New story on the horizon!
See the end of the chapter for notes
The cover picture was drawn by cozymochi on Tumblr (please don't kill me for having it here)
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball, it belongs to Akira Toriyama! I only wrote this story! Enjoy!~
Chapter 1: Quest for the Dragon Balls
A tiny butterfly flapping its wings may lead to a devastating hurricane weeks from now. The smallest change can dramatically alter the future, the actions and choices made shaping how the story unfolds. Each story is one of many possibilities. But some changes are beyond our control. And in this world of mysticism and adventure with too many twists and turns to count, a single change proves to have lasting consequences…
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After the incident in Aru Village that led to Oolong joining Goku and Bulma, the trio found themselves wandering in the Diablo Desert, having no mode of transportation when Bulma lost her capsule case in the river. With exhaustion brought on by hours of trekking in the harsh heat, the three of them elected to relax in the shadows of a large rock formation, with Bulma falling asleep almost instantly while Goku and Oolong made small talk amongst themselves, the journey through the desert seeming to be quite uneventful thus far.
That is, until a certain blue-furred feline spotted them through her telescope and immediately went to tell her master, the single change in the timeline revealing itself as they set out towards the pig and monkey-tailed boy…
The revving sound of an approaching vehicle drew Goku and Oolong's attention to what looked like a speck in the distance at first glance, but as a few seconds passed, it was revealed to be someone rapidly approaching them on a Jet Squirrel. It stopped in front of them and the rider jumped off, revealing to be a young woman who introduced herself as Yamcha, the feared bandit of the Diablo Desert, and her trusty sidekick Puar.
"I am the queen hyena in a land of scavengers," she said, smirking at them as confidence practically dripped from her voice. "The name is Yamcha."
With Yamcha demanding any money and capsules they had on them in exchange for their lives, Oolong, who previously been checking her out in silence, quickly turned to Goku, telling him to fight the woman off just before ducking for cover behind the rock formation, which still hid Bulma from Yamcha's view. Seeing her opportunity, Yamcha unsheathed her sword and swung it at Goku, only for him to jump in the air and dodge it, taking out his trusty Nyoibō and attacking her with it.
Yamcha had quickly recognized the scarlet staff, question the monkey-tailed boy where he got it, to which Goku revealed that his grandfather, the legendary martial artist Son Gohan, had given it to him. Though fascinated at the thought of battling Gohan's grandson, Yamcha refused to let her guard down, deciding to bring out her signature attack: Wolf Fang Fist, leading to Goku crashing into a separate rock formation that crumbled down on him.
Though she hated the idea of ending a child's life, Yamcha refused to show mercy and turned back to Oolong, who, after fruitlessly trying to escape using his shapeshifting abilities, was about to hand over a single capsule he had in his pocket when Goku jumped up from the debris, looking more hungry and annoyed than hurt.
Surprised, Yamcha charges towards Goku with another attack, to which Goku quickly countered with his Jan Ken technique, sending Yamcha flying several feet before hitting the ground. This only served to enrage the female bandit, who charged towards Goku, who was beginning to feel weakened from hunger, with a furious yell.
The yelling succeeding in awakening Bulma, but Yamcha paid the other woman no mind as she attacked Goku with one last Wolf Fang Fist, sending him into another rock formation and crashing to the ground. Having put a lot of her energy into that last attack, Yamcha stops for a moment to catch her breath before grabbing her sword and making her way towards Goku and Oolong, determined to finish her robbery and steal everything they have, forcefully if she has to.
That's when she hears the sound of a gun cocking and stops in her tracks, turning to see Bulma standing several feet behind her, blue eyes narrowed in anger with her pistol aimed directly at Yamcha.
"Leave. Now!" The bluenette's demand is practically a growl.
But Yamcha barely hears her, her dark eyes wide with surprise. She immediately recognizes this girl: Bulma Brief, heiress of the most successful company on the planet, Capsule Corporation. She was practically the media's darling; everyone knew who she was, knew of her fortune.
And as this realization dawns on Yamcha, she suppresses a devilish smirk with a warm smile, a plan quickly forming in her mind.
"Well I'll be," Yamcha said, jamming the blade of her sword into the ground. "Bulma Brief. Tell me, what's a city girl like you doing in the desert?"
