Talk about long time, no see. Contrary to popular belief, I am not the world's laziest writer, just a very busy person (don't we all use that excuse?). There is a full update on my bio and my livejournal, if you're really that interested. I'm also posting snippets of my stories on my livejournal so don't forget to check it. But anyway, onto the story.

This chapter is roughly three years in the making, as I started writing it in 2002. It's probably the best chapter of this story so far (you'd expect that after three years wouldn't you?). Now, in the previous chapter (which you may wanna go and re-read) I referred to an Australian version of the 'Twelve Days Of Christmas' and I had a few people asking questions as to what some of the things mentioned in it were. I'm not sure as to everyone's knowledge of Australian slang, so I'm going to assume most of you know very little.

So here goes with the answers to that.

Bondi Lifesavers – Bondi is a beach in New South Wales. If you don't know what lifesavers, see Pamela Anderson in Baywatch. Get the idea!

Lady Bowlers – Older females who, oh my god, play bowls.

Cuppas – a cup of tea (or coffee)

Cicadas – an annoying noisy insect.

Meter Maids – beautiful women dressed in bikinis who go around the Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia) filling up parking meters that are nearly out of credit for poor, unknowing tourists! I think

Swans/Geese – everyone knows what they are!

Gold Rings – see above

Battery Hens – hens that are kept in tiny cages and forced to lay eggs for like their whole lives, ie. Where your eggs come from!

Rubber Gloves – duh. For doing the dishes and stuff

Noisy Miners – a type of bird, which are very noisy!

Battler's Prince – I think I mentioned this one in the last chapter. See The Dream with Roy and H.G circa 2000 Sydney Olympics

Hills Hoist – I think I mentioned this one too. A brand of clothesline.

Now that I've insulted mine and everyone's intelligence, on with the story!

Chapter 15: A Trip Down Memory Lane

As everyone knows New Year follows Christmas and so begins another year. It had been agreed that New Year was to be held at Bulma's as well, considering her colossal home. Bulma, being the socialite that she was, enjoyed basking in the spotlight and aptly agreed, much to the dismay of her husband.

The event was set to begin at 8 o'clock but in a moment of complete, unorganised angst, Bulma called everyone at four in the afternoon, demanding they arrive at her house within the hour and help cook. Videl was exempt, considering her expanding girth, but she followed along nonetheless.

"You really don't need to help, Videl," Bulma insisted, trying unsuccessfully to shoo the mother-to-be out of the already crowded kitchen.

"I'm fine, I don't mind," Videl protested, pouting. She wanted to help. She was getting to the stage of detesting the entire concept of ever being pregnant again, if it meant she had to refrain from doing absolutely anything for more than half a year.

"Take the hint, Videl. She doesn't want you in here because that kid takes up too much room." Eighteen was nowhere near as subtle.

"Well, gosh, you didn't have to be so mean." Eighteen snickered. Videl stomped dramatically out of the kitchen. "I'll just bother Gohan or something."

"You do that," Chi Chi muttered; she was concentrating on her recipe intently. Videl grunted irritably, quite stung by the nastiness that surrounded her. They had to be jealous. Slouching, she stomped across the living room and down a hall, wondering vaguely where the boys had disappeared to. Glancing into an open door, she saw a flicker and guessed that maybe they were in the room.

Striding into the room, preparing to slaughter Gohan with the rudeness of his mother's friends, she found herself in a large white laboratory littered with peculiar contraptions. Against the furthest wall, stood several computers, all of them turned off. Leaning against the wall adjacent was a rusty foot ladder and a coat stand, covered in goggles and lab coats. And as she pushed the door open wider, she laid eyes on a table covered in blueprints. At the centre, was a large round, remote control-like device.

Ignoring any need for privacy, she strode to the table, glancing briefly at the scarred paper and then at the device at the centre. It looked very much like a TV remote.

"What ya up to?"

She nearly screamed, but instead a strangled gurgling noise emanated from her throat. She spun around to face her husband, who was standing in the doorway. He raised an eyebrow at her reaction.

"I hope that wasn't a guilty conscience."

She smiled uncomfortably, shaking her head. "No, no. I'm just looking around. Your mother's friends kicked me out of the kitchen. They said I'm too fat."

The corner of Gohan's mouth rose in amusement. "Maybe I need to have a chat with them."

"Oh, it was just Eighteen," she told him. "And she's nasty to everyone." She gazed across the blueprints, trying to decide exactly what they were.

"Indeed."

"I wonder what this thing is," Videl mused out loud. She picked it up, and turned it over, gazing at a minute inscription in the lower left corner. Gohan reached out and turned it back over in her hands.

