Clang!

"Aaw! Gee, ChiChi, what was that for?" whined Son Goku, rubbing his head where a large bump was beginning to grow.

"That," replied Goku's 'adoring' spouse, "Was for eating all of this evening's dinner for a morning snack!"

"Not to mention the last of the 'Ready Break!'" added Goten, who was sitting at the kitchen table, swinging his legs back and forth.

"Well, how was I supposed to know it was being saved for something?" said Goku, defensively.

"Probably by the large sign on it saying, 'Please don't eat this, Goku!'" yelled ChiChi, practically fuming at her husband's blatant stupidity.

"That's what it was? Oh, I thought the steak was a little bit chewy," replied Goku, picking at his teeth.

"Oh, honestly." ChiChi suppressed the urge to hit Goku over the head again. Sometimes it seemed that he didn't have enough brain cells as it was. All the same, ChiChi was getting really tired from her husband's recent run of irresponsible behaviour, and clanged the frying pan down on the sideboard.

"It won't happen again!" said Goku, looking up at ChiChi through his large black, puppy-dog eyes, which usually had the effect of turning ChiChi into mush.

"No, Goku, that won't work this time!" said ChiChi, even angrier than she had been before now that her husband was trying to wriggle out of it. "I am tired of this, and therefore, as a punishment, I am going out tonight, and you will have to make your OWN dinner!"

"But...but...ChiChi! Please!"

"No, Goku, that is the final word. You will have to go to the Super Market, buy the food, and prepare it yourself. In fact," she said with a sly smile, "I'm leaving Goten here with you, so you'll have to cook for him too!" Goten grimaced. "I'm leaving you some money on the table, which ought to cover all the food expenses."

"B-but, ChiChi!" But, it was too late. ChiChi collected up her coat, purse, and frying pan, and walked out of the front door, slamming it behind her.

"Aaw, man!" said Goku, sitting down at the table, his head in his hands.

'Kami, help me!' thought Goten.

"What do we do now?" said Goku to his son.

"Uhh, what do you mean we?"

"Goten, you do love your father, don't you?"

"Oh...dear."

"Okay, I hope you're listening to this, bakayaro, because I'm only going to say it once!" Bulma yelled up the stairs to her Saiyan mate, who was currently in the bath, not paying attention to a word she was saying...as per usual.

"The conference will only be for this afternoon, but I'll be staying up in town, because it'll be late by the time it's over..." she listened carefully, but heard no word from upstairs. She was about to go up, when mirai Trunks walked in from the kitchen.

"Don't worry Mom, I'll go and tell him," said Trunks, finishing off the last of the 'Ginger Snaps.'

"Okay, thanks Trunks, don't forget to tell him that he'll have to make himself some dinner. I left some food in the freezer, and he can always go and see ChiChi in case of an 'emergency'."

"It's okay Mom, we'll be fine."

"I'm taking Bra with me, and I think chibi Trunks is out in the back yard, I've left Vegeta his..."

"It's okay Mom!" laughed mirai Trunks, "We can take care of ourselves!"

Bulma smiled back at him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Okay then, I'll be off," she was about to leave, but had another thought, and whispered in Trunks' ear, "Take care of your father, won't you?"

Trunks nodded, and helped Bulma load her overnight bags and Bra into her Capsule Car, pull out, and disappear off down the road.

'Right,' he thought, 'Here comes the fun part.' It wasn't that he didn't love and respect his father, but he could be rather...difficult at times.

"Vegeta?" he said, softly outside the bathroom door, not really wanting to bother his father. "Tousan?" he said, a little louder this time, certainly loud enough for Vegeta to hear, particularly with his Saiyan ears. "Dad?!" he finally said, loudly this time. When he still got no response, he rapped on the door...once again, no reply.

Feeling a little worried, Trunks decided to push his luck, and open the door. After all, they were both mature men, and he was his son, and the worst that could happen was Vegeta yelling at him, and calling him a bakayaro...again. He slowly turned the handle...

"Food, food, why is there no FOOD!" yelled Goku, searching all of the cupboards, but to no avail.

"Because you ate it all!" replied Goten, still sitting at the table, arms folded across his chest, wondering when his father was going to stop having a mental breakdown...again.

