A/N: So I guess I'll use this space to respond to any reviews I get. Thanks so much for taking the time to review my story, by the way!

dreadix: Don't worry about all that. This is a What-If - bending canon is what it's supposed to do. ;)

Leon Venxus: 12, just like Goku at the start of Dragon Ball.

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 4

The Pilaf Gang And Fire Mountain

When Bulma and Vegito moved to leave, they found a wall of intrigued villagers in their way. "Move it, would'ja?" Vegito barged his way through, "Am I some kinda personal army for you?"

"You did handle Yamcha quite well," Bulma complimented.

"I'm not fighting anyone 'till lunch."

Unfortunately for the hungry boy, there came a terrible roar from the other side of the village. "Too bad, kid!" Bulma shoved Vegito towards the source of the noise. Grumbling to himself, he continued on to where it had come from.

Standing at the gate of Aru Village was a tall, crimson-skinned man with a wide figure and slicked back hair, who wore a pearly-white suit. "Outta the way, boy!" he demanded in a heavy Spanish accent.

"Are you Oolong?"

"That's Lord Oolong to you, kid!"

"Can we just fight quickly? I'm super hungry."

"Oh, you want something to eat, do ya?"

Then, Oolong summoned a great longsword that shined a similar colour to his skin. "I can't eat a sword," Vegito frowned.

Oolong grinned, then morphed. Suddenly, he much more resembled a knight clad in dark armour with beady red eyes hiding behind his helmet - eyeying Vegito. He gave an over-the-top yell as he charged, the sword raised. Vegito leapt away from the blade as it came crashing down. Had his stomach not been rumbling, he would've had the energy to do more.

Therefore, he ran off - darting between the houses. Oolong gave chase, laughing maniacally. Finally, Vegito found what he was looking for. Stopping in front of a small grocer's, he ducked inside, then quickly burst out again - chomping on a carrot.

Although a little taken aback by the fact that this kid ran from a fight to find a snack, Oolong swung again. This time, Vegito effortlessly kicked his sword into the distance. "Huh-Huh-How?" the shapeshifter bellowed.

Wolfing down what was left of his carrot, Vegito shrugged, then firmly planted his fist in Oolong's gut. Thanks to the mass his current form gave him, Oolong didn't go flying. He did, however, fall backwards like a plank of wood. "Not again," Vegito sighed. The black knight on the ground gradually changed into a humanoid pig in a military uniform, but he didn't get up.

Poking her head out of her house, the old woman (the one who had previously pointed a shotgun at Bulma's grey-matter) said, "Did you get him, boy?"

"I guess."

She headed out, prompting the rest of the villagers to hurry out, too. As the old woman headed over to Vegito - shadowed by Bulma - the others crowded around the fallen Oolong. "Well I'll be," the lady beamed, "Who'd have thought our saviour would be a young boy?"

"Uh-huh," Bulma nodded along, "Can we have that Ball now?"

"Oh, of course," the woman retrieved it from her bag, alongside something else. "Here. For you, sonny," she handed Vegito a small capsule. He threw it down, but it just clattered against the floor.

Bulma leaned in and whispered, "You have to tap that button on the top."

"Oh."

Vegito grabbed the capsule again and repeated his previous action, this time sticking to Bulma's instructions. What popped out was a small red car about the size of Bulma's motorbike. "It's better than a cloud," the girl remarked, heading over and switching the vehicle back into a capsule.

Vegito pocketed it.

. . .

Unsurprisingly, Nimbus could easily keep up with Bulma's bike.

The next few Dragon Balls were miles from Aru Village - according to Bulma's machine - so the two had hit the road as soon as the grateful villagers had fed them. As she gripped the handles of her vehicle, Bulma couldn't help but think about just how much the boy flying alongside her had eaten. She wouldn't be surprised if he'd thrown the village into a famine.

He didn't even seem to be full, either.

Taking her eyes off the road for a second, Bulma looked at Vegito's tail. That was a conversation just waiting to happen, she decided. "Why've you got a tail?" she asked.

"Why don't you have one?"

"Because I'm not a weird monkey-boy. Why do you have one?"

"I guess I was born with it. Happy? I never really bothered wondering about it."

"Fair enough. Hey - earlier, when the old hag from Aru was talking about her Dragon Ball, you kinda froze up. What's up?"

"What she said kinda... I dunno. I think I'd like mine back after all this."

"What? Why?"

"It was my grandpa's and he always liked it, so I reckon I should keep it for him."

"Hm. Sure, you can have it back. It's not like I'll need it after I wish for the perfect boyfriend."

"Yuck."

Then, Bulma's bike hit a pecularly-placed twig left in the dirt. The vehicle's front wheel exploded, causing Bulma to be thrown from the seat. Although he had managed to catch the girl with the help of Nimbus, Vegito couldn't save the motorcycle - which spun out of control and smashed against a tree to the side of the natural road.