"That's none of your damn business!" Bulma snapped, gun still aimed at the dark-haired girl.
In the end, Yamcha manages to make it go her way, able to smooth talk her way into convincing Bulma to relax and lower the gun, then tells the trio of how she isn't satisfied with the bandit lifestyle, how she's begun to feel empty from it, how she wants to start a new life away from her crimes. She asks them in an innocent tone if they are on some kind of adventure, to which Goku, without a second thought, replies with yes. Still keeping up an innocent and now shy façade, Yamcha asks if she can join them, saying that she always wanted to go on an adventured, that maybe this could be her chance to start a new life, and pointing out to Bulma that she could always need some extra muscle for protection.
"You wouldn't want anything bad to happen if Goku gets hurt, would you?" she asked Bulma, who seemed to consider this for a moment.
Goku simply replies with yes, not thinking twice about giving her a second chance in his naivety, but also really wanting food right now. Oolong, for his part, is eager at the idea of having another woman join them; sure, she wasn't as curvy as Bulma, but her chest and bottom still had some development on them. And after a moment or two, Bulma agrees to this.
Yamcha happily thanks them, but inside, she's laughing maniacally, everything already going perfectly as planned.
OoOoOoO
As Yamcha and Puar head back to their hideout to pack their things, Oolong opens up his capsule, which is revealed to be a House-Wagon. At the hideout, Puar asks Yamcha why she did that, to which Yamcha excitedly tells the feline her plan: to gain the trust of the trio, then beat up Goku and Oolong when they least expect it and capture Bulma to demand ransom money from Capsule Corp. It was brilliant, and Puar happily cheered at the plan.
They quickly return to the Wagon-House, and the five of them talk for a while over dinner, where Yamcha becomes surprised at Goku's immense appetite. Bulma heads off to take a shower, and Yamcha takes the opportunity to ask Goku where they're headed to. Oolong chimes in, wondering why Goku and Bulma want to head to Fry-Pan Mountain, the statement surprising Yamcha and Puar, as they are aware of the Ox King's reputation.
Goku responds by telling them about the mystical Dragon Balls, about how when you gather all seven, a dragon is summoned to grant you a wish, and tells them that one of the Dragon Balls is at Fry-Pan Mountain. The information fascinates Yamcha, Oolong and Puar, and Yamcha starts turning this information over in her head as Bulma returns from her shower, angry at the undersized pajamas that Oolong had provided her. Yamcha offers to let Bulma use one of her nightgowns, to which the heiress joyfully agrees to as Yamcha and Puar head to the bathroom to shower as well.
While in the shower, Yamcha tells Puar that she has a new plan now: to steal the Dragon Balls once all seven are collected and wish to never be afraid of boys again. Confused, Puar asks her master if she'd rather have boundless wealth or rule the world, only for Yamcha to reply that she has no use for the world and can just steal all the money she wants. The only thing she really wants is to not be so damn shy around boys, confessing of her dreams of one day getting married.
Once they finish showering and dry off, Yamcha and Puar head out of the bathroom. But when they open the door, Bulma, who is wearing one of Yamcha's oversized nightgowns, is revealed to be standing there with an angry smirk on her face, much to Yamcha and Puar's horror as they realize she heard everything they said. Bulma doesn't hesitate to cockily berate Yamcha for her plan, but after a few minutes of this, makes a surprising proposition: Yamcha helps them on their quest for the Dragon Balls, and in return, Bulma agrees to give her "confidence lessons" to help her with boys.
"Sure, I'm not amused with your little 'plan'," Bulma says, smirk still remaining on her face. "But hey, we girls help each other out."
Yamcha is surprised at Bulma's proposition, but started to think about it. Looking back, she wasn't really lying when she said she wanted a new life away from her bandit ways. Sure, she had Puar, but she had no friends or even human contact outside of the people she's robbed. She had secretly been wanting these things for a long time now, and happily accepted Bulma's offer.
After Yamcha gets dressed in her own nightgown (which fits her perfectly), Oolong offers each of them glasses of "juice", and they head to bed once they've drunk them, falling asleep surprisingly quickly, with Bulma occupying the bed upstairs and Yamcha taking up the couch close to it. Once Goku is fast asleep, Oolong quickly sneaks upstairs, intent on peeking on the girls while they sleep…but as soon as he gets upstairs, Puar, who was familiar with the pig's schemes and only pretended to drink the "juice", turns into a frying pan and smacks Oolong on the head, knocking him unconscious for the rest of the night.
