Dragonball Extreme

Gohan walked into the tea shop looking for his dad. He spotted Gokou sitting at one of the tables with Goten and Trunks. The three of them looked kind of bored and were looking around the room, their eyes wandering aimlessly over the shelves and counter. ChiChi, Bulma and Videl were standing next to their table looking just as bored and slightly perturbed. Gohan walked over and slid in next to his dad; he had the baby cradled in his arms.
He nudged his father with his elbow. \"Hey, Dad, check it out,\" he said. He nodded toward the baby, who was sleeping nestled in the blanket.

Gokou glanced over at Gohan, then did a double take. \"Oh, wow!\" he exclaimed. \"Already?\"

Gohan grinned, his face full of pride and joy. \"Yep!\" he replied. \"Just a few minutes ago. Isn\'t he awesome?\"

Gokou reached toward Gohan. \"Can I hold him?\" he asked. \"What\'s his name?\"

Gohan handed the bundledy toy to Gokou, who cradled the baby carefully in his arms. \"His name\'s Reed,\" Gohan said. \"I thought of it as soon as I saw him. I think it fits him great.\"

\"What are you talking about?\" ChiChi demd. d. She strained to see over Gokou\'s shoulder.

\"My son,\" Gohan said absently; his attention was focused on the baby in his father\'s arms.

Goten flew out of his seat, banging his knees on the table on his way up. \"What? No way!\" he exclaimed. \"I\'m an uncle again? Since when?\" He crowded around behind Gokou and Gohan, absentmindedly pushing ChiChi and Videl out of the way at the same time.

\"That\'s a good question,\" Videl answered sourly. \"That certainly isn\'t my child.\"

Goten\'s eyes widened as he peeked inside the baby blanket. \"Well, I nitenitely agree with you there, Videl,\" he said, almost in shock. \"I can honestly say this baby looks nothing like you...though I do see the resemblance to Gohan...\"

Curiosity got the better of the two women, and they walked around to get a better look. Their jaws dropped as Gokou folded back the blanket from the baby\'s face to give them a better look.

\"That...that...\" ChiChi stammered.

\"Gohan!\" Videl shrieked. \"You mean to tell me you not only cheated on me, it was with that...that...namek-jin?!\"

Reed whimpered a little at the sound of Videl\'s voice, and Gohan quickly scooped him out of Gokou\'s arms and rocked him. \"Videl,\" Gohan said, \"quiet down, you\'re scaring him.\"

\"Scare him? Ha!\" Videl shouted. \"That little monster probably scares himself!\"

Gohan jumped to his feet. \"That is enough, Videl!\" he shouted back. \"I won\'t have you insulting my son like that! You take that back or leave this room this instant!\"

There was tense silence for a moment as Videl and Gohan tried to stare each other down. The silence was suddenly broken by a soft word from across the room.

\"Son?\"

Gohan and the others looked toward the voice. Bulma, Pan and Bra were standing in shocked silence in the doorway. Bulma was carrying some kind of box in her hands and Bra and Pan were wearing dark sunglasses pushed up on top of their heads.

Pan stepped forward. \"Daddy, what do you mean \'your son\'?\" she asked.

Gohan sighed. \"Why don\'t you come see, honey,\" he said. \"You should meet your brother...or half brother, anyway.\"

Pan walked over and leaned curiously over the table to look closely at the baby. Gohan turned so that he was facing her better and let her see Reed\'s face. He tensed, waiting for Pan to shout at the baby like Videl had.

Her reaction wasn\'t what he expected though. The look on Pan\'s face went quickly from curiosity to shock to adoration. \"Oh, he\'s adorable!\" Pan exclaimed. \"He must be Piccolo\'s baby, right?\"

Gohan nodded. \"Piccolo\'s and mine. He was conceived the other night when Piccolo spent the night with me. It seems namek-jin\'s pregnancies are faster than humans, though. Reed was born just a few minutes ago.\"

Bulma and Bra had crowded around as well. \"Wow, that\'s amazing,\" Bulma said. \"I didn\'t even know such a thing was possible! That baby\'s got to be the first saiya-jin/human/namek-jin there is!\"

ChiChi stared incredulously at Bulma. \"How can you be so cheery about it?\" she demanded. \"It was bad enough that my sons were born with tails - this little freak is totally alien!\"

\"Mom!\" Gohan protested.

