Dragonball Extreme

As an old man walked down the beach one day, he saw a child picking up something from the sand and throwing it into the sea. The old man asked the child, \"What are you doing?\"
\"Chucking the starfish,\" the child replied.

\"Why?\" asked the old man.

\"The starfish washed ashore in the high tide. If they stay on the beach they will dry out and die, so I\'m chucking them back into the ocean.\"

The old man looked at the child and at the beach and said, \"There are hundreds of starfish on this beach. How can what you\'re doing make any difference?\"

The child bent down, picked up another starfish, pointed to it and said, \"It makes a difference to this one,\" and threw it into the sea.

-Author Unknown-

Lady Macbeth stared out the front window of her tea shop, watching the tree line with an apprehensive look. To most, she seemed to be just enjoying the view, relaxing after a long day as unruly saiya-jin emptied innumerable dishes behind her. She had gotten everyone to settle down and stop bickering long enough to have lunch, and semi-peace seemed to be present.

Pigero walked up behind her. \"Who are you looking for?\" he asked.

\"Not who, what,\" she replied.

Pigero looked quizzically at her. He tried to follow her gaze, but he didn\'t see anything out of the ordinary.

\"Where are the children?\" Lady Macbeth asked quietly.

Pigero\'s head snapped around and his eye widened as he faced her. \"In the dining hall having lunch...why?\"

\"Just keep an eye out,\" she said. She walked away; her footsteps were soundless on the cold stone floor.

*

Lady Macbeth closed her eyes and inhaled deeply; she took in all of the scents and sensations the breeze carried with it. Her long brown hair blew around her head as she looked out from the tower of her castle over the vastness of her demesne.

\"So you think they\'re coming here?\" a gruff voice behind her asked.

\"Do you always sneak up on people?\" Lady Macbeth asked.

\"You\'re not fooling anyone,\" Vegeta replied. \"You knew I was here, just as you knew what came through that dimensional tear a while ago. Why do you think they\'re coming here?\"

\"I don\'t think, I know,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"They don\'t give up; they try this every once in a while; they\'re still pissed about the children I\'ve saved from their side.\"

Vegeta frowned. \"And just how have you managed to keep them at bay?\" he demanded.

Lady Macbeth didn\'t answer. Instead she stared intently at the sky above them.

Suddenly, a tiny, winged, goblin-like creature appeared above them. \"Caught you off guard!\" he shouted, and fired a blast at Lady Macbeth.

The blast deflected off of her barrier and bounced back at the demon. \"Try it again, baka!\" she shouted. \"You should know me better than that by now!\"

\"You\'ve had it this time, Lady Macbeth!\" the demon screeched. \"We\'ve got a full-fledged army to take you down, and no Emperor Enma to protect you. We\'ll take those souls back!\"

\"Pathetic creature!\" Vegeta snarled. He fired a ki blast at the demon, who merely dove under it.

\"You\'ve had it! You\'ve had it!\" the demon screeched again. It fled into the horizon as fast as it\'s wings could carry it.

Lady Macbeth leaned out over the stone wall. \"Just try it, demon!\" she shouted. \"I\'ll whip your ass again if I have to! You\'re not getting my children!!\" She steppewn awn and turned around to find a group of very surprised saiya-jin and humans staring at her. Her cheeks pinked slightly. \"Please forgive my language,\" she said. \"I get very crude sometimes when those creatures are around.\"

Gokou scratched the back of his head in a confused gesture. \"Ah, I\'m not worried about that,\" he said. \"But wasn\'t that a demon you were yelling at? I remember seeing something like him when I was in Hell.\"

\"Yes, it was,\" Lady Macbeth replied. \"The things just can\'t get it through their thick skulls that they\'re never going to get inside my castle.\" She started back down into the main rooms of the building, the others following behind her. As she passed into the main hall, she grabbed a microphone on the wall. \"Everyone to Cellar A immediately,\" she said simply, then replaced the microphone.

\"What was that all about?\" Bulma asked.

\"It\'s the most secure part of the building,\" Lady Macbeth replied. \"These demons and ogres are very predictable. The army he was talking about is only a short distance away, hiding in the woods. He was just scouting to test my defenses. I won\'t have to worry about anyone getting hurt if all of the children are secured. They know the drill.\"

\"So this happens often?\" ChiChi demanded.

\"Fairly often,\" Lady Macbeth replied. \"A lot of the children I\'ve saved would have gone to Hell, and they\'re not to happy about not getting those souls. Some kind of an ego kick, I guess. So they come and harass me, trying to get them back.\"

\"Emperor Enma lets them do that?\" Gokou asked.

