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Chapter Text

Bulla Briefs decided she must see to it that this was Uncle Gohan's best birthday ever. It was her duty as Princess! She knows this because papa kept saying that as the leader of his remaining people, it was his duty to make sure they weren't suffering for no reason.

He also said to not tell anyone he said that, ever. Which made mama laugh, of course. Mama laughed and whispered to her first daughter that papa was silly, that despite being so proud he didn't want the attention on himself.

Bulla thinks that's silly.

She hefts up both her three year old sister, Scanty, and the three year old Son daughter, Goushi. They weren't heavy, but Scanty sure was squirmy. At least Goushi liked to be carried, it made life a little easier. The six year old sighs dramatically as she more or less lands amongst their friends... well, amongst the ones their age... Uncle Tien and Yamcha's three were just barely older than Scanty and Goushi, but at least it seemed like Pan was keeping them from wandering off or falling over. Junior was holding Cargo's hand, ever as cautious as his parent, and just as protective over Cargo as Piccolo was over Dende. And Gochi --

Bulla pauses and looks around, her little brows scrunched together. Weird... where was she?

Just as she's about to open her mouth to ask Pan, Gochi lands directly in the middle, holding one of the last two Dragon Balls they needed, shortly followed by Bulla's niece, Leigh, who landed far less gracefully -- on her behind.

"Owie!" Leigh whines, tears springing to her eyes, nose and cheeks reddening -- clearly about to bawl. But Gochi's helping her up with a little giggle, which seems to subside the tears immediately.

"You silly! You were supposed to put your feet first~" Bulla watches the two a moment, watching the pout appear on Leigh's face, and the huge Son grin on Gochi's face. Both Dragon Balls are put down after Leigh is upright again, then Gochi ushers her over to Bulla and the "almost-twins" as Scanty and Goushi were affectionately dubbed. Once stopped, Gochi leaned over and smooched Bulla's niece's cheek -- and predictably, Leigh puffed up, her pride showing through as her tail lifted and swished side to side. Bulla laughs a little.

Bulla glances over when she notices one of Uncle Tien and Uncle Yamcha's kids plop down on his behind. She watches the boy, Ben, for a minute, then lifts her gaze to the three eyed girls, Giaozi and Jyoza, the older of which was smiling sheepishly at Bulla.

"So what are we askin the dragon anyway?" Giaozi asks. Next to her, her sister was swinging her arms around her in a circle, clearly bored. Bulla doesn't blame the four year olds for being restless. She remembers what it was like being four... But she's six now, and after Pan, she's the oldest, so she had to act like it!

"I heard Goku talking to Gohan!" Bulla starts, big eyed, "He asked him if he could possibly be any happier on his birthday!!" at the confused looks from the other children and toddlers, the Princess grins proudly, her tail wiggling, even though she can feel little Goushi reaching with her hands to grab at it over her shoulder. It was then, briefly, she noticed the almost-twins tails were wound together comfortably... Bulla nearly melts from how cute the toddlers are and adjusts her hold to make sure she won't drop them. The little ones were so cute!! Sniffling, and feeling tears, Bulla puffs up her chest, pushing herself to get past the feeling of how cute Scanty and Goushi were, to finish speaking. The eyes of her peers were staring at her big eyed, even Leigh at her elbow, looking at her curiously... and probably a little worried. "Gohan said that the only way he could be happier, is if more of our family was here! Like Goku's papa!" this was clearly a case of her people suffering! And the fact that they were all technically family was even more of a reason to see to her people's suffering!

Pan gasps near her, covering her mouth with both hands, "You mean like... great grandpa?!" Bulla looks to her and nods curtly with a grin.

It's quiet a moment, and Bulla opens her mouth to speak again -- but Gochi suddenly gasps and looks at her from the other side of Leigh, "That means my grandpa?!" Leave it to Gochi to be a little slow on the uptake. Oh well, they loved her anyway. Bulla giggles and nods some, hearing some of the other toddlers and children snicker.

"Does this mean we're gonna wish for Gohan's grandpa back?" Junior asks, he's the spitting image of a tiny Piccolo, and sometimes, has a matching personality, including his attachment to Gohan.

