Chapter I – A Dangerous Meeting

If there was one thing Bulma had never envisioned herself doing, it was driving through the untamed land of Mount Paozu on a hunt for the Dragon Balls. She had found one of the seven mystical orbs in the expansive cellar at Capsule Corp., tucked away in an old drawer, and had immediately become fascinated by it.

Though she hadn't initially put muck stock in the legend, she had begun to believe it after discovering that the Dragon Ball emitted a clear signal which her instruments could detect. Once she'd fashioned herself a radar, which she dubbed the Dragon Radar, and confirmed that there indeed were seven such signals scattered across the world, the call to adventure had moved her to set out and find them all.

Two months later, she was up one Dragon Ball and delving deep into Mount Paozu to collect the third. There were no comforts here, no bells and whistles to make life easy. Okay, she had taken a bunch of capsules with her—being heir to the richest company in the world did have its perks—but everything was in her own hands.

Mount Paozu was almost an alien world. Past the very outskirts, there were no buildings or paved roads to be seen, and only the odd beaten path to suggest that she wasn't the first to traverse the territory. Dinosaurs and other wild creatures extinct everywhere else roamed free. The region grew more hostile and mountainous the further she travelled towards the centre, and was dotted with distinctive, sheer plateaus that existed in few other places on Earth. She followed a lone dirt path as it weaved its way around the plateaus and delved through the thick forest, until she was within a day's travel of the Dragon Ball.

When night fell, she set up camp in a clearing large enough to fit her capsuled house, and sat outside to look at the sky. Away from the pollution of the city, the sky glowed with stars she had never seen before. A wide silver band rose and fell in an arc from one edge of the sky to the other, and she idly recognized it as an arm of the galaxy. Even the full moon seemed more vibrant than ever.

Dad would love to see this, she thought. Once she'd seen all she could see with the naked eye, she retreated inside to get some much needed rest. When she fell asleep, it was not to the hustle and bustle of West City, but to an eerie quietness disturbed only by the distant sounds of wild animals.

The early riser gets the Dragon Ball. That was her motto, and it was why the alarm clock read 6:00AM when she woke up. Still half-asleep, she picked out her dress and went to the kitchen, where she decapsulated her breakfast and started eating it.

On second thought, staying up until two may not have been one of my brightest ideas, she thought as she finished her cereal. However little she may have slept, she was still a sixteen-year old girl full of energy and life, and she was sure she would forget all about her missed sleeping hours once she hit the road.

Within an hour she'd finished her breakfast, got dressed, braided her hair, got changed, gathered all her belongings, and encapsulated her house. With the Dragon Balls and the radar in a bag over her shoulder, and a gun at her hip to stay safe, she was ready. She fished the capsule box from her pocket and picked out her car. Just before she could throw the capsule down, she heart a rustling in the trees that distracted her. Shrugging it off as just a wild animal, she threw the capsule in front of her. When it hit the ground, it burst with a puff of smoke to reveal her box-shaped off-road car.

There was another rustling then, much louder, and then a dull thud as if something had hit the ground from a decent height. She turned towards the source of the noise, but when she did, she was something so bewildering that it froze her still.

Something had fallen from a treetop, but it wasn't a fruit or a branch or a wild animal, though she might have mistaken it for one at a glance. It was a young boy with a wild mop of spiky black hair, crouched on all fours and staring at her with a mixture of wariness and predatory hunger. He was completely naked. A furry, brown, tail-like appendage swished behind him, but in all other aspects he looked just like a human.

Bulma wasn't quite sure how to process what she was seeing. A boy that looked about ten or eleven, out in the wilderness all on his own? Was he feral, raised out here like an animal of the forest? Instinctively, her hand moved towards her pistol.

After a few seconds of staring, the boy stood up properly. He was about half as tall as she was. Bulma felt uncomfortable looking at him. Suddenly, his face morphed into a mad grin and he dashed towards her faster than she'd ever seen a person run. Something crashed into her and she felt as if she'd been hit in the chest with a hammer. She was lifted off her feet and flung backwards several feet, screaming as she landed in a heap on the ground. Her Dragon Balls came tumbling out of her bag and rolled out onto the grass.

