A/N: Hi Everyone. Some of you might have noticed I posted a second story. I'm really excited about it and that has in turn motivated me to try and wrap up Deep Blue as well. There are only five or so chapters still left in this story and I'll be posting in tandem with my new story 'The Price of Time'. I'm going to be trying for monthly updates.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z, Super or GT or any of the associated characters that appear in this fanfic. I do however own the Merpeople (except Marron).

Chapter 18 (Reunion)

To say that the sudden appearance of a brightly dressed male scared the scales off them would be an understatement. His squad had not been waiting long. The sun had barely moved a tails-length toward the sea before they were suddenly sitting before a two-legged man that winked into existence before their eyes. His hair was the most bizarre thing Ray had witnessed, sticking up all over the place. Not seeming to be weighed down by the force that seemed to affect everything on dry land. Ray had barely gotten over the shock when he noted a small hand clasped around the tall man's arm and a very familiar set of blue eyes suddenly peeking at him from behind that, admittedly massive, arm. An acute jealousy mixed with intense relief and Ray momentarily lost control of himself. He launched himself at the pair. His instinctive reaction was to shove the interloping male out of his way and make a grab at his General, whether to shake her for causing them so much worry, or to hug the salt out of her, he hadn't yet decided. He didn't even get to achieve his first rash objective because pushing the male out of his way seemed to be more difficult than he had anticipated and he instead pushed himself away and found himself with his newly acquired knees in the sand. Neptune, that felt like pushing up against a solid wall of rock. He thought in a daze. Bulma's eyes were wide as she stared down at him.

'What exactly was your plan, Barracuda?' her achingly familiar voice drifted into his mind. Her eyes were full of mirth.

'Bulma' was all he could say in return.

'Hi Ray' she said, smiling at him. Then she turned toward the rest of the team, stepping out from behind her escort.

'I can't believe you guys are really here.' she told them all. Her joy was evident for everyone to see and feel. Abby was the first to respond, standing from her position in the sand.

'We missed you, Girl' she said. 'And what do you mean you can't believe it? You don't think we would have let you swim off and have all the fun, do you?'

'Yeah, Bullshark' Marlin piped up, 'Especially given that I helped cook up this crazy escape plan in the first place. Never knew you were insane enough to try it though. Didn't even think you'd remember it given how drunk we were that night, then again, you were always the most daring of us.'

'That's because she's a Royal.' Lapis finally spoke, her tone notably cooler than the other two. 'She wouldn't have gotten the same rap than us regular folk would have when breaking the rules.' He saw Bulma purse her lips in apprehension and he wanted to yell at Lapis for her disrespect. Blade remained silent, simply acknowledging Bulma with a head nod. She returned the gesture.

'Not that I'm not glad for you guys are here, but what are you guys doing here? I mean, it's forbidden and I wasn't planning on returning. I can't imagine that any of you would willingly leave everything behind like this.'

'Like you did?' Ray heard himself speak, not missing the bitterness in his own town. He cursed himself for losing control again. Then again, Bulma had always had this effect on him. Bulma sighed, catching the censure as well.

'I had my reasons.' she finally answered.

'You didn't want to be queen.' Lapis guessed.

'I didn't want to be a puppet queen' Bulma corrected stiffly. She was becoming upset, he noted.

'I don't think you would have had to.' Lapis continued. 'You are stronger than them. Our people loved you. You had the opportunity and the power to change tradition and you wasted it.' Lapis' voice was still cool, but lacked anger.

'Not necessarily.' Abby interjected. 'You're forgetting that there are higher powers at work here. Bulma is exactly where she needs to be.' she reminded.

'You know about the prophecy then?' Bulma asked, looking to him. He nodded solemnly, then glanced at the tall brightly dressed man standing off to the side. He looked at Bulma in askance and she seemed to know what he was thinking.