\"It happens, ChiChi,\" Bulma said. \"Trunks wasn\'t exactly a planned prncy ncy either, but what happens, happens,\" she said.

Trunks blushed red and looked at his feet. \"Gee, thanks,\" he muttered.

Bulma tousled his hair and grinned. \"Hey, I\'m not complaining, am I?\" she asked. She turned back to ChiChi. \"What nature wants to happen will happen one way or another. You should be supporting Gohan right now, and be a good grandmother for that baby.\"

\"Me? A grandmother for that...that...\" ChiChi sputtered.

\"Don\'t even say it, Mom,\" Gohat int in. \"I don\'t want to hear it; and I don\'t want my son to hear it either. He doesn\'t need to take this abuse from you.\" He stood up and started forward, only to find himself face to face with Vegeta.

Vegeta stared at him. \"What\'s going on here?\" he demanded.

Gohan looked at the floor and clutched Reed close to his chest.

\"Well?\" Vegeta demanded impatiently. He tapped his foot on the floor, waiting for an answer from Gohan.

Gohan felt his eyes startto wto water. \"I know you\'re just going to have a fit too,\" he said. \"I\'m not going to put my son through that.\" He started to push past Vegeta.

Vegeta caught his shoulder and spun him around. In one smooth movement he swept Reed from Gohan\'s arms and held him up in front of himself by the scruff of the neck. The saiya-jin prince regarded the baby with narrowed eyes. \"Hn,\" he said. \"What a waste of saiya-jin blood...this...thing...reeks of namek-jin.\"

\"Then why don\'t you take your grubby saiya-jin paws off of him,\" a gruff voice growled behind them.

Vegeta and Gohan turned to look at the speaker.

Gohan\'s eyes widened. \"Piccolo-san!\"

*

Radditz turned again as the red-haired child in his arms pointed in yet another direction. \"Do you even know where you\'re going?\" he demanded. \"This is the third time you\'ve had me turn around!\"

The toddler nodded resolutely, her flame-colored tresses swishing across her face and shoulders.

Radditz sighed and walked in the direction the girl had pointed. A few steps down the hall he saw an open door, and he heard music softly sweeping into the hallway.

Lonely sidewalks
Silent night
Bring the evenin\'
Deep inside
Hold me darling
Touch me now
Let the feelings
Free tonight

Love is on the way
I can see it in your eyes
Let\'s give it one more try tonight baby
Love is on the way
I can see it in your eyes
Let\'s give it one more try tonight

Time of season
Wipes the tears
No rhyme or reason
No more fears
All the dreamin\'
Is far behind
You are here now
Everythin\'s all right

Love is on the way
I can see it in your eyes
Let\'s give it one more try tonight baby
Love is on the way
I can see it in your eyes
Let\'s give it one more try tonight

And in the morning
I\'ll be gone away
All the things I left behind
If you need me
I\'ll come night or day
Let\'s stop the hands of time

Love is on the way
I can see it in your eyes
Let\'s give it one more try tonight baby
Love is on the way
I can see it in your eyes
Let\'s give it one more try tonight baby

Love is on the way
I can see it in your eyes
Let\'s give it one more try tonight baby
Love is on the way
I can see it in your eyes
Let\'s give it one more try tonight

As he stepped up to the doorway, the child pointed into the room. Radditz stepped inside and saw Lady Macbeth putting clean blankets on a child\'s bed. He hesitated.

Lady Macbeth addressed him without turning around. \"Is it saiya-jin nature to upset small children?\" she asked.

Radditz gulped and hesitated before answering. \"I won\'t speak for the others, especially that fool brother of mine. I have no time for petty human emotions.\"

\"Is that a fact?\" Lady Macbeth asked. She fluffed the pillows and sat them back down on the bed. \"You do realize that anger and annoyance are also human emotions?\"

Radditz fell silent and looked at the floor. He was nervous as it was, and this woman was shooting down any kind of pride he was trying to build for himself.

