Chapter 4:

One year later, Mika and Gohan stood in front of the huge spaceship that had been modified by Bulma, who stood proudly examining her work.

Poor Gohan stood embarrassed as Krillin boggled his bowl-cut. He was wearing a ridiculous-looking suit that itched him uncomfortably.

Luckily for Mika, she had escaped her mother's wrath just before they left, much to Chi-Chi's disapproval. Her hair was now up to her chin, some parts curling up a bit in spikes. Goku's daughter, all right. She wore the orange gi Goku had given her when he had arrived, and when they had stopped by at the hospital, Goku felt a great sense of pride for his now four-year-old daughter. He had laughed at Gohan, though.

"Piccolo," Bulma said loudly and clearly, and the door, which to Mika's dismay was on the bottom of the ship, floated down.

"Whoa," she mumbled as she, her brother, Bulma, and Krillin climbed on.

"Make sure to do your homework, both of you," Chi-Chi called. "And make sure to write to me every day. I'm sure there's an intergalactic post office or something, and make sure to brush your teeth and floss and-" the door closed.

"Great," said Gohan, "Now I can change out of this."

Bulma took her seat at the steering wheel.

Gohan was now in his purple gi, in honor of Piccolo.

"You really honor that guy, don't you?" Krillin grinned. Hard to imagine anyone admiring Piccolo after the things he'd done.

"He was my first teacher," Gohan said, shrugging on the gi.

Mika gave an absent smile as she looked out the window. She saw her mother blowing her nose into a tissue and crying against Ox King, Chi-Chi's father.

Sorry, Mama, she thought. But I'm doing this for Piccolo.

"Piccolo," Bulma said, and the ship blasted off without any warning, sending everyone (except for Bulma) hurtling against the walls.

"Hey," Krillin said. "How about a warning next time?"

"Well, I'm sorry," Bulma replied snidely. "It's not like I know everything about this ship."

"Yeah, whatever," Krillin said, rolling his eyes.

"Grr," Bulma snarled. "If I wasn't driving this thing you'd be dead!"

Gohan and Mika snickered. They knew Bulma was widely known for her bad temper and fair unreasonableness.

Pretty soon the ship was going smoothly through space and Bulma left the wheel. Mika giggled as she watched her chase Krillin around with her very own Frying Pan of Doom (she'd borrowed it from Chi-Chi to keep the boys in check).

Mika stared out the window, watching stars and planets quickly go by. It was mesmerizing.

After a couple odd run-ins that this story will not go into much details about (mainly because it's just a bunch of useless filler), they arrived on planet Namek.

"Okay," Bulma said, "Let me check out the oxygen level of this plan-hey!" Much to Bulma's dismay, Krillin, Mika, and Gohan were already out of the ship, exploring.

She ran out. "Hey, you guys could have died! You're lucky this place has the same oxygen levels as Earth."

Mika ignored Bulma's rants and examined the green sky and blue vegetation. "Wow..." she muttered. It was like opposites.

"Okay," Krillin said, checking the dragon ball radar. "There's a dragon ball straight ahead of us. This should be a snap!"

"Mika," Gohan said, "you and Bulma head over to that cave. Make sure nothing happens to Bulma. Okay?"

"Right!" Mika said. She floated up, holding Bulma.

"Be careful with me!" Bulma yelled. "Don't drop me!"

The flight was only a short distance, and Mika landed right in front of the cave, setting Bulma down. "Thanks," Bulma said. To tell the truth, Bulma was a bit embarrassed to be able to be carried by a four-year-old. But this was Son Goku's daughter. Bulma watched Mika do an odd dance with a strange-looking butterfly. She saw her trustingness, her naivete, her willingness to help someone else at her own cost. Mika was a sweet, strong little girl. Who knew how much potential she had? And Bulma knew Goku would never dream of missing the chance to train her.

Suddenly Mika's stomach emitted a loud sound of protest. "I'm hungry," she admitted sheepishly.

Bulma shook her head. Goku's daughter, all right.

"Can I go look for food?" Mika pleaded. "I promise I'll be back soon."

Sighing, Bulma relented, allowing the little girl to go bounding off in search for a victim-er, I mean snack, to fill her tummy.

Mika flew, set on a target: food. She watched all the trees go by, not one sprouting fruit. And she needed to go back and protect Bulma.

She gasped as she spotted a pond. Maybe she could catch a fish!

And catch a fish she did, scaling a gutting it just like Gohan had taught her. She set up a fire and roasted her fish right over it proudly.

When it was ready...well, the rest is history.

Mika managed to save a human-sized portion for Bulma so she wouldn't feel left out. She levitated into the air, holding protectively to her fish.

Just as she was about to take off she caught a glimpse of something shiny in the grass. She got closer to take a better look...and found it was a dragon ball! And it was huge. She set down her fish and planted her hands firmly around the ball, heaving it up. She fell over backwards under the weight, but quickly regained her balance. Mika turned back to grab her fish, and saw it was being eaten by a little Piccolo!

"Hey, what're you doing to my fish?" she screeched, and the little Namekian boy looked up guiltily.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I was hungry."

Mika stared at him. "But Piccolo never eats. He says people like him never eat."

"Yeah," said the Namekian, standing up and brushing himself off. "But I'm different. I get hungry. Sorry for eating your fish. My name's Yair." He extended a small green hand, and Mika shook it.

"My name's Son Mika," Mika answered. She guessed Bulma would have to do without her fish.

"So are you here for the dragon balls?" Yair questioned.

"Yeah," Mika said, surprised that he knew.

"People come here all the time for 'em," Yair said. "Even the bad ones." His face darkened. "Are you a Bad One?"

Mika shook her head. "No."

Yair's face cleared. "Good," he declared. "Because there's nothing worse than a Bad One."

Mika decided that she liked Yair. He was a comical young fellow, much in contrast to Piccolo.

"I have to get back to Bulma," Mika said finally. "Do you want to come, Yair?"

Yair said, "What's a Bulma?"

"Well," Mika stopped to process this. "A Bulma is...a Bulma is...how about I show you." With this she grabbed Yair under his arms and lifted him into the air.

Now, where's that cave? she wondered. She had had Yair hold the dragon ball for her so her hands would be free to carry him.

Eventually she found the cave and landed. "Bulma," she called.

The blue-haired woman ventured out. "Is it you Mika?"

"Yes," Mika replied. "Meet Yair."

"Yair?" Bulma fully stepped out. "Oh my gosh, he's like a little Piccolo!" she cooed. "Who would have guessed he could be so cute?"

"Um," Yair didn't exactly know what to say, so he stood and allowed Bulma to fuss over his nonexistent hair.

"Ahem," said Mika, attempting to restore Bulma's attention back to herself. "I found a dragon ball."

In a flash Bulma was poring over the giant sphere. "Wow," she said. "It's a lot bigger than the ones we have on Earth."

"Isn't it?" Mika said proudly.

"Good job, Mika," Bulma said, and Mika grinned.

Gohan and Krillin arrived. "We got two dragon balls!" the two announced happily.

"Me too!" Mika cried, hugging her brother. "This is Yair," she pointed to her friend, who was by now just standing there awkwardly, not knowing what to do or say.

"Um, hi," he said awkwardly.

Krillin made a face. "Weird," he said. "We found a Namekian boy, too. This's Dende," he pushed another young Namekian, looking much like Yair, forward.

"Dende!" Yair cried.

"Yair!" Dende yelled. hugging the other.

"You two know each other?" Bulma asked.

"Know each other?" Dende laughed. "We're twin brothers!"

There was a moment of shocked silence.