'Oh Neptune, No!' She was quick to assure him. Chuckling a bit. The sound emerging from her throat was strange, but not unpleasant. He had never heard her laughter out loud before. Ray found that he liked the sound. Bulma then waved the man over until he was standing beside her.

'This is Goku' she introduced, 'A great warrior and protector of this planet, even though he was not born on earth.'

It was the second time that Ray was shocked stupid in so many minutes.

'Not born on earth?' Marlin blurted what they were all thinking. Bulma laughed again,

'No. He is what is referred to as a Saiyan. They are very similar to Earthlings from what I've seen and even compatible enough to breed with them, but they originate from another planet out in the stars.' she finished, pointing upwards. They followed her fingers, but of course couldn't see anything.

'That's incredible.' Abby finally spoke. 'How many Saiyans are currently on the planet? Are there many of them? How did they get here and how are they different from humans? And why is that one green?' Abby's scholarly mind seemed to have run away with her.

'There's only one Saiyan here.' Bulma answered, and Ray noted something flash her eyes. It was gone before he could figure out what. The man next to her, Goku, suddenly spoke.

'I might be the only one left on the planet, but there's another Saiyan out there in space. His name is Vegeta. He's the Prince and as far we know we're the only remaining members of our race. That is, if you don't count the half-Saiyans.'

'Wait.' Ray said, 'you can communicate with us?'

'What happened to the others' Marlin asked.

'Half-Saiyans?' was Abby's take away.

'Erm… there's obviously a lot to talk about.' Bulma said, a bit nervously for some reason. 'Why don't we head back to where I'm currently residing and I'll try to fill you in.'

They were all silent for a beat as they absorbed some of the information. Ray suddenly noted that Bulma was wearing human clothes, which consisted of a white strappy form-fitting top with a pale sand-colored bottom. It had holes for her legs and only covered about half her thighs. Her feet, unlike the other land dwellers, were bare, and the nails on her toes were not the same color as theirs - a pink, almost translucent color, but rather they seemed to match her eyes: a glittery, almost metallic blue. He stared at them, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. It was probably some form of human toe adornment. She seemed very integrated into their world, Ray noted. A bit alarmed, but he guessed he shouldn't be surprised.

'Ok' Ray finally relented. Bulma sighed, looking relieved.

'I'll need all of you to take a hold of Goku. Don't let go okay?' she instructed, grabbing the wild-haired Saiyan's arm.

'Is this another Saiyan-thing?' Abby asked, the first to comply and grabbed the other arm. He watched her eyes widen as she let out an involuntary 'Oh my' of appreciation as her fingers flexed onto the arm.

'It's a Goku thing' Bulma answered Abby, chuckling her musical laugh again. Abby's cheeks were turning pink at her own forwardness. Ray's stomach clenched, suddenly feeling queasy.

Ray made himself go up to touch the tall warrior's shoulder and the rest of his squad followed suit. In an instant, their surroundings disappeared.

Bulma blinked. Bringing the familiar image of the Capsule Corp compound into focus. Around her, her friends were in various levels of discomfort, she observed as she turned to check on them. Ray was doubled over, clutching his stomach. Abby abruptly sat down, Lapis was clutching her head and Blade seemed to be swaying. Marlin started retching. Bulma shook her head in pity, remembering her own first Instant Transmission experience.

She turned to Goku. "Thanks for your help, buddy."

"No problem Bulma," he answered. "Call if you need anything else."

Then he was gone again.

