CHAPTER SIX


Goten followed them, hoping he wasn't making any noise. But then, if he was, surely Mr. Son or Mr. Trunks would hear it. Maybe even Miss Bra. So he relaxed a little. Until he heard someone behind him. He froze.
"Goten?"
"Trunks?"
"What are you doing here?"
"What are you?"
"I asked first."
"So?"
Trunks clapped his hand over Goten's mouth. "Shh! They'll hear us! Come on, hide!" Trunks tugged on Goten's arm and pulled him into the bushes, just in time.
"Did you guys hear something?" Mr. Son asked.
Mr. Trunks and Miss Bra both shook their heads. "Maybe a little paranoid?" Mr. Trunks asked.
Mr. Son grinned. "Maybe a little," he agreed and they kept walking.
Trunks released Goten and let his breath out in a silent sigh of relief. "Now what are you doing, following them?" he demanded quietly.
"I…uh, I-I'm not?" Goten suggested.
"Goten, that is so incredibly lame. Haven't I taught you better than that? Haven't I?" Trunks asked sternly.
"Yes."
"Now why don't you just go home?" Trunks suggested.
"Go home? No way!"
"Shh!"
"Sorry. But I'm not going home."
Trunks shook his head. "Then you'll just have to come, won't you."
"That's my plan."
"Then let's go! We don't want to miss them." Trunks jumped up and began hurrying after them.
"Wait…why are you here?"
"We both heard them planning to leave, didn't we?"
"Yes…"
"Well, did you think I was gonna stay home when there's gonna be a big fight?" Trunks asked incredulously.
"This is all it is to you? A big fight?"
"With huge stakes," Trunks added. "We'll die if we don't win!"
"And you find this an incentive?"
"Heck yeah! We never get to fight, our parents always stop us. But what are Mr. Trunks and Miss Bra and Mr. Son gonna do? Send us home?"
"Yeah."
Trunks shrugged. "I'll figure out something," he said confidently.
Goten stared at his friend in total bafflement. "You're such a Saiyajin," he said.
"So are you!" Trunks replied, offended.
"You're looking forward to dying!"
"I am not! And, for the last time, shh! If you don't be quiet, I'm taking you home."
"Sorry."
They crouched in the bushes. "Look, there they are," Trunks whispered. "Why are they just standing there?"
"What is Mr. Trunks messing with?"
"I don't-oh, wow, look at that!"
The three young adults jumped through the newly opened portal. Trunks jumped up and ran after them. Goten followed.
They suddenly landed in a heap in a lab, somewhere, at the feet of three very displeased older people.
***
"Well, we want to help," Goten said.
"You guys are going home right now," Mr. Trunks said. "Like we'd let you stay here. You might get killed!"
"We might get killed at home, too," Goten pointed out.
Trunks was wandering around the lab. He walked over to the main teleporter machine and examined it. He began pushing some buttons.
"Augh! What are you doing?" Miss Bra yelled.
"Changing the coordinates for to our dimension," Trunks said smugly. "Now I'm the only one who knows where we need to go to get home, and I don't think I'm telling."
The three stared at him. Then Mr. Trunks' lip twitched as if he were trying to keep from laughing. "I think that's about the most devious, underhanded, unscrupulous thing I've ever seen," he said.
Trunks grinned up at him. "You like it, huh?"
"No."
"Yes you do!"
Mr. Trunks looked at the other two helplessly. "I can't help it! It's funny! It's clever! It's…it's…"
"You," Mr. Son finished for him. "Meaning it's devious, underhanded, and unscrupulous, like you said before."
"Well, that too." Mr. Trunks winked at his younger self. Trunks winked back.
"So. We have to keep them here, don't we?" Miss Bra said resignedly.
"Looks that way." Goten shrugged. "Could be worse. Besides, you guys left a note or something, didn't you?"
Trunks nodded. Goten didn't.
Mr. Trunks looked incredibly satisfied at that. "Which one of us remembered the note, Son?" he asked.
"Don't rub it in. What did your note say, Trunks?"
"That I was following you guys home. I didn't mention Goten, I didn't know he was coming. What I can't believe is you guys didn't know we were coming, what with all the noise he was making." Trunks glared at his friend.
"What counts is that they didn't and that we're here. That was pretty smart, what you did."
"Thank you. I told you I'd think of something, didn't I?"
"I won't doubt you ever again. So, what's for breakfast?"