A/N: I'm so sorry this took forever lmao. Life got so hectic, but, uh, enjoy the new longest chapter that I've ever written. 5,778 words. Damn.
Chapter 7: Training Days
"Where are they?" asked Mrs. Manson. The married woman looked like she was attempting to burn a whole through Maddie's head with her heated glare.
"Mrs. Manson," Maddie began with the slightest hint of exasperation, "for the hundredth time, I don't know. Our kids are missing as well."
"Yes, well, your kids took our child," countered Mr. Manson.
"I'm sorry? Are you implying something?"
"I said exactly what I meant, you ghost hunting freak!" Mr. Manson shouted. "This is why I didn't want your children coming anywhere near my daughter! They've brainwashed and kidnapped her!"
"Guys, guys!" Jack eased. "We can talk this out all nice and easy, right?"
"Oh shut up, you giant oaf," Mr. Manson scowled. "Don't you have a fridge to empty?"
Maddie's jaw set as she glared hard at the wealthy man. The anger she'd been feeling before was nothing compared to what was coursing through her now. "What did you say about my husband, you classless hack?!"
"Guys!" Mr. Foley interrupted. "All this yelling won't help us find our kids. Mr. Manson, I will be among the first to tell you that the Fentons have a couple of screws loose, but they're also good people."
"Thank you, 'ol buddy!"
"So do we just wait around here and do nothing?" asked Mrs. Manson, drumming her fingers against a purse probably worth more than their lives. "We just wait for the police to turn up with zero leads?"
"No, we don't." Mr. Foley turned to Maddie with a serious expression. "I can't believe I'm asking this, but do you think this is ghost related?"
Maddie started a bit before giving a non-committal hum. "I'm not certain, but I might have something in the basement that can help us."
"You cannot be serious!" exclaimed Mr. Manson. "You expect us to go into that horrid excuse for a laboratory. Are you insane?"
Mr. Foley shrugged. "I'm not asking you to do anything. I want to find my son, and I don't want to sit around doing nothing. If I remember correctly, that's what you guys wanted, right?" He looked at each Manson pointedly. They didn't meet his gaze. "You both can do what you want. I'm going down there. C'mon, Jack, Maddie. Show me what you've got."
"What do you mean you don't know where he is?!"
Bulma raised her hands appeasingly at the irate housewife. "Hey, I don't know where he is right now. It's gonna take some time to find him if he really did go to another reality."
Chi Chi glared hard at Bulma as if she could force her to draw Gohan back from whatever peril he was in. "Is Vegeta almost here with the Dragon Balls?"
"He should be," drawled Bulma as she returned to her machine. "I don't know what's taking him so long."
Bulma continued to tighten a bolt on her machine. It was a daunting task to create a portal to another dimension, but it wasn't anything she couldn't do. Call it hubris, but making a shrinking device, a radar for magical orbs, and various Capsules really boosts confidence. Not to mention time travel.
"Are you almost done?!"
Bulma sighed as she tried hard to put on a smile. "This'll probably take a week or two. Maybe a month. Who knows? It's gonna take some time, probably even less if there are less interruptions."
Thankfully, Chi Chi took the not quite subtle hint and turned away. "C'mon, Dad! We're leaving."
Chi Chi turned heel and strode off, smacking right into a certain Saiyan. "Oof!" The Ox-King only barely caught his daughter before she fell to the ground.
Vegeta regarded Chi Chi with a slight scowl of disdain. "What's Kakarot's mate doing here?"
"Hey!" Chi Chi cried. "Watch where you're going you-!"
"Oh!" Bulma interrupted. "You have the Balls?!"
Sure enough, Vegeta had two Dragon Balls tucked under each arm. "Of course, I do! Had to deal with a wretched volcano to get one of these."
"That's great! You all can go make the wish and see if it works!"
"What do you mean we're fighting Gohan?!"
Forge looked at Randy with a raised brow. The hint of amusement that played across his face wasn't the least bit comforting. "It's the best way we can prepare you guys for Cell. Unless you've got a better idea?"
Randy just grumbled as he joined the other heroes. They were going to be sparring in the Canyon because of Gohan's more flashy attacks. He was going to be holding back, but somehow, Randy didn't think of it as much of a consolation.