Bulma observed her merfriends, noting the differences in their coloring were quite pronounced on dry land. Lapis pitch black hair actually had accents of indigo when seen in sunlight, she noticed, and her opel-white eyes that always unnerved Bulma in the past, are less frightening without the luminous backlights and had dimmed to cool silver. She was much more petite than the rest of the crew with a face that Bulma could now confidently describe as elvin: high cheekbones and pointy uptilted nose. Abby's hair was the color of moss and her eyes, once a bright neon green were now simply a subtle sage. They were really beautiful, Bulma noted. With little flecks of silver concentrated around her pupil to have an almost ombré effect to them. Abby was also skinny, but in a lanky manner, her limbs long and willowy. Both the mermaids' skin tone matched that of Bulma when she first arrived on land: porcelain white and almost translucent. Bulma's skin tone had however, over time changed into a nice rosy beige from all the sun she'd been getting. Ray skin had always been darker than hers, but Bulma really couldn't appreciate the nuances of color until this moment. It was a warm mocha-brown, a shade or two darker than Vegeta's Bulma thought. Like coffee with a dash of cream. His hair color, Bulma would compare to dark chocolate - deep and just as wavy. His eyes however were bright gold, which stood out remarkably in his darker skin. The other two males were lighter hued, with Marlin's skin tone almost exactly matching mermaids'. His shock of red hair however was a sight to behold. It wasn't ginger, like she'd noticed in some of her human colleagues, but also not wine-colored - another human shade she'd noted, but rather a bright scarlet with undertones of pink. His eyes by contrast were as green as the grass they were standing on. His coloring matched his personality to a tee Bulma thought and couldn't help but snigger. Marlin stood out from the males in the group not only because of his odd coloring but his massive brawn as well. However, Bulma couldn't really say that he was impressive anymore, especially compared to some of the earth warriors she had encountered. In contrast with Marlin's brightness, Blade had pitch black hair on the top while on the side of his head it abruptly changed into a brassy brown. He played it up by keeping the top hair longer than the sides, that was clipped very close to his skull. He was slightly more tan than the light-skinned mers, almost caramel-colored. Both Ray and Blade, while smaller than Marlin, were still well defined and muscular, with Ray being a bit taller and more broad-shouldered than the tracker.

'What the kelp was that!' Ray exclaimed as he finally regained his bearings.

'Goku's special.' was Bulma's simple answer. Referring to their unusual mode of transportation.

'Special? He's a freak.'

'Hey now,' she admonished. 'Don't be mean.'

Her long time friend straightened, and observed his surroundings. Taking in the large yellow domed structure before him. 'So this is you?' he asked.

'Yes.'

'Damn, Bulma. Only you would run away from a palace and end up at even better diggs' Marlin remarked. Bulma smirked at him.

'Before we go in, there's something you guys need to know: The people who live here are a bit eccentric.' she warned. 'The owner of this compound is a world-class scientist and inventor who would poke and prod at you as soon as he lays eyes on you. I've been volunteering as his science experiment during my time here.'

'That's horrible!' Abby exclaimed.

'It's not bad. He's never harmed me and he's been nothing but kind to me. He's really a sweet old man. He's just very curious.'

'Old?' Ray blurted.

'Yes,' Bulma answered, 'old.' she watch him visibly relax and shook her head in confusion.

'So then, you've been… happy?' Blade spoke for the first time since she saw him on the island. He always was a merman of few words.

'Yes Blade. I have actually.' she answered him.

'The land dwellers… they speak differently from us. With their mouths.' Lapis spoke.

'Yes,' Bulma answered cautiously. She had a feeling that Lapis was more than a little pissed at her.

'I could understand it.' Lapis continued. 'When the green man spoke to us when we first came ashore. It was a bit strange but it felt as if something popped in my head and the sounds suddenly made sense.' she phrased it as a statement but her tone was questioning, so Bulma addressed her as if it were a question.

'The language spoken on land is similar to what we speak telepathically. The only difference is the medium of communication. You'll be able to pick up on spoken communication quickly. Your brain will automatically make the translation. Unfortunately it takes a bit longer for your mouth to catch up. Assuming you'd be here long enough to learn.' Bulma ended and was once again reminded of her earlier query as to why exactly they had come. She repeated the question, and everyone at once seemed to look at Ray, so she did too.

'We were sent by the Council, Bulma.' Ray finally admitted.

'To retrieve me?'

'Yes.'

