She murmured happily, before bouncing out the door to her waiting
passenger.
Meanwhile, in the fated forest behind Goku's house. It was approximately half an hour before the group was set to meet but a small bunch had already gathered. Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha were helping Chi-Chi unload the buckets of food she had prepared for the ravenous group. Goku had been temporarily restrained to prevent all of the sustenance disappearing before anyone could so much as blink twice. Now he sat, tied to a tree, drooling as plate after plate of beautiful delicacies were unloaded from their hover car.
"Guuuuyyssss." He whined, stretching his neck out a little, trying to get a better scent of the food. "This isn't fair! Let me go! I promise I won't eat anything."
Chaotzu, who sat on the other side of the tree just giggled and turned to his friend. "You say that now, but the minute we set you free you'd eat it all, and probably accidentally eat Yamcha you'd be going so fast." He said, and giggled at the thought of Goku shoveling a screaming Yamcha into his mouth in his frenzy.
Tien, Krillin and Chi-Chi also laughed at the humorous mental image, while Yamcha simply grunted and turned red. He didn't like the thought of being in Goku's stomach. Who knew what could be crawling around in there.
After unloading the last platter, and brushing her hands off on her dress, Chi-Chi turned her head to the sky. She knew that Gohan had re-assured her that he would come to the party come hell or high water, and he was just going to train with Piccolo for a while, but she had her doubts. While the Namek-jinn had proven himself to truly be one of them and didn't appear to have any malice towards Gohan or any of the other family members, Chi-Chi still didn't feel right about it. It wasn't all that long ago that Piccolo Daimao had brought her husband close to death, and his offspring had kidnaped her son. Frowning, she noticed the others all looking at her quizzically. "Piccolo and Gohan had better get here soon or the food's gonna get cold." She said, before walking over to the front of the hover car, and getting an understanding nod from everyone there but Goku who continued to drool over the spread before him.
Krillin wiped the sweat off his head and looked over to Yamcha, who was also looking around as if expecting something. "Hey Yamcha!" He called, stirring the warrior from his daydream. "What'cha lookin' for?"
Laughing nervously, Yamcha turned his blushing face away. "Uhhh...I was just wondering what happened to Bulma, y'know..she said she'd be here."
Oolong, who had been chatting with Puar over by a large rock, heard that statement and instantly turned his little conniving head towards the desert bandit. In two seconds flat he was over there, perched on Yamcha's shoulder with a smug little grin on his face. "Did I hear..Bulma? I don't know about you Yamcha, but I'd keep my eye on that hot little number. She's probably got men lined up around the block for her. If ya know what I mean." He said, winking at Yamcha who flushed bright purple and threw Oolong into Goku's lap.
"Bulma loves me, you hear!" He shouted, then calmed his frayed nerves, and noticed that everyone was staring at him.
As if on cue, there was a loud noise and two bodies appeared over the horizon. Chi-Chi looked up from where she stood, then seeing who it was, lept up and rushed over.
"Hi guys!" Gohan cried as he flew over the group, Piccolo close behind him. Just to show off, before landing, Gohan did a flip and a 360 spin. "Ta da!"
Running over, Krillin exchanged high fives with his long time friend. "Nice flying there Gohan."
"Thanks! You look great Krillin!" He exclaimed, and then looking about the group remarked, "You all look great!" Sighing happily he cast his eyes about the crowd, until he saw something that made his smile instantly vanish. There stood his mother, her face as red as their hover car, hands on her hips. Gohan knew he was in trouble now. "H-Hi mom..." He murmured, lowering his head.
Approaching her son, Chi-Chi prepared to give him the verbal thrashing of his life, but no sooner had she reached him and seen the sheepish look upon his face than her anger quickly fizzled. He had adapted that sweet puppy dog look that his father had when she and he had first met, and along with that adorable look came that heart melting sensation whenever she looked at the wearer. Sighing, she knelt down so she could look her son in the eye. "Gohan...." She whispered, not knowing of anything better to say. "Are you hungry dear?"
Looking up, incredibly surprised, Gohan grinned happily. "You bet!" He exclaimed, pleased with this unexpected kindness on his mother's part, and rather hungry after his lengthy flight. With that still in mind he dashed over to the table of food and began to fill his plate with mounds of all sorts of edibles.
Piccolo watched with limited interest as Gohan stuffed his face, and the others proceeded to follow. It had been a while since he had seen anyone in the group, and they all looked somewhat different. More confident. That was particularly unusual for this group, especially with a battle approaching. There was only one person who didn't appear to have changed in the least. Goku. Same haircut, same whiny tone of voice, same incredible happiness. There he was tied to a tree, but was he upset? No, he was laughing. His power level...that had changed. Goku had gotten stronger, if that was even possible, so much stronger that Piccolo could feel the power radiating from the man even though he was at least twenty feet away.
