Chapter 11: Capsule Party

Friday 24th November Age 791

For Pan, it was yet again an ordinary school day. She was sat in her usual seat beside her blue-haired best friend and focussed on scribbling down words in her schoolbook. It was a normal literature lesson and the students had been tasked with an essay for that lesson. Pan wasn't certain she completely understood the task, but she tried to make as much sense of it as she could while writing away.

Bra, meanwhile, wasn't focussing too much on the work and instead had her eyes on the clock as it counted down towards lunchtime. This wasn't usual behaviour for the girl, she actually enjoyed her school days, but this was a different day. Bra was looking forward to something, and when she had her mind focussed on something, she would become fairly stubborn, just like both her parents.

While Pan and Bra were busy with school, Capsule Corp. was getting a make-over. Bulma was rushing around ordering her robot staff to get things prepared.

"Ok, I want those banners up there, and then have the balloons blown up and displayed all around the room," Bulma commanded, walking through the room and directing robots off in different directions. "I want the tables for the buffet set up along that wall and the drinks machines over there."

A robot quickly rushed up to Bulma displaying an alert.

"Oh, what is it now?" Bulma asked, sounding a little frustrated.

"Urgent request from the kitchen. You are needed there immediately," The robot relayed. Bulma sighed and walked off into the kitchen. As soon as she entered, she realised what the problem was right away, when she saw that Chi-Chi and Vegeta were standing together, and neither of them looked happy.

"Will you please stop picking at the food that I am preparing for the party!" Chi-Chi screamed in the Saiyan Prince's face. Vegeta stepped back but wasn't one to back down from any sort of challenge.

"I am testing this stuff to see if it's any good!" Vegeta yelled in response. Chi-Chi seemed offended by that.

"You really think I would approve any bad food!" Chi-Chi responded, defending her taste in food and deep knowledge of cooking.

"What is going on?" Bulma said, as she walked up to the two of them. Vegeta immediately turned away, grabbing a plate of appetisers and gorging on them. He took a chance while Chi-Chi was distracted, but she was very much aware, grabbing the plate away from him.

"Your husband keeps eating the food we are preparing here. I want him out of this kitchen!" Chi-Chi said, clearly seeming very frustrated. Bulma chuckled and separated the two of them.

"Ok, Vegeta, sweetheart, please leave the kitchen alone, go and train or something," Bulma said, as nicely as she could, while still retaining a commanding tone. Vegeta groaned.

"I needed something to eat, and it's not often I get good food cooked for me," Vegeta said, turning away, but Bulma wasn't done.

"Wait, what do you mean? I cook for you! Don't you like my food?" Bulma asked, apparently offended by that comment. Vegeta obviously realised what he said after the fact because he had frozen on the spot, not turning around. Bulma put her hands on her hips. "Do you think I'm a bad cook?!"

Vegeta started to walk away.

"You're right, I'm getting in the way," Vegeta said, rushing off back to his gravity training room. Bulma stood there for a few seconds, staring after her husband, her irritation clear on her face. She turned around, taking a breath to calm herself, and preparing to talk to Chi-Chi but saw the woman already standing over by one of the chefs, berating them about something.

"No, no, NO! You're doing it all wrong!" Chi-Chi yelled at the chef. The chef winced, nervously and started apologising, asking to be shown properly. Bulma sighed and left the kitchen, knowing full well that Chi-Chi was in her element and had everything under control in there. When she stepped out into the hall space they were using, she saw that all the banners and balloons were set-up and looking good. Everywhere she looked there were banners and balloons saying things like "Happy Birthday, Bra" or "13 Today" and Bulma was pleased with how everything was looking.

"Everything's going perfectly for my baby girl's birthday party!" She said to herself.

Back at the school though, it was finally lunchtime and rather than finding one place to sit and have their food Bra was walking through the school trying to find the people she wanted to invite to her party later that evening. As they walked down the halls Bra would hand out invites to people she wanted to come to her party, all the while humming a happy tune, while Pan walked alongside her friend. Bra was always in a good mood whenever her birthday came around and Pan liked seeing her friend that way.

