Hi guys! Ya girl's back and typing her little heart out. Sorry this chapter took so long to finish but come on guys - you know I'm bad at this.

Chapter 17: also entitled - Give me just a little more time.

"Red alert! Red alert!
It's a catastrophe
Don't worry... Don't panic
Ain't nothin' goin' on but history, yeah
But it's alright, don't panic – Basement Jaxx "

The roof was silent.
All present were still staring into the space where Krillin and the Demons had been just a moment ago. It took 18 a second more to process what had just happened.
Krillin gone.
Majon had said words. Krillin gone.
Sparkly glittery stuff. Krillin gone.
"What the shit just happened?!" she growled, more to the air than anyone in particular.
The air replied with Gohan's voice.
"They...they just disappeared!"
18 said nothing. Glowering at the empty space where her velvet-headed monk should have been.
Gohan broke the silence again, voice wavering a little, "What do we do? We need to go after them! We have to go after them right?"
"Yes, yes of course – but where?" Said Ché softly as he turned to the boy, "and how?"
The boy couldn't answer him.

17 crouched over the spot where they had disappeared, touching the concrete of the rooftop. It was warm, and when he inspected his hand there was a fine sheen of glitter on his fingers. After a moment, it was gone.
Magic was weird. Frightening, even. He could deal with the mad scientists, the robot stuff (hell, he was the robot stuff) and even the aliens. But the magic just didn't sit right. Nothing had gone right and he hated it. He hated this feeling; that he was losing the control of the situation. Even the inhibitor mood swings felt different; but this… he'd felt this useless once before.

17 shook the memory from his head and stood back up with a sigh.
"Well. I'm stumped. Anyone here know anything about demon stuff?"

The dark haired android could visualise the lightbulb appear above Gohan's head.
"Oh! Piccolo knows demon stuff! He was...um… is? A demon?"
"He's a demon?" said 17, the incident at the Rakshasha springing to mind.
"Yeahhhhhh maybe, it's never really made clear. He doesn't like to talk about it– well… he doesn't like to talk at all to be honest."

Ché clapped his hands together loudly, startling 18 out of her reverie, "Okay! We have a starting point! This, um, Piccolo guy."
17 nodded enthusiastically whilst gesturing at the sky, "Yeah sweet okay, let's do that. Gohan? 18? Shall we?" He wanted to move. To seize back some form of control. To fix this. And they couldn't do that just standing there.
"18?"
He caught her eyes and saw a lot of things in her face.
Anger. Fear. Frustration. Cold, steely determination. Pure, uninhibited human emotion and if the situation had been, you know, not this; he would have mocked her relentlessly about it. Look at you 18. You're becoming a real person. Gross.

18 gave him a single nod and jumped into the air. Gohan followed her, yelling about contacting others and regrouping. They rose higher into the sky and rocketed towards the west.

Ché looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun as he watched them, "Well this was not how I expected to spend my day, but I'll take it. Beats replying to emails," he turned to 17, "You gonna give me a ride then?"
"I shall endeavor to, Doctor Castaña. Although, I thought that was how you wanted to spend your evening?"
"Shhhh I'm still on the clock!"
17 smirked, "On the what now?"
"Fernando!"

Chichi was quite enjoying herself. She was sat on her sofa next to a very distressed Namekian who was angrily gesticulating at the pornographic film in front of them.
"THIS IS RIDICULOUS – YOU CANNOT SHOOT KI BEAMS FROM THERE!"
"Aww sweetheart, that's...that's not a ki beam."
Was it weird that this was so entertaining? Nah, she thought as she finished off the popcorn, what's weird in this family anyway?

The complaining coming from beside her had suddenly stopped. Piccolo's head whipped to the right and he was staring off into space.

"What's wrong Obi Wan – do you sense a disturbance in the force?" laughed Chichi.
Uh... wait. Aaahhh crap.
He had that look of concentration, paired with the clenched fists she had seen on Goku too many times. That quiet stillness and sudden focus that Chichi knew heralded Something Bad was coming. Her smiled faded.
"Piccolo?"
"Krillin's gone." He replied quietly. "he's...not dead. Just… gone."
"Well that can't be good."
Grunt.
"You're going to investigate?"
He grunted again, like the true Wordsmith he was.
"I'm coming too."
"No."
"I am."
"You're being foolish. "
"If you don't let me come I'll make you watch the rest of the movie. We haven't even gotten to the part where you swallow Kami. They don't even use the Mafuba technique." She hissed at him.
Piccolo straightened his shoulder-pads scowling at her, "Hmph. Fine. But we need to find Gohan first to make sure he's safe. It feels like he's heading towards Capsule Corp."

