Once at an open training field, Hotaru did as she was told to do by Usagi. She immediately went to the side of the field and began to concentrate her energy all around her body. As she did that, she also concentrated it as lifting it up into the air, which is precisely what happened when she did that. "Look Guys! I'm doing it again."
Makoto looked up to Hotaru with a friendly smile. "It's amazing that you've only been teaching her for two days now and she already knows so much about Ki. You're really training her different than your dad did, aren't you?"
Usagi sat down and stretched her legs out away from her body as far as she could as she reached for her feet with her arms. "Yeah. I know dad doesn't totally agree with training her this way, but it's the only way I can do it since her dad doesn't want her to get hurt too bad. She needs to know what she's doing in order to do that." She smiled up at Hotaru, who, in return, smiled down to the rest of the group. "You're doing great! Just keep that up and you'll be doing better."
"K!" She nearly lost some of her height as she lost concentration with answering. "Oops."
"Concentration is the key." Usagi jumped to her feet. "Now let's get out there and have some FUN!" She ran to the center of the sparring field and waited for her friends.
Minako and Makoto turned to each other and nodded. "LET'S DO!" With on leap, the two girls were in the center of the field with Usagi.
Hotaru watched in interest as Rei and Ami joined the trio in the center. She couldn't wait to see what her FIVE new friends were capable of. She didn't know exactly to expect, but she knew that coming from them, it had to be something great.
Without words spoken either in the open or in secrete, the girls powered up to their max. All except Usagi, that is. While the girls powered to what was considered their 'Super' form, Usagi only powered up until she was on the brink of powering into a Super Saiyan. She never went further than that when she was fighting her friends as she didn't want to have an unfair advantage. But when she was fighting with any of the other Saiyans, all who were capable of being stronger than her, she didn't worry about such a tedious thing.
Hotaru definitely wasn't for that. She had not expected that the girls' energy would go from basically nothing to such a high level. It was overwhelming to her. She gasped out in surprise, loosing he concentration, and feel to the ground. 'What power.'
The girls playfully laughed at Hotaru as she just stared at them in awe. Usagi proceeded to walk over to her student. "Now you know why concentrating is important. Eventually, you'll get to the point where you wont even need to concentrate to float, but it's not a good idea to loose your concentration no matter what."
Hotaru could feel tears coming on as she looked into Usagi's eyes. "I'm sorry." 'They're laughing AT me.'
Usagi could sense uneasiness coming from the youngest girl there. She knew that the laughing didn't help either. "Don't be sorry. We've all had our fair share of that happening to us. Remember what I told you earlier about what happened to me in class?"
Hotaru covered her mouth with her hands to hold in a giggle that was bubbling it's way up. "Yeah. I'll try it again." Once again, she began to concentrate her energy as lifting her body up into the air. "But Usagi, you have to admit, your guys' power level is really big."
"Don't try telling that to anyone else."
"Why not?"
"No one but us seems to feel it. There are a couple of others who can feel it though. Like this guy Mamoru and these two girls, Haruka and Michiru." She turned around and slowly walked back to her friends as she thought about their power. 'Wait a minute…why can SHE feel the power if daddy can't feel it? Even Piccolo, Vejita, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Pan, and mom can't feel it. Why can SHE?! It doesn't make ANY sense. I guess I better tell daddy about this too. This girl is freakin me out.'
She looked up to the curious faces of her friends. "She FELT our power. That's why she fell down."
"Why are you saying it like it's a bad thing?"
Usagi turned her attention to Rei, who was almost pretty much in her face. "Well have you forgotten?! Remember when we got out of the room of spirit and time in the past? Dad and the others couldn't feel your new power. They said that we were full of ourselves. But Mamoru could feel it. And when we got back here and you guys powered up for them for a spar, they STILL couldn't feel it. Now don't you find it kind of weird that SHE can feel it but no one else can?"
Rei slowly turned her head to look at the child who was once again floating in the air, as did he friends. "That IS kind of strange, Usagi. But Mamoru, Haruka, and Michiru can feel it too? Why can only a select group of people feel it?"
"Hey, remember Cell and that hate energy we felt from him?"
Minako shuddered. "Makoto, how could anyone forget that? It had such a gloomy and dark feeling to it. It made me uncomfortable to be around him. All of his little 'children' also had that same feeling."
"But don't you find it odd that, again, only WE could feel that power? Just like with our power." Makoto looked down to the ground as the five of them pondered the situation.
It stayed pretty much silent for about five minutes until Usagi thought of something that would break the silence. "What about that queen that Cell talked about? We haven't heard anything from her since we defeated Cell Jr. Do you think that Cell was telling the truth, or just lying to us."
That was one subject that Ami had thought long and hard about since their arrival in the future. She didn't exactly think about it because she was concerned about her showing up. Actually, the truth was that she was worried about her coming. If Cell was under her, and he was as powerful as he was, then she would be even stronger and harder to beat. "I don't think he was lying. He wouldn't have any reason to."
~*~*~
Hotaru began to get bored with just watching her new friends stand around and talk. 'When are they going to do something? What are they talking about?' She looked down to her watch, which held the time of five . "USAGI! We only have and hour until daddy expects me home!"
Usagi turned to face Hotaru, who didn't look to happy. "Uh-oh! Only an hour!? We wasted the whole day already! Sorry Hotaru, you're going to have to wait to watch a fight. There's still one more thing you have to learn to do today before you get your ice cream that I promised you."
Hotaru's disappointment was soon cured by the word 'ice cream.' "ICE CREAM!" That time, she did not loose her concentration. She made sure that she would not.
Usagi motioned for her friends to follow her as she walked towards Hotaru, who was still very well floating in the air. "Hotaru I have something that you may like."
Hotaru perked up after hearing that. "What more could I want besides ICE CREAM?!"
Usagi grinned. "You wanna fly to my house when we get to the foothills of the mountain for some ice cream and so you can meet my dad?"
Hotaru dropped her concentration as she was once again overcome with happiness. Though this time it wasn't a surprise. This time, she had meant to drop her concentration. As a result, she landed more gracefully, to add to it, she actually landed on her feet. "THREE THINGS!? YAY! YES! YES! I WANNA FLY TO YOUR HOUSE!" The girls couldn't help but giggle at Hotaru's enthusiasm. Even though they had not known her for more than a few hours they had already come to like the girl.
Usagi couldn't wait to have her father and new friend meet each other. She wanted to show her father all that the young fighter had learned in such a short time. "Hop on my back and we'll run to the foothills. Is that alright with you guys? I mean, since we didn't really get to spar, we still need some sort of work out otherwise dad will get mad at us for not training enough."
"That sounds fine to me, Usagi. I haven't really trained since last Thursday anyway. And then Friday, well you know what happened at the arcade."