"Hey Piccolo!" The Namek heard suddenly, causing him to look away from Goku and over to the table where Krillin sat, food in hand and mouth. "Come join us!" He called.
"Hmpf." Was his only response. If they hadn't forgotten already, Piccolo didn't eat, and didn't intend ever to start. It was a pointless and restraining habit that had no actual purpose as far as he saw it. Just to be indignant, he flew over to the tree directly adjacent to Goku and promptly sat down, grunting again.
From the distance there a soft humming noise, like a group of bees coming to destroy their picnic, but no one seemed to notice or care. The clamor slowly grew louder and more imposing, until finally it disrupted them enough for Chi-Chi to get to her feet and look around. "What is that noise?" She demanded of some unknown force, looking around with her eyes narrowed.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's coming this way." Yamcha remarked, not caring enough to actually move, but shifting his head this way and that pretending to be interested.
Before anyone could even move an inch, a hover car came crashing though their picnic ground, narrowly missing the table. On an instinct everyone threw themselves to the ground, all except for Piccolo who was unfortunately caught up by a blast of air and thrown into the center of the clearing.
After a moment, the dust cleared and a high pitched, energetic voice emerged from the trees. "Hi everyone!"
The Z senshi, looking as though they had just survived a nuclear holocaust, peered up nervously, to be pleasantly surprised by the face of Bulma staring down at them. Letting out the nervous breath of air they had all been holding in, the group gradually climbed to their feet to say a half- hearted hello to their blue haired friend.
"Hi Bulma! You look great..." Yamcha said exuberantly, being the only one who seemed excited to see her after her daring entrance. Although he was overly delighted to see his girlfriend, the group had to admit, she did look good. Really good. So good that Yamcha was beginning to get ideas about all the other men in the group and the way they were looking at her.
Bulma grinned from ear to ear and hopped down her hover car she had conveniently parallel parked in the branch of a tree. The group seemed happy to see her, but they seemed a little more relieved that their food was alright. Looking down, she saw Piccolo rubbing his sore rear end, damaged from his unexpected plummet. "Sorry Piccolo." She called out sheepishly, blushing a little, then flashing Yamcha her million dollar smile.
A loud banging from behind her, suddenly reminded the woman about her passenger. Smacking herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand, she pointed towards her tousled car. "Guess who I got to come?" She cried proudly as the group stared up in awe at the black haired Saiyan who was still planted firmly in his seat, his hands gripping the armrests with all his might. Taking a breath, he released the armrests that were significantly bent in the middle from his death grip, and attempted to get a hold of himself after the ride he had just experienced. Now he agreed with the people who said that women should not drive.
"Vegeta!" Goku exclaimed, grinning stupidly up at his companion from his position.
Immensely regretting his foolish acceptance of Bulma's ride, Vegeta decided that he was in a bad position and he may as well make a good entrance. Opening the door, he soared out and stood atop one of the branches of the tree. "Hmpf. I came for the food."
The group laughed briefly at Vegeta's pride, and then quickly returned to their naturally pattern. Bulma and Chi-Chi began making idle conversation, while Krillin, Tien, Oolong, Puar Chaotzu, and Gohan stuffed themselves silly. Yamcha however, could not take his eyes off the proud Saiyan perched atop the tree. Why did Bulma bring him? He's such a jerk. Why did he come in the first place? There must be something they're not telling me..Maybe she's....With Vegeta? No Way! But then again...he was a Saiyan...and for some unexplainable reason women are attracted to the Saiyans, Why else would Chi-Chi be with a guy like Goku of all people....hmmm that must be--
"Yamcha!" Bulma's voice broke the fighter out of his stupor and he looked over at her, his mind still whirling. "Come eat with me, we have so much to catch up on." She cried, pointing to the empty plate she held in her hand.
I'm just being paranoid, Yamcha told himself, I must still be mad at Vegeta for what happened with the Siabamen and I'm just not admitting it to myself. Boy, I am paranoid. "Sure Bulma, anything you say." He replied, laughing heartily at his own foolishness before practically running to her side.
What a foolish human, following his own emotions as though they were his master, Vegeta thought to himself with a dry laugh. How could he let a woman control him so? What an diluted fool. Women were nothing but bratty, whiny, badly dressed, screaming wenches. But that food sure looked good. Forget women, all Vegeta wanted and needed, was a big slice of meat from that ham down there. Leaping down from his post, Vegeta snatched a plate off of the table and began to load piles of everything in sight onto it. Then, ignoring the fork that Krillin attempted to hand him, looked around for a good place to eat in peace.