\"No, he doesn\'t,\" Lady Macbeth replied. \"However, he\'s not the most attentive ruler there\'s ever been either. They sneak away and I send them packing back and get them in hot water on top of it.\"

Vegeta snorted. \"So why do they keep coming back, if you\'re so all-powerful?\"

Lady Macbeth smiled. \"Because they\'ve got this crazy notion that they\'ll catch me with my guard down and not have a fight on their hands.\"

Just then, Pigero ran up behind the group. \"The children are all secured,\" he said.

\"Good,\" Lady Macbeth replied. \"We\'ll keep the front door open temporarily; I have a feeling we\'ll need it. I\'m sealing off the rest of the building as a precaution.\"

Lady Macbeth walked out into the front lawn. The saiya-jin and the others followed her. \"So where\'s this \'army\'?\" Bulma asked.

\"There,\" Lady Macbeth said. She pointed to the forest edge, where a large number of ogres and demons began to appear through the trees. Along with them came a hodge-podge of battered-looking people who made up the front lines.

\"Terrific,\" Lady Macbeth muttered. \"They\'re pushing their bothersome souls in the front lines, hoping they\'ll fall first.\"

\"Bothersome souls?\" Trunks reiterated.

\"Souls that were condemned to Hell but don\'t bend to their ways, and cause them trouble in the meantime,\" Lady Macbeth clarified. \"Most of them are souls that could have gone either way, or who weren\'t screened carefully enough before their file was stamped for Hell.\"

\"And that makes them expendable,\" Vegeta finished. \"Just like any army works; put the weak ones up front to inflict damage while taking the brunt of it themselves.\"

\"Exactly,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"And if any of you don\'t want to fight, I suggest you retreat into the building now, because they\'re here.\"

*

The rag-tag group of souls trudged forward, not daring to stop because of the burlish ogres behind them. They were told that this was a dangerous assignment, yet as they approached the quaint, walled-in building, all they saw was a small woman standing in front of a group of men and women of various ages; the men looked strong but not particularly powerful. This should have been a walk in the park, they thought uneasily. What were the ogres seeing that they didn\'t?

Suddenly they were called to a halt only a few feet away from their opponents. The ogre in command walked up behind them.

\"You pansy-asses don\'t seem worried,\" he said. \"I suppose one of you will have to be the guinea pig we give up to prove how deadly your foe is.\" He scanned the battered group and picked out the tall, wild-haired saiya-jin he\'d seen eer. er.

\"You!\' he said. He pointed the butt end of his whip at Radditz. \"You think you\'re a big tough saiya-jin; get over there and kill that woman.\" He turned the whip in Lady Macbeth\'s direction. \"And, if you manage that, you can kill off the rest of the fools.\"

Radditz stepped forward hesitantly. He scanned the group he was facing; his eyes widened as he recognized his younger brother, now many years older and much more powerful. His body began to tremble, however, as he recognized the shorter saiya-jin standing beside him. \"Lord Vegeta!\" he said under his breath. A small gasp escaped him.

The ogre tapped his foot impatiently. \"Well? I\'m waiting! Or do I have to give you a thrashing before our enemies do?\" He snapped the whip menacingly at Radditz\'s back.

Radditz took a deep breath and closed his eyes. \"I refuse,\" he said.

A collective gasp went up from the souls surrounding him, and the ogres behind the front lines began to mutter angrily. The commanding ogre silenced them with a steely look, then turned back to Radditz. \"What did you say?\" he screamed.

\"I refuse. I will not fight my Prince, nor anyone who fights with him.\"

The commanding ogre\'s face became even redder than it was and he gnashed his teeth angrily. \"Then you are of no use to us,\" he growled. He raised his arm to strike.

*

Lady Macbeth watched passively as the ogre argued with the tall saiya-jin. Behind her, Gokou clenched and unclenched his hands in anger. Vegeta looked over at him with scorn. \"Don\'t get yourself riled up, Kakarott,\" he said. \"That pathetic excuse for a saiya-jin isn\'t worth it.\"

\"You should contain your emotions better, Gokou,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"Your enemies will be able to see it and capitalize on it.\"

\"That monster tried to destroy everything I love!\" Gokou cried.

\"That \'monster\' is your brother,\" Lady Macbeth reminded him, \"And both of you are blinded by past impressions. You see his evil, Vegeta sees his weakness. Neither of you are reading his entire soul. If he was entirely either of them, he wouldn\'t hesitate to fight us.\" She strode forward, toward the enemies before them.