While at lunch they met up with Kiera as she was coming out of her lesson with some of her friends. Bra spotted her and rushed up to the blonde.

"Hey, Kiera!" Bra called out, drawing Kiera's attention and then pulling her into a hug.

"Oh, hi Bra, happy birthday," Kiera said, caught off-guard by the sudden hug. She spotted Pan over Bra's shoulder and gave a little wave to the black-haired girl. Pan nodded and smiled.

"You're definitely coming to my party tonight, yeah?" Bra asked.

"Of course, my mom and I will both be along, Videl invited us already," Kiera replied.

"Great, you can still have one of these though!" Bra said, excitedly, as she handed over one of her perfectly made invites. Kiera looked at it.

"Wow, these are great, thanks Bra," Kiera said, laughing a little nervously. "I'll make sure to cherish it forever."

Pan chuckled quietly. Bra was already moving on to the next person though and rushing off down the hall to find more people to invite.

"She never stops," Pan said, remaining beside Kiera. "You joining us for lunch? We're just going to be walking around giving people invites."

"As long as I can actually eat my lunch," Kiera joked. The two girls walked off, attempting to catch up with the energetic Bra. They soon noticed that Bra had stopped and was staring at a group of guys sitting at a table in the cafeteria. Bra's eyes were focussed on one of the guys sitting there. A fair-haired boy, wearing a white polo top and a pair of blue jeans. The guys he was sitting with were almost all members of the school football team. Pan and Kiera stepped up beside Bra. Pan looked over to the group and back to her friend.

"What're you looking at?" Pan asked her friend, a teasing tone in her voice. "Or rather, who are you looking at?"

"What?" Bra questioned, turning to face Pan and blushing. "I… no one… shut up."

Pan chuckled and turned to Kiera, pointing out the guy Bra was looking at.

"You see that guy?" Pan questioned. Kiera looked over and her eyes fell on the same guy. She nodded. "That's Kareshi. Bra has had a crush on him forever."

"Shut up, Pan!" Bra said, trying to keep cool, but very much unable to.

"Are you going to invite him to the party?" Kiera asked the blue-haired girl. Bra blushed and looked over at the group again.

"Maybe," Bra muttered, nervously. She definitely didn't appear to have the confidence to just walk over and hand out the invitation, not with that many guys around him. Pan looked at her friend and then across at the table.

"Fine," Pan said, grabbing an invite from Bra's hand and proceeding to walk through the cafeteria towards the group. She was nervous too but knew that Bra would never do anything if she kept holding herself back. Pan was almost over there but suddenly Bra rushed up to her and stopped her.

"Wait," Bra said, a little too loudly, and too close to the table. This drew their attention. Bra immediately knew she had grabbed their attentions as well and just stared at Pan, starting to blush harder. Pan smiled back at her friend.

"Go for it," Pan said. Bra swallowed and turned to the table, all of them looking at her. She chuckled nervously and turned to face Kareshi.

"Hi, Kareshi," She said. He smiled, awkwardly and stood up.

"Uh… hi, Bra," He responded. Bra maintained a calm expression, kind of, but in her head, she was screaming. Weirdly enough, Pan was certain she could hear Bra's screams and tried to stop herself from giggling to herself.

"I just wanted to invite you to my Birthday party tonight at the Capsule Corp. compound in West City, around 6pm. There are details on the invite about a capsule car that will be picking up guests from outside the school this evening," Bra blurted out very quickly, handing him the invite and turning around and trying to walk away.

"Hey, hold on," Kareshi said. Bra froze on the spot and continued her internal screaming. "I'd love to come."

Bra relaxed a little bit, but the screaming didn't stop. She turned around.

"Really?" She said, both shocked and excited. She immediately calmed herself down though. "I mean, great, see you there."

