Three days passed in the Lookout, Val finding it quite boring. She trained a bit with Mr. Popo, with him out maneuvering her in everyway. She also tried to remote view search for Cell, finding it impossible to find him anywhere. Mr. Popo also tried to get her into the library to learn how to carry out guardianship duties, but she dug in her heels, refusing since she was only the interim guardian, saying that training her would be a waste of his time.
She explored the Lookout, but stayed as well away as she could from the Shinsenkai, scared to ever venture near there again. She could somehow sense Mr. Popo keeping tabs on her, but giving her free roam of the area. She looked down in the room with all the guardians' information from before, seeing the part of the wall held Kami's information was finished and part of her own had started to be written. "Interim," she muttered to herself, walking away from the room quickly.
She wandered off into another part of the Lookout, finding a door that seemed locked at first, but then was just stuck. She shove her shoulder into the door, feeling it give way. She stumbled into the room, seeing a dim source of light in the center of the room. She stepped towards it, seeing a raised dais holding seven small glowing lights on top of a blue sheet. She stopped in front of them, seeing seven golden orange balls with black stars upon them. She looked down at the bracelets on her wrists, seeing her bracelets were the exact same color as the balls. She blinked, wondering at them since they looked like the Namekian dragon balls, but small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. She wondered if these were the Earth's dragon balls she had heard so much about; that somehow they had not gone inert when Piccolo fused with Kami. She reached a tentative hand down to touch one.
"Miss Val, stop!" she heard a raised voice behind her. She brought her hand back and spun around, seeing Mr. Popo standing in the doorway, the staff in hand. Her ears pulled back nervously.
"The Earth's dragon balls, there here?" she said, stepping away from the dais.
He stepped between her and the dais, hands raised up. "No, these are not the Earth's regular dragon balls. Those went inert when Kami died." He looked back at the ones on the dais. "These are the black star dragon balls. Created by the Nameless Namekian before he split into Kami and Piccolo Senior. They must have reactivated when Piccolo Junior and Kami fused together."
She nodded, feeling a new temptation rise up in her. "Oh..." She leaned back just enough to see them over his shoulder. "Can we use them? Maybe to wish back those killed by Cell and the androids -"
"No, never," he rushed out. She blinked and then nodded. "These dragon balls are dangerous. If a wish is made on them, they will scatter across the galaxy. If they are not returned back to the place they originated from within one year, the planet they were made a wish upon will explode."
Her eyes went wide. "No..." she said in a panic. "We have to destroy them, we have to get rid of them."
He shook his head. "It can't be done. Kami gathered them when they went inert and hid them here in the Lookout. This is the safest place to keep them out of reach from anyone who would wish to use them."
She nodded in agreement. "We should secure that door better," she said, looking over at it. "I won't tell anyone about them, either," she swore.
He nodded, gesturing for them to leave the room. She followed him out, tugging the door hard behind her to shut it. He held up the staff that was in his hands. "You ought to keep it with you, even when you are not remote viewing," he lectured again.
She frowned and took it from him gingerly. Ever since it had burned her, she dreaded having it around unless using it to remote view. Mr. Popo offered to teach her other ways to use it, but she had refused since she was impatiently waiting the day when she could get back to Capsule Corps and get her hands on Dr. Gero's research.
Val followed Mr. Popo out of the room and up to the top of the Lookout. She felt her ears draw back, hoping he was not about to lead her to the library again. They reached the outside part of the Lookout just in time to see four unexpected visitors; the four known Saiyans. "Goku!" she shouted in excited surprise. She rushed over to him, dropping the staff as she moved. She hugged him and then let go of him, standing before him. She threw a quick glance at Vegeta, seeing him grunt. She rolled her eyes at him. She looked back up at Goku, taking another step back from him. "The heart virus? You're okay?" she rushed out. "The last time I checked on you, you were still sick," she explained.
He just smiled and shrugged. He brought a hand down to his stomach. "Well, I'm kind of hungry," he said.
She took another step back and kind of laughed at him. She looked over at Vegeta, Trunks, and Gohan. She heard Mr. Popo come up from behind her. "Miss Val, your staff," he said, proffering it up to him.
She took it from him, trying not to be too rude about it. "Oh," she heard Trunks gasped. She looked over at him, seeing him bow down before her. "Earth's guardian," he said reverently.
Her eyes went wide and she backed off from him. She raised one hand up, saying, "we don't do that here." He rose up, looking a little embarrassed. She starred at him, contemplating how to get him alone to question him about how the future was supposed to go.
