“Knock, knock! I brought you some cookies, Goten-chan!” A cheerful voice called. Trunks groaned. Unfortunately, the voice belonged to Tayhei. She was holding a plate of cookies in her small hands, a wide smile on her face. Quietly, she shut the door behind her and looked around the room for Goten. Her green eyes narrowed when she saw Trunks sitting in the corner of the room, slumped over --- he was the only person in the room.

“Oh.” She said in a flat voice. “You.”

“I don’t know where Goten is.” Trunks informed her, before she could have a chance to ask. He turned away from her because he really wasn’t in the mood for a verbal sparring match. It seemed as though no matter what he said to Tayhei, she managed to twist it around and make it seem like a threat. And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t help but get angry at her. It was hell trying to live with her. Now that she was on the ship, he was going to have to be careful about where he went or what he said. Somehow, she always made him seem like the bad guy, and he really didn’t need that at the moment.

Plus, the fact that she seemed to like Goten so much just pissed him off. He could never understand why she liked him so much, or why she had chosen to make Trunks’s life miserable. It just didn’t make any sense at all.

Tayhei looked at him thoughtfully, and then a sexy smirk appeared on her face. “Well…Do you want one of my cookies?”

Trunks sneered at her. “I’d rather eat arsenic.”

She put a hand on her hip. “I’m a great cook, and you know it. You’re just jealous because I was looking for Goten and not you.”

“Jealous?” Trunks laughed. “Why on Earth would I be jealous?”

She smirked again, her eyes flashing, and shrugged her slim shoulders. One of the straps on her dress fell down with the shrug, resting on the side of her tanned shoulder. Trunks swallowed hard, but was determined to not let her know how beautiful she was. I’m sure she already knows. Trunks thought. She must look in the mirror over a hundred times a day. Someone that superficial is always aware of how good looking they are.

“Aren’t you even just a little glad I’m here?” She asked, sauntering over to him with a slow, agonizingly sexy walk. Trunks jumped up from his chair. There was no way she was going to catch him in a vulnerable position like that. He crossed his arms tightly across his chest and glared at her as much fury as he could muster.

She blinked her large green eyes, then grinned. “You have to admit --- I’ll make the trip a lot more exciting for you. That is….if you live through Vejiita’s lecture.”

So far, Vejiita hadn’t said anything to him about it. Trunks was a little relieved, but he also knew that Vejiita could be just holding back all of his anger for the right moment when Trunks was off guard and unprepared. Of course, Tayhei was going to suffer a similar fate; he had no doubts about that. So far his father had resisted ever hitting Tayhei….And Trunks had to admire him a little for that. Just seeing her smirking face made him want to smack her. Vejiita had a lot more patience than everyone thought he did.

“I’ll live.” Trunks informed her. “But I can’t guarantee that you will. Tousan has been saving up his anger for an occasion just like this. You can only peck at him so much before he explodes, Tayhei, and you have been pecking away since you first got here. The next time you see him, I’d watch out.”

When the intercom in the corner of the room started to crackle, they both stared at it. “Please, everyone needs to get back to the control room immediately! This is urgent!” Bulma cried, sounding frantic. “We are under attack! I repeat, the ship is under attack!”

Trunks and Tayhei stared at each other for a long moment, then at the same time, they both jumped up and ran to the door. Trunks reached it first and held Tayhei back, glaring at her, determined to not let her out first. She struggled against him, desperately trying to get out into the hallway. The two of them stood there pushing against one another for almost a full minute. And then the ship started tumbling.

They were both flown up into the air and against the opposite wall. It all happened so fast that Trunks didn’t even have time to react. Somehow he hit his head, whether it was on the ceiling or the dresser, or maybe even the wall. He wasn’t sure, but he knew that it hurt very badly and it was making him very light headed. Groggily, he searched the room for Tayhei and saw her struggling to gain her balance, her blond hair messed up and in her eyes. She wasn’t paying any attention to him. He put a hand on the back of his head and found blood there, from a large cut above his ear.

