Disclaimer: I'm still not owning it, and I'm still having some cookies…
Dude Where's My World?
Revised
Chapter 6: The Next Day (Jinx)
Light flooded Josie's sleeping form through her open bedroom window, and soon enough, her clouded dreams were not enough to keep her asleep. Unwilling to give up the incredible dream she felt herself waking up from, Josie turned away from the invasive sun stream with a groan. She found, however, that clearheadedness prevailed, and she simply could not reach sleep again. She sighed wistfully.
Such an amazing dream though, she thought, snuggling into her pillow — frowning, when she felt the hard surface underneath her hands. She simultaneously opened her eyes and pulled away abruptly from the offensive surface, hissing when she felt the tight crick in her neck. "OW!" She cried out, hand fasting on the back of her neck and shoulder. "I'm such an idiot, why would I sleep on my desk when I have a—" Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes impatiently, Josie looked at her bed in the corner of the room.
The bed was on the polar opposite corner of the room from where it was supposed to be, and the desk she was in front of was nothing like the Walmart fifty dollar ugly thing she had in her other bedroom. Other bedroom, she thought with amazement, embracing her heart beating rapidly in her chest. "T-this is my room." She croaked out with disbelief, eyeing the room around her with unbridled elation. "THIS IS MY OTHER ROOM!" A scream erupted from her mouth before she had the chance to muffle it. She scrambled onto her feet and onto her chair, jumping up and down in excitement — falling back onto the floor just as quickly — not having considered the possibility that her legs would be numb, and unreliable, from sleeping in the horrible position she had been in, moments ago.
She groaned through her laughter, rubbing any part of her sore body that she could reach. I can't believe I'm still here... She thought in scrambled up onto her feet and realized how truly devastated she would have been had this all been a dream. "And I wasted time on sleep?! FOOL!" Laughing, she ripped open the drawers, thankful when she found a piece of paper and pen; she sat herself down at the edge of her chair quickly and began to scribble a few names of DBZ characters she absolutely had to meet.
After thirty-seconds or so of hastily trying to scribble down names, whilst ignoring her racing heart, she froze, remembering Valerie; was she still here? Had she imagined her friend being with her? Was she alone? Fear shattering the haze of euphoria she'd been feeling, Josie rushed out of her bedroom and across the hall into Valerie's, without bothering to knock. She briefly registered Valerie was asleep above the covers, before she leaped onto the bed, rebounding back onto her knees, bouncing up and down in her joy and excitement. Valerie grumbled curses and dismissive words, still half sleep. "Val!" Josie insisted with a wide grin. "Valerie! Wake up, we're still here!" She laughed. "This wasn't a dream! How cool is that? We're still here!" Josie shouted, as she continued her merciless bouncing.
"Dad, leave me alone, just…give me five more minutes." Valerie mumbled, turning away from Josie, trying to ignore whatever was causing her to bounce up and down.
"Oh my walrus —YOU SLEEP LIKE A DAMN RHINO — GET UP!" Josie shouted with her hands cupped around her mouth, near Valerie's head.
Valerie yelped, falling off the bed, her flailing limbs knocking a yowling Josie off the bed along with her. The two tumbled onto the ground with an 'oof!' of pain. Wide eyed and ashen Valerie stared at Josie who only grinned back unrepentantly, holding her hurt jaw with amusement. "W-what - h-how are... but we—" Valerie simply shut her temporarily useless mouth, gaping at Josie.
"I know." Josie assured understandingly, removing her hand from her jaw and flexing it briefly to ensure her friend hadn't done any real damage; reassured she was fine, Josie pushed herself onto her feet and sat back down on the bed; and in the same motion she put her elbows on her knees and dropped her chin onto her upturned hands, grinning down at her still shocked friend. "Isn't it amazing?"
Not able — or even remotely interested — in giving her a verbal response, Valerie simply let her upper body fall back down onto the ground. She felt like the world wasn't spinning as nauseously when she laid flat against the surface like this, and she found herself desperately wishing she had a cup of water for her suddenly parched throat. "You okay?" Josie asked with amusement, grin widening when Valerie shook her head from her spot on the ground. "Oh come-on Val! Don't be like that, this is great news!" Josie reminded, ignoring Valerie's frown. "I didn't hurt your hand though, right?" Receiving a negative, Josie stroked her forehead with the back of her hand in relief. "Good! Now I'm going to go hop in the shower, but after I do, I'm coming in to get ya, and you'd better be off that floor and looking ready!"