As they left the house, flying in the direction of Gohan's energy signature, Piccolo readjusted the pregnant woman in his arms.
"No Mafuba….is there another technique?"
Chichi patted his face gently, "You just concentrate on flying there buddy."

"Everyone here?" Bulma asked the room. There was a murmur of assent.
18 was impressed, "How did we get everyone together so quickly?"
"I have a pre-written text ready to send all."
"For this very event?"
"Eh, roughly. "

Bulma's lab hadn't seemed this small previously, but 18 figured that was probably because it hadn't been full of pacing women and particularly beefy men. The last time she had seen all of these people together, they had proceeded to get very drunk (and she had ended up sleeping on Kame House roof). Everyone else had survived that night by the looks of things.

Worry was thick in the air. Not just from Ché, who was trying his best not to stare at everyone, and busying himself with drawing the body of a spider diagram on a large whiteboard with the words "RESCUE KRILLIN" in the centre.

Tenshinhan and Piccolo stood towards the back of the room, arms crossed and sharing similar looks of agitation, as they often did. (17 leaned in to his sister, "I like to imagine them getting together once a month to drink whiskey in silence") Chiaotzu sat on the workbench with Gohan and Oolong beside him, whilst the other resident of Kame House stood nearby, uncommonly quiet. Chichi could be heard rummaging in the fridge somewhere in the back of the lab. There was no sign of the Saiyan Prince himself, as Bulma had designated him 'Chief Babysitter and Last Last Last Resort'.
Yamcha sat on Bulma's computer chair, nervously swinging left and right as he watched her pace the room, muttering. She stopped, sat down heavily on a chair by the workbench.

"Right guys. The long and the short of it is that our ideas to get Krillin out of that Demon Promise didn't work. We tried winning him back but uh, that went a bit wrong and - "
"How did it go wrong? I mean I can't even sense him! Is he alive?!" Asked Yamcha, earnestly.
18 let out a small hmph and folded her arms over her chest, "He's not dead, so we at least have that going for us. But anyway, I head out to go win him back by defeating Majon in a fight, but turns out she was already looking for me. Apparently she thought I was to blame for him not wanting to be her pet boyfriend?"
The lab was filled with a very loaded silence that 18 chose to ignore, despite a faint rosiness to her cheeks. She continued,
"I don't even know how she found out 17 and I were involved, I don't think Krillin ever mentioned us to her since we robbed her and all." (Oolong and Master Roshi exchanged guilty glances and sensibly decided not to say anything at all.) "But anyway, it doesn't matter. The minute Krillin got involved – the match was forfeit. She got upset and disappeared with him. "

"Wait," came the soft, high-pitched voice of Chiaotzu (17 and 18's files simply read: Chiaotzu of Mifan. definitely telekinetic. maybe human?), "Why did he get involved? He's smart, he never dives into fights unless he needs to. Were you losing?"
"Nope," the android grumbled, "I was winning. Turns out Majon is pregnant and he was trying to stop-"

"Wait, she's pregnant?" Tien interrupted.
"Yuuuup." replied Bulma, instantly regretting it as she withered under 18's glare. She pulled her metaphorical foot back out of her mouth and batted her eyelashes at the younger woman "but then I've only just found out about that too."

18 just rolled her eyes.
"Sooo, " said Bulma loudly, nodding at Ché to add this to the whiteboard, "she's an angry pregnant demon so we can't fight her. Because we're supposed to be the good guys, and beating up pregnant people has historically been regarded as a dick move."

Tien turned to Piccolo, "I'm making assumptions here, but I'd have thought that wouldn't really matter to demons?"
The namekian threw him an incredulous look, "Why on earth are you asking me? I barely know how my reproductive system works. And the only pregnant person I've come into contact with is that."
At this he jerked a thumb towards the rather fecund Chichi rummaging in a laboratory refrigerator like a racoon. A rude hand gesture emerged from behind the door. ("Ignore that Gohan!")

"You're a demon though – you've got to know something."
"Oh!" Bulma piped up, "Yes, that's actually very important to our next step! You knowing Demony things."
Piccolo grimaced as everyone turned to look at him, "Ex- Demon, remember? I've forgotten a lot of that part of me, but I'll help how I can."
Tien rolled all of his eyes, "That's not what you told us on that highway after the Androids escaped."