\"Is she crazy?\" Bra cried. She started forward to stop Lady Macbeth, but Vegeta blocked her with his arm. \"She can handle herself,\" he said confidently.

Lady Macbeth paid no heed to the concerned group behind her. She focused her attention on the red-faced ogre and the tall saiya-jin who was about to get the thrashing of his afterlife.

Radditz was the first to notice her approach and stared at her quizzically. The ogre noticed just as Lady Macbeth\'s hand smacked him across the face. The stunned ogre dropped his whip and stared at the small woman.

Lady Macbeth reached down and picked up the whip. She stood and circled it around the ogre\'s neck, pulling it taut. \"You should treat your soldiers better,\" she said. \"That cost you another one.\" She shoved him backwards into the line of men behind him and turned to Radditz. \"Come with me,\" she said.

Radditz followed her in a mesmerized daze. He wasn\'t sure if he should admire her for her courage, laugh at her for her audacity, or fear her for her sheer presence. She stopped some feet away from the battle lines and turned to him.

\"What made you refuse your orders?\" she asked.

Radditz was surprised by the question and searched for an answer. He discovered that he really didn\'t have one. \"I...I\'m not sure. I know I\'d never stand a chance against Lord Vegeta, and if you are in his company...I just...I felt like...like it would be an insult to my Prince...I...\" He composed himself a bit, and sighed. \"Ah, why do I try to explain it? \'re\'re a human girl, aren\'t you? You wouldn\'t understand saiya-jin ways anyway.\"

\"You don\'t know that for sure though, do you?\" Lady Macbeth asked.

Radditz stared at her uneasily.

\"How would you like to live again, Radditz?\" she asked.

Radditz started. \"You mean, like my brother did? Those Dragonball things can be used on me, too?\"

\"No, I don\'t mean with the Dragonballs. It wouldn\'t work even if we found a loophole; you\'ve been dead far too long. I can restore your life another way, though.\"

Radditz was genuinely curious. \"How? Once a person is dead, they stay dead.\"

\"For the most part, yes,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"But we have a couple things to our advantage. First, your physical remains were recycled into this planet long ago, and have remained a part of it. Second, your soul remembers your living form and has clung to it. And, most importantly, I have abilities that most humans don\'t which will work the first two to our advantage.\"

Radditz shivered. He wasn\'t sure if it was from the cold wind that suddenly blew past, or from the thoughts of what those abilities she mentioned might be.

\"Kneel down and take my hand,\" Lady Macbeth instructed.

Radditz did as he was told. As he took her hand, he felt a strange sensation of warmth run through his body. For a few seconds he was at peace; then he was suddenly in a world of hurt. He felt like he was being torn apart from the inside out - or rather, put back together from the outside in. He nearly passed out from the pain; then, as suddenly as it started it was over. Radditz had a sensation of falling; the next thing he knew he was blinking up at the sky, trying to shake the spots out from in front of his eyes.

Lady Macbeth turned back to her group. \"He\'s not going to be strong enough to fight; someone come get him and take him into my castle.\"

The saiya-jin and humans looked at each other uneasily. ChiChi, Gokou, Gohan and Bulma were all thinking the same thing - they didn\'t want to have anything to do with him. Vegeta saw it too, and snapped angrily at them.

\"Fine, I\'ll get him myself then.\"

Another voice piped up from the back of the group. \"You\'re more useful out here, my Lord,\" Tales said. \"I will take him inside.\" He ducked under angry looks from Gokou and Gohan and ran up to Radditz. He slung the taller man\'s arm over his shoulder and helped him to his feet, then walked the stumbling saiya-jin back into the building.

Lady Macbeth turned her attention back to the battle at hand. \"Now, you\'ve cost yourselves another soul by coming here. I suggest you take the hint and leave.\"

The commanding ogre snarled at her. \"Not on your life.\" He turned to the rest of his army. \"Now, attack men! The front door is wide open! Let\'s get inside while we can!\"

The demon army rushed forward, yelling and brandishing everything from fists to weapons. Lady Macbeth raised her shield and knocked the first line of them back.

\"Gohan! Goten!\" Gokou called. \"Triple Kamehameha!\"

Gohan and Goten ran to stand by their father as he pulled his arms back for a Kamehameha Wave. They powered up along side him, mimicking his movements perfectly. \"Ka...me...ha...me...HA!!\" They all released the built-up energy together; the force of the shockingly large Kamehameha Wave knocked yet another string back.