"What for?" Valerie asked through a gulp, attempting to create moisture in her dry throat. She finally looked Josie's way after asking, frown deepening suspiciously, as she sat up. "What are we doing?" She asked, eyeing the folded paper Josie brought out from her pocket.
"We are going to go see this world and all of the Z fighters, duh." Josie explained happily, holding up the paper with all the names, unbothered when Valerie snatched it out of her hands and reviewed the names.
Josie could see the wheels spinning in Valerie's head and couldn't stop the laughter bubbling out of her at the sight of Valerie trying hard not to look excited at the idea. Valerie crumpled up the paper and threw it at Josie's chest, throwing a glare at her as she dusted herself off and got up off the floor. "I'll meet you in thirty." She grumbled, ignoring Josie's laughter as she went into the bathroom and closed the door after herself.
…
Goten groaned, turning away from whatever it was that was shaking him. The world couldn't possibly be ending again, could it? Sad how little he cared at the moment because he just wanted to—
"—Sleep! Let me sleep!" Goten grumbled angrily.
"Goten, Wake up!" Trunks scolded, only receiving unintelligible mumbles. "Goten! Um…look! a girl came to visit you!" He received no response and he frowned, trying to remember anything he knew about his estranged best friend. "Uh Goten, there is an evil monster attacking earth!" Still, no response. He had already tried ripping off the covers, knocking on the boys head, and playing a voice-mail from a female friend of his on speaker. "Damn...what else?…Of course! What an idiot!" Trunks slapped his forehead with his open palm; grinning like a Cheshire cat, he got closer to his best friend's ear cupped a hand around his opened his mouth. "GOTEN! BREAKFAST IS READY!"
Goten sprang up so fast that his head collided with Trunks, making Goten howl and fall back onto his pillow, holding his head in pain. "OW!" Trunks groaned. "Damn it Goten! What the heck is your head made out of?"
"Geez Trunks! What'd you have to go and do that for?" Goten asked, holding his head, continuing to look around for the food that he'd been promised. "And where's breakfast?" Trunks sighed with a grimace on his still sensitive head. He picked himself up, and sat at the edge of the bed, looking abashed. Goten studied his expression carefully and sighed, as he sat back up, shoulders drooping with disappointment "...There is no food, is there, Trunks?" He asked sadly.
"Sorry about that, buddy." Trunks said sheepishly. Goten pouted and prepared to go back to sleep. "So…I guess you didn't hear the screaming huh?" Trunks asked innocently knowing that it would immediately pike the interest of the demi-Saiyan. And it did.
Goten sat back up slowly, looking at him curiously. "...What screaming?"
Trunks shrugged looking at the wall in the direction of the room he'd heard the commotion from. "One of the girls was screaming."
"Really?" Goten asked, looking around and keeping his ears open for any noise. "I don't hear anything now. Did you know want to go check it out?" Goten asked, as he took the blankets off and stood up to stretch out his arms.
…
Downstairs in the kitchen Bulma was washing some fresh fruits when she heard the distant screaming. She looked up at the ceiling, stopping what she was doing. "Was that Josie?" Bulma wondered aloud. "There's no way we should have been able to hear that…"
Vegeta stood a few feet away with a hip resting against the counter, drinking from a gallon of water. He pulled the top away from his mouth and gazed up at the ceiling with disinterest. "I wouldn't be too concerned, the brat yells over anything." He dismissed with clear distaste. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was because she saw a bird in a tree." He snorted, taking another chug.
Bulma sighed as turned off the faucet, throwing a fireless glare over her shoulder at him in warning. "Vegeta, please remember what we talked about last night?"
"Yeah, yeah," He mumbled, as he looked away; his ire willfully dissipating, slowly. "I still think she's on drugs and made up the whole story…" Vegeta muttered, discarding the now empty gallon of water into a nearby garbage bin, wishing it was possible for him to discard the two annoyances upstairs as easily.
"Oh quiet Vegeta. She doesn't do drugs…I don't think." Bulma finished up, with a light frown. She shook her head dismissing the thought completely and glaring at him for making him even consider the idea that she could be housing two drug addicted teenagers in her house. "I got some blood during their exam anyway!" She threw over her shoulder pointlessly at him, as he started to leave the kitchen. "Breakfast is almost ready, so don't wander off too far!"
