Chapter 4: The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi

"Come on, you two! Get up!" Bulma shouted.

"Just a few more minutes…" Kakarot groggily mumbled as he tossed and turned in his sleep.

"What do you mean a few minutes?! You two of you were out here eating all night, and now the two of you are fast asleep! I was ready a long time ago! Do you even know what you're sleeping on?!" Bulma angrily asked.

Kakarot grumbled and opened one eye, finding out that he and his sister Kale were sleeping on top of a large pile of wolf bones. He thought for a moment, and then closed his eye again. "We're on a pile of bones…" he muttered.

"How can somebody even take comfort in sleeping on a pile of bones?..." Bulma muttered. She was already dressed and ready to go.

She sighed and was about to yell some more, when a voice called out to them. "Hello there!" it shouted.

Kale and Kakarot immediately got up, eager to see who their new friend was. "W-What?! So THAT'S all it took to wake them up?!" Bulma thought to herself.

To their surprise, a large sea turtle slowly walked towards them. It took a few minutes, considering how slow and large the thing was, but it eventually stopped in front of them. An awkward silence followed, which was broken when Kale said "Wow! A turtle! Can we keep him?!"

Bulma ignored the girl's question and got down to the turtle's level by bending down. "Uh, hello there. Is there something you need?"

"I hope you don't mind, but I would really appreciate it if I could have some saltwater…With some seaweed too, if possible…" the turtle asked.

Bulma glared at the turtle for a moment, and then sighed.

"Sure, I guess. But you sure do ask a lot for a turtle, especially one that we literally just met…" she muttered.

The turtle gulped down the saltwater that Bulma had provided to him in a bucket. The three adventurers watched silently as the turtle slowly placed down the bucket and wiped his mouth.

"Thank you very much! I feel alive again!" he rejoiced.

"But what are you doing out here?" Bulma asked. "I didn't know that turtles lived all the way out here…"

The turtle then sighed and said "That's because we don't. I was picking up mushrooms, and I inadvertently lost my way from the others! I've been searching for the ocean for the past year now!"

Bulma checked her map and then looked at the Turtle. "Well, you've been going in the exact opposite direction! If you want to go back, you're going to have to travel 120 kilometers THAT way," she said as she pointed to the path that the turtle had just come from.

"WHAT?! Oh no…" the Turtle exclaimed.

"What's an ocean?" Kale asked Bulma.

"It's basically a giant puddle of water," Bulma explained, not taking her eyes off of her map.

Kale blinked twice and then looked at the turtle. A smile spread across her face. "I can take you to the ocean, Mr. Turtle!" she offered.

"Really? You would do that?! Thank you so much!" the Turtle replied happily.

Kale then picked up the turtle and threw him onto her back. Kale instructed the turtle to wrap its arms around her neck, which it did. She then did some warm-ups and prepared to sprint towards the ocean. She bent down and prepared to run, but was stopped by Bulma.

"Hey! You can't do that!" she shouted.

"Why not?" Kale asked.

"Because we have to find the Dragon Balls! Besides, it's none of our business. We'll have to hope that he manages to find the ocean by himself," Bulma responded.

"Yeah, besides, we could eat the turtle instead…" Kakarot said as he licked his lips.

The turtle became worried, but Kale shrugged. "You guys can go find the Dragon Balls. I'll bring the turtle to this ocean place and then meet up with you guys," she explained. And with that, she zoomed off.

Bulma sighed and looked at Kakarot. "Well, I'd much rather have Kale, but I suppose you're pretty okay too, Kakaro-"

Kakarot zoomed off after his sister. He'd much rather go on an adventure with her than stick with Bulma.

Bulma blinked twice and immediately realized what was happening. "Fine! Be that way! I didn't really need your guys' help anyways! But I NEVER want to see you guys again!"

She thought about chasing after them, but ultimately decided against it. She didn't really care for what happened to them. After all, her goal was to collect the Dragon Balls, not babysit an old man's grandchildren. "Well at least now I won't have to worry about THEM…" she muttered as she took out her Dragon Radar. Her eyes immediately widened.

"You have to be kidding me! The next Dragon Ball…Is in the same direction that they're heading in…"

She grumbled as she took out her motorcycle and zoomed after them.

"Didn't you say that you never wanted to see us again?" Kale asked as Bulma finally managed to catch up with them.

"She was probably scared all by herself," Kakarot sneered.

"Oh shut up! I'm only following the same path as you guys because the Dragon Radar picked up a signal coming from this way! It's just a coincidence!" Bulma yelled.

"Whatever you say…" Kakarot muttered.

The trio continued to head to the ocean, learning that the sea turtle's name was just 'Turtle'. They talked and bonded as a team. Little did they know, however, they were being watched…

"Hehehehe…That's a tasty lookin' morsel they got there…" the figure stated as he licked his lips and salivated. He was secretly watching the group through a telescope. He then smirked. Just as the group got close enough, the figure jumped out of the shadows!

