Objectives

Dinner was peppered with planning and protests and arguments between the two. ChiChi didn't want Bulma joining her on her quest to find Master Roshi, declaring the responsibility lay squarely on her shoulders. Bulma, on the other hand, refused to let ChiChi go it alone.

"You were traveling alone," ChiChi pointed out.

"I happen to be sixteen. Practically an adult. How old are you?"

"Thirteen!"

"See? You're just fresh outta being a preteen. You are not mature enough to go adventuring on your own. Whereas I have three years of worldly experience under my belt." Bulma blatantly ignored the incredulous are-you-kidding-me look on ChiChi's face. "Besides, how far do you think you're gonna get on foot? Plus it's not like you packed any supplies or have any money on you."

The younger girl hung her head, trying not to sulk at her half-eaten dinner. Bulma had a point but that didn't mean ChiChi had to like it.

"The way I see it, ChiChi, we're in the same boat so we should stick together. Those Red Ribbon fuckers will be looking for both of us and we can watch each other's back. Besides, after I finish my business at Mount Paozu I... I don't really have anything else to do or anywhere to go back to."

Capsule Corporation wasn't safe. Whatever security system her father had set up, whatever security team he'd hired to guard the estate, they hadn't worked. It was probably safer for the employees if she pretended she was still out gallivanting on her announced adventure, blissfully unaware of what had happened to her parents back home.

"B-but why would you want to help me?" ChiChi countered, determined to handle her own problems by herself. After all, how did she expect to rule over her mountain kingdom if she kept depending on other people's help?

"Uh duh?" Bulma laughed, "Like you told me. Because it's the right thing to do."

After they finished eating and disposed of their dinner trays, Bulma brought out a small holographic map projector. There was a blinking dot in the Diablo desert, to which the former heiress identified "This is us." She began to input commands into the small keypad and the map view shifted, "This is Mount Paozu. I need to find some martial arts dude called Son Gohan there."

"It's an awfully big mountain. How are you supposed to find one man there?"

The blue-haired girl looked hesitant for a moment then gave ChiChi a serious look. "What I'm about to tell you is a huge secret. Promise me you won't ever tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

"I promise," the younger girl nodded, dark eyes wide and curious though her lips were pressed into a solemn line.

Bulma decapsulated her dragon radar and held it out, "Son Gohan has something called a Dragon Ball."

"What's a-"

"A Dragon Ball is basically an orange ball that completely fucks up your life," Bulma explained bitterly before shifting into a more academic mode, "Using the dragon radar, we should be able to find the Dragon Ball in Mount Paozu. We find that, we find Son Gohan." She activated the device and it immediately detected four signals. Blue eyes stared at the screen, "That's weird..."

"What is?"

The former heiress began to adjust the settings on the radar to filter the exceptionally strong signal coming from the far north. Gesturing for ChiChi to come closer, Bulma then turned the green-gridded screen towards the dark-haired girl. "Take a look at this. Tell me what you see."

"Three dots. What's it mean? Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure. There might be. See, two of those dots are mine but look where the third one is coming from."

"Somewhere in the Diablo desert."

"And we're not too far from it. It's maybe an hour's drive away?" Bulma furrowed her brows and began to adjust the radar's settings again. With one hand pointed at the projected map she said, "According to this, Mount Paozu should be within range of the radar but..."

"But?"

"Just look," the former heiress instructed.

"There's no dot at Mount Paozu," ChiChi realized.

"Which means that-" an explosion from the capsule house's front door cut her off.

A/N: Thank you all for the condolences. Sorry for such a short chapter. Still trying to get back into the right frame of mind for this fic.