Disclaimer: The usual, if you don't mind, my good chap!

Dude Where's My World:

Revised

Chapter 37: Bonds that tie us

It was day six of their ship adventures and Josie was FINALLY starting to feel the soreness truly fade. She had long developed a daily rhythm that became the new normal for her and the crew.

They'd all go to the dining area for breakfast and Josie would help with cleanup; afterward she would go hang out with Bulma as she tinkered or updated some part of the ship for an hour or so, before she'd go help with other chores around the ship, such as putting laundry away or whatever other thing Bulma needed help with. Around ten, Josie would go hang out in the cockpit and focus on energy control in her favorite part of the ship. She'd meditate, but if she was honest, most of that time she'd just sit there, and think about her wonderful friends on the ship, on planet earth and back home. At noon, Trunks would come to round her up for a work-out session where she'd inevitably find new ways to stupefy her friends with how weak she was. The boys would inevitably need to help her up the stairs to lunch, where everyone would make fun of her for how tired and exhausted she was after each session. She'd stay and clean up after the guys finished eating and would go off to her room to plot revenge against the boys for the workout they put he through. Sometimes she'd get to the actual hands on portion of her revenge plans, but most of the time the boys would just find sketches of crazy half-baked plans she'd conceived to make them pay for their crimes.

It was a highlight of their day.

Between four and seven the boys were allowed recreational time and they mostly used it to tease and prank Josie, watch movies, play games or call Valerie back home together. After dinner the boys would have to go back to training, which mostly seemed to consist of meditation for an hour before they moved on to hands on training again, finally allowed to go off to shower and do what they wanted to after ten, when most of the ship would go to sleep. Except for Trunks, who seemed to like to stay up, Josie realized after a few days. It served Josie's purposes fine though because she always loved staying up late to think or read, and she'd gotten into the habit of meeting him in the living space or the cockpit if the mood hit her, and they' d talk until it got late and they needed to go to sleep. Josie sometimes considered asking Trunks why Goten didn't stay up with them or never brought the possibility of including him in their nighttime escapade, but she ultimately decided she didn't care, and never brought it up.

It was a great day to day life and some of the most peaceful times Josie had ever felt in her life.

"I get it." Josie said calmly from the extension on the main console of the cockpit where she sat with crossed legs and arms, staring out into the endless dark sky. Trunks froze at the entrance, surprised that she had known he was there. She looked over her shoulder at him, smiling. "Don't look so impressed…I have good hearing." She said dryly.

He grinned and approached to look out as well. "You really like it out here, don't you?" He asked.

She nodded and went back to looking outside, resting her arms around her knees now, comfortably. "I love it." She smiled quietly. "I've never felt so relaxed in my life. I think it must be the calm before the Namekian storm." She joked lightly. "…Its time to practice again?" She asked, turning fully around to face him.

He sat down on the pilot's chair and crossed one leg and nodded. "It is, but don't worry, you can relax a few minutes." He assured, smiling. "…I really don't want you associating my face with pain and misery, Josie." He worried, laughing.

"Nah." Josie grinned. "…I associate it with embarrassment and humiliation now." She clarified for him, as if that was any better.

Trunks rolled his eyes with good humor, smiling as he slapped his thighs and stood up. "Fine, Let's get to it then! We only have these two days before we touch down on New Namek." Josie felt that all too feeling of her stomach dropping again, and her grin grew in excitement at his words. She jumped off the desk enthusiastically and lead him out of there. "You may not see it, Josie, but you improve every time we train."

"Ah, ah!" Josie warned with a finger, walking backwards as she glared at him. "What did we say about what we are calling this?"

"Practice or workout." He mumbled, shaking his head. "Why can't we call it training?" He asked again, for the millionth time.

"Because," She said shortly as she turned back forward and kept walking, her arms crossed stubbornly. "Training is what YOU guys do. Me trying to do more than two push-ups at a time does not count as anything resembling the word of what you guys do daily."

"You've got that right, brat." Vegeta said with a scoff as he exited this bed chambers a few feet ahead of her and started to head, inadvertently, in the same direction they were going. "I never thought I'd see the day when the human race was no longer the weakest life form in existence," Vegeta commented. "But you —whatever you are— somehow, are even more pathetic." He shook his head in disappointment.

