Chapter 4: A New Friend

Goten blinked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He looked around expecting to see his room, but all he saw was rusted pipes and a metal room.

'Uh-oh, I guess it wasn't a dream,' he thought, 'I got to get out of here! It's time for breakfast!'

Getting swiftly up to his feet, he slid into a familiar stance.

"KA ...ME ...HE ...ME ...HAAAAA!"

He breathed heavily - that was his strongest Kamehameha blast yet. Even so, the room looked exactly the same as before. Only now it displayed scorch marks as proof of his efforts.

"Aw man! That was a big one too. Now I'm even hungrier," Goten whined.

"Aw, don't be sad! It doesn't work for my blast either." The sound of a girl's voice from the other side of the room startled the poor demi-saiyan.

"Um, who's there?" Goten asked, a little shook up.

"I am, Silly!" She spoke as if it was the obvious answer.

"Oh, my name's Goten. What's yours?" he spoke taking in her tone, now feeling foolish for some unknown reason.

"My name is Shalay. It's nice to finally have a visitor," Shalay said in a tone that could only be taken as innocent honesty. "I hope you last longer than the others," she added with a smirk that had an underlying sweetness to Goten.

"What happened to them, Shalay?" Goten questioned her curiously.

"I really don't know. I'm never allowed to come out of here unless I'm doing house work."

"Do you think they'll take me too?'' he was more interested than anything else. Why should he be scared? He was a power house in his own right.

"Maybe they take everyone I like away from me," she said nonchalantly.

"You like me?"

"Sure I do, Goten. You're my new friend!" she yelled, hurting Goten's ears while doing so. She ran out of the corner she was in to hug him.

She looked like any other girl to Goten, except she had cat ears and a tail. Goten smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. He'd never been hugged by a girl younger than Videl.

"Eh. Heh. Um, I got to go," Goten said nervously.

"Where?" Shalay asked, turning her blonde head.

"To find my friend Trunks. If they took me, they took him too, right?"

"Well, maybe, when they took me they killed everyone in my home." She began to walk around Goten in a very predatory manner, but she kept her sweet smile before adding sarcastically, "So, yeah , maybe he's here."

"Yeah, maybe. He's really strong! He's not dead. I just know it!" Goten protested.

"Can I come too?" Shalay asked, pulling a puppy dog face; "Please, Goten!"

"Sure! Why not? You seem nice!"

"Um, don't we have to find a way out of here first, Goten?" Shalay asked.

"Oh, yeah, I've never been good at making up plans. That's Trunks' job."

*Meanwhile with Trunks…*

Unlike Goten, Trunks was all alone in a room. There were burn marks all over from his 'Burning Attack' blasts. By now he was tired and hungry, but he wasn't one to complain …except when he was bored.

"Man, this is so boring." Trunks began to wonder whether there was a way out of this hellhole or in his case 'hell cell'. Unlike Goten's cell there was tiny window in his.

Trunks flew up to the window and began tap on it furiously.

"What?" shouted an annoyed voice from the other side.

"Um, come here…please?" Trunks asked the fat guard.

"No, just take a nap or sum', kid."

"Whatever, Fatso!" Trunks shot back from being called a 'kid'.

"What did you say to ME?!" The guard's voice began to rise.

"You heard me, Lard-belly!" Trunks stuck his tongue out, making a 'nyeh' noise while doing so.

The guard growled from his throat and voiced his thoughts. "That's it!"

To Trunks' surprise a door opened that he hadn't noticed before and a big stout guard was standing in the doorframe. Holding a laser gun and pointing it toward Trunks, the guard spoke, " How would you like to say that again?"

"My pleasure...FATTY!" Trunks said as he kicked the gun out of the man's hands. Then he flew out the door and quickly locked it.

"Yes, I'm free!" he rejoiced. "Now, off to find Goten!"