\"Bring her here, I want to be sure she\'s all right,\" Lady Macbeth said.

Radditz stepped forward carefully and sat the child on the bed in front of Lady Macbeth. The girl sniffled a little and glanced up at Lady Macbeth.

\"You\'re all right,\" Lady Macbeth soothed. She glanced over the child with a critical eye. \"It doesn\'t look like any real damage was done; let\'s get you out of that grass stained dress, though.\" She walked over to a closet and took out an clean dress. She carried it back to the bed and pulled the child\'s stained dress over her head.

As her red locks of hair were pulled out of the way by the dress, Radditz saw a large, dark bruise across the child\'s back. He gasped a little, then bit his lip as Lady Macbeth glanced at him.

\"I...I didn\'t...\" he stammered.

Lady Macbeth smiled softly at him. \"I know; these are old injuries that are finally healing. That\'s why Miracle is here in the first place; I wouldn\'t stand to see her in the abusive household she was in.\"

\"Miracle?\" Radditz asked. He looked confused. \"Is that her name?\"

\"Yes,\" Lady Macbeth replied. \"I didn\'t know what her real name was, if she was ever given one. But, it was a miracle that she lived long enough for me to discover her, so I named her appropriately.\"

Radditz shifted uncomfortably. \"So...if she\'s not hurt...\"

Lady Macbeth smiled at him. \"You can leave if you want, but I don\'t think Miracle would be very happy about it. She seems kind of attached to you.\"

\"I don\'t see how,\" Radditz said. \"I barely know her; I didn\'t even see her, that\'s why I tripped over her in the first place.\"

\"Miracle was sitting outside the glade waiting for you,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"That\'s why you tripped over her. I\'ve warned her about doing that, but she has a stubborn streak that reminds me a lot of you saiya-jin.\"

\"So why was she waiting for me, anyway?\" Radditz muttered. \"I\'ve no interest in human infants.\"

\"My guess is she noticed ttrestress you were feeling,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"I\'ve discovered since I\'ve had Miracle here that she\'s an intuitive psychic. She can see what you\'re feeling and what your thoughts are. Being as young as she is, she tends to tune in on strong, basic emotions.\"

\"Hn,\" Radditz snorted. \"What-\" He stopped speaking in mid-sentence when he saw Lady Macbeth\'s head suddenly snap up, and her eyes narrowed. She seemed to be looking intently at something, but Radditz couldn\'t tell what.

\"Hold that thought, Radditz,\" she said quickly. \"I\'ll be right back.\" She was out the door and gone before Radditz could reply.

*

Vegeta narrowed his eyes at the tall namek-jin glaring at the two of them. He leaned his head back lazily and smirked at Piccolo. \"And what if I don\'t?\" he said.

Piccolo felt a sense of deja vu, then realized that he\'d had the other saiya-jin, Tales, give him that same attitude long ago. He gritted his teeth - all of these damned saiya-jin were the same, he thought. \"If you don\'t, then I\'ll kill you!\" Piccolo shouted.

Vegeta snorted. \"Right,\" he said. \"Well, if he means that much to you, then here, catch!\"

Gohan watched in horror as Vegeta leaned as if to throw the baby at Piccolo. He started to protest and move forward when a voice from the shadows of the doorway caught all of their attention.

\"I wouldn\'t recommend it, Vegeta.\"

Lady Macbeth stepped into the main room. \"You should know I won\'t tolerate you treating a child like that.\"

\"Hn,\" Vegeta snorted. He lowered his arm and handed the baby back to a much relieved Gohan. \"Like Piccolo wouldn\'t catch him anyway,\" he thought.

\"I know he would have,\" Lady Macbeth replied mentally. \"That\'s not the point.\"

Vegeta stared at her in surprise for a moment, then remembered that she was able to get inside their minds. \"Hn,\" he said again. He turned his back to her. \"I have more important things to deal with. Where are Radditz and Tales? I thought I said I wanted everyone here when I got back.\"

\"Radditz is with one of the children,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"There was an incident in the back yard a few minutes ago between the two of them. Tales is in a room by himself. Apparently, all saiya-jin suffer the same problems, it\'s just that some of your kind tend to get ignored,\" she said dryly.