Josie quietly tip-toed a few feet forward and jumped on his back on an impulse to get back at him for his words. It took no more than a second for Vegeta to remove 'the pest' with one finger in irritation, quickening his steps out of there before he got himself in trouble. She was caught before she hit the ground by Trunks who shook his head. "…Why?" Trunks asked her.

She smiled knowing he was likely asking her why she felt the need to irritate his father... or maybe he was asking why, as in, was there was a specific reason she was —suicidally— jumping on his father's back. Sometimes she forgot her sense of self preservation.

"Well, we're going to the same place and I was hoping he wouldn't mind my hitching a ride seeing as I'm gonna TRAIN in a few minutes…I need to save my energy, you know." He laughed as quietly as possible when he heard his father growl a few steps ahead. Trunks threw her around his own back so that she could hitch a ride from him instead, and kept his steps slow to put some distance between the two. She hooted and hollered happily with a fist in the air at the free —snail like— ride anyway.

"Now this is what a cool Saiyan does!" She shouted, wanting to make sure that Vegeta heard. "Let's hurry Trunks, I'm due for a butt whoopin'"

They headed down to the training room where most of the Z fighters were out in the large Training area having a free for all sparring session. "Whoa" Josie's eyes widened when she caught sight of them, as this was unusual for them to be fighting out here in the open at this time of day. She looked at the clock on the wall to confirm that she wasn't mistaking the time. Trunks let her down quietly and led her away from them. "But... where are we…?" She attempted to ask, confused as he led her towards the gravity room. Her eyes widened as soon as she realized where he was pushing her towards. "Nope!" She shouted, attempting to put her feet in reverse and unable too from his steady pressure to continue forward. "Come-on! Didn't you JUST hear Vegeta? I think we've determined without a shadow of a doubt—" She grunted as she attempted to turn her body around and just ended up with her face in his chest, her words now muffled.

Trunks pushed her shoulders back a little, smiling down at her. "…What?"

"I SAID we have already established my type of human is weaker than your type of human. We can't handle gravity the way yours potentially could!" She argued quite logically, she thought, but all he did was raise an eyebrow, not looking terribly interested in her logical argument. She growled in frustration at his lack of reason. "Goten will not agree to this idea!" She argued with a different approach.

The door to the room opened to reveal a grinning Goten. "Hey Josie!" Goten waved, one hand holding a hammer.

She gaped at him for a few seconds before shaking her head. "BULMA IS NOT GOING TO AGREE TO THIS!" She shouted, even louder, waving her arms about in an attempt to get away from Trunks.

"—The robots are set kids!" Bulma announced cheerily, wiping the beads of sweat from her hard labor over the last two hours. She exited the Gravity Chamber and smiled comfortingly towards Josie, putting an arm on the struggling gir'ls shoulders. "It's for your own good sweetheart. Try to have fun." Bulma encouraged, winking at her before she left them. Josie froze, shocked that out of ALL the people on this ship, Bulma was on board with them killing her in this death trap…

"You really don't want to go in there?" Trunks asked finally stopping right before they got inside. She hesitated for a minute as she was set free for a minute, looking between the two boys. "If you don't want to go in there Josie, you should escape." Trunks said simply, tugging at the back of her shirt to make her face Goten once more. He kept his grip on the back of her shirt light.

"Go for it, Josie." Trunks encouraged. "Escape."

She exhaled in frustration at the sudden pop quiz and eyed Goten warily. "…You're already over thinking it." Trunks pointed out. "Relax." He tightened his grip a fraction. "See? This is why we need—" As soon as he put his open palm on the middle of her back and lightly nudged her forward again, Josie briefly prayed that Goten had a jock strap protecting him today, and used the momentum Trunks created to sharply kick her foot forward, turning it seconds before it hit Goten's sensitive area so she only hit him with the outside of her foot rather than her heel. As soon as she pressed heavily where she intended too, she grabbed the hammer out of his hands, ducked underneath Trunks oncoming arms and stopped with her left foot forward, swinging her body towards the right with the hammer and hitting Trunks square in the back before dropping it and running with her arms over her head.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Trunks shouted, running to catch up to her, grabbing her right hand that swung back and began dragging her back towards the gravity room. Josie frowned as her butt dragged across the floor and reached for the chain around her neck and began blowing quickly on the whistle.