Usagi grinned as she thought back to the arcade. "You know Minako, when I get more money, I am SO going to play you at that game and I'm going to BEAT you! Just wait until Friday when I get my allowance from mom. You are SO going down."
Minako put her hands to her waist as she slowly approached Usagi in an intimidating way. "You keep telling yourself that, girl. No one will EVER beat my score on that game."
Hotaru began to get jealous she listened to Usagi and Minako argue. She wished that she was better friends with these girls so she could do that. "Let's go Usagi. I want to fly and then eat ICE CREAM!"
Usagi quieted down as she looked over her shoulder at Hotaru, who was beginning to grow weary of waiting. "Fine, fine. I guess we shouldn't make you wait any longer. Hey guys," She looked back to her friends. "Let's make this a game. Let's race there. I'll beat you ALL in a heart beat."
Makoto rolled her eyes at that. "Yeah, yeah. Sure you will, Usagi. You've got yourself a deal."
Hotaru wrapped her arms around Usagi's neck for she knew that they were going to be going at an unimaginable fast speed. "Be careful you guys."
"Don't worry, Hotaru. Usagi wont let you fall." Rei gave Usagi a quick glare. "RIGHT?!"
"Of course not! I would NEVER hurt Hotaru on purpose. I know what I'm doing. Don't start doubting me now. That's for Piccolo to do and you know it."
"Usagi, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, Hotaru. What's on your mind?"
"Right before you said that your friends were officially coming, why did you put your fingers on the side of your head?"
Usagi smiled softly. "Well Hotaru, the five of us have this sort of link that let's us talk to each other even when we're not around each other. Normally we only use it in case of emergencies because it takes a lot of energy."
Hotaru's eyes grew wide and replied without thinking about what she was saying. "Can I join?" She quickly rethought her reply as the faces of her new friends turned somewhat shocked. She felt somewhat left out by their hesitation but understood why they didn't appear to want her in it. "I'm sorry, guys. I shouldn't have asked. This is something special. You don't have to let me in." She let a weak, but fake, smile appear on her face so that none of them would feel sorry for her.
Ami put her index and middle fingers to her head and opened up the link as she raised her power level. 'What should we do? I don't really mind letting her in because, for some reason, I feel close to her.'
Makoto mimicked Ami's movement. 'I don't mind either because I feel the same. It's like I know her from somewhere.'
Minako could see sadness written all over Hotaru's face as no one spoke. They were all to busy conversing about the situation. 'We better think of what to say quick before Hotaru gets really upset. I don't think any of us mind letting he in, I just think we all know what's stopping us.'
Rei let her mind wander from the conversation and looked up to Hotaru. For some reason, ever since she had met her at the park, she had felt a strange power emitting from the child. It wasn't just any old normal power, either. It felt as if it had the potential to become larger than her own in no time. But it wasn't the potential that worried her. It was the feel of the power. It had a dark feeling to it. The feeling of destruction, though, not as horrid as Cell's. She just didn't understand how anything so sweet could have such a feeling to it. 'I think we should try it, girls. Somehow she can feel our true powers even though no one else can. Who knows, she may even be able to be brought into the link.'
'Good thinking Rei.' Usagi nodded in agreement as she broke the link by opening her mouth to answer. "Hotaru, we don't mind letting you in. We would love to let you in. It's just that we have never been able to add anyone else to the link. The closest we came to the link was mom, and even then she didn't quite fit in. When we tried putting dad in, we really had a problem. We almost got him in, but right before it was completed, his power did something and rushed through us all and shorted everyone out of their own power."
"Even though we have failed twice before, we have all agreed to give it a try. But we'll have to do it tomorrow since we don't have much time." Usagi smiled when she saw Hotaru's face light up with excitement.
"I think that we should all think about this tonight. We should completely think this through and make sure this is all what we want. Especially you, Hotaru. This is a big step for you and we want you to be sure that it's what you really want." Ami hoped that the link would work. As Usagi had said, they had had two failed attempts of additions, she didn't want another one. She especially hoped that it would work with Hotaru for if it did not, she feared that the youngster would be heart broken.
"Well girls, we should get going. It's a fifteen minute run from here to the foothills."
Hotaru's eyes widened with fascination. "Only fifteen minutes from here to the foothills?! The mountain is a LONG ways away from here though."
Makoto grinned at the flabbergasted expression on Hotaru's face. "Usagi's is exaggerating." Hotaru's face calmed down as she thought that Makoto was going to come up with a more reasonable term. "It's more like ten."
Hotaru immediately became speechless as she tightened her grip on Usagi. "I'm gonna die today."
Usagi laughed as she set out at one of her fastest paces with her friends by her side. She would have gone her fastest, but she didn't want to leave everyone behind. "You're not going to die. Now let's pick up the pace. It's going to take a while to get home once we reach the foothills."
The other four nodded as they powered back up to their fullest and dashed out in front of Usagi. "You AREN'T beating me!" She too powered up to being back on the verge of becoming Super Saiyan again and pushed her way through Ami and Minako. "See you later, slowpokes!"
Hotaru struggled to turn around and look at Makoto, who was hot on their tails. "Usagi! Makoto's catching up!"
Usagi grinned. "Is that a fact…" Without taking her eyes off of where she was going, she took one of her arms out from under Hotaru's leg and faced it behind her towards Makoto. She began using some of her Ki to hold Hotaru in place. "She's not going to win." With that a rather small golden ball of energy built up in her hand.
Hotaru gasped as Usagi let go of the energy upon Makoto. "WOW! THAT WAS AWESOME!"
Makoto easily dodged the attack and jumped to Usagi's side. "So you want to play dirty, do you?" She extended her arm to her side and pulled back her forearm back, leaving her elbow out. "Move outta the way. You're taking up space." She moved to Usagi and rammed her elbow into the girl's side, causing her to nearly completely loose her footing.
Seeing Usagi stumbling around, Rei took her opportunity to jump over Usagi and take her place as second. "You're pitiful today, Usagi."
Once she regained her footing, she reentered the race. Because of Makoto, she was already in last place. "You guys want a piece of me!?"
Hotaru perked up as she saw the area where the foothills of the mountain started. "Quick, Usagi! We're almost there! You're going to loose! Speed up!"
Usagi smirked. "No I'm not! I can't loose! Especially to Minako!" Her aura flamed around her body, along with Hotaru, as she gave herself an energy boost to catch up to her friends. "Hotaru! Hold on tighter! I'll try to hold you on with my energy!"
"What!?" She turned her attention ahead to where a red ball of energy had crashed into a tree.
"Trust me!" Once she felt Hotaru tighten her grasp, she pulled her arms out from holding Hotaru. "This wont take long!" She extended her arms on either side of her and increased her speed. She could feel Hotaru tensing up. "Don't worry. If I feel you slipping, I'll grab you. I wont let you fall." She built up two golden balls of energy in both of her hands as she came up from behind Rei and Ami. "Think fast!"