She sat up, holding one hand to her throbbing chest, and stared at the boy in shock. What the hell was that?

The boy had closed the distance and was now standing over her. A sound like a low laugh escaped his lips. "Heh…you're weak."

Bulma gaped. "You can talk?!"

"Of course I can." The boy scoffed as if offended, then he shifted into an odd stance, raising his hands in front of him. "And now I'm gonna kill you."

The boy pulled a fist back with every intention of punching her. Bulma tensed up. He's not kidding! As quick as she could, she pulled out her gun and pointed it at the boy's face.

"Go to hell!" She pulled the trigger. The shot echoed through the forest, and in the next instant the boy stumbled backwards several steps and fell on flat his back. Bulma staggered to her feet and looked down at him. The boy was holding a hand to his forehead, hissing.

Bulma stared. "Wha…but…you shouldn't be alive, kid!"

The boy growled and stood up. He looked murderously at her. "It'll take more than that to kill me! And just for that, I'll make sure your death is a painful one!"

When the boy took a step forward, Bulma retreated instantly and shot him several more times, but this time his arms were held protectively over his face. The bullets ricocheted off his skin with no apparent harm. Her hands trembled and she stepped back, almost to the edge of the clearing. The boy lowered his arms and advanced on her slowly, still wearing that mad grin, as if enjoying her fear. "I won't forget you any time soon," the boy said. "My first victim…"

Bulma raised the gun again, but before she could fire, the boy lunged at her and smacked it out of her hands. "That was getting annoying," the boy said, raising a hand in a claw-like shape, ready to strike her down.

"Wait! No! Please don't kill me!" Bulma's back was against a tree. She was holding her hands out fearfully, but she had a feeling this supernatural boy could have swatted them aside with ease. In the end, it wasn't with a swat: he grabbed her wrists and simply pulled them apart. No matter how much force Bulma put into it, she couldn't oppose him. The boy looked absolutely gleeful to be doing this.

She panicked. Oh, no, I'm too young and good-looking to die! Quick, Bulma, think of something!

Her brain scrambled to come up with a solution. There was no way she could physically stop the boy, but maybe she could talk her way out of an early grave. Outwitting people was something she was used to, and she was sure she had more wit about her than this crazy kid. An idea formed.

"Hey—hey, you know, you might not want to kill me," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. She would have to make a significant concession, but her life was worth it. "If you spare me, I can reward you!"

The boy chuckled. "I doubt that."

Well, how rude! For fear of repercussion, she gave no voice to this thought. "Hear me out," she said. The boy made it clear he wasn't going to do that when he started to painfully twist one of her wrists. With some urgency, she carried on. "I'll give you my Dragon Balls!"

Just as she'd hoped, the boy froze and looked at her in confusion. "Your what?"

"My Dragon Balls," she repeated. "Do you know what they are?"

"No," the boy said. "Should I?"

"You shouldn't, because they're very secret," she said, trying to infuse her words with some pathos. "See those two orange things on the grass behind you? Those are the Dragon Balls."

The boy looked at her suspiciously, but after a few seconds—perhaps figuring there was nothing she could do to him—he let go of the wrist he was twisting and turned around to take a look.

"Oh," the boy said. He turned around and looked at her with disinterest. "I've seen one of those. Why should I care?"

Bulma was holding her pained wrist to her chest. "See, there's a legend about the Dragon Balls. There's only seven in the whole world, and if you gather them all, then a dragon appears to grant you any wish you want. A few months ago, I found out that it's not just a legend, it's all true! Think about it—any wish you can think of! I know exactly where to find them, too, if you spare me."

She could practically see the gears turning in the boy's head. He looked back at the Dragon Balls, then back at her in evident distrust. "Prove it," he said.