The ship shook again, though not as violently, and he found himself slipping into a very peaceful, dreamlike state. He watched Tayhei as she finally gained her balance and turned to face him, her pretty features showing actual concern. He watched her say something to him, while struggling to keep him on his feet, but he couldn’t hear a word she was saying.

“Trunks!” Tayhei gasped. She put her hand over the cut on his head, trying to stop the bleeding. The ship rumbled and shook violently beneath her feet, but she ignored it and kept calling out to him. “Trunks-kun!”

There was no comprehension in his eyes, he just stared at her dully, with a dopey smile on his face. Then, his eyes slowly dropped closed and he fell into her arms asleep. With Trunks’s full weight against her and the shaking of the ship, she couldn’t possibly remain balanced anymore. With a small cry, Tayhei toppled over and Trunks fell on top of her, still asleep. She struggled to get out from underneath him, but his large build made it awfully hard. She had always been rather small, but considered herself to be fairly strong, so she struggled to get him off of her. Trunks however, far outweighed her, and it looked as though she was going to be stuck there until he woke up.

“Kuso, Trunks! You big, fat cow!” She snarled, pushing against his unconscious body. “If we survive this, the first thing I’m going to do when we get home is put you on a diet!”

Bulma stared out the window in fear. Several smaller, oddly shaped space ships were flying around, forming some sort of barrier at the front of the ship. Every few seconds, one of them would fire an object at the ship, which would either miss and explode in midair or hit and cause little damage. The ship was shaking violently.

She picked up the intercom again. “Hurry!” She shouted into it, wishing that everyone would hurry up and get into seat belts so she could fly the ship away from danger.

One of the ships flew dangerously close to the window to shoot, and she ducked, hitting the tile floor in a panic. The large window, which was enforced by the strongest plastic possible was hit by several small explosions, possibly from a gun. It cracked but didn’t give. The window still held and the ship was still in good condition. Bulma jumped up and cheered, punching her fist in the air.

“Take that, you space scum!” She cried, sticking out her tongue at the retreating ship. “Capsule Corporation plastics! The best in the universe!”

When it was a considerable distance away, the ship suddenly turned around and faced her again, and Bulma could see power building up at its base. It was getting ready to fire again. And this time she doubted it would be a small explosion.

Bulma squealed and dove to the floor, but it was too late. The ship shook violently and it felt like she was placed in a blender as it started to spin. Her head knocked against the window, scraped against something sharp, and then she was thrown backwards back into the pilot’s seat, the air rushing out of her lungs.

She didn’t move.

Vejiita skidded into the control room with an angry look on his face, searching for Bulma. Moments ago, the ship had been flipped around and tossed like it was a pinball, which had of course knocked him off of his feet and thrown him around. Briefly, he wondered if the others had survived it as well as he had. The ship was still shaking heavily, and from this far to the front of it, he could hear far off explosions from the outside. Through the large window in the front, he could make out several small ships, which were all firing at them in succession. Their ship appeared to be standing completely still, a perfect target for the opposition. Vejiita felt that Bulma was in danger, and knew that she was in here, he just had to find her.

“Woman, where are you?!” Vejiita demanded, looking around the control room, cursing when another explosion nearly knocked him off of his feet. He walked over to check the pilot’s seat and froze when he saw her there.

There was blood running down the side of her face, from a cut on her hairline. Her eyes were half opened and she was obviously trying to remain conscious, her head occasionally dropping and rising. The cord of the intercom speaker was wrapped around one of her hands and the other hand was resting limply on the ship’s controls. He gently fingered the cut, his heart pounding heavily.

She’s alive. He told himself, trying to soothe his nerves. She’s alive. She must have hit her head somehow. She’s alive. She’s okay.

“What’s going on?” Gokuu asked, as he appeared at his side. When he saw Bulma, his eyes widened in shock and he made a sound of fear. “Bulma-san! Is she….? She’s okay, isn’t she?!”