Meanwhile, in the fated forest behind Goku's house. It was approximately half an hour before the group was set to meet but a small bunch had already gathered. Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha were helping Chi-Chi unload the buckets of food she had prepared for the ravenous group. Goku had been temporarily restrained to prevent all of the sustenance disappearing before anyone could so much as blink twice. Now he sat, tied to a tree, drooling as plate after plate of beautiful delicacies were unloaded from their hover car.
"Guuuuyyssss." He whined, stretching his neck out a little, trying to get a better scent of the food. "This isn't fair! Let me go! I promise I won't eat anything."
Chaotzu, who sat on the other side of the tree just giggled and turned to his friend. "You say that now, but the minute we set you free you'd eat it all, and probably accidentally eat Yamcha you'd be going so fast." He said, and giggled at the thought of Goku shoveling a screaming Yamcha into his mouth in his frenzy.
Tien, Krillin and Chi-Chi also laughed at the humorous mental image, while Yamcha simply grunted and turned red. He didn't like the thought of being in Goku's stomach. Who knew what could be crawling around in there.
After unloading the last platter, and brushing her hands off on her dress, Chi-Chi turned her head to the sky. She knew that Gohan had re-assured her that he would come to the party come hell or high water, and he was just going to train with Piccolo for a while, but she had her doubts. While the Namek-jinn had proven himself to truly be one of them and didn't appear to have any malice towards Gohan or any of the other family members, Chi-Chi still didn't feel right about it. It wasn't all that long ago that Piccolo Daimao had brought her husband close to death, and his offspring had kidnaped her son. Frowning, she noticed the others all looking at her quizzically. "Piccolo and Gohan had better get here soon or the food's gonna get cold." She said, before walking over to the front of the hover car, and getting an understanding nod from everyone there but Goku who continued to drool over the spread before him.
Krillin wiped the sweat off his head and looked over to Yamcha, who was also looking around as if expecting something. "Hey Yamcha!" He called, stirring the warrior from his daydream. "What'cha lookin' for?"
Laughing nervously, Yamcha turned his blushing face away. "Uhhh...I was just wondering what happened to Bulma, y'know..she said she'd be here."
Oolong, who had been chatting with Puar over by a large rock, heard that statement and instantly turned his little conniving head towards the desert bandit. In two seconds flat he was over there, perched on Yamcha's shoulder with a smug little grin on his face. "Did I hear..Bulma? I don't know about you Yamcha, but I'd keep my eye on that hot little number. She's probably got men lined up around the block for her. If ya know what I mean." He said, winking at Yamcha who flushed bright purple and threw Oolong into Goku's lap.
"Bulma loves me, you hear!" He shouted, then calmed his frayed nerves, and noticed that everyone was staring at him.
As if on cue, there was a loud noise and two bodies appeared over the horizon. Chi-Chi looked up from where she stood, then seeing who it was, lept up and rushed over.
"Hi guys!" Gohan cried as he flew over the group, Piccolo close behind him. Just to show off, before landing, Gohan did a flip and a 360 spin. "Ta da!"
Running over, Krillin exchanged high fives with his long time friend. "Nice flying there Gohan."
"Thanks! You look great Krillin!" He exclaimed, and then looking about the group remarked, "You all look great!" Sighing happily he cast his eyes about the crowd, until he saw something that made his smile instantly vanish. There stood his mother, her face as red as their hover car, hands on her hips. Gohan knew he was in trouble now. "H-Hi mom..." He murmured, lowering his head.
Approaching her son, Chi-Chi prepared to give him the verbal thrashing of his life, but no sooner had she reached him and seen the sheepish look upon his face than her anger quickly fizzled. He had adapted that sweet puppy dog look that his father had when she and he had first met, and along with that adorable look came that heart melting sensation whenever she looked at the wearer. Sighing, she knelt down so she could look her son in the eye. "Gohan...." She whispered, not knowing of anything better to say. "Are you hungry dear?"
Looking up, incredibly surprised, Gohan grinned happily. "You bet!" He exclaimed, pleased with this unexpected kindness on his mother's part, and rather hungry after his lengthy flight. With that still in mind he dashed over to the table of food and began to fill his plate with mounds of all sorts of edibles.
Piccolo watched with limited interest as Gohan stuffed his face, and the others proceeded to follow. It had been a while since he had seen anyone in the group, and they all looked somewhat different. More confident. That was particularly unusual for this group, especially with a battle approaching. There was only one person who didn't appear to have changed in the least. Goku. Same haircut, same whiny tone of voice, same incredible happiness. There he was tied to a tree, but was he upset? No, he was laughing. His power level...that had changed. Goku had gotten stronger, if that was even possible, so much stronger that Piccolo could feel the power radiating from the man even though he was at least twenty feet away.