"Alright!" called Forge as his helicopter took him back, towards headquarters and out of the line of fire. "Ready, Set. . . Go!"
Randy didn't even see where Gohan came from. He just felt the pain in his legs, and the vertigo as he groaned on the floor. Randy groaned as he tried to rub the pain away; unfortunately, it was to no avail.
"Maybe I should slow down a little?" Gohan muttered.
If it were anybody else, Randy would've called them a shoob and flipped them the bird. But no, Gohan was genuinely concerned. Which made it far more annoying.
"Keep it up, Gohan!" Forge demanded. "Cell isn't going to hold back on them either!"
"Easy for him to say," Danny grumbled, looking just as disheveled as Randy felt. "I'd like to see him down here."
"Guys!"
Randy turned his head to see Max heading towards them. He seemed to be fine despite Gohan's first onslaught. "We need some type of a plan of if we're gonna beat him."
Randy glanced over to see Danny heading their way. "What'd you have in mind?"
"Shh!" hissed Danny. "Gohan could hear us!"
Sure enough, the half-Saiyan seemed to be doing his best to appear as if he wasn't listening. It wasn't very convincing, though.
Randy rolled his eyes. "What's your idea, Max?"
"I was going to use Speed Mode and distract him while you sneak up on him," Max gestured to the ninja. "You use an ice ball, and if that doesn't work, Danny can back us up with his clones."
Randy blinked. "That's not bad. It feels great having somebody else to do the planning!"
"You guys, done over there?" asked Gohan.
Max stared straight ahead, to his credit, without any sign of fear. "Yeah, we just about finished. Guys, now! T.U.R.B.O. Speed Mode!"
What happened next was absolutely bruce. T.U.R.B.O. energy radiated from Max's body, solidifying into a large sphere. It rebounded back into him, piecing together into his sleek Speed Mode.
Max shot off towards Gohan without a moment's rest. He was almost a blur of motion with a steady set of afterimages flickering behind him. It was almost entrancing to watch.
At least until he realized Gohan was easily keeping up with him. Plus, Randy had a job to do.
He took a deep breath before reaching into his endless arsenal of goodies. "Ninja Smoke Bomb!"
Randy was just barely able to see Gohan's bewildered expression before it was obscured in smoke. In a flash, Randy was behind him with a Cold Ball in hand. "Time to freeze, Gohan! Ninja Cold Ball!"
Randy chucked the orb at the half-Saiyan, striking him dead in the chest. No wait. It went through him.
'Oh no. . .'
Randy found himself face down in the dirt in the blink of an eye. He groaned from the new bruise surely blossoming on his back. Randy propped himself up on his elbows to see an interesting sight.
Danny was firing cryokinetic blast after cryokinetic blast but to no avail. Gohan had a barrier of energy surrounding him that blocked every single attack.
"You have gotta be kidding me," Randy grumbled as he stumbled to his feet. Only to get knocked back down after Max and Danny slammed into him.
"Could you not announce your attacks next time?" groaned Danny while rolling off of Randy. "I thought you were supposed to be a ninja?!"
Randy chuckled, sheepishly, as Max helped him up. "Sorry, it's a habit."
"We're gonna need a new plan."
Randy glanced at Max who was staring straight at the floating superhuman. "I hope you've got something else 'cause I've got nothing."
Max was silent for a moment before he turned to Randy. "Distract Gohan. Danny and I will take him on with invisibility. Got it?"
"Got it!"
"Let's go T.U.R.B.O! Stealth!" After another sphere of light, Max was gone. Danny disappeared along with him, not too long after.
"You can't get past me with invisibility!" Gohan chided. "I can sense each and every one of you."
"You can sense use, huh?" Randy heard Max somewhere off to his right, but he couldn't pinpoint where. "That's good to know. Danny, how many clones can you make?"
"My limit's about around four, why?" came Danny's voice somewhere above him.
"Alright, just leave this to me. Danny, you fly high and make as many ice blasts as you possibly can. Randy, you have any other tricks up your sleeve?"
"I've got tripping Balls, Hot Balls, Cold Balls, Bee Balls, and a lot of other Ninja stuff."