"Thanks for your support son," said Goku, sarcastically, sitting down again, and rubbing his head with his hands.

"Dad, if there's no food, why don't we just go to the Super Market?"

Goku picked up his son, whirled him around a couple of times, and plonked him down again. "That's a BRILLIANT idea!" he said, with a big goofy grin. He pointed to the window, then flew out, Superman style, yelling, "To the Super Market!"

"Oh, brother," said Goten, picking up the money his mom had left for them. He left a note on the table, in case ChiChi came back, then flew out in pursuit of his father.

"Vegeta, are you in...Mom's SHOWER CAP?!" said Trunks, stopping and staring at his Dad, who was sitting up in the bath, surrounded by a mountain of fragrant bubble bath, talking to himself, and playing with chibi Trunks' battle ships. Bulma's flowery shower cap was perched, slightly askew atop his brilliant black hair.

Vegeta had not yet noticed Trunks' arrival, being too preoccupied with, well...

"Die Kakarot!" he yelled, as he sank the little yellow dinghy with a large blue battle ship, which had a little makeshift white flag with a 'V' written on it. "Hah hah! Now ducky and his little friends will be able to rule the seas once more!" he cooed, bringing out a bright yellow rubber ducky, and watching it float about, a happy little grin on his face.

"Uhh...Veg..."

Before Trunks could finish his sentence, Vegeta spotted him, and yelled, "Nooooo! What did you see? What did you SEE!?"

"Nothing, nothing!" yelled back Trunks, covering his eyes, "I didn't see you playing with the rubber ducky and battle ships!"

"Or the shower cap?"

"No! I didn't see Mom's shower cap either. I saw nothing!" Trunks turned, and fled out of the door, and ran down to the kitchen, where he tried to fit himself into a cupboard, which wasn't big enough to hold him.

"Well," said Vegeta to himself, "That's good then...Hey!?"

A quick towelling, and several cans of hairspray later, Vegeta came down the stairs, dressed in a pair of black jeans, and his infamous, pink 'Bad Man' shirt, as he didn't have any other clean clothes.

"Trunks? Are you in the cupboard?"

"No."

"I can see your sword poking out."

"Umm...it must be your imagination."

"Trunks, get out of the damn cupboard." Trunks crawled out, and stood facing his father, blushing slightly.

"What you just saw..."

"I saw nothing!"

"Don't play dumb Trunks, what you just saw, stays between you and me."

"You mean the thing that I didn't see?"

Vegeta sighed, "Yes, that."

"Right."

"Good."

"Okay then." There was a short, uncomfortable pause.

"Where's the woman?" asked Vegeta, hearing the tell tale sound of his stomach growling.

"That's what I was going to tell you," replied Trunks, "Mom has left for her conference."

"What? Already?"

"Yes, she told me to tell you that you're going to have to fix your own dinner, and there's food in the freezer."

"Damn baka onna, expecting me, the Prince of all Saiyans to do the cooking!" Grumbling and growling, Vegeta made his way outside to the shed with the freezer in it, and opened it up, only to find…

"TRUNKS!"

Chibi Trunks sat back, and let loose a tremendous belch, and patted his rounded stomach. "Hey Dad, what's up?"

Vegeta went a funny shade of green. "D-did you eat all the f-food?" he asked, shaking slightly, and staring off into the distance.

Chibi Trunks felt rather scared, not to mention cold, having been sitting in the freezer for a good half an hour. "Umm, you mean there isn't anymore?"

"This is the freezer! You don't eat food straight from the freezer!"

"Goku does, he says..."

"Goku is a MORON!" yelled Vegeta, "You're supposed to COOK the food first!"

"I thought it was kinda hard…" said Trunks, half to himself. Mirai Trunks picked his younger self out of the freezer, and sighed.

"Now what do we do?" said Vegeta, folding his arms, and trying not to lose his temper and blast his infernal little brat to HFIL.

"Simple," said Mirai Trunks, "Mom said that if there was an emergency, we could go to Goku's to eat. You know ChiChi is always happy to feed us." Trunks realised that he was talking to himself, as Vegeta had already flown out of the window on his way to Goku's.

