Tyranny and Mutation

Chapter 4

--Earth...

Trunks sighed. "You've probably never even heard of it."

Gohan looked at them strangely. "Try me."

Trunks and Bra looked at each other.

"Mandolin," Bra said. "We're from Mandolin."

Videl frowned. "Mandolin? Where's that?"

Bra's eyes got big.

:In your studies of Earth, you didn't find time to study its geography: Trunks thought, referring to his sister.

"It's a small island... No one's ever really heard of it... It's right outside of...green...land," Bra said slowly. She looked away from the adults and looked at Trunks.

"Green? Land?" Trunks mouthed.

Bra only shrugged.

"Greenland? Well, you've come a long way, haven't you?" Gohan said with a smile.

"Welcome to our country," Goku told them.

ChiChi looked at them strangely. "Well, that doesn't explain why you look so familiar. But I suppose everyone in the world has a twin somewhere."

"You coulda told us you were from Greenland. That's so cool," Pan said to Trunks and Bra.

:We've gotta change the subject somehow: Bra thought. She pulled out the newspaper article. "Your turn," she whispered to Trunks. She gave the paper to Trunks.

Trunks looked at the paper for while, then looked at Goku. "Um, yes. The reason we came was to meet you. We wanted to meet the winner of the World Martial Arts Tournament." He showed Goku the paper.

Goku raised his eyebrows. "Oh, that was a long time ago. I'm not the champion anymore. Well, I'm sure that if you've been keeping up with the tournament, you know that."

Bra looked a little nervous.

"Well, we like to do research on these things," Trunks told him. "We wanted to know about your experience during the tournament."

Goten had his head in the refrigerator. "Well, the tournament's so different now than it was back then. It's not even the same anymore. There's all this publicity and different divisions."

Goku nodded. "The tournament used to be a great way to test your skills as a fighter, but now you not only have to be a good fighter, you have to have a face for television."

Bra frowned. "Television? Oh, no."

"Don't worry, Bra. That's just for the adult division," Pan said. "You don't have to worry about cameras in the teen division."

Bra let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright," Trunks said. "That's great. All the greatest fighters in one place." He raised his eyebrows at Bra.

Bra nodded and smiled. :This is convenient. We could begin forming an army easily via this tournament. If that is indeed what Mandolin meant, then we couldn't have chosen a better time to come to this planet: she thought.

"You two are talking like you plan on entering the Teen Martial Arts Tournament," ChiChi stated.

Both Trunks and Bra looked at ChiChi and nodded.

"Oh... Well, that's nice," ChiChi said. She looked at them for a while. "I still think you two look really familiar for some reason. I can't shake this feeling. It's like I should know you."

Videl pulled out what looked like a capsule and stood. "Alright, Pan. It's time to get home so you can get at least a little studying done."

Pan frowned and clung to her father. "Awwwww, but I wanted to stay and talk to the exchange students a little longer," she whined.

Gohan stood. "Listen to your mother, Pan."

Bra looked at what Videl had in her hand. "Um, excuse me. Is that a capsule?"

"Yes, it is," Videl told Bra.

Trunks looked over at what Videl was holding as well. :How could they have miniaturization technology: he thought.

Bra looked confused. :It seems I'll have to do more research on this planet.:

"You know we'll be back tomorrow, Mom," Gohan said to ChiChi. "We'll see you, Dad, Goten." He looked at the two newcomers. "It was nice meeting you two."

"I hope we get to see more of each other," Videl told the siblings.

Bra waved good-bye.

"Yeah, same here," Trunks stated.

Pan looked back at Trunks and smiled, but Trunks barely caught sight of it. Bra, on the other hand, saw it all.

Everyone watched Videl, Gohan and Pan leave.

"So, where do you two live? Are you staying with a family or what?" Goku asked.

"We have our own place. It's not very far from here," Bra responded.

Goten had been preparing a snack and it had given Goku the idea to do the same. Goten turned to Bra. "That's great. Maybe we could walk home from school together."

Bra's eyes lit up and she smiled. "I'd like that. A lot."

ChiChi smiled to herself.

Trunks looked at Bra and laughed to himself.

Goten scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "Uh... That is, Pan and I could walk you and your brother home."

Bra played at a button on the bottom of her blouse. "Oh..., well, that'd be great, too, even though I was kind of hoping you meant just the two of us."

Goten looked like he wasn't sure what to say.

ChiChi raised her eyebrows.

Goku was eating by this time and wouldn't even notice if he had been stung by the world's largest bumble bee.

"Speaking of home, we have a lot of work to do there," Trunks said to his sister. He looked at the remaining Sons and smiled. "Thank you so much for letting us know about the tournament and thanks for welcoming us. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

ChiChi smiled. "It's always nice to meet such obviously mature youngsters. Maybe you two could be a good influence on Goten and Pan. They could both use some help in the maturity department."

Goten looked at ChiChi, a little surprised. "Mom," he whispered.

The siblings headed toward the door. "Thanks again," Bra said to them. "You've been so kind to us. We can only hope that everyone else here will be this kind." She was talking to the whole family, but she had her eyes on Goten.

Everyone said their good-byes and the Vegetas were on their way back toward the wooded area from which they'd come.

"Bra," Trunks said.

"Yes?" Bra asked.

"The next time you decide to drool over a guy, try not to do it so openly," Trunks said. He grinned.

Bra blushed. "I was NOT drooling--"

"Really? Then what would you call it?" Trunks questioned.

"Oh, be quiet. He was handsome. I think it might be interesting to get to know him. And he's one of the people with a high power level," Bra said. "Besides, I didn't say anything when that Pan girl was making eyes at you."

"Making eyes? At me? Pan?" Trunks asked. "You must be mistaken."

Bra stopped in a clearing in the woods after not even 10 minutes of walking and yawned. "You probably didn't notice it because you're blind. You'll see soon enough." She pulled her container of capsules out and looked at the one which would be their home.

"I think you're just saying that because you don't want to be the only person who's showing feelings for someone you barely know," Trunks stated.

"Can we talk about this another time? There are more important things to talk about," Bra told Trunks. She decapsulated their house and stepped inside. "First, we need to find out how this planet has miniaturization technology when Vegeta is the only planet in the entire universe that has it. Then, we have to find a way to enroll into this school before anyone finds out that we lied about that."

"There are also other high power levels out there," Trunks said. "We should find the time to check those out."

Bra pulled out her computer and started typing like crazy. "That's true. This planet's revolution cycle in comparison to size is a lot like Planet Vegeta's. That's good. Our sleep schedules will, for the most part, be the same." She sighed. "I just have to know how this planet has capsules when no other planet around has this kind of technology. It's really starting to bug me."

Trunks looked over her shoulder as she typed. "Hey, that place has the same name as Mom's lab back on Planet Vegeta."

Bra pulled up the information and stared at the pictures of the main people who worked there. "That's Goten's brother. He runs the place."

She scrolled on down the page and looked at a section that read, 'In loving memory of Bulma Brief'. Bra raised an eyebrow and scrolled on down to the picture of the woman the page was dedicated to.

--End Chapter 4--

--Thank you for reading this chapter. Sorry it was so slow getting out. It's been, like, a month. I just decided to take a little vacation there for a while. Sorry about that. Please review. Tell me what you think. Thanks again.