"It's probably some advanced T.V remote or something. Just press the button and see what happens."

Videl opened her mouth to object but Gohan's index finger had already grazed the red button.

A fluorescent light, reminiscent of the fusion dance, flashed around them. The floor seemed to swallow them like a rogue black hole. One of the computers flickered to life and pre-recorded message beeped. The whole of Capsule Corporation, even the outskirts of the property, shook with earthquake proportions.

In the kitchen, Bulma dropped a bowl of self-raising floor, encompassing the room in a white cloud. She froze in horror, and then just as suddenly, regained control and pelted out of the kitchen. She skidded at the doorway of the offending laboratory, but stopped once again, face awash with panic as she gazed upon the insistent computer memo.

Pre-set time crossing program engaged.

"Oh, shit.

Videl absently recognized the lapping of water as she blinked her eyes open. Beneath her eyes was further darkness, and she realised that she had been crushed against her husband's body. Her feet rested on shifting ground. Sand. Gently, she pulled away from Gohan and glanced around. Gohan followed her gaze, his arms still hung lazily around her waist.

Videl couldn't excuse the really bad feeling that had taken up root in her stomach.

"Gohan, where are we?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "I don't know."

The lapping of the water was interrupted by sandy footsteps and then, from behind Gohan, someone spoke in a voice that was quite familiar.

"Who the hell are you?"

The couple turned around and gazed silently at the small group that stood in front of them. A little boy with unruly black hair and a tail. A man with the same dark hair, dressed in an orange gi. A young woman with fluorescent blue hair; she was the one who had spoken.

And an old man with sunglasses and a sleazy smile.

Gohan looked slightly queasy for a moment.

"Uh oh."

"What happened to them, Bulma? Where did they go?"

Two things had happened in the ten minutes since the nice little explosion in Bulma's storage lab. Firstly, the group had established that it had been Gohan and Videl who had been involved in the explosion. And secondly, they had disappeared.

Which was a much more comforting thought than that of Chi Chi's initial reaction.

Bulma had nearly had to give her a tranquiliser, she was so hysterical.

Bulma had taken to pacing, now that she had established a vague idea of what had happened. Chi Chi and the others had been trying to interrogate her for the past few minutes, but she was currently doing an impressive job of ignoring them.

Must have been all those years of living with Vegeta.

"Bulma, where are they? Can we get them back?"

Finally, Bulma responded. "Yes, I think we can."

Chi Chi looked prepared to faint. "You think you can get them back? Think?" Apparently, this was not the answer she had been looking for.

"Give me a minute." Bulma crossed the room to a table that was now covered by several scrolls, detailing the complicated schematics of her invention. She scrutinised them for a time, tapping her finger to her nose as she thought. Finally, she straightened and turned to her captive audience.

"They've been sent back through time, that's for certain." A group of faces watched her, the expression varying from Goku's bewilderment, to Vegeta's disinterest and Chi Chi's barely suppressed frustration. "I have no idea what time there in, but I think I can program the same machine that threw them into the past to go there again. Perhaps not the exact same time but it should be within the half hour. The only problem is getting them back to this time. And, obviously, getting the machine to them in the first place."

"What do you mean," Chi Chi was clearly not impressed, "that the problem is getting them back to this time?"

Bulma sighed. Sometimes explaining her theories to people who had absolutely no knowledge of temporal physics was very frustrating.

"The program that I designed that has sent them back through time was encoded to stop at several significant points over the last 30 years. But I was having problems with the jumping sequence. It was meant to jump in chronological order, from the earliest time point to the latest, but it wasn't working properly. It kept scrambling. They could have been sent to any number of time points over the time span. And getting back could be just as hard. Whilst, I think I can encode the program to stop at this time, I don't know how long it will take for the device to randomly select this time. It could be the first or it could work its way through all the times encoded, which is between 10 and 15. I can't remember now." She ran a hand through her hair and sighed again. "It could take a really long time. And that doesn't even solve the problem of how to get it to them."

"What times are these, specifically?" Krillin asked. "They're not in any danger, are they?"

"That's the other problem. It depends of where they ended up. It's programmed to jump to pretty much every battle we've been in, from some really early ones when we were kids, Piccolo, Tien, right through to Raditz, Vegeta," she waved a hand at her husband, "the androids," another hand at Eighteen, "Cell, Buu, everything."

"Hey," Goku spoke for the first time, "couldn't just any of us go and take the thing to them?"

Bulma shook her head. "Doesn't work like that. Depending on who goes, and what time they landed in, there will most likely be the problem of past self's. Two me's, two you's, two any of us, depending, of course, where they ended up."