"Come on, you," he said to his younger self, and they flew off after him."

Ten minutes later, Vegeta touched down at Goku's house, and banged on the door with his fist.

"Kakarot!" he yelled, "Come and open the door!" He waited awhile, and was surprised to find that no one answered it. Even when Kakarot was out, his annoying mate was usually around to open the door. He was about to blow down the door in his usual fashion, when Trunks, the older, and the younger, touched down beside him.

"Hey, Vegeta!" said Mirai Trunks, "The window's open. We don't need to destroy the door."

"I know," replied Vegeta, blowing up the door anyway, and walking into the little kitchen. "KAKAROT!!" he bellowed up the stairs. "Where is that damn baka?" he said, picking through the shrapnel of mess made as Goku had raided the cupboards earlier."

"Hey, there's a note," said mirai Trunks, picking it up. "It says, 'Dear Mom, Dad and I have gone to the Super Market to buy food, since you said we should get dinner ourselves. We'll see you when we get back. All my love, Goten.'"

"We are in BIG trouble," said Vegeta, sitting on one of the chairs.

"Why's that?"

"If Kakarot's cooking dinner, we could end up eating ANYTHING."

Chibi Trunks imagined having to eat broccoli, and suppressed an urge to throw up. "So, what do we do?"

"Pray?" suggested mirai Trunks, also in fear on the possible concoctions that Goku could come up with.

"No. We go to the Super Market, and we stop Kakarot from buying the wrong food. Come on. We'd better hurry. Kami knows what he'll come up with." Vegeta flew back out of the window, towards the waiting town in the distance.

- - -

"What goes well with shrimp casserole?" said Goku out loud, as he paced up and down the aisle, looking at the assorted goodies.

"Well," said Goten, "I don't know for sure, but I have a feeling that 'Lucky Charms' isn't it." They had spent a good twenty minutes wandering up and down the aisles laden with food. It had taken all of his effort to stop his Dad from nicking the bits of fruit...even the ones that had already been on the floor!

"Aaw, but I like the bits of marshmallow, even if the guy on the box is kinda scary..."

"You mean the Leprechaun?"

"Yeah! I mean, a guy who wears green all the time, and a silly hat? Isn't that kinda weird?"

"Well, what about Piccolo then? He's green with a weird hat thing!"

"Wow...Piccolo...Come to think of it, do you ever see them both at the same time?"

"Oh, Dad..." said Goten, slapping himself on the head. "Let's just get some baked beans and bread, and go!"

"Okay, Goten...but there's just one more thing I gotta...umm...check."

"Oh, brother," said Goten.

- - -

"Get out of the way, ya damn bakayaro!" yelled Vegeta at the passing shoppers, who seemed to be making it their task in life to steer their baskets directly into his path.

Mirai Trunks, being the tallest, was the first to spot Goten through the crowds, and made his way over.

"Hey Trunks!" said Goten, as the purple haired guy arrived, followed by his past self and father. "Hey...err...Trunks again, and Vegeta!"

"Hey, brat, where's Kakarot?" said Vegeta, attempting to peer over the heads of the unnecessarily tall people around them.

"He said that he was going to check something out. I think he went over to the Delicatessen counter."

"Right," replied Vegeta, "Trunks, you take care of chibi Trunks and Goten while I go and look for Kakarot. Don't let them get in any trouble while I'm gone, you hear me?"

"Okay Vegeta," replied mirai Trunks, already beginning to regret having woken up that morning.

"Good."

Vegeta walked off through the crowds, abandoning Trunks to have to deal with his past self, and Goten. Who would've thought that he'd been such a handful when he was that age?

"Now guys..." he said to the little Saiya-jins, but he found that the mischievous duo had done another one of their disappearing acts, and vanished.

"Shimatta!" said Trunks, heading off down the aisle to look for them.

The man behind the Deli counter was looking increasingly uncomfortable, pulling at the collar of his uniform, sweating slightly. The tall, black haired guy was staring at him as though he was out of his mind.

"W-what did you say?" said Goku, still totally dumbfounded.

"I-I'm sorry, s-sir, b-but we d-don't do the f-free cheese samples anymore..." stuttered the young employee, also, like Trunks, wishing that he hadn't got up that morning.