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The next morning, everyone awakens, with Oolong having a headache from Puar's attack. Since Bulma doesn't have any clean clothes available, Yamcha lets Bulma wear some of her's. While Yamcha chooses to wear a green T-Shirt, tan cargo pants and her usual boots, Bulma dons a red tank top, blue denim shorts and black and white tennis shoes. Oolong is silently frustrated that he won't be able to get Bulma in that playboy bunny costume he has stored, but chooses to keep quiet and takes what he can get.
After breakfast, Oolong starts the drive towards Fry-Pan Mountain all day while Goku, Yamcha, Bulma and Puar all talk and laugh amongst themselves, starting to build up camaraderie over the course of the day. When Yamcha mentions she wants to get married one day, Goku asks her what marriage is and she explains it to him. During this time, Yamcha learns about Son Gohan from Goku and about Bulma's wish for the 'perfect boyfriend' (which Yamcha inwardly rolls her eyes at). At sunset, they stop for the night. Yamcha and Goku step outside to stretch their legs and spar together, allowing themselves to have fun as they aren't fighting to the death like last time.
The journey to Fry-Pan Mountain takes two days. Yamcha and Oolong tell the story of the mountain as they draw closer, explaining how it used to be called Pleasant Mountain until ten years ago, when a fire spirit fell from the heavens and transformed it into a mountain of eternal flames. The sight of Fry-Pan Mountain blanketed in flames shocks Goku and Bulma, as Yamcha and Oolong fill them in with the Ox King.
"All who approach his mountain come to horrible ends," Oolong said, fear evident in his voice.
Yamcha nodded in agreement. "Look at the top of the mountain. See that castle in the flames?" she pointed directly at it. "That's his. It overflows with gold, silver, and other treasures that he's looted from all over the land. Thousands have tried to steal it, but he keeps a constant vigil, and none have returned alive."
Bulma quickly concluded that the sixth Dragon Ball must be inside the castle, and is confident that Goku and Yamcha can take on the Ox King. Oolong, however, is now fully convinced that they're insane and tries to drive the House-Wagon away…only for Bulma to use that Swee-Trot against him to make him stay.
The five of them make their way closer to the base of the mountain and find an abandoned village in ruins. Goku summons his trusty Kinto'un cloud and tries to fly over the flames to get into the castle, but the heat proves to be too much and he retreats.
An enormous axe suddenly slams into one of the half-destroyed houses, extremely close to Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar, and they slowly turn in horror to see the Ox King standing over them.
"What're yew doin' here on mah land?" He growled out, wrenching his axe from the house rubble, his voice booming at them. "Aimin' to swipe my treasure, aren'cha? Well?! Izzat it?"
The four of them quickly defend themselves, starting to say through their stuttering that they're just passing through. But at that moment, Goku returns, telling them that it's too hot to break into the castle. Ox King, however, immediately notices Kinto'un and asks Goku where he got it. Goku tells him it's from Roshi, the Turtle Hermit. Ox King is overjoyed and reveals that Roshi was his master, but quickly noticed the Nyoibō and asked about it as well, and when Goku tells him it's from his grandpa Gohan, Ox King tells him that he trained alongside Gohan under Roshi.
Ox King tells Goku about the Bansho Fan, which can put out the fire on the mountain, that Roshi is the one who has it, and asks Goku to retrieve it, to which Goku agrees to. But before he leaves, Ox King makes an additional request to pick up his daughter Chi-Chi and shows a picture of her, and Goku heads off on Kinto'un to do so.
Goku finds Chi-Chi, who is scared and running from a dinosaur. She kills it just as Goku jumps to the ground, and becomes frightened by his sudden appearance and attacks him. Goku fights back and is able to bring Chi-Chi down, and once she's calm, he tells her why he's there and where he's going. Chi-Chi climbs aboard Kinto'un and heads off to find Roshi with Goku. Along the way, Goku does his "Pat-Pat" to make sure Chi-Chi's a girl, which freaks Chi-Chi out and makes her mad at him for the rest of the trip.