Letting Bulma down, Vegito hummed. "Nice driving," he teased.

Catching her breath, Bulma surveyed the flat landscape the two were situated on. "You still have that car, right?" she asked, "It didn't fall out of your pocket."

As soon as the boy reached to check, a voice boomed from behind. "Stop right there! Nyaa hah hah hah!" it demanded.

From behind a bush stepped a small blue-skinned humanoid with pointy ears and a wide, toothy grin. He strutted over to the two adventurers and said, "Greetings! I am the great Emperor Pilaf! I couldn't help but notice the trouble you two are in!"

"Were you hiding behind that bush?" Bulma narrowed her eyes at the newcomer.

"So what if I like to nap in bushes?" Pilaf suddenly snapped, before composing himself. "Regardless," he cleared his throat, "It wouldn't be any trouble for me to walk you wherever you're going."

Bulma retorted, "I'd rather not go on a hike with a goblin that lives in bushes, thank you very much."

Pilaf sighed. "Alright, it's not workin', guys," he said. From the shrubbery he himself had come from burst a ten-foot exosuit decorated with a trinity of mismatched colours. Behind the tinted windows were the faces of a dog in a tightly-fitting ninja outfits and a dark-haired woman with a long coat.

"Boss," the dog said from within in a doofy voice, "Do ya want us to knock 'em out so you can take their Dragon Balls?"

"Shut up down there, Shu!" the woman kicked at him.

"S-Sorry, Mai!"

"Just stick to the plan!" Pilaf ordered. Turning back to his potential victims, he clasped his hands together and said, "Henchmen these days are so useless, wouldn't you agree?"

With that, the Pilaf Machine charged. Pushing its namesake aside, Vegito leapt up to meet it - silently hoping that it wouldn't go down in one hit. It went down in one hit, his fist puncturing the cold steel that made up its outer shell. "Abandon ship!" Shu screamed, diving out of his cockpit and running for the hills, closely followed by Mai.

"How did you know we have the Dragon Balls?" Bulma interrogated, staring daggers at Pilaf, who gulped.

"I made th-this," he revealed a similar-looking contraption to Bulma's own Dragon Radar. Before she could inquire further, he had run after his teammates - begging for them to wait up.

Vegito and Bulma exchanged looks and shrugged.

. . .

"Hey Bulma."

"Yeah?"

"Are mountains supposed to be on fire like that?"

"What?"

The purple-haired girl, who was now stuffed into that old red car, looked up from her Dragon Radar and her jaw dropped. Before her was a great mountain completely engulfed by rolling flames. The smoke that rose from the fire was surprisingly minimal, but still left an ugly trail in the sky.

"N-No."

"I was gonna say. That doesn't seem natural."

"My Radar says the Dragon Ball is around here somewhere," Bulma panicked, "What if it's all the way up there?"

Outside, Vegito jumped down from Nimbus, sending it away. Before he could give her an answer, a towering man in a golden helmet hurried over. The boy prepared to throw a kick, but the stranger stopped him. "I'm sorry to startle you!" he said in an unbelievably deep voice, "But as you can see, the tour's cancelled."

Bulma clambered out of her car and asked, "What happened here?"

"Well," the man began, "One day, Fire Mountain just combusted. I have no idea why."

Vegito tilted his head to the side.

"That means it just suddenly set light," Bulma explained.

"Oh. Wait, it was called Fire Mountain before?"

"Yes. It's unfortunately ironic."

Again, Vegito looked at Bulma for help. "Irony is like when-- Oh, I'll tell you later," she sighed. "Look," she turned to face the giant, "We're looking for the Dragon Balls. There might be one up there."

"I'd give it to you if I could. My name's the Ox-King, by the by. It's a shame we've only met under such terrible circumstances."

"Daaaad!" a shrill voice called from across the ashen landscape. A girl - no taller than a little kid - in a horribly revealing blue outfit with a spiked helmet came running over. "Are these the people you sent for?" she asked.

"No, I'm afraid not," Ox-King answered, "This is my daughter, Chi-Chi."

"Hello," Chi-Chi said in a somber tone.

"I asked one of my soldiers to go and fetch Master Roshi. He was my old teacher, after all. He--"

"Oh yeah, we know Master Roshi," Vegito interrupted, "How could an old guy like that help you?"

"He is in possession of the great Bansho Fan! It's the only thing that can extinguish the fires on the mountain," Ox-King announced.

"Extinguish means to put something out," Bulma translated before her companion even had to ask, something of a smug look on her face. "Hey, Vegito could go get Master Roshi for you," she offered, "As long as we can have that Dragon Ball."

"Oh, sure," Ox-King beamed, "Take Chi-Chi with you."

"Nimbus!" Vegito shouted. The cloud quickly shot down to his level and he hopped on. Marvelling at the whimsical sight, Chi-Chi also climbed aboard. "Alright," the boy sighed, "Let's go."