"RAPE!" She shouted, blowing the whistle again furiously. "RAPE!"

"Oh will you cut it out." Trunks scolded, quickly putting his arm around her waist instead and reaching around her with his other hand to remove the whistle from her mouth as he went past Goten.

"I'll give her points for speed and creative use of tools." Goten said, chuckling with some pain as he closed the door behind them, trying not to show through his walk that he was a little sore from that blow. Just as Josie had been hoping, he was wearing some protection, so he was mostly spared from agonizing pain to his sensitive man parts.

Josie sighed dramatically, "Let's get this over with, I want to call Valerie—" Seeing Goten grimacing with pain, she sheepishly added. "…Sorry about the low blow." Josie said with a smile, as Trunks finally let her go.

"We told you to do that for self-defense if you could, didn't we?" Goten reminded, smiling. Josie nodded as she dusted her behind.

"But you can definitely lighten up on using that friggin whistle..." Trunks mumbled, rubbing his ears as he began to play with the controls of the gravity chamber.

Josie came to stand next to Trunks and tilted her head at the controls. "Can we play in negative gravity for a little bit?"

"No" Trunks immediately rejected, glancing at her for a second and doing a double take at how sad her expression looked. Noticing that she had his attention, Josie turned it up a notch and Trunks flinched, and against his will, his lip turned up at the corner, turning away from her so that she wouldn't see it. "…Just for a little bit." He finally agreed with a grin, grabbing suddenly onto Josie's waist to keep her secure against him, when he drastically turned down the gravity in the GR and made the unsuspecting Goten yelp a few feet away, as he was suddenly launched to the ceiling, hitting it with a resounding thunk. Trunks grinned over at Josie's whose eyes lit up after the initial surprise, holding onto his opposite arm and laughing excitedly.

...

On earth:

"I can't believe you didn't keep her on the line until I could have a chance to talk to her." Bra pouted, unhappily on her bed as Valerie stood at her doorway looking somewhat ashamed.

"I'm sorry." Valerie repeated. "The call came so suddenly after lunch and she had to go do dishes." She attempted to explain, biting her knuckle nervously. "But!" She started excitedly, remembering. "She did tell me that she'd see about getting the guys gathered to call us later tonight."

"You bet they are, I haven't heard a single word from any of my boys in six days!" Chichi said strongly, coming in behind Valerie, who moved to the side to allow the older woman who was carrying a suitcase into the room.

Bra stood up, alarmed at the sight of the suitcase and confused. "Chichi? I thought we set you up in a room in the guest wing...you know, farther away from here." Bra laughed nervously.

"Yes, my room is fine, thank you Bulla." Chichi replied, her nose held high.

"I prefer Bra." Bra clenched her upheld fist.

"Why?" Valerie asked Bra, horrified, receiving only a glare in response to which Valerie put her hands up with her palms facing upward asking, 'what?' silently, confused.

"I was going through some of my belongings," Chichi interrupted the silent exchange as she came into the room and lightly swung her suitcase on Bra's bed and opened it up. "And I came across these." She held up a modest brown dress that covered the wearer from wrist to ankle, leaving no exposed skin whatsoever. Bra sweat dropped, grossed out and taking it from Chichi's offering hand with only two fingers, as if it had a disease. "These were dresses that I wore when I was younger." She explained. "I have things in this suitcase from when I was twelve to when I was twenty. I thought you two might enjoy these for yourself instead of throwing them away. Pan's too young to fit into any of these."

"…No thank you, I wouldn't want to deprive you of your... memories. " Bra commented dryly as she eyed the material, attempting to hide her distaste for the garment and doing a terrible job at it. Valerie took it from Bra's hands, glaring at her for her disrespectful attitude and gave a bow of gratitude.

"Chichi-sama, Doumo arigatou gozaimasu" Valerie murmured shyly, hands joined low in front of her body. Chichi's eyes lit up at that, studying Valerie more carefully now. She had spent some time talking over the phone with Bulma about these two girls that had dropped in from another galaxy entirely, and though she'd been difficult to convince of their intentions, Chichi was finally starting to see why Bulma liked them so much. Valerie gasped interrupting her train of thought, "—Oh wow, this is awesome!" Chichi looked at what Valerie was holding up excitedly. "This is the outfit you wore when you fought Goku at the World Martial Arts Tournament, right before you got married!" Valerie explained with amazement.

