Long before Junior woke from his dream, Vegeta had left the room. He decided that food was more important than watching nothing. It wasn't like he wasn't going to have to be there later. He walked past the bedroom Bra slept in. One look inside and he saw Bulma sleeping too. He decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea if he made a small pit stop, at least until the other female left the kitchen. The foul smell of smoke coming from that area bothered his sensitive nose too much. It would be better if he waited for it to clear away; besides, the last thing he wanted to do was to deal with Kakarotto's mate.

*****

ChiChi crushed out a cigarette and pulled a new one out of the pack. There wasn't a reason that she smoked now, she just thought to hell with it. 'Maybe it'll just kill me faster,' she thought. 'To hell with it,' she thought. 'Maybe it'll just kill me faster.'

She was so engrossed in her cigarette, she didn't notice that Videl had walked into the room. She did notice, however, that the cigarette disappeared from her hands. ChiChi looked up to see Videl crush it out and throw out the pack.

"Mama!! What are you doing?! You don't smoke!" Videl yelled in a hushed whisper.
ChiChi narrowed her eyes. "I don't know why I bother." she replied.

ChiChi got up from her chair and went towards the outside door. "It doesn't matter now, though. It's not going to stop it from happening again, no matter what gets done this time. Unless..."

ChiChi stopped herself and shook her head. This was something she didn't want to talk about yet. "You can't stop fate," she said before going outside, leaving Videl behind. Videl stood dumbfounded, thinking that ChiChi looked more aged now than she did just a few minutes ago. Videl put that thought behind her as she went outside to help her mother in law to walk.

Videl and ChiChi walked past Trunks and Goten. They acted as though no one was passing by. There wasn't a reason why they weren't talking; it was just that they didn't feel like it. Trunks thought that was strange because Goten loved to talk. In fact, he was the one who usually started the conversations between them, especially the ones about nothing, which was Goten's favorite subject.

In the middle of the silence, Goten looked up. "Kago?" He said, unsure of himself. Trunks looked strangely at him. Goten shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," and looked back to the ground. Trunks shook his head and did the same.

Goten's thoughts went back to what he just said. He was sure he saw someone who fit the description of the name he said. Goten saw the person from the corner of his eye and the person was gone before he got his head all the way up. He never managed to get a good look at this Kago person. The more Goten thought about it, the more he figured his mind was playing tricks on him again, just like it always did.

*****

Inside the house, Mejihen felt Junior move in his sleep. He looked down when suddenly; Junior woke up, gasping for air. Mejihen got nervous, but before he could say or do anything, Junior jumped to the floor. He grabbed Mejihen's hand and started dragging him to another room. Mejihen winced . For the first time, he was actually afraid of Junior. The fierce look on his face made it appear as though he was about to fight someone, or kill him.

Junior dragged Mejihen to an empty room and shut the door. He then pulled a surprised Mejihen down until they were face to face.

Before Mejihen could say anything, Junior asked a question.

“Who are you?”

Simple question. Not a simple answer, Mejihen thought. He looked at Junior's face. There wasn't any malice in his voice or facial expressions. He was simply asked an innocent question by an innocent child.

" I am..." Mejihen realized that he himself didn't know the answer to that. Something didn't seem right. It felt as though part of his mind was blocked.

Junior grinned as he watched Mejihen struggle with his thoughts. "Is it that hard to answer? How about this one. Why did you come here?"

“Well, to get people, warriors to help...”

“Where did you find out about these warriors? In fact how did you get here?”

"Well, I, there were rumors, about the warriors, and the way I got here..." Mejihen stopped himself. He closed his eyes as he thought back. A space pod was mighty convenient, all out in the forest, waiting for him. Very convenient. Especially that no one followed him out of the atmosphere in their faster and stronger ships. And when he was just as strong as his mother, yet they only kept her and kicked him to the side. ... Too perfect an escape.

Mejihen opened his eyes with realization. "I was... used? I've been used? Now? Before?"

Junior shook his head and let Mejihen go. "There's more, I can see, but I can't. You aren't bad... at least I don't think so, but the other people are, and very smart too." Junior walked to the door. "I can't feel them, but I'm sure they are here already." Before Junior left the room, he turned to Mejihen. "Don't feel bad. Everyone is being used. We have a much larger part to play other than your home." Mejihen stared at Junior, dumbfounded. He sounded nothing like the child he was seeing in front of him instead spoke with the air of old age around him. It couldn't be possible for someone as young as Junior was to think the things he was thinking. And he thought of how Junior mentioned his home. What did Junior know that he, or perhaps everybody, didn't know?

Mejihen shook his head. "More riddles. Always going around the answer... what riddles? What am I talking about?" Mejihen growled and clutched his head. "What is going on!?"

“More than you think, I’m sure.”

The voice startled Mejihen. He looked up to see the source.

“Vegeta.”

“Hmph. I knew you were trouble from the first moment I saw you.... And heard that that brat tried to kill you before.”

“Pan?”

Vegeta growled. "All you've brought is bad luck. I trust the brat's instinct. You aren't to be trusted."

“But...B...But...” Mejihen stammered.

Vegeta smirked. “It would be better if I finish you off, right here and now.”

Vegeta raised his hand over his head, ready for an easy kill.

"Uncle Vegeta...?" Junior asked hesitantly from the door.

Vegeta paused. "What is it, brat?!" he growled between his teeth.

“Bra is awake.”

“So?!”

“... She wants to see you.”

Vegeta slowly put his hand to his side. “You’re lucky. I’ll tell you that much.”

Junior moved to the side as Vegeta passed him. Junior shivered involuntarily and turned to Mejihen as soon as Vegeta was out of sight.

"He won't help us.... You know? He was right. He probably would have killed you." Junior put his head down. "Everybody... well almost everybody. They're are acting differently. They still think they are the same, like when Grandma ChiChi has too much sake, but what they do isn't like them."

“Huh?”

Junior let out a frustrated sigh. "Someone is guiding the way we think. It doesn't feel like this person is, but he is. Also...."

“.....?”

“Pan is in trouble. Or at least I think she is going to be. I want to help... but I don’t know what to do.”

“I... ohhh.” Mejihen sighed and put his head in his hands. “And I came to you guys for help...”

“? We could still help. Just not all of us.”

"What good is that going to do? We'll have me, who already got beaten by the weakest soldiers. You,.... You're just a kid! We can't rely on your sister or.... Vegeta... because they want to kill me! Instead of finding help, my life has been threatened multiple times.," Mejihen sighed. "I think I hit a dead end..."

Junior looked a bit irritated. He didn’t say anything back, just closed the door and went to his room to think.

*****

Pan started closing in on her destination. The closer she got to it, the more clear her thinking seemed to become. She landed in front of a fairly large space ship. It was a sleek, gray color and appeared flawless. Not even a door was visible. There was someone waiting outside of it.

The figure walked towards her. He had silver hair and deep gray eyes. His skin wasn't human, in fact it was a light blue color. It appeared normal on him. In fact Pan didn't seem to notice anything wrong. She was waiting to meet him. She expected him to be here. He spoke to her first, in a deep and calm voice, well suited for his looks.

"Well now, Princess, you've finally come back to us. I believe it's time to take you home."