ChiChi looked out into the battlefield. \"They just keep coming!\" she cried. \"How many of these monsters are there?\"

Bulma looked over at her. \"Who cares, we\'re in the middle of it now, aren\'t we?\" She grabbed a Hoi-Poi Capsule out of her pocket and tossed it into the air. It exploded, and a pump-action shot gun fell into her hand. \"You were the strongest woman on earth for a while weren\'t you? Grab something to fight with!\"

ChiChi realized she was right. She spotted a razor-disk lying abandoned where some of the demon troops had been pushed back, and dashed forward to grab it. She caught it just in time; an ogre had also seen the abandoned weapon and had made a break for it. Instead, he got a slicing blow across his neck from ChiChi. She jumped back as blood spilled from the gaping wound, and stared in amazement at what she\'d done.

\"Hey, ChiChi!\" Gokou called good-naturedly, \"I guess you still have your knack for blades, eh?\"

ChiChi winked at him and retreated a bit as the demon army advanced again.

Several explosions suddenly rocked the ground in front of them; fire and molten rock shot up before the stunned warriors, threatening to sear their very flesh by even coming close. The trembling earth made it difficult to stand, let alone fight, and the demon army rushed forward, knowing that they had the advantage.

Bra had just started to pull back her arm for a blast when a second explosion rocked the ground near her feet. She stumbled and fell as she tried to dive out of the way of the fiery rock.

\"Bra!\" Goten screamed. He ran to her and stood over her, taking the majority of the molten rock on his face and chest as it showered back down on the two of them.

Trunks saw the danger to the girls and the unborn children they carried. He ran over to Bra and Goten; he scooped up Pan into his arms on his way. He nestled the two girls on the ground and stood alongside Goten, shielding them from the brimstone that continued to shower down around them. \"Goten, we have to do something!\" Trunks said. \"It\'s too dangerous for them to fight!\"

Lady Macbeth glanced over her shoulder at them and cursed. \"Shield those girls as best you can!\" she shouted. \"I\'m going to end this before someone gets seriously hurt.\" She faced the advancing army, who was now close enough that some of them were warring hand-to-hand with her new allies. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. \"Pigero, seal the doors!\" she yelled.

The army\'s commander looked up at her shout. He saw waves of ki beginning to form around her feet, and her body began to glow white. \"No!\" he screamed. \"Someone stop her!\"

The horde charged at Lady Macbeth in a mass but were all turned away, either by the valiantly fighting saiya-jin or by her ever-present shield.

Lady Macbeth held her hands close to her chest, concentrating a growing orb of energy. She spoke quietly, the rhythmic words seeming to draw the attention of everything around, even the very air they were breathing. The saiya-jin felt a sudden drop in their ki; Gokou started to step forward to power up but found his feet rooted to the ground.

Bulma suddenly sagged to the ground. Vegeta, horrified, started to move to her aid, only to find that he, too, was unable to move. He ground his teeth in frustration and discovered that even that small action was using a great deal of effort. He reached out mentally to the first person who came to mind.

\"Kakarott,\" he called. \"Something is draining our ki!\"

ChiChi then fell to the ground, followed by Videl. Gokou looked on in dismay. \"It\'s her,\" he replied, mentally indicating Lady Macbeth. \"Whatever attack she\'s using is draining our ki and focusing between her palms. It\'s almost like my spirit bomb...only a thousand times more aggressive. If she can\'t handle it...well, I don\'t want to think about it.\"

Vegeta growled low in his throat. \"Let me guess. Everyone buys it, both enemies and allies.\"

\"Hn,\" Gokou affirmed shortly. He sounded much like Vegeta, and almost resembled the smaller saiya-jin as he carefully watched the small woman through narrowed eyes.

Lady Macbeth continued to concentrate the ki from the area around her, drawing energy from everything nearby. It pooled around her feet, creating a powerful vortex, and ran up her body to concentrate between her hands. Suddenly her eyes opened and she thrust her hands out in front of her. \"Seireino Seiryoku!\"

The words echoed through the clearing as the massed ball of energy flew forth, smashing into the demon army with incredible speed. It knocked the weakened ogres and spirits off their feet, tearing limbs and flesh as they stared helplessly. Their screams mingled with the roar of the energy and filled the sky with deafening sound. Then, all was quiet.

Lady Macbeth fell to her knees breathing hard. She glanced around her to find enemies and allies alike sprawled across the ground. She breathed a small sigh of relief to see all of her new acquaintances still breathing and largely unharmed.