Rei and Ami slightly turned their head to get a quick look at Usagi. "Huh!?"
Usagi grinned as she smashed her hands into the backs of her two friends, causing them to fall to the ground. "Weren't you just in second place before I got left behind?!" She quickly put her hands back under Hotaru's legs so she wouldn't fall.
Rei and Ami smirked at each other as the agreed upon attacking with no words. In a flash of red and blue, the two girls each shot an attack at Usagi.
Right before the two attacks hit her, Usagi jumped up, barely missing a hit. "Ha, ha, ha!" She and Hotaru both laughed as they watched the attacks spiral towards Makoto, hitting their target when they got there.
"Look, Usagi. Only Minako is left."
"Hey Hotaru. You wanna try to fire something at her?"
"What?! I can't do it! I can barely hover."
"Whatever. You can hover just fine. That's why we're letting you fly to my house. Now come on before we reach the foothills. We have just enough time for you to fire one attack."
Hotaru glanced over her shoulder when she felt three power levels rapidly rising behind them. "I don't know if I can, Usagi. Don't count on me to do it."
"Don't worry, I wont get mad if you mess up. Everyone messes up at first. Come on! Do it before something happens."
Not wanting to disappoint her friend, Hotaru took one of he hands away from Usagi and held it out to face Minako, who was just about at the end of the run. "Here I go!" With that, she quickly concentrated her energy into a small ball just as if she were going to be flying.
Usagi quietly gasped at the power that Hotaru seemed to hold. It was much too high for a beginner. "You're doing good. Now just release the energy and you'll be doing better." 'Why is it so strong? It's almost as strong as the girls' Super power. WOW! I wonder if daddy felt that. Or even any of the others.'
"Ok!" She did as her Sensei directed and fired her purple ball of energy at Minako, who, in return, jumped into the air to dodge it. "NO!"
Minako grinned as she landed for she had reached the foothills before any of her other friends. "I BEAT YOU! IN YOUR FACE!" She began to do a wild little victory dance as she threw her arms all about.
Usagi mischievously glared at her friend as she slowed down to a complete halt and let Hotaru slide down to her feet. "Quit bragging."
Minako stuck her tongue out at Usagi as she giggled. "You're just mad that you didn't beat me. I'm better at video games AND real racing. I thought you were supposed to be a Super Saiyan, but look at you, you can't even beat a puny human like me."
The other three girls arrived shortly after, all were panting from the run. Makoto laughed at Usagi's loss. "Man, Usagi. I guess we can add that to the many losses you've already suffered."
"Shut up, Makoto. I don't loose all the time."
"Well I guess we have to give you that one. You do win a lot. But not all the time. We actually gave you a run for you money this round though. And look at it this way, Hotaru learned how to make a fast Ki attack."
Ami nodded. "And powerful at that. Hotaru, how did you do it?"
Hotaru blushed with embarrassment as all of a sudden everyone was becoming amazed over her new skill. "I don't know. I just did it. Usagi told me to try and fire it at her, and I did."
"Well Hotaru, you did a good job. You should be very proud of yourself." Ami, much like Usagi, found it quite strange that Hotaru had such a powerful attack. But aside from being curious, she was also somewhat jealous. She wished that she had been that powerful when she was first starting out.
Hotaru smiled. "Thank you, Ami."
"Girls, we have to get to my house before it's too late. It will take a while to get there since Hotaru isn't as fast as us…yet."
Hotaru couldn't have been happier that Usagi, and even the others, had so much faith in her. "You guys are the best." Everyone was stunned by that. They had definitely not been ready for something like that to just come out. Hotaru could see the confusion in her new friends eyes. By seeing that, she knew that she should probably try and justify herself. "You are the only people, besides Mrs. Bulma and my daddy, who haven't been afraid to be around me. You are the only ones who have ever taken the time to get to know me, before you pass judgment. I just wanted to thank you and tell you that I HAVE HAD SO MUCH FUN TODAY!"
Minako laughed at the child's enthusiasm as she patted her on the back. "You're welcome Hotaru. We've all been down the same road that you have. At least more than once in our lives, we have all been made fun of by the others around us."
Hotaru's eyes became watery as she looked down to the ground with sadness. "Probably not as bad as I have."
"Did Usagi ever tell you what happened to us on the second day of our first year in school? We got totally beaten up by these two bullies. Usagi was being picked on non stop for two days by virtually the whole school. It was horrible. That's why we decided to fight. We wanted to be able to defend ourselves."
"That's horrible." Hotaru looked up to Usagi, who seemed to be saddened just by thinking about the memories.
"But that's ok because we have each other. We don't really ever pay attention to people who try to make us feel bad anymore. We just ignore them."
Hotaru hoped that she would be able to ignore the kids at her own school. But their taunts came at her every time she wasn't in class. She had always been afraid to leave for recess or after school. "I'll try to be more like you guys." She looked down to her watch to see how much time they had left before she were to be home. "You guys, we only have forty-five minutes before I have to get home. I don't think we're going to make it in time. I'll just slow you up."
"Yeah, I remember how slow we all were when we first started learning. But I told Hotaru that she could fly today. Hey, do you think your dad would mind if we kept you out a little later than six if we ask him?"
Hotaru smiled. "I don't think he'll mind. But do you guys actually want me to hang out with you guys when you don't have to watch me?"
Usagi let on a slight frown. "Of course we do! You ARE our friend you know."
Hotaru smiled as she threw herself onto Usagi and hugged her as tightly as she could. "Thanks!"
"Welcome!" It was at that moment that Usagi realized that she was actually getting quite close to Hotaru. It was also that moment that Usagi realized that she REALLY did want a little sister. "We can teleport to my house then and you can meet my dad and have some ice cream."
Hotaru giggled. "ICE CREAM!"
~*~*~
~~The Son Household~~
Goku had just finished up with taking a shower after a long day of training as he walked into the kitchen where a sweet aroma of his wife's cooking called to him. "Mmm…Chi-Chi, that smells good." He walked to the stove where his dinner was cooking in a pan. "Is this going to be ready soon?" He reached out for a container of food that didn't need to be cooked, but just heated up.
Chi-Chi frowned as she punched Goku in the arm. "GET AWAY FROM THAT!" She turned to him and pushed him away. "Get out of here! Go eat some wild animals like you used to if you're THAT hungry. We aren't eating until your daughter gets home!"
Goku rubbed his arm as she sadly walked away with his head hung low. "Gees Chi-Chi, you don't have to get rough." His head quickly perked up as he felt his daughter's energy signature appear in their family room. "Usagi's here! Can we eat now!?"