Eventually, Goku and Chi-Chi are able to find Kame House were Roshi lives. They explain the situation to Roshi and ask for the Bansho Fan. Roshi agrees to do it, but in return, he asks Goku to ask Bulma for a "favor." Goku, not understanding the implications of it, says yes. Roshi searches for the Bansho Fan, but ends up finding out that he had thrown it away after spilling wonton soup on it sometime ago. Chi-Chi is distressed, convinced she can never go home, but Roshi has another plan and heads back to Fry-Pan Mountain with Goku and Chi-Chi.
Once they make it back, after Ox King sincerely apologizes to his master, Roshi talks with Bulma about his "favor", which Bulma is furious about at first, but suddenly gets an idea and agrees to it. And, much to the others' amazement, Roshi performs the Kamehameha wave, concentrating all his dormant energy into a single focused blast. It puts out the fire, but destroys the mountain in the process.
Bulma, Oolong and Puar look for the Dragon Ball within the castle ruins. Meanwhile, Chi-Chi notices Yamcha and talks with the older girl, and Chi-Chi becomes shocked when Yamcha tells her that she's a martial artist.
"B-But that's impossible!" Chi-Chi yelled out in her shock. "Girls can't be fighters…Can they?" A thoughtful look appeared on her face.
As this is going on, Goku asks Roshi if he can teach him the Kamehameha. Roshi tells him that it takes fifty years to learn it, but within seconds, Goku attempts it and destroys the House-Wagon with it. Roshi, in his amazement after witnessing this and learning that Goku is Gohan's grandson, asks Goku if he wants to train under him, to which Goku excitedly accepts.
Bulma finds the seven-star ball, now having six Dragon Balls and only one more to go. With the House-Wagon destroyed, Ox King gives the group his old car and they capsulize their belongings from the House-Wagon. They prepare to leave, but Roshi stops Bulma and reminds her of their deal. With her idea in mind, Bulma pulls Yamcha aside to explain the situation, and asks Yamcha to take her place for the "favor", which shocks and flusters Yamcha and she refuses to do it at first.
"Come on, Yams," Bulma practically begged her. "After what happened last time, I can't do it. Just this once? Please, as a favor woman-to-woman? I promise I'll make it up later."
After a few minutes of convincing, Yamcha reluctantly gives in. Bulma brings Roshi over to tell him that he's getting a "new girl" and rushes off, leaving a flustered Yamcha with Roshi. Yamcha tries to do it, but freezes up, and in frustration, Bulma rushes back over to Yamcha, grabs the bottom of the ex-bandit's shirt and lifts it all the way up, revealing the black bra underneath and resulting in Roshi getting a nosebleed.
Bulma heads back to the car with a mortified Yamcha, and the group of five say their goodbyes and head off to find the last Dragon Ball.
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A few more days pass and the group continues towards finding the final Dragon Ball, heading further into the desert, when their car is suddenly shot by a rocket and blown up, though they're thankfully more shocked than hurt. A dog-man in a robot suit appears and steals the briefcase containing the Dragon Balls; Goku summons Kinto'un to go after him and Yamcha tags along, pleasantly surprised that she can ride the cloud as well. Goku and Yamcha find the suit, but it's empty and the dog-man and the Dragon Balls are nowhere to be seen. Luckily, Goku still has his four-star ball.
Yamcha still has a few back-up capsules in her pockets and takes out her Silver Star Mark 4 car, and they use the Dragon Radar to go after the Dragon Balls. Within minutes, they find an enormous castle and head inside, but are lured into a room and trapped inside. The TV inside the room turns on and Emperor Pilaf, Mai and Shu introduce themselves before demanding the four-star ball, which the group refuses to give them. Pilaf tries to "intimidate" Bulma with his prudish methods, but it backfires.
The Pilaf Gang pumps sleeping gas into the room, causing the group to pass out and the Pilaf Gang rummages through their things until Mai finds the four-star ball on Goku. At nightfall, the gang wakes up and attempts to break out of the room, but to no avail. Goku tries to use the Kamehameha, but it only creates a small hole. Puar and Oolong are able to transform into tiny bats and fly through the hole just as Pilaf summons the eternal dragon Shenron outside. Oolong gets an idea and rushes over before Pilaf can make his wish.
