It was a catalyst to an unknown event. Something drastic and life changing the very moment Gohan asked her, "Hey Bulma, could you hook me up with a house capsule? Maybe a model like 00659-3?" The teenage demi-saiyan sounded casual enough in asking his question of her but she could sense an underlying tone of urgency to it. After all, she was Bulma Briefs. One of the most brilliant people in the world. A world renowned scientist/inventor who had been friends with the Son family since the day she'd met Son Goku.

She was also a mother of a rambunctious ten year old demi sayian. And she could spot a plot, lie, or just plain BS from over a mile away. Even Vegeta had mentioned how uncanny her ability to do so was, on more than one occasion. So naturally she was just a mite curious as to why Gohan would be asking for a home capsule. Especially the model 00659-3, which was a nice enough home capsule, she supposed.

But it was also a model created for people who were just starting out on their own and had small families since the house capsule housed three, perhaps four at best. Which needless to say, made her more than a little curious.

You see, much like Gohan's question- His recent behavior in the past month or so had gone from his usual laid back and comfortable routine to... Well, something else. Something Bulma couldn't quite get a bead on. And she wasn't the only one having trouble fathoming the kid's recent changes in personality and habits, Vegeta, Piccolo, Goten, Trunks, Chichi, Krillin- they all had noticed these strange little patterns too.

And whenever anyone tried to call Gohan on something and see if he'd finally fess up to what he was up too, the teen would go from laid back to in your face, snarling like an animal until you felt so overwhelmed that he simply gave you no choice but to back off.

Why just a few weeks ago Vegeta had pissed Gohan off to the point where the kid had gone super saiyan level two and beat him almost to death before Piccolo and the others could manage to pull him off of the bloody and almost broken prince.

Bulma took a moment to think over his question, wondering if he'd get violent with her if she said no as she took a drag off of her cigarette and then slowly exhaled. "I could." She said slowly as she studied him as he continued to sit on her couch and roll her kid around while tickling him until he had Trunks laughing so hard that he couldn't breathe. It's good to know that even with everything else changing, this hasn't. She thought with a small smile as Trunks finally managed to wiggle away from Gohan who just settled one elbow on his knee and propped his chin in his hand and watched the kid run around the room pretending to be an airplane.

Apparently he wasn't the least bothered by the fact that Trunks had decided to play without him. "If I set you up with the capsule... Will you tell me why you need it?" She finally got around to asking, drawing Gohan's eyes from Trunks to her as he dropped his arm and sat back with a tired sounding sigh.

"I want to move out of the house back home. I'm old enough to take care of myself, and mom shouldn't be lonely or anything with Goten around."

Bulma blinked at this. Feeling just a little bit shocked at his confession. "Does you're mother know that you want to try living on your own?"

"Mom can bite me." Gohan growled, his laid back demeanor from before suddenly starting to vanish.

"Did you have a fight with your mom, Gohan?" Bulma asked as she moved to sit down next to him on the couch. It probably wasn't the smartest move to make given everything that had been happening the past month or so, but deep down she couldn't help but feel that despite the sudden temperament and anger, Gohan was Gohan. And he wouldn't hurt her. And she intended to trust that belief in him until she was proven otherwise.

"What?" Gohan had the good grace to look just a little bit startled by her question about his mom before saying, "No. Nothing like that. I just think it's time to leave the nest. That's all."

"You know Chichi isn't likely to care much for that idea." Bulma said as she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I honestly don't care if she likes it or not, Bulma. I'm not a baby anymore and she can't continue to try treating me like one."

"Where would you set the place up?"

"Close between here and where Piccolo is. Maybe fifty miles both ways... I'm not totally sure, all I know are that I'll need people I can trust to be close by." Bulma frowned at that particular statement.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" She asked as she leaned forward to look at his face a little more. Gohan was staring at his feet, his hands tightly fisted in his lap, his teeth were clenched. She could tell by the muscle ticking in his jaw. Uh-oh. The kid looked like he was ready to use his ki to blast something. So she decided that in the interest of self preservation, she should give him what he wanted and ask no more questions.

Getting up, she walked over to a table across the room. Narrowly missing being knocked down by her son, and pulled out a compact and looked through it until she found what Gohan had asked for, then tossed it to him.

He must have been watching her from underneath his lashes since he caught the capsule and quickly tucked it away in his pants pocket before muttering, "Thanks." And quickly getting to his feet and looking towards the sliding glass door across the way.

The sun was going down which meant that he'd spent too much time at Capsule Corp. He needed to go. Grabbing his backpack from the floor, he headed towards the door only to be stopped when Bulma reached out and snagged his shirt sleeve. Curious to see what she wanted, he turned to look at her when she held up his hand and dropped a blue card that he recognized as a credit card into his hand, and blinked. "Use the card. Set your place up and get what you need. Clothes, food, whatever- The only condition I have for you having the capsule and the card is that you don't quit school."

"I'm not planning too." Gohan said seriously knowing that for the most part it was only a half truth at best.

Because in another month... He would be dead.