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Dragon Ball: Train me, or else! (Matttheman89/TheyDontKnowIBurn)

Following Bulla back down to earth as she signaled that she was running low on energy and began to descend, Goten shook his head and grinned. "Don't worry about it too much. The more you train and the stronger you get, the more your ki will grow in response. Soon enough, you'll be able to fly all over the world without getting too tired." he said reassuringly, reaching down to offer to help her up after she dropped out of the air and landed on her caboose. Once she was back on her feet, Goten moved his hands up to rest behind his head, and looked in the direction of West City.

"We can probably just walk the rest of the way, I think. It's only a couple of miles." he thought aloud, figuring that Bulla wouldn't want him to carry her such a short distance anyway, not that he would mind, as it was kind of enjoyable. Soon enough they were on their way, once Bulla had caught her breath, and Goten glanced her way as they walked. "So...what's the first thing you're going to do once you're strong enough to show Trunks and your Dad that you can take care of yourself?" he asked curiously.
 
As they walked, she thought. "This sounds super lame, but..." She thought for a minute. "I wanna go on a road trip. I wanna see sights... I mean I know that sounds dumb because my family goes on vacations and I see plenty. But I wanna do it by myself." She mused.

Then Bulla sighed. "But like I am now, my dad and brother would never, ever allow it." She pointed out. "They think I'm weak. I think mom does too." She shrugged. "Guess I'm just gonna have to show 'em what I've really got." She glanced over at him. "You really are very kind to help me this way. You really aren't beholden to me in any way. I mean, sure our families are friends, and you and my brother are close. But all I really am is his bratty kid sister." She muttered with a laugh. That was a direct quote from Trunks from when they were younger.

It took some time but finally they made it back into town and there happened to be a small cafe with tables outside by the sidewalk. "Let's just eat here." She suggested as she tried to fix her hair and make herself presentable. "Never know when I could meet Mr. Right." She joked with a laugh as the moved towards the door. "Just make sure you get your fill. I have my back up credit card today. I can manage food." She said, pulling it from a very discreet side pocket on her shorts. "The phone is another story. No replacement until the end of the week!" She said rubbing the back of her head. At least by now she seemed to be in a better frame of mind about last night than before.
 
"That sounds like fun to me." Goten replied as Bulla explained that she wanted to use her eventual strength to see the world. "Your Mom and my Dad traveled the world around the time they were your age too, y'know. Looking for the Dragon Balls, or just for the fun of it, in my Dad's case. It was probably good for them, so it'll probably be good for you too."

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders as she thanked him again for helping her to become stronger. "Don't worry about it. I'm happy to help. I mean, I've never really thought of you that way, you know." he said with a grin. Sure, there had been times in the past when they were younger that Bulla had been kind of a downer or in the way, but Goten had always thought of her as a kind person, and now, she was showing a level of determination to improve that was admirable, so what kind of person would he be if he didn't help her out?

Eventually, they had made it back to West City, and Bulla decided on a small café nearby for them to eat at, to which Goten didn't argue. "You probably have your pick of the boys, I bet. Cute as you are, and with your family as famous as they are, they'd be knocking down your door." he joked, holding open the door for Bulla so they could walk inside.
 
Bulla chuckled a little bit as he commented on her ability to get her pick of the litter when it came to guys. But at the mention of him calling her cute she still flushed a little bit. "You'd be surprised. Lotsa guys think I'm either stuck up and won't interact with me because of it, are afraid of my dad and brother and won't approach me, or if they do approach me, it's because of my family's money. Or... Well... to get..." She kind of drifted off, thinking to what they guy from last night had wanted from her. Shaking her head. "Doesn't matter though." She added.

Putting that topic firmly in the rear-view, so to speak, a waitress quickly came to them. Bull ordered something to eat for herself and let Goten get whatever he wanted to eat. All in all, it was a rather lovely lunch as they talked about training and the things she wanted to learn.

Until a black cloud drifted over their sunny day, in the form of a helmeted, leather jacketed guy on a souped up motorcycle. It screeched to a stop on the side of the street in front of the dining pair, and the rider pulled away his helmet, revealing the face Bulla had shown Goten a picture of the day before.