Oh. The Highway, thought 18.
The image of a scared and determined (brave. So very brave) Krillin came to her in an instant of warmth and butterflies. Just a little kiss. A peck, really. That was all it took.
Wait. All it took for what?
Bulma broke through her little reverie. "Can you tell us what happened as he disappeared, 18?"
Oh thank god. She didn't like where that train of thought had been going.
And so she described it all. The magic, the coin-like object, the glitter, the sudden disappearance.

Piccolo, for all his rejection of his past, knew exactly what had happened.
"That was a dimensional door. We-er-demons can create doorways to and from the Demon Realm. Not all demonfolk can do it. You need something that you could see your reflection in. Something polished. Metal. Glass. Mirrors are used most often. Looks like she used some sort of magical charm to make the reflective surface."
"Demons can travel via mirrors? That sounds a bit…"
"A bit what?"
"A bit far-fetched maybe?"
"Yamcha I am a magical demonic alien reincarnation of my own father."
"...I'll just sit quietly."

18 interrupted, "Can you do it? Can you get us in?"
Piccolo pondered for a moment, "I can try. I promise nothing."
The android nodded resolutely, "Good enough. Now all we need is a plan. "

The room went quiet again. Planning was not the gang's forte. Their usual plan A (Be stronger and faster than problem) was not going to work in this situation. Their usual plan B (wait for Goku) was much the same.
Chichi emerged from the fridge with an armful of food and drink and sat down, munching on a carrot stick.
"What?! I've got half a saiyan in here. No-one can judge me."
18 stole a piece of fruit from Chichi's grasp, "I'm more worried at how readily you eat food found in a Laboratory. … anyway, do you have any ideas on how to save Krillin?"
She crunched on a stick for a second in a manner vaguely reminiscent of a cartoon rabbit. "We trap her in a rice cooker."
"WE WILL NOT." came a gruff, distressed voice from across the room.
"An airfryer then?"
"STOP IT."

And so they attempted to plot. Ché frantically kept adding to the whiteboard, taking note of even the smallest, stupidest suggestions.

First, Master Roshi put forward to the group. "If we can't fight her, we need to beat her in some other way. I tried to challenge her to poker again but couldn't even find her. We could try it again?"
"We thought of something similar," drawled 17, "We were just thinking rock paper scissors. Until, you know, 18 tried to win him by combat."
Ché noted it.

The suggestions continued.

"What if we ask Vegeta to go fight her. He won't mind, he's going to hell anyway."
"NO, Yamcha!"
"Who am I fighting?" The eponymous Prince of Saiyans had appeared at the door. As if summoned by the promise of violence.
"No-one Vegeta, either help us scheme or go back to whatever you were doing."
He looked around the room, considered it, and then walked back out.

Also noted.
There was an overwhelming feeling that they were grasping at straws.

Gohan was starting to feel anxious. An icy hand reaching down his throat and gripping his stomach. After his mother and Mr. Piccolo – Krillin was one of the constants in his life. He had been there when his dad couldn't be. Krillin who had always made sure he was okay. Who had always tried to make him smile even at the scariest of moments. Who never talked down to him just because he was a child. Once again that inkling of helplessness had made itself known in his chest.
He piped up, trying to shake off the feeling, "Have we tried asking her nicely?"
"Of course we have!"
"Just saying. Because, I think someone had mentioned that the promise can be deemed fulfilled by the demon?" said the boy with a grimace, "although she seemed pretty furious when we arrived.. so maybe not as willing to just free him if I say please and thank you."
"I think you're right Gohan, and I think… I think we might have had a chance of persuading her if we had handled that first meeting at her nightclub better...sorry about that..." replied Yamcha, studying the worry on the boy's face.

There was a tension in the air of the lab that no-one wanted to point out. What if… what if they couldn't get him back? Maybe they had to wait some arbitrary amount of time for Majon to release him from her clutches? How long would that be? Could they stand to wait months, years, even decades for him to come home?
No. No he was out there and he needed them.
Hell, they needed him.
If Bulma was the brains, and Goku was the brawn – Krillin was the heart. Not everyone got along with one another all the time (especially when their primary method of recruiting was 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'), but Krillin was the short and sardonic glue that bound this group of idiots together.
They'd lost him to monsters before. To a demon before. And no-one was ready for it to happen again. Not after they had lost Goku. God, that man had been through hell for them all; travelled to another planet to save them.
No.
He was coming home.