ChiChi stared at her. \"You mean he\'s suffering the same way Gohan was?\" she asked.

Lady Macbeth nodded. \"Yes,\" she replied. \"He\'s not quite as bad as Gohan was, but he\'s getting there. Not that anyone noticed, mind you...\" She turned to walk away.

Vegeta grumbled under his breath. \"Well, let\'s go get Radditz, then I\'ll decide what to do about Tales.\"

Gohan started forward, but Vegeta turned and looked at him again. \"You\'re not planning on bringing that with you, are you?\" he asked. He glanced distastefully at Reed.

Gohan\'s eyes widened and he held his baby a little tighter. Before he could respond, however, Piccolo cut into the conversation.

\"No, he\'s not - because he\'s handing the baby over to me!\" he declared.

\"Piccolo, what...\" Gohan started to say.

\"You heard me, Gohan,\" Piccolo said. He stepped toward Gohan. \"Hand him over. I\'m not letting any child of mine be raised in the manner of your pathetic kind.\"

\"What...what are you saying, Piccolo?\" Gohan stammered. \"I...I thought we...we could...\"

\"We could raise him together?\" Piccolo snorted. \"Get real, Gohan. I have no interest in living with you or your family. I\'m taking him back to the mountains with me, where he belongs. I won\'t have him going soft and emotional like you\'re so want to do.\"

\"No...\" Gohan whimpered. \"This isn\'t happening...\" he started to back up.

\"Just give the brat to that namek-jin so we can get on with things!\" Vegeta demanded.

\"Yeah! You weren\'t seriously planning on keeping that monster in the house with us, were you?\" Videl sniped.

\"Now wait just a minute!\" Gokou said loudly. He stood up from the table.

Pan stood up at the same time Gokou did. \"Mom, how could you say such a mean thing?\" she asked.

\"Gokou, why are you defending him?\" ChiChi cried. \"Do you actually want that green monster in our family?\"

The voices in the room continued to get louder as each tried to over shout the other. Gohan felt the tears welling in his eyes, and he felt his anger growing by the second. He clutched the baby close to him. Reed, frightened by the noise level began to whimper again.

\"STOP IT!\" Gohan suddenly screamed. \"All of you just stop it! I won\'t listen to this!\"

The room went deathly silent as everyone turned to stare at Gohan. The half-saiya-jin clutched his baby closely and ran out the door; tears were streaming down his face and dripping onto the floor the whole way.

Piccolo started after him, but was halted in his tracks by a sharp voice. \"Don\'t even move, Piccolo!\" Lady Macbeth barked out the command.

Everyone turned to look at her in surprise. \"I think that was quite enough yelling for that baby\'s tender little ears. In case you didn\'t notice, he has typical namek-jin ears, which magnify sound. Screaming and shrieking is going to be very painful to him. I will go to see that Gohan is all right - and don\'t any of you attempt to interfere.\" She walked silently out the door after Gohan.

Lady Macbeth found Gohan sitting in a corner of her yard behind a tall oak tree. As she walked around the tree, she saw Gohan cradling his baby and tenderly stroking the green skin of his cheek with his index finger. With his other hand he was wiping away the tears that were still falling from his eyes.

Gohan looked up as Lady Macbeth approached and tried to dry his eyes. He was unsuccessful, however, and quickly turned his head away.

Lady Macbeth sat down next to him and wrapped her arms around her knees. She stared out ahead of her into the forest as she addressed Gohan. \"There\'s nothing to be ashamed about, Gohan. This is really hard for you, going from being so happy to having everything shattered all at once. I don\'t care what you\'ve been taught, it\'s all right to cry at a time like this; in fact, it\'s healthy.\"

\"Piccolo doesn\'t seem to think so,\" Gohan said morosely.