"Better! We're gonna wish for our home back!" at this, all her peers stared at Bulla in confusion -- sans the almost-twins and Cargo, Dende's excitable "smol" as Gohan liked to call him.

"But this is our home..." Cargo's brow ridge furrows, and he looks perplexed. Junior pulls Cargo's hand up in his and pats it comfortingly.

Bulla grins toothily, and opens her mouth to speak, but Pan beats her to it this time.

"Home -- a home can be where you live... where you're from... where your family is from... it can be your family, your friends... Home has a large meaning!" Pan exclaims, sounding excited as she turns to Bulla. Bulla feels a little annoyed at being interrupted again but Pan explained it perfectly for her. She can't be upset at that, can she?

"That's exactly right! I hope Mr. Dragon understands..." Bulla trails off with a little frown.

Leigh's the one the speaks up this time, cheery, "If he doesn't, then he won't grant the wish, which means he won't go away, so it's not like the wish would be wasted!" Pan laughs and points at Leigh, nodding. Cargo bounces some on his feet, hopping in place, clearly excited, Junior's gaze on him and brow raised, clearly amused. Ben is clapping in front of his sisters, the three four year olds are all big eyed -- all 9 of the triplet's eyes focused on Bulla expectantly.

"Okay! So -- let's do this!!" Bulla proclaims, which jolts the almost-twins a bit, both sleepy as they clutch to her. Even Goushi who is sucking on Bulla's tail. She might be upset if Goushi wasn't a toddler and had a habit of sticking things in her mouth. The other children huddle around Bulla so they could more easily summon Shenron. Bulla again adjusts how she's holding the almost-twins, holding them protectively. She pulls in a deep breath, practically feeling the buzzing of excitement from her peers, "Shenron! Eternal Dragon! Please hear me!" the Dragon Balls glow some, and Bulla holds her breath. However, as the seconds tick by, the sky doesn't darken, and Shenron doesn't appear... even if the Dragon Balls were glowing, blinking like a beacon. Bulla purses her lips, wondering why he wasn't coming forth, "Eternal Dragon! Please! Rise and hear me, Shenron!" the glow and blink intensify -- a few seconds go by and still the sky hadn't darkened, nor had the dragon arisen. Pan puffs besides Bulla, and takes a step forward, glaring at the Dragon Balls.

Bulla only has time to process: "uh oh", before Pan speaks -- or rather, yells.

"HEY DRAGON! WE KNOW YOU HEAR US! DON'T BE A WEENIE!" Pan stomps her little foot repeatedly in place, hands balled into fists at her side.

Ooooooh no --

-- but the sky darkened, and the Dragon Balls flashed bright enough to blind anyone temporarily... as Shenron arose with such a force it nearly knocked over all the kids.

"I AM NOT A WEENIE, CHILD." Shenron booms first -- before anything else, even his normal spiel, that is what he said. Bulla hears the triplets guffawing behind them and finds it difficult to not laugh either, even though her eyes are trying to find a spot on the dragon besides his head that doesn't seem like it's moving.

"So you're just a jerk then?!" Pan yells at him, tail up and poofed out, clearly agitated.

"CHILD --" Shenron booms -- but Bulla suddenly hears 17's son, Kastanie, and 18's daughter, Marron behind them.

"Hey! What are you guys doing?!"

Oh shoot --

"Bring us our home, Shenron! Please!!" Bulla shouts, big eyed.

"I DID NOT EVEN GET TO --"

"SHENRON!" Pan shouts, hissing in her very tone, tail nearly straight up as she stomps her foot.

Shenron scoffs, obviously frustrated, "FINE, VERY WELL --" his eyes glow, and it's the last that Bulla sees before everything is replaced with weird, hot air, near silence, and the feeling of falling. She hears Leigh yelp as she lets out a cry, the almost-twins seemingly undisturbed, as they land on something rather hard.