The ideas continued, and the Psychiatrist kept writing:

"Kill Krillin."
This was hand-waved by Bulma, "No. Can't wish back due to Demon Promise."
"Then we kill everyone."
"No, wait, Vegeta why are you here again, go away."

"I still think we play for him. Yamcha's a pro at baseball, right?" Came Chiaotzu's offer.

"Perhaps we find a way to switch Krillin with someone else? A decoy of some sort?" someone else mused.

"We pretend we're a travelling troupe of entertainers performing a magic show, we need a volunteer for our final trick. We pull Krillin from the audience and - "
"Oolong, I'm begging you to stop."
"Yes," Said Tenshinhan, "not one of us owns any sort of stage magician equipment."
17 paused as he grabbed a snack from Chichi's horde to squint at the taller bald man, "That's your problem with that suggestion?"

It continued.

"Trick her into saying that she releases him. Like that bit from Aladdin!"

"We hire a group of-"

"I swear to Dende, 17, if you mention The Italian Job one more time I am going to beat you to death with this swivel chair."

"Okay." Bulma groaned. "Let me get this straight. We've been here 2 hours and our best ideas are: Puar shapeshifts into Krillin, we pull a switcheroo and then the Krill-Puar fakes their death.
And/or baseball. "

Everyone else had moved positions and were sitting on tables, lab stools, the floor and even hovering in the lotus position in a corner. There was a definite sense of gloom in the air.
She sat down heavily on the bench next to Goku's widow. "We're missing something vital here. I know it. I can feel it. Pass me that drink please?"
Chichi pushed a can over towards her as she moved onto the next tub of goodies.

Bulma cracked it open and took a swig, and then visibly deflated. "Grape soda, Krillin's favourite."
"Here," said Chichi in a soft tone as she passed the tub over to the other woman, "These will perk you up a bit."
"Ooo! Strawberries! God I love these so much." Bulma dove into the tub of fruit with a cackle.

Grumbling, 18 moved over to the table and grabbed one before Bulma inhaled them all, opened a can for herself and threw another one to her brother.

The heiress smiled at her and sighed, "You know, I once tried to summon Shenlong to wish for a lifetime supply of strawberries."
18 gave her a judgemental look.
Chichi, however, laughed, "and did you manage it?"
"Nah," said the older woman, "I ended up changing my mind and trying to wish for the perfect boyfriend instead."
"Now I know you didn't manage that."
A noise that can only be described as a sardonic snort erupted from her ex across the room.
"Hey! Err...Nope, not really. If only life's problems could be solved that easily."
"Haha yeah," replied Chichi dreamily as she took another sip of her drink, "what was that wish you beat Pilaf out of again?"
Oolong grinned and scratched his snout, "Underpants! I wished for underpants before he could wish for world domination. He nearly managed it too."
"Ha!" Chichi waved her drink at Piccolo, "There, you see! You didn't even need to fight Goku! You could have just collected the Dragonballs!"
"That was not tHE POINT AND YOU KNOW IT."

A loud SNAP caught everyone's attention.
Ché had popped the cap back onto the whiteboard pen with some force. He wore a thunderous look that did not at all suit his glorious features.

"You tried to summon who to make a what now?" he asked Bulma tersely, folding his arms.
"Errrr Shenlong?"
Ché tapped his chin with the pen, "And would you, dear Ms. Briefs, care to explain Shenlong to me?"
"Pfft, yeah. He's a dragon. He can grant you any wish you want. Though you need the Dragonballs to do it... we've summoned him a few times...The balls are like, orange orb things and there's seven of them…and...um… and..."
She trailed off under the Psychiatrist's withering glare, mumbling the rest of her sentence.
"...and if you collect them all you can make a wish."
Ché picked up an eraser and wiped a huge section through the middle of the note-filled board with a quiet fury. He had yet to break eye contact with his boss, who just blinked at him.
He stared at her.
She blankly stared back.
Ché swung round and wrote DRAGONBALLS in very large and angry letters in the blank space and proceeded to slowly crumple into a swivel chair.

The was a collective moment between everyone in the room where the whirring cogs of their brains fell into sync and they realised they were all complete and utter morons.
"Oh shiiit!"
"Ohhhhhhh."
"Ohhh what? What? What am I - oh noooooo."
18 considered crawling into the bottom of the refrigerator and embracing the sweet cold release of death, "I should have stayed in Cell."