Chichi beamed at the recognition and smiled, blushing. "Yes, it is." She agreed, unconsciously bringing her closed hands to her chest as she thought about those happy times. "We were so young and happy then."

"This is such great stuff, thank you for showing us this..." Valerie said with open amazement, honestly thrilled.

Chichi nodded and genuinely smiled at the girl. "It's my pleasure... Valerie-chan, right?" Valerie nodded, blushing once more making Bra roll her eyes.

"…I'm going to go see what Pan's doing." Bra shook her head, feeling awkward as she quickly left the room, completely unnoticed by the two.

"It's nice to see not all manners are gone from this younger generation." Chichi said, smiling to the side at her, approval beginning to twinkle in her eyes. "You can keep the dress if you'd like." Chichi could swear that she had just handed this girl the keys to all the riches of the world by how big her eyes became.

"…Y-you mean it?" Valerie asked in complete awe. "I...I shouldn't…I couldn't possibly- I-it's too…" She shook her head, eyes still wide.

Chichi reached out and put her hand on Valerie's shoulder, comfortingly. "…You care a lot for my family, don't you?" Chichi asked the very personal question.

Valerie stared at her with surprise. "I—Y-yes, I do." She gulped, nervously holding the material to her stomach, a light blush on her cheeks. "Since I was very little." She smiled. "Goku's my hero." She admitted, looking down in an attempt to hide her blush. "And your sons, both of them... are very special. Goten is my greatest friend here."

Chichi's smile grew at that and she could feel why her son loved to be with these girls. "Please keep it." Chichi said simply. "It would be an honor to see you wear it someday... although I might have to let out a seam or two in the bust region." Valerie laughed, shaking her head feeling even more embarrassed. "But other than that... in a year or two that dress should fit you beautifully." Chichi said with confidence.

"This is incredible, Chichi, I'll never forget this." Valerie assured, surging forward to embrace the older woman in a fierce hug making her laugh lightly.

Throughout the evening Valerie stuck relatively close to Chichi's side, listening intently to stories of years before, ranging from when she and Goku first got married, to Gohan and Goten's respective childhoods. Videl and the girls had come into the living room where the two had been talking to tell them that they wanted to go out for a few hours. Chichi was tired from her travel day before and didn't much feel like it, wanting to get an early start on dinner for the girls.

"—Thanks for agreeing to make dinner tonight, Chichi." Videl smiled gratefully towards the older woman who had the whole kitchen set up for cooking.

Chichi returned the smile from the stove, nodding. "No problem, Videl, You girls have fun."

"You sure you don't want to come, Valerie?" Videl asked from the doorway leading to the dining room.

Valerie was putting an apron over her own head and shook her head as she tied it around her waist, watching with interest at the complicated way that Chichi tied her apron. "No thanks. I'll just stay home today…" A distracted Valerie replied. Videl grinned at the approval seeking look in Valerie's eyes as she imitated Chichi in how she prepared herself for cooking, and nodded with approval and fondness, remembering what that was like.

"All right then, we'll be back soon! Have fun." She assured as she left the room. A few minutes of short conversation, Chichi signaled Valerie over to a wide counter that had various ingredients.

"I think we're ready to go; you ready to make our stock?" Valerie picked up some dried kelp off the counter and lightly sniffed it, wrinkling her nose.

"…Can't we just buy stock at the store?" Chichi groaned, shaking her head.

"What do they teach you in your world?" She asked, depressed, only receiving a grin in response.

"I dunno." Valerie replied, sheepishly.

"Well," Chichi sighed as she took the kelp from Valerie. "It'll taste a lot better made from scratch, I assure you, Goten and the boys wouldn't have it any other way." She said insistently. Valerie shrugged, not really seeing how that related to her but caving in to the older woman's request, giving a nod for her to go on. "This," Chichi continued. "Is Kombu and it's very healthy for you, it has a lot of minerals, vitamins, protein and dietary fiber." Valerie looked on, impressed. "You can make stock from a few alternate ingredients, but I like the basics." Chichi explained with a light shrug. "Pass me the that." She pointed at a small white bowl with wispy cream-colored flakes.

"What's that?" Valerie asked, smelling it as she passed it.