"What in the name of Yamoshi --" came a grumbly, grumpy voice as the eyes of her papa are over her... no wait, papa didn't have a face tickler --

Chapter Text

"My daughters are where!?" Vegeta shouts, a loud, angry growl in his voice -- to most, he just seems pissed off... but to some... it was clear he was as panicked as his wife was.

"Vegeta, come on! You have to put in the coordinates! We have to go!" Bulma urges -- no one seems to notice Pan, Gochi, or both Namekian children sneak aboard the ship that was already prepped to go. The problem was, they were all small -- they could get away with it. Bulma had contemplated taking a pod, but Vegeta had told her it wouldn't be comfortable for them both to squish in there.

She loved that her husband knew he wasn't leaving without her.

That's what I was trying to say! Their wish sent them to Planet Vegeta! But both Saiyan and Tuffle are there, so there's a bit of a war going on!

Normally, Vegeta might be ecstatic about Planet Vegeta existing again, normally, he might be giving attitude about Tuffle being alive again... but no, not right now, the most important thing at that moment were his children -- which he technically included the toddler Son daughter in that equation -- as well as his grandchild, Leigh. They were the most important topic at the moment.

"Come, woman!" Vegeta snips, already speed walking over to the small ship. He's entirely too distracted by his impatience to notice any of the small fingers or tips of shoes sticking out behind the seats. Bulma isn't far behind him, waving her hand in the air.

"The big one, you guys! We'll send the coordinates over to it when Vegeta has them input into the console -- I upgraded the big one, so it's a lot faster! Don't take too long, or Vegeta might blow up Planet Vegeta himself!" Bulma tries to make it sound like a joke, but she's really not sure if she is joking. Vegeta leans up and hoists Bulma in like she weighs nothing, catches her, then sets her in her seat before plopping into his own, tail thrashing wildly.

Chichi is watching after the pair with wide eyes, a hand reaching out to tug at Goku's gi at his hip as in mere moments, the ship lifted up, and flew off. Goku's already looking at her curiously when Chichi finally looks at him, her brow furrowed in concern, "Goku --" she starts, "-- you're going to help, aren't you? Our baby... I know we can trust her with them, but the Saiyans..." she pauses, looking a bit unsure, "... they're your people, too, even if you grew up here." Goku feels awed -- which was obvious, seeming as how his face tended to reflect his mood precisely.

"Chichi -- I can go on a later one, if you want?" he tries, even though he really doesn't want to wait. He's anxious, eager to meet more Saiyans, to meet more people who were like him... and hopefully not trying to kill him.

His wife shakes her head, her lips pursed for a moment before she gives him a wry smile, "Goku..." it almost sounds like she's going to scold him, "I'll be fine... I'll come on the next one, so make sure it's just a little safer, okay? Gochi, Pan, Videl, and I -- we'll come on the next one." at Goku's surprised look, she smiles, "You know all about where I'm from... it's only fair, isn't it?"

"But it's probably dangerous, Chi!" there's an actual little whine in the fullblood's voice, his tail poofed some. Gohan laughs a little, rubbing the back of his head. He turns his head some to look at his own wife, who has her arms crossed with a little smirk on her face.

"It's okay, dad -- mom knows how to fight, too, remember?" Gohan offers, "I mean, she's the one who started training Goten when he was a kid... and she taught Gochi some." Goku pouts as he looks at his oldest, then his younger boy, who seems to be with Trunks, then looks to his wife again, who has her hands on her hips, giving him a stubborn look.

Goku sighs finally, shoulders drooping some, "Okay, okay... A handful of us'll go after 'Geta and Bulma... and... and you guys can come a little later." Chichi perks up with a bright smile, and nods to him.

"Thank you~ Now, we need to go home so we can get you prepared for the trip!" she grabs one of Goku's hand and starts pulling him after her, not that he fights her.

Gohan rubs at the side of his neck, and turns to look to Goten and Trunks, eyeing them a moment. Was it him or did they seem closer than normal? Tora, though, is the one who gets his attention when he pokes his head out the backdoor of the house, "Hey, maybe we should bring Kory? Goku'd have to pick him up, though --"

Chichi stops dragging her husband for a moment, and both she and Goku look at Tora, then at each other, then back to Tora as Goku speaks up some, "I mean... I can suggest it to him, Cheelai, and Lemo? They have a ship of their own, too, and it's pretty fast." Chichi lets go of Goku's hand and claps both her hands together, big eyed.