"Hn." Vegeta mumbled as he left through the backdoor that led to the backyard, his thoughts drifting to the strangers upstairs who'd made a fool out of him the prior night. "Stupid brats," He growled through clenched teeth, as he made his way to the gravity room, finding that he needed the violent outlet now. "Think that they can disrespect me," He tightening his fist. "They are going to find out what happens to those who dare cross me…" He muttered, continuing to mumble curses and threats to the two as he entered and locked the Gravity room behind him.
...
Upstairs, Josie came out of her bathroom, a huge grin on her face while she towel dried her hair. Her bathroom was amazing; and as she looked around her bedroom, she happily acknowledged that her bedroom was pretty incredible too. With a happy sigh, Josie went to the window and opened it to let in the beautiful day, going back to sit at her desk.
Alright, back to my list! Who do I have on here? And who do I want to meet first? ...Not knowing how to fly doesn't help me much, but with capsules who knows what's possible here! She thought with a smile. She threw the towel on her couch and changed into the clothes that Bulma had given her that she had yet to unbox, figuring she'd have time to do it later. She put on some form fitting light blue jeans, and a white t-shirt, putting her hoop earrings back on. She took out a piece of paper and pen from her desk drawer, and sat down to continue her list from before she'd gone to check on Valerie, that currently read:
Vegeta, Trunks, Bulma Goten, Goku can be checked off, she thought excitedly. I still need Piccolo, Mirai Trunks, Pan, Videl, Gohan, Chichi, Krillin, Bra, Tien, Chaotzu, 18, Marron, Dende, Popo, Uub, Yamcha...Puar? What about dead people? She considered that idea and wondered if it'd be possible to meet them. I would love to meet Bardock and King Vegeta - oooh Vegeta's mom! Josie paused, cringing down at her list that was quickly getting out of hand. How the heck could she track down all these people not knowing how quickly Valerie would try and force them back home? She circled the names of the most important people on her list and somewhat satisfied, she folded the list and put it in her jeans pocket. She went back into the bathroom, distractedly running a brush through her heavy and very wet hair. The thought of going home put a pit of acid in her stomach; a feeling that was accompanied by guilt, from the dozens of ways she had already thought up on how to manage to stay.
Resenting the way her own mind worked, Josie tried her best to shut her busy brain up, focusing instead of tying her hair up into a pony tail. It didn't work. The more she tried to stop the thoughts from coming, the more they seemed to press to the front of her mind. She thought of how she could convince the others to make the first two wishes from the dragon, before jumping in at the last minute and wishing for only Valerie to go back to their world; what would they be able to do but wait for another full year? She frowned at her reflection with distaste. In another scenario, she went away, closer to wish time and hid out for a while, but that plan — she realized — felt the flimsiest; it would be too easy for them to simply wish her back to them and THEN back to her world.
What if she stole the dragon balls from the others and made the wishes before any of them ever realized what happened? Could she betray them that way? Would they even want her here with them after she pulled a stunt like that after all that work? Josie rolled her eyes at her own distracted reflection and turned away, thinking that it really didn't matter anyway. They would find a way to get her to go back, she was sure, and besides, she could always simply hope that the wish was outside of the dragon's capabilities and all of this worrying would be for naught; anything was possible now, because they were in this magical place, she thought.
Knowing she'd be beat by her smaller friend for her train of unrelenting thoughts, Josie carefully peaked outside of the bathroom door, worried that Valerie would somehow know what she'd been thinking about. She was relieved to find her bedroom free of any short angry friends and Josie looked over at the clock, gagging at how early it was. It appeared that Trunks had been bluffing about breakfast though, Josie thought with some relief. She marched contentedly out of the room and knocked politely on Valerie's door in one stride.
Seconds later Valerie yanked open the door angrily. "What are you trying to do? Break my door down?!" Josie grinned.
Politely knocked may have been, somewhat, inaccurate.
Valerie rolled her eyes, going back into the room and leaving the door open, she raised her foot upon the bed and folded her pants upwards; Bulma had given her a few pairs of pants and tops, but she had not had any petite pants, so they dragged a little at the bottom. "So what do you think, should we try to sneak out of here or tell them that we're leaving?" Josie asked, as she crossed her arms, leaning her shoulder into the doorway.
Valerie glanced at her. "Come-on, there is no way that we'd be able to sneak out without anyone noticing. Not to mention I'm pretty sure they're all up and about by now; especially with you screaming like a banshee about thirty minutes ago apparently. Nobody could have slept through that."