Not bright, but not too gullible either… "I can prove it to you, but you've got to let me go first," she said, maybe a little too hopefully.

"Or I could just kill you and be done with this," he said in irritation.

"You could," she said, nodding, "but what if I was right? You wouldn't want to kill me and lose your chance at a wish, would you?"

The boy held her wrist in his iron grip for a few seconds, then screwed his eyes shut and turned his head as if looking away from something horrible. Then he released her. She rushed off towards her two Dragon Balls in a hurry, snatching them up.

She held the two close together, almost touching, and they began to glow like two light bulbs. "See? They know when they're being brought together. You said you've seen one before? If you help me find it, it'll glow like these two. That's enough proof, isn't it?"

The boy said nothing. He stared at the balls with something approaching curiosity, but he seemed more lost in thought than anything.

Bulma looked at him anxiously. "Well? Isn't it?" Come on, be greedy!

He turned his gaze to her and broke into a twisted half-smile. "Okay. You could be useful, so I'm not killing you yet."

Bulma let out a massive breath, but she did not miss the boy's wording. 'Yet', he says…

She put the Dragon Balls back in her bag. Silence came over the pair, during which the boy walked over to examine her car. Though she was relieved to have convinced him, Bulma still felt distinctly ill at ease in the boy's presence—perhaps his lack of clothing had something to do with that, but she also had the feeling that it would take very little for him to go back on their agreement.

To a scientific mind such as hers, it was the norm to wonder and ask questions about the unknown. She had done so with the Dragon Balls, and as a result she'd given herself a chance to be the beneficiary of a wish-granting dragon. Now she was faced with another conundrum, one that if possible left her wondering even more. Who was this wild-haired boy? How did he have the strength to send her flying with a single punch? Why did he seem so excited at the prospect of killing her? What would he want to wish for?

If she was going to be stuck with him for a time, she hoped to get some answers out of him. Rationally, she knew bringing him along would put her safety in jeopardy, but against her better judgement she couldn't help but feel curious about him.

"So, uh…" she tentatively said while the boy circled around her car. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing out here?"

"None of your business," he said. He went back to peering inside her vehicle.

Well, there goes that, she thought. It was about the answer she had expected, but it was worth a shot. She approached the car with some apprehension. "What are you looking at?" she asked.

"You use this thing to travel, don't you?" he asked, looking at her.

"Of course," she said. "You've never seen a car?"

He ignored her and walked around to the passenger side. He seemed to fumble around with the door handle for a moment, but he eventually worked out how to use it and opened the door. "Let's go, then," he said, climbing inside.

"Wait, hold up!" Bulma walked up to the car and opened the door on the driver side. The boy was sitting on the passenger seat with his feet perched up. "We've only just met! You don't think we should introduce ourselves first?"

"Why?" he asked.

"You can't go on a road trip with someone if you don't even know their name," said Bulma.

"I think you can," the boy said. He looked like he was getting annoyed by all the talking.

"Okay, look—my name is Bulma," she said. "There, I introduced myself. It's no big deal, is it?"

The boy glared at her, but after a moment he spoke up. "Kakarot."

That was an unusual name. Granted, her name wasn't exactly commonplace either, but she was pretty sure this boy was the first 'Kakarot' she'd ever heard of. Perhaps it was a name native to the eastern wildlands.

"Kakarot," she said, trying the name out. "I like it." She was actually pretty indifferent about it, but she thought it might pay to be nice.

"Whatever," he said, sounding bored. "Get in and drive."

Good God, who taught him manners? Probably nobody, she realized, but he must have grown up with someone to have learned a language. He had a bit of a country bumpkin accent, but not much. Saying nothing, she climbed aboard and closed the door.

"So…" she began, turning the car on. "You, uh, you got any clothes?"

Wow, that was dumb, she thought. Kakarot looked down at himself, as if only realizing just then that he was indeed naked. "Obviously not," he said. She couldn't fault him for the snark.

"I might have something for you to wear," she said. "Probably a bit big, but it should do."

