Two days had passed since the duo finished their training, and it was now Febuary 2nd.
Mafin was sleeping soundly in his bed, when all of a sudden, he felt several taps on his shoulder.
He groaned and slowly opened his eyes to see Begu standing near him with a party hat.
"IT'S OUR BIRTHDAY, DUDE! WE'RE NOW 20 YEARS OLD!", Begu happily shouted.
Mafin laughed,"Awesome! Happy birthday man!"
Begu grinned and said,"Same to you, bro! Now, get up! Everyone's already at Capsule Corp!"
Mafin nodded and ran to the bathroom to wash up.
He finished a few minutes later, and quickly put on a blue T-shirt, followed by a pair of khakis and some black dress shoes.
The Pesutorian saw Begu (who was wearing a simple gray hoodie, jeans, and red sneakers) standing near the door.
Begu asked,"Are you ready to head out, Mafin?"
Mafin grinned and replied,"Yep!"
They walked out the door, and blasted off the small island.
The duo flew across the ocean, and felt the warmth of the morning sun as it fully rose up.
They arrived at Capsule Corp. and went inside the lobby.
Mafin asked the receptionist where they could find Bulma Briefs, and she replied,"She's currently located in the Atrium. Just go down the hall and you'll it find it there."
Mafin happily said,"Thank you!"
The Pesutorian politely bowed at the receptionist.
Both he and Begu proceeded to walk down the hall.
Once the duo arrived at the Atrium, they saw a giant yellow banner that read "HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY MAFIN AND BEGU!"
They heard the pop song, "Happy Birthday" by KUKO playing in the background.
They also saw Bulma nearby chatting with Krillin and Android 21.
In terms of appearance, Bulma was wearing a blue tube top with jeans, Krillin wore a green polo with sweats, and 21 wore a pink v-neck with white shorts.
Begu shouted,"HEY GUYS!"
The three of them turned around and Bulma exclaimed,"Mafin! Begu! You made it!"
They all ran up to the duo and Bulma affectionately embraced the both of them.
She released Mafin and Begu, and said,"Happy Birthday!"
The duo collectively said,"Thanks Bulma!"
Krillin high-fived both men, saying,"Congratulations on becoming 20 year olds!"
Begu chuckled,"Thanks! I feel like a new man!"
Mafin smirked,"Yeah, but you're still a shortie."
This playful jab prompted Begu to cast a death glare at Mafin.
Just then, 21 warmly embraced the duo, and they embraced her as well.
"Happy Birthday guys!", she happily said.
21 released the duo and she said,"I brought a card! It's for the both of you!"
She pulled out the card from her back pocket, and gave it to Mafin.
The front of the card had a scientist (who interestingly resembled Arale Norimaki from Dr. Slump) holding a test tube in one hand, and a pink birthday cake in another.
On the inside, it read,"Hope your birthday is RELATIVELY AWESOME!"
Near the bottom was a signature that read, "From your friend, Android 21!"
Mafin smiled warmly, "D'aww! This is a really great gift! Thank you so much 21."
Begu muttered,"Looks kinda weird if you ask-"
He was quickly silenced with a glare from Mafin.
21 grinned and said,"I'm so happy you guys love it!"
Mafin then said,"We're going to walk around for a bit. Bye 21! Bye you guys!"
Krillin, Bulma and 21 collectively exclaimed, "Take care you two!", and happily waved.
Afterwards Mafin and Begu walked around the Atrium, trying to see if anyone else showed up.
They ran into the other Z-Fighters, Master Roshi, and Gohan.
The group greeted the duo, and gave them a bunch of gifts, such as several martial artist books, a book on wildlife creatures, and...a baseball bat.
As Yamcha placed everything into a single capsule, Begu asked,"Where'd you get the money to buy all of this?"
Master Roshi responded,"Well, it was actually all of Yamcha's money that he received a year ago."
Yamcha sighed,"It wasn't all of it. It was just the money I received as a baseball player..."
Tien spoke up,"By the way, before you guys came here, Krillin told us about Android 21..."
Mafin happily said,"She's a really nice person once you get to know her."
The three eyed warrior nodded and said, "To be honest, I'm still amazed that she has all of our DNA in her cells."
Begu added, "Yeah, but at least she's on our side!"
"Of course."
Yamcha grinned and said ,"Well dudes, we're about meet up with Krillin."
Mafin smiled, "Okay! See you guys! It was nice talking with you!"
He bowed at the Z-Fighters, who collectively bowed back.
After they left, Begu asked Mafin,"Do you know how many more people will show up?"
"Hey dudes!", said a certain voice.
Mafin and Begu turned around and saw Yajirobe wave at them.
"HEEYY! YAJIROBE!", exclaimed the duo.
They each bro-fisted the pudgy samurai.
He asked,"How have you guys been? I haven't gotten to chat with you in a while!"