"Oh! Does he have anything to keep warm in?! I'll have to give you some extra things to bring!" Gohan thinks it's lucky that they were abnormally strong, or they might not be able to carry everything Chichi deemed necessary. Not that being prepared was a bad thing, but she did worry a lot. Chichi turns fully to Goku, brow furrowed and determined, "Goku! You tell whoever harms a hair on your head that your wife is going to make them regret it --" Goku suddenly seemed nervous as he waved his hands frantically in front of himself, laughing a little.

"Ch-Chichi! It'll be okay, really!" he did think it was particularly attractive of her when she got into a fighting mood, though. Like that one time they went to the city to shop, and he'd nearly dropped all the boxes and bags he'd been carrying... and suddenly, he watched his wife in awe as leg swept the (apparent) thief and pinned him with her foot. He hadn't known at the time, but the thief had just stolen a woman's bag, and snatched hers, right before bowling into Goku on purpose to cause a distraction. They... may not have totally waited to get home for some them time.

"Hey dad, you've got a weird look on your face." Goten laughs, arms crossed over his chest. Apparently that warrants having Trunks look, too, who also laughs. Chichi looks to the young men, then back to Goku, her head tilting ever so slightly.

"We'll be back, don't leave without me!" Goku says quickly, grabbing Chichi's hand and IT'ing off. An awkward silence overcomes the yard -- that is, until sixteen year old Marron and fourteen year old Kastanie come jogging up, panting and flustered.

"Has... has anyone seen... the kids..." Marron manages, leaning over some, palms on her knees. Her cousin lightly pats her back, also out of breath.

Tora's making his way outside next to Videl and Mai, frowning some, "Bulla, Leigh, Scanty, and Goushi were teleported to Planet Vegeta -- mom and dad already left ahead of us..."

But Marron's shaking her head frantically already, not quite having caught her breath yet. Kastanie, 17's shy son, speaks up instead, looking worried, "No, no, not them -- Pan, Gochi... Junior and Cargo --they disappeared right after we did a head count!"

"WHAT!?" Gohan thought that the shriek came from himself for a moment, before realizing that it Piccolo, and not himself. Wait, when did Piccolo get there -- "I thought I felt them getting ridiculously farther away -- those brats -- are so grounded when I get my hands on them --" now Gohan's not sure if Piccolo is relieved or just upset. If he felt them getting farther away... then it's likely...

"So they probably snuck aboard Bulma and Vegeta's ship." Gohan states plainly -- he sees Videl visibly relax when he says this, and boy does he feel that. Piccolo whips his head to look at Gohan, brow furrowed, frowning deeply. "Uh -- Bulla, Leigh, and the almost-twins were teleported to Planet Vegeta, so Bulma and Vegeta went after them immediately --"

"What." Piccolo's voice is deadpan.

Gohan gulps.

"The kids wished for Planet Vegeta back or something, and for some reason, Bulla, Leigh, Scanty, and Goushi were poofed there..." Gohan says slowly, "Bulma and Vegeta just left in a rush... I'm..." he sighs heavily, "I'm guessing Pan, Gochi, Junior, and Cargo snuck aboard when we were distracted."

There's complete silence for a bit, Piccolo's expression unchanging for the longest time. Gohan feels himself getting more and more sheepish with each second that ticks by. He feels like he has to explain himself, but he's not sure how to explain much more than that...

"When do we leave?" Piccolo asks, arms crossed -- the Demi Saiyan feels himself relax near immediately, recognizing an infamous Piccolo Pout when he sees and hears one.

"Soon -- we're just getting ready... King Kai said that there was a civil war going on between Saiyan and Tuffle, so we figured a handful of us would go after Vegeta and Bulma... and later another ship for whoever wants to come, when it's... probably a bit safer."'

