Steven and Connie had panicked at first about what to do for the dinner. Her parents expected Steven's mother to be there. They could try dressing up one of the Z fighters as a woman, but even if they agreed there would be some issues: Piccolo doesn't eat, Goku eats too much, and Vegeta…well he wasn't exactly a people person. Thankfully, their hides were saved when Steven had a stroke of genius. "Chichi can pretend to be my mom!" he explained, "She's nice and she helped take care of me when I was little so she's kind of like my mom!"
And so the plan was set in motion. Chichi agreed to pretend to be his mother, though she warned them they couldn't keep it up forever. They hadn't told the Z fighters about the dinner, but they were busy looking for a monster that had swum out to sea, so they would be gone for a while.
After finding a babysitter for Gohan, they headed off to dinner. Everything had been going fine. The Maheswarans seemed to really like Chichi, especially Connie's mother. However it didn't last long.
"I can't help think I've seen you somewhere before…" Mr. Maheswaran said rubbing his chin as he looked at Chichi, "Wait were you the female fighter at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament?"
Steven looked nervous, not sure how to respond, but Chichi simply smiled. "Why yes, actually," she said, "That's where I met my husband. He was a fan in the crowd."
"I thought I recognized you! You were Ms. Anonymous!" he said, "I watched the fights on TV at the time. You were amazing! Too bad they didn't have another world tournament for a while after that." Steven breathed a sigh of relief. "So, do you still compete?" he asked.
However, before Chichi could respond, there was a loud roar as something reared up out of the ocean. They all turned to look in surprised as a giant blue octopus with the face of a shark emerged from the depths. To Steven and Connie's horror, there were three humanoid figures buzzing around it.
"What on Earth?!" Priyanka cried. Suddenly the octopus creature slapped one of the figures out of the air, sending it hurtling towards the restaurant. Vegeta slammed into the wall behind them, creating a giant hole in the wall. Chichi sighed as Dr. Maheswaran ran to help the fallen Saiyan. "Oh my goodness! Sir, are you alright? Here, let me check you for a concussion…" she said as she looked him over for injuries.
"Get off me, woman!" Vegeta growled, swatting her hands away as he got up. He dusted himself up and looked up in surprise as he saw Chichi and Greg. "What the? Chichi what are you-" he started but stopped when he saw Chichi gave him a warning glance before jerking her head in Connie's direction who gave him a pleading look and shook her head. "Whatever…" he growled.
"Wait a minute...You're the man from the phone! Steven's Uncle!" Priyanka realised.
"And you must be the woman from the other end. I think my ears are still ringing from the your screeching," he he remarked.
Chichi facepalmed as the doctor's eyes widened. "What did you just say to me?!" she cried in offence.
He didn't respond however. He simply took off towards the giant monster. The three figures started firing ki blasts at it. It screeched in pain and tried to bat them out of the air again until Goku fired a kamehameha wave at it, causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke.
Connie's parents looked on a mix of awe and fear. Greg and Chichi shared a look of resignation and sighed. Connie and Steven, who usually watched such an event with excitement, looked on in horror as the felt their facade slowly fall apart.
"Did he just...did they just…?" Doug breathed as he stared at where the monster had been.
Connie buried her head in her hands. "That's it...We're doomed…" she muttered.
"Hey...it could be worse," Steven tried to assure.
"How?!" Connie snapped.
"Chichi!" a voice called. They all looked up to see Goku flying towards them.
"Oh no…" Chichi sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Hey, Honey!" he said as he landed, "Whatcha doing out here?"
"Honey?!" Connie's parents shouted simultaneously. The two children took this opportunity to back away. At the couple's outburst, Goku looked up. "Oh, you must be Connie's parents!" he said cheerfully, " It's nice to meet you. I'm Son Goku and this is my wife Chichi!" He extended out his hand to them as he put his other arm around his annoyed looking wife.
Connie's parents' eyes widened. "What?!" Dr. Maheswaran cried, "But she can't be! She's Steven's mother!"
