THE TIME TRAVELLING ADVENTURES OF THE NEXT GEN DB GANG, AND #17
End?, Chapter 8,9 & 10

End?

End? Hell, no. The real adventure's just about to begin. Will our heroes make it home safely? Keep on reading to find out, but before that let's see how their parents are doing back in their own timeline.

Next: The abandoned party

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Chapter 8: The abandoned party

Meanwhile in the original timeline...

"Anybody home?" Bulma and Vegeta had arrived to find the party had not started yet. In fact, nobody was home.

Vegeta grumbled. "Great. They invite you over, then don't prepare the food."

Something came spinning out of the sky and landed on the front lawn. It was the little turtle with Kamesennin sitting on top, looking quite green. He staggered from the turtle's back and threw up in the nearby bushes.

After he had finished emptying his stomach, the old kungfu master of the Kame School of martial arts turned to the little turtle. "Thank you, little turtle. You don't have to pick me up later. I'll go home with Marron and #17." After the turtle left, Kamesennin grumbled to himself about having to ride a turtle, having no transport since Kuririn and #18 had taken their plane on their honeymoon and the other was used by Marron and #17 to come here. Then he caught sight of Bulma and Vegeta.

"Oh, hi Bulma." The woman was still lovely, even after all these years. How he'd love to touch her, but of course he didn't dare. Not with Vegeta around. "Hi Vegeta. So where's the party? I brought some sweets, but I accidentally threw up on them, so I threw them away."

A car came sppeding and halted abruptly inches away from the front door. ChiChi came out carrying loads of foodstuff. "Oh, hi Bulma, Vegeta, Kamesennin. Sorry I'm late. Caught in traffic jam in Satan City, you see. I'll get the food ready in no time."

They went in. ChiChi noticed that the table hadn't been set yet. "Where are the kids? They're supposed to set up the table. And where's Videl? This party was her idea. It's not like her to do things halfway."

Presently, Gohan and Videl emerged from their room. They were both wearing only their robes. Gohan saw his mother and their three guests and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, sorry guys. Videl said she had a surprise party prepared for me." He turned to Bulma. "But we really do have a reason to celebrate. I did it! I proved the possibility of time travel. I even got the experimental time travel device completed."

Bulma beamed. "Congratulations, Gohan. I knew you could do it."

Videl put her arms around Gohan and kissed him. "Yes. All that hard work paid off in the end. My Gohan is a genius." She looked around, noticing the kids weren't there. "By the way, where are the kids? They were supposed to set up the table and put up some decorations."

Bulma shrugged. "Haven't seen them. Maybe they went out to get something. Can I see the device, Gohan?"

"Sure. I have it in my lab. As I said, it's only expermental. It works by opening a portal to another timeline. I haven't tried it out yet, since from my calculations it can take subjects to the past or future but I don't know if it can bring them back. As soon as I determine that it can safely bring test subjects back here safely, I'll start testing it. In the meantime I want to set the time to which it will be sent. I haven't done that yet. Only after I do these two things will I really test it with live subjects. Wouldn't be able to bring them back otherwise--"

He stopped when he saw the door to his lab open. Everything was as he left them, except for the experimantal time travel device. The activator button was depressed, meaning it had been used...

And suddenly Gohan knew where #17 and the kids were. Or rather he knew why they weren't here, but not where or when in time they were...

He paled. "Kami sama... What have I done?" Gohan whispered to himself.

Next: The wish

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Chapter 9: The wish

"What?!!" Vegeta's veins threatened to burst; they popped up visibly on his forehead. Bulma tried to calm him down, but she was rattled too at the thought of her children lost in some unknown dimension with no way of coming back.

Gohan slumped in his chair, his face in his hands. This is all my fault, he thought. He'd never forgive himself if anything happened to Pan.

ChiChi had fainted upon hearing the news. Videl took her mother-in-law to her room and put her to bed. She returned to where the others were and hugged Gohan, her eyes pleading. "Isn't there anything you can do to bring them back?"

Gohan shook his head. "Not unless I know exactly the time and dimension they're in. Even if I do, I'm not certain I can get them back."

Bulma's mind raced, thinking of all possible ways to bring the children back, but she knew Gohan was right. There are an infinite number of universes possible with time travel, and calculating the most possible one would be a monumental task, not counting finding a way to bring them back safely.

Kamesennin cleared his throat. "Why don't we use the Dragon Balls to wish them back?"

The two couples stared at him. Of course! They hadn't thought about the Dragon Balls. "Kamesennin, you're brilliant! I'll get the radar and we can start searching immediately," Bulma said, hopeful again.

As if on cue...

The sky suddenly darkened. In the middle of a fine sunny day, that could mean only one thing. Someone's using the dragonballs to make a wish. The five people stared at the sky for a moment. Then, "I thought only you had the Dragon Radar," Vegeta said to Bulma. "No," said Bulma weakly. "I'm not the only one. The Red Ribbon Army used to have one, and so did Pilaf..."