"You did." Josie pointed out.
Valerie sweat-dropped. "…Shut up."
"Let's go, Son." Josie said with a smirk, as she turned around and led the way down the stairs. She slowed down when they got on the first level and looked around cautiously for any sign of any of their host family. "Come-on," Josie whispered to Valerie as the tried to sneak to the front door, both stopping cold, when they heard someone clear their throat. They slowly turned to see Vegeta with his arms crossed, leaning on the wall that stood between them and the dinning room. "…He was not there five-seconds ago." Josie whispered to Valerie, who nodded nervously, in agreement.
"And just where do you two think you are going?" Vegeta asked them flatly.
The two shared a nervous look. "I…uh, out for a walk." Valerie stuttered nervously; she couldn't help it couldn't help it, she had no idea how Josie could be such a huge fan of such an intimidating and mean guy.
Vegeta easily mistook her nerves for lies and scowled. "Really?" It was impressive to the girls how he could sound both disinterested and mocking with just one simple word. Hearing no response, he continued. "Well, you can take your 'walk' later, breakfast is ready; or do you have to go do something else?" He asked with a wicked grin that was waiting to pounce on the first opportunity to out them.
"Nothing at all." Josie assured with a bright smile.
Snorting, he nodded towards the door beside him. "Hn" He led them to the dinning table where Bulma was finishing setting up. She glanced up when they all came in and gave them a warm smile.
"Good morning girls," Bulma greeted happily, gesturing for them to take seats. No more than ten-seconds later, the door to the living room opened again and Gotten walked in with a warm smile.
"Good morning everybody," Gotten greeted, followed by Trunks. "Sorry we took so long, the shower in my room didn't have any hot water so I was waiting for Trunks to finish off his, and we all know how long he takes." Goten said laughing as Trunks scoffed. "And don't even get me started on how long it took him to do his hair—I'm kidding!" He shouted, raising up both hands in a giving up gesture when Trunks pretended to raise up a fist to hit him.
Laughing with pleasant surprise, Bulma watched them with a big smile; saying something she hadn't been able to say for a long time now. "Now, now boys, settle down and sit down to—" There was a ringing noise that started up at the table that caused Bulma to pause. The woman reached into her pocket with a frown, intent on silencing the phone but stopping when she saw the name on the screen. She opened the phone and shot the girls an apologetic — albeit brief — smile. "Sorry guys, its Bra, I have to take this." Josie gasped but slapped her hand over her mouth and shot the others an embarrassed look from behind her back.
"Nasty reflex, sorry" She whispered between her fingers, keeping her hand in place as she watched Bulma talk on the phone, absorbed in the conversation she could only hear one half of.
"—I'm glad to hear it, sweetheart. Are you behaving for Videl?" Bulma smiled, nodding along to whatever her daughter was saying on the other end. "Well…that isn't too surprising, considering whose daughter, you are. Did you want to talk to your father?" Mouth still covered to keep herself quiet, Josie looked over expectantly at Vegeta, who had already been eating, and appeared to have been caught off guard by Bulma offering him up over the phone. "Well, I expect you to do whatever Videl says ok? Have a great time, sweet girl. Here is your father." Bulma offered the phone across her son to her husband who frowned at her for a moment, but immediately grabbed the phone and stood up, leaving the room as he was pressing it to his ear.
"Whoa." Josie mumbled in awe, finally letting her mouth go. Bulma raised an eyebrow inquisitively at Josie's one worded reaction. "I didn't think Vegeta even knew how to use a cell phone." She explained, turning her surprise into amusement, as she turned to Valerie. "Can you imagine him ordering a pizza?" Valerie snickered at that ridiculous image.
"They made it over there okay?" Goten asked.
Bulma nodded, "Yeah, she said that they had dinner and they're just settling into the hotel room now." Bulma gestured to the spread before them. "Feel free to dig in guys, Vegeta will probably be a minute or two so take advantage." Like dinner the night before, the boys waited until Josie and Valerie got their portions before reaching for any food. True to Bulma's words, Vegeta came in a few minutes later and silently handed his wife her phone back before going back to his seat and digging in.
Bulma noticed through the corner of her eye, Josie ate less than Valerie and poked certain foods but she ate enough to keep her from calling her out in front of the group. After about five minutes, both girls slowed down and finally stopped eating, murmuring a thank-you to Bulma for breakfast. They settled back in their chairs, drinking their water and talked amongst themselves, until they saw Bulma finish up her own plate and start to get up to clear some of the empty bowls and cups from the table.