Piccolo nods curtly, then turns some, looking off into the distance. If Gohan were to guess, he's pretty sure that was the direction of Kami's Lookout... He hesitates, then opens his mouth to ask about Dende, but Piccolo beats him to it, "Dende is staying of course. He's the guardian of Earth... I'll go tell him what happened, and then I'll be back... don't leave without me."

"Of course not!" Gohan -- and Tora -- both say, immediately. Gohan looks to Tora in surprise, who smiles sheepishly at him. He watches briefly, as Tora's nose twitches, like he's sniffing something... then gives Gohan a quizzical look.

Piccolo leaves without delay, fretting over the reckless decision the kids had made... decisions, really... But they were young, so surely they didn't realize there were always consequences to your actions? And for Junior to just go along with it all -- Piccolo wonders what their reasoning was...

"Honey --" Videl gets Gohan's attention with a kiss to his cheek, and he looks at her dumbly, "-- Mai is going to come with me to pack some things for you while you go take care of a few things." she winks and Gohan swears he nearly has a heart attack. Logically, he knows she wasn't telling anyone about Broly and Bubastis, but the panic in him was just a long series of 'shhhhhh!' He nods slowly, watching his wife, even as she wiggles her fingers at him in a "bye-bye" motion, and leaves arm in arm with Mai, who had blown her own husband a kiss. Gohan turns some to look at Tora, and laughs a little, just because Tora's face is as red as a tomato. Goten and Trunks follow his gaze, laughing when they do.

"Ooo, someone's all shy about affection from his wife!" Goten teases.

"G-Goten!" Tora protests, plastering a hand over his face -- suddenly flailing and stumbling as two walls of muscle stumble into him from the backdoor. Raditz swings around, Turles on his shoulder (looking drunk off his ass), and barely catches Tora by the back of his jacket. Tora hangs his head as he dangles for a few seconds, flailing a little as he's tugged back upright.

"What're you doing in the door way, kid?" Raditz grumbles, letting go of the blue-haired young man to grab Turles's tail and yank at it a few times, clearly mildly irritated with the dark-skinned Saiyan.

"You're so meannnn, Mr. Griiinch~!" Turles half gurgles at him; Gohan thinks that perhaps Turles was more drunk than he initially thought.

Tora stares at Turles, brow furrowed, then turns his gaze to Raditz, confused. Raditz sighs and shakes his head. He doesn't let Turles down, and keeps his grip on his tail. Turles gurgle-coos again and Gohan accidentally chokes on his own breath, quickly finding himself thumping his own chest as he hiccups some laughter. Oh dammit -- stupid hiccups.

"Ha! That's my boy! Fuck yourself up!!" Turles cheers, leaning up some on Raditz's shoulder, using the long-haired Saiyan's head as leverage so he could pump a fist in the air, "Viva la... uuuh... Christmas!"

"Turles, it's fuckin' May!" Raditz growls at him, clearly frustrated with each push and shove at his head. Gohan can feel his stomach hurting from the growing volume of his laughter -- oh no!

"I mean, it's like... Christmas for Gohan... Mr. Grinch."

"It's called a birthday, you know this!" Raditz half shrieks -- Gohan can see his tail is doubled in size and thrashing a few inches back and forth, reminding him of a rattlesnake. He wonders if his uncle's going to bite Turles for being a pain...

"Sure... if you're boring!" Turles shouts, and suddenly flops back down -- apparently to wrap both hands around Raditz's tail, causing the long-haired Saiyan to let out a shriek and curse up a storm as he fell to a knee. He makes to bite at Turles's tail, who manages to somehow avoid the teeth but slap Raditz in the face with the sleek appendage several times.

"Gods...dammit... stop that!"

"Leggo my tail~!" Turles chortles, very clearly delighted.

"You let go of my tail you drunkard!"