"Bonito fish." Chichi said simply making Valerie's eyes widened.

"Let me guess... healthy too?"

"Yes, rich minerals, vitamins and protein," Chichi grinned. "Now shut your smart mouth before I decide we should catch a Bonito fish ourselves for Katsuobushi; to make THAT from scratch the fish has to be filleted, boned, boiled, smoked and dried in the sun." Chichi said dryly. "So consider yourself lucky that we're not doing that... today, Missy." Valerie laughed. "And go get me a pot of water, we need to start soaking this kombu if we're ever going to make this Udon."

"Hai, ma'am!"

…

"Hey, what are you doing coming in here at the beginning of dinner, Mrs. Briefs?" Josie called, smiling as she entered the infirmary where Bulma was laying out sterilized tools on trays.

"Hey sweetie," Bulma glanced over from where she was standing in front of the sink, "Skipping revenge plotting today?" She asked jokingly, knowing Josie's schedule, from the times Trunks couldn't help but share her insane sketches.

"Hmm no, it was just fast and efficient today, hitting right where it hurts, you know? You'll see soon enough," Josie assured, somewhat distracted, her brows drawn down a little, slowing her steps. "Is... someone sick?" Josie asked, stopping in front of a tray to stare down at the needle and vials with her hands casually on her hips. Bulma resumed looking through the cabinets above for more alcohol swabs.

"Nothing like that," Bulma assured.

Josie tilted her head, noting Bulma's attire. "But scrubs, latex gloves and a stethoscope? This must be serious." Josie said, confused.

Bulma shook her head, "No, no one's sick." She repeated. "I'm just setting up to give the guys some vaccines for viruses frequently known in these parts of the galaxy." Josie nodded.

"Need help?" Josie offered.

Bulma had her wash her hands thoroughly up to her wrists and put on latex gloves. She was surprised at how Josie was already familiar with many instruments, and seemed to know how to create a sterile environment. "I'm trying to get this done as soon as possible so I can finish up a device I'm working on." Bulma admitted to Josie who merely arched a brow.

"What is it?" Bulma grinned in reply.

"I'll show you as soon as we're done, how about that? Do me a solid and let's get the guys in here one at time first." Josie gave her a thumbs up with her gloved hand and left the room to go to the kitchen where the guys were eating. She hesitated when she saw Goku and hid her hands behind her back as she casually made her way to Gohan and whispered in his ear. He stood up and left the room, leaving Josie to awkwardly attempt to escape without her gloves being noticed. She smiled and disappeared going into the infirmary as Gohan was absently rubbing the band aid on his arm from where Bulma had just finished inoculating him.

"Can you ask Trunks to come in here." Bulma requested from Gohan, who nodded, getting up. "And Gohan?" He looked over at Bulma who was throwing away the wrappings left behind. She turned to him with a hand on her hip, looking at him seriously. "Don't tell Goku."

"And don't let him see your arm." Josie added receiving a nod from Bulma.

Gohan grinned. "You got it." He assured.

"Can I do Trunks', pleasee?" Josie begged, turning abruptly towards Bulma, gloved hands clasped in front of her chest, and smile wide. Bulma laughed, surprised at the sudden request.

"I don't know, Josie..." She hesitated. "Have you ever administered a shot?"

"Yes!" Josie confidently shouted. "A lot actually, I usually only do insulin shots and this needle really isn't much bigger, but I've drawn blood with butterfly needles before too—off of a dummy anyway." Bulma arched a brow at the surprising answer.

"…What do they teach you in your world?" Bulma asked, confused.

Josie shrugged lightly, grin still in place. "I dunno." Josie replied, neither girl or woman knowing that a very similar exchange had just taken place on earth with Valerie and Chichi. Bulma still seemed unsure. "Come-on!" Josie insisted. "You can watch every bit of it, he'll be safe as ducks! Watch." Josie stepped forward and opened an alcohol swab, cleaning off the lid of the vial and efficiently opening a brand-new syringe, pulling back the plunger of the syringe and pushed it forward. She gently inserted the needle into the vial and pulled the correct portion into the barrel, just the way she had seen Bulma do earlier. Once she was satisfied that she had the right the amount, she pulled the syringe out and turned it upside down, tapping it gently to remove any air bubbles, and expelled a tiny amount of liquid to be on the safe side before holding it out for Bulma's inspection.