Next, she heard someone bark a laugh. She looked over at Vegeta, seeing him laughing. She frowned at him. "What on Earth made you give up working at Capsule Corps and becoming, what, Earth's pretty guardian?" he teased. "Or should I say who on Earth?"
She furrowed her brow. "Interim," she repeated. "What brings you all here?" she looked over at Goku to ask.
"Oh yeah," he said, bringing his hand up to his hair. "We were wondering if we could use the Room of Spirit and Time to train? So we can defeat Cell and the androids," he explained.
She blinked up at him. "The what?"
Mr. Popo stepped up and explained, "it's a room in the Lookout that connects to another dimension. One day outside is a year's worth of time inside. It can be a difficult place to train though. Too difficult for some. The air, temperature, and gravity differ from this dimension. And those who enter can only do it for up to a day twice."
"A room like that is up here?" she asked frowning.
Mr. Popo nodded. "Yes. There's information about it in the library. It's up to your jurisdiction as guardian who gets to use it and when."
"Oh," she hummed. She looked back up at Goku. "You four want to go in together?"
He cocked his head to the side. "Well, probably best we do two and two. Me and Gohan. Vegeta and Trunks," he explained.
She looked over at Vegeta, thinking to herself. "Vegeta and Trunks get to go in first," she said. "But only after I talk with Trunks." She stepped over to Trunks, grabbing him the front of his jacket.
"Oh, of course. We had already decided they would go first anyway," Goku called after them.
She nodded back at them. "We'll be right back," she called over to them. "This shouldn't take long." She noticed Trunks followed her willingly, so she let go of his jacket. She led him to a quiet and secluded part of the Lookout. She leaned the staff against the wall. She looked him up and down, seeing so much of both of his parents in him.
"What do you need, guardian?" he asked respectfully. His knees bent and his shoulders hunched as if to bow again before he stopped himself.
She hesitated before saying, "I... need...," she took a deep breath. "I need to know what the future was supposed to be. From your original timeline." She waited on bated breath for him to speak.
"Like what?" he asked, looking a bit conflicted.
She paused thinking. "Exactly what you told Goku," she requested.
He gaped at her for a second and then nodded. He puzzled, trying to think where to begin. "Well, I told him I was Vegeta and Bulma's son. That he would die from the heart virus before that. And that Dr. Gero's androids, only #17 and #18, would appear three years from then, three days ago in this time line." She nodded encouragingly. "I told him how... everyone but Gohan died... and that eventually I was the last warrior left to fight them."
She studied him as he spoke, thinking he left something out. There had to be more. "Tell me more. Go slower. Go back," she requested.
"To when?" he asked.
"Go back to when Goku died from the heart virus. What happened next?" she asked.
He clicked his teeth, hesitating. "According to my mother and Gohan, before he died, Goku died from the heart virus before the androids appeared." She nodded, hoping he picked up the hint that she wanted more details. "Everyone was pretty devasted." He shifted uncomfortably.
She stepped closer to him. "It's already happened in your past, so you can tell me," she said. She placed a hand on his shoulder.
He seemed to shrink at the weight of it. "As guardian?" She gave him a pleading look, trying to lie but not to say no either. He took a deep breath. "Before I say anything, I had no idea how much the timeline was going to change when I came back. I really didn't. I had no control over it." She nodded reassuringly, wanting the answers. "Well, you and the other fighters were pretty devastated at Goku's loss. My mother insists my father was especially, but hid it. You, when Goku defeated Frieza on Earth instead of me, you had already taken the medicine from his ship. You tried to use it as is to save Goku, but it was not strong enough to save him. So when he died, you threw yourself into creating the first antiviral medicine against the heart virus. Said it was good enough and gave up on it once the first trial worked. Eventually another researcher at Capsule Corps perfected it."
She nodded. "It was Daiki, wasn't it," she guessed. She frowned, wondering why she would not have nick picked it to perfection like she did in this timeline.
He nodded anxiously. "By then, my mother said you were listless, worried about about how safe the world was when a virus was able to kill the strongest fighter you all had known. It was in the middle of that, that Kami asked you to be the next guardian and you agreed to it out of sense of duty to protect the Earth in case something ever happened to my father or Piccolo."
Val felt herself grow pale. She stepped back from him, reeling a bit. "I agreed to be guardian?" she asked, trying not to breath too quickly so he would not stop talking. She frowned, thinking that was why Kami kept asking and asking over the past three years. She nodded. "So I became guardian?" she asked, throwing a quick glance back over at the staff. It could not have been meant to be... She wondered when he would get to where she was supposed to catch the heart virus and die from it.