'Well, that's all good and well guys but unfortunately I have no intention of going back.'

'Why?' Lapis asked, frustration clear in her tone. Bulma sighed.

'There's a lot going on right now. It's a long story that I'll tell you all later. For now you will have to accept that I can't return to the ocean.'

'Later then.' Ray agreed, 'For now I'm just happy that you're safe.' he said, and reached out to put a warm hand on her shoulder. Something sparked in his eyes when they met hers and her heart gave a single thump of panic. She broke their stare. He was her closest friend, and he was just relieved to see her safe, she told herself, and made herself believe it.

Bulma's first stop was the labs with her friends trailing behind her. It was only as Bulma noted the odd looks on the staff members faces, especially that of the females, that she seemed to realize what her male compatriots were wearing. For the life of her, Bulma didn't know why she only noticed it now, but couldn't help the giggle that rose from her belly. Once she started, she couldn't stop, and to make matters worse, Lapis and Abby also joined in her hilarity. The mermen were so very amused, Bulma noticed as she watched their frowns deepen. Which of course caused them to laugh harder.

'Come on! Not this again!' Marlin exclaimed, exasperated.

'I'm sorry.' she apologized between giggles, 'It's just that… leaves!' this sparked another round of laughter. When she finally managed to calm down and wipe her eyes she noted that they had drawn the attention of every pair of eyes in the vicinity, among them, Dr Briefs. She straightened, feeling acutely embarrassed.

"Oh, Dr Briefs! I was actually on my way to see you."

"Hi Bulma, I'm guessing you were coming to introduce your interesting friends?" he asked, eyes brimming with curiosity.

"Yes actually. These," she gestured the mers behind her, "Are some of my people. They've come searching for me. They uh.. cannot fully communicate properly so I was hoping they can stay here for the time being."

"Excellent!" Dr Briefs exclaimed, much to Bulma's surprise. "Then they would be perfect to test this out," he said, walking up to Ray who was standing right next to Bulma. In his hand he had some sort of device that looked like a mesh of metal rods and disk. It was concave and looked to be able to fit over one's head. "I think I really have it now. Why, just last night I figured out what the missing piece was. I was actually going to test it on you, but now that your friends are here… I'd say that's serendipity." he spoke reaching up to Ray's head. Ray flinched away and Dr Briefs hesitated. "Oh, I apologize my boy. I'm a bit excited, as you might tell. May I?" he asked politely. Ray looked at the doctor, then to Bulma.

'Is it safe?' he asked her. Bulma shrugged.

'Probably, if he's confident enough to put it on his own head.' Bulma answered, because perched on the doctors mop of gray hair was a replica of the device he was now attempting to place on her lieutenant's head.

Ray was a lot braver than she was because he consented with a nod and the thing was plopped on his head.

'What is this thing anyway?' Ray asked and Bulma watched, fascinated as some lights flashed on the device and Dr Briefs gave a delighted chucked.

"This thing, my boy" Dr. Briefs answered Ray to Bulma's surprise, "Is a neural communications converter… or something like that. I haven't really come up with a proper name for it." he mused, trailing off.

'So, you can understand me when I'm speaking in the way of my people?' Ray continued, looking quite interested. More blinking lights, on both devices it seemed and doctor Briefs answered:

"Yes"

'Fascinating' Abby whispered. Bulma couldn't help but agree. The man really was a genius.

"Will it work underwater?" Bulma found herself asking out loud, already seeing the benefits this device can bring to her people.

"Not yet," the doctor answered. "It's just a prototype, but that's a quick fix. The main thing is that it works!"

With that, Dr Briefs was dashing off again, making sure the grab the device from Ray's head. Before he completely left the room, Dr Briefs spun around and said,

"Oh, Bulma dear, your friends are welcome to stay as long as they like." Then he was gone.

