Val was sad to see Bulma go that not long after that. Tien was shown his own room to stay in temporarily by Mr. Popo. Piccolo himself mentioned wanting to use the Room of Spirit and Time after Goku and Gohan finished their turn in it. While he waited, he wanted to go somewhere private to meditate. Val twisted the staff in her hands, thinking fast and looking down on the Earth. Just 10 days were left for this planet if Vegeta or another failed to stop Cell.
Staff in hand, she rushed after Piccolo, stopping him before he was out the Lookout. "Wait," she called out, seeing him about to jump from the ledge. He stopped, turning to look at her. She felt a raw pang shoot through her heart at being alone with him. Trying not to think of the last time the two were alone together, she rushed out, "what about training me? Or at least help me find someone more suitable for guardianship on the planet below? Before Cell finds them and kills them or accident or on purpose?" He looked at her in blank curiosity. "I've got to figure out how to stop him in case Vegeta, or someone else can't. From up here at this half prison roost. There's got to be something I can do as guardian to stop him from destroying the planet should you all fail in a few days time."
He stared down at her and she felt drawn to him. She took a few steps without thinking about it and halted, shaking her head. She brought her foot back down to the ground, rooting both feet to the ground when she felt eager to step up close to him and lean against him once more.
She saw him shake his own head like she had. He looked more focused when he did that. "Now you want to train?" he asked, partially sounding sarcastic, part pitying. "Kami offered that to you time and again for over two years. And now that I plan to have some solitude, you want to train?"
She felt her hands tremble, explaining, "Cell wasn't such an immediate threat to the Earth before now." Her voice also trembled. "If he can't be stopped at his tournament, there must be a way I can stop him, from up here, immediately after, before he can destroy the planet."
"Go look in the library," he suggested.
"I have, well I have looked over things there before, but I can't make heads or tails of even a quarter of what I read," she whined, hating the pitch her voice made.
"You've worked for years with Bulma at Capsule Corps. You're smarter than most humans on the planet. You can't figure it out?" he asked disbelievingly. "Didn't Vegeta once say you were as smart as a Tuffle?"
She scowled up at him. "I understand everything I've done at Capsule Corps. It is scientific, medical research based, what I've done for years, studied and was taught for years while enslaved by Frieza. I haven't been taught anything about guardianship, I have no background knowledge in it. And I need to be taught properly, not pick through books, to understand guardianship long enough to save the planet and its inhabitants below if Vegeta can't in the tournament coming up," she pleaded. "Or maybe while you're down below, you can search for someone to take over guardianship. Before Cell kills them."
He looked down at her, a softened look not unlike one Kami had given her times before. "You still have such faith in Vegeta, even after he failed to stop Cell... Loyal and dutiful to a fault." He hummed, looking down below. "I'll consider your requests. I'll only be gone a few hours, not wanting to risk coming across Cell alone as he is now. Bulma brought you Dr. Gero's data, right?" She nodded. "Look through that. See if you can find some weakness in Cell there. Go through the notes on him."
She nodded, thinking out loud, "that I can do."
"Ask Tien for help. See what help he can be in getting what you're after," he suggested before jumping from the Lookout.
She watched him go, feeling cut off from him the farther and farther he went. She put her hand over her chest, feeling the numbing feeling she had not felt since after she had recovered from the heart virus. She hummed to herself, nodding, before turning away and heading towards the library.