Chi-Chi looked to the clock that was on the stove. "Why is she home now? She still has forty minutes before Hotaru has to be home." She turned to the doorway that let out from the kitchen to the family room. "Looks like she brought her friends with her. How could she have done that?! She knows better than to bring them home for dinner without asking."
Usagi skipped into the kitchen to be face to face with his father, who was nearly drooling he was so hungry. "Hey daddy! Hey mom! I'm home!"
Chi-Chi put one of her hands on her waist as she proceeded to stir her food around with her other hand. "What are you doing home so early? You still have almost an hour before Hotaru has to be home. Is she here with you? And most of all, why did you bring the others with you? You know how I feel about that."
"We're not going to be staying." She jerked back when she began to get an evil glare from her mother. "Whoa mom. It's ok. We still have something we need to do with Hotaru before then, is that ok?"
"You watch what you're saying there, young lady." Usagi looked to her father in confusion as she didn't have the slightest idea what she had said wrong. In return, he only shrugged. "You don't just go and make plans without consulting us first. Now what do you have to do? Girls! You can come in here! You don't have to be shy!" She watched as four girls basically waddled their way into the kitchen.
Usagi slowly inched her way to the doorway that led out into the family room. "Just a minute mom." She turned around and walked out.
Usagi doing that only mad Chi-Chi madder. "That girl is really skating on thin ice. She can't just put me on hold when I ask her a question."
"Chi-Chi, don't be so hard on her. She's not doing it to make you mad."
Chi-Chi frowned harder as she turned to her husband, who appeared to be serious with his scolding of her. "Don't you start with me." The two of them turned their heads back to the doorway as their attention was caught by their daughter walking back in the room with another girl, who came up just below her chest, by her side. Chi-Chi put on a friendly smile. "Hotaru, how have you been doing?"
"GREAT!" She chirped in reply.
Usagi took Hotaru by the hand and lead her to stand in front of her father. "Hotaru, this is my dad. Daddy, this is Hotaru."
Goku smiled as he extended Hotaru his hand. "How do you do? Usagi has told me a lot about you."
Hotaru reached out and met Goku's hand for a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Son."
Goku chuckled. "Mr.? You don't have to be so formal about it. Just call me Goku. I only make teachers call me by Mr." 'What a grip. That's not just any grip. Where did a human of her age get so strong in such a short amount of time?'
Hotaru giggled. "Alright…Goku."
Usagi ran to the table and sat down in her spot. "Mom, can you get Hotaru some ice cream. I said she could have some since she did a good job at training."
Hotaru jumped to Usagi's side and rested her elbows on the table. "ICE CREAM!"
"Usagi, dinner isn't going to cook itself."
"Please mom?"
"Why can't you do it?"
"Because whenever I try to, you always yell at me for being in your way."
"She's got a point there." Goku walked over to the table where a pile of papers were sitting and sat down. He began to shuffle through the papers until he came across a flyer of some sort.
Chi-Chi shot a piercing glare over to her husband. "You shut up. Fine Usagi, I'll get her some ice cream." Annoyed, Chi-Chi threw down her cooking utensils and walked to the freezer and proceeded to pull out the ice cream. "Is strawberry ok, Hotaru?"
"Strawberry is my favorite!"
While Chi-Chi was away from the stove, Makoto decided to go over and see what it was that she was cooking. It smelled wonderful and she couldn't keep herself from seeing what it was. When she got there, she found that it was a kind of stew. One of the many dishes of Chi-Chi's that Makoto loved to eat whenever she was there. 'Hmm…I wonder what would happen if I put this in here.' She reached up to the spice rack and pulled out a random spice and poured some of it in. She then dipped a spoon in it to get a taste. "YUM!!!" She quickly covered her mouth, hoping that Chi-Chi didn't realize what she was saying that too.
It was too late. Chi-Chi had seen Makoto over by her dinner. "MAKOTO!" She dropped the carton of ice cream and ran to the stove, pushing Makoto away when she got there. "What did you do to it?!" She stirred it around a bit. "Makoto, I know you like to cook, but DON'T experiment on MY dinner. I wont be able to get these guys to eat it if it doesn't taste good. Wait, Goku will eat anything, but Usagi wont." She glared at Makoto as she tested it to see what the results of Makoto's actions were. "WOW! This IS good. What did you put in it?" Makoto just blankly stared at Chi-Chi as she shrugged. "Well what ever you did, it's really good."
Usagi turned her attention away from her mother and Makoto onto her father, who was still holding the flyer in his hands. "What's that, daddy?"
"Huh?" Goku looked up to see the curious face of his daughter. "Oh this? Actually, I think it's something you may like."
"Ooh, ooh, what is it?"
"Seems like Mr. Satan is holding some sort of kids tournament in a couple of weeks for ages five through twenty. He wants to let the 'young-ins' try their luck at beating him. What a weird word."
"Would the winner be fighting Satan?"
Minako grinned. She knew that Usagi would take ANY chance she got to expose Satan for the fraud he was. "Going to have yourself a little fun are you?"
Hotaru's eyes got as wide as possible as a giant bowl of strawberry ice cream with whip cream on it was placed before her. "WOW! THANKS MRS. SON!" She immediately began digging in and blanked out the conversation around her.
Goku laughed at Hotaru's eagerness to eat the ice cream. "Looks like she's enjoying herself."
"Of course she is, daddy. It's ice cream. Everyone likes ice cream. Now then. Does the winner get to fight Mr. Satan? I have to know."
Goku grinned. "Yes."
"I am SO entering this little tournament then. I'm going to beat him once and for all. If Gohan wants to let him go around and lie that's his business. But I'm not going to let him!" Usagi paused for a moment as she looked down at Hotaru, who had ice cream all over her face. "Hey, why don't we have Hotaru enter?"
Goku looked down to Hotaru. "Will she be ready? I mean, you are training her differently than you were trained. You're training her 'gently'."
Usagi frowned as she looked up to her father. "Don't knock it, daddy. She's doing really good so far."
Hotaru looked up just as she was putting in the last spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. "I am?"
"Yep! You wanna show daddy how much you've learned? We still have twenty minutes before your dad expects you home."
"That's enough time to FLY!" Hotaru jumped out of her chair. "I WANNA FLY!" She ran like a maniac out of the room.
"Guess that's a yes, right, daddy?" Usagi, too, got up from her chair and walked out of the kitchen to join her student. Her friends were soon to follow.
Goku stood up from his spot and turned to his wife. "That girl reminds me of someone."
"Usagi when she was first learning?"
"That would be correct. She's just as eager."
"You better get out there before Usagi comes in here and complains that you're taking too long."
"Gotcha." Goku walked out of the kitchen into the family room to join his daughter and her friends. "Well let's get outside to see what she's learned so far." 'Too many girls.' He proceeded to follow the six of them outside to see what Hotaru could do.
