Gohan and Ranch were up in the air, as she threw whatever punch or kick she could to land a hit on him. That was proving difficult, though, seeing as he was much faster. As it went on Ranch began to get more desperate and concentrate more on getting a solid punch in, resulting in Gohan giving her a quick jab to the head.
"Ow," the seven-year-old complained, nursing the lump he gave her.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Gohan said with a sigh.
"I know, I know," Ranch cut in, pouting as she did. "I left myself open."
"Again."
The two got back on the ground, got into their stances, and charged into each other once more. It was a repeat of last time with Ranch ferociously attacking, and Gohan dodging and blocking everything she threw at him. At one point Launch walked out of the house and just watched them spar with a troubled expression. While it was wonderful to see Ranch train like her father once had, Launch didn't like what it was ultimately for. They went on for a few more minutes, until Ranch's knuckle grazed Gohan's cheek. She smiled in excitement at her accomplishment, when Gohan swiftly grabbed her wrist, twisted her around, and got Ranch in an arm lock.
"What did you learn?" he asked, as Ranch struggled in his grip.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Okay!" Ranch cried, waving her other arm up and down. "I lost focus again, sorry!" Gohan let her go, and Ranch rubbed her arm.
"Alright, that's enough for now," Launch announced. "It's time for dinner."
"Yes!" Ranch said joyously. "I'm starved!"
Inside the house Chi-Chi just finished setting the table and started to serve. Gohan ate with gusto. He rarely ever has home cooked meals anymore since he spends months at a time just about anywhere else, either trying to get stronger or helping anyone in need. He hasn't gone toe to toe with the cyborgs since they first appeared, mostly keeping to hit and runs to give people the chance to escape. Visits home were a rare occasion.
"So…Gohan," Ranch started, looking away a bit down trodden, "how long are you staying?"
"I'm leaving tomorrow," he answered, still stuffing down food. "I need to see Bulma."
She then looked at her mom defiantly. "Mom, I want to—"
"No!" Launch told her immediately, knowing that it was coming.
"But mom, how am I supposed to—?"
"I keep telling you when you're older."
"And I am older every time I ask," Ranch argued, on the verge of tears now. "I want to help Gohan!"
"Gohan, could you please tell Ranch she's far too young?" Launch pleaded.
That got Gohan to pause mid-chew. After a moment, he swallowed, and answered bluntly, "Actually, I was a bit younger than she is right now when Uncle Raditz and Piccolo took me to the wilderness to train."
"You mean you were kidnapped!" Chi-Chi recalled angrily.
When Gohan didn't comment and just went back to his meal, Launch told Ranch, "No means no, young lady."
Ranch looked mutinous but said nothing. After dinner, Gohan gave Chi-Chi a lift back to her house where he slept in his room for the first time in months.
The next morning, Gohan said good-bye to his mother and he took to the sky in the direction of Bulma's. He flew on for a few minutes, and once he was far enough away from the house, Gohan stopped midair and crossed his arms. Looking down at the ground, he sternly asked, "What're you doing, Ranch?"
From the trees below Ranch appeared and asked, "How long did you know?"
"When didn't I know?"
She just sighed and went up to meet him. "Oh come on, Gohan! Please! Let me come with you. I'm tired of doing nothing at home," she pleaded. "I want to get stronger so I can help you take on these cyborgs!"
Gohan scratched his head looking a bit uncertain. "Look, I don't like you running away from home—"
"But you did!" Ranch countered.
"For now," he went on as if he didn't hear her, "we'll go to Bulma's like I said I would and discuss things from there."
Ranch looked absolutely delighted at that and hugged her cousin. "Thank you so much! I won't be a problem, I promise!"
Patting her head, he said, "Oh yeah. Now thinking about it, you never actually met them, have you?"
Looking pumped, Ranch said, "Yup. I wanna meet this Trunks kid and see what he's made of!"
"Well don't go too hard on him," he said, as the pair took off.
As they flew and the scenery changed around them, Ranch couldn't keep the glee from her face. While she wasn't completely sheltered, she never strayed too far from home. The only people she's really interacted with were her mother, aunt, Gohan, and Ox-King. When they got to city, Ranch was amazed at all the tall buildings, even if many of them were rundown.
When they touched down at Capsule Corp, Gohan led them through a side door, announcing, "Bulma? It's Gohan, I'm back."
Bulma appeared from a room down the hall. "Hey, Gohan. And, Ranch, what a surprise," she greeted, not sounding surprised at all.
"I take it you got a call?" Gohan asked.
"Yeah, and your mother wants you back home now, Ranch." But Bulma just smiled. "It's okay, I may not let Trunks train full time like he wants, but at least he gets to stretch his legs."
"Thanks," Ranch said gratefully.
Bulma went on, "It's nice seeing you again, you were just a baby last time I saw you."
The sound of fast footsteps closing in met their ears. Trunks ran down the stairs into the hallway and skidded to a halt. "Hey, mom, is—oh hey, Gohan!" Then he noticed Ranch standing next to him, and the two stared at one another for a second. "Hi, are you Ranch?"