"Please let us help." Valerie requested with an easy smile, getting up and grabbing some of the empty plates. Josie followed suit and got up, offering refills on the drinks for the guys, before following the women into the kitchen with her own plates.
Bulma stood beside Valerie at the kitchen sink, thanking Josie as she grabbed her plate, studying it briefly, before emptying out the contents into the garbage can. "You girls sure you don't want anymore? You hardly ate a bite. If you'd like something different—"
"No, that's not it at all," Valerie attempted to reassure. "I rarely eat in the morning. I'm usually good with just coffee, and Josie—"
"Always feels like I'm starving first thing in the morning but after a couple of baby bites, I'm usually stuffed." Josie explained for herself, rubbing her belly to emphasize her point. Bulma nodded but she planned on cornering Josie to ask her if she really was getting enough things she liked on the table. The last thing that she wanted to do was unintentionally starve the girls by feeding them foods they were too polite to reject. "Bulma, me and Val wanted to ask if it would be okay if we took a walk outside today?" Josie started, somewhat nervously. Usually Josie wasn't allowed to walk streets without grown-ups or a group of friends, so she was unsure as to how Bulma would react.
Bulma blinked, looking at the girls with surprise; as if she just realized that these girls would need not only her shelter and money, but her permission to do just about anything outside of Capsule Corp grounds, unlike all of her previous alien tenants. It gave her pause, as she considered the best way to handle this. "…How far were you both planning on wandering?" She finally asked with some amusement, not having to worry about a teenagers safety since… she herself was one. Trunks had been easy, being as powerful as he was and a certified genius when he was only a child. She figured she'd have to handle this problem eventually with her daughter, but to suddenly find herself thrust into this position made her want to laugh and open up a bottle of red wine.
"We didn't have anything specific in mind… we just kind of want to look around and explore your world. We were thinking maybe half a mile in no specific direction?" Valerie answered honestly.
"Sounds fine to me," Bulma agreed with a mild shrug. "But before you go make sure to grab your jackets —its chilly outside — and meet me in the living room in five minutes?" The girls agreed and did just that.
Bulma was already waiting for them, standing beside the coffee table where a few things lay. "I got some stuff for you guys," She gestured towards the table, before reaching down and picking up two cell phones. "Valerie," She handed Valerie one and she turned and did the same with Josie.
Josie looked at the items with puzzlement. "I'm sorry, I'm a bit confused…"
"The cell phone has my number programed as number one, Trunks as number two and Goten three. I would have programed Vegeta's in there…but he never carries him with him, and even if he did, I think he'd kill you for calling him, if we're honest. They're both active and ready for use now. Do you know what number to call for emergency services?"
Josie smiled with some amusement. "Bulma…if we know how much you weigh and how old Master Roshi is, I think we know how to dial 911—"
"—Its 119!" Bulma interrupted with some exasperation, rubbing her temple with her fingertips.
"Wait, is that a thing?" Josie asked Valerie, shocked that other countries would have another way to dial the police. Valerie wanted to roll her eyes and call her friend a baka, but the truth of the matter was that she hadn't known that either; not that she was as surprised about it as Josie.
"Maybe I should stay home from work today," Bulma offered, worriedly.
"No, no, this'll be more than enough." Josie reassured Bulma, lifting up the phone and wiggling it. "Thank you for this, Bulma, you definitely didn't have to. We got it though, one, one, nine."
Bulma still looked a little unsure, but she nodded anyway, reaching down and grabbing the credit cards off the table and gave one to each girl. Josie studied hers, a bit confused, but Valerie immediately recognized what they were and tried to give it back. "Sorry, Valerie but this won't be up for discussion. You'll need to take them." Valerie looked a little devastated at the thought, and Josie just looked confused by what this little chipped card was; Bulma found herself more charmed by them for their reactions. "…If its any consolation the credit cards only have two thousand five hundred zeni."
That froze Josie from further studying the card, which to this point she'd only thought was maybe a hotel room key or something. She had, however, recognized the words 'thousand' and 'zeni'; Zeni was money in dragon ball z, meaning there were thousands of dollars on this card? "Whoa," Josie mumbled, eyes wide, as she studied the card with reverence. "Bulma, no!" She finally snapped out of it, offering her the card back. "That's way too much money for us to be walking around with!"