"Great! I'm gonna need you to give me as many Cold Balls as you possibly can."
"Roger."
"Alright guys, let's go T.U.R.B.O! Speed!"
Out of nowhere the field was filled with a bunch of Maxs all decked out in Speed mode. "Randy, start whipping up the Balls!"
"I've gotcha covered! Ninja Ball Scatter Throw!"
Randy whipped a multitude of Ninja Balls out that each Max clone deftly caught. The Maxs zipped around Gohan zipping some Balls Gohan's way. He easily weaved through each of them, knocking them aside with pressurized air blasts. At least, that's what Randy thought they were.
It was all looking to be very pointless, but he kept hurling out Ninja Balls. A small part of him wondered if he was anywhere close to running out of artillery. He just hoped Max's plan was coming to a conclusion some time soon.
Suddenly, Gohan jerked and his Ki shield fell. Capitalizing on his fallen guard, a Max clone (or maybe the real Max) threw a Ninja Cold Ball at the half-Saiyan, freezing him solid.
". . . Is it over?"
The Maxs around him dissipated into flashes of T.U.R.B.O. energy as the original Max smirked. "Yep. We took him down. Good work, guys!"
"I never want to do that again!"
"Ditto," laughed Danny as he faded into existence. Randy watched him warily. He'd flown out of Gohan who was still a frozen popsicle. It was going to take some getting used to the ghostly parts of Danny. "I know he was holding back but geez!" laughed Danny. "This still hurts everywhere."
Fwip. Fwip. Fwip.
The teens looked up to find Forge's helicopter descending to meet them. A ladder soon dropped down as Forge flew down it with expert ability.
"Good job, gang!" Forge smiled. "We'll repeat this again later."
Max sighed, probably loathing the prospect of a repeat. Randy couldn't blame him. "I can go now, right?"
"Yes, Max. We're done for today. Everyone else, come abroad. And Danny, phase Gohan out of the ice, please."
"He killed Lord Makino, sir."
"Yes, I know. I asked him to do it myself."
"Yes, you did, sir. However, he also created a tournament with the fate of Earth in peril."
"Yes, I know."
"Then what is our next move?"
Dread took a deep breath as he stared ahead. Why did everything have to grow so difficult? "Seeing as he's not here now, we can create countermeasures."
"Countermeasures?! What type of countermeasures do we have for someone like Cell?!"
"We have many assets with numerous abilities. Cell may be powerful, but he's cocky. If we can surprise him, then we can take him out."
Naught sobered slightly as he watched Dread, carefully. "How would we surprise him?"
"We act unpredictably. It's time we gave N-Tek a call."
"I'm sorry. Did you say N-Tek, sir?"
"Did I stutter?"
"No, sir!" Naught waved his hands in front of himself. "I've heard you loud and clear, sir!"
"Good. Now it's about time that we rally up our inter-dimensional friends."
Max took a deep breath. He'd wanted this didn't he?
He would get to see his friends again. It had been a long three months without them. . .
So why did he feel so nervous?
'Why are you so nervous, Max?'
Max dropped down into his bed, laying down looking up at the ceiling. 'I don't know, Steel. I just thought that I'd feel happier about this.'
'Hey, I wouldn't read too much into it! It's probably all of those back to school jitters. And the whole impending doom of the Cell Games or whatnot.'
'Yeah, that's gotta be it. Thanks, Steel.'
'Hey no prob. What are ultralinks for?'
"Hey, Max! You've got a second?"
Max took a deep breath before shoving himself to his feet. "Yeah sure, Mom!"
He made his way out into the hallway to find his mother waiting for him. She had a deep frown etched onto her face that made Max wince. It didn't usually result in anything good.
"I need help finding an invention Berto made. If you don't have the time, it's fine. It's just I have no idea where it is!"
Max took one long glance back at his room before shrugging. "Nah, it's fine. Why is one of Berto's inventions here, anyway?"
"Ah, your Uncle Forge brought it over when he came for a visit yesterday. He accidentally left it here. Oh yeah! He told me it should respond to your T.U.R.B.O. energy! Maybe there's an alarm on it or something."