“Hai.” Vejiita answered, and then as gently as he could, he reached out and took Bulma into his arms, almost toppling over as the ship started shaking again. “She’s alive. Baka woman. Doesn’t even know how to protect herself.”

“Vej….Vejiita.” She spoke weakly, her eyes catching sight of him. “They just….started….shooting.” Then she closed her eyes all the way and her head dropped down to her chest.

Vejiita stared at her, his heart beating erratically. She’s alive. He told himself again. She just passed out. Calm down. Nothing has happened to her. She is okay.

The others began entering the room then, stumbling around as the ship shook more violently than before. Bulma’s body was limp in his arms, and several of them cried out in exclamation when they saw her that way. Someone, possibly Kuririn asked him something, but he merely turned and shrugged his shoulders, looking for a spot to set Bulma down safely.

“It’s okay!” Gokuu assured them all, gesturing at Bulma. “She just passed out!”

“No, it’s not okay!” Yamucha sneered at him. “Our damn pilot is unconcious! How is that okay?”

Gohan took charge then, placing a hand on Yamucha’s shoulder. “Yamucha, you grab the controls. Everyone else: get into seat belts! Is everyone here?”

Vejiita scanned the room, critically. Him, Bulma, Kakarroto, Piccolo, jinzouningen, Yamucha, Kuririn, Kuririn’s brat, Videl, Gohan, Goten….Where were Trunks and Tayhei?

“Trunks and Tayhei are missing.” Vejiita informed him.

“They probably killed each other.” Goten explained matter-o-factly.

Gohan ignored him, and began shouting directions. “Seat belts, everyone! Come on! We don’t have time to waste!” He nodded at Vejiita. “Set Bulma in one of the seats and strap her in. Then go look for Trunks and Tayhei! We need to find them and get them in seat belts so we can start flying! Those ships aren’t going to play around forever. Sooner or later they’re going to really start attacking us.”

“What do you mean?” Gokuu asked, while helping Videl with her seat belt. “It sure feels like they’re attacking us now. What is all of that shaking.”

Gohan pointed out the window. “They’ve arched themselves around us in a defensive position, not allowing us to go forward anymore. The explosions and shots that you’re feeling are mostly exploded on the sides of the ship, but not actually hitting us. They’re trying to scare us away, not kill us. Whatever they’re protecting must be very close.”

“Sukuashi?” Gokuu asked, looking out the window and narrowing his eyes.

He nodded. “That’s definitely a possibility. It is the nearest planet, after all.”

“They aren’t Saiya-jins.” Vejiita informed them, glaring. “If they were Saiya-jins, we’d be dead by now. Saiya-jins do not sit around and wait for they’re victims to move. They kill them before they even get a chance.”

Gohan turned to him and sighed. “Vejiita, we don’t have time for this. If you want to be of any help, and if you value your life or your sons life or anyone else’s life, you need to go find Trunks and Tayhei.”

“I don’t have to take orders from you, kisama!” Vejiita shouted, and he crossed his arms indignantly.

“I’ll go!” Yamucha interrupted, peeking out from the pilot’s seat. “There is no way I can fly this ship by myself, Gohan. I don’t know anything about it. These controls are complex, and I have no idea what the right commands are. If Vejiita is going to be difficult about it, I’ll go find the kids. When we’re all here, maybe someone will be able to figure out how the controls work. Maybe Trunks?”

“Tayhei.” Vejiita relented, looking out the window at the opposing ships, which had stopped firing for the moment.

“Nani?” Gokuu asked, looking very puzzled.

Gohan’s face brightened and he snapped his fingers. “Hai! You’re right, Vejiita! Tayhei said she could fly the ship if she had to! She can get on the controls and get us away from here.” Everyone that had been listening to their conversation cheered. "Yamucha! Go find the kids! Let’s get out of here.”

Chapter 34
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