Val flew off to Goku's village, thankful that it was far warmer farther South here than it was in the snowy mountain village. She stripped off the warmer clothes part way there to avoid overheating. She could not help but think about Tien as she flew. He looked well, interacted with her well enough but awkwardly until he mentioned Vegeta. The jealousy from both him and the jealousy she felt watching Aiko hang on him filled her with a silent, blinding rage. She felt less ghostly with it, but it filling her up like this was bitter and only felt temporary. She landed between her capsule house and Goku's house in the early afternoon, stomping off towards the later. She knocked on the door, sensing only three people in there.
She saw Chichi answer the door, surprised to see her, but welcoming her in the house anyway. She saw both Goku and Gohan in there, quiet sounds from the news on the TV in the background. She glanced it briefly, seeing a woman standing in front of a map of the area. She pulled her inattentive gaze away from it, exchanging greetings with the two.
"You're always welcome to visit, but are you sure you should be out and about in this weather?" Chichi asked. "I insisted the two of them stay home today," she explained.
Val looked over at the two, seeing both looking rather bored and glum. "It's not that bad," she answered. She dug in her pocket and pulled out the capsule pack. She opened it and pulled out two of the three remaining antivirals from it. "Daiki, my friend from Capsule Corps, and I finished making the antivirals for the heart virus. These are for you and Gohan," she explained, handing over the two capsules. She looked over at Goku. "I thought about it, and you should still take the medicine from the future instead. It's had more years of development," she explained. He nodded in understanding.
"Whose that last one for then?" Chichi asked, nodding down at the last capsule in the open pack in Val's hand.
Val felt suddenly nervous at the question. She clicked the pack shut and stowed it back in her pocket. "Piccolo" she answered as neutrally as she could.
"Oh, he's been off training on his own the past couple of days," Gohan piped up. "Said he needed like two weeks or so to himself," he added, tone sounding a little disappointed.
Val looked at him, thinking over the likely time line with that presented information. If Piccolo came the second day she was sick, that meant he had been away from them for six days. If he feared he might have caught the heart virus when he was at Capsule Corps, that could be why he said he was staying away for two weeks, so not to risk bringing it here for Goku to catch it. "Sometimes, that's what you need," she answered supportively. "Do you know where I can find him?" she asked.
"Woods, somewhere," Goku answered. "Probably near that cliff he threw you off."
"He threw you off a cliff?" Chichi asked in shock.
Val frowned at her, not sure what the problem with that was. "I made it back," she answered dismissively.
"Not quite. You broke a rib or two," Goku pointed out.
Val sighed, rolling her eyes. "I survived," she reminded him, a little embarrassed at the memory. She tapped her pocket, feeling the capsule pack securely in there. "I'll see if I can't track him down," she answered.
"You sure you don't want to wait until tomorrow?" Chichi suggested.
Val shrugged and shook her head. "I want to get back to Capsule Corps by the evening," she answered.
Chichi put her hands on her hips. "Well I can't make you stay here, otherwise I would," she grumbled. "Just if the weather gets too bad, you better land and seek shelter," she demanded.
Val looked at her, confused as to why she would say that. She brushed a few stray hairs out of her face. Her hair felt a bit more wind whipped than usual. "Right, I will," she promised for the sake of promising. "See you," she bid before turning to leave, hearing them saying their own goodbyes in turn.
She closed the door behind her and took a few steps forward. She closed her eyes to sense for Piccolo, and then opened her eyes when she locked in on him further South from her. As she took off flying, she noticed the clouds looked a bit more darker and grayer than she ever recalled seeing Earth clouds before.