"Shouldn't it have activated when I walked in?"
His mother frowned. "Maybe it's a significant amount of T.U.R.B.O. energy that's required to trigger it."
"Alright, I'll try something out."
Max took a deep breath and shoved out some energy. He could feel his camouflage fade slowly back into his T.U.R.B.O. suit. Not too long after, he could hear a sharp beeping sound.
"I think it's coming from the living room! Thanks, Max, I think I've got it from here!"
"No problem."
Max watched her disappear into the living room while rocking slightly on the balls of his feet.
'You wanna check it out don't you?'
Max grinned at the suggestion. 'Maybe a little bit.'
Max peeked around the side to see his mom holding a strange sliver device with a blinking red button. When he looked at it, the device let out a high pitched shriek and flew out of his mother's hands.
"Woah!" shouted Max, crossing his arms in front of his face. "No, no no, no!"
'Uh, I think it's headed for-!'
Max slammed back into the wall, slightly cracking it. "Ugh, what happened. . ?"
"Max!" His mother cried. "Are you alright?!"
Max chuckled a little bit as he stood up. He gazed down at his arms and body. He didn't feel any different aside from the slight bruising in his back. "Yeah, I think so."
'Steel, you good?'
'I'm. . . not sure?'
"Systems Activating!"
Max's eyes widened. "Wha-?"
A ray of light shot out from Max's chest. His suit began to pulsate blue light and ripple. The lights started growing brighter and brighter as his mother watched with bated breath.
Max felt strange. It was like his T.U.R.B.O. energy was rebounding within him like a bull. It was so powerful that it had him doubled over and gasping. He'd never felt this much power in his life.
He looked up at his panic-stricken mother and tried to steel his face. If only to calm her down. "Mom, I need you to run."
That command seemed to flip a switch in her mind as she vehemently shook her head. "Max, I'm not going to leave you-"
Max gave a frustrated growl as he stumbled backwards. "RUN, MOM! Let's go, T.U.R.B.O. FLIGHT!"
He groaned against the machine's will, pushing every ounce of his being into the transformation. It was almost like the energy wanted to completely explode outward, far more than was needed. Despite this, his suit completed the transformation, and he sprinted for the window.
He flew out and headed skyward. He screamed, desperately trying to hold back the T.U.R.B.O. energy surging through his veins. His world became tinted in blue light as an explosion went off.
Gohan choked on his soda in surprise at the sudden T.U.R.B.O. spike. 'Isn't that Max?! Bu-but that power. . . I've never felt anything like that from him!'
Gohan stood up, leaving his soda forgotten on the table. He was gone in the blink of an eye.
It didn't take too long to find Max in the bottom of a crater. Gohan's brows scrunched with bewilderment. They had to be miles and miles outside of Copper Canyon if the frozen wasteland they were in was any indication.
"What happened here?" Gohan muttered as he floated down towards the downed hero.
Max's suit suddenly began to glow as Gohan jerked back. The light soon became bright enough that Gohan had to raise his arm to block it out.
When the light finally died down, Gohan's brows furrowed at the sight. Max was dressed in a white and blue Gi not dissimilar to his own. His signature M stood emblazoned on his Gi front.
It was definitely one of the strangest things he'd seen in a while. "Well I better bring him back. . ."
Gohan carefully approached him. He tapped him softly with his hand. He immediately yanked it back with a yelp, blowing on his hand profusely.
The teen was absolutely steaming despite being sprawled out in an icy hole. "Well that's strange. . . how about this?"
Gohan concentrated hard on the Ki around him and Max and watched Max slowly begin to hover. Satisfied with his control, Gohan took off while telekinetically hauling Max behind him.
"What the heck happened here?!"
"I'm not sure. I just sensed him a minute ago in the middle of nowhere."
Berto leaned over the unconscious half-alien while glancing at his holographic tablet every once in a while. His eyes flitted around so fast that Gohan was worried that he'd go cross-eyed. "He seems like he'll be fine. He just experienced a slight T.U.R.B.O. overload."
Gohan frowned in confusion before glancing at Forge. He'd never seen the Commander look so alarmed in the past two days. "A T.U.R.B.O. overload?! How?! Steel is still linked to him, right?! A T.U.R.B.O. overload shouldn't even be possible!"