\"Piccolo also has a lot to learn. He may have a lot of wisdom, but he also has a lot of ego to ignore, and a temperament that he has to learn to keep under control.\"

Gohan stared at his son, who was slowly drifting off under his father\'s gentle touches. \"Do you think Reed\'s going to be okay with Piccolo?\" he asked.

Lady Macbeth smiled. \"Do you think I\'d let him not be okay?\" she responded.

Gohan sighed with worry. \"Piccolo\'s not the best with children. His training nearly killed me, and probably would have if I\'d have been entirely human. Did you know that he let me fall off a cliff into a river and refused to help me when I was nearly drowning? What if Reed falls and gets hurt? Is he going to expect him to just get over it?\"

Lady Macbeth put a hand on Gohan\'s shoulder. \"Piccolo does care about Reed, Gohan, or he wouldn\'t have stepped in. He has a hard time showing it, though. And don\'t worry, I will be watching him to make sure he doesn\'t get out of line; I know how volatile his personality can be.\"

Gohan nuzzled his baby\'s silky black hair. \"I just don\'t want to leave him. I love him. I haven\'t loved a child this much since Pan was born. I want to be with him while he\'s growing up...\" His eyes started to water again.

\"You have your decision made.\" Lady Macbeth said. It was a statement, not a question.

\"Yes,\" Gohan sighed tearfully. \"I know what I have to do. He\'s not going to be able to live happily where he\'s not wanted.\"

\"Shall we take him back inside, then? The others will be getting anxious, and I\'d hate to keep them inside by force. I don\'t like to exert such force where it\'s not necessary.\" Lady Macbeth gently took his hand.

Gohan bowed his head. \"Just give me another minute,\" he said. \"I want to finish saying good bye.\" He rubbed his cheek against the baby\'s soft skin, and cried a little when Reed sighed softly against his face. \"I can\'t believe I\'m never going to see him again,\" Gohan whispered hoarsely.

Lady Macbeth stood and looked down at him. \"I\'ll make sure that doesn\'t happen, Gohan. There\'s no reason for it. Even if Piccolo doesn\'t want the baby living with you, he can\'t keep you from seeing him.\"

Gohan just looked away; silent tears slid down his cheeks, and he ran his hands absently through Reed\'s hair.

Lady Macbeth walked quietly back into the building. She found everyone pretty much where she had left them; everyone was on edge and was being careful not to look at one another. She walked silently across the room and stood face-to-face with Piccolo. \"We need to talk,\" she said simply.

\"There\'s nothing to talk about,\" Piccolo snarled. \"The child is mine, and that\'s final!\"

\"Yes, he is,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"And he is also Gohan\'s son. You can deny it all you want, and you can demand to be the sole provider for him, but that doesn\'t make him any less Gohan\'s son.\"

Piccolo scowled. \"Get to your point.\"

Suddenly Gohan cleared his throat. Everyone turned to see him standing in the doorway, clutching Reed tightly against his chest. \"The point,\" he said, \"is that I\'ve decided to leave him with you. He doesn\'t need the stress he\'d get from staying with my family.\" Gohan was careful not to look at anyone but Piccolo and Lady Macbeth. He walked forward to stand in front of Piccolo as well, but he didn\'t loosen his hold on Reed in the slightest. \"However, there will be a condition. I will get rights to see my son whenever I wish, and he will get a proper education, even if it\'s home schooling like mine was. I won\'t watch him grow up an idiot who knows nothing but fighting.\" He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Piccolo growled low. \"Forget it,\" he snarled. \"I don\'t even want him to know you exist. He\'s not going to be swayed with your wild ideals.\"

Gohan\'s eyes snapped open. \"And just who is going to teach him, Piccolo? You? Or are you going to put him in school? I can see it now - a namek-jin walking into a public school with a half-breed baby and enrolling him with all the little human children.\" He rolled his eyes sarcastically at Piccolo.

\"Listen here, you little-\" Piccolo started. He grabbed Gohan by the shirt collar and lifted him off the floor.

Gohan struggled to free himself from Piccolo\'s grasp. Reed began to cry as he was bumped about in Gohan\'s arms.
denldenly Piccolo\'s grip loosened and Gohan dropped to the floor. He landed on his feet and rocked Reed, trying to soothe the baby\'s cries.