Kareshi smiled at the blue-haired girl as she turned around, grabbed Pan's arm and rushed off out of the cafeteria, back to where Kiera was waiting.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Pan asked.

"I hate you, Pan. I love you, but I hate you," Bra said, still bright red. Pan giggled as the girls went off for the rest of their lunch.

Bra retained a very excitable attitude throughout the rest of the school day. She was eagerly awaiting the bell at the end of the day to signal their freedom so she could rush home to celebrate her birthday with the party, with her best friends, her family, and Kareshi. He was actually going to her birthday party. Bra had a crush on him for a while at that point and couldn't wait to finally get the chance to hang out with him. Bra wasn't typically this unfocussed, but she had been daydreaming throughout the final periods.

The bell eventually went, and Bra was practically running out of the classroom, down the halls to her locker, grabbing her stuff and rushing out of the school. She did leave Pan behind a little, but the black-haired Saiyan wasn't too far behind, and she at least had Kiera to walk out of school with.

"Come on, you two! I wanna get home," Bra yelled back at her friends from the schoolyard, where she had already de-capsulised her plane.

"Are you coming with us now?" Pan asked Kiera, the blonde shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess I can, I'll just text my Mom to bring over my clothes for later," Kiera said, with Bra rushing over and grabbing her hands.

"Oh my God, you can stay the night as well, we'll have a sleepover," Bra squealed. Kiera chuckled nervously as Bra practically jumped up and down in front of her, while holding her hands.

"Yeah, that sounds great," Kiera agreed. Pan, meanwhile, had already boarded the plane and was waiting for the other two. Bra noticed and quickly rushed onboard, yanking Kiera along with her.

The trio were on the plane, with Bra piloting, and they very quickly took off and headed towards West City.


Bulma was still rushing around, trying to make sure that everything was perfect for her little girl's thirteenth birthday. She was like a health inspector, walking around with a capsule pad in her hands and taking note of everything that was perfect, and anything she deemed out of place.

She stepped into the garden dome and looked up as she saw Vegeta currently placing some banners around the dome walls. He could fly so he had become extremely useful for this specific job. Bulma smiled up as she watched her husband work.

"Great job, honey!" Bulma yelled out, Vegeta didn't turn around, clearly not wanting to be embarrassed. Bulma just giggled to herself and continued checking things.

Next, she returned to the kitchen and saw that the spread was fantastic. Chi-Chi and the staff had done a brilliant job of cooking up lots of food. The former martial artist stood by admiring her work until Bulma stepped in.

"Isn't it marvellous?" Chi-Chi asked, hands on hips, head held high. Bulma nodded.

"It looks amazing, Chi-Chi, thank you so much for all your help," The blue-haired scientist said, Placing a hand on Chi-Chi's back. "Now we just need to wait for Bra, she's going to be so happy with all this."

Bulma then took a look at her watch and noticed it had passed 3pm.

"Bra should be home soon!" Bulma exclaimed as she rushed back through the party hall and the garden dome, telling everyone to make sure they're finished up with all their jobs.

Just as that was happening, Bra's plane was flying over West City and towards the compound. As they approached the compound a huge banner came into view reading 'HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY BRA!' and Bra was already wide-eyed with excitement and happiness. She just knew her mother had gone all out. The plane touched down just outside the entrance to the residential dome and a group of about ten robots rushed out and formed a sort of guard of honour for when Bra stepped out. There was even a red carpet laid out for the birthday girl. Bra stepped out and as soon as she did the robots, in unison, said 'Happy Birthday, Miss Bra.'

Bra walked along and thanked the robots, even though they had just been programmed with the message, Bra still revelled in the attention. Pan and Kiera were following close behind. The robots stayed in position the entire time, never moving and inch. When Bra got to the door Bulma rushed out and wrapped her daughter in a hug.

"Happy Birthday, my little girl!" Bulma exclaimed, gripping onto the practically mini version of herself. Bra squeezed back. Both were just as excited as each other, it seemed. Bra was probably still way more excited. Bulma finally released Bra as the teenager told her that the trio were going to hang out in the garden dome until it was time to get ready for the party.