Berto raised his hands, quickly, patting at the air. "Yeah, don't worry, Commander! Steel got most of the energy regulated before it could do any real damage. He should be fine in a few hours." Berto looked down at Max with a softened expression, shaking his head. "I can't believe I miscalculated it this badly!"
Forge sighed before placing a hand on the scientist's shoulder. "Mistakes happen, Berto. The important thing is that Max is going to be alright. Just keep monitoring him and we'll worry about the rest later."
Berto nodded, looking only half-convinced. Forge gave his shoulder a soft squeeze before turning to Gohan with an expectant stare. "I think we should be going. Thank you for retrieving Max on such short notice, Gohan."
Gohan glanced once more at Max's unresponsive body before nodding. "Alright, sir."
He and Forge headed out the door and into the hallway. Forge was just about to head off, likely to some important business, when Gohan called out to him. "Hey, Forge?"
"What's wrong?"
"What was Berto talking about? About miscalculating?"
Forge sighed, tiredly. "It. . . It was something he'd been working on for an advantage against Cell. I guess it wasn't exactly ready for action yet, huh."
Gohan opened his mouth only to close it immediately after. What had he wanted to ask? Did he even want to ask anything? Was it even worth it? Gohan shook his head as he steeled himself. "Do you think it'd be best if I faced Cell alone?"
The Commander looked at him with a bewildered expression. "No way! Why would you think that?"
Gohan shook his head, forging ahead. "I don't think there's any way Max, Randy, and Danny will be ready for Cell."
"You didn't think you'd be ready either."
"I know, but that's different!" Gohan exclaimed. He quickly flushed before speaking again in a lower tone. "Cell is leaps and bounds ahead of them. If they come anywhere near him, they'll die. It won't be like last time they faced him. He'll kill them. And if he doesn't, they'll hurt themselves trying to get that strong so fast! You saw what happened to Max!"
Forge was quiet for a moment. Gohan had to fight down the wave of guilt he felt from bringing Max into the argument. He hadn't meant to say that exactly, but he felt the point needed to be made. He thought that he'd actually gotten through to Ferrus for a moment before the Commander shot him a powerful glare. "Gohan, that is exactly why we'll face Cell with you. He'll be ruthless, but we'll be prepared. We'll make the necessary plans, and we'll take him down. Together."
Gohan wanted to protest, but he knew that there would be no swaying the Commander. He had a feeling that the man was not unlike his father, rigid and unwavering when he put his mind to something.
Ferrus put a firm hand on his shoulder while giving him a slight smile. "How about you see what the rest of your friends are up to? They'll help you get your mind off of things."
Gohan blinked at the sudden assertion. Friends? Were they friends? Sure they were around his age and got along nice enough, but they had hardly been with each other for a couple of days. Still, he couldn't help a faint smile as he thought of a certain orange-haired teen's declaration.
'What are friends for?"
Gohan gave Ferrus a nod and a smile. "Alright, sir."
"You up for my Fist of Fury, Tucker?"
"Only if you're ready to taste my boot of vengeance, Howard!"
BEGIN!
Tucker's character jabbed at Howard's, doubling it over before knocking him back further with a kick. He landed another kick on him, refusing to let up on the onslaught.
After a quick combo, Tucker had Howard beat in less than a minute.
Howard looked ready to chuck his controller into the wall. "Oh c'mon! You've gotta be kidding me."
"Danny, you sure you don't wanna play me?" Tucker teased. "I think Howard could use the time off. You know, so he can see how it's done."
Howard just grumbled.
"I'd love to but I can't," Danny deadpanned. "You know, there's a super alien android thing getting ready to destroy the planet in a few weeks. It kinda kills the mood."
"Hey, I know this seems bad, but it wouldn't kill you to take a little break. If I've learned anything from Cunningham, it's that going all out can drain the mess out of you."
Tucker grinned. "See. . ."
Danny sighed before hopping up from his chair, eliciting a grin from Howard and Tucker. Danny took the controller from Howard and dropped in between the two.
"Now, that's more like it!" Tucker encouraged.