She did not look thrilled. In fact, she visibly tensed up as he stepped up on the sidewalk. "Bulla. Yo. So won't don't we try last night over again." He said, aloofly. "I forgive you for punching me. You probably just panicked some because of losing your phone or something." He muttered. Sure enough, there was a bruise on his jaw and it was all sorts of ugly. "So c'mon. Let's get out of here." He half commanded.

The whole while, Bulla's eye twitched just barely perceptibly. "You forgive me?" She managed, looking incredulous.

"Uhhhh, yeaaaah. Pretty sure I just said that. Don't be stupid." He snapped. "Now ditch the nerd and let's go." He ordered, eyeing Goten, not viewing him as much of a threat.

Bulla sighed. "Look, Kazin thanks for the offer, but no thanks."

"Why? Gotta spend time with this... What? Are you like her uncle?" He commented with distaste.

Bulla was already getting weary of this. It seemed the sore feelings of the previous night had not dissipated. But it was also clear this fellow Kazin wasn't going to let it go. "Gimme one good reason why not." He demanded.

She looked back to Goten apologetically. She needed to do something before this situation got hostile because she suspected hitting the guy in public would reflect poorly on her. And that Goten would likely wreck him without meaning to. "Well, can't you tell? I'm clearly on a date. Isn't that right, Goten?" She asked, looking to him, her eyes imploring him to play along.

Before anything though Kazin looked disgusted. "Wow. Whoring around... And with a nerd. Either you're lying or you've got no class."

Bulla's fist clenched tightly. It was clear she was exercising the utmost in restraint. "Hehe..." She mechanically chuckled. "You're right. Guess I'm just a bit of a floozy. So why don't you ditch me like you did last night." She said flatly, focusing her best efforts on keeping her seat.
 
Eating the food that he had ordered - doing his best not to let his Saiyan appetite get the better of him, as he didn't want to rack up too much of a bill for Bulla - Goten paused as someone pulled up on a motorcycle right in front of them, and tilted his head as the rider pulled off his helmet to reveal that it was the boy who had taken Bulla out the night before and treated her so poorly.

Oh boy. This should be good.

Bulla was clearly not happy at this sudden and unexpected reunion, and only grew angrier as the boy tried to hit on her - in spite of the large bruise on his face from last time. Goten raised an eyebrow himself as the boy even went so far as to call him a nerd in comparison to himself, but remained silent for the moment in order to let Bulla handle things. She tried to tell him that she wasn't interested, but the boy - Kazin - wasn't taking no for an answer, and Goten felt a twinge of annoyance as Kazin basically called him old.

I still look pretty young, don't I?

That annoyance was soon replaced by surprise though, as Bulla quickly came up with the story that the two half-saiyans were actually on a date, silently pleading with him to play along. "Oh...uh...right. This is definitely a date." Goten replied after a few seconds, laughing a bit sheepishly as he tried to get into the act.

That laugh was cut off though as Kazin gave a disgusted reply of his own, and that was when Goten decided that he'd had as much as he was willing to take, and stood up with his hands flat on the table. "Alright, that's enough. You can say what you want about me, but I'm not gonna stand here and let you say things like that about Bulla. So now, you're gonna apologize, or else I'm gonna stop being so nice. Got it?"
 
Bulma blinked watching Goten rise to his feet. She was a touch surprised, as she'd been raised in a time of peace, so she'd never seen the youngest son of Goku get irritated in such a way. She bit her lip. Would he really take Kazin out? She knew if he played hardball, he'd probably kill the motorcycle-riding punk. And probably get in a lot of trouble for it to. Even if he went easy on Kazin, it was entirely likely he'd cause serious damage. She stood and placed a hand on Goten's arm gently. "Ahhh, Goten, this creep is not worth it."

Apparently Kazin didn't get that Bulla was trying to prevent a fight because he just kept going. "Oooooh, you're gonna stop being nice?" He taunted, hands up in the air. He didn't seem to realize just what he was dealing with. "I don't apologize when it isn't merited. " He chuckled arrongantly. "You're wasting time on her. She'll never put out man..." Then he thought. "Second thought, I do apologize. I apologize for calling her a whore. Whores give it up. She's too stuck up to do it. All she is is a dumb cock-tease who didn't make good when the time came." He said with a mean smirk that made Bulla's stomach churn.