Bulma grinned at that, arms crossing in front of her, refusing to even glance at the card she was being offered back. "Two hundred and fifty dollars is still too much for us to accept after everything you're already giving us, Bulma." Valerie said more calmly, a frown still etched in her small face.
Josie did a double take at that, then looked back down at the card, as she tried to calculate where her thousands became only two hundred and fifty bucks? Zeni was so confusing…"Shame it's not up for debate, isn't it?" Bulma asked with an amused grin, digging out two keys from her pants pockets and putting each in one of their hands. "We'll add your finger prints into our system soon so you won't need those but for now, you're wasting day-light and I have to go. Be safe you two." Bulma reminded them, shooing them towards the door, ignoring Josie's questions about how zeni worked and Valerie's insistence that they weren't going to spend a dime of the money. "There," She clapped her hands with an exhale when the two girls were outside of the house and the doors were firmly closed behind them. She wasn't surprised to find her husband and the boys already finished with breakfast and standing at the entrance to the dining room, having apparently observed the end of that conversation.
Vegeta turned to the boys, "Follow them." He ordered simply, starting to make his way to the stairs when the boys began to protest. "Do as I say," He demanded from the bottom step. "Remain high enough to go unnoticed but low enough to hear what they're saying and keep your ki down."
Bulma sighed, apparently needing to have a round with her husband before she could get ready to go to work. Vegeta was having none of it. "Do not argue, Bulma. We need to take precautions at least for the sake of Bulla." That made her bite her prepped retort back and made her hesitate, Vegeta noticed; he nodded, relieved that his wife wasn't completely obtuse to the dangers the unknown element these girls presented to their safety. If she ignored the fact that these aliens could be a danger to the world, at least he knew, she wouldn't ignore the danger it could present for her little girl. "Follow them." He repeated to the boys, leaving without another word.
The boys took to the sky after a quick word with Bulma and quickly found where the girls were walking on the streets down below. "Sorry you got dragged into doing this with me, Goten." Trunks apologized with a sigh, embarrassed by the assignment. The girls were doing nothing more than walking and talking, barely a street away from his house.
"I don't mind hanging out." Goten assured, eyes and amused smile fixated on the animated girls below, who pointed at a hovering scooter excitedly.
"DID YOU SEE THAT VAL?" Josie jabbed at a young boy on a scouter, wearing a helmet, uncaring that he'd almost ran over the girls while he flew past them. "That. Was. So. Cool—I wonder how much one of those bad boys cost, how fast do you think that little loon was going?"
Valerie wasn't paying attention to that, too distracted by the teenager across the street riding a hover skateboard; She practically drooled at the sight. Josie noticed and snickered. "So you aren't immune to all of this huh? Good to know!"
"Oh shut up, its just the newness of all of this." Valerie argued. "Everything is so futuristic here; there are cars in the sky for crying out!" Valerie gestured to the sky briefly, before her eyes returned back to the spot, narrowed and suspicious. "…Do you see that?"
Josie looked up, shielding her eyes with her hand as best she could, looking at where Valerie was indicating. Once her eyes caught sight of what she was looking at, a huge grin broke out on her face. "Huh! Would you look at that…"
"Busted." Trunks laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked over at Goten who was blushing, having attempted to hide behind a moving car when Valerie spotted them, before giving up. "Come-on, bud, lets go plead for mercy." The two came down slowly than necessary to where the girls waited patiently for them.
When they were close enough, Josie grabbed the pant leg of one each and yanked them down, unable to do much more move the material of their pants; but they both got the hint and lowered to the ground, standing beside them. They caught momentary looks from passerby's but as soon as they identified the two, they seemed to move on. "They're used to this." Trunks explained to the two.
Josie loosely crossed her arms in front of her, her smile still firmly etched on her face. "So…your dad sent you after us?" At their surprised looks, she shrugged. "Don't worry about it, I'd honestly be surprised if he didn't." She knew Vegeta probably better than Valerie and certainly better than anyone she knew; she knew he wouldn't waste time with pleasantries and wondering; he was a man of action. This was all moderate in comparison to what he wanted to do. Josie thought herself a bit twisted to feel flattered at the fact that he still so adamantly seemed to think of them as a threat.
"Well you've definitely given him no reason to trust us." Valerie pointed out, smacking Josie's arms with the back of her hand. She turned her attention back to the boys. "I'm afraid you're wasting your time though, we had nothing interesting planned other than seeing the street signs and people watching to start. We want to ultimately go see the other Z fighters but we know we can't do that quite yet. Do you guys have any suggestions?"