"I don't care."

Bulma huffed, but didn't say anything and focused on driving. Clearly, the boy was in no mood to talk. Still, it was rather awkward to be driving around with a naked boy next to her, especially one that looked several years younger than herself, and she wasn't going to sit around and do nothing about it. She fished in her pocket for her capsule box and picked out a capsule which contained her overalls, which she'd taken along on the off-chance that she needed to work on her car.

"Here." She handed the capsule to Kakarot, who took it and rolled it around in his fingers. "If you push the little button, some clothes will pop out. You can put them on if you want."

"Hm."

With a quick look at the Dragon Radar, Bulma confirmed that they were heading towards the Dragon Ball in the centre of Mount Paozu and set off. A few minutes later, Kakarot had decapsulated the yellow-and-grey overalls and did not seem the least bit impressed with them. "The hell are these?" he asked, holding them up.

"They're called overalls," said Bulma. "Mechanics wear them."

"Mechanics?"

"People who fix cars," she explained. This clearly wasn't enough for the boy, who bunched up the overalls and threw them onto the dashboard.

"Give me a gi," he said firmly.

Bulma blinked. "A gi? Like a martial arts uniform?"

"Yes," said Kakarot. Now that was unexpected. The boy knew martial arts? On reflection, it wasn't all that strange, considering his strength, but where could he have learned it?

"Sorry, that's all I have that fits you," she said. Kakarot gave a low growl, but didn't say anything.

The conversation died down until, shortly afterwards, she heard the sound of something ripping. Turning around, she saw Kakarot digging his fingers into the overalls and ripping a small hole in the back.

Bulma rounded on him. "Hey, what are you doing? Those are mine!"

Kakarot shot her another glare. "It's for my tail."

At that, Bulma took notice of the brown tail that was lazily dangling off the side of the seat. She'd noticed it before, but it had completely slipped her mind after the boy had attempted to, well, kill her. Under different circumstances, she would have questioned whether the tail was real or merely an accessory, but Kakarot had so far proven himself weird enough that she found it entirely believable.

"Huh," she said, surprised at how easily she was accepting it. "You know, I've never seen a person with a tail before."

"I've never seen a person with lavender hair," he said by way of a retort.

"Having a tail is way weirder than that!"

Kakarot said nothing. Irritable as he was, she decided to let the matter go. There would be other opportunities to find out more about him. The conversation lapsed into silence and Kakarot changed into the overalls. They were a bit baggy on him, but with the sleeves and pants legs rolled up they just about did the job.

For an hour, the only sound that could be heard in the car was the steady, rhythmic beeping of the Dragon Radar informing her that they were approaching their destination. The terrain grew steadily more hostile. As she waded the car across a small stream, Kakarot suddenly perked up and looked out of the window as if he'd recognized something.

"Go somewhere else," he said. He was glancing around at the wilderness.

Bulma looked at him oddly. "What? Why?" They were heading straight for the Dragon Ball. Why would he want to turn back?

"Go somewhere else," he repeated. Bulma slowed the car to a halt and stared at him.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. His tone of voice had been close to impassive, but she could tell something was bothering him.

"I've been here before," said Kakarot. "I know where we're going."

Oh yeah, he did say he'd seen a Dragon Ball before, Bulma recalled. "So? Is there a problem?"

"Just shut up and go somewhere else!" Kakarot didn't look like taking no for an answer. Bulma bristled, but tried to keep her composure. The boy was really starting to get on her nerves.

"You…you know we need all seven of them, right?" she asked, trying to be reasonable. "We can't exactly ignore one."

"We'll come back for it," said Kakarot. "Get the other first."

"But—but that's gonna take so long!" A quick glance at the radar confirmed this. "The next one is almost a thousand kilometres west!"

"Go there, then."

"But I—you—ugh!" Bulma threw her hands in the air as if in surrender, but she knew arguing was a lost cause. With an exasperated sigh, she put the car in reverse. "Alright, fine, we'll do it your way. Just don't complain if it takes us another month to get them!"

