Yeah so I have no idea how many chapters this next stretch will be. I'm hoping 3, maybe 4, but that depends on how long what we're starting next week will take. Also not sure if the aftermath will take a full chapter or not, and if it doesn't where I'd tie it in, if I'd just thread it into the previous and next chapter or not. It should take a full chapter though, just based on one of the scenes which should take up a decent amount of space

Also, was it a mistake to post last week's chapter at midnight? Yes, yes it was. Because here I am doing it again. Because I am impatient. Oh well, better early than late

thewittywhy: lol thanks, now do be a little three year time skip arc
And yes, the healing pods are the primary reason I included that, it's just too convenient to waste

Boosted Knees: Thanks ^.^ I'm glad you like it

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

"Oh come on Chi, it'll be fun! What's the worst-"

"Don't! You finish that sentence. Goku, you just got back after being gone, in space, for over a year and now you- we don't even have room for two additional people!"

"I have no intention to step foot into your house," Piccolo inputted, true to his word, still outside the door frame.

Chichi processed that for a second, "oh great! So you only intend for Gohan's actual kidnapper to live in the house."

"A terrible idea, really," Raditz confirmed, leaning against the back wall. Goku, well I think he meant to glare but it really just looked like a pout.

"Hey quick question-" Raditz started, "so, you're Kakarot's wife?"

"If by Kakarot you mean Goku, then yes."

"Right, Kakarot. Anyway, why?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you seem to have some form of logical thinking, and Kakarot," he just kinda waved his hand at Goku, "is it some kind of opposites thing, or?"

"Childhood crush," I explained.

Raditz glanced down at me, "I assume one-sided? Because, once again," and again he waved his hand in the direction of Goku, who looked more confused than anything else.

"This- this is not what we were talking about!" Chichi flustered.

"Come on Chichi, please?" Goku's voice was light, and his face soft. I didn't even need to glance at Chichi to know it was done, it was over, he won. I don't even think he knew what he did really. He stumbled into instant win and didn't even know it.

"Oh- oh you do whatever you want Goku," she finally said, which felt like a non-win response to me, but Goku was pleased enough with it.

"Great! Uh, so that includes Gohan training too right?" He said the last part quickly, as if that would hide the question somehow.

"What!? Of course not! It's bad enough he's fought as much as he has! Next thing he'll be falling behind on his studies-"

"I'm like 5 years ahead of my age group. At least," I cut in, glowering at the very much algebra book sitting on the dining room table.

"And just think of how far that'll get you! You can go off and train all you want Goku, but Gohan stays put! The last thing he needs is to grow up as some muscle-bound hooligan!"

"Gosh Chichi, I know you feel strongly about this but we'll need his help! And besides, Gohan wants to train, right?" Goku looked at me for confirmation.

Want is a strong word. What I want to do is ignore the fighting and ignore the stupid textbooks. What I want to do is just watch my dumb shows. Read my dumb books (that was one hobby Chichi agreed with, though she tried to push me towards the boring more academic titles) and play some dumb video games. And obviously, draw.

Especially at this moment. Away from the tedious yelling that was embarrassing, especially in front of Raditz and Piccolo.

Raditz who was leaning against the wall, watching, clearly amused, as though it was quality television. And Piccolo who had at least turned to lean on the outside of the house, out of view.

Still, I nodded anyway.

It didn't really matter what I wanted to do, not yet anyway. At least, at least until Cell is gone, I have to play my part. Then the rest can fend for themselves for all I care. But until then I have to train up and get as strong as Canon Gohan so I can beat Cell.

That's, that's a totally doable thing. Probably. Hopefully. Canon Gohan did, so it has to be. Alright, Super Sayain 2 is probably out of reach but, I'm pretty sure Gohan was strong enough before that, or at least close.

It'll be fine.

Probably.

Hopefully.

"No! Gohan will not go out fighting and that is final!" Oh right, still yelling. Chichi is, that is.

"Are you trying to tell me that Gohan's studies are more important than the fate of the Earth?" Goku asked.

"That's right! We both know that you'll just go beating those robots-"

"Androids, or maybe Cyborgs" I corrected, or tried to anyway. Which would be the more correct? for 16 it'd probably be Android, but 17 and 18? Wouldn't Cyborg be more accurate? They're always just called Androids anyway, even by each other from what I remember though. Maybe I'll just ask if there's a moment to.

"Anyway! And then what? Gohan will be three years behind on his studies for nothing!"

"Already five years ahead."

"Hey- hey! I have an idea!" Goku smiled, "how about both! Gohan and train, and study! Win-win right?"

