Chapter 37- Party Time

"AND UNION WINS THE GAME!" The announcer boomed over the cheers of the crowd.

Vegeta sighed in relief. The game had been close and he had been nervous about whether or not they would win. This had been the first game that he'd been to since the accident, and although he was glad that he'd been allowed to come, he wished he were well enough to play.

"That was great!" Bulma said grabbing Vegeta's arm and leading him down the stadium stairs. They got separated from ChiChi, Krillin, and Juuachi in the crowd but soon met back up with them in the parking lot.

"Aren't you coming ChiChi?" Krillin was asking as they walked up.

"No. Me and Goku are supposed to be leaving right after the game to go his grandpa's house. I'm just going to go wait by his truck for him to get changed and stuff." She said walking off.

"Oh. Have fun." Bulma called after her, while sharing a look with Vegeta. She turned back to Krillin and Juuachi. "So where are we off to?"

"Party at Rick's. Everybody's going."

"Great!" Bulma said dragging Vegeta to her car. "Come on! It'll be fun."

"Sure why not." He said, although he wasn't very enthusiastic. He usually didn't go to the after parties, but he had been to a few.

And then there was the deal. Bulma had reminded him before they'd left Capsule Corp. that he had to do everything she wanted. Vegeta sighed as he pictured a house full of drunken teenagers, and girls hanging all over him. He shuddered a bit.

He looked at Bulma with pleading eyes, but she only smiled at him. Sighing, he settled back into his seat and crossed his arms.

"Hi Chi!" Goku ran towards her looking absolutely giddy.

ChiChi slid off the hood of his truck, where she had been waiting for fifteen minutes.

"Sorry it took so long." Goku said while unlocking the truck door. "The coaches had to talk and stuff. Is all your stuff in here?" He pulled the bags out of the truck and stuck them in the back. They had put them into the truck before the game so they wouldn't get stolen, but the ride would be too crammed to keep them in there.

"Yep." ChiChi said getting into the truck and buckling up. She didn't know if she was excited or not. She was missing a party after all. She knew the trip meant a lot to Goku, and she didn't want to hurt feelings. She decided to act happy.

"Okay then, we're off." Goku got in and sped out of the parking lot. "We'll stop for something to eat before we leave the city. The ride's pretty long, so get comfy."

"Okay." ChiChi pulled off her shoes and let her hair down. She wondered what the others were doing.

"Hi, Vegeta." A blonde skimpily dressed girl sidled onto the couch beside him. Bulma had just walked off to go get some drinks, and many girls saw this as their chance to get close to him.

"What are you doing with that rich chick?" A red head that was similarly dressed asked sitting on the arm rest.

"She's my girlfriend." He answered without acknowledging their attempts to flirt.

"Are we not good enough for you?" Another girl asked sitting on his lap and leaning in.

"We've got everything she's got." The blonde said and then pouted as Vegeta pried her traveling hand off his leg.

"What do you want?" Vegeta asked shoving the girl on his lap off only to have her replaced with another girl.

"Want? I think you know." The girl on his lap replied latching herself around his neck to keep from being thrown off like the other one.

"Come on Vegeta. You've known us like forever, and you've known her for what...three weeks? Besides..." she leaned in close to his ear. "I'm sure she won't mind sharing."

Vegeta was finally getting pissed. They just didn't get it. "Why don't all you whores get away from me and go bug somebody else!" He yelled causing a few heads to turn.

"Aww. You don't mean that." The red head pouted grabbing his arm.

"Yes he does." All the girls looked to see a furious Bulma standing behind the couch with two cups in her hands.

"Well no one asked you." The blonde said. "This is between us."

The girl in his lap turned shoving her boobs just under his nose. "What do you say? Give us something to talk abouAAAAAAAHHH!" Everyone in the room turned to see Bulma pull the girl off of Vegeta by her hair. "You BITCH!" The girl turned, nails flying.

"Hey!" Vegeta tried to jump off the couch only to have the other girls hold him down.

Bulma brought her arm up to shield her face, resulting in three scratches across her forearm. She, being a city girl, was not well versed in fighting. Nevertheless, she began to throw punches. "Ow!" She hissed once one of them connected. She had jammed her thumb. Shaking her hand, she looked back to see the girl, with blood dripping down her chin, cock back her arm for another punch.

The next events happened in a blur. Somehow, Vegeta had wrenched himself free of the other three girls' grips and jumped in front of her to block the punch. "Cool it Ashla!" He yelled at her.

The other girls had gotten off the couch as well, but were not quite sure what to do.