The figure was an extremely large anthropomorphic bear with brown fur. He wore armor and had a long scar running down his left eye. He also held a broadsword. Bulma gasped as he came into view.

"Hey there, kiddos. You wouldn't mind givin' me that there turtle, would ya? Sea turtle's my favorite…" the bear asked with an evil grin spread across his face.

"G-Go ahead, sir…Kale, how about you give the nice person that turtle, okay?" Bulma nervously replied.

Kale shook her head while Kakarot stuck out his tongue at the bear.

"We're not going to give you this sea turtle! We're bringing him back to his home! And besides, if anyone's going to eat him, it's going to be me!" Kakarot shouted as he stepped forward.

"Moron! What do you think you're doing?!" Bulma yelled.

The bear frowned. "Hm, I was goin' to let you three go…But it appears I'll have to kill ya first! I'll start with the spiky-haired one!"

The bear took out its sword and swung at Kakarot. The young warrior, however, jumped back, avoiding the attack. "Hehe, you're pretty quick," the bear stated with a smirk.

"How are you not fazed at all by this?!" Bulma asked Kale, who simply shrugged.

"Kakarot hunts animals all the time, and he's much stronger than he looks. I think he'll be fine," Kale responded.

The bear growled and swung his sword again, and again, and again. Kakarot easily dodged each and every attack, a smirk present on his face. Angry and tired, the bear let out a roar and shouted "Alright! No more playing around!"

Kakarot grinned. "Alright, sure!" he shouted as he front-flipped over the bear's head, landing behind him. The bear then swung his sword once more, but Kakarot jumped over it yet again, this time landing on his blade. Before the bear could even realize where the tiny warrior was standing, Kakarot jumped onto its snout.

"ROCK!" he yelled as he delivered a powerful punch to the bear's forehead.

"SCISSORS!" he yelled as he poked the bear's eyes with his fingers.

"AND PAPER!" he yelled as he slapped the bear extremely hard.

He backflipped off of the bear's snout and onto the ground as the bear collapsed.

"Now, to finish him off…" Kakarot grinned as he walked towards the bear and cracked his knuckles, eager to end its life.

He was about to deliver a chop to the bear's neck, but was stopped by Kale. "Kakarot, Grandpa Gohan said that you should never kill your opponent, but rather respectfully tell them that they did a good job, bow, and then leave," she instructed.

Kakarot glared at his sister and then groaned. "Fine," he bitterly stated before doing as he was told.

"W-Wow…He's that strong?.." Bulma fearfully muttered to herself.

"Well, let's get going," Kale said.

The group continued, and eventually found their way to the ocean. "We're here!" Bulma announced.

Kale placed down the turtle as she and Kakarot looked wide-eyed at it. "Wow!" they yelled in unison.

"We did it! It's the ocean! It's all ocean!" Turtle yelled happily.

"Well, obviously," Bulma replied.

Turtle immediately got into the ocean and swam around happily. He then looked at the trio, and almost shed a tear. "Thank you very much. I'm extremely grateful," he said with a nod.

"No problem! You take care now!" Kale grinned.

Turtle swam for a bit, but then stopped. "Could you guys wait there for a bit? I insist on giving you a gift in return!"

"A gift?" Kale asked.

"Yes, a gift! I will return shortly! Please excuse me," Turtle said as he swam away.

"Hey! Wait! We don't have all day! We can't just sit around and wait for you!" Bulma yelled. Of course, Turtle was long-gone, and couldn't hear her yells.

Pilaf played around with the Dragon Ball in his hands, happily thinking about the day when he would finally become the true emperor of the Earth. His daydreaming was cut short, however, when Shuu and Mai barged into the room.

"Ah, there you two are! Well, did you get the Dragon Ball?!" Pilaf excitedly asked as he jumped from his seat.

"Ah, about that, sire…" Shuu started.

"The info was false! The glow was actually from a pack of hungry wolves, which we were attacked by!" Mai explained.

"Yeah, and then these weird monkey kids showed up and-"

Before Shuu could even finish, Pilaf began to yell. "Fools! Incompetent fools! You two can't do anything right!"

Shuu and Mai immediately became silent, but to their surprise, a grin spread across Pilaf's face as he took out a map. "Luckily, I, the great and merciful Emperor Pilaf, have found out the ACTUAL location of the Dragon Ball for you two!" he proudly stated as he pointed to a little island on the map. "Apparently, an old man known as the Turtle Hermit has it!"

"T-Turtle Hermit? That's an odd name…" Mai muttered.

"I think I've heard of him though…I just can't remember where…" Shuu added.

"Who cares if you've heard of him?! We should go and get that Dragon Ball before something else pops up and stops me from claiming it!" Pilaf shouted.