So it was that the unlikely duo turned its back on Mount Paozu and began the long journey west. Leaving the region was rather less harrowing than entering it, as with each metre the going got easier and easier. Mountains turned to countryside, dirt paths became paved roads, and from morning to evening they covered almost enough ground to reach the border of the region.

The diplomatic sort might have described the conversation they had along the way as 'succinct'. Bulma couldn't help but ask questions, but her strange companion had only the tersest of answers to give, if he gave any at all.

"So…what do you wanna wish for?"

"…"

"What were you doing in Mount Paozu?"

"…"

"Do you live there?"

"…"

"How are you so strong?"

"I train." That had been the first question he'd chosen to respond to, and she found his response dubious at best. Though he had answered, he apparently couldn't be bothered to look at her, instead staring out of the window. Then, as if as an afterthought, he'd added something else: "I'm a saiyan."

No amount of questioning or probing could get him to say anything more on the matter, and so Bulma was left wondering what that meant for the whole of the trip. Kakarot, for his part, had some questions for her, which she was glad to answer.

"Are you from civilization?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm from West City, the most populous city in the world."

A moment of silence. "Tell me about the cities."

Bulma didn't know what to say at first. That's a bit open-ended. don't you think? "Well, there's a lot of cities in the world, so I'm not really sure where to start," she said. "The biggest cities are West, North, East, South, and Central City. Central City is where the king lives and South City is the capital of an empire called Mifan, which is technically under the king's rule. Not sure how that works."

"What's the total world population?"

"Uh, about seven billion. Why?"

He ignored her question. "Are they all as weak as you?"

"Well, I mean, probably not," she said, slightly miffed at his wording. "I am a girl after all."

"Why does that matter?"

"It totally matters!" she said, a bit heated. "I don't expect you to get it, being raised out here. Anyway, let's just say that most people are probably not strong enough to…survive being shot."

Saying those words stirred an uncomfortable feeling in her that she couldn't quite place. She'd shot him. Okay, he hadn't been hurt, but she hadn't shot him in the knowledge that that would happen. It had been in self-defence, but she had still acted believing that he would die. She wasn't sure how to feel about that.

It seemed Kakarot wasn't sure how to feel about her response either. Upon hearing it, his face turned quite pensive, and he had no more questions to ask. It was a strange thought, that only a scant few hours before they had each attempted to kill the other. There was something surreal about it, something that almost made her question whether it really happened. Though she still found something about Kakarot off-putting, she began to wonder whether he really would have gone on to kill her if she hadn't offered him the Dragon Balls. According to him, he was only eleven. Could any eleven-year old boy really kill without a second thought, and with a smile on his face?

With these thoughts in mind, she began to relax, but a reminder that all was not well with Kakarot came that evening when they set up camp.

They stopped on the side of the road, just after crossing a bridge over a small stream. The forest was beginning to thin, so that there was enough room by the road to decapsulate the house. After being initially fascinated by her house and all its luxuries—consisting of a single room with a kitchen, bed, and living space, plus a separate bathroom—Kakarot had announced that he would be heading out to hunt for dinner, despite her reassurances that she had more than enough food for the both of them.

The moment he left, she considered a simple idea. Should I leave him behind?

That would certainly have made her journey simpler, but at the same time she was curious about the boy. Okay, he wasn't a joy to be around, and she'd have to let him make the wish—whatever it was that he wanted to wish for—but he couldn't have been all that bad. Not to mention that he could serve as a good bodyguard.

Speaking of fruits…would I really want that infinity supply of strawberries after all? It's not like I couldn't afford it. Hmm…

No, she would stay with him for now. Decision made, she set about preparing dinner. A little while later, she noticed the light of a fire crackling just outside. Setting the heat on minimum, she walked out out the front door and froze.