"Uh huh," she confirmed, smiling at him. He's kind of cute, Ranch found herself thinking. "Nice to meet you, Trunks."
They shook hands, and Trunks' eyes went down to her waist. "What's with the furry belt?"
"Belt?" Ranch asked, confused. She unraveled her tail and moved it back and forth behind her, much to his astonishment. "It's my tail." Ranch leaned over to look at his back, saying, "You don't have one? But aren't you half-Saiyan, too?"
Blushing slightly, Trunks covered his backside. "No, I don't have a tail! Gohan doesn't have one, either!"
"I used to when I was younger," Gohan commented, watching the exchange with some amusement.
"Alright, Gohan and I have to talk," Bulma said. "How about you show Ranch around, Trunks?"
"Um, sure, mom," Trunks said rather uncertainly. "C'mon, let's go upstairs," he told Ranch.
Once the two kids disappeared upstairs, Bulma took a case full of capsules out of her pocket. "I take it you're here for this?" she asked Gohan.
Taking out a similar case that was filled with empty capsules, he said, "Yeah thanks."
When they traded, Bulma told him, "You know, if you're going to start Ranch's training you'll need more food to get by."
"Not necessarily," Gohan replied indifferently, putting the case in his ghi. "We'd just hunt and fish more than I usually do. It'd be good for toughening her up."
Bulma then got serious. "So are you going to take Ranch or not? Because if you are then I'll be almost out of excuses to not let Trunks go, and he might get inspired to run away too."
Gohan thought about it, and explained, "Look, I'd have already taken them both by now, but I want you and Aunt Launch to be okay with it. It was hard on my mom when Piccolo took me, and I'm not putting you two through that."
"But I'm not going to be okay with it no matter how old he gets," Bulma countered. "Not after we lost Vegeta and everyone else that day."
"And you think I like the idea of training my little cousin with the intention that she fights these damn cyborgs one day?" Gohan argued. "But whether I like it or not that day will come, and I want her as prepared as possible for when it does."
Having no answer for that, Bulma simply sighed. "The same goes for Trunks. It's inevitable that one of these days he'll hear about trouble, get fed up with doing nothing, and run off to help," she said in resignation.
Gohan sighed. "You know this is like the tenth time we've had this exact same discussion, right?"
"I know. And each time I get even more worn down." Then Bulma gave Gohan a hard look. "Fine. But no fighting."
"What?" he said in confusion.
"Trunks can go with you, but no picking fights with those cyborgs," Bulma told him seriously.
When it finally got through to Gohan, he smiled and said, "No problem."
"Just one more condition."
"Name it."
Giving him a piercing stare, she said, "Don't take it easy on him."
There wasn't much to see for Trunks to give Ranch a proper tour. His mother's lab would've been cool to go into but that was off limits. The other day Trunks was poking around there and saw sketches for some weird looking rocket ship or something, but he was quickly caught and kicked out. So they ended up just hanging out outside on the lawn, which was fine with Ranch because she could keep gawking at the structures around her.
"So, um, are you starting your training with Gohan?" Trunks asked, feeling a little awkward. This was his first time spending this much time alone with a girl—at least a girl his age.
Ranch looked over at him, and her face dropped. "I'm not sure. I want to, but my mom won't let me."
"No worries, my mom won't let me either," Trunks quickly said, glad to talk about something they had in common.
"I should count myself lucky that she even lets me spar with him whenever he comes over," she went on.
"Really?" he asked excitedly. "I spar with him too!"
Ranch and Trunks looked at each other and grinned. Without a word, they separated until they were several paces apart, and got into a fighting stance. Almost as if they were completely in sync, Trunks and Ranch yelled and propelled themselves at each other. The two kids immediately began throw a volley of punches and kicks, blocked or dodged whatever they could, and even purposefully took a hit so that they could get one right back. Trunks caught Ranch with a punch square in the face, giving her a bloody nose, while Ranch rolled with it by delivering a kick that would result in a black eye.
When they finally separated, Trunks and Ranch were heavily panting as they caught their breath, smiling in elated fashion. Finally the exhaustion took them and they both collapsed sitting on the grass.
"You're pretty good," Trunks complimented, nursing one of his bruises.
"Ditto," Ranch said, wiping off the blood and sniffing.
"Alright, hope you two had your fun," Gohan announced, walking out the building after watching them go at it. "Get cleaned up, we're going."
Looking dejected as she stood up, Ranch said in disappointment, "Oh…okay."
"That goes for you too, Trunks," Bulma added behind him. "Get your things together."
Trunks got back up excitedly. "No way! Really? You mean it?"
Bulma nodded. "Just don't be a stranger, okay?"
"Ah man, no fair," Ranch complained quietly as Trunks ran inside. Wasn't he a year younger?
"Don't fret," Gohan said to her confidently. "Our first stop is to your mom, and I'll convince her that it's finally time."
Unable to contain her joy, Ranch ran up to hug her cousin, crying, "Thanks, Gohan!"
"No problem." Then getting more serious, he also said, "Be ready, though, this isn't going to be a picnic."
Ranch nodded. "Right."