Trunks and Goten were already sitting in the dome, chatting to one another when the girls walked in. Bra immediately noticed all the balloons and the banners, and her eyes lit up again. There was even a table that already had snacks and drinks laid out for them. Trunks noticed his sister and waved over.

"Happy Birthday, sis," He said quickly, before turning back to talk to Goten. The Son man also said happy birthday, but apparently their conversation was too engrossing. The girls walked over to the table and grabbed something to eat and then went to sit down in the grass to chill out for a bit.

Bra didn't sit still for long and went to bother her brother.

"Hey, where's my present?" Bra asked, as she pushed her brother in a playful fashion, even though he did lose his balance and fell off of the chair he was on. Goten started laughing at his friend but Trunks threw a small Ki blast that then caused Goten to fall off of his chair too.

"I didn't think there would be anything I could get you that you don't already have," Trunks joked. Bra pouted and then looked to Goten. The Son man laughed nervously.

"I asked Valese to help pick something out for you, she'll bring it by later for the party," Goten said, covering his back. Trunks turned to him

"You didn't tell me you were actually getting her something?" Trunks questioned. Goten just shrugged.

"You didn't think to ask Marron?" Bra asked, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at her brother. Trunks stepped back.

"Hey, like I said, I wasn't sure there was anything you needed or wanted," Trunks said, defensively.

"It's the thought that counts, Trunks!" Bra said, seriously. She turned away from him and walked back to her friends. She wasn't really upset by it, but it was always fun to tease Trunks. He sat back down and felt a bit disappointed in himself. He glared back at Goten, but the Son man just shrugged again.


The time for the party grew ever closer, with some of the family friends even starting to arrive. Erasa came over with Kiera's outfit for the party, and some stuff for the sleepover. Videl was there by that point, again with stuff for Pan for the sleepover. There were some gifts for Bra also. Valese eventually arrived with the gift for Bra. It was just an item of clothing she had spotted while out that she thought would be nice for Bra and had persuaded Goten to get it for her as a birthday gift. Marron also came over, with her parents, both Android #18 and Krillin knew about Trunks and Marron dating at this point too.

That was it for family friends really, Bra didn't want to overload the place with everyone they knew, especially when there would be friends from school. Bra didn't want to scare anyone with the craziness of their family friends. Bra had wanted the party to feel formal, so she was wearing a long Red dress that made her feel like a princess. She even had a birthday tiara on. Pan wasn't fond of dresses that much, so she went with something that was still nice for a party, but a little more casual. She wore a nice orange blouse, with a pair of light blue jeans.

Bra did try her best to convince Pan to wear something different, but the girl was very stubborn and stuck by her choice. Kiera was also wearing a dress though, a blue one. Although, her dress was definitely not as elegant and attention grabbing as Bra's, big Capsule Corp. money had been spent on that dress.

As time went by, finally, the guests for the party were showing up. Other friends of Bra's and Pan's had shown up from school, basically everyone that received an invite was there. Nobody wanted to miss an opportunity to party at the rich girls house. Along with the group of people from school that showed up was the one-person Bra had been waiting for. Kareshi walked up to her, his hair styled neatly, wearing a nice shirt, looking very tidy and formal. Bra couldn't help but abandon her closest friends for a little bit so she could hang out with Kareshi.

By now nobody was really sitting in the garden dome and everything had moved to the hall that had been all decked out ready for the party. Things were looking and feeling great. There was music, soft drinks, lots of food, and everyone was having a great time. Although, Pan was feeling a little bit abandoned by Bra. At least she still got to hang around with Kiera and wasn't left completely alone.

"Bra's really into him then?" Kiera said, pointing out Bra with Kareshi, laughing at whatever he was saying.

"Yep, she's had a crush on him for a while now, at least she's finally trying to do something about it," Pan said. While she was annoyed at being abandoned by Bra, she was still happy that her friend was happy.