Gohan wheezes from laughing hard enough to make his ribs ache, listening to the Briefs boys laugh with his brother. He's not sure this is going to end anytime soon, and he does have something to take care of before they go... Or rather, he has some people he has to find a way to sneak aboard and hide. He wasn't just going to leave them... Yeah, they were absolutely powerful, but he still takes it upon himself to protect them. What if he's not here and someone takes advantage of them?! He can't let that happen! The birthday boy rubs at his nose before taking the opportunity to slip away, even as he hears a small crash behind him somewhere. He figures Turles and Raditz are probably on the ground at this point -- and deems himself correct when he hears Launch firing off one of her guns, shouting at Raditz to 'let go of my boy's pretty tail you dumbass pretty boy'. It was the usual spiel, Raditz was likely to butt heads with blonde Launch, then sulk when he faceplants Tights's lap, for a whole 5 minutes.

Everyone was fine, they majority were adults -- Raditz and Turles had been around for over twenty years at this point, so it's not like anyone was cautious around them anymore.

Gohan takes to the air, zipping off towards the island he'd had his first adventure on, towards the cave where he'd met his dinosaur friend so long ago... He had a lot of memories on that island.

The Demi Saiyan flies along, enjoying the cool air of the approaching evening whipping across his cheeks and forehead, through his hair... the air was cooling off his back and chest through the collar of his shirt. He watches below him, taking in the scenery. The forest was as healthy as ever -- it even looked like it was expanding some into the more desert-like areas. That was good, that meant more oxygen for everyone, and cleaner air. Always a bonus... Gohan comes to a stop at the shore, eyeing it skeptically. He takes a deep breath and proceeds across the ocean. Come on, Gohan, that storm happened like 25 years ago. Though, if he were perfectly honest, the look on Piccolo's face when he later told him how he couldn't find him in the storm... it made his heart ache. He never wanted to cause his friend such pain, especially over something so trivial.

Then again, nearly drowning probably isn't considered trivial for most.

Better not tell Videl about that...

It's really not long at all before he's flying across the land of the island he'd been on. Gohan drifts to his right in a gentle curve, til he sees the cliffs where he knows the cave is, especially with the white smoke coiling near it. He slows himself as he lowers down towards the ground and through the trees. Landing on his feet, he walks past and through the trees, then up the hillside where he comes upon both Broly and Bubastis sitting outside the capsule house in the mouth of the cave in the chairs they'd put together and reinforced to stand up to them rough housing. They're both staring in his direction and Gohan offers a sheepish grin and lifts a hand in the air to greet both the Legendary Saiyan and the Tuffle. Broly immediately gets to his feet, looking like a kicked puppy as usual, and Bubastis simply twists in his chair to sit sideways, one leg over an arm of the chair.

"You're early -- the sun isn't even set yet." Bubastis starts. His head tilts some and Gohan laughs a little. He's pretty sure Broly and him sharing their DNA with Bubastis has quite a huge effect on him, as he looks even more humanoid than before -- except for the pale, wiggling tail. The danger tail, Gohan likes to call it, what with the quills mixed in with the fur.

"Yeah, so... some things happened..." Broly immediately swipes Gohan up as soon as he's close enough, and sits, plopping his chin on the messy dark hair on the Demi's head.

Bubastis looks immediately worried, even if Broly himself is only half paying attention, purring quietly, rumbling. It was a bit distracting, honestly. "Some things?" the Tuffle is upright in his chair correctly and leaned forward, lips pulled back in a snarl, "Did someone hurt you?!"

"Woah! No! That's not it at all --" Gohan waves his hands frantically in front of him. Broly's purring halts a moment, as if he were contemplating, then resumes again. Gohan sighs in relief, "-- it's just... Bulla and the kids made a wish with the Dragon Balls..."

"... okay?" Bubastis cocks an eyebrow, clearly puzzled, frowning. Broly nuzzles his face in the Demi Saiyan's hair.

"... a wish that brought back Planet Vegeta..." Gohan starts, watching Bubastis's face carefully -- he hears Broly's purring stop again, "... and somehow, Bulla, Leigh, Scanty, and Goushi -- they were all... teleported there."

"Okay... but they're all Saiyan..."

"Only part Saiyan. Even if most of them are of the royal family... Vegeta even freaked out and left immediately with Bulma. We're getting a second ship together... I'm going to be on it..." both Saiyan and Tuffle let out low, fussy huffs, "... and I'm going to sneak you two aboard."