\"What the hell?\" Piccolo exclaimed. He looked at his arm only to find Lady Macbeth\'s fingers deftly pinching a major nerve. She let go, and pain surged through his arm to the point where her fingers had been pinching. \"You little...\" Piccolo growled.

He didn\'t have time to finish his sentence. Before he knew what was happening, Lady Macbeth had him pinned against the wall. She was holding him up with exceptional ki strength, and Piccolo was unable to free himself. He felt as if he were in a choke hold against the bricks behind him.

\"That\'s strike one, Piccolo,\" she said through clenched teeth. \"Now you better listen well. Gohan\'s willing to give Reed to you, but he has conditions; I have conditions of my own. You will not raise your hand in anger to anyone while that child is with you. You will not let anything happen to that child through negligence. And you will agree to Gohan\'s terms and give him visitation rights and the right to educate your son.\" She stepped back and released her grip only slightly. \"Furthermore, I will be watching your every move, Piccolo. I take particular interest in children born under my roof, and I make sure that they are raised properly. There\'ll be no human conventions or loopholes to save you. When I am involved, I am judge, jury and executioner.\" She stepped back and let Piccolo fall to the floor.

Piccolo growled a little as he straightened up. \"All right,\" he muttered. \"Gohan can see the boy when he wants. But I have a condition of my own.\" He looked Gohan straight in the eye. \"He is not to know that you\'re his father - or that he\'s even related to you in any way. Without any other namek-jin around, he\'s not going to know the difference between himself and a normal namek-jin.\"

\"What?\" Gohan cried. \"Why?\"

\"It\'ll make things easier for him in the long run. He won\'t be tempted to adopt your saiya-jin ways and he won\'t be involved in any of the problems that have been plaguing you saiya-jin lately.\"

Gohan stared at the floor; his nostrils flared in anger. He was silent as he thought it over.

\"Gohan, what are you waiting for?\" ChiChi demanded. \"You got your way already!\"

Gohan waved his mother to silence and continued to stare at the floor. He started a bit when his dad walked up behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder. \"I know it\'s hard, Gohan,\" he said. \"And Piccolo\'s demand is a bit unreasonable. But you also need to look at what\'s best for your son - he really doesn\'t need to take the harassment from the public for being saiya-jin the way we are.\"

Gohan\'s shoulders slumped. \"You\'re right, Dad,\" he said. \"Like always.\" He stepped forward and handed Reed to Piccolo. As soon as Piccolo had securely set his hands around the baby, Gohan spun on his heel and fled.

\"Gohan, wait!\" Gokou called after him.

\"He\'ll be back soon,\" Lady Macbeth said. \"He just needs time to be alone right now. If I remember right, you need to go gather up Radditz and Tales anyway.\"

Gokou frowned. \"I\'d rather not. They can fall off the earth for all I care.\"

\"Kakarott, no one asked you,\" Vegeta snapped. \"My parents are going to be here before long. I need to speak with all of you before they get here - and I don\'t want to repeat myself.\" He started off down the hall following Radditz\'s ki. Gokou sighed angrily and followed him. The others trailed after.

*

Radditz frowned at Miracle as she took his hand and jumped down off the bed. \"Where are you off to?\" he demanded. \"You\'re not going to get me in trouble again, are you?\"

Miracle shook her head and babbled in words only she could understand. She led Radditz down the hall to another room. Inside, other children were stretching and working on some kind of exercise or sport. Miracle walked in and indicated that she wanted to join them.

\"What is all this?\" Radditz asked.

One of the older children looked over at them. \"This is the dance hall,\" she said. \"Lady Macbeth teaches us to practice dance for an aerobic exercise. She says it gives us exercise, flexibility and stamina, things we\'ll need some day.\"

Radditz looked critically over the group. He noticed Miracle wander away toward a device playing music at the edge of the room. She took out a box and picked through the small disks, examining each cover before putting them back. She finally chose one and put it in the device.