"We? You're coming too, sir?" Mai asked.

"Of course I am! You fools can't do anything right! Now come on!" Pilaf replied as the trio walked off to the hangar, where they entered a plane and flew away.

Bulma watched as Kale and Kakarot competed to see who could make the larger pile of sand. Of course, the two were pretty much even, and Bulma was getting pretty annoyed with the whole thing.

"When will that turtle come back? It's been quite a while…" Bulma said to herself.

Just as she said this, however, Turtle came back into view, and it seemed that there was…an old man on his shell?

"Woah…Who do you think that guy is?" Kale asked as she stood up.

"Maybe he's the gift," Kakarot suggested.

"Don't be stupid. That man's obviously not the gift that Turtle promised!" Bulma interjected.

The old man had a large, white, mustache and beard. He was wearing an orange shirt and grey shorts. He was also wearing a pair of sunglasses, and, possibly the strangest thing about him, he had a large purple turtle shell on his back. In his hand was a large brown cane.

"Good afternoon!" he called out as Turtle grew closer and closer to the shore.

"I hear you rescued Turtle over here-" he began, but was cut short by Kakarot.

"Who are you, mister?" Kakarot asked.

"My name is Master Roshi, the Turtle Hermit!" the old man replied. He then turned to Turtle. "Which one helped you?" he asked.

Turtle pointed his fin towards Kale and said "The little girl did."

Master Roshi then walked towards Kale and said "Thank you for your kindness. As a gift, I shall reward you with an extremely special present!"

"A present?!" Kale asked, beginning to get excited.

Master Roshi nodded and said "Yes. A present."

He then turned to the ocean, pointed his cane to the sky, and yelled "COME TO ME, IMMORTAL PHOENIX!"

"Phoenix?! Bulma exclaimed with a grin.

"What's a Phoenix?" Kale asked her brother.

Kakarot shrugged. "Maybe it's a food…"

"No, you two! A phoenix is a bird that never dies!" Bulma explained.

Kale's eyes widened in excitement, while Kakarot smirked.

"I was kind of correct," Kakarot said.

An awkward silence followed. "Erm, the Phoenix should be coming any minute now…" Master Roshi muttered.

"Actually, Master Roshi," Turtle interjected. The Turtle Hermit looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "The Phoenix died of food poisoning last year."

"Oh, yes, I suppose you're right," Master Roshi said, scratching his bald head.

"How could it have immortal then?!" Bulma asked.

Master Roshi ignored Bulma's question and began to think in deep concentration. Then, a grin spread across his face as he snapped his fingers. "I know! I'll just give you this instead!"

He raised his brown cane to the sky and yelled "COME TO ME, FLYING NIMBUS!"

Before anybody could even question what the old man had said, or what a 'Flying Nimbus' even was, a little yellow cloud zoomed from the sky and came before the Turtle Hermit. He then turned to Kale.

"Here you go, little girl. As a reward for saving Turtle, I will give you this Flying Nimbus!" Master Roshi declared.

Kale inspected the cloud and then looked at the Turtle Hermit. "What does it do?"

The Turtle Hermit then grinned and said "It is a very special cloud which allows you to soar across the skies! All you have to do is call out to it, and it will come flying towards you, no matter where on Earth you are!"

Kale's eyes widened. "Wow, really?! That's amazing!" she exclaimed.

"However, there's a catch."

Kale looked at the Turtle Hermit. "A catch?"

Master Roshi nodded. "Indeed. You can only ride it if you have a pure heart. In other words, you have to be a good person," he explained.

Kale's gaze returned to the cloud. "I'm a good person, I think!"

"You most likely are, since you helped Turtle. Here, let me demonstrate how to ride on it," Master Roshi said.

He hopped onto the Flying Nimbus, expecting to land on top of it. Unfortunately for him, however, he fell through the cloud and landed on the floor! Kale and Kakarot looked confused, while Bulma burst into laughter.

Turtle immediately came to the aid of his friend. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. But that shouldn't have happened…Perhaps it's broken…" Master Roshi muttered.

"Let me try!" Kale said as she rubbed her hands together. She then jumped onto the Flying Nimbus and…She managed to stay on!

"Hooray! I'm doing it!" Kale cheered as she jumped on the cloud.

"She's on it!" Turtle exclaimed. "But then that means…It actually works and isn't broken!"

Kale then sat down on the cloud and patted it. "Alright, let's fly!" she excitedly exclaimed. The Flying Nimbus then soared through the sky, doing all sorts of fancy flying techniques. It even turned upside down, yet Kale still managed to stay on. After riding on it for a bit, Kale returned to the shore and jumped off. "Thanks a lot, sir! This thing's so much fun!" she exclaimed.

"Hey Kale, can I have a turn?!" Kakarot asked.

Kale nodded. "Go right ahead, Kakarot!"