(Well there's, yet again, another part. What did you think? Was it ok? Gotta Go. Ja )
Makoto looked up to Hotaru with a friendly smile. "It's amazing that you've only been teaching her for two days now and she already knows so much about Ki. You're really training her different than your dad did, aren't you?"
Usagi sat down and stretched her legs out away from her body as far as she could as she reached for her feet with her arms. "Yeah. I know dad doesn't totally agree with training her this way, but it's the only way I can do it since her dad doesn't want her to get hurt too bad. She needs to know what she's doing in order to do that." She smiled up at Hotaru, who, in return, smiled down to the rest of the group. "You're doing great! Just keep that up and you'll be doing better."
"K!" She nearly lost some of her height as she lost concentration with answering. "Oops."
"Concentration is the key." Usagi jumped to her feet. "Now let's get out there and have some FUN!" She ran to the center of the sparring field and waited for her friends.
Minako and Makoto turned to each other and nodded. "LET'S DO!" With on leap, the two girls were in the center of the field with Usagi.
Hotaru watched in interest as Rei and Ami joined the trio in the center. She couldn't wait to see what her FIVE new friends were capable of. She didn't know exactly to expect, but she knew that coming from them, it had to be something great.
Without words spoken either in the open or in secrete, the girls powered up to their max. All except Usagi, that is. While the girls powered to what was considered their 'Super' form, Usagi only powered up until she was on the brink of powering into a Super Saiyan. She never went further than that when she was fighting her friends as she didn't want to have an unfair advantage. But when she was fighting with any of the other Saiyans, all who were capable of being stronger than her, she didn't worry about such a tedious thing.
Hotaru definitely wasn't for that. She had not expected that the girls' energy would go from basically nothing to such a high level. It was overwhelming to her. She gasped out in surprise, loosing he concentration, and feel to the ground. 'What power.'
The girls playfully laughed at Hotaru as she just stared at them in awe. Usagi proceeded to walk over to her student. "Now you know why concentrating is important. Eventually, you'll get to the point where you wont even need to concentrate to float, but it's not a good idea to loose your concentration no matter what."
Hotaru could feel tears coming on as she looked into Usagi's eyes. "I'm sorry." 'They're laughing AT me.'
Usagi could sense uneasiness coming from the youngest girl there. She knew that the laughing didn't help either. "Don't be sorry. We've all had our fair share of that happening to us. Remember what I told you earlier about what happened to me in class?"
Hotaru covered her mouth with her hands to hold in a giggle that was bubbling it's way up. "Yeah. I'll try it again." Once again, she began to concentrate her energy as lifting her body up into the air. "But Usagi, you have to admit, your guys' power level is really big."
"Don't try telling that to anyone else."
"Why not?"
"No one but us seems to feel it. There are a couple of others who can feel it though. Like this guy Mamoru and these two girls, Haruka and Michiru." She turned around and slowly walked back to her friends as she thought about their power. 'Wait a minute…why can SHE feel the power if daddy can't feel it? Even Piccolo, Vejita, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Pan, and mom can't feel it. Why can SHE?! It doesn't make ANY sense. I guess I better tell daddy about this too. This girl is freakin me out.'
She looked up to the curious faces of her friends. "She FELT our power. That's why she fell down."
"Why are you saying it like it's a bad thing?"
Usagi turned her attention to Rei, who was almost pretty much in her face. "Well have you forgotten?! Remember when we got out of the room of spirit and time in the past? Dad and the others couldn't feel your new power. They said that we were full of ourselves. But Mamoru could feel it. And when we got back here and you guys powered up for them for a spar, they STILL couldn't feel it. Now don't you find it kind of weird that SHE can feel it but no one else can?"
Rei slowly turned her head to look at the child who was once again floating in the air, as did he friends. "That IS kind of strange, Usagi. But Mamoru, Haruka, and Michiru can feel it too? Why can only a select group of people feel it?"
"Hey, remember Cell and that hate energy we felt from him?"
Minako shuddered. "Makoto, how could anyone forget that? It had such a gloomy and dark feeling to it. It made me uncomfortable to be around him. All of his little 'children' also had that same feeling."
"But don't you find it odd that, again, only WE could feel that power? Just like with our power." Makoto looked down to the ground as the five of them pondered the situation.
It stayed pretty much silent for about five minutes until Usagi thought of something that would break the silence. "What about that queen that Cell talked about? We haven't heard anything from her since we defeated Cell Jr. Do you think that Cell was telling the truth, or just lying to us."
That was one subject that Ami had thought long and hard about since their arrival in the future. She didn't exactly think about it because she was concerned about her showing up. Actually, the truth was that she was worried about her coming. If Cell was under her, and he was as powerful as he was, then she would be even stronger and harder to beat. "I don't think he was lying. He wouldn't have any reason to."
~*~*~
Hotaru began to get bored with just watching her new friends stand around and talk. 'When are they going to do something? What are they talking about?' She looked down to her watch, which held the time of five . "USAGI! We only have and hour until daddy expects me home!"
Usagi turned to face Hotaru, who didn't look to happy. "Uh-oh! Only an hour!? We wasted the whole day already! Sorry Hotaru, you're going to have to wait to watch a fight. There's still one more thing you have to learn to do today before you get your ice cream that I promised you."
Hotaru's disappointment was soon cured by the word 'ice cream.' "ICE CREAM!" That time, she did not loose her concentration. She made sure that she would not.
Usagi motioned for her friends to follow her as she walked towards Hotaru, who was still very well floating in the air. "Hotaru I have something that you may like."
Hotaru perked up after hearing that. "What more could I want besides ICE CREAM?!"
Usagi grinned. "You wanna fly to my house when we get to the foothills of the mountain for some ice cream and so you can meet my dad?"
Hotaru dropped her concentration as she was once again overcome with happiness. Though this time it wasn't a surprise. This time, she had meant to drop her concentration. As a result, she landed more gracefully, to add to it, she actually landed on her feet. "THREE THINGS!? YAY! YES! YES! I WANNA FLY TO YOUR HOUSE!" The girls couldn't help but giggle at Hotaru's enthusiasm. Even though they had not known her for more than a few hours they had already come to like the girl.
Usagi couldn't wait to have her father and new friend meet each other. She wanted to show her father all that the young fighter had learned in such a short time. "Hop on my back and we'll run to the foothills. Is that alright with you guys? I mean, since we didn't really get to spar, we still need some sort of work out otherwise dad will get mad at us for not training enough."
"That sounds fine to me, Usagi. I haven't really trained since last Thursday anyway. And then Friday, well you know what happened at the arcade."
Usagi grinned as she thought back to the arcade. "You know Minako, when I get more money, I am SO going to play you at that game and I'm going to BEAT you! Just wait until Friday when I get my allowance from mom. You are SO going down."