A sweet, lyrical melody began to drift through the room. Radditz watched with a disinterested eye as Miracle started to dance to it.

The child\'s movements were hindered by her small, young frame, and she was having difficulty keeping a smooth pace. Radditz watched, amused for a bit, but he suddenly found himself entranced by the music. It started to bother him that she couldn\'t keep the proper pace, and he stood up and approached her.

\"Here, kid,\" he said gruffly. \"You\'re too clumsy. Let me show you how it\'s done.\" He tossed his chest plate armor aside and moved into step beside her.

As the haunting melody swept over him, he leaned and spun gracefully to the music. He easily fell into step, his movements almost too graceful for his large frame. He danced alone only for a few moments before his dance encouraged some of the other children to step onto the polished floor and try it themselves.

Radditz picked up Miracle and spun with her in a silky motion as the music faded. He gently set her down on the ground and took a deep breath as he stood up. A sudden sound of snickering behind him made him spin around in surprise.

Lady Macbeth was leaning against the door frame, smiling into the room. Behind her, Vegeta stood with a leering grin on his face, and Gokou stood beside him looking somewhat dumbfounded. Trunks and Goten were the ones causing the noise as they peered around Gokou\'s shoulders.

\"I see you haven\'t lost your touch,\" Vegeta said. His smirk broadened into a grin.

Radditz\'s face reddened and he looked at his feet. \"Knock it off, Vegeta,\" he muttered. \"I don\'t know what came ome.\me.\"

Vegeta raised an eyebrow and looked at Radditz critically. \"What was that? You telling me what to do?\"

Radditz gulped and exhaled with nervousness. \"No, my Lord,\" he replied.

Miracle saw Radditz\'s sudden nervousness and frowned. She eyed the group before her critically and determined that Vegeta was the source of Radditz\'s discomfort. She walked up to him and stared up into his face.

Vegeta scowled down at her. \"What do you want, brat?\" he demanded.

Miracle twisted her face into an identical scowl. \"Dona upse mah papa,\" she said.

Vegeta lookedfusefused. \"What\'s she talking about?\" he asked out loud.

Lady Macbeth smiled dryly. \"You don\'t speak the local dialect, do you?\" she asked. \"She said \'don\'t upset my papa\'.\"

Vegeta gritted his teeth. \"I know what she\'s said,\" he replied. \"I want to know why she said it. Radditz isn\'t her father.\"

Miracle took a deep breath and puffed her chest up in an attempt to look taller. She walked up close to Vegeta, glared right into his eyes and deliberately kicked him in the shin.

Vegeta looked down in shock. \"That brat just kicked me!\" he exclaimed.

Radditz dove forward and scooped up Miracle. \"No, no, don\'t do that!\" he scolded. \"Lord Vegeta is royalty! You have to show him respect!\"

\"Ch,\" Miracle sneered.

\"Insolent little brat,\" Vegeta muttered.

Lady Macbeth grinned. \"She learns fast. She learned that little mannerism from Radditz. You saiya-jin could take a lesson and learn to be more polite around small children.\"

\"Yah, you brat,\" Miracle admonished, waving a rude gesture in Vegeta\'s direction.

Vegeta turned scarlet at the insult. Beside him, Gokou started to giggle.

\"Silence, Kakarott! It\'s not the least bit funny!\" Vegeta shouted.

\"Sure it is, Vegeta,\" Gokou laughed. \"She sounds just like you!\"

Vegeta got even redder. \"Forget about the brat!\" he snapped. \"Let\'s just go find Tales. We\'re running lowtimetime as it is.\"
He turned back to Radditz. \"Follow us,\" he said. \"And don\'t ask any stupid questions.\"

Radditz started forward, only to find Miracle attached to his leg once again. He glanced down and groaned inwardly. \"Stay here,\" he hissed. He leaned down to pry her hands off of his leg. \"I\'ll come back later; Lord Vegeta isn\'t very happy with you right now.\"

Miracle scrunched her face up into a scowl. \"A\'right,\" she said.

She stepped off of his foot. Radditz had just straightened up when he heard Vegeta bellow from out in the hallway. \"RADDITZ!!\"