Just then, a booming voice echoed across the clearing. \"What the Hell is going on here!?\"

Lady Macbeth smiled wryly. \"So, it takes an exploding seireino seiryoku to get your attention now, does it Enma?\" she chuckled.

\"Don\'t get smart with me, Lady Macbeth!\" Enma Daiou replied. \"Just who in Hell do you expect to clean up this mess?\"

\"How about you make your little underlings clean themselves up and drag their sorry asses back to Hell?\" she said. \"They\'re the ones who picked this fight. You know I have the proof recorded, if necessary.\"

Enma grumbled behind his desk. \"All right, all right,\" he said. \"I\'ll take care of it, and see that they\'re duly punished...but, about that soul you reclaimed...\"

\"Forget it, Enma,\" Lady Macbeth said tiredly. \"I consider it the least amount of compensation for my trouble. Be glad that I don\'t come up there asking for more.\"

The Lord of the Otherworld growled. \"Very well,\" he said. \"I\'ll let this one slip though. You got lucky; if I didn\'t know better, I\'d swear you arrange these little skirmishes intentionally.\"

Lady Macbeth laughed heartily at that comment. \"Believe me, Enma, I could put together a much more organized army than that.\"

Emperor Enma just muttered to himself. The demon army vanished back to their realm, and he took his leave. The clearing was quiet again.

\"Not a moment too soon,\" Lady Macbeth muttered. She slumped over, unconscious.

Pigero ran out from the gates. \"My Lady!\" he cried. He skidded to a stop beside her and gently lifted her shoulders. \"My Lady, are you all right?\"

Lady Macbeth\'s eyes opened slightly. \"Pigero, you know better,\" she said quietly. \"Help the others. You know I am fine.\"

A frown crossed Pigero\'s features. \"You don\'t look fine to me,\" he said. \"I\'ve never seen you use a seireino seiryoku of that magnitude.\"

\"I\'ve never had this kind of energy to draw from,\" she said, gesturing weakly around her. \"Now please, attend to their needs. See that they are made comfortable. I only need to rest.\" She closed her eyes and went limp in his arms.

Pigero looked around worriedly. He hated to disobey her orders, but he knew that she was understating her condition in favor of the others. He suddenly made his decision and darted into the building. He hit the intercom button and called hurriedly for help. \"I need emergency team A to the front gates immediately...\"

*

Vegeta groaned and looked around. He was on his back, covered by a thin, white sheet. The feeling of soft pillows beneath his head, and firm softness below him told him that he was in some kind of bed. As he turned his head to the side, he saw some of the others, namely Gokou and his mate ChiChi, as well as their children, all in similar single beds. To his relief, his own mate was to his left, his own children on the other side of her.

\"Glad to see you\'re awake,\" a soft voice said.

Vegeta sat up and saw Lady Macbeth standing in the doorway, stirring the contents of a small cup. She took a sip from it, then sat it down on a tray near the door.

\"What the Hell happened out there?\" Vegeta demanded. He started to get up, but a feeling of light-headedness overcame him as his feet touched the floor.

\"Careful,\" Lady Macbeth cautioned. \"You\'re healed, but not completely energized yet. Fortunately, you\'d eaten lunch just before our battle and had a full supply of energy; otherwise, you\'d barely be able to move right now.\" She walked over to his bed and picked up something from a small table at the head of the bed. \"Here, eat this,\" she said. \"I wanted to be sure that you were completely healed before I gave you the rest. I had an exact amount of them, so I didn\'t want to waste them.\"

Vegeta examined the object she handed him. It appeared to be a half of some type of fruit; it shone with a bright, golden color and emanated warmth. It was slightly peach-shaped, and as he bit into it, it dissolved in his mouth and ran down his throat as sweet juice. He quickly finished the rest of it.

The saiya-jin prince\'s eyes opened was has he felt a sudden rush of energy through his body. He flexed his arms, testing his muscles to be sure it was real. \"Incredible,\" he exclaimed.

\"What\'s incredible?\" a drowsy voice asked from the bed next to him. Gokou sat up and sleepily rubbed one eye, looking quizzically at Vegeta with the other.

Lady Macbeth smiled. \"One of the wonders of nature,\" she said. She noticed the others in the room waking up as well, and paged Pigero from an intercom in the room. The man walked into the room a few moments later.

\"Pigero,\" Lady Macbeth said, \"Our guests are waking up; I\'ll see that they all have their Life Fruit. Would you please attend to their other needs?\"

\"Yes, My Lady,\" Pigero said. He walked back out of the room.