Trunks and Goten looked at each other with big grins lighting on their faces. "Arcade!" They shouted excitedly.
Trunks eyes widened a fraction before he yelled. "JINX!" One-second before Goten shouted the very same thing. "Haha!" Trunks laughed victoriously, throwing up a peace sign happily. "No one say his name, got it?" Trunks asked of the two dumb struck girls. He laughed happily as he took out a capsule, still grinning when he pressed the button and threw it to the ground a few feet away. There was a small noise, then a puff of smoke; and when it cleared, a car stood in front of them.
"That is just never going to get old." Josie declared, smiling happily, as they all got into the car and buckled in. "Speaking of old...how old are you both anyway?"
"I just turned eighteen and Goten's turning seventeen later this year. How about you two?" Trunks asked from the drivers seat.
"Sixteen" They both answered, simultaneously.
"JINX!" Trunks shouted happily, once more. Valerie and Josie looked at each other incredulously. "Gotcha." He said grinning apologetically to the rearview mirror where the girls stared dumbly at him. "Sorry guys, me and Goten used to play this game all the time with Gohan when we were kids; part of me used to think Gohan insisted on playing this game to shut us up, but it honestly is an efficient way to get some peace and quiet. So the way I figure it, this is going to be one quiet trip to the arcade." He said sighing happily, as he leaned back on his seat, putting his hands behind his head and replying to the angry glares in his direction with a simple smile.
…
"Okay, here we are!" Trunks called happily, as he parked his car across the street from the Arcade a few blocks down from his house.
"…" Utter silence was the response he got. He looked between the three glaring faces in the car with him, unable to hide his big grin.
"What, no one has anything to say?" Trunks asked through laughter. Receiving no response, he continued to grin and gestured towards the building. "Good, if you would all follow me everybody." They all did so, going across the street and into the Arcade that was thankfully, not very busy this early in the day. Trunks turned around towards them at the front register and rolled his eyes when he remembered he couldn't ask their opinion on which package to get. "This is kind of boring with none of you talking... I think I'll allow one of you to talk. Lets see..." He made a big show of contemplating who to pick.
He considered picking Goten, but Goten had already deviated a foot away and was putting a coin in a machine that Trunks knew he'd get distracted by for at least half an hour without talking, so that felt like a waste of a pardon; Valerie was already feeling around her pockets for any spare change and she too didn't seem that bothered for the moment with her inability to speak. Josie, however, was going stir crazy. She was glaring fierce daggers into the side of his head and he couldn't help but grin. "Ok, why not? Josie."
"Ugh! thanks," Josie said dryly but with an unwittingly amused smile. She looked around the arcade, not having visited in many of these throughout her life and trying to picture a kid aged Trunks and Goten heading here on weekends.
"Here you go," Trunks pulled her from her thoughts, lifting her hand and placing a handful of coins in them. Josie thanked him shyly and put the coins in her pants pocket. "Do you want to play some air hockey?" Josie studied him, perplexed by his offer and him, period.
It was crazy to her how much Trunks and Goten seemed so different from what she'd imagined, but at the same time, this seemed like who they could be; the truth of the matter was that she couldn't wait to get to hopefully know them more. She grinned and nodded, following after him to an air hockey table, where Josie proceeded to get her butt whooped time and time again by reflexes and superior genes that she could never hope to match. That didn't stop her from trying again and again, talking smack that she could not back up and baiting him, until they were at twenty and zero. At least she'd made him laugh, a lot, Josie thought dryly; watching Trunks as he leaned on the table for support while he guffawed over her last maneuver that had sent the hockey puck flying over his head and into someone's drink. "…Not that I'm not hugely enjoying this round of make fun of the sad human girl, but aren't you forgetting something?" Josie asked, pointing a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of Valerie and Goten who now at a nearby bench, pouting and trying to communicate through weird hand gestures.
"Yikes, sorry about that, guys." Trunks quickly rushed over, standing before the two glaring teens. "I could swear I've known you forever, but man, sometimes your name slips away from me; does that ever happen to you with people, Josie?" Trunks asked, looking over at Josie who was making her way over to them. Josie smirked at him and nodded, her gaze falling on Valerie who threatened a slow and painful death with her eyes.