So, Kakarot jumped onto the cloud…and fell straight through it!

"Oh, I guess I can't ride it. That stinks!" Kakarot exclaimed.

As the two Saiyan children laughed together, Master Roshi scratched his beard. "Hm, that's odd. They seem to be siblings. But then why can one ride it while the other can't? They both seem so innocent…No. I can sense it. Deep within that boy is a terrible lust for violence. As for whether or not he's hiding it or just genuinely doesn't know he's a violent person is beyond me…" he muttered to himself.

"Master Roshi, you're talking to yourself again," Turtle said.

"Oh. My bad."

"Hey, nice old man! Can I have a special gift like that too?!" Bulma asked.

Master Roshi raised an eyebrow and then looked at Turtle. "Did she help you out too?" he asked.

Turtle angrily shook his head. "No way! She didn't help me at all!"

"HEY! I GAVE YOU SALTWATER, DIDN'T I?!" Bulma yelled.

Master Roshi scratched his beard again. "Hm…I suppose I COULD give you a gift…But on one condition."

The sky turned dark and the waves behind him became more violent. He glared at Bulma with a strange smile on his face. "You have to show me your panties."

"P-P-PANTIES?!" Bulma and Turtle exclaimed in unison.

Master Roshi nodded.

Turtle began to yell at the old man. "Master Roshi! This is most unbecoming of you! How could you ask such a terrible thing?!"

"Hey! Old men like me want to have fun sometimes as well, you know!" Master Roshi shot back.

"Now I understand why you couldn't ride the Flying Nimbus…" Turtle muttered as he rolled his eyes.

Bulma, whose cheeks were now red, looked down. "My…Panties, huh? I think I could do that…"

She then pulled up her skirt and shouted "HERE YOU GO!"

Upon seeing the girl's underwear, Master Roshi immediately had a nosebleed. "I should've brought my camera…" he muttered, much to the disgust of Turtle.

Bulma immediately pulled her skirt back down and asked "Well?! What do I get?!"

Master Roshi scratched his head. "Right…Now, what should I give to this young lady?..." he asked himself.

His train of thought was cut short, however, when Bulma noticed something of interest around the Turtle Hermit's neck. Upon further inspection, she discovered that it was the three-star Dragon Ball!

"Say, can I just have that instead of one of your fancy gifts?" Bulma asked.

Master Roshi looked at Bulma. "Huh? Oh, you mean this? Sure, I guess. I just keep it around because I think it looks cool…" he said as he handed it over to Bulma, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Kale! Kakarot! Over here! I just got the fourth Dragon Ball!" she excitedly exclaimed.

Kale and Kakarot rushed over to Bulma.

"Wow, this one has three stars on it! That makes it the Three-Star Ball!" Kale said as she examined the ball.

"One…. two…. three…. That just leaves three more Dragon Balls to collect!" Kakarot added.

"Dragon Balls…So that's what they're called…" Master Roshi muttered.

After thanking the Turtle Hermit for the gifts that he had given them, the two groups parted ways, with Bulma, Kale, and Kakarot headed towards the next Dragon Ball, and Master Roshi and Turtle headed towards their little house which was placed on an island. However, as they grew closer and closer to their island, the duo discovered that they had some uninvited guests in the form of Pilaf, Shuu, and Mai.

"Who are you people? And why have you come to this island?" Master Roshi asked as he jumped off of Turtle's back and onto the beach.

"U-Us?! We're the owners of this island! The Turtle Hermits!" Pilaf lied as he hid behind Shuu and Mai.

Master Roshi frowned. "Is that so? Well, you lied to the wrong person. I, Roshi, am the TRUE Turtle Hermit!" he declared. "And, once again, I am asking who you are and why you are here. I think it's best that you answer…"

Ignoring Master Roshi's threats, Shuu snapped his fingers. "Now I remember why the name 'Turtle Hermit' was so familiar! It's because he's also known as the God of Martial Arts and-"

Before Shuu could even complete his sentence, he, along with Pilaf and Mai, felt an intense pain in their stomachs. Master Roshi had punched them! The trio was sent comedically flying into the air and over the horizon. The old Turtle Hermit chuckled to himself.

"Now those evil fiends are off my island…" Master Roshi muttered. He then turned to the plane that they arrived in and smirked. "…And I have a new plane!"

Q: Will Kakarot be much stronger and violent than how he was in canon?

A: Violent? Yes. Stronger? Maybe. It'll really depend on how the story turns out, the experiences he goes through, and stuff like that. Though if I had to guess, I'd say maybe he'll become a bit stronger, since he won't insist on sparing every villain he faces. Right now, he's as strong as his canon counterpart.

And chapter four is finally done! Just barely managed to finish it in time. It turned out a bit longer than I originally intended it to be, but hey, I suppose it's not that big of a deal. As always, please review, and I'll see you guys next week!