He hummed tightly. "Not quite." She threw him a questioning look. He shook his head, prefacing, "look the future has really changed. Someone, especially yours. I didn't know it was going to change so much."
"It's okay," she tried to sound more encouraging and less desperate for answers.
He nodded, shifting on his feet. "Not quite. You just trained for guardianship, but never actually took it over. It made you and my dad fight a bit because he said you were wasting your time up there. You guys grew apart, fighting over that and other things. Which made him lonely enough for him and my mom..."
She nodded quickly, not wanting him to go into anymore detail there. She was waiting for him to go into other details, wondering about what lead her to go from Tien to Piccolo, but not wanting to ask that directly. "What else could we have fought about?"
He cringed, not answering quite yet. He shook his head. "I didn't know the future would change. And don't if it can be reset either..." She pursed her lips patiently, hoping he would give in to the silence. "He didn't like you being with Tien."
She sucked in a quick breath, but tried not to react anymore. She asked. "And then what happened?"
He shrugged. "The androids showed up. The night before, my mother said you were really keyed up after coming back home from training at the Lookout."
"That's it?" she asked. He nodded sheepishly. She bit her lip. She asked, "then Tien and I...?" she cleared her throat. "Never broke up?"
He nodded nervously. "You were still together in my timeline. I really didn't know the future would change so much. For you, especially. No one else has changed so much from what I've noticed."
She blinked up at him. "So that's all that happened?" He nodded. She put a hand on her chest. "What about when I got the heart virus?" She recalled that, thinking how she was supposed to have died from it. "I thought I was supposed to die from it... That something happened between me and your mother, which was why you didn't bring me medicine as well."
He looked at her confused. He shook his head slowly. "You never caught it."
She gaped at him, but then clenched her jaw. "Never..." She shook her own head. "So the androids came, and we all just after them...? That's it?" He looked down and away from her. "What else?" she pressed.
"The timeline has changed," he emphasized again. "You know, you can't sense the androids, but the early morning of the androids' first attack, according to my mother, you just disappeared from Capsule Corps. You weren't supposed to be at the Lookout to train that morning. Next thing my mother knew, my father was asking where you were at and then he took off. And..."
"And what?" she asked, afraid to ask, but she could not give on not knowing.
He took a few deep breaths and explained, "according to Gohan, him and the others... They... sensed you die at the hands of the androids." She gasped, bringing her hand over her mouth. "Gohan said you were dead by the time they got there. The androids taunted Tien for your death. Yet it was Piccolo who attacked them first in retaliation."
She stepped back a bit more from him, staring up at him. "I died first..." she thought back to when she asked Piccolo who was killed by the androids first and he never answered. "I would have never done that. I would have never gone after them on my own-" she stopped, halting her words. She thought over her original plan three mornings ago, to go early to the Southern Capital before the others to scout things out and look for the androids. She would have gone, too, had Piccolo and Bulma not delayed her departure. "I was going to do that... three days ago..." she admitted. "You told Goku that I died first, and my death drew the others down on the androids?" He nodded. She bit her lip, trying to keep herself calm so he would not stop talking. It was her fault the others died in the other timeline. She frowned. "Is there anything else?" she asked.
He shrugged, "well, it was in the data my father stole for you from the Imperial Army that my mother figured out how to make a time machine. But, please, I did not know your future would be so different when I came back in time. No one else's seems to have changed so much. I was only aiming to save Goku's life with Daiki's antiviral medicine." He looked so flustered, so guilty.
She nodded, stepping up to him and bringing her hands up to his shoulders. "It's okay. You did the right thing," she said slowly and softly. "We're all alive still, especially Goku," she said forgivingly.
"But the future has changed so much, too much. Cell, the androids are different, there's a third android now..." he huffed out. "That has to be my fault, somehow."
She shook her head, saying, "it's not. We'll figure it out. We still have Goku, not to mention your father is able to go Super Saiyan now..." she half bragged. He half flinched at her words. "What's wrong?"
"He's not what I expected... my mother did tell me not to get my hopes up..." he said discontentedly.
She brought her hands down to the edge of his upper arms. "You get used to him," she added with a small smile to be comforting. "He's softened up some since he's come to Earth." She tapped one of his shoulders and dropped her arms down to her sides.
"I hope so," he breathed. "A year's worth of time with him..." he hummed.
"Try years," she said in a half joking manner.
She started to walk back towards the others, mind reeling internally over what he said. "Wait," he called. She turned and looked at him. "Your staff," he said, handing it to her.
"Oh. Thanks," she hummed out, taking it carefully in her hands.
She walked back towards the others with him following after her. "We're done talking," she announced.