Gohan let out the long suffering sigh of person three times his age, and went to go get the Dragon Radar.

Bulma stood like a General in front of her troops. There was not a moment to waste.
"Right Team, we need to get our shit together and work smart and fast!"
"Team what?" asked Yamcha as he zipped up his jacket.
"What do you mean team what?"
"Do we have a team name? Are we splitting into multiple teams to to cover more ground?"
Gohan nodded enthusiastically, tidying the snacks back into the refrigerator, "Oh I think that's a good idea, we should do that."
"Yeah fine okay we'll do multiple teams." She acquiesced, and the room erupted into a blur of questions.
"Who's in my team?"
"I don't care - "
"Who wants to be in my team?!"
"I will!"
"Yeah me too!"
"Guys wait hang on we need the plan fi-"
"What is no one wanting to be on my team?"
"We can wait to do the teams in a minute guys c'mon concentrate-"
"How am I picked last for teams, I'm the stron-"
There was a loud piercing whistle, followed by the similarly piercing (yet familiar) shriek of Chichi reaching her limit of foolishness. "SHUT YOUR FACES AND LISTEN TO BULMA!"
"Thank you Chichi."
The dark-haired woman's voice was soft and sweet again in an instant, "Don't worry about it. I've honestly missed yelling at meatheads. Gohan sweetheart, go pick Piccolo up off the floor."
"That's….ok moving on! We split into groups, head out and don't come back until you find a dragonball. Simple. I've got a couple of spare Radars so each team can have one to help. We should be done in no time."

She threw radars at a couple of the figures around the room. "I've built radios into the newer models so you can keep us updated. Clever no?" She grinned. 18 fought the urge to smile at the other woman. Shit, that is clever. The cats can be herded.
Bulma started shooing the gang out of the lab.
"Now get going! Or I'll give you really pathetic Team names. Like Team Magnolia Wallpaper or something," She clapped as she shouted at them all, "Come on! The longer we leave him there the higher the likelihood he's going to annoy her and she'll eat him! Lets go! Lets move!"

As the room came alive with energy and purpose, Ché checked his watch with a little sigh, "Well I guess this is what I'm doing with my evening now."
Gohan looked up from putting his shoes on, "What's up?"
"Oh, I had a date. No matter really. It'll be a weird rain check I suppose."
"I'm sure they won't mind."
"You know," Yamcha called over to Ché as he set up his Dragon Radar; a mischievous smirk on his face, "Krillin thought you had a thing for 18. Had you pegged as a romantic rival."
The Psychiatrist blinked owlishly. "18? He thought 18 and I had something going on?"
"Well…yeah… I think he…eh, well – it's Krillin. He likes to jump to conclusions sometimes – he thought 17 and 18 were a couple when he first… I guess he thought you both, um…" he vaguely gestured, now slightly regretting bringing the subject up. The android twins visibly grimaced.
"What, get along?" Ché said, taking umbrage, "Like each other? Yeah, I'm her Therapist – it's helpful, no, invaluable to doing the job right. Why would he just assume that?!"
"Well…probably because you're super hot."
"You really are. Its infuriating."
"Distressingly attractive."

18 was staring off into the corner of the room, scarlet faced and silently praying that this was the day Gohan finally snapped and took them all with him. 17 was sniggering into his orange scarf.

"That's neither here nor there. There is nothing going on with 18 and I! What on earth?! First of all she's not my type, and secondly, it's grossly inappropriate – she's my patient!"

17 stopped laughing and slowly turned to look at the psychiatrist, his face as full of judgement as he could possibly manage. "I'm your patient, and you did me over your desk."
It was now Ché's turn to blush and pray for death.

Bulma let out a loud, low cackle. "Well well well, Dr Castaña. Welcome to the gang! You're admitted via attempting to murder Goku or shagging a gang-member. Or both, sometimes."
She winked at him. Then caught the traumatised look on Gohan's face.
"Or, you know, are born into the gang."
17 snickered away for a second before stopping, confused. A the realisation dawned, he then looked horrified, and then finally, his face settled on an expression of tired acceptance as he met his sister's eyes. "Part of the gang." he mouthed at her.
Bulma patted Ché on the shoulder, "Don't worry about it. I had a baby with a literal alien. I'm in no position to judge."
"Please don't tell HR."

