Goku broke through the rubble, climbing up into another room with a short growl. They'd blown him up! That wasn't nice at all! The tall man that he'd been fighting stood there with a gun in his hand, a short man with red hair laying flat on the floor just behind him. The short man wasn't moving.
"Ah, thank goodness you're alive!" the man he'd been fighting spoke.
His eyes narrowed. "Yes, I am! Now let's finish this!"
"Listen," the tall man requested, "I'm sorry, but I don't want to fight you anymore! I'm a victim, just like you!"
"If that's really true," the boy barked, "why are you pointing a gun at me?"
"You scared me, that's all!" the soldier insisted, quickly putting it away.
This seemed... off. Kagome had told him that they really needed to be careful earlier... "Why are you being so nice to me now?" he demanded.
"I asked the commander not to hurt you, so he decided to punish me as well!" the man tried to convince him.
Goku blinked, surprised. "You fought the commander to save me?"
"He knows I don't like to fight children, so he told me that you were here to hurt him - when I learned you only wanted the dragon balls, he tried to kill me to try to cover up his lie!" the soldier told him.
"Well, why is he on the floor?" the boy pointed out curiously. "Is he asleep?"
"Yes, he was saying that he was feeling ill, so he had to lay down," the man explained with a bit of a smile. "Bad headache."
Well, he guessed that made a little sense...
"If we're not fighting anymore, then do you mind if I take the dragon balls?" he asked.
"I'm afraid the commander would miss them when he wakes up," the soldier apologized. "Say, why don't we join forces and collect them together?"
Goku frowned, feeling confused. "But the dragon will only grant the wish to one of us."
"I understand your concern!" the man assured. "But you have nothing to worry about; the Red Ribbon Army has no interest in the wish, we have everything we could possibly want! The wish is yours! All we want is to see the seven balls reunited - see, the commander! He has a soft spot for dragons!"
The boy thought it over for a second. "No, thanks," he finally decided. "I don't believe you. Besides, we promised Upa that we'd help bring his father back, and you're the reason that he got hurt in the first place!"
"My deepest apology if there's been some misunderstanding!" the soldier tried again, giving him a reassuring grin. "I'll report this to our customer service department immediately. Give us another chance, that's all I'm asking! Hand me your dragon balls and we can be partners. Wouldn't that be fun?"
Goku shook his head. "I can't trust you. I don't think you really care about me or my friends; I think you just want my dragon balls. And besides," he chuckled proudly, "I already have a partner!"
The man frowned and raised his gun, firing it off at the boy. He quickly dodged out of the way, ducking into the guy's guard and delivering a kick to his stomach. The soldier dropped the dragon balls that he was holding, bending over and clutching the area with a pained groan. The balls rolled a ways across the floor, and Goku glanced up over towards the window when he heard a knock on the glass.
"Kagome!" he beamed. "What took you so long!"
She grinned back and brought an elbow back to break through the glass, her eyes suddenly going wide as she pointed behind him insistently. He turned around just in time to get a giant robotic fist in his stomach, sending him flying against one of the walls with a heavy crash. He slumped, the sound of the window shattering making him breath a low sigh of relief. At least his friend was there with him now.
"Goku!" she shouted worriedly, joining him against the wall and helping him sit up.
"You're a tough kid alright, but you slam into a wall just like anyone else!" the soldier laughed loudly, leveling one of the robot's fists at him. "You think one little girl is going to make a difference? With your destruction, there will be no one to challenge my power!"
The priestess glared at him. "You wanna try it, pal?" she growled.
The robot fired at them, and she immediately threw up one of her bubbles before the attack could land.
"What?!" the soldier gasped. "You little-! You're using force fields, are you? Well, I know how to take care of that!"
He slammed one of the robot's fists down on them, making Kagome grunt in pain.
"H-hey!" Goku yelped, grabbing one of her arms. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
She winced. "I'm fine. Where did his dragon balls go?"
The boy glanced around, trying to find them. "I don't know!"
"Strange," the man murmured, pulling the arm back to punch the bubble again. And again. And again. "What sort of force field are you using, you brat! No technology is able to keep a charge through multiple blows like this!" he snarled, pelting them with a rain of bullets.
The priestess's face had gone pale, a trickle of sweat dripping from her forehead. "I-I guess I'm not... that equipped to handle so many physical attacks anymore," she wheezed.
"Kagome, it's okay," the boy insisted. "I can take him!"
She met his eyes worriedly, but nodded. "Be careful," she murmured, letting the bubble fall away.
Goku nodded determinedly and charged, only to get grabbed and thrown out the very window (and part of the wall) that the girl had come in through with a shout. He flew through the air, smacking against one of the other buildings and sinking to the ground with a groan.
"... Oops," he mumbled, rubbing his head sorely. "Ow, ow, ow... Kagome's not gonna like this."
The robot flew out after him, blowing a crater where he had been sitting.