"What about you, is there anyone you like?" Kiera asked.

"No, not right now," Pan answered immediately. There wasn't even a sign that Pan was lying or trying to hide something. "I did hang out with a guy once, he came to over to our house, couldn't really handle my crazy family you know."

"That sucks, he wouldn't have to date your family" Kiera joked. Pan chuckled.

"I've had boys approach me and ask me out, but they don't really click with me on any other level, they just like how I look, I guess," Pan said, trailing off a little. "I've always been interested in martial arts and guys don't typically like a girl that's stronger than them."

"I don't necessarily think that's true, you'll find someone," Kiera reassured her. Pan smiled.

"We've all got plenty of time anyway, it's not something I care about right now," Pan explained.

Things went on with the party. People had a good time, had a laugh, and then things started to calm down. People started to leave having to get back to Satan City, mostly. Bra managed to get Kareshi to stay later than everyone else so they could keep hanging out and talking. By that point in the night it was only really the family friends left. The only kids still there were Pan, Bra, Kareshi, and Kiera. Everyone was pretty much sitting together though.

With the adults the conversation seemed to move over to fighting when Vegeta made a point of telling Trunks and Goten they should keep training properly, like him.

"What's the point, dad?" Trunks questioned.

"Yeah, like no one's about to burst through that door and want to fight me," Goten said confidently. Vegeta glared at him.

"You always need to be vigilant, be prepared for anything," Vegeta lectured them.

"I agree with Goten," Krillin said, "There hasn't been anything in a while, we've been safe, peaceful. No one's trying to kill us right now."

"Yet," Vegeta said, threateningly. Bulma slapped Vegeta on the back of the head playfully.

"Oh, stop trying to scare everyone, you silly man," Bulma teased. Vegeta grunted and turned away. Kareshi couldn't make sense of what they were talking about, but Bra was keeping him focussed on her, so he barely made out most of the adult conversation.

"I think Vegeta's got a bit of a point," Gohan interjected, "I've been keeping up with a little bit of light training here and there. There's nothing wrong with being a little active."

"See, he gets it," Vegeta said.

"I knew you were training without telling me," Videl said, turning to Gohan. "I could sense the little bit of difference in your energy."

"Guilty," Gohan said, holding up a hand and chuckling. Someone else had been paying close attention to this conversation and was very surprised about what Gohan said.

"You've still been training?" Pan asked. Gohan turned to his daughter and quickly glanced at Videl who had turned to look at him.

"Uh, yeah, mainly on breaks from work," Gohan answered.

"But every time I asked you to train me you said no," Pan said, she stood up and stared right at her father. Gohan was a little speechless, he didn't have an answer. He looked to Videl again and she wasn't going to help him here.

"I didn't think you needed to," Gohan said, thinking it would help.

"But I've always wanted to train, ever since I was little, I only stopped because you wouldn't do it," Pan said, getting a little angry. That anger was radiating a little and everyone could feel it, even if it was only faint, it definitely had an effect on her power. Everyone was distracted when Vegeta slammed his hand on the table and stood up.

"See, three out of the six Saiyans in this room want to train, so I say we have a sparring session," Vegeta said, flashing to Super Saiyan. Kareshi's eyes went wide and he turned to looked at Bra and then at everyone else. None of them were shocked. Except maybe Kiera, as she hadn't seen anything like this before.

"Vegeta, now is not the time!" Bulma said, standing up to him. Vegeta powered down but remained a Super Saiyan. Goten and Trunks seemed to look at each other and breathe a sigh of relief.

"The boys need to get back into fighting shape," Vegeta tried arguing.

"Boys? They're not boys anymore, Vegeta. They're men and they obviously don't want to, so don't bother them," Bulma tried to convince her husband to abandon the topic. Vegeta turned, instead, to Gohan.

"You," Vegeta pointed at him, "Spar, now."

Pan stepped up.

"I can join in!" Pan exclaimed.

"No," Gohan said, sternly.