"Wonderful," Chi Chi said sarcastically. She was tapping her foot impatiently. How it was helping the problem, no one knew but it was keeping her from killing someone, so tap she did.

"So just send the brats," Vegeta said.

Bulma nodded in agreement. "That's what I was thinking. There's less chance of running into past self's."

"By brats, you mean Trunks and Goten, right?" Krillin looked a little concerned for a moment.

"Of course, baldy," Vegeta snapped rudely.

"Oh, I was just worried…" he trailed off, "I thought you were gonna send Bra."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "You may be stupid enough to send an infant through time, baldy, but I am not."

Eighteen was about to open her mouth to retort, but Bulma beat her to it.

"Vegeta, please," she said, irritably. She was staring off into space, eyes almost glazed over, when something simple dawned on her so suddenly, she was surprised she hadn't thought of it earlier. Ignoring the others, she crossed the room and gazed over the schematics once again.

"So what do we do?" Chi Chi asked in her disgruntled tone. She clearly thought her question was not being addressed thoroughly enough.

Bulma stood and turned to face the group, unable to control that little bubble of excitement she got whenever she solved one of her impossible problems.

She grinned, hammering her right fist into the palm of her left hand.

"Here's what we're gonna do…"

Gohan and Videl conveniently ignored the young Bulma's question. She was watching them inquisitively, hands on her hips, regarding them as if they were but another enemy in the never ending battle.

If only she knew.

Gohan glanced at Videl. "What did we do?" he whispered.

"More like what did you do? You're the one who pressed the button." Videl eyed him angrily. This was just what they needed, to be thrown into the firing line of another one of Bulma's insane inventions.

"Me?" He gaped at her. "Like you're little miss innocent?"

"I was just looking at the thing," Videl replied, taken aback. "You're the one who decided to play with the stupid toy."

He knew she was right, but that didn't mean he was going to admit it.

"Well, that doesn't solve our problem. We've clearly been thrown somewhere. The past, I think."

"No shit, Sherlock," she said, sarcastically. "Like you-know-who would be caught dead in a haircut like that, now." She jerked her head in the direction of the younger Bulma, who looked prepared to open her mouth and say something.

"Bulma, I don't know what you were talking about. The phone isn't ringing.' Krillin wandered into view, a puzzled expression on his young face.

"Never mind," Bulma muttered. 'I think we've found the source of the ringing noise.' She gestured to Gohan and Videl in front of her. Krillin turned to them, gazing critically.

"Who are you?" Krillin asked, echoing Bulma.

Bulma rolled her eyes. "They're not talking, Krillin."

Gohan and Videl conveniently turned their backs on the waiting group, ignoring their curious questions. Videl threw a disgruntled look at Gohan.

"So, what do you intend to do now, genius?" she asked sarcastically.

However, Gohan was apparently ignoring even her. He gazed across the ocean, a look of concentration plastered on his face. When she didn't get a response, Videl gazed up at him and recognised the expression. He was searching for power signatures.

"I recognise this," he whispered. "I remember this…this…this is the day that Raditz came!" He glanced suddenly at Videl, alarmed. "We've gotta change this, Videl. Dad's gonna die!"

He moved to turn around, but Videl grabbed his arm firmly.

"You can't tell them!" She sounded almost stunned. "You'll change time."

Gohan looked at her like she was stupid. "But my dad's gonna die, Videl! He's gonna die! I have to save him!"

"You can't do it, Gohan. You'll alter time; you'll change everything."

"So?" What attention of the others that had dwindled was drawn back in full force, as their argument escalated beyond a quiet disagreement.

"You can't do it. You'll screw everything up! Look at all the things that could happen, or even not happen. Vegeta might not come. Trunks might not come. Frieza might become immortal. We might not meet!" She listed each point off on her fingers, especially stressing the last one.

Gohan gazed at her critically, as if scrutinising her argument. Finally, he shook his head.

"I still can't let him die," he stated simply.

"Oh my God," Videl exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air in exasperation. "Are you stupid? Do you seriously have a brain inside that thick skull of yours?" She reached forward and hitting him on the forehead.

"I don't think it's necessary to question my brain capacity," he said curtly.

"I think it might be," Videl replied. "I think it's shrunk or stopped working. You, of all people, should understand how grave this is."

"I do think you're being a little unreasonable."

"Unreasonable. Unreasonable! Are you serious? I'm being unreasonable." She looked at him, incredulous. "I think it's quite clear who's being unreasonable here."

"Hey, I'm not the hormonal pregnant one."

"Oh, you had involvement in that, thank you very much."