"S-Shut up, Kazin... I never once said I wanted to jump into bed with you..." She muttered weakly. She was caught between the responsibility she felt as a being with greater than average power, and the hurt, angry part of herself that wanted to let Goten loose on him.

Her hand on Goten's sleeve tightened a bit more as she bit her lip harder. "M-Maybe we should go before things get out of hand..."

"What. Ya gonna run away. 'Fraid your new boytoy can't take all this?" Kazin kept on taunting. "That's a hell of a power you've got there. Slutty enough to get any guy to fight your battles for you. Good thing you look good because you're too dumb for much else..."

Bulla's eyes welled with angry tears, as she tried so hard to make her composure. "Goten... Do what you want... Just please don't get in trouble, okay?" She whispered, closing her eyes as Kazin kept on with the awful taunts. "Ooooh. Did I make her cry? That was easy. Seems lots of things are with her."

Bulla's ki was bubbling just beneath the surface, begging for her to loose her rage on the hapless, hateful human.
 
Goten didn't back away despite Bulla's attempts to get him to do so, and his frown only grew deeper as Kazin continued speaking. The half-Saiyan wasn't an angry person by nature - he took after his Father in that way - but that didn't mean he wasn't completely without a temper - a temper that likely took after his Mother's - and said temper was dangerously close to it's limit the longer this conversation went on, and he continued to insult Bulla.

Bulla was still trying to keep things from escalating any further, but it was clear that this was getting to her as well, which was only making Goten angrier. Kazin was only continuing to taunt the two of them more and more as well, and each and every word was just giving Goten another reason to put the boy down on the ground. So when Bulla finally relented and gave him leave to handle the situation as he pleased, the older half-Saiyan couldn't help but smirk.

"Oh, don't worry. I won't even lay a finger on him." he replied, although he certainly wanted to do much more than that. He knew that that could cause trouble down the line for them though, and even with as angry as he was, he also knew that seriously hurting Kazin would be wrong, considering his power, so with that in mind, he simply held out his hand towards the boy and channeled just a bit of his ki.

Using said ki to affect the air currents around them, Goten produced a small, invisible shockwave, known as a Kiai - something that he had been planning on teaching Bulla down the line - that would strike Kazin with enough force to knock him completely off his feet.
 
Kazin watched as Bulla finally gave Goten the go-ahead. How much a threat could he be? He looked like a pencil-pusher at best. But that smirk that the man took was peculiar.

Kazin was just about to make another hateful, crude joke about Bulla when he heard Goten say that he wouldn't even lay a finger on him. He was just about to reply to that when he felt something invisible and forceful barrel into him, knocking him back. He skidded across the pavement, and straight back against his motorcycle, which toppled back, no doubt scratched up by the rough asphalt of the street.

Kazin coughed and winced as he glared at Goten. "You're one of them alien freaks! No piece of ass is worth messing with something wierd like you!" He snapped as he pulled himself up. He wasted no time in gathering his ride and taking off.

The whole time, Bulla kept her back turned. But when she heard the tell-tale sound of the motorcycle revving and taking off she moved back to Goten. "I... I'm really sorry. I didn't think he'd bother me again..." She said, scraping her toe of her shoe along the lines in the sidewalk. "Thank you for defending me though." She looked mortified by all that Kazin had said about her. "Is there anything I can do to make this up to you? You shouldn't have had to deal with this."
 
Goten knew he probably shouldn't, but he couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction at watching Kazin go flying back across the pavement to crash into his motorcycle. Folding his arms over his chest with a bit of a smirk, he waited as the man recovered and drove off with one final last attempt at an insult, then turned back to Bulla as she began to apologize. "Well, I doubt he'll bother you again after that, at least." he replied.

He smiled and shook his head as she thanked him, then reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. I'm glad I could help you. I just hope you know...none of the stuff that jerk said about you is true. You're a great girl; smart, cute, determined. Any guy would be lucky to have you." he said, rubbing her shoulder and arm in a soothing and reassuring manner. "You deserve someone really great."
 
Bulla blushed crimson as Goten heaped kind words on her her. Her hands clasped behind her back as she looked off to the side. "Not gonna lie... All the things he said hurt. A lot. The worst one was being called dumb..." She sighed. "You say that any guy would be lucky, and yet... His attitude isn't uncommon. I'm pretty sure most of why people pay attention to me is because I've got money and looks." She mused with sort of a dry chuckle.