Minako put her hands to her waist as she slowly approached Usagi in an intimidating way. "You keep telling yourself that, girl. No one will EVER beat my score on that game."
Hotaru began to get jealous she listened to Usagi and Minako argue. She wished that she was better friends with these girls so she could do that. "Let's go Usagi. I want to fly and then eat ICE CREAM!"
Usagi quieted down as she looked over her shoulder at Hotaru, who was beginning to grow weary of waiting. "Fine, fine. I guess we shouldn't make you wait any longer. Hey guys," She looked back to her friends. "Let's make this a game. Let's race there. I'll beat you ALL in a heart beat."
Makoto rolled her eyes at that. "Yeah, yeah. Sure you will, Usagi. You've got yourself a deal."
Hotaru wrapped her arms around Usagi's neck for she knew that they were going to be going at an unimaginable fast speed. "Be careful you guys."
"Don't worry, Hotaru. Usagi wont let you fall." Rei gave Usagi a quick glare. "RIGHT?!"
"Of course not! I would NEVER hurt Hotaru on purpose. I know what I'm doing. Don't start doubting me now. That's for Piccolo to do and you know it."
"Usagi, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, Hotaru. What's on your mind?"
"Right before you said that your friends were officially coming, why did you put your fingers on the side of your head?"
Usagi smiled softly. "Well Hotaru, the five of us have this sort of link that let's us talk to each other even when we're not around each other. Normally we only use it in case of emergencies because it takes a lot of energy."
Hotaru's eyes grew wide and replied without thinking about what she was saying. "Can I join?" She quickly rethought her reply as the faces of her new friends turned somewhat shocked. She felt somewhat left out by their hesitation but understood why they didn't appear to want her in it. "I'm sorry, guys. I shouldn't have asked. This is something special. You don't have to let me in." She let a weak, but fake, smile appear on her face so that none of them would feel sorry for her.
Ami put her index and middle fingers to her head and opened up the link as she raised her power level. 'What should we do? I don't really mind letting her in because, for some reason, I feel close to her.'
Makoto mimicked Ami's movement. 'I don't mind either because I feel the same. It's like I know her from somewhere.'
Minako could see sadness written all over Hotaru's face as no one spoke. They were all to busy conversing about the situation. 'We better think of what to say quick before Hotaru gets really upset. I don't think any of us mind letting he in, I just think we all know what's stopping us.'
Rei let her mind wander from the conversation and looked up to Hotaru. For some reason, ever since she had met her at the park, she had felt a strange power emitting from the child. It wasn't just any old normal power, either. It felt as if it had the potential to become larger than her own in no time. But it wasn't the potential that worried her. It was the feel of the power. It had a dark feeling to it. The feeling of destruction, though, not as horrid as Cell's. She just didn't understand how anything so sweet could have such a feeling to it. 'I think we should try it, girls. Somehow she can feel our true powers even though no one else can. Who knows, she may even be able to be brought into the link.'
'Good thinking Rei.' Usagi nodded in agreement as she broke the link by opening her mouth to answer. "Hotaru, we don't mind letting you in. We would love to let you in. It's just that we have never been able to add anyone else to the link. The closest we came to the link was mom, and even then she didn't quite fit in. When we tried putting dad in, we really had a problem. We almost got him in, but right before it was completed, his power did something and rushed through us all and shorted everyone out of their own power."
"Even though we have failed twice before, we have all agreed to give it a try. But we'll have to do it tomorrow since we don't have much time." Usagi smiled when she saw Hotaru's face light up with excitement.
"I think that we should all think about this tonight. We should completely think this through and make sure this is all what we want. Especially you, Hotaru. This is a big step for you and we want you to be sure that it's what you really want." Ami hoped that the link would work. As Usagi had said, they had had two failed attempts of additions, she didn't want another one. She especially hoped that it would work with Hotaru for if it did not, she feared that the youngster would be heart broken.
"Well girls, we should get going. It's a fifteen minute run from here to the foothills."
Hotaru's eyes widened with fascination. "Only fifteen minutes from here to the foothills?! The mountain is a LONG ways away from here though."
Makoto grinned at the flabbergasted expression on Hotaru's face. "Usagi's is exaggerating." Hotaru's face calmed down as she thought that Makoto was going to come up with a more reasonable term. "It's more like ten."
Hotaru immediately became speechless as she tightened her grip on Usagi. "I'm gonna die today."
Usagi laughed as she set out at one of her fastest paces with her friends by her side. She would have gone her fastest, but she didn't want to leave everyone behind. "You're not going to die. Now let's pick up the pace. It's going to take a while to get home once we reach the foothills."
The other four nodded as they powered back up to their fullest and dashed out in front of Usagi. "You AREN'T beating me!" She too powered up to being back on the verge of becoming Super Saiyan again and pushed her way through Ami and Minako. "See you later, slowpokes!"
Hotaru struggled to turn around and look at Makoto, who was hot on their tails. "Usagi! Makoto's catching up!"
Usagi grinned. "Is that a fact…" Without taking her eyes off of where she was going, she took one of her arms out from under Hotaru's leg and faced it behind her towards Makoto. She began using some of her Ki to hold Hotaru in place. "She's not going to win." With that a rather small golden ball of energy built up in her hand.
Hotaru gasped as Usagi let go of the energy upon Makoto. "WOW! THAT WAS AWESOME!"
Makoto easily dodged the attack and jumped to Usagi's side. "So you want to play dirty, do you?" She extended her arm to her side and pulled back her forearm back, leaving her elbow out. "Move outta the way. You're taking up space." She moved to Usagi and rammed her elbow into the girl's side, causing her to nearly completely loose her footing.
Seeing Usagi stumbling around, Rei took her opportunity to jump over Usagi and take her place as second. "You're pitiful today, Usagi."
Once she regained her footing, she reentered the race. Because of Makoto, she was already in last place. "You guys want a piece of me!?"
Hotaru perked up as she saw the area where the foothills of the mountain started. "Quick, Usagi! We're almost there! You're going to loose! Speed up!"
Usagi smirked. "No I'm not! I can't loose! Especially to Minako!" Her aura flamed around her body, along with Hotaru, as she gave herself an energy boost to catch up to her friends. "Hotaru! Hold on tighter! I'll try to hold you on with my energy!"
"What!?" She turned her attention ahead to where a red ball of energy had crashed into a tree.
"Trust me!" Once she felt Hotaru tighten her grasp, she pulled her arms out from holding Hotaru. "This wont take long!" She extended her arms on either side of her and increased her speed. She could feel Hotaru tensing up. "Don't worry. If I feel you slipping, I'll grab you. I wont let you fall." She built up two golden balls of energy in both of her hands as she came up from behind Rei and Ami. "Think fast!"