Vegeta grabbed Bulma's arm and started heading toward the door. They had just made it outside when Ashla ran out and grabbed Bulma's arm. Bulma whirled around to get a fist right in her nose. Bulma stumbled backwards and was tackled not even a second later. She began to scream as Ashla grabbed her hair with one hand and tried to pummel her with the other. Ashla didn't get far, because Vegeta grabbed her by the waist and hauled her kicking and screaming away from his girlfriend. "Calm down!" He yelled at her. He was having trouble holding her, and when she elbowed him in his already broken ribs, he dropped her.

Juuachi and Krillin, who had been outside and seen last part of the fight and had run over. They were now helping Bulma to her feet.

The rest of the girls who had been with Ashla and followed her outside to watch, finally jumped in to grab her. "Come on. She's not worth it." One said as they led her back inside. "Let's go get you some ice."

"You okay, dude." One of the football players, Kevin, asked as he walked up to Vegeta. "You look kinda pale."

"'m fine." Vegeta said and headed over to Bulma and the others, trying not to limp.

Bulma was crying while holding her nose. Juuachi was fuming, rearing to go inside and beat the living daylights out of Ashla. Krillin was trying to comfort Bulma and calm down his own girlfriend, and when Vegeta approached, he looked to him pleadingly for help.

"Come on." Vegeta said grabbing Bulma by the waist and leading her toward an empty place for her to open the capsule for her car. Krillin followed dragging a fuming Juuachi along behind him.

"Where are we going?" Bulma asked once they had gotten in the car. She was holding a piece of cloth that Vegeta had torn from his shirt up to her nose to stop the bleeding.

"To the hospital to see if your nose is broken." He answered speeding off down the road. "You two want me to drop you off somewhere." He asked Krillin and Juuachi in the back seat.

"No we'll come." Krillin said. Juuachi was mumbling something about 'wait till Monday'.

Rehtaf stood outside of the huge building. It didn't look like anyone was there. He still didn't know how he would get into the building. The security code had undoubtedly been changed since Locke had managed to break in. He didn't have any tools either. He walked around to the back door and looked at the security pad. It seemed to need a code. This may be easier than he thought. He would need a couple things first.

"Here we are!" Goku exclaimed as they came into view of his grandfather's house. He looked over to ChiChi, but noticed that she was still fast asleep. "ChiChi wake up. We're here." He said nudging her.

ChiChi opened her eyes and looked around. This was definitely not what she'd expected. When he'd said his grandfather lived far away, she'd figured in a far-away town, not a far-away forest. There was absolutley nothing around.

She didn't say anything, however, fearing that she'd hurt his feelings.

Rehtaf had ridden around town for almost an hour before coming to the conclusion that all grocery and hardware stores were closed. A little discouraged, he headed back to Capsule Corp. in hopes that he might catch Vegeta outside.

He was a teenager wasn't he? Teenagers stay out late.

By 2 o'clock, however, he called it quits. In his day, no one stayed out that late. Things couldn't have changed that much.

With a sigh, he drove off to find a place to sleep.

"Your nose isn't broken." The doctor said walking into the room.

Bulma sighed in relief.

"It shouldn't start bleeding again, but if it does, call me. Take one of these if it hurts too bad." He handed her a small bottle of pills. "You should be fine."

"Good. Thank you." Bulma said as the doctor walked out of the room. She turned to her two friends and her boyfriend. "Let's go."

"Ah. Finally." Krillin jumped to his feet and stretched. "That took forever."

Vegeta would have preferred to keep sitting, but he stood as well. None of them had seen Ashla elbow him, so they didn't know that he was hurting. He'd decided not to mention it to them, either. He'd deal with it on his own.

They left the hospital and headed toward Capsule Corp. dropping Krillin off along the way. The Briefs had left that morning, and Juuachi was staying over the entire time they would be gone.

Vegeta, who had driven home to pull off the whole "i'm fine" act, pulled up in front of Capsule Corp. at 2:30. The three weary teenagers piled out of the car and into Capsule Corp. It didn't take long before they were asleep. They were completely unaware of how close they had come to their deaths.

"Come on ChiChi." Goku said walking into what used to be his room. "We're going to the lake."

"Lake?" She asked wiping the sleep out of her eyes. She hadn't seen a lake the night before, but then she had probably been asleep when they had passed it.

"Yeah. The lake. I used to go there alot when I was little."

"The young lad used to swim all day sometimes." Goku's grandfather stated with a smile and a fatherly pat on Goku's shoulder.

Goku was practically bouncing from excitement and impatience. "Come on. We have to get there in time to catch fish for lunch."

"Will we eat there?" Grandpa Gohan asked

"Sure." Goku said heading for the door. ChiChi and Gohan followed.