One by one they left Capsule Corp, thundering into the sky and out into the world with purpose.
Tien and Chaoitzu as usual, Yamcha heading out with Roshi as Gohan left with Oolong.
Piccolo had stayed back a little longer. His first job was to organise what they would need for their own doorway to the Demon Realm. He then headed off with a radar on his own.
They mostly needed a large mirror – and Bulma, who was incredibly humble, modest and holding very little interest in her own looks – had plenty of overly large mirrors dotted about Capsule Corp. She only needed to rope her darling baby-daddy into helping her move one into the lab. Fortunately, a small amount of bribery and ego-stroking worked like a charm and soon there was a disturbingly big mirror lent against the far wall of the lab.

The Androids were otherwise preoccupied with setting up their radar as they headed outside.
"How will we know what they look like?"
"Well Ché, they are orange balls. Big ones. That's about it."
"Do they have dragons on them? Or in them?"
17 scrunched up his face, thinking. His files were telling him next to nothing, "Maybe its in them? Like a genie?"
Ché looked unconvinced, a dark, perfect eyebrow raising at his beau. The cyborg simply shrugged and grinned at the psychiatrist. "There's a whole story behind them apparently. Space magic! Aliens! Anyway, we can plot our own wishes on that date we've both apparently bailed on. I've got my fingers crossed for the powers of invisibility and a jet ski."
The other man grinned, "Invisibility? Pfft, nah. Telepathy is where the money is."

"AHEM." They were interrupted by 18 clearing her throat behind them. She was already floating, ready to take to the air and start searching.
"Alright, calm down Umbridge. I was doing a flirt," 17 turned back to the brunette man, "was it working?"
Ché looked away with a smile, cheeks flushed.
"Well that's a yes."
"Come on, you can flirt as we fly. Also, I cannot believe you kept this," she gestured at Ché, "a secret from me."
17 picked Ché up in a way he deemed dignified (it was not) as he took off into the air, "Oh dearest 18 please forgive me! I have failed you! What a fool I was to assume my beloved sister didn't want to know about her brother railing their therapist."
18 almost dropped the radar. "Okay that's...a fair assumption. But still, you could have said something."
"Yeah well, this isn't my Rom-com, is it."

Inside, Bulma and Chichi moved benches and seats to make space on the floor for the mirror.
The younger woman gritted her teeth as Bulma pushed a metal stool across the floor, leaving marks on the laboratory tiles that hurt Chichi's soul a little.
She hoisted a chair under each arm and waddled after her. "Do you think this is going to work?"
Bulma scratched her chin, "Of course it will! The Dragonballs are usually the solution to most of our problems."
Setting the chairs down, Chichi nodded, "Sure...and the cause of most of them too."
They continued their work, the heiress attempting to keep the other woman from moving the heavier objects before realising that pregnant or not, Chichi could probably lift more than her and a lab bench combined.
Chichi continued "We know Majon is a bit unpredictable and, um, unbalanced. I mean I get it; Demon plus heartbreak plus baby hormones have to mess you up a bit. So how do we know that this is where it stops?"
"What do you mean?"
Chichi grabbed one end of a table and motioned for the other woman to grab the other end. "We can't just wish him free. Aaaand lift!"
"Hup! Ooff this is heavy." Bulma's brow furrowed, "Wait, why not?"
"Because she'll come looking for revenge or something. She'll be a woman twice scorned – that'd be enough to push anyone over the edge. And plus, everyone we get involved with always comes looking for revenge. You know it, I know it. She has access to demon realm stuff, and 18 said she had goons. We need to end the situation completely without giving her the chance to do something stupid in-"
"-Retaliation. Crap, you're right." Bulma put the table's feet on the ground, worry starting to settle into her features, "How are we going to do that?"
Chichi was silent for a moment before setting down her side with a decisive THUNK. Standing up straight, she rubbed her lower back and grinned triumphantly at Bulma.
"I have an idea."

I first started writing this in what, 2010? And knew I wanted to use the red-herring love interest trope, and thus the beautiful Ché appeared. But I hope the little 17/ Ché twist was fun! Yes I know canon has 17 settling down with a lady, but, to quote The Road to El Dorado - both is good. My original plan was to have a side story where-in he and 17 got closer, but my struggle in getting the main story written kind of pushed that aside. Although a one-shot may yet happen, who am I to say.

Any reviews, constructive criticism, general chit chat - throw me a line! It's all greatly appreciated! Thank you! xxx