"Okay!" Pilaf exclaimed loudly, looking up at the dragon with pure rapture. "I wish to rule—"
"The panties of a hot babe!" Oolong cried out, cutting Pilaf off.
And sure enough, a pair of panties floated down from the sky into Oolong's hands, and Shenron vanishes, the Dragon Balls turning to stone and scattering across the Earth.
Furious, the Pilaf Gang rushes towards Oolong and Puar as they retreat back to the room, where they're able to use their transformations and Goku and Yamcha's attacks to break open a much larger opening in the wall, allowing them to escape and run through the castle, trying to find their way out, but are once again trapped in another room, this one with walls constructed for pure steel and with a shatter-proof layer of glass for the ceiling. That's when Pilaf gleefully tells them over an intercom what the glass is for: the afternoon sun in the desert is brutal, and with no protection from the sun, the interior of the cell will essentially turn into a rice cooker and overheat the group.
The group is sent into a panic and they try for hours to break out of the room, but even Goku's Kamehameha doesn't make a single dent in the walls. Tired from all the fighting and panicking, the five of them slump against the wall, reluctantly deciding to accept their fates. Oolong spots Puar looking up at the sky and she tells him that she's looking at the full moon. At the mention of a full moon, Goku tells them about a monster that comes out during the full moon and that it was responsible for the death of Son Gohan, but he has never seen it. Then he mentions that Gohan always told him to never look at the full moon, which frightens the group when they piece it together.
Bulma tells Goku not to look up, but he does anyways. For a minute, nothing happens, but just as the group begins to relax, Goku begins to transform into a giant monkey monster, breaking them out of the room but starting to mindlessly rampage all around the castle, destroying as Yamcha, Bulma, Oolong and Puar run away as the Pilaf Gang escapes. With no way to stop Goku and not knowing of any weaknesses, the four of them are forced to hide and run from the monster all night, until dawn when Goku finally stops and reverts back to normal, falling asleep immediately.
The four of them, exhausted from last night's events, find a nearby cluster of mushroom trees and take Goku there, passing out in the shade for several hours. They wake up in the mid-afternoon a few minutes before Goku does, and decide not to tell Goku that he was the monster. Goku wakes up and has no memory of what happened; the others simply tell him that the monster attacked them last night, which Goku buys. With Goku having no clothes due to his being destroyed, Oolong gives him his pants.
Goku rushes off to retrieve his Nyoibō from the castle rubble, and Bulma offers to let Yamcha, Oolong and Puar come back to the city with her, to which they all say yes. Goku returns with his Nyoibō and Bulma gives him the same offer, but he declines in favor of training with Roshi. Goku tells Bulma he still wants to find his grandpa's four-star Dragon Ball, and as Yamcha takes out a capsule plane, Bulma gives Goku the Dragon Radar.
Yamcha, Bulma, Oolong and Puar say their goodbyes to Goku, who summons his Kinto'un and they head their separate ways after the first of what will be many adventures in the future.
I've wanted to do an abridged fic for a while now, and I've also wanted to do a "What if Yamcha was female?" fic as well, so I thought, why not combine the two?
If you know me, you know that I have the tendency to go into detail when writing stories (I can't help it), so for me, and abridged fic is a detailed summary instead of a full story, with some dialogue here and there
Now we've already got a number of changes, and it's only the beginning of the story:
Yamcha joins the group early, and Goku learns what marriage is much earlier in the story.
In the original story, Yamcha met Chi-Chi and "confessed his love" for her before she met Goku, which put her in a romantic mood already. But since that never happened here, Chi-Chi remained angry at Goku after he touched her and Goku never made his promise to marry Chi-Chi.
Due to Yamcha being with the group already and not spying on Goku, she never learned that his tail is his weakness, and because of that Goku rampaged as an Oozaru until dawn and kept his tail.
Yamcha and Bulma become good friends instead of romantic partners.
And lastly, you may have noticed that I completely skipped the Monster Carrot section. The reason I omitted it is because it was only included to give Bulma a new outfit, but since she borrowed some of Yamcha's clothes, it's not needed here. Plus, while it shows us more of the fantasy element that was prevalent in early Dragon Ball, it isn't really necessary for the story in the long run.
I'm excited to see where we go from here ^^ Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Please leave a review letting me know what you think! God bless you and have a wonderful day/night/whenever you read this!