Begu replied,"We're doing good! We went on a four month training session with Krillin!"
Yajirobe's eyes widened and he exclaimed,"Whoa! Where'd you guys go?!"
Mafin replied, "We went to the old island that Krillin and Goku trained at once."
"Huh. That's pretty cool...", said the samurai.
Begu grinned and said,"It was! We learned all sorts of new stuff there!"
"Although, some of those training sessions were very, very difficult to get through, like that milk delivery session." said Mafin with a sigh.
Begu groaned, "I kinda hated that one. I also hated the construction site session."
Mafin shivered upon recalling that memory,"I had to wash my hands SO many times after that!"
Yajirobe chuckled,"Sounds like you guys have gone through a lot."
"NO! Ya think?", said Begu with a hint of sarcasm.
Suddenly, the three of them heard a portal open, and they saw Kappukeki appear.
"Hey-o my peeps!", said the futuristic heroine.
Mafin and Begu exclaimed,"KAPPUKEKI!"
They embraced Kappukeki, who gladly embraced them back.
Yajirobe asked,"Who's this?"
The heroine happily exclaimed,"I'm Kappukeki! Space traveler extraordinaire!"
Confused, Begu spoke up,"But didn't you say you were a-"
"I'm a space traveler extraordinaire!", hissed Kappukeki.
Yajirobe assumed this random woman must have been one of the duo's old space friends, so he just shrugged and thought,"That's cool."
He let out a big yawn and said, "Alright, I'mma go grab a bite to eat over at the catering table."
The samurai walked off, leaving the duo to continue their conversation with the futuristic heroine.
Mafin asked,"Kappukeki, why did you say that you're a space traveler?"
Kappukeki replied,"I don't want people to discover that I'm a time traveler. Remember?"
Mafin and Begu's eyes widened in unison and they murmured,"Oh yeah..."
Begu said,"I kinda forgot."
Mafin sighed,"Same here. Sorry about that, Kappukeki. We've been through a lot these past four months."
Kappukeki nodded,"Oh it's alright. I already know."
Mafin's eyes widened,"Y-You do?"
The heroine happily replied,"Yeah! Remember, everything that is happening now, already happened in my time. Except for me meeting you guys. And...you meeting Android 21."
"Oh, that's pretty coo—Wait, what did you say about 21?"
Kappukeki explained,"See, the 21 you know now is actually from Age 779. I just pulled her out of that year, and placed her in this year."
Mafin and Begu stammered in disbelief, and Begu asked,"Wouldn't that, like, screw up the timeline, or something?!"
Kappukeki smirked, "Nope, 'cause of Multiverse Theory, baby! Whatever happens in this altered timeline won't affect my timeline, and the same rule applies to the timeline I pulled 21 out of!"
She then said, "Heh, now that I think about it, I kinda take back that whole 'everything already happened' bit. Certain events—the ones that don't involve 21—already happened, but in a slightly different manner."
The duo rapidly sweated in confusion, and Begu stated,"My head hurts now. And this is coming from someone who LOVES time travel stories!"
Mafin sighed,"Okay...but why 21? Why is she so important?"
Kappukeki replied,"Well, I'd just thought it be cool if she joined this timeline. Since the 21 in my future becomes an incredibly powerful fighter, it makes things a whole lot easier for you guys."
Mafin winced and said,"Yeah...about that. Right now, 21 isn't interested in fighting."
Kappukeki's eyes widened in surprise,"Wait, really?!"
The duo nodded in response.
The heroine thought, "Well, crap. I was sure that she would be interested right away!"
She shrugged,"Eh, oh well. At least this current 21 is on the side of good, and not evil."
Mafin nodded,"I absolutely agree."
"Hey guys!", called out Bulma, "Come over to the catering table! I made you a bunch of cupcakes!"
The duo exclaimed,"Coming!"
Before he and Begu left, they turned back to Kappukeki.
The heroine excitedly grinned,"Oh don't worry! This time, I'm definitely joining in!"
Mafin and Begu happily nodded, and the three of them flew over to where Bulma was.
She was joined by Krillin, 21, Gohan, Roshi, Yajirobe, and the rest of the Z-Fighters.
They were all sitting in various seats. Some were either chatting about random stuff, or reminiscing on old memories.
The duo introduced Bulma to Kappukeki, who was internally geeking out at the sight of seeing a younger version of the scientist.
All of a sudden, the group heard a strange teleportation noise.
They all turned around...and they saw Goku standing several feet away.
"Hey! How's it going everyone?", asked the Saiyan.
Hey readers, Story Nado here!
Wow. One Year.
This fic has reached 20 chapters in one year.
That's crazy...and awesome!
Because of that, I just wanted to take the time out to say thank you!
Thank you all so much for reading and following this story so far!
It really means a lot to me.
So, I'll see you guys in the next chapter! Take care!