"Always feels like its on the tip of your tongue, doesn't it?" Josie asked Trunks, able to play along perfectly. "Salary? Mallory? Shoot, I'm drawing a total blank here…" Josie blinked as Valerie started to growl in warning, causing her to laugh with surprise. "Geez Calorie, don't have a baby!" Josie backed away from a hand swipe from Valerie.
Meanwhile Trunks tapped his chin with his index finger, giving his friends' name some serious contemplation. "His is hard." He finally realized with a frown. "I can come up with some for her and keep us here until tomorrow." Josie's eyes questioned the authenticity of that statement with a lifted brow. "Battery, gallery, flattery, salisbury, mastery, factory, cannery…" Trunks insistently demonstrated his lexicon.
"Maybe for him you should just name a bunch of things that start with Go." Josie suggested with a mild shrug. "Gotten, goth….and I'm stuck." Josie laughed. "Sorry Goten, yours is hard—" Immediately Josie gasped and covered her own mouth with both hands, while Goten cheered and Trunks groaned. "It slipped out, I am so sorry." Even with her hands covering her mouth and her speech barely registering as words, the blush on her cheeks could be seen. Trunks wasn't honestly bothered, even as Goten released Valerie from her own voice prison and the girl proceeded to chase Josie around the arcade, waving an efficiently threatening cast to hit her with. They made their way out of the arcade and Trunks decided to capsule his car so that they could continue to chat as they made their way back to the house on foot.
"Did I hear my mom right, Trunks? Will Gohan and the others be gone for two weeks?" Trunks nodded, hands in his pocket, enjoying the light breeze on the wind and the company he found himself with.
"Yeah; my mom was embarrassed Bra wanted to tag along, but Pan really wanted her to go, and its almost Bra's birthday in a few weeks — that and they'd made some wager about Bra getting S' on her scorecard last year and she won apparently; They're letting her skip a little school so she could go on Vacation with Gohan's family. And Pan is homeschooled so I doubt she has a timetable for coming back." Trunks shrugged. "I'm honestly glad to have the extra time."
"Where'd they go?" Valerie asked, curiously.
"Mexico." Goten answered. "Should be beautiful."
"Should be hot." Josie corrected with a smile. "How old is Bra now anyway?"
"Ten." Valerie slowed down at that and Josie stopped altogether. The two boys slowed and finally turned around when they noticed the reaction. "Everything okay?" Josie shared a look with Valerie but gave them a smile that seemed distracted.
"What about Pan? Marron?" Josie asked friendly enough, but ignoring his question.
Goten answered this one for him. "My niece is a year older than Bra, so she's eleven and Marron is probably fourteen this year."
"…Uub?" Josie added, smile tightening.
"Who?" Josie paled at that answer and quickly pointed at the first thing she saw walking by in hopes of distracting them from her potentially big screw up. "Look, horse!" She shouted, looking up and blinking at the fact that there was a dog-like creature riding this horse, in a police officer outfit. "…Val, there's a law-pooch riding a horse."
"Nobody buys that, Josi—"
"I know it can severely hurt your short person neck to crane it that far back but really, look! Its a bow-wow deputy!" Valerie looked up and sure enough.
The police officer dog was even wearing aviators. "Huh."
"I need to scratch it." Josie declared, moving towards it but held back by Goten who tutted at her and steered her back towards the sidewalk that would lead them back to CC safely. They'd already witnessed the types of disasters hurricane Josie could cause, and they didn't want to get themselves a ticket on their first day out and about for disturbing the peace. "I would have settled for petting the pony." Josie tried to explain to Goten who continued to herd her. "I've never seen a horse up close, you see, and well, add a tail wagger on top of that and—"
Calming herself down, Josie let the boys take over the conversation and talk about the games they'd played at the arcade and how long it had been since they'd been able to do something as relaxing as that. She slowed her steps and motioned for Valerie to do the same, leaning towards her to avoid being heard. "Dude, what's up with the ages—"
"I know." Valerie assured, shushing her, not trusting that the boys ahead of them still couldn't hear them. Josie sighed, but Valerie was relieved to see her nod through the corner of her eye as they began entering the CC property. The short walk gave Valerie a little more time to think and wonder.
And she wondered: if there coming here had changed something as simple as the ages of characters they'd come to love, what else had their impromptu drop-in changed?
Note: I always considered erasing this chapter and now i'm glad I didn't because of the re-packaging I made here. I particularly loved Bulma and her rules! We'll see more of that as we move forward with the new edits!