and my chest feels so darn heavy…

As the young boy rubbed the grogginess from his eyes, he moaned, "Goten! Hey!"

No response. Trunks rolled over and scanned the room. To his surprise, he was laying on the living room couch. He could have sworn that he had fallen asleep on the floor in Goten's room, but maybe he had sleepwalked. That made sense. After all, it had been a long, restless night. And by restless, he meant extremely fun.

That's right. He and Goten had actually done it. On the night before, they had filled two cups of hot tea with Bulma's body-swapping concoction and had successfully convinced Gohan and Videl into drinking their share. Sure, there had been some mishaps. Goten accidentally touched the boiling water and spent two minutes crying. Chi-Chi had then marched into the kitchen, yelling at the pair for using the stove without permission. Also, Trunks had spilled more than half a vial of the purple liquid on himself, leaving only what he hoped was a sufficient amount to make things work.

Overall, things did seem to work though. After drinking the tea, both Gohan and Videl immediately conked out, meaning that the concoction must have been having some sort of effect. Meanwhile, the villainous duo snuck off, waiting for morning to unravel a new ball of chaos.

This is gonna be so great, the boy thought to himself. Soon enough, Gohan or Videl is gonna wake up and realize that they're in the wrong body. The best part is that they won't even know how it happened. Ha, I can't wait. Too bad I have to be feeling so sick right now though. I must've caught whatever Gohan had.

Suddenly, a small figure in teddy bear pajamas exited the kitchen and entered living room, munching on a leg of chicken and nestling a bowl of noodles in his spare arm.

"Goten!" exclaimed Trunks.

"Hi!" the boy greeted, smiling through a mouth full of meat.

"About time you show up. Hey, do I look sick to you? I feel like a wreck."

The miniature Goku examined Trunks from top to bottom and shook his head. "Nope. If you're feeling funny, it's probably 'cause of the tea you had last night."

"What are you talking about? I didn't have any of that tea. Now are you sure I don't look weird?"

"You look pretty normal to me."

"All right then. It's just that for some reason I feel all bloated and fat."

"Even if you are fat, I bet Gohan will still like you!"

Trunks raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I dunno, but my mom says that he really likes you and you two are meant to be together!"

"Cut it out Goten; that isn't funny. You're just being a creep."

"Huh? What's the matter?"

Was his friend really that thick? Trunks shook his head in disbelief. "Forget it. Just sit tight for a second, 'kay? I have to go to the bathroom and take a whiz."

Goten flashed a gummy smile and waved an enthusiastic farewell. "Okay. Have fun, Videl!"

And that's when it all came together. The poor vision, the terrible sense of hearing, the massive lack of ki, the extra weight on his chest, his friend's odd behavior toward him—could it really be? The demi-saiyan glimpsed down at his body except, as he thought, it wasn't really his body.

He was in Videl's body!

"Darn it, darn it, darn it!" said Trunks. The sudden acknowledgement of his feminine voice nearly made him scream. "How the heck did this happen? Gohan was supposed to switch with Videl! Not me!"

Goten blinked and poked his friend uncertainly in the belly. "Oh wow, is that really you in there, Trunks?"

"Yes, you dummy! Now quit touching me and c'mon. We have to check on my body!" As the demi-saiyan catapulted himself off the couch, his new human body immediately crumpled to the floor. "Agh! Why does Videl have to be so darn weak? I can barely move in this stupid thing!"

"Here, I can help you!" volunteered Goten. The boy tossed his food aside, ran to his fallen friend, clasped onto his ankles, and began dragging him down the hall.

When Gohan woke up, the first thing he saw was Goten dashing down the hall with Videl's ankles in hand and the girl herself dangling behind on the floor. At first, he thought he was dreaming, or at worst, he was merely hallucinating. The medicine that Bulma gave him must have had some strange side effects. However, these thoughts vanished as Gohan heard Videl yell in a way that assured him this was no illusion.

"Goten, slow down and quit banging into things, you idiot! You're gonna make me pee my pants!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying," the small boy whined.

Gohan sat upright in his bed, very alarmed by this sight. He wasn't sure if he should scold his younger brother for the way he was handling Videl or be shocked at what Videl had just shouted. Needless to say, he was very, very, very confused.

Then, to add to it all, the house suddenly quaked with a monstrous bang.

"All right, you two better explain what's going on right now!" demanded Videl when Goten and Trunks—who was inher body—stumbled into the room. "I just blew up half the bed, punched a hole through that wall, and nearly flew into the ceiling when I tried to get up! I mean, I've been through a lot. I've been turned into chocolate by a pink blob, I've died, and I've come back to life, but this is just crossing a line!"

"Hey, at least you're not stuck with this lump of fat anymore," muttered Trunks, gesturing towards his new body. "You should be a little more grateful."

"Grateful? My body has been invaded by an eight-year old boy!"

"Yeah? Well my body's been invaded by an evil witch. You're probably gonna make my body all weak and ugly too."

"Hey, I don't need any of your trash talk, Trunks! I just want this problem fixed."

"Well y'see," chuckled Trunks, "there's a slight problem with that."

"What?"

Trunks scratched his cheek and glanced at his friend. "Goten, care to explain?"

"Um, well…" the small boy began. "We, uh, don't really know how to fix it."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," said Trunks. "We really have no clue how this happened exactly. We wanted you and Gohan to switch bodies, but that sure didn't go as planned."

Then, with a polite knock, Gohan entered the room. "Er, guys? Is everything all right in here?"

"Not really. Your dumb girlfriend over there blew up half the bed," said Trunks nonchalantly, pointing towards the damage. "Her control over my ki majorly sucks."

Videl emphatically coughed, "Ahem!"

"Oh yeah, and Videl and I also switched bodies. If you haven't noticed."

"And we're out of cake!" interjected Goten, as if this matter was of equal importance.

Gohan stared from Videl's body to Trunk's body, his mouth wide agape and sweat dribbling from his forehead. "Wh-what?"

"We're out of cake," repeated Goten with a pout. "And you promised us ice cream and candy and doughnuts, too!"

"No, I got that part," said Gohan. "What I meant was…I mean…how did…?"

Suddenly, Chi-Chi appeared in the room. "Gohan, there you are! How are you feeling? Are you sure you should be out of bed so soon?'

Gohan gulped, looked from Videl to Trunks again, and replied in an unnaturally high-pitched tone, "Uh, yeah Mom! I'm feeling great. Heh-heh…"

"Something's bothering you," insisted the mother, her maternal senses tingling. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, honestly!" assured the teen, his voice ascending to an even higher pitch. How in the world was he supposed to tell his mom about what was going on? He just couldn't! "I-I'm feeling as good as new."

The woman stared at her son suspiciously for a few seconds longer before finally sighing, "All right. Well, that's good to hear. Breakfast is on the table, so go eat up, everyone. Gohan, you better wash up first. There's no way my little boy is going to school smelling like that."

School, thought Gohan nervously. He glanced at the raven-haired girl who was actually Trunks and then at the lavender-haired boy who was actually Videl. He sighed.

This was not going to end well.