"Hey Piccolo!" The Namek heard suddenly, causing him to look away from Goku and over to the table where Krillin sat, food in hand and mouth. "Come join us!" He called.
"Hmpf." Was his only response. If they hadn't forgotten already, Piccolo didn't eat, and didn't intend ever to start. It was a pointless and restraining habit that had no actual purpose as far as he saw it. Just to be indignant, he flew over to the tree directly adjacent to Goku and promptly sat down, grunting again.
From the distance there a soft humming noise, like a group of bees coming to destroy their picnic, but no one seemed to notice or care. The clamor slowly grew louder and more imposing, until finally it disrupted them enough for Chi-Chi to get to her feet and look around. "What is that noise?" She demanded of some unknown force, looking around with her eyes narrowed.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's coming this way." Yamcha remarked, not caring enough to actually move, but shifting his head this way and that pretending to be interested.
Before anyone could even move an inch, a hover car came crashing though their picnic ground, narrowly missing the table. On an instinct everyone threw themselves to the ground, all except for Piccolo who was unfortunately caught up by a blast of air and thrown into the center of the clearing.
After a moment, the dust cleared and a high pitched, energetic voice emerged from the trees. "Hi everyone!"
The Z senshi, looking as though they had just survived a nuclear holocaust, peered up nervously, to be pleasantly surprised by the face of Bulma staring down at them. Letting out the nervous breath of air they had all been holding in, the group gradually climbed to their feet to say a half- hearted hello to their blue haired friend.
"Hi Bulma! You look great..." Yamcha said exuberantly, being the only one who seemed excited to see her after her daring entrance. Although he was overly delighted to see his girlfriend, the group had to admit, she did look good. Really good. So good that Yamcha was beginning to get ideas about all the other men in the group and the way they were looking at her.
Bulma grinned from ear to ear and hopped down her hover car she had conveniently parallel parked in the branch of a tree. The group seemed happy to see her, but they seemed a little more relieved that their food was alright. Looking down, she saw Piccolo rubbing his sore rear end, damaged from his unexpected plummet. "Sorry Piccolo." She called out sheepishly, blushing a little, then flashing Yamcha her million dollar smile.
A loud banging from behind her, suddenly reminded the woman about her passenger. Smacking herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand, she pointed towards her tousled car. "Guess who I got to come?" She cried proudly as the group stared up in awe at the black haired Saiyan who was still planted firmly in his seat, his hands gripping the armrests with all his might. Taking a breath, he released the armrests that were significantly bent in the middle from his death grip, and attempted to get a hold of himself after the ride he had just experienced. Now he agreed with the people who said that women should not drive.
"Vegeta!" Goku exclaimed, grinning stupidly up at his companion from his position.
Immensely regretting his foolish acceptance of Bulma's ride, Vegeta decided that he was in a bad position and he may as well make a good entrance. Opening the door, he soared out and stood atop one of the branches of the tree. "Hmpf. I came for the food."
The group laughed briefly at Vegeta's pride, and then quickly returned to their naturally pattern. Bulma and Chi-Chi began making idle conversation, while Krillin, Tien, Oolong, Puar Chaotzu, and Gohan stuffed themselves silly. Yamcha however, could not take his eyes off the proud Saiyan perched atop the tree. Why did Bulma bring him? He's such a jerk. Why did he come in the first place? There must be something they're not telling me..Maybe she's....With Vegeta? No Way! But then again...he was a Saiyan...and for some unexplainable reason women are attracted to the Saiyans, Why else would Chi-Chi be with a guy like Goku of all people....hmmm that must be--
"Yamcha!" Bulma's voice broke the fighter out of his stupor and he looked over at her, his mind still whirling. "Come eat with me, we have so much to catch up on." She cried, pointing to the empty plate she held in her hand.
I'm just being paranoid, Yamcha told himself, I must still be mad at Vegeta for what happened with the Siabamen and I'm just not admitting it to myself. Boy, I am paranoid. "Sure Bulma, anything you say." He replied, laughing heartily at his own foolishness before practically running to her side.
What a foolish human, following his own emotions as though they were his master, Vegeta thought to himself with a dry laugh. How could he let a woman control him so? What an diluted fool. Women were nothing but bratty, whiny, badly dressed, screaming wenches. But that food sure looked good. Forget women, all Vegeta wanted and needed, was a big slice of meat from that ham down there. Leaping down from his post, Vegeta snatched a plate off of the table and began to load piles of everything in sight onto it. Then, ignoring the fork that Krillin attempted to hand him, looked around for a good place to eat in peace.