ChiChi figured that the lake was probably nearby because neither man glanced in the way of the truck as they set off into the woods.

Fifteen minutes alter, ChiChi glared at Goku's back, as she stumbled along the practically nonexistent trail and swatting away flying insects. Both men set a brisk pace, that left ChiChi puffing behind them to keep up.

They finally reached a clearing.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Goku asked putting his arm around the sweating and puffing ChiChi. ChiChi did think that the lake was pretty, but she wondered whether it was worth the mile long walk it took to get there. "Come on." He said taking off his shoes and shirt, leaving on only his shorts. "I'll teach you how to fish."

ChiChi had been staring at his muscled abs, but looked up confused at the mention of fishing. "But Goku, we didn't bring any poles."

Both Goku and his grandfather chuckled. ChiChi was slightly annoyed to see that the old man wasn't even winded after their long hike.

"We don't use poles." Goku said leading her over to the edge of the lake. ChiChi decided not to say anything and just wait for him to explain. "It would be better if you would take your shoes off."

ChiChi obeyed without question.

"Good." Goku said and then waded about knee deep in the water and motioning ChiChi to follow him. ChiChi did so hesitantly, thankful that the water wasn't too cold. "Now." Goku said standing behind her and grabbing her wrists, causing ChiChi to tense a little. "Bend your knees and put your hands in the water. Be really still." Goku was watching the fish swim around in the water, but ChiChi was more focused on him. "There's one." Goku whispered, but more to himself than to her. ChiChi looked into the water just in time to watch Goku clamp her hands around the fish and haul it out of the water. ChiChi screamed at the feel of the cold slimy fish flapping around in her hands. She stumbled backwards causing them both to fall and get soaking wet. The fish went flapping back into the water.

"Gah!" Goku pulled his head above the water. "What happened?"

ChiChi just looked at him wide-eyed.

"What? Did its fin stab you or something?"

"You...You want me to grab a fish? While it's alive!" She stuttered, still sitting in the water.

Grandpa Gohan chuckled from his place on the bank.

"Wha...Of course." Goku stood up and held his hand out to her. "I guess I should have told you that."

ChiChi accepted his offered hand, and was quickly hauled to her feet. She looked at her clothes and realized that they were clinging to her. She quickly crossed her arms over her chest, and turned away, trying to hide her blush.

"Would you like to try again?" Goku asked nervously. He hadn't noticed her problem, and thought that she was mad at him.

"Uh...I guess." She said, although she wasn't really looking forward to the feel of touching a fish again.

"Okay." Goku said, a smile lighting his face. He quickly took his position behind her again. "Now watch the fish." He told her.

ChiChi looked at the fish slowly swimming toward them. Most were small, but there were one or two that looked big enough to eat.

"That one." Goku said but didn't move.

ChiChi knew which one he was talking about. She watched as the fish, about a foot long, swam toward her legs. She felt Goku's grip on her hands tighten slightly, and then the next thing she knew, she was holding the fish out of the water. Goku backed off and allowed her to hold it herself.

"What do I do with it!" She squealed turning her face away from the flapping fish so she wouldn't get water in her eyes.

Gohan's chuckles, by now, had turned into a hearty laugh.

"Throw it on the bank." Goku said, trying not to laugh at the face his girlfriend was making.

ChiChi, with a final squeal, granny tossed the fish onto the bank, where it flapped around in the sand.

"Now that wasn't bad was it?" Goku asked cheerily putting an arm around the red-faced girl.

ChiChi shook her head in reply.

"Good. Let's go get some firewood to cook it." He said and led her across the beach and into the woods. ChiChi went without question, thankful that she didn't have to catch any more fish. "Let's look around here." Goku said after they had walked about a minute.

ChiChi busied herself with picking up small twigs as Goku rustled about near a pretty dead looking tree. "This ought to be good." Goku called as he started heading back toward the lake dragging a giant branch.

"What do you need that for?" ChiChi asked jogging to catch up with him, while holding tight to her armful of sticks.

"Oh grandpa's gonna fish too. There are some pretty big fish in the water if you go deep enough."

"How big?" ChiChi asked.

"Five or ten feet, maybe more. Hey you wanna go swimming after we get the fire goin'?"

ChiChi wondered why he would think that after just telling her that there were ten foot fish in the lake she would want to go swimming. "Only if we stay in the shallow water." She said.

"Why?" He asked looking back at her. "You can swim can't you?"

"Of course!" She said, offended. "I had lessons when I was like five."

"Then why not swim?"

"Because of the giant fish." She stated, wondering why it wasn't obvious.

"Oh. Well they usually don't attack you or anything."

"That's okay." She said. "I think I'll pass."