"Not bad," Bulma admitted after a minute of holding examining it thoroughly in her own hands. "Alright, you have to do it on me first though." Josie eyed her warily after that request and Bulma smiled. "Come-on! You're confident in your ability, right?" She goaded, her smile widening playfully the more Josie's expression turned the opposite way. "Let's see your moves, hot shot." She teased.

"—Oh you win!" Josie sighed, willing to take a small risk with Trunks but never on Bulma. "I'll only watch... but can I pretend?" Before Bulma could ask what she was talking about Trunks entered the room.

"Hi mom... and Josie, what's going on?" He asked, curiously.

"Please take a seat and take off your jacket." Josie politely requested with a smile on her face that immediately made Trunks uneasy. He slowly came further into the room, eyeing them suspiciously, doing as she asked. Josie only continued to smile at him as she asked for the needle that Bulma was still holding; Bulma handed it over without an argument, attempting to hide her smile. "Whoa, why are you holding that?" Trunks asked, eyes wide as he immediately stood back up.

"Your mom must have told you that we're giving out vaccines for a common virus out here." Josie stated, innocently.

"She didn't say YOU'D be giving the shot!" He argued, shaking his head as he took a step back.

"Oh come-on, it's a shot!" She gestured dramatically towards it. "As long as the liquidy stuff gets inside of you, it's all the same, isn't it?" She asked barely stopping herself from smiling, looking like she genuinely meant her words.

"No! DEFINITELY not all the same!" He shouted. "Do you even know WHERE in the body you're supposed to inject that?" He asked, incredulous.

Josie gave the question a lot of pretend thought before giving a lazy shrug. "I don't know... in the butt?" Josie grinned as his face turned beet red and his head seemed to enlarge with righteous indignation, looking like he was about to explode."—I'm just kidding, you prude!" She assured quickly, laughing. "Just some Doctor humor for you," She assured, smiling widely, confident in her next answer. "Of course I know I'd be injecting your…altoid?" She continued the game, smiling.

"DELTOID!" He shouted, eyes wide. "This is not funny! You can't give medical attention when you can't even identify the correct route!" He said definitively, grabbing roughly at his coat.

"Oh come-on, give me your arm already!" She argued excitedly, approaching him with a bounce of eagerness. "There's nothing important in your arm — all you've got is muscles, you'll be fine!" She assured as she followed his retreating form.

"Nothing important?" He asked, stopping, as he turned around, eyes wide. "What if you hit my bone or a blood vessel or a NERVE!" Josie chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"You're so dramatic, Trunks." Josie commented, grinning as she made her way back to the tray, setting the syringe down and making a big show of taking off her gloves so that Trunks would relax, something, which took a few minutes for him to do and a lot of assurance from his mother. Josie only stood back with her arms crossed and a devilish grin on her face.

"Stop smiling!" He shouted as his mom wiped his arm with an alcohol swab. "You look too suspicious!" He said, annoyed. "In fact, I'd feel better if you stepped out."

Josie arched a brow in response but continued to smile, "You're so mistrustful." She said with a shake of her head as she made her way out to accommodate the tense boy, "Maybe you should take a shower after lunch to relax a bit," She suggested off-handedly; smiling to herself, having ultimately accomplished her goal of making him as uncomfortable as possible anyway.

Trunks left a few minutes later, muttering to himself unhappily as he rubbed his arm. "I'm sorry, son." Bulma said with a shake of her head as she followed him and shook her head. "It wouldn't have stung at all if you weren't so tense." Josie had waited outside the infirmary and chuckled to herself when she heard Bulma's apology to her son, knowing she was entirely to blame for that. Bulma only smiled over at Josie in response, watching her son disappear up the stairs. "…We need to come up with a plan for Goku." Josie crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway, nodding.

"Maybe we should just have all the boys hold him still?" Josie suggested.

Bulma gave the idea consideration but eventually shook her head and sighed. "I don't think any of them could hold him down for a needle..." Josie scratched the side of her head lightly.

"Maybe when he's sleeping?" Josie offered.

"..." Bulma frowned in thought as she considered all the ways that that could backfire. There were a lot of things she could see going wrong with that plan, but all the same, it was still their best shot to do it while he was unconscious "Maybe if I slip him a heavy sedative before he sleeps?" Bulma added to it.