Bulma lead them around the curved hallways to her living quarters. The door was open and Bulma frowned in consternation. A high pitched whine suddenly sounded from within. What in Neptune's Blue sea she wondered as she entered. She followed the noise to her bedroom. Her merfriends trailing behind. The first thing she noticed upon entering was the giant hole in the wall. Through the hole she saw someone crouched on the ground with a pistol shaped object in his hand: the source of the sound. The man was in a white t-shirt and dark blue chinos splattered with white and had a utility belt clipped around his waist. She watched as he attached a beam of white painted wood onto another with that pistol, which Bulma finally recognized as an electric screwdriver.

Taking in the rest of the room, Bulma noted that Mrs. Brief was standing in the far corner and was packing some things into the cupboard, Bulma recognized it as the baby-gear that they went shopping for. It all finally clicked. Mrs. Brief was making a baby room. Gosh, but that woman is extra, Bulma thought with mild exasperation. She looked at her friends behind her, who were also taking in the details with evident confusion and sighed. She would have liked to wait a bit before informing them about her pregnancy. Looks like 'a bit' came sooner than expected.

She cleared her throat. Both the handyman in the middle of the room and Mrs Briefs paused and turned to look at her. Mrs Briefs eyes widened upon seeing her, making her catch a rare glimpse of the woman's baby blue eyes.

"Oh, Bulma dear. I thought you would be gone for a while still. You usually are when leaving with that sweet boy Goku… I wanted to surprise you." she said, a bit sheepishly and Bulma watched, fascinated as a rosy tint stained Panchy's cheeks. Bulma sighed, a reluctant smile on her face. Mrs. Briefs then seemed to notice her companions.

"Oh my!" Mrs Briefs exclaimed in a breathy voice, noticing her mermen friends state of dress… or rather undress. "Who are your friends, dear?" she asked then placed the stack of baby clothes on the counter beside her. She walked over towards them. Bulma rolled her eyes and backed out of the opening to let her trough and the handyman took it as his queue to continue.

"These are some of my friends from my home" Bulma introduced, and named them all.

"Oh it's wonderful to meet more of Bulma's friends. I'm Panchy Briefs." she stated and waited.

"Like me, they do not know the language here yet Mrs. Briefs. They will learn soon enough though."

"How delightful" the blonde said. "Well I'm sure you would like to catch up. Sorry about the mess and the noise dear. I'm sure if you sit out on the patio it wouldn't be such a bother. Enrique shouldn't be long still. The only thing he has left to do is assemble the crib."

"It's not a problem Mrs Briefs." Bulma answered, "Thank you for all the effort you're going through. I really appreciate it."

"Oh posh" the lady said with a nonchalant flick of her wrist. "I haven't had this much fun in years, and my eyes are getting quite a feast in the process," she said with a conspiratorial wink that Bulma barely noticed. "Why, with Mr Vegeta gone there's been a woeful shortage of eye-candy." she complained. Bulma couldn't help laughing. The woman was such a flirt. Bulma found herself taking another glimpse at 'Enrique' and had to agree with Mrs Briefs, he was quite handsome. The T-shirt did absolutely nothing to hide his muscular definition, even if he was a bit on the lean side (compared to what she was used to). With inky black hair just this side of too long and two-day old scruff on his well defined jaw he looked like he jumped right off the covers of some of Mrs Briefs' steamy romances… or out of one of her telenovelas. Bulma just shook her head at the naughty lady. She swore she was worse than Master Roshi some days.

"Well then," Panchy continued, "y'all just go make yourself comfortable. I'll bring up refreshments." Then she tottered off in her chunky heels, round buttocks swaying sensually in her high-waisted denim capris.

'What was that all about?' Marlin finally spoke when the lady had fully disappeared.

'I told you,' Bulma answered, 'they're a bit eccentric.'

'What was she doing in there? And whose the guy in the middle of the floor?' Abby asked.

'He's doing some manual labour. Mrs. Briefs seemed to be renovating.'

'More like extending,' Ray said, 'Or haven't you noticed the giant hole in the wall of what I assume to be your quarters.'