Lady Macbeth circled the room, handing out halves of fruit to each of the people there. \"Eat,\" she instructed. \"The Life Fruit will restore your energy. It\'ll save you the exhaustion would normally follow the battle we were just through.\"

\"Life Fruit?\" Bulma asked. She bit into the fruit and chewed it thoughtfully. \"I\'ve never heard of it.\"

\"It\'s very rare,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"These few fruits that I gave to all of you were a gift to me; I saved them because I knew that they would be needed eventually. They come from the Tree of Life.\"

Gokou gulped down the last bite of his fruit. He almost choked as he spoke. \"The Tree of Life?\" he echoed. \"That wouldn\'t be the same one that Kaio-sama told me about, would it? The one that was also called the Tree of Might?\"

\"The same,\" Lady Macbeth affirmed. \"I understand that one grew on this planet; this fruit was not from that tree, however. It came from the parent of that tree, on a distant planet.\"

\"You mean that the fruit from the Tree of Might lasts that long?\" Bulma said.

A surly voice spoke up from across the room. \"Of course it does, baka,\" Tales spat. \"The Fruit from the Tree is everlasting, as long as the tree itself survives.\" He snarled a little at the last half of his statement.

Bulma looked taken aback, and Vegeta\'s eyes sparked with rage. He flew up from the bed and was immediately in Tales\'s face. \"How dare you speak to my mate that way?!\" he shouted. He gripped Tales by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. \"You worthless nothing of a saiya-jin! I\'ll rip you in two!\"

Tales just squeezed his eyes shut and turned his face away. \"I forgot, my Lord,\" he whispered hoarsely.

\"Vegeta, leave him be,\" Bulma said. \"I don\'t have any fondness for him either, but you\'ve called me worse yourself.\"

Vegeta dropped Tales, who landed with a thud on his tail. He gave a slight yelp of pain and scrambled back against the wall.

\"I\'m not a good-for-nothing lower-class warrior, either,\" Vegeta said. He lifted his nose haughtily in the air.

Bulma suddenly giggled. With the tension broken, everyone else looked to see what she was giggling about; suddenly the room was full of giggles and muffled laughter.

\"What in Hell is so damned funny?!\" Vegeta roared.

\"Aren\'t you just the picture of royalty,\" Bulma said. She dissolved into giggles again before she could elaborate.

\"Yeah!\" Goten piped up. \"It looks like our Emperor decided to get himself some new clothes!\" He laughed at his own wit.

A confounded look crossed Vegeta\'s angry features, and he glanced down at himself; he discovered that he was standing in the middle of the room completely in the nude. His cheeks pinked a little, but he immediately recovered his composure. \"Well,\" he said haughtily, \"at least you have something decent to look at while you recover.\"

A white pillow slammed into his back. \"Papa!\" Bra shouted. \"For the love of Kami-sama, either put some clothes on or get back in bed. If I wanted a peepshow, I\'d go into town.\"

\"Hey!\" Goten called across the room.

Vegeta knelt down and picked up the pillow. \"Watch the tail, Girl,\" he growled. He tossed the pillow back to her.

The room fell suddenly silent. \"Tail?\" Bulma asked quietly.

Vegeta stared at her a moment, then blinked and looked behind himself again. Sure enough, a long, brown tail swished lightly in the air behind him. \"It must have grew back when I recovered,\" Vegeta said. \"I never noticed.\"

Gokou was twisting around in the bed he was in. \"Hey!\" he suddenly exclaimed. \"Mine\'s grown back too!\"

That set all of the saiya-jin twisting in their sheets. Gasps of surprise and shock circled the room. Echoes of \"Mine too!\" came from all of the saiya-jin, even Pan and Bra.

\"Terrific,\" ChiChi whined. \"How are we going to convince people they\'re normal now?\"

Just then, Pigero walked into the room. He carried a stack of clothing and toiletries balanced in his arms. He turned to someone behind him and handed off part of the stack.

\"Here\'s everyone\'s clothes,\" he said. \"They\'re freshly washed and ironed. I brought hairbrushes and stuff too,\" he said.

The young man behind Pigero walked into the room and set his stack down. \"I hope you don\'t mind that I help out,\" he said to Lady Macbeth. He pushed his long, raven locks out of his steely, blue-gray eyes. \"I got here too late. By the time I arrived, Pigero was cleaning up the mess.\"

Gokou, Vegeta, Bulma, ChiChi and Gohan stared at the young man in shock.

\"Juunanagou,\" Gohan whispered.