Kakarot had returned. He was standing by the fire, slowly placing a skewered coyote over it to cook. Beside him was a small pile of mangled animal corpses. Squirrels, pheasants, wolves, others so disfigured she couldn't even identify them. He'd set aside a massive sea turtle—where he'd found one, she couldn't fathom—whose head was horribly crushed. Kakarot's overalls, hands, and chin were covered in blood.

She screamed. Flinching, Kakarot turned around to look at her. "Quiet!"

"What the hell is this?!"

"What?" Kakarot looked as if he didn't understand the question. "I went hunting."

"You—that—" She pointed a shaky finger at the pile of butchered animals. "You call that hunting?"

He grinned at that, his first expression since that morning that didn't broadly fit under either 'disinterest' or 'mild annoyance'. "Well, it was a little more than just hunting, I suppose," he said, looking thoroughly pleased. "I could have killed a lot more, but it's not as fun if you don't play with them first…"

Bulma stared.

"My favourite was this one," he said, walking over to the sea turtle. He prodded it lightly with his foot."Kept saying that it was lost and trying to find the sea."

"It—it could talk…?" Bulma was horrified. For some reason, knowing this made the whole scenario that much worse. If it was true, it wasn't just animal cruelty, but the murder of a sentient and self-aware creature. She couldn't believe someone so young could do that—and to talk about it so casually…

Looking at the animal corpses made her stomach churn. Hurriedly, she retreated inside and went to the bathroom, feeling sick. Fortunately, she was running on an empty stomach, and so did not throw anything up. Her appetite had vanished.

I must have been kidding myself, thinking he wasn't that bad, thought Bulma. Still a little nauseous, she left the bathroom and went to lie down on the sofa. This is just great. My first time adventuring and I end up stuck with a crazy kid that likes torturing animals. What have I ever done to deserve this?

Not long after, Kakarot came in. Bulma did her very best to avoid looking at him, rather like he had been doing throughout most of the day. Unfortunately, this was going to be rather difficult, as the first thing he did when he crossed the threshold was walk up to her.

"You seem troubled," he said flatly. Bulma glowered at him. Under the artificial light, it was clear just how much blood he'd got on the overalls and himself. Some of it was still fresh.

"You dropped a bunch of dead animals on my doorstep," she said sourly. "What do you expect?"

"I was just…surprised," said Kakarot. He did not quite meet her eyes as he spoke. "I knew you were weak physically, I just didn't think you'd be so sensitive."

Bulma blinked. Is this his way of apologizing, or…?

"I'm worried you might be scared of me," he continued, "and I'm worried that because of that, you might think about sneaking out at night while I'm not looking and leaving me behind."

"I…wasn't thinking that, no," Bulma said slowly, neglecting to mention that she had entertained the same thought earlier. "I'd just like you to not do anything like that again. I have food."

"I can't have you running away," he said, ignoring her statement. "I'll sleep with you."

"What?" Bulma was a little offended. "You can forget about that! You're sleeping on the couch!"

"I have to hold onto you while I sleep to make sure you don't leave," said Kakarot. His tail waggled slightly behind him. "Let's go now. I want to wake up early."

He grabbed her by the wrist and unceremoniously pulled her off the sofa and towards the bed. Bulma's eyes widened. "Wait, you can't go to sleep looking like that!" she said.

"Why not?" he asked, pausing.

"It's unhygienic, not to mention you could stain the bed covers with all that—that blood," she said, stumbling over her words."You should take a bath and get changed first."

Kakarot stared at her. "Seriously?" He sounded as if he could not believe she was asking this of him.

"Yes, seriously," said Bulma, trying to be firm, but the look he was giving her made her shrink somewhat. He might not have looked so intimidating if she didn't have a sense of what he was capable of. "I-I mean, it's not the end of the world, don't get me wrong, but—"

Kakarot rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever, I'll do it."

"Oh," said Bulma. She hadn't expected to convince him that quickly. "Okay. Well, the bathroom is just over there."

Letting go of her, Kakarot crossed the distance to the bathroom door in a flash. He went to open the door, but stopped himself short. "Wait a second," he said, turning around. "You're not fooling me!"