'I've noticed.' Bulma answered reservedly.

'Ok, what are you not telling us? Seriously, you've been clammed up tight since we met up on the beach and it's really starting to irritate me.'

'A lot has happened.' she said as she watched all their expectant faces.

'Of that I have no doubt.' Ray answered.

'Uhm… let me get you guys something to wear first. You can even take a shower. I know from experience that sea-sand on dry skin is not all that comfortable. And my shower has been modified so I can shower in salt water. We cannot go without it for too long, especially in the beginning. Our bodies shut down.'

'You're stalling.'

'Maybe.' Bulma admitted, 'I'm still right. You guys aren't going anywhere anytime soon, right'

'I can use a rinse.' Abby said. 'I've got sand in some real uncomfortable places.'

'I hear you.' Marlin agreed.

She lead them them to the washrooms and showed them how to operate the taps and the scrubs and body washes. She also laid out towels. 'There are sea-salt minerals in all by skin care products.' she told them, 'It keeps my skin vibrant and healthy.' she explained. Estimating their sizes with some quick observation, Bulma went down to the department store on the first floor while they each finished their business, letting Mrs Briefs know about her quick errand on the way out. She made a mental note to order more of her body products online.

Since she just had a rough estimate of their sizes, Bulma thought that sweats would be the safest option and bought each of her friends two pairs of capsule corp branded sweat pants and t-shirts. She bought racerback sports bras for the mermaids and some underwear. She left the shoes. They would have to be measured later for shoes, bra sizes and everything else later. She swiped her capsule corp credit card at the checkout and was back in her rooms in less than an hour after she left them. When she returned, Blade, Abby and Lapis were all sitting around the patio tables wrapped in towels. Marlin was nowhere to be seen but she heard the shower running and Ray was still in his leaf-skirt. She snorted, attracting all of their eyes. She laid her packages down on the dining room table and went outside. She noted then that they were all crowded around a scrumptious sushi platter and mentally thanked Mrs Briefs for her thoughtfulness. The woman is far more insightful and clever than a lot of people gave her credit for. Grabbing a piece of prawn nigiri, she dipped it in the untouched bowl of soy and popped it in her mouth.

'So that's what those are for.' Lapis murmured.

'I brought you guys some stuff.' she said. Watching her friends follow her example with the next pieces of sushi they snagged.

'Oh my Neptune that's sooo much better.' Abby moaned. The others also nodded their agreement.

When everyone was seated, dressed and sated Ray decided that he had waited long enough.

'Alright Bullshark, out with it.' he demanded.

She sighed and started her tale from when she discovered that her chest scales were falling off.

Up until her encountering Vegeta, it was actually not that hard of a story to tell, her friends seemed in awe of all the adventurous things that had befallen her: being captured by Eelian, attacked by a shark and meeting a giant sea dragon being some of the events that demanded an in-detail recounting. As she started telling them about her meeting Vegeta however she noted a significant dulling of the excitement in her companions eyes. Ray was outright frowning as she described her initial encounters and impressions of the Saiyan Prince. She left a lot out, for obvious reasons, but found herself pausing as she came to the bit about the androids.

'Woah whoa woah' Marlin interrupted her in the middle of her telling them about the threat in the future. 'You're telling me that someone managed to actually build a device that lets a person travel back in time and interact with folks like it's just another day of the week and then just fly off again?'

'That's what happened, yes.'

'And another person had managed to build artificial humans that are strong enough to kill billions of people on the planet with complete ease?'

'Yep'

'How the kelp had these land dwellers become so dangerous? You would swear we'd been living under a rock!' he shouted.

'Technically we have,' Blade sated.

'It's…' Lapis started, 'Very difficult to believe, but I know for a fact you're not lying.'

'It's not to say that this person who told her this outrageous tale wasn't lying. I mean, what would she really know about this 'Vegeta' character after just a few moons.' Ray said, 'He could have been lying to-'

'To what?' Bulma asked, a bit irritated by his tone.