"I wonder how Randy's doing anyway," muttered Danny.
Howard scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "Didn't you hear a word I just said? If I know Cunningham, he's regretting ever going so try-hard with his Ninja training."
Randy rubbed his sore back and heaved a groan as he lay in his bed. Gohan really knew how to exhaust a dude. It was quite apparent to Randy that he never wanted to be on Gohan's bad side.
It was then that he realized he was really freaking hungry. But he also knew that he didn't want to leave the bed.
"Oh great," Randy muttered, listlessly. "We've got a problem on our hands."
Then a knock came from the door. "Hey, Randy! Are you in there?"
Randy bit back a groan as he flopped back onto the bed. Why did his life have to be so wonk?! "Yeah, I'm in here! Come on in!"
The door slightly opened and Heidi peeked into the room. She seemed a lot more reserved than she usually was. Not to mention, she'd actually consistently got his name right not too long before!
It was getting concerning.
"OK. . ." started Randy as he sat back up, "who are you and what have you done with Heidi?"
Heidi rolled her eyes and straightened a bit. "Why do you have to be such a shoob all the time?"
"OK, that's more like it."
"Anyways, I just wanted to know how long you've been the Ninja?! I mean, how is that even possible?! I've known you my entire life, and you don't look like an 800 year old man."
Randy shrugged and spared a quick glance at the ceiling. Unfortunately, there was no escape to be found. "I don't think I'm allowed to talk about that. It's kinda Ninja secret stuff."
"Come on, I already know you're the Ninja! What would telling me anything else hurt?"
Randy snorted at the faulty logic. "Gee, I don't know. What's the worst that could happen if I spilled 800 year old Ninja secrets to Norrisville's premiere gossiper, hm?"
Heidi scowled for a moment before glaring daggers at the wall. "I-I'm not gonna tell, Randy. I just wanna know."
Randy quirked a brow as he heard something mixed between desperation and sadness. He felt a twinge in his heart as he gave a long sigh. 'Why do I think I'll regret this. . ?'
"Look, I'll tell you what you want to know, if you get me some snacks from the snack bar."
Heidi blinked. "Seriously?"
"Well, I'll try, anyways," Randy amended. "I'll still have to ask the Nomicon. Oh. . . you didn't know about the Nomicon. . ."
He could see the book glowing mockingly in the corner of his eye. Randy glanced over at it before looking back at Heidi. Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice. "So. . . what do you say?"
Heidi stared hard at the teen before sighing. "Fine. I'll do it. Do you want anything specific?"
"I'll take a Sprite and a pizza."
"Alright, I'll be back in a few."
Randy glanced over at the Nomicon with no small amount of apprehension. It was pulsating every second or so now as if it was angry at him. He gave a slight gulp as he made his way towards the nearby drawer.
"Alright, Nomicon, please don't kill me!"
And he shloomped.
Heidi scowled as she walked down the hall, grumbling to herself. Her feelings hadn't gotten any clearer. She wasn't surprised that she felt different towards Randy. After all, he'd just been Howard's annoying friend for most of her life. Not a town saving ninja.
"What is wrong with me?" Heidi murmured while running a hand through her hair.
She turned into the snack-bar where a bored agent sat glancing at their device. "Hi, I was looking to see if I could get a pizza, please?"
The female agent glanced up with slight alarm before relaxing with a smile. "Yeah, sure. What type do you want."
Heidi's brows narrowed as she just barely stomped the urge to scream. "Of course the shoob didn't tell me what type of pizza he wanted!"
"I'm sorry? What did you-"
"Nothing, nothing. I'll just. . . Sicilian!"
The female agent watched her with a wide-eyed stare. Heidi had the grace to flush as she repeated her order in a softer voice. "I'll take a Sprite and a Sicilian pizza. Please."
"OK, it'll only take a couple of minutes."
"Do I have to pay for anything?" asked Heidi, sheepishly. "I think I left my wallet back-"
The cashier just shook her head with an easy smile. "Nope. It's all on the house for as long as you guys are here."
Heidi said her thanks as she went off to sort herself out.
She had no clue why she happened to remember that mundane fact. She'd heard him mention it during a birthday party three or four years ago. He had been so happy to see that his parents had got him that specific type of pizza. It was nothing short of adorable.