"Took you long enough," Vegeta griped.
She made no reaction, not even wanting to look at him, thinking about what Trunks said. It was her fault the Vegeta in the other timeline died because she went after the androids alone somehow. She heard him hum, but say nothing. "Mr. Popo, could you lead them to the Room of..." she hummed to a stop, not remembering the name.
"The Room of Spirit and Time?" Mr. Popo.
She nodded, "yes, please."
"Ok, follow me," he instructed. The four Saiyans followed ahead of her with her intentionally falling behind them. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Vegeta cast a glance over to her and then to Trunks before looking straight ahead. She refused to meet his gaze. "It only has a bathtub, toilet, food, and beds. Train hard," Mr. Popo explained when they reached the door. "This is it."
Vegeta asked, "Kakarot, why do you want me to train also? You're my ultimate goal."
Goku shrugged, explaining, "I don't think I can beat these opponents by myself. But I think you've realized that as well."
Vegeta hummed. "You may live to regret this," he warned.
"Who's going in first?" Mr. Popo asked.
Goku answered, "Vegeta and Trunks are going in first."
Mr. Popo opened the door for them and Vegeta was quick to step into the room without a backwards glance. "Thanks for letting us go ahead," Trunks said politely.
"Train hard and get to know each other," Goku told him.
Val watched Trunks go in next and then Mr. Popo shut the door. She swallowed thickly, eyes trained on the shut door. "Hey, can Gohan go get something to eat?" Goku asked suggestively. Val blinked up at him and nodded wordlessly. "Mr. Popo, do you mind taking him to the kitchen?"
"Huh? Why?" Gohan asked.
Goku answered, "we'll catch up in a minute." Gohan nodded, looking just as confused as she was.
"Sure. Follow me," Mr. Popo said to Gohan.
Val watched the two of them go, recalling three days ago, it could have been her fault everyone but Gohan and Trunks died. "Trunks told you the future," Goku said. It was not a question.
She blinked up at him. "I..." She brought her hand up to her collar, gripping it tightly. "It's my fault everyone but Gohan dies... in the other time line."
He looked at her confused. "The androids killed them, not you," he stated factually.
"I went after them and my death brought everyone down on them, before they can plan a better attack-" she stopped, her breath hitching in her throat. She rounded on him, temper suddenly flaring. "You knew!" she shouted. She threw the staff down in her temper. The thing never even cracked, adding to her frustration. "You knew that my future was changing far too much and you didn't think to warn me! To stop me!"
He raised his hands up a bit defensively. "Well, Trunks did warn me not to tell people what happened. He was so worried that the future would change. He was worried his parents would never have gotten together and that he would not have existed in this time line."
She blinked up at him, incredulous. "But my future. It changed!" she shouted half as loud as before. "That wouldn't have affected his existence. Why didn't you warn me?"
He sighed, "but what if warning you did?"
She shook her head. "I wouldn't have," she insisted weakly, doubting even her own conviction.
"Piccolo said if we told you anything, you might rail against it and resist it," he admitted.
"I wouldn't have, I-" she huffed. "I would have," she realized. "When I thought I was Trunks's mother..."
"You avoided Vegeta at all costs," Goku finished.
She brought her hands up to her face and then her forehead. "But it changed... so much," she said. "I could have died from the heart virus, but I was supposed to train to become guardian, which must be why Piccolo and Kami saved me. Which is why Kami kept asking me... Which was why Kami was annoyed that Piccolo knew the time line changed, but didn't resist the changes... But was also why he took part of the broken bracelet when he went to Kami to fuse with him... He knew I would follow him up to the Lookout... Free will..."
Goku frowned at her. "You lost me half way in there," he said in confusion.
"Oh," she said. "My bracelet broke in my fight with #17. When Piccolo took off to fuse with Kami, he took a piece of it with him, so I followed him. And," she looked down at the staff, "took that over for the interim."
"Ah," he hummed. "So, I have a question," he said. She looked up at him. "Long shot, but since you got adopted by the Namekians, can you make a new set of dragon balls?"
She hummed and shook her head. She raised her forearms up, twisting her wrists up and down. "This is all I can do, and I should never pass it on," she sighed out. "You don't think Cell has this cursing ability?" she asked in worry.
He shook his head. "From what I sensed off of him, nah," he said confidently.
"Well, at least something good happened in this timeline," she muttered. The two of them went silent for a bit, with the sound of his stomach rumbling loudly ending the conversation. She brought her hand to her face, laughing softly. "Are you also still hungry?" she asked. He nodded a bit sheepishly. "Come on," she said, picking up the staff and leading him towards the kitchen.