Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball Z/GT

Lots and lots of pain

"Ouch!" Mai yelped as Vegeta punched her in the stomach and she went flying back, landing on her butt and skidding along the ground until she came to a stop.

Vegeta kept his fist raised, and finally lowered it, looking most displeased. "Have you been paying attention to anything I've said?" He asked impatiently.

"Of course I have!" Mai snapped. "I just don't pick up on new moves and techniques as quickly as everyone else."

They had been practising the basic blocking moves, and then everyone went up individually with Vegeta or Goku to test it out. Ryu, Kenji and Shino had gotten it right first time around, earning compliments from Goku and a small 'good work' from Vegeta. Dai and Sakura had taken an extra time or two before getting it, receiving a 'pay a little closer attention' from Goku and nothing from Vegeta. Taji took even longer, in which he got a 'you're not trying hard enough' from Goku and a growl of impatience from Vegeta. Mai... still didn't have it.

It was simple, but she was too slow to put the blocks into action. By the time her arms were in position, she was flying through the air or bumping along on the ground.

Goku had so far remained silent, but Vegeta most certainly hadn't. He had been yelling his head off for the past few minutes, clearly losing patience.

"Why not we head back home for a quick lunch and resume training afterwards?" Goku suggested lightly.

"Fine." Vegeta muttered and took off, not waiting for anyone else.

Kenji and Shino wasted no time following. Sakura and Ryu hesitated for a second and then they too followed.

Dai and Taji turned to look at Mai. She gave them a bitter look. "What?! I know I'm weak! Do you have a problem with that?" She asked, looking at them angrily.

Dai shook his head. "No Mai. You're not weak. You've just convinced yourself you don't want to be here so much that you're making yourself seem weak. If you were to just-"

"No Dai. I'm weak, and it's always been because of that factor I didn't want to come here in the first place." Mai snorted, turning her head away defiantly and crossing her arms. "You know how much I hate training."

"Dai's right." Taji said. "If you were to put some effort into what Grandpa is trying to teach us-"

Mai snorted again. "You make it sound like I'm not even trying." She turned and glared at them. "I am, so come off it."

Taji and Dai shared a look.

"You know what, why not leave me alone, okay? You guys go on ahead home, I'll come in a few minutes." Mai said, turning right around so her back was to them.

She could almost see them sharing a look before taking off into the air. Now that she was alone, she flopped onto her back with a sigh. She'd never been here alone before. It was so quiet it seemed calm in some way. Like nothing could break the peacefulness.

She wasn't sure how long she laid there with her eyes closed, but after a bit, she felt a shiver run down her spine, like she was being watched. She peeked her eyes open, rolling them around in their sockets to search for the spy.

When she didn't see anyone, she rolled over onto her stomach, looking everywhere but not still not seeing anyone.

"Damn Saiyan senses." She muttered. It was true. Her Saiyan blood made her sixth sense more heightened, and half the time she felt it come into play there was never anything off about anything.

She took one last look around the clearing and surrounding forest before hopping into the air to fly back home.

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Two days later and nothing had really changed. Mai was picking on things a bit faster, though it still took her longer than anyone else. She was pleased at her slight improvement, even though she still wasn't at the standard where she got compliments from Vegeta of Goku.

And though it might have been selfish, she was pleased when she learned she wasn't the only one having troubles when it came to flying. Sakura was as bad, if not, worse than Mai herself was. So while Goku spent his time teaching her, Mai had been practising on getting better, though it still wasn't as good as Kenji's or Ryu's.

It was around five in the afternoon when Goku decided to call it a day. He turned to share a brief look with Vegeta before turning back to the grandkids.

"We have an important announcement, but we won't discuss it here or now. Over dinner." He answered the unspoken question.

Back at the house, Mai and Sakura took out the dinner they had prepared that morning, heating it up for dinner.

Once everyone was seated and had their plates filled to the maximum with food.

"Tomorrow, we have a special task for everyone." Goku grinned. "It's a surprise. Tomorrow morning, meet us at the training grounds at eight o'clock sharp. If you're late, you won't know what the task is and... well we haven't decided on what the punishment will be yet for those who don't complete it." The last bit was said in an unGoku way, meaning it was serious.

The fork stopped halfway to Mai's mouth, and after looking around the table, she saw everyone else were frozen at the news, except Vegeta who was smirking ever so slowly.

"Is it hard?" Sakura asked.

"Well duh!" Kenji said. "If it wasn't, there'd be no point to it!"

"It is difficult." Goku said. "But I have no doubts everyone here will complete it."

Mai wasn't sure if she imagined it or not, but Vegeta glanced her way for split second as though he was uncertain about her.

"Well, don't worry about it now. It's tomorrow. Let's enjoy dinner... mmmm... looks good." He began stuffing his face, completely ignoring the fact that Shino, Ryu, Dai and Taji were still frozen.

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"What do you think the task will be?" Sakura whispered through the darkness.

Both girls were in their beds on opposite sides of the room. Through the moonlight flooding through the window, Mai could see Sakura had propped herself up onto her elbow to talk to her.

"I don't know." Mai whispered. "Maybe it's a one on one fight and they're going to rate us based on skill."

"No, I don't think so." Sakura said after a moment of thought. "We do one on one fights with Grandpa everyday though." She paused to think. "Maybe they're setting up like a tournament of some kind. Like we all have to fight each other and see who's the strongest."

Mai shook her head, then realized Sakura probably couldn't see. "Grandpa Goku said he had no doubts everyone would complete it. Only one person wins in a tournament."

"Maybe he meant he doesn't think anyone will give up in the tournament."

"Maybe." Mai said, but wasn't really convinced. "Anyways, we'll find out what it is tomorrow. I'm going to sleep. Night."

She saw Sakura fall back into her pillow. "Yah. Good night."

Mai laid in bed, her brain running at high speed as she tried to think of what the task could be tomorrow. If it's a tournament, I'm screwed!

A/N: I'm soooooo freaking sorry it took so freaking long to get the next chapter posted. Basically Rogers cut us of from the Internet for a weak because they detected a virus which no virus scan pick up, and it would harm their systems in ways they didn't even know! The worst part is we had to pay for our week in which we had no Internet! In other words they're assholes! So, I'm back. Was in a foul mood, but I'm fine now cause I went to the Fall Out Boy concert last night and it kicked ass! So, now I'm back, I'm sorry Rogers is gayly retarded, and I'll post the next chapter when I finish typing it... and I get reviews : D Byeee for now!