Rei and Ami slightly turned their head to get a quick look at Usagi. "Huh!?"
Usagi grinned as she smashed her hands into the backs of her two friends, causing them to fall to the ground. "Weren't you just in second place before I got left behind?!" She quickly put her hands back under Hotaru's legs so she wouldn't fall.
Rei and Ami smirked at each other as the agreed upon attacking with no words. In a flash of red and blue, the two girls each shot an attack at Usagi.
Right before the two attacks hit her, Usagi jumped up, barely missing a hit. "Ha, ha, ha!" She and Hotaru both laughed as they watched the attacks spiral towards Makoto, hitting their target when they got there.
"Look, Usagi. Only Minako is left."
"Hey Hotaru. You wanna try to fire something at her?"
"What?! I can't do it! I can barely hover."
"Whatever. You can hover just fine. That's why we're letting you fly to my house. Now come on before we reach the foothills. We have just enough time for you to fire one attack."
Hotaru glanced over her shoulder when she felt three power levels rapidly rising behind them. "I don't know if I can, Usagi. Don't count on me to do it."
"Don't worry, I wont get mad if you mess up. Everyone messes up at first. Come on! Do it before something happens."
Not wanting to disappoint her friend, Hotaru took one of he hands away from Usagi and held it out to face Minako, who was just about at the end of the run. "Here I go!" With that, she quickly concentrated her energy into a small ball just as if she were going to be flying.
Usagi quietly gasped at the power that Hotaru seemed to hold. It was much too high for a beginner. "You're doing good. Now just release the energy and you'll be doing better." 'Why is it so strong? It's almost as strong as the girls' Super power. WOW! I wonder if daddy felt that. Or even any of the others.'
"Ok!" She did as her Sensei directed and fired her purple ball of energy at Minako, who, in return, jumped into the air to dodge it. "NO!"
Minako grinned as she landed for she had reached the foothills before any of her other friends. "I BEAT YOU! IN YOUR FACE!" She began to do a wild little victory dance as she threw her arms all about.
Usagi mischievously glared at her friend as she slowed down to a complete halt and let Hotaru slide down to her feet. "Quit bragging."
Minako stuck her tongue out at Usagi as she giggled. "You're just mad that you didn't beat me. I'm better at video games AND real racing. I thought you were supposed to be a Super Saiyan, but look at you, you can't even beat a puny human like me."
The other three girls arrived shortly after, all were panting from the run. Makoto laughed at Usagi's loss. "Man, Usagi. I guess we can add that to the many losses you've already suffered."
"Shut up, Makoto. I don't loose all the time."
"Well I guess we have to give you that one. You do win a lot. But not all the time. We actually gave you a run for you money this round though. And look at it this way, Hotaru learned how to make a fast Ki attack."
Ami nodded. "And powerful at that. Hotaru, how did you do it?"
Hotaru blushed with embarrassment as all of a sudden everyone was becoming amazed over her new skill. "I don't know. I just did it. Usagi told me to try and fire it at her, and I did."
"Well Hotaru, you did a good job. You should be very proud of yourself." Ami, much like Usagi, found it quite strange that Hotaru had such a powerful attack. But aside from being curious, she was also somewhat jealous. She wished that she had been that powerful when she was first starting out.
Hotaru smiled. "Thank you, Ami."
"Girls, we have to get to my house before it's too late. It will take a while to get there since Hotaru isn't as fast as us…yet."
Hotaru couldn't have been happier that Usagi, and even the others, had so much faith in her. "You guys are the best." Everyone was stunned by that. They had definitely not been ready for something like that to just come out. Hotaru could see the confusion in her new friends eyes. By seeing that, she knew that she should probably try and justify herself. "You are the only people, besides Mrs. Bulma and my daddy, who haven't been afraid to be around me. You are the only ones who have ever taken the time to get to know me, before you pass judgment. I just wanted to thank you and tell you that I HAVE HAD SO MUCH FUN TODAY!"
Minako laughed at the child's enthusiasm as she patted her on the back. "You're welcome Hotaru. We've all been down the same road that you have. At least more than once in our lives, we have all been made fun of by the others around us."
Hotaru's eyes became watery as she looked down to the ground with sadness. "Probably not as bad as I have."
"Did Usagi ever tell you what happened to us on the second day of our first year in school? We got totally beaten up by these two bullies. Usagi was being picked on non stop for two days by virtually the whole school. It was horrible. That's why we decided to fight. We wanted to be able to defend ourselves."
"That's horrible." Hotaru looked up to Usagi, who seemed to be saddened just by thinking about the memories.
"But that's ok because we have each other. We don't really ever pay attention to people who try to make us feel bad anymore. We just ignore them."
Hotaru hoped that she would be able to ignore the kids at her own school. But their taunts came at her every time she wasn't in class. She had always been afraid to leave for recess or after school. "I'll try to be more like you guys." She looked down to her watch to see how much time they had left before she were to be home. "You guys, we only have forty-five minutes before I have to get home. I don't think we're going to make it in time. I'll just slow you up."
"Yeah, I remember how slow we all were when we first started learning. But I told Hotaru that she could fly today. Hey, do you think your dad would mind if we kept you out a little later than six if we ask him?"
Hotaru smiled. "I don't think he'll mind. But do you guys actually want me to hang out with you guys when you don't have to watch me?"
Usagi let on a slight frown. "Of course we do! You ARE our friend you know."
Hotaru smiled as she threw herself onto Usagi and hugged her as tightly as she could. "Thanks!"
"Welcome!" It was at that moment that Usagi realized that she was actually getting quite close to Hotaru. It was also that moment that Usagi realized that she REALLY did want a little sister. "We can teleport to my house then and you can meet my dad and have some ice cream."
Hotaru giggled. "ICE CREAM!"
~*~*~
~~The Son Household~~
Goku had just finished up with taking a shower after a long day of training as he walked into the kitchen where a sweet aroma of his wife's cooking called to him. "Mmm…Chi-Chi, that smells good." He walked to the stove where his dinner was cooking in a pan. "Is this going to be ready soon?" He reached out for a container of food that didn't need to be cooked, but just heated up.
Chi-Chi frowned as she punched Goku in the arm. "GET AWAY FROM THAT!" She turned to him and pushed him away. "Get out of here! Go eat some wild animals like you used to if you're THAT hungry. We aren't eating until your daughter gets home!"
Goku rubbed his arm as she sadly walked away with his head hung low. "Gees Chi-Chi, you don't have to get rough." His head quickly perked up as he felt his daughter's energy signature appear in their family room. "Usagi's here! Can we eat now!?"
Chi-Chi looked to the clock that was on the stove. "Why is she home now? She still has forty minutes before Hotaru has to be home." She turned to the doorway that let out from the kitchen to the family room. "Looks like she brought her friends with her. How could she have done that?! She knows better than to bring them home for dinner without asking."