"Another good reason to learn to fight. At least then I'll be able to physically prove I'm not just some airhead with her parents' money..." She sighed. "Still, it means more than you know that you stuck up for me..." She walked past him, then kissed his cheek, absolutely innocent and well meaning. "You really are the best Goten. I'm the one who's lucky to have you around."

She felt a little weird. He was cooler than she realized. Not just her brother's best friend, and not just a super strong fighter, but genuinely kind and cool. Huh. How weird that she'd never even noticed. "S-So... Shall we finish up our meal and then head back out? I've got some misplaced aggression to work out." She joked with a bit of a laugh.
 
"That just means you've got to find the people who appreciate you for you, and keep them around." Goten replied with a grin as Bulla worried that people only paid attention to her because of any potential perks she might have to offer. Despite any blows to her ego this might have all caused though, she remained determined to show that she was more than met the eye, and the older half-Saiyan took that as a good sign.

He smiled and nodded his head as she spoke of how grateful she was for him standing up for her with Kazin, then blinked in surprise as she kissed him on the cheek again in gratitude. It was a nice surprise though, and he laughed sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck. "N-No problem. I mean, what else are friends for?" he said, hoping that by this point she did consider them friends, rather than just two people connected to one another through her brother.

"Sure." Goten replied as Bulla asked if they could finish eating and get back to training. He was just about finished up anyway, so it was long before he was ready to go, and once Bulla had paid the bill, they would be back on their way, ready to spend the rest of the day with some light sparring, allowing Bulla to work out any irritation she might still be feeling over the encounter with Kazin.
 
And boy did she. Her irritation just made her go and go with an endurance that was almost surprising for the young half-saiyan princess. When finally they took a break she was flushed with the exertion and effort she'd put forward, and it seemed that finally her thoughts about how she'd been slighted had passed her by, leaving her looking tired, but yet satisfied with her efforts. She'd even managed, in the heat of battle, to let loose a very small ki blast.

It wasn't much, but for a young woman who'd never trained before this, it was just another victory to encourage her to keep going. Taking a few deep breaths she grinned. "Hey. I feel pretty phenomenal for someone who's taken a few hits." She pointed it. It was definitely the adrenaline, but it seemed it suited her well. "Better watch out Goten. Someday I might be too much to handle." She said with a bit of a wink, joking about. It seemed the girl nearly in tears at the assassination of her character was far in the rearview mirror. Replacing that sad girl was someone who could laugh and joke and still looked ready to scuffle, even if she knew she wasn't anywhere close to posing a challenge to her teacher. "So what now? I feel like I could do this all night!" She boasted, hands on her hips.

Bulla suddenly realized she was feeling alive in a way she'd never felt before. Like something had woken up and she was new and excited for whatever came next. It seemed her training was serving her in more than one way.
 
Lowering his guard as they took a break from their sparring, Goten grinned and nodded his head in approval. It had likely been fueled more by her anger at their encounter with Kazin than anything else, but she had still shown a promising level of endurance even compared to their first sparring matches, having managed to stay in the fight much longer this time, and he hadn't missed her successfully managing to fire off that blast of energy either. She was definitely doing well for someone who had only just begun training seriously.

"You did a good job." Goten said in agreement as Bulla spoke of how she was feeling, wondering how she'd actually feel once the adrenaline wore off and some of those minor bruises he'd left her with actually made themselves known. He laughed as she joked about her potential and winked at him, then shrugged his shoulders. "I'm looking forward to it." he replied, happy and relieved to see that Bulla seemed to have completely put what had happened with Kazin behind her. She was already stronger than most gave her credit for, it seemed.

Laughing again as Bulla dared to continue, Goten had to wonder if her Saiyan instincts were already beginning to show themselves, as she certainly seemed more excited about this than normal. "Well, we can keep training for a while longer if you want, but after that I think we'd better get you back to Capsule Corp., so no one begins wondering where you are. You do have a curfew after all, don't you?" he teased.