Chichi's expression hardened, and for several seconds she didn't move. Then she did a 180 turn and stalked off to take the calendar off the wall. She then began writing furiously in it, in multiple colors.

"Ok Goku, I'll tell you what. We'll have a trial month- come here- alright, on days marked in red, you can take Gohan training. Blue, he stays home to study. And on days marked in green, he goes to spend time with his friends. The ones that are actually his age. Under no circumstances is he to train earlier than nine, or later than seven, and he must get a break to eat and rest every, let's say two hours. Minimum. How's that for a compromise?"

Ah yes. My favorite. Having every day planned out for the next month. If it helps me leave soon, whatever.

"That's great Chichi! Hmm, but this version doesn't leave many days for Gohan to train, what if we took some of the green days-"

"Absolutely not Goku! Children need to be properly socialized with others in their peer group! I have met these children and know they are a good influence on Gohan, better at least than your friend group. Not to mention rest! Gohan would get burnt out if all he did was fight or study, and then he wouldn't get anything done! Is that what you want Goku?"

"Well, no…but-"

"But what Goku? After this month is over we can look over and adjust the days as needed. But until then this is final! Unless you want to forget it altogether?"

"No! No of course not! It's a great plan Chichi, hehe."

I tuned out a bit from there.

'Hear that Piccolo? Proper rest is needed for children when training.'

'Yeah, it sure is a shame you've already informed me that you aren't a child.'

'Still got the body of a child, gotta take care of it properly you know.'

'Oh is that why you spend your nights watching that stupid show?'

'You can't prove that.'

I actively fought to keep my face straight. Telepathy was fun, though I could only reliably do it with Piccolo. I dunno if it's some kind of compatibility thing, or if Piccolo's actually doing something to make it easier. Either way, it was fun to have secret conversations that weren't impacted by the volume of outside noise.

Eventually, things settled and I was able to escape away to my room while Chichi showed Raditz the spare room.

I collapsed on my bed and just laid there for a good few minutes. Eventually, I shifted and remembered I was still in my Gi.

I went to change only to find the Future capsule in my pocket. Oh yeah, that. Almost forgot.

I got changed and sat back on my bed. By the size of the capsule, I assumed that the contents were also small, which proved correct when I popped it open on my bed only to find a pretty big unlabeled, except for the iconic Capsule Corp logo, pill bottle and a note.

This one didn't even bother to disguise the chicken scratch of my handwriting.

"My decisions were rushed by time and the inevitable. The good timeline takes care of one of those for you. These should help with the other. Take one every two weeks once you turn 11, assuming you prolong things that long. Which, I'd probably recommend it. Made with Sayains in mind."

I read the note a couple times before folding it up and putting it inside the pretty full pill bottle and back in the capsule.

Well, if those are what I assume, that certainly is convenient.

Sounded like I didn't have to deal with it for a fair few years though, so I placed it safely in a corner of my drawer, and promptly collapsed into my bed willing myself to fall asleep, but really just staring at the ceiling.

You know the unfortunate thing about time skips is, they don't actually exist. In my mind I keep thinking, oh Trunks showed up, three year time skip, then Androids. But no, no I have to actually live those three years.

The first month was kinda, eggshells around Chichi. Had to go by her schedule for at least that long.

I ended up training with Raditz most kinda by default, he was far from enthusiastic about training with Goku, and was very much avoiding Piccolo. At least he begrudgingly listened to me.

"Scouter," I held out my hand.

"What?"

"Give me your scouter. I'll give it back when we're done."

"Why the hell would I do that?"

"Cause, the first thing you have to learn is sensing, obviously. And also Ki control. Gimme."

I indicated with my hand once again. Then more aggressively. Then I floated up and repeated more aggressively. Finally, Raditz took it off and slapped it into my hand. I folded it up and put it in my pocket.

"Great. Sit."

"What?"

"Sit," I dropped back to the ground and sat in a cross-legged position.

"Why?"

"Because, you aren't making any progress in either of those without knowing how to calm down. Sit."

Raditz didn't move. His eyes darted to the side, as if looking to see if anyone was watching. Then slowly, like an easily frightened cat, he lowered until he was finally sitting.

"Now what?"

"Make sure you're comfortable."

"Okay."

"Close your eyes and take deep breaths."

"Okay."

"And that's it. Think about nothing, or whatever. Don't focus on anything."

"What? That doesn't even make sense. How can you think about nothing?"

"It's not really not thinking, more like not focusing on any thought."

"That still doesn't make sense how can you just not-" his leg was bouncing, which was not supposed to be.

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Your leg, gotta be calm."

"Well maybe if you could start making sense-"

"If the seven-year-old can do the- however old you are- can do it."

