Initiative

"Shouldn't be too long now," Baba said as she dealt another card from the deck.

"Oh yeah, come to papa!" Roshi said, motioning for his sister to give him another card.

Baba didn't need clairvoyant powers to know that her brother had two pairs while Son Gohan was waiting for a flush, she could read the two old men well enough to know their tells. "Not what I was referring to, brother," she clarified, "Brace yourselves for an earful in three. Two. One."

"You are the worst fortune teller EVER!" Bulma's shriek rang throughout the cavern.

"You're not the first to say that, girlie," Baba said as she tossed her terrible, terrible hand away with relief to face down the young woman's wrath. "I take it my warning came true."

"Why didn't you tell me about the Red Ribbon Army using my family's capsule factory sooner?"

"I've seen what happens if I did, and all of you," Baba gestured to the three teenagers standing behind Bulma before sweeping her arms to include Roshi and Son Gohan, "Would have spent weeks making plans and bickering over what exactly you would do. Meanwhile, the Red Ribbon Army would have continued amassing their firepower unchecked. But you kids went and put a stopper to that operation, haven't you?"

Bulma seethed and levelled a glare that would have normally intimidated anyone into caving to her whims at Baba. "So that's it? We're nothing more than your personal gophers?"

It wasn't that Baba was completely devoid of empathy for the people in the cavern. She'd seen their loss, their sorrow, their pain, but the old woman had seen the future where she told them too much. It was not one she wanted to live out.

Cruel as it may seem but the fortune teller not only shrugged but went so far as to taunt the four teenagers, "And if I told you that you were, what are you kiddos gonna do about it?"

Baba could only say and do so much. There were only two ways this would play out and it all rested on the shoulders of the four teenagers standing before her. She watched as Bulma stormed off and Chi Chi was quick to follow. Krillin and Yamcha looked at each other first before going after them.

"What was that about, sis?" Roshi asked.

Sometimes it really was no fun knowing the future. Baba turned to face the old martial artist, "Either we're gonna get this show on the road or I've just doomed us all. But for now, it's more of a waiting ga-"

"We're done waiting!" Bulma cut in.

"What do you mean?" Baba asked, unable to stop her smile from spreading.

"We can't be the only people fighting against the Red Ribbon Army," Chi Chi added, stepping up to stand beside Bulma.

"There's bound to be more resistance groups out there, we just have to find them," Krillin continued with enthusiasm.

"I assume you young'uns have a plan?" Roshi said, folding his arms across his chest as he pondered on what his students were saying.

"Not yet, but we will."

You could have bent steel around the conviction in the teenagers' words. Together with Son Gohan and Roshi, they began to discuss what would be their next course of action.

A/N: Sometimes, a really short update is all I got in me. As always, thank you for your reviews. They mean a lot!