And as Goten pointed out, they would eventually need to stop for the night. It had been a good day though - Kazin's meanness aside, which may have actually served to motivate Bulla further anyway - and he could only imagine that the younger half-Saiyan would continue to show such promise.

--

Meanwhile, far away from the blissfully unaware Goten and Bulla as they continued to enjoy one another's company, in an area known as Isuri's Lake that had once been home to an ancient evil that had laid waste to the entire planet, there laid an egg with a powerful demonic and evil presence that resided within the ruins. For eons it had laid dormant, soaking in the evil power that practically stained the air, growing in incubation, and now...after all this time...a tiny crack formed within the shell as the monstrosity within finally began to stir in preparation to continue the work of it's creator...
 
Bulla conceded. "Fine, fine." She said, hands up. "Oh well. It was fun. But at least now I can go home and take a nice, long, hot bath!" She looked to be thrilled at the very prospect. "Oh! Hey. Forgot to mention. You'll probably get a courier delivery with invitations for mom's annual family picnic this weekend!" She mused clasping her hands behind her back. "So we'll have to take a break for that day."

Admittedly, Bulla was rather looking forward to the day, as she'd get to see Pan. Though she suspected Marron would consider herself too mature to sit and talk with the two younger girls, as she was a university student now.

Hovering a bit off the ground. "C'mon! I think I can make it the whole way back this time." She declared as she took off.
 
Goten folded his arms over his chest as Bulla agreed to stop training for the night and head back home, then informed him that invitations were on the way for his family to join her family for Bulma's upcoming family picnic, and he nodded his head. "Sounds like fun. I mean, I don't know if my Dad...or even your Dad will be back from training by then, but I'm sure my Mom will enjoy it." he replied.

Looking forward to everyone getting together, Goten hovered off of the ground alongside Bulla, then took off after her as she flew away, determined to make it all the way to West City on her own this time.

--

As Bulla had predicted, invitations for the picnic had soon arrived in the mail for the Son family, and as Goten had predicted, Chi Chi was quite excited to attend, so when the weekend came, they would join the others on the private island that Bulma had picked out for them to have their fun. Unfortunately, Trunks hadn't been able to make it due to work, which was a bit of a bummer for Goten, but he remained upbeat regardless, and was enjoying himself.
 
Trunks wasn't the only one absent that day. Pan, the very person Bulla had been most excited about seeing, was home with the flu, because apparently even quarter saiyan girls could get beatdown my viruses. And again, Marron had decided only to hang out with the older people, as she was simply two mature to spend time with a kid, as she'd taken to calling Bulla.

Sure. Bulla was 18. But she couldn't really talk to anyone else here because of the fact that the only things interesting she had to say were concerning her training. Training which neither her mother, nor her father, nor big brother, nor anyone else, really, could know about. Well. Other than Goten. She couldn't help but grin thinking about their secret. Ahh, it made her happy just to think about. She couldn't help but want to train, however, on an island full of people who could detect the energy of others, she suspected that would be unwise.

Still... She was bored.

Spotting Piccolo meditating, she decided to try that out. At first Piccolo seemed slightly amused. However that quickly turned to irritation as she started chatting. In very little time, he'd scooped Bulla up by her hood of her top, just as he'd done with Pan and Bulla so many times in their childhood. Calmly walking towards the group, he dumped her unceremoniously on her rear. "Leave me to my meditation..." And that was it. The whole group just looked at her, and things were quiet until they burst out laughing at how little things had changed.

Bulla's face lit red with embarrassment as she was the but of a new round of laughter. Standing up, she dusted herself off. "F-Fine... I'm gonna go check out the edge of the woods. Study the local fauna and flora, ya know."

Bulma blinked. "Huh. How weird. You studying on a day off? Well, Guess I can't complain. Just don't go into the actual woods. I don't know what all is in there.."

Bulla nodded. "I wouldn't think of going in their *alone*." She promised before giving Goten a subtle look. She fully intended to go further in than the edge, but she was sure she could defend herself enough now to be safe. So whether he chose to join her or not, she was going.

"Later!" She called before turning around to run off. It irritated her that she could have just flown across the island, but she wasn't ready for people to know that.
 