"Well, the Red Ribbon Army is gone," said Gohan, "so that leaves only Pilaf. Shenlong can grant three wishes. Maybe we can ask him to let us have one wish."

"Actually, we have to stop him," Bulma said. "I'll bet he's trying to wish to be the ruler of the world again."

At that moment, Goku suddenly appeared. "Hi guys! I saw the sky darken and thought you're making a wish. I came to see what's up."

"It's not us, Goku," Bulma said. "But we need to make a wish. Could you teleport us to whoever it is that's making the wish."

"Sure," Goku said, putting two fingers on his forehead as he concentrated to locate the dragon's ki. When he found it he teleported himself and the others to it. They disappeared from Goku's house--

--and appeared right in front of Shenlong. "What is your second wish?" Shenlong asked to the three people in front of him. One is a woman with long black hair, another a doglike creature and the third one was a short blue imp. They stared at the newcomers in shock.

"Go on sire, make your wish," Shuu whisperd to Pilaf. "We'll cover you." To Goku and the rest he said," Halt! In the name of Emperor Pilaf." But Pilaf was staring at one person in particular from the group. "It's him," he muttered to himself. "The boy who always foiled my plans for world domination. Now he's a grown-up and he's going to stop me again. I can't remember his name but I wish... I wish..."

"Hah!" said Vegeta, slightly peeved because Pilaf was so scared of Goku and completely ignored him. He stepped in front of Goku. "It is I, Prince Vegeta whom you should fear, and nobody is my emperor. Now hand over the--"

"I wish he were a kid again so I can defeat him!" Pilaf said, closing his eyes in anger and pointed to Goku. But as he was a short little imp, his finger didn't point high enough.

"Granted!" proclaimed Shenlong. "Now name your third wish."

"--dragon balls or--" Vegeta wondered why his voice suddenly sounded different.

Continued on the next chapter...

Next: Chibi Vegeta!

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Chapter 10: Chibi Vegeta!

And why was everybody staring at him?

"I said..." he tried again. His voice still sounded strange. Like a little kid's voice. That's it. He looked down at himself. He was a little kid again, wearing the kiddie-sized Saiyajin costume, complete with cape, armor and scouter. Vegeta was dumbfounded for a while. Then he got mad.

"What is your third wish?" Shenlong asked again.

Pilaf was still staring at Vegeta, who had turned into a little kid, and Goku who was still an adult. "No..." He grumbled. "That's not what I wished for. I wish..."

"You!" Vegeta yelled at Pilaf. "Turn me back to an adult this instant, or else." His ki started to rise. Eventhough he's a kid again, his power level wasn't affected.

"Vegeta, wait!" Bulma screamed, but it was too late.

"Granted!" Shenlong's voice boomed. "Your three wishes have been granted. Goodbye." And with that the magical dragon disappeared, the dragon balls scattered all over the earth, and the sky was bright again.

Vegeta was now in his adult form again. Everything was as it was before, except for one thing. "How dare you ruin my wishes." Pilaf said angrily. "Guards! Arrest these people!" he commanded to his two bodyguards. Of course, with just a flick of Vegeta's finger, both guards were down, unconscious.

"No..." Pilaf moaned, starting to feel really scared of Vegeta now. "You can't do this. I'm your emperor. I wished it and the dragon granted my wish. You have to obey me..." he whimpered.

"I told you," Vegeta said dangerously. "I am Prince Vegeta of the Planet Vegetasei and nobody is my emperor." And with that, he picked Pilaf by the cuffs around his neck and tossed him into oblivion. Vegeta dusted his hands and faced the others.

"Great. Now we have to wait another year to make the wish," Bulma said. "But you were a cute little boy, Vegeta," she smiled at her husband, who just grunted.

"By the way, what were you going to wish for?" Goku asked.

Gohan sighed. "Pan, Bra, Marron, Goten, Trunks and #17 are missing. They were accidentally transported to another timeline by my experimental time travel device. We were going to wish them back using the dragon balls," he explained to his father. This is all my fault, he thought again guiltily.

"Really?" Goku asked.

"Yes. Really." Vegeta answered, annoyed. "Try to detect their ki. It's nowhere on the planet."

Goku found that Vegeta was right. There was no trace of their ki whatsoever. It was as if they had vanished from the face of the earth.

"What do we do now?" Videl asked weakly.

"I'll get them back, even if it will take everything I have," Gohan swore. After all, this was all his fault, and he felt responsible.

"I'll help you," said Bulma. "Don't worry Videl. Goten, Trunks and #17 will take care of the girls. I'm sure they'll be fine wherever they are." She hoped she was right.

Next: Will our heroes make it home safely?