"There must be some kind of mistake," said Goku, looking blankly at where the cheese dishes used to sit, filled with wondrous glory of round, taught, white balls of calcium filled goodness.

"I'm s-sorry, s-sir," repeated the man, "It was a limited offer."

"A limited offer..." said Goku, dumbly, staring off into space, probably to somewhere where cheese samples were plentiful. "No cheese..."

"Kakarot!?" said Vegeta, coming up behind him, "What are you doing?" He put his hand on Goku's shoulder.

Goku looked down at him as though he were from another world, and said, "No cheese today. No cheese...no...cheese. No cheese, and no food makes Goku something something."

"Go crazy?" suggested the young Deli man.

"DON'T MIND IF I DO!" yelled Goku, grinning insanely, and powering up, his eyes going green, and his hair golden. A number of women looked on in wonder, ready to ask him wear he bought such quality hair dye.

"Oh no!" yelled the young Deli man, "What'll we do?!"

"If you've got any sense," yelled Vegeta, leaping behind the meat cabinet, "you'll..."

"DUCK!" yelled chibi Trunks, running and grabbing another egg, and throwing it in Goten's direction. As planned, it flew over his head, and hit the approaching elder Trunks right between the eyes. With a giggle, the two young Saiyans disappeared again. Mirai Trunks tried to follow, but found that he just slipped up in a pool of egg, and landed on his backside.

"Kuso!" he cursed, trying to pull himself up, and only succeeding in falling over again. He scrambled forwards on his hands and knees on to an un-eggy patch of ground, and continued his pursuit of the nightmare kids from HFIL.

When Vegeta emerged from behind the meat counter, there was a rather large hole where the Deli counter had previously been. Goku was standing nearby, powered down now, and staring off into space again. Vegeta approached him.

"Goku?"

"Uh huh?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, thank you Rachel," replied Goku, shaking his head, and finally returning to some level of normality. "Gee, what happened here?"

"Erm, freak tornado?"

"Oh."

Vegeta led Goku off into the crowd to where he had left Trunks with chibi Trunks and Goten. "Shimatta! Now what?!" said Vegeta, when he discovered they were gone.

"I've got you now!" yelled mirai Trunks, who had finally managed to corner the brats in the fruit section.

"Not so fast!" yelled chibi Trunks, who viewed the entire escapade as a game. He picked up a rather overripe tomato in his hands, and smiled evilly.

"You wouldn't dare..." said mirai Trunks, feeling his eyes widen in dread all the same.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" replied chibi Trunks, continuing to grin. With a flash of his arm, the tomato went flying. Quick as a flash, the tomato went from fresh to puree with a few slices from Trunks' sword. The brats were not to be beaten so easily though, and pelted Trunks with whatever they could lay their hands on. Mirai Trunks created a veritable fruit salad on the floor with swish after swish of his sword.

"Nooo!" said Goten, "we're out of fruit!"

"End of the line boys!" said mirai Trunks, grinning evilly and rapidly approaching them.

"Not yet!" yelled chibi Trunks, "It's time for something I call..." he raised his little finger to his lips, Dr. Evil style, "The toilet roll attack!" With that, he ran out into the end of the aisle, into the toiletries, and knocked over the castle of toilet paper as Trunks chased after them.

"Noooo!" he yelled, as the mountain of toilet rolls fell on his head.

Goten and chibi Trunks looked on giggling. "Come on, Goten, let's..." Trunks' sentence was interrupted as a firm hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up into the stern eyes of his father.

"Fun's over."

A few minutes later, after much searching through mounds of toilet paper, mirai Trunks emerged, bruised, but more or less in one piece. The tired Saiyans walked up to the checkout, and placed their items on the conveyor belt, which Goku found as an unending source of amusement.

On their way out, Goku walked up to a man with a mop, and said, "Young man, there's a bit of a mess over in aisle 6, which needs looking at, and I don't think you should have a gaping hole in the side of the store. Isn't that a little unhygienic? Oh well, have a nice day."

As they departed the store and set off back to the Son home, a small electronic voice was heard saying; "Clean up on aisle 6...Clean up on aisle 6."