Having been on the receiving end of Piccolo's kindhearted but impatient temper on more than one occasion in his life, Goten couldn't help but laugh alongside the others as Bulla was dismissed from the gruff Namekian's company. He could only imagine how the proven teacher and mentor would fair if he were actually teaching Bulla the ins and outs of martial arts, instead of himself.

Likely embarrassed, Bulla seemed to decide to get some air by exploring the island, and when she assured her Mother that she wouldn't be going far on her own, Goten caught on to what she had in mind, and even with the strides she'd made since they'd begun training, he wasn't completely sold on the idea that she could handle herself if she did go alone, so he knew he'd have to go along with her, not that he minded.

So not long after she had ran off, Goten took the opportunity to slip away while no one was paying attention, and followed after her.

"You know, I never really pictured you as the outdoorsy type." he called as he began to catch up to her, slipping his hands up behind his head as he walked. "But I guess you've already shown that you can turn over a new leaf, so what do I know?"
 
Bulla didn't seem to jump at his call. She'd expected he'd follow. She peered back at him with a playful girl as she began picking her way through the dense foliage at forest's edge. "Shows what you know about me." She teased with a laugh as she tried to gaze though the depths of the trees, that just got darker as it went. "When Pan is at these things, we always adventure!" She blinked. "Just, no Pan this time. So you can come with me!" She chirped, turning towards him and placing a fist on her hip. "It's too boring back with everyone else. They treat me like a kid. And Marron's just... 'too mature' to hang out with me now." She said making a slight imitation of the older girl. "But, you know they truth. That I'm not just some incapable kid."

She grinned. "C'mon Goten! It'd be fun. And my big brother's not here! So we're in the same boat." She pointed out as she began to move deeper into the forest. "We've both worked really hard this week anyway, so we should play hard too." She suggested. Bulla kept going deeper and deeper in, curious and adventurous. This was the Bulla only Goten had gotten to see, because she did well to keep a more composed demeanor in the day light. At this point her brother and father expected the high maintenance girly-girl. But there was so much more to Bulla than that.

In a way, being around Goten was sort of freeing. "If nothing else you can use this time to get to know me a little better." She joked with a laugh.
 
It seemed that Goten really hadn't known Bulla as well as he'd thought, as these were the sorts of things she'd always gotten into whenever the group had gotten together for times like these, assuming Pan had been there as well. That wasn't so different from what he and Trunks had done when they were young, he supposed, so maybe it just ran in the family? "So I'm your silver medal, then?" Goten joked as the girl suggested that he could take his niece's place today in their adventure. "I'm sure it's just a phase. Marron will want to hang with you again sooner or later."

Goten smiled as Bulla egged him on to join her, and shrugged his shoulders, unable to think of a reason not to go along with her. "Sure. I guess we've earned a break." he replied as the girl suggested that they should take this time to relax after her rough week of training. It was interesting to continue to see new sides of her like this, as she continued to surprise him. Little more than a week ago, he hadn't thought of her as much more than a well-meaning but high-strung girly-girl, more interested in clothes and boys than anything else. But now...it was clear he had misjudged her, and that she was much more than met the eye.

Walking alongside her through the forest, making idle chit-chat about the local wildlife that they could spot along the way, Goten paused as he saw something curious hidden among the foliage. "Hold on a second, Bulla. What's that over there?" he thought aloud, altering his path to approach the dense underbrush. Pushing some of it out of the way, he found what had caught his eye; a large and heavy-looking metal door built into the ground, and tilted his head curiously. "What's this doing here?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Bulla, wondering if perhaps Bulma had had this built here when they'd purchased the island.
 
Bulla grinned a bit at Goten's job about being the silver medal. "And I'm not. We both know if Trunks was here I'd be exploring on my own." She pointed out, not seeming offended by that fact. She knew that her brother and Trunks had always been very close. How could they not be, with all they'd gone through together. She glanced back at him. "Guess you'll just have to settle for me." She added with a cheesy grin before turning her eyes back to their front.

They had been at this a little while when Goten had called to her attention. "Huh...." She thought. "I doubt mama had this built... She only closed on the purchase of the island a couple of days ago. She wouldn't have had time to develop land out here in the forest between then and now." She mused thoughtfully. "Not sure who this belongs to, but... The only way to find anything out is to investigate, dontcha think?" She decided.