"...We can tell him we're giving them a late desert and put it all over that."

Bulma shook her head thoughtfully. "No, it would have to be more direct…a drink would work but for it to take effect on a guy like Goku, we couldn't just put it all over food." Josie nodded in agreement. Straightening, Josie cracked her head to the side and the two women headed to the spiral staircase to go up to the kitchen without another word, needing to prepare themselves for their biggest battle to date: facing up against the strongest Saiyan in the universe.

…

Later

….

King Kai had been watering plants on his restored planet happily that day. The sun had been particularly bright on this day and Bubbles had enjoyed a day of playing with butterflies alongside Gregory. At sunset he had decided to take a nice drive to enjoy the stars, when he suddenly slowed to a stop when he saw a familiar shadow underneath a tree a couple dozen feet away. He wiped at his eyes thinking maybe he was having a bad dream and when the figure remained, he quietly put the car in revers and drove it all the way in reverse back to his garage, closing it and turning off the engine with a sigh. Hoping that the man would be gone by the time he walked over to him, King Kai was not even remotely surprised at his bad luck when he walked back that way and still found Son Goku sitting underneath his favorite — and only —tree. Goku's eyes were closed, his legs and arms crossed tightly, and a deep frown etched on his face, with a hint of a pout on his features.

Deciding he didn't want to get involved, King Kai went back home and locked up his supply of food, only leaving what he was willing to part with unlocked. He grabbed a blanket and tossed it on Goku's head, which seemed to trigger Goku into a rant about why he was here. "—And you think that people are really your friends but they're not—"

"—Don't care, Goku." King Kai waved his words away, going in without another word and heading straight to bed, hoping that Goku wouldn't invite himself into his bed tonight. The next morning King Kai woke up and stretched languidly on his bed, wishing his roommates a good morning. He made it to the kitchen before he remembered —because of his now broken locks— his unwanted guest and he carefully made his way outside, pushing up his glasses as he approached the Saiyan that still sat out underneath his tree, looking like he hadn't moved if it wasn't for the new pot belly that gave him away.

"What's up with him?" West Kai asked, adjusting his monocle, arms behind his back as he came beside King Kai who shook his head, flicking a frustrated glance at the second unwanted guest on his planet.

"Beats me," He finally answered aloud. "He came here last night and sat there in that spot and has not moved since…for anything other than eating my food that is." King Kai explained. "He babbled on about friends betraying him after saving them countless of times, but I didn't care to hear more."

"KING KAI, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Gohan's voice rang loudly through King Kai's head, his antenna's twitched as it received the message and he frowned at the loud interruption, looking up at the sky.

"Yes, loud and clear, no need to shout." King Kai scolded, turning away from Goku to speak more comfortable. "What can I do for you, Gohan?"

"...Can you tell my father to come back?" Gohan requested, sighing. "Tell him we're sorry that we tried to give him a shot—that it was for his own good."

"Shots are NEVER A GOOD THING!" Goku shouted defensively from his spot a few feet away, clearly able to hear the conversation. King Kai looked over his shoulder at the angry Saiyan fighter behind him, whose fist was clenched in righteous indignation.

"...Is that what this is all about? A shot?" West Kai asked, beginning to laugh uncontrollably earning him a growl from Goku.

"STOP LAUGHING, SHOTS ARE NOTHING TO LAUGH ABOUT!" Goku shouted angrily. West Kai paused, startled at how genuinely upset this supremely strong warrior was over this matter.

"Uh... of course." West Kai coughed into his fist and excused himself, snickering as he left, muttering about North Kai's strongest fighter being a wimp.

Goku stuck his tongue out at the retreating Kai and turned his angry gaze onto King Kai who took a step back. "Tell them I won't come back until they promise to get rid of all the needles." He demanded.

"Goku, you're being childish!" Bulma voice rang out from the sky in annoyance. "I can't get rid of all the needles. What if someone else gets hurt and we need to use them?" She asked, frustrated.

"We don't have time for this, Goku." Piccolo's voice came in after.

"I won't come back till you all promise not to give me a shot." Goku demanded, turning away.

"Goku!" Bulma shouted, angrily. "Trust me, I am over trying to protect you from illness! I won't give you any shots." She assured, frustrated.