Not that Heidi would ever tell Randy that.
That memory hadn't meant too much to her though. It was just a passing thing that happened to distract her from the crushing boredom that was that "party." Maybe it was just a weird chance thing?
"Yeah," she murmured, "That's gotta be it. What else would it be?"
"Here's your pizza and soda, miss."
Heidi looked up blankly at the food before remembering her goal. "Oh. . . thank you!"
She hurriedly grabbed the food and drink and scurried off. 'Get your head in the game, Weinerman! This is no time to get flustered like this!'
Time to get those answers.
"So. . . Nomicon! You're not mad at me or anything, right?"
The Nomicon, unfortunately, granted him no hints. As far as he was concerned, he was in the middle of a boring forest with leaves scattered about the ground.
"Can I have a second to explain myself or something? 'Cause it's not really my fault that every-"
Randy slipped and fell on his face, hard. He bit back a curse as he watched with morbid wonder as the leaves began to race off. The leaves tumbled over each other, collecting at a single open space in the forest.
He pushed himself to his feet, eyes never leaving the now towering mass of leaves. 'No. That's a person. The Ninja. . .'
Randy felt his mouth go dry as he took an involuntary step back. "He-Hey, First Ninja! 'Ol buddy, 'ol pal! What's up? How's it been?"
The Ninja just stared down at him.
"Uh, look! I know I messed up, but-"
"You told your friend about the Ninja,' The Ninja boomed. "You allowed two other people to find out you were the Ninja. You allowed an entire Clan to find out that you were the Ninja."
Randy winced as the First's forcefulness increased with every sentence. "I-I wouldn't say- Wait?! Two people?! A Clan?!"
"The two girls and the N-Tek Clan, yes. If these were different circumstances, I may have been forced to wipe your memory."
Randy stood stock still. "So. . . What will you do to me?"
"Nothing."
Randy stared up at the Ninja, numbly, searching for any trace of deceit. "Not that I'm not thrilled about this, but are you serious?"
It looked like the Ninja smiled, slightly, but it was hard to tell thanks to the leaves. "You did what needed to be done. However, you will have to mind wipe the two girls after this ordeal has passed."
Randy nodded easily. "Gotcha, gotcha! So, what do I do now? Do you have any bonus knowledge for me? 'Cause I've-!"
"Goodbye."
The ground opened below Randy, drawing a yelp from his lips. He managed to right himself in time to view a fast approaching light streaking towards him. Rather, he corrected, he was zipping towards that light faster than he had any right to be.
He shot up with a yelp as his head smacked hard against the floor. Randy could feel a painful bruise already beginning to take shape. He bit back a curse as he just lay there on the ground, glaring up at the Nomicon through his bangs.
"Nomicon, you are such a honking shoob. . ."
"Get out here, Shenron!"
At the housewife's command, the sky began to darken as black clouds blotted out the Sun. Lightning flashed and danced across the clouds in a call for the Eternal Dragon. The Balls glowed brighter than they had before, shooting a beam into the sky and piercing through the clouds.
Shenron seeped out and began to coil around the beam before finally reaching his full height. The dragon towered over the building and his summoners. Despite this, Chi Chi easily stared down. "What are your wishes?"
"Bring back my baby from wherever he was sent to! Bring Gohan back to his loving mother! I'm sure he's worried sick!"
Shenron's eyes glowed for a moment as Vegeta, the Ox-King, and Chi Chi watched with bated breath. His eyes seemed to increase in their intensity for a moment before the light ceased.
"Your wish cannot be granted."
Chi Chi gasped in surprise, and even Vegeta let out a confused grunt. "Why not?!" Chi Chi demanded.
"Son Gohan does not wish to return. This is all I can grant you."
"Wait!" Chi-Chi pleaded. "Don't we have two more wishes or something! Come back here, you stupid dragon!"
Before they knew it, the Balls glowed a final time before taking off for the sky, leaving them all behind.
A/N: Feel free to review, fave, and follow! I'd love to hear y'alls feedback! Thanks for reading and have a good one! (Hopefully the next update won't take this long. . .)