Looking about, Bulla blinked. How on earth do we get in." She wondered as she stepped back. And directly onto a pressure pad. Oddly enough, the door slid open. "Huh. Kind of archaic, but shall we?" She suggested, looking forward at the darkness the door had opened to. "I'm sure we can bust our way out later."
 
Bulla's confirmation that her mother wasn't responsible for the strange door in the ground that they had stumbled upon only made Goten more curious about it's origins, and he folded his arms over his chest in thought as he wondered who could have possibly built it here and for what purpose. "I guess so." he said in agreement as she suggested that they look deeper into this. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen?

There was still the problem of how to get in though, and while it was certainly an option, Goten didn't really think just breaking the door down was a good idea, so he began looking for another way...only for Bulla to find it by accident. "That'll work." he commented as the door slid open. Looking down into the darkness that awaited them for a few seconds, he nodded his head and began to descend. "I'll go first. You better stay behind me, just in case." he said over his shoulder.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Goten reached out and slid his hand across the nearby walls until he found something that felt like a light switch and flipped it, lighting up the long hallway. "Huh. Well, I guess this place still has power. At least we won't have to wander around in the dark." he thought aloud as he looked around. The hallway was fairly nondescript, and it was clear that no one had been here in some time. One thing that did stand out though, was an insignia on the wall. Vaguely ribbon shaped, painted red, and with two letter R's adorning the insignia...there was...something familiar about it, but Goten couldn't really put his finger on it.

Continuing on past the insignia down the hall, Goten looked back at Bulla with a bit of a grin. "So...how's it feel? Being on an adventure?" he asked in a lighthearted tone.
 
Bulla followed behind him. As it was, she was simply too young to know anything significant about the symbol on the wall. But she knew this place was interesting. As they walked forward a ways, it was down a long hall, incredibly cold and utilitarian. there were doors on each side, then at the very end, a much larger pair of doors. "I like it. It especially fun with you here. Because you're a bit less cautious than Pan." She mused as they looked about. Placing a hand on the handle of the end doors, the bar handle lit like it was scanning her hand. "Welcome visitor. Please step forward." Said a mechanical female voice. "Investigative Control and Education Labs, a subsidiary of Red Ribbon Co. welcomes you."

Red Ribbon. She was sure she'd heard of that before. But it hadn't been a company. She was sure of it. Must have been something else. It was something that nagged at her as she stepped in, and yet, she ignored that, and crossed the thresh hold to a large room, round, and very sterile seeming. It was oddly bare.

Then, with little warning, the door slid closed behind them. Down the hall, they could hear the first door slide shut as well. "Huh... Must be an automated system." She mused, nothing thinking much of it. Laboratories were often on systems like these, as a method of temperature control. She strolled back to the door, and put her hand on the handle to open it once more, but it simply wouldn't budge. "C'mon you..." Nothing. "Um, Goten?" She called. But before she could say much more, she gave a yelp as the handle heated under her hand and she jerked it away, sore and slightly burned.


"Attention intruders." It was that same mechanized voice. "You are unauthorized entrants to Red Ribbon Army Laboratory number 315124. I am the System for Neutralization of Organisms Within. You may call me SNOW. But it won't matter, as you will be neutralized. Please relax and enjoy your stay." It said with a macabre sort of synthesized cheer that didn't fit it's protocol.

Around them, the lights dimmed and things went quiet for a moment before that voice chimed in again. "Room Temperature Decreasing." And sure enough, the whirring of air pumping through the vents began.
 
"You think so?" Goten replied as Bulla compared his style to the way that Pan usually carried herself, finding it a little funny that he might be a little more reckless than his niece. Passing by the majority of the doors within the long hallway until they reached a larger set of doors at the end, he watched as Bulla placed a hand on the handle, and tilted his head as it seemed to scan her hand before a mechanical and female voice spoke out from somewhere to welcome them. "Red Ribbon...? Why do I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before...?" he thought aloud in response to hearing the name of the facility they'd stumbled upon.

Still trying to figure out why this was all nagging at him so much, he walked into the larger room at the end of the hall as the doors opened, only to blink in surprise as they shut just as quickly behind them, along with the door at the opposite end of the hallway. At first, it didn't really seem like a call for alarm, but as Bulla turned around to try and open the doors, they wouldn't move, and Goten frowned as she was even burned by them. "That's not good."