"Well obviously, the seven-year-old doesn't have many thoughts."

"Incorrect statement. Now shush, no thoughts."

"That still doesn't-"

"Shut- be glad I didn't just slap a blindfold on your head and making you learn that way."

Raditz muttered to himself, words barely decipherable.

"Shut!"

Needless to say, patient Raditz was not. I think the longest he managed to sit still silently was maybe eight minutes.

At least Pigero's group was able to pretend for longer.

By the time Piccolo came to collect me for actual training, the Raditz had barely managed to dim his own Ki, with no progress on sensing anyone else.

I suppose I shouldn't expect progress in one day anyway.

Goku tried to spar with Raditz a bit, but he was pretty obviously holding back and Raditz was already irritable, and that just was not a good combination.

Studying days were the worst days. I was bored. At least before I could sneak off or just, not. But now Chichi was more insistent on getting the most out of those days. The result was mostly just me doodling or staring at the ceiling whenever Chichi wasn't in the room.

Note to self, ask Bulma if wireless earbuds are a thing. Watch shows while hiding them under hair. Excellent plan.

Hanging out with Pigero's group was mostly just, the same. I don't know why I expected that to change. The only real difference was the days I went over were now scheduled.

"Hey," Pigero approached me one such day when I had a moment away from the rest, "so uh, quick question."

"Ok?"

"So, remember those Dragon Balls you mentioned?"

"Yeah?"

"Right, so, pretending, pretending like I believe that those are a thing. How do they work, exactly?"

"Oh, uh. Well, there are seven of them that you have to collect. They're scattered over the world, they're supposed to be like, impossible to find, but since Bulma made the Dragon Radar, that's not really an issue anymore. Uh, there are limits to the wishes, I don't really know where they stand exactly for most wishes. You can't wish for someone stronger than Kami, the one who created them, to be killed, for example. You can wish for pretty much anything though. Money, power, li-" my eyes flickered to the orphanage building for a moment. Then back to Pigero. Orphanage, Pigero, orphanage- oh. Duh. Uh-

"There's uh, there is a limit on bringing people back to life though, it's, you can wish multiple people back at once, as long as you can word it into one wish, but they have to have died in the past year…"

"Ah, right. That wasn't, that wasn't why I was asking. I was, just curious," he deflected, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Right, of course."

Pigero kinda retreated after that. I returned to spending time with the younger kids and the third oldest of them, Ena, now twelve, brushed through my hair as I looked over my nails.

They were coated in a purple polish. When was the last time I even painted my nails? Middle school? Maybe early high school? It's been a while, not even counting the limitations of this life.

It was, nice.

Eventually, my head turned up at the ever so familiar irritable ki of the dearest Radish approaching.

Huh. That's interesting.

A moment later said man landed with exactly 0 care to if anyone saw him flying.

"Your mother wants you home," he clarified before I could ask why he was here.

"And she sent you?"

"Don't ask me why anyone does anything. Clearly, I know fuck all about anything."

"Language! There are children present!"

"Like I give a shit."

The rest of the kiddos were going obviously curious about the newcomer. Ena didn't say anything for a moment, just staring. Then she slowly raised her hairbrush. Hacchi pushed it back down.

"Hey Goh, who's that?" Pigero asked.

"My Uncle."

"Your Uncle. The one who kidnapped you as a toddler?" Pigero placed a hand on my shoulder as if to hold me away.

"That's the one! No worries though, I'm like, a million times stronger than he is." I ducked out of his hold. Somehow my making light of it didn't quite appease Pigero as much as I intended.

"That is a gross exaggeration," the Radish's eyebrow twitched.

I leveled my gaze with his.

I swiped the Scouter from his face.

I scanned myself and then him, then plugging the numbers into my phone.

"Sorry, my mistake. I am exactly six hundred and ninety point seven eight two one two-"

Raditz grabbed the scouter back from my hand.

"Just! Get! Go!" He couldn't manage to get a full sentence out, angrily pointing back in the direction of the house.

I waved off to the confused kids and moderately concerned Pigero.

I flew backwards, leaning back with my arms behind my head as if I was laying down, since that was the easiest way to keep pace with Raditz without it being super obvious I was going slow to accommodate.

Also because it was fun.

With all the chaos of, everything, I haven't really just had fun with the fact I can fly. Sure I had a bit of time in the year time skip to just do whatever, but, I dunno. By then I had just gotten kinda used to it? It didn't feel like I was treating the ability to fly with the proper awe I thought I would when first learning.

Getting home was the same as any other day, Chichi was setting up dinner and whatnot.

"Oh," she said seeing me, "are your nails painted?"