"And?" He insisted.

"...And I'm sorry for to trying to shove sedatives in your mouth," She added.

"AND?" Goku asked, still frowning.

"Ugh! And I'm sorry for trying to use a tranquilizer gun on you, okay!" She exhaled angrily. "I was desperate after you refused the drugged soup." Goku nodded, accepting her apology.

"Well, it was obvious something was up after Goten and Trunks tried to hold me down for the shot in the first place." He huffed, indignantly.

"I told you that was a bad idea!" He heard Josie shout behind Bulma.

"..." Goku sighed, ignoring the nerves in his stomach as he stood up after having been sitting so long in one spot and stretched his sore muscles. "I'll see you later King Kai." He said with a light-hearted smile, all previous anger forgotten as he gave his old Master a wave before disappearing out of sight and reappearing back on the ship, before Josie and Bulma, whom he both eyed warily.

"No tricks." Bulma assured, showing him her hands, turning them for his inspection. "We just want you to get back to work with the others." Bulma explained. Goku nodded, not too worried about Josie because she seemed preoccupied with some tech on the kitchen table. He said his goodbyes and made his way out the door as Bulma began to make her way back to Josie. "…How do you like it?" She asked, smiling as she took a seat beside the girl.

"I think it's a genius idea. Why not, right?" Josie said, looking over at her with a grin. "A scouter that can detect power levels and dragon balls? I love it —it doesn't look any different than the original too." Bulma nodded in agreement.

"I thought that maybe we were making a mistake by not bringing Giru along, but the poor little thing didn't seem to eager when Gohan asked him, and I figure this way we've got something else to rely on other than him." Josie nodded. "I'm sure the little guy just wanted to have an easy few weeks with Pan and the girls without any worries or danger."

...

On earth:

"Oh come-on Giru, I know them from school and Bra wants to meet them too." Pan argued with Giru as the little robot hovered behind her and dragged her away from where she was intending to walk over to a group of guys who had to at least be three years older than Pan herself.

"Don't worry, I'll bring them over to us." Bra assured Valerie and Pan confidently, her arms crossed, smirking as one of the guys looked over and she gave them a wink.

"Bra!" Valerie scolded.

Videl and Chichi had okayed them going to Visit Pan's grandfather today and had dropped them off at the shopping mall. At Pan's insistence Videl had hesitantly agree to let them walk themselves to her father's house from there, if they promised to walk directly over there without making any stops. All three girls had agreed and had been left under the care of Giru, which not surprisingly, had turned out to be a big mistake. "Pan, no!" Giru freaked out as Pan shook him off and marched over.

"Loosen up, Giru!" Bra grinned as she followed Pan. The group of guys stopped talking and made room for the girls to join. Valerie quickly moved forward towards the group with her arms crossed as she studied the interested guys. They all had to at least be her age, by what she could tell, which meant that they were way too old to be checking out these young two kids.

"And who are you?" One of the guys asked Valerie, looking very interested.

Valerie sighed and shook her head, not bothering to turn her head to look at him. "I'm not interested, that's who I am."

Pan glanced at her and waved her comment off to the others. "She's dating my uncle Goten, don't pay her any mind." She comforted the irritated male.

Valerie arched a brow at her; they had gone on ONE date and everyone had to make a fuss. "…Doesn't your grandfather, Mr. Hercule Satan live just around the block, Pan? He's waiting for us, right? You don't think he'll come looking for his one and only GRANDDAUGHTER anytime soon, do you? You know how angry he gets whenever he sees boys near you." Valerie had never seen eyes widen as quickly with as much fear as these teenagers' eyes showed.

"Y-you're...Mr. S-Satan's granddaughter?" One of them gulped, terrified.

"Yeah but what does that have to do with anything?" Pan asked, frustrated as to why they were freaking out.

"Giru! Run! Hercule is coming! Hercule is coming!" Giru shouted, floating around them erratically with his arms in the air. The boys screamed and shouted at each other to move as they nearly trampled one another in their haste to run before the Champion of the World came and hurt them.

"Nice one, Giru" Valerie complimented, smiling as she and the little robot high-fived.

"GIRU YOU LITTLE JERK, COME HERE!" Pan shouted angrily with a fist in the air as she went after the little robot.

Note: Review please! Hope you enjoyed the minor changes!