'You know, keep you from going anywhere. I mean, these androids are the reason that you don't want to leave, aren't they?'

'First of all,' Bulma hissed, not bothering to hide her irritation, 'I'm not some guppy who believes any kelp I'm shoveled just because the person shoveling it is good-looking.'

'Who said anything about good-look-

'Secondly,' Bulma interrupted Ray's defense, 'Even if I didn't believe him, which wasn't the case because he had no reason for lying to me about something this grave, despite what you may think, I anyway wouldn't have just left. I would have waited until I could determine the truth for myself and let me tell you something lieutenant,' Bulma said annunciating the last word harshly, 'I've met some extremely powerful people during my stay on land and they're all training their asses off to be ready in less than two years time. Also, I'm not naive enough to think that the land-dwellers fight won't affect our world in some way. So I'm going to do everything that I can to ensure the future of the time-traveller doesn't come to pass.'

After a heavy silence, Blade was the first one to speak. 'They are the Metal Ones that were prophesied to ruin the earth. You are the Vessel.'

'Yes. It would appear so.'

'The events that are currently occurring, they have been foretold by three different peoples.' Lapis stated. 'We've already established, back at The Reef, that it's all too coincidental for it not to be true.' Bulma nodded.

'Which means that you will be our Queen, regardless if you want it or not. And you will give birth to a male heir: our future King. A child of land the land and the sea. At least, that's what we interpreted. The point that I'm trying to make, Bulma, is that even though it seems that you are needed here and are for all intents and purposes right where you're supposed to be, you still have major responsibilities back home.'

Bulma sighed heavily. She didn't really want to think about that part.

'You do not have the luxury to just up and quit.' she reiterated.

'I know that!' Bulma defended heatedly.

'Good.' Lapis settled, 'As long as you understand that.'

'Watch it a soldier, I'm still your superior.' Bulma warned, frustrated beyond measure. She suddenly had the urge to punch that serene look off the Truth-seer's face.

'My apologies, General' Lapis answered, silver eyes downcast. Bulma sighed, trying to reign in her ire. The kid inside her was already wreaking havoc on her hormones.

'Look, what you guys are saying is not something that I haven't considered myself. I just can't focus on that now. The Queendom won't fall into ruin because if my continued absence. The war is over and Mother is still queen.'

'You know it won't be the same… when you take the throne. Don't you? You won't be like the other Queens.' This came from Abby.

'You will have a lot more influence and power. You have the people behind you. You will also have the physical strength and if the prophecy is to be believed: a male heir.' Ray added.

'I don't think so Abby. I've abandoned my people. Do you think a slight like that will be easily overlooked? You think those old geezers will simply hand the power back over? You can bet your tails they'll do everything in their power to discredit me if I return.' Bulma said, smiling wryly.

'And when have you ever been one to back out of a fight, Bullshark?' Ray taunted.

'I'm not backing out.' Bulma defended. 'I just have bigger fish to fry.' Bulma stated, noting their confused expressions she added, 'It's a land expression meaning that I have bigger problems to worry about right now.'

'But you will come back home after this whole thing with the androids is settled, won't you?' Marlin asked.

'I… I don't know.' Bulma said, thinking about Vegeta.

'But…' Marlin started,

'Look. I don't even know if we'll be alive after the androids. My son is the only certainty that I can think to care about right now. Whatever else the future may bring, all I can do it right now is try to prepare for it, and hope for the best.'

'Your son?' Ray asked, a bewildered expression on his face.

'Yes.' Bulma answered and lay her hand on her stomach. 'My son.'

A/N: I know the physical descriptions of the Mers were a long time coming. While I was writing this chapter it occurred to me that I've never actually gone into it, so while I had a clear picture in my imagination you guys probably didn't. I hope I didn't mess up your fantasies too badly.

Anyhew… until next time.