"Yeah!" I said, carefully planting the most innocent face possible, as if unaware of the apprehension in her voice, "don't they look cool?"

"Uh, yes. Of course they do. It's just, not something boys usually do."

"Ena did them!" I said, honestly playing up the whole, child, thing more than I had in years, "she said she wanted to do mine since Chico won't let her anymore."

"Why don't you go wash up for dinner," Chichi finally concluded.

"Ok, I'll just have to be careful not to scratch it. It'd be rude to mess it up so quickly."

"…yes, I suppose it would be…"

The second I turned away my face fell from the facade. Well that worked.

The rest of the night was relatively uneventful, Chichi's occasional glances at my nails non withstanding.

Puberty blockers, even in this world, were still most common in the form of injections, I'd discovered on a day I was supposed to spend with the kiddos but snuck off to a library instead.

Of course, there were some alternatives in this world, be it medical or magical, but none were quite perfect, since, well, nothing could be.

The most common side effect of the most well-available options was a slight effect on bone density, as well as the obvious effects of puberty being paused.

While for a normal person, that wouldn't affect much. But, for someone fighting regularly, not exactly ideal.

Plus there was no telling how, or if they'd even work for me, with the Sayain blood and all.

I can only assume that's what the pills given to me were for, since of course there was no labeling, but given when I was supposed to take them, I could only assume they were some kind of puberty blocker without that effect.

Well, that's convenient now isn't it? Well, if you have time travel might as well take advantage.

I spent the rest of that day with the kiddos, I learned what I wanted and if Chichi ever wanted to check in, it would be unfortunate if I weren't here.

In terms of actual fighting, Raditz was pretty good at it.

He was good at dodging, and while his tendency to focus more on individual heavier strikes was very different from Piccolo's much faster and straightforward style, that didn't make it bad.

The only real issue was, well, he wasn't very strong. But, that could only really be fixed with time, so, practice it was.

Training with Raditz was actually pretty fun. Of course, it might just be that I liked sparring with someone I was stronger than for once…not that that could be proven, of course.

But there was still the issue of Ki sensing. After, several days of trying with no real progress, it was time to move on to what I originally wanted to do anyway.

"Here," I said, holding out a black piece of cloth.

Raditz looked at it, then at me, "what?"

"It's a blindfold. Put it on."

"Fuck no."

"You aren't progressing with meditation, so into the deep end it is."

"There is no way in hell I am putting on that stupid- how would that even help? Oh, I can't see so I'll magically unlock another sense~"

"Well, yeah. Kinda."

"Well no! There is no way I am ever going to-"

...

"Gyah!" Raditz flinched as yet another Ki blast hit the side of his head. In all reality, it couldn't have hurt more than like, a light to moderate slap.

Admittedly it did take a fair bit longer to get him into the blindfold than I expected, but what's important is that it worked.

And he was still very much failing to dodge the little ki blasts.

"Evil gremlin child! I can hear you laughing!"

Any such accusations were pure speculation as the primary focus here was training. Obviously.

"Focus on sensing and not hearing and you won't get hit!"

"Gh- stupid! That doesn't even make sense!"

"Makes perfect sense if you're not too busy complaining!"

"Why you-" he ducked under a blast, either by coincidence or not I couldn't quite tell.

"See!" I called anyway, "you dodged that one! It's working!"

"I hate you! Stupid brat!"

"Progress is progress!"

…

"Well, they look like they're having fun," Goku smiled.

Piccolo huffed, "well, one of them is at least." He rolled his eyes as he and Goku returned to actual training.

Anyway, now for the official Sayain swearing chart:

Vegeta: swears when appropriate, unless he thinks it'll make him look more ~superior~ to not
Nappa: swears occasionally, but not around kids, cause I found it funny. The exception being SIGohan, once again because I found it funny
Raditz: I will actively go back to add more swears if I think it's been too long or I just forgot
Goku: just, doesn't. Too pure, too good.
F Trunks: When angry, but usually uses alternatives
SIGohan: uses swear alternatives, will purposely get more absurd with them around Radish to annoy him

Non-Sayains swear chart

Krillin: when angry
Piccolo: when appropriate
Bulma: Occasionally
Chichi: Doesn't, has to set an example
Not here anymore but Frieza: When angry, tries to abstain to keep up appearance
Not here yet but 17 and 18: occasionally to above average
Not here yet but 16: Does not, too pure, too good
Pigero's group: varying levels of minor swears, nothing too strong

Unfortunately, I can't quite complete the chart as there are some non introduced characters, that aren't necessarily canon. Mostly Clover. But also another of whom I doth not want to name.