"Uh…what?"

"You're trying to get me to go into the bathroom, so you can run away!" Kakarot pointed an accusatory finger at her. "Well, I'm not falling for it. You're coming with me!"

"Where in the world did you get that idea?" Bulma was dumbfounded. Kakarot grabbed her wrist again and dragged her towards the bathroom. "Oh, come on, I wasn't trying to—"

"Shut up!"

For the remainder of the night, there was to be no reasoning with the boy. The bloodstained overalls went in the wash while he bathed. Bulma sat on the floor by the door while he did, pointedly looking everywhere but at him. She had initially offered to help him wash, and had been somewhat insulted at how quickly he'd refused. Shouldn't any boy have jumped at the chance to be bathed by a beautiful girl?

Nevertheless, everything went mostly without a hitch. Bulma gave Kakarot a set of pastel pink pyjamas which were much too large for him. "I'll look ridiculous in these," he had said, but he had relented when she assured him that they were much more comfortable than his overalls. Although he insisted on ripping a hole for his tail, much to her chagrin, she found the end result quite comical. He might have even looked cute, if he wasn't the same person that had needlessly killed a number of animals just hours beforehand.

When the time came to sleep, they shared the bed as he had insisted they would. He lay on the edge of bed, facing away from her, his tail wrapped around her arm so that she couldn't move from her spot.

"Good night," she said, but he didn't respond. She wasn't all that sleepy yet—it was quite early by her standards—so she had ample time to stare at the domed ceiling and think.

Well, this isn't what I had in mind at all. I should just leave like he thought I was going to. I'll probably get the chance—he's being all paranoid now, but he's only a kid, and he probably grew up in the wilderness. He can't be that smart. That's a good idea. I'm sure I'll get the chance to run away at some point, although…I don't know, he's kind of interesting. Irritating, a bit creepy, but I wonder how he got to be the way he is. He must have been raised in the wilderness. But then how does he know how to talk and walk like a normal person? Maybe I should stick with him for now. I'm sure I'll find out more about him. Like what his wish is. Hmm…what should I wish for…something money can't buy, since I've got so much of it. They say you can't buy love. Oh, I know! I'll wish for the cutest boyfriend in the world!

AN: I've always been very self-critical, which has kept me from publishing anything. Recently I've decided that I'm past that, even if I'm not happy with the quality of the writing. I'll just start getting it out there, see where we go from here. Nobody reads fanfiction for high art and literature, right?

This is an often tackled premise, but one which I've not seen done in a way that I've found satisfactory. Kakarot stories tend to either make him a good/not-bad guy from the start (what's the point?) or lean too heavily on his evil side without providing him with any real moral conflict. I'm not saying this story will be better than any of the others, that's just the angle I'm approaching it from.

I don't know how far I'll get, but I will say that I do have ideas for post-Z floating around (they will probably be completely different to the end product if and when I get there). I'll update whenever the next chapter is ready.

I should also say that this story will be more AU than just 'Goku stays as Kakarot', but I'm not going to explain that here because I should express all that through the narrative itself. For example, though, the more eagle-eyed among you may spot something in this chapter that hints as to what I will do with Tien and Chiaotzu's characters.

On the topic of AU, these are a couple things that are actually not in the manga and therefore could be considered 'AU' despite what many would think:

'Mount Paozu' being the region where Goku grows up. I don't believe this is ever referenced in the manga, Paozu appears as the name of the old lady in the village terrorized by Oolong, the one that gives Goku the Dragon Ball. As well, Goku's family is not shown living near Grandpa Gohan's house in the manga, merely that they live in the mountains somewhere.

Bulma's family name being Briefs. Bulma doesn't have a family name, and I believe people think this is the case because her dad is referred to as Dr. Brief/Briefs (I think it's Brief in the manga). That is just his name. In fact most characters don't have surnames in the DB world, like Videl says.

That's all good fun. So was writing this. On to the next one!