Val crossed her arms over her chest in her room, leaning against her wardrobe. She had a sour look on her face, seeing Bulma sitting on her bed, capsule pack in her hands. Her hands itched to just reach out and take it from the far weaker woman, but her throat constricted at the thought at even trying. Bulma held it up tauntingly, making Val's nose wrinkle. "So I'll ask, what happened, guardian?" Bulma repeated.
Val grunted, "I said I don't want to talk about it." Her eyes stayed glued on the capsule pack, trying to think of someway, any other way to get what she wanted. "Future Trunks agreed to let me have that," she said, tapping her foot in annoyance.
"Mmmm, he more said it was my decision what to do with this," Bulma countered. "So spill the tea. Start from when the first two androids appeared." Val grumbled, stomping her foot and half heartily pounding on the wardrobe behind her. Bulma looked at her, half amused. "You're not the first person I've seen act like that when not getting their way," she hinted, patiently.
Val stared at her for a few seconds before huffing out, "fine..." she preempted. She went over the events in time order, Android #19 and #20 and the events with them, Android #17 and #18 and the events with them, the broken bracelet, going up to the Lookout and becoming guardian with hesitation at first revealing the kiss Piccolo gave her, feeling stuck on the Lookout doomed to being just an onlooker on the events below, what Trunks revealed to her about the original future, Cell nearly killing Piccolo and Tien and just getting stuck watching it all, and then her fight with Piccolo.
"Damn..." Bulma said when she was finally done. Val kept her mouth shut tight now, eyes trained on the capsule pack. "That's a lot that happened." She opened the capsule pack and tossed Val two capsules. Val caught them, cradling them in her hands so carefully and pulling them to her chest. She put them carefully in her pocket, tapping it to make sure she felt two in there. "Also, what a jerk right?" she commented flippantly. "You took on the guardianship and he just says he changed his mind afterwards... just like that...?" she said. Then she bent down, elbows on her knees. She hummed pensively. "Unless, he's just like saying that..." she mused. "Since like he knows the future and he knows he let it change for you."
Val shook her head, scoffing, "or Kami got in his head and changed his mind..."
"Like some kind of mind trick?" Bulma said, sounding amused. She looked at Val expectantly. Val looked at her confused. "Never mind that joke," she said with a sigh. "You need to research less and watch some movies more..." She sat up, looking over at her. "And the whole kid thing, Cell's a monster raised by a computer. Look at Gohan. Piccolo half raised him when Goku died that one time. Just because a kid between the two of you would be half Demon Clan, doesn't mean you'll raise them to be evil. But then again..." she hummed down to being quiet.
"Then again what?" Val asked.
"Are you sure you really want a child?" Bulma asked.
"I'm an Anthromorph, that's my duty," Val answer. "To help save a race near extinction. I'm the last one, we're at extinction."
"But do you want to?" Bulma asked.
"I don't understand," Val said, shaking her head.
"Well, I love Trunks, don't get me wrong, but I can no longer spend hours and hours in the lab researching in one chunk of time. I have to do less work because I need to be there for him and focus on him. It would be the same for you. Less time to research, shorter amounts of time to do so, less time to do anything and focus since a kid can be so distracting," she warned. "I mean, I don't mind it. It's kind of nice just to have him to focus on. It's totally worth it to me, but would it be worth it to you?" Val blinked over at her, mind mincing over her words. "Worth it to you with someone who doesn't want to save their clan, to try for a child that you could only have if they were Anthromorph?"
Val brought her hand to her necklace, mind twisting and turning. "I don't... I can worry about that later. After I'm not longer guardian," she ruled.
Bulma nodded. "So what are you going to do now though? Are you really going to let Piccolo train you up as guardian? You said Kami decided on you before Future Trunks even said you were his choice, so how are you going to find a replacement? It's not like anyone else on Earth was Kami's next choice after Goku, Piccolo, and almost you turned down his offer?"
Val sighed, shaking her head. "I haven't even started remote viewing for that possiblity yet... Kami never asked anyone else we know after me. And I was his third choice after Goku and Piccolo turned him down... What if there's no one left on Earth he would even consider?"
"Could be. Also sounds like he was keen on another alien taking over. Preferably a fellow Namekian," Bulma figured.
Val frowned at that thought, not sure how to piece it together. "The other Namekians..." she started. Bulma raised her eyebrows up. Val ticked through some of her brothers in her mind, wondering which of them would be a better guardian, if they were willing to, in her mind, Cargo, Dende, Hull, Freight, Loader... Val shook her head. "The Dragon Clan is so far away. I don't even know where they are in space... or how to reach them..."
Bulma huffed softly and stood up. She stepped over to Val, tapping her on the shoulder. "You must have too much going on in that 'space witch' brain of yours to think your way around your problems." She looked at her face, with Val averting her eyes.
Val nodded, starting, "perhaps I-" she stopped suddenly gasping. A blast of ki far off shocked her senses.
"What's wrong? Is it Vegeta? Or Trunks?" Bulma asked in a rush, sounding suddenly worried.
"It's Cell," Val said, sensing somewhere in the world throwing volleys of ki blasts.
"Oh, it's your kid," Bulma teased.
"He is not my child," Val growled, cringing at the thought.
Bulma hummed, giving in. "By nurture, no, raised by an evil computer. Eck," she said. Val reached over to the staff she had originally abandoned on the wall hesitantly, not wanting to touch it but also wanting to remote view to see what he was doing. "Remember, you really don't have to do it forever," Bulma said, watching her hand hover near the staff.
Val snatched it up, seeing Bulma looked a little disappointed. "I can better see what's happening," she excused.
"Right," Bulma drew out.
Val opened the door of the room, jogging briskly to the outer area of the Lookout, seeing both Tien and Piccolo gathered there. She felt her steps slow in spite of her desire to reach them. "What's happening?" she asked both of them.
Piccolo looked down at her. She flinched, blocking herself from sending or receiving any emotions with him. "Cell's trying to draw #18 out from hiding," he explained in a neutral tone.
"And where's Vegeta?" Val thought out loud. She closed her eyes, both hands on the staff, sensing for him. She opened her eyes once she picked out both Vegeta and Trunks were almost to Cell. "He's almost there," she stated, watching him enroute. "Hurry up," she willed without channeling anything into the staff. Not again, never again. "He's there," she said in relief.
"What's going on?" Bulma panted out, running over to them. She stopped, leaning her hands on her knees, winded.
"It has begun," Piccolo answered. "Vegeta's ki is growing stronger by the second."
Tien said in awe, "that's a strong ki."
Val bit her lip, feeling hope well in her chest. "Soon that monster will be gone," she willed on bated breath. She looked over at Bulma, seeing her look over at Piccolo, giving him just the slightest shake of her head.