Goku looked at them like they had grown second heads as the other Z fighters landed near by. "Ok, did I miss something? Who are these guys and why are they talking about Steven's mom?" Piccolo asked.
"They think Chichi is Steven's mom!" Goku explained like the idea was insane. The Namekian shared a confused look with Goku and Vegeta stepped forward.
"Well, there's no salvaging this lie so you might as well fess up," he said, "Your daughter lied in saying that Steven had a mom. Truth is, his mom died when he was born and he's been looked after by his father, the woman who was pretending to be his mother, and the three of us for the past thirteen years or so."
"What?!" Connie's mother cried in anger, "Connie, why would you-" However, her daughter was gone from her side. The adults all looked around to see that Steven was missing too.
"What the-Where'd he go?" Piccolo questioned.
"Connie? Connie! Connie where are you?" her mother called, worry clear in her voice.
"There!" Goku said pointing to the bus on the hill, about to depart, "They just got on. I can sense them!"
"I can't believe him!" Vegeta growled, "Running away from responsibility like this! Do they have any idea what they're getting into?"
"We're too late…" Doug lamented.
"No we're not," Piccolo said, "Give us a minute. We'll be right back." Before Connie's parents could respond, the three had taken off in the direction of the bus, stopped it, and carried it, the children and the frightened bus driver back to the restaurant.
…
"You are in big trouble, boy! I can't even begin to express how disappointed I am," Vegeta scolded as he glared down at Steven, "What have I always told you?"
"Running away from your problems is for cowards and fools," Steven recited guiltily, not looking up.
"Not only that, but running away at your age is extremely dangerous," Goku chimed in.
"He's right. Steven, what you two were trying to do was exceedingly stupid and reckless. What exactly were you thinking you would do once you got off that bus? Survive of the land? You've lived off of air conditioning and instant meals all your life! How did you think that would work?" Piccolo questioned, "Even if you could, there are a million things out there that could happen to you! You could have been mugged!"
"Or attacked by wild animals!" Goku added.
"Or kidnapped and forced to work for some criminal!" Vegeta finished.
The boy looked down in shame. "I'm sorry…" he muttered.
"Don't worry, we forgive you Steven," Goku assured.
"but that doesn't mean we aren't going to punish you," Vegeta cut in, "If you want to be on the run so bad, then go ahead. You'll be doing twenty laps a day down the beach from Fun Land back to the temple every day for the next five months!"
"What?! NO!" Steven cried.
"Or…" Piccolo interjected, "You can just go without TV for that time instead."
Steven pouted. "You guys are evil!" he muttered.
"Kid, I haven't been evil in over twenty years," Vegeta stated, "If I were still evil, you would know."
"It's just because we care about you, Steven," Greg said, placing a hand on his son's shoulder and Chichi nodded.
"Wow," the five adults turned to see Dr. Maheswaran smiling at them, "That was a masterful use of the 'because we care' shut down. I'm quite partial to 'It's for your own good!' myself.
"And that 'I haven't been evil in twenty years' bit was pretty funny!" Doug said, approaching Vegeta, chuckling lightly.
Vegeta stared at him stoically for a moment before looking away. "Yes…" he said, "It was a very funny joke..." Doug laughed nervously.
"To be honest, I didn't know what to make of the five of you," Priyanka commented, gesturing to the three warriors, Greg, and Chichi, "But I see that you are very responsible parents...caregivers? guardians?"
"We prefer the term 'mentors'," Piccolo stated with a shrug.
"Aw, thanks!" Goku chirped, rubbing back of his head, "We try."
"So I can still hang out with Steven?" Connie asked excitedly. Her mother nodded and the two children embraced.
Goku then leaned in towards Vegeta. "So, are we still going to teach her how to fight, or do we have to ask permission now?" he whispered.
Vegeta smirked. "I already told her mother, so I don't see any reason to ask," he replied.
Well this took a long time to finish. I started this story arc on the second chapter and now I'm to chapter 24? Crazy, huh? Well, anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think. Next one should be Piccolo's backstory.