The mechanical voice spoke up again at that point, and the older half-Saiyan's frown deepened as the lights dimmed and the temperature supposedly began to decrease. "Neither is that."

Moving closer to the doors himself and drawing back his fist, Goten struck them with a powerful punch - the kind that could have easily broken through solid steel - only for the doors to remain standing...not only that, but they weren't shaken at all. He hadn't even made a dent. "Ok, that's really not good." he commented, more than a little surprised. What kind of material was this place made of, to be able to withstand an attack from someone like him?

Should he try an energy attack? That might work...but if Goten wasn't careful, he might end up bringing the whole place down on them...so maybe it was best to leave off on that. "SNOW, let us out of here!" he called, trying another attack on the door, only for his foot to basically bounce off, his kick as ineffective as his punch. "Bulla, look around. Maybe there's a computer panel we can use or something."
 
"I'm sorry. Protocol dictates that I can not do that. Please relax and be assured that hypothermia isn't a terribly painful method of termination."

Bulla looked around. The had to do something. "SNOW, if you don't let us out of here, we'll blow this place down and take you with us!" She declared.

"That would be most unwise, female subject. Lab 315124 is composed of ki-resistant materials." A scanning beam ran over the two of them for a bar on the ceiling.

"Subject one. Male. Age 31. Half saiyan, half human. Genetic comparison complete. Partial matches to... Son, Goku... Son, Gohan. Subject 1, search complete."

A moment later, another scan.

"Subject two. Female. Age 18. Half saiyan, half human. Genetic comparison complete. 2 partial matches to... Vegeta, Saiyan... Briefs, Bulma. Subject 2, search completely. Invaders identified. Anti-Saiyan protocol in place. Security lock-in, level S." Shutters began to fold down over the walls, covering everything but the scanning equipment up top, and the vents through which the cold air was being released into the room.

Bulla whipped around, watching as their world became a little more enclosed. "Temperature decreasing. 10 degrees Celsius. Please enjoy your stay."

This was absolutely horrendous. The AI had a sick sense of humor, and Bulla was really loosing her cool. "Damnit... SNOW, let us out, you over-glorified PDA!" She called as she slammed a frantic kick at the the part of the paneling the door hid behind.

It was clear the young woman was frightened.

"Now now, Subject two. Name calling is not nice. Can a PDA do this?" A slat opened in the floor for just a second, to allow a couch onto the floor from below. "Please, get comfortable."

Bulla looked to Goten, and it was clear she was not doing well with this. She pulled out her phone. Maybe she could make a call out.

"No, no. These labs are communication isolated. The more you fight, the more time you waste. Temperature decreasing. 4.4 degrees Celcius."
 
"It's never that easy..." Goten commented as SNOW refused to cooperate and simply let them leave without further trouble. It was starting to look like he'd actually have to resort to ki-based attacks to get them out of the locked-down laboratory, but as Bulla brought up that very idea as a way to threaten the computer, SNOW informed them that the actual lab was built out of material that was resistant to those kinds of attacks...which was definitely a problem. "You've gotta be kidding me. Is Capsule Corp. even able to make stuff like that?"

Looking up to the ceiling as a bar from above began to scan the pair, Goten raised an eyebrow as the computer was able to come up with a lot of surprising data about the two of them, including the fact that they were both half-Saiyan, and where exactly that Saiyan heritage came from. "How does this computer know about our families?" he wondered with a frown, finding this more than a little suspicious. After all, it wasn't like Saiyans were common knowledge.

The situation continued to worsen as the computer tightened up security even further by bringing down shutters over the walls and doors, and Goten could feel the temperature continuing to drop. Even worse, Bulla was beginning to panic, which SNOW actually seemed to be enjoying, judging by it's teasing, prompting another frown from the older half-Saiyan as it went so far as to have a couch brought into the room for them.

"It's gonna be alright, Bulla. I'm sure the others will come looking for us soon." Goten said reassuringly as even her phone wound up being useless. "For now...let's just...sit down on the couch. It's going to get colder soon, so we can at least...stay close for warmth." he continued, walking over to the surprisingly comfortable couch and sitting down. "That way, we can at least be comfy while we try to think of a way out of this."
 
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