"Why not?" Pan asked.

"Can we please not do this on my birthday!" Bra called out, getting all of their attentions. Bulma glared at the group, clearly trying to avoid getting Bra upset or annoyed. Everything fell silent for a minute and then everyone calmed down and went back to talking about something else. The situation was given a new level of awkwardness when Krillin asked Trunks and Marron when they were getting married. Although, Pan couldn't get her mind off of the thought that her dad was still training.

While in the group of kids, Kareshi took a look at his phone and noticed the time.

"I think it's getting kind of late, I should probably leave," he said, standing up. Bra stood up with him.

"I'll see you out, we'll get one of the auto-mated capsule cars to take you home," Bra said, taking a hold of Kareshi's hand and walking to the exit. The two shared a quick hug. "I'm glad you came."

"Yeah, me too," Kareshi said, chuckling nervously. He then seemed to lean in a second, perhaps trying to go for a kiss, but Vegeta's sharp eye noticed and he flashed over, pushing the boy back a step.

"That's close enough, boy," Vegeta growled. Kareshi seemed to freeze in position.

"Vegeta! Leave them alone," Bulma yelled out.

"Dad, what's wrong with you?" Bra questioned.

"You're too young. And he's too weak and unworthy of being with a princess!" Vegeta said, glaring at the boy. Krillin, Trunks, and Goten seemed to laugh a little bit at hearing that last bit. Vegeta obviously heard that and had to say something else. "A Saiyan Princess, I meant."

"That's cute, honey, but leave Bra and her friend alone. So what if she's a Saiyan princess, your Saiyan hierarchy means nothing here," Bulma told him, pulling him away.

"That doesn't change the fact she's still my princess," Vegeta said, although he tried to say it quietly, but most everyone heard what he said.

"What was that, dad?" Trunks called out.

"Aw, listen to my cute husband," Bulma said, hugging him.

"Get off of me, woman!" Vegeta called out.

"That was a nice thing to say, dad, I didn't know you could be so sweet," Bra said. Vegeta groaned in embarrassment and everyone was laughing at him, even Kareshi. Vegeta noticed the boy was laughing at him and he turned to face him. He gave him a strong death glare and Kareshi was genuinely scared at that point.

"Uh, it was a nice party, Bra. I gotta go," Kareshi said before rushing off into one of the capsule cars. It quickly took off and flew away. Bra was a little upset about that, she didn't get to have her proper goodbye.

"Thank a lot, dad!" Bra yelled at him. Vegeta was taken aback and seemed a little ashamed at himself.

"I… I'm sorry," Vegeta muttered, and rushed off away to his gravity room. Bra sighed and Bulma gave her a quick hug.

"Thanks for the party, mom. It was great," the teenager said, hugging her mother back.

"You're welcome, sweetheart. Now why don't you and the girls go relax a little bit before bed now," Bulma said, as the trio went off together to Bra's room.

The girls all changed out of their outfits and into their pyjamas or whatever they were wearing to bed.

"It really was a nice party," Kiera assured Bra.

"Yeah it was," Pan agreed, "Are you ok though?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, that's just my dad isn't it," Bra said, smiling wide again, "Plus Kareshi sent me a text and he seems to be ok."

"That's great, he must be a keeper" Kiera said, enthusiastic for her friend. Pan was still dwelling on the thought of her father training and not telling her. He knew how much Pan had wanted to keep training when Goku left, but he had always denied her. It annoyed the young Saiyan, but she just tried to push it to the back of her mind.

"Now we need to start planning for Pan's birthday party!" Bra said, getting excited again. Pan was brought back down to Earth.

"Can we just get through December first, think about that in the new year?" Pan pleaded.


Characters Seen/Mentioned in this Chapter:

Pan
Bra
Bulma
Chi-Chi
Vegeta
Kiera (OC)
Erasa
Videl
Kareshi (OC)
Trunks
Son Goten
Valese
Marron
Android #18
Krillin
Son Gohan