Goku decided that the argument that they were currently witness to was going a little too far. In a brave move, he decided it was up to him to try and mediate.

"Ah, excuse me." He took a step towards the feuding couple, hands clasped behind his back.

"Stay out of this!"

Goku jumped backwards, hands up in defence. "Sorry," he muttered, returning to Bulma's side. He glanced at her, and she raised her eyebrows. She couldn't figure it out either, though it struck her as odd that the young man in front of them seemed so familiar.

"She's as scary as Chi-Chi," Goku whispered with a shudder.

"Are you sure she isn't Chi-Chi?" Krillin asked cautiously.

Quite fortunately, Videl did not overhear their conversation. They would have been in for quite a tongue lashing otherwise.

Videl and Gohan stood glaring at one another for several moments, neither speaking, neither willing to give any ground. It was rather childish, really.

"Gohan," called a cheery voice from the other side of the island, all of a sudden. Everyone, including Videl and Gohan, spun around to see Goten and Trunks standing on the sand. Goten was cradling the device Gohan had pressed, Trunks' hand on his shoulder.

"What?" Gohan's child equivalent looked quite confused, indeed.

"Shhh!" Gohan pulled his little brother and Trunks in front of him and Videl, so as to block them out of view. If the others were to notice the similarities between Goten and Goku, they'd freak.

"Mum sent us," Trunks said, as he noticed the younger version of his mother staring at him oddly. He was about to say something when Videl realised and slapped a hand over his mouth.

"You're not born yet and she hasn't even met your father, so keep quiet," she whispered in his ear. He nodded his head and Videl let go of him. They turned back to Gohan and Goten who were conversing very quietly and very fast about the device Bulma had sent along.

"She said that we have to press this button." Goten said, pointing to the red button on the device, which, according to Gohan, still looked very much like a TV remote.

"And she said we had to all be touching the person who pressed the button," Trunks added.

"Is it set for our time?" Gohan said looking sceptical.

"Bulma couldn't set it exactly; she says the machine's not working properly. But she didn't manage to get the chrono thing to work." Goten shrugged. Trunks rolled his eyes.

"She got it to work in chronological order, he means. But she's not sure how many jumps it will have to make before it reaches our time. She says we have to be really careful not to interfere with the timeline."

The group of four gazed down at the device that was now siting in Gohan's hands.

"Well," Gohan started. "I guess we haven't really got any other choice." The others nodded. He straightened and took hold of Videl's hand. Trunks and Goten grabbed his other arm. All four of them prayed silently as Gohan reached forward and once again, pressed the big red button.

Right in front of the remaining group's eyes, Videl, Gohan, Trunks and Goten simply disappeared.

"Where'd they go?" Bulma asked, darting around trying to find where the suspicious group had disappeared to. The others just stood there, flabbergasted. Since when could people just appear and disappear. Maybe this was some new fighting technique.

Bulma did several laps of the island and insisted on checking every room of Kame House before she was thoroughly satisfied that the mysterious visitors had disappeared. She stood on the sand, hands on hips, staring inquisitively out at the ocean for several moments as if expecting answers to rise up with the next wave.

"That was weird." Master Roshi concluded, scratching his head.

"Definitely weird," Bulma murmured. She shook her head in confusion. "There was something so familiar about that young man, and I just can't put my finger on it."

Goku shuddered. "That girl was scary. She reminded me of Chi-Chi when she was pregnant."

"Yeah, and did you see that little purple haired boy," Krillin burst out. "He looked a little bit like you, Bulma." He smirked evilly.

"Me?" Bulma said, incredulous. "I highly doubt it, Krillin. I don't have any children."

"How do we know that, huh?" Krillin did a nice little eyebrow arch. Bulma rolled her eyes.

"Believe me, Krillin, you'd know."

Suddenly, Goku paused as he sensed something evil and time continued to flow as normal only changed slightly by the odd arrival and departure of Videl and Gohan.

"Where are we now?" Videl cried as they landed on a dusty plain instead of a white laboratory.

Gohan raised his head to take in the scenery. They were standing on a rocky plain that looked like it was in the middle of a dust storm. Then he picked up the ki; all were powerful, two exceptionally so. He swallowed as he realised where they were.

"We're at the Cell Games," he said.

"Cool!" Goten and Trunks exclaimed.

"Not cool," Videl said sternly, eyes piercing. "If I remember correctly, which I do, this was the day your dad died." She eyed Goten. The two boys gulped. "Yeah, that's what I thought." As Videl turned away, Goten and Trunks eyed each other. Man, she was scary.