Usagi skipped into the kitchen to be face to face with his father, who was nearly drooling he was so hungry. "Hey daddy! Hey mom! I'm home!"
Chi-Chi put one of her hands on her waist as she proceeded to stir her food around with her other hand. "What are you doing home so early? You still have almost an hour before Hotaru has to be home. Is she here with you? And most of all, why did you bring the others with you? You know how I feel about that."
"We're not going to be staying." She jerked back when she began to get an evil glare from her mother. "Whoa mom. It's ok. We still have something we need to do with Hotaru before then, is that ok?"
"You watch what you're saying there, young lady." Usagi looked to her father in confusion as she didn't have the slightest idea what she had said wrong. In return, he only shrugged. "You don't just go and make plans without consulting us first. Now what do you have to do? Girls! You can come in here! You don't have to be shy!" She watched as four girls basically waddled their way into the kitchen.
Usagi slowly inched her way to the doorway that led out into the family room. "Just a minute mom." She turned around and walked out.
Usagi doing that only mad Chi-Chi madder. "That girl is really skating on thin ice. She can't just put me on hold when I ask her a question."
"Chi-Chi, don't be so hard on her. She's not doing it to make you mad."
Chi-Chi frowned harder as she turned to her husband, who appeared to be serious with his scolding of her. "Don't you start with me." The two of them turned their heads back to the doorway as their attention was caught by their daughter walking back in the room with another girl, who came up just below her chest, by her side. Chi-Chi put on a friendly smile. "Hotaru, how have you been doing?"
"GREAT!" She chirped in reply.
Usagi took Hotaru by the hand and lead her to stand in front of her father. "Hotaru, this is my dad. Daddy, this is Hotaru."
Goku smiled as he extended Hotaru his hand. "How do you do? Usagi has told me a lot about you."
Hotaru reached out and met Goku's hand for a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Son."
Goku chuckled. "Mr.? You don't have to be so formal about it. Just call me Goku. I only make teachers call me by Mr." 'What a grip. That's not just any grip. Where did a human of her age get so strong in such a short amount of time?'
Hotaru giggled. "Alright…Goku."
Usagi ran to the table and sat down in her spot. "Mom, can you get Hotaru some ice cream. I said she could have some since she did a good job at training."
Hotaru jumped to Usagi's side and rested her elbows on the table. "ICE CREAM!"
"Usagi, dinner isn't going to cook itself."
"Please mom?"
"Why can't you do it?"
"Because whenever I try to, you always yell at me for being in your way."
"She's got a point there." Goku walked over to the table where a pile of papers were sitting and sat down. He began to shuffle through the papers until he came across a flyer of some sort.
Chi-Chi shot a piercing glare over to her husband. "You shut up. Fine Usagi, I'll get her some ice cream." Annoyed, Chi-Chi threw down her cooking utensils and walked to the freezer and proceeded to pull out the ice cream. "Is strawberry ok, Hotaru?"
"Strawberry is my favorite!"
While Chi-Chi was away from the stove, Makoto decided to go over and see what it was that she was cooking. It smelled wonderful and she couldn't keep herself from seeing what it was. When she got there, she found that it was a kind of stew. One of the many dishes of Chi-Chi's that Makoto loved to eat whenever she was there. 'Hmm…I wonder what would happen if I put this in here.' She reached up to the spice rack and pulled out a random spice and poured some of it in. She then dipped a spoon in it to get a taste. "YUM!!!" She quickly covered her mouth, hoping that Chi-Chi didn't realize what she was saying that too.
It was too late. Chi-Chi had seen Makoto over by her dinner. "MAKOTO!" She dropped the carton of ice cream and ran to the stove, pushing Makoto away when she got there. "What did you do to it?!" She stirred it around a bit. "Makoto, I know you like to cook, but DON'T experiment on MY dinner. I wont be able to get these guys to eat it if it doesn't taste good. Wait, Goku will eat anything, but Usagi wont." She glared at Makoto as she tested it to see what the results of Makoto's actions were. "WOW! This IS good. What did you put in it?" Makoto just blankly stared at Chi-Chi as she shrugged. "Well what ever you did, it's really good."
Usagi turned her attention away from her mother and Makoto onto her father, who was still holding the flyer in his hands. "What's that, daddy?"
"Huh?" Goku looked up to see the curious face of his daughter. "Oh this? Actually, I think it's something you may like."
"Ooh, ooh, what is it?"
"Seems like Mr. Satan is holding some sort of kids tournament in a couple of weeks for ages five through twenty. He wants to let the 'young-ins' try their luck at beating him. What a weird word."
"Would the winner be fighting Satan?"
Minako grinned. She knew that Usagi would take ANY chance she got to expose Satan for the fraud he was. "Going to have yourself a little fun are you?"
Hotaru's eyes got as wide as possible as a giant bowl of strawberry ice cream with whip cream on it was placed before her. "WOW! THANKS MRS. SON!" She immediately began digging in and blanked out the conversation around her.
Goku laughed at Hotaru's eagerness to eat the ice cream. "Looks like she's enjoying herself."
"Of course she is, daddy. It's ice cream. Everyone likes ice cream. Now then. Does the winner get to fight Mr. Satan? I have to know."
Goku grinned. "Yes."
"I am SO entering this little tournament then. I'm going to beat him once and for all. If Gohan wants to let him go around and lie that's his business. But I'm not going to let him!" Usagi paused for a moment as she looked down at Hotaru, who had ice cream all over her face. "Hey, why don't we have Hotaru enter?"
Goku looked down to Hotaru. "Will she be ready? I mean, you are training her differently than you were trained. You're training her 'gently'."
Usagi frowned as she looked up to her father. "Don't knock it, daddy. She's doing really good so far."
Hotaru looked up just as she was putting in the last spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. "I am?"
"Yep! You wanna show daddy how much you've learned? We still have twenty minutes before your dad expects you home."
"That's enough time to FLY!" Hotaru jumped out of her chair. "I WANNA FLY!" She ran like a maniac out of the room.
"Guess that's a yes, right, daddy?" Usagi, too, got up from her chair and walked out of the kitchen to join her student. Her friends were soon to follow.
Goku stood up from his spot and turned to his wife. "That girl reminds me of someone."
"Usagi when she was first learning?"
"That would be correct. She's just as eager."
"You better get out there before Usagi comes in here and complains that you're taking too long."
"Gotcha." Goku walked out of the kitchen into the family room to join his daughter and her friends. "Well let's get outside to see what she's learned so far." 'Too many girls.' He proceeded to follow the six of them outside to see what Hotaru could do.
(Well there's, yet again, another part. What did you think? Was it ok? Gotta Go. Ja )