He frowned. "Time to give them a taste of their own medicine!"
The boy leapt down on top of the robot, tapping it to get the man's attention and making faces at him. Again, he leapt out of the way at the last second and laughed when he ended up punching himself.
"You look silly!" he declared from his place on a new rooftop. He blinked. "Huh? Why is he turning upside down?"
His eyes went wide when something shot out at him, and he hurried to kick it back.
He gaped when it hit a mountain and blew the whole top off.
"Hey!" he shouted as the man tried running away. "Get back here!" He propelled himself up into the air, breaking right through the robot and making it explode. He grinned and laughed as he fell, calling for Nimbus to take him back down.
He evened out quickly, laughing even louder when he saw Kagome beating up the remaining soldiers. She glanced up at him with an angry look on her face, and he shuddered.
"Maybe I'll just fly around for a bit longer until she's calmed down..."
xxxx
Kagome huffed, arms crossed over her chest as she and Goku sat and studied the radar together. He'd really scared her earlier, the little brat - but she was glad that he was okay, and they did have two less dragon balls to worry about finding.
"One left!" the boy cheered, pressing the button a few times as she pushed the new balls into his backpack. "Huh?"
"Which way?" she questioned, turning back to the screen.
"It doesn't say!" he explained, showing it to her.
She frowned. "That's... weird. It's not going to be in the land of the dead again, is it?" she sighed, remembering the hunt for the last shard of the jewel. "Maybe we can find someone that can tell us something? Maybe Korin... Unless it's broken again. In that case, we need Bulma."
He nodded. "Okay, that's probably a good idea. The only problem is, we don't know how to get back!"
"Well, I guess we can try anyway," she sighed. "Maybe Nimbus could find the pervert's island if we ask it to."
He nodded happily. "Nimbus!" he called.
They both hopped onto the cloud quickly and took off.
"Hey," Kagome blinked after a few minutes of flying. "Do you hear something?"
He looked up and met her eyes, looking a bit surprised. "I do!"
They looked down as one, both gaping when they saw their friends.
The priestess shook her head wryly. "I guess we don't have to look too hard after all..."
He laughed and they went down for a landing.
xxxx
"Hi!" he greeted as they touched down, both jumping to the ground in front of the others. He blinked when he realized that they were all staring at the two of them seriously. "Is... something wrong?"
"Nothing!" Bulma growled. "We just thought you were dead, that's all!"
"We'd heard that you had decided to fight the whole Red Ribbon army all by yourselves," Krillin explained. "Thought you might need some help."
"Wow!" Goku laughed. "That's amazing! How'd you guys know all that?"
"Ah!" Kagome gasped. "That drone before. Bulma...?"
The blue-haired girl grinned proudly. "You got it!"
"This stinks," Oolong grumbled. "They're not even wounded!"
"You guys are smart," Yamcha chuckled. "I figured you wouldn't do something as foolish as that!"
Goku blinked. "But we did attack the Red Ribbon Army!" he laughed. "We beat the whole bunch and we managed to get six of the dragon balls!"
"HUH?!" the others gawked.
"Y-y-you mean you beat every single soldier in the Red Ribbon Army?" Krillin squeaked. "Just the two of you?!"
"Yeah!" the boy admitted brightly. "We almost didn't get all of them, but Kagome stopped the ones that tried to run away."
"Well maybe if you hadn't been too busy playing with missiles..." the priestess huffed.
"Pu'ar!" Yamcha yelped, turning to the floating cat. "Go check out the base! Search for any sign of life!"
"O-okay!" the feline yelped, turning and flying towards the headquarters.
She came back a few minutes later, looking shellshocked.
"Yamchaaa!" she screamed. "The base is deserted!"
Everyone's jaws dropped.
"The entire base?" Master Roshi gaped. "That's unbelievable!"
"Wait, since when can that chick fight!" Oolong demanded incredulously.
Goku blinked. "Kagome could always fight," he stated. "She's just been sick, but now she's feeling much better."
"What kind of sword is that?" Yamcha gaped. "Can you even swing that thing?"
The priestess rolled her eyes and thumbed the hilt of the demon blade. "Do you really think I would be carrying around a weapon that I couldn't use?" she sighed. "And before you all go on and on about how you can't trust me again, Goku knows the whole story now. If he's still comfortable with me, I think you can get over it."
"Wait, they said that you couldn't be trusted?" Krillin squawked. "When was this!"
Kagome shrugged. "When I met them a few weeks ago," she stated simply.
The bald boy shook his head, seeming overwhelmed. "Do you think after this you guys can show me a few tips?" he requested faintly.
"It was easy once we got started!" his fellow disciple laughed.
Bulma shuddered a bit. "I can see the headlines now. Evil army, defeated by woman and child!"
"It's just one army," Launch scoffed, her hair blonde again - for a few seconds until she sneezed, at least. The nicer