"We have to get out of here," Gohan said frantically, reaching for the others' hands. There was no way in hell he was hanging around here. He snatched Videl's hand into his own, and Trunks and Goten grabbed his shoulders.

With the press of a button, the group, once again, disappeared, hopefully headed for their own time.

The sound of someone punching someone else and then a high pitched scream were the delightful auditory pleasures that introduced the time travelling group to their next destination.

It could have been, but unfortunately was not, Bulma's lab.

Even without the bellowing, horrified crowd, Videl knew exactly where she was. She'd known the moment she'd landed on the cement walkway they were now crouched on. She closed her eyes.

"Oh, my god," she whispered. She wished there was someway she could block out the sounds of her past self being beaten to a pulp. Of all places to land in, why did it have to be this one?

Trunks, Goten and Gohan gazed out at the tournament taking place below them. The sight of Spopovich laying into Videl with all his might was just as horrific as it had been all those years ago.

"Okay," Gohan said, hurriedly. "Let's get out of here." This time he grabbed all their hands in his own, dragging Videl from her stupor and Trunks and Goten from the match below. He knew the dangers in this time travelling were increasing. There was a chance now that any of them could run into the past selves. They had to get home as soon as possible.

Attention on him, the three others gripped his arms tightly, as he pressed the red button yet again. Their prayers were louder than ever.

The boys had only been gone a little over fifteen minutes, but Chi-Chi had practically paced a path into the floor. The others were watching her, almost amused. Considering the dire situations they had been in before, Chi-Chi's hysterics over a little time travel seemed almost trivial. But as she had exclaimed a few minutes earlier, she was extremely concerned for the wellbeing of her grandchild. Apparently, she didn't really care what happened to everyone else.

"It shouldn't be too much longer now, Chi-Chi." Bulma said, bouncing little Bra on her knee. The baby had found her way to the now crowded lab via her grandmother, who had brought her down when she had woken from her afternoon nap, about ten minutes ago.

Chi-Chi glanced scornfully at Bulma, continuing her pacing with renewed fervour. She didn't care what anyone said. She wasn't going to stop pacing until Videl was safely standing in this laboratory in this time, with or without the others. All that mattered was her precious grandchild.

Bulma rolled her cerulean eyes and resumed gazing out the window. She was rather bored with all the waiting. Really, they could have gone and finished the cooking for the party. The others would be back when they were good and ready. Her machine would work. She had faith in that.

Eyes heavy, she yawned. Maybe if she just had a little nap. She would be up very late tonight. Yes, a nap seemed like a good idea. She certainly deserved it. No one would notice if she just closed her eyes.

The room began to shimmer around her. What pretty lights, she thought vaguely. No Chi-Chi, no Vegeta, no annoying technical problems she had to figure out. What a nice dream.

"Ahh!"

Well, it had been a nice dream.

The shimmering lights had been none other than the materialising figures of Gohan, Videl, Goten and Trunks. The moment they were solid matter once again, Chi-Chi glomped Videl for dear life. The poor mother-to-be looked beyond surprised.

"Ah, hi Chi-Chi. Missed me, eh?" she gave a weak smile.

Bulma rolled her eyes again, and turned to Gohan. "So," she asked, "who pressed the button?"

Gohan's face turned pink, but Videl didn't give him a chance to speak.

"He did," she said, shaking loose Chi-Chi and pointing an accusatory finger at her husband.

"I didn't know," he said, raising his hands in defence.

"You still shouldn't have done it," Videl exclaimed, angrily. Bulma shook her head.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with things that aren't yours, Gohan?" she asked, sounding more amused than anything.

"Of course I told him that," Chi-Chi insisted, taking the remark as a personal criticism of her parenting skills.

Gohan rolled her eyes. "Dende," he muttered, beginning towards the door of the laboratory.

Videl looked about to follow him, but she stopped short and thrust a hand out towards Chi-Chi, the other gripping her stomach. Gohan actually turned around, apparently expecting her to follow him to continuing arguing. Chi-Chi grabbed the arm thrust in her direction, alarm growing on her face.

Eyes widening, Videl muttered in a strangled whisper, "Oh. My. God."

Who's excited yet? Me! Anyway, that's that. Now, I have an issue to sort out. This story was supposed to be 18 chapters. As you can tell this is the 15th chapter. Now the 16th chapter is basically a filler chapter, before I go into the end of the story. Who wants me to do the (rather pointless) filler chapter and then go into the last two ending chapters of the story? Otherwise, I will just combine the 16th and 17th chapters into one chapter, making the story only 17 chapters. Let me know in the reviews. If I don't get any notification either way, I will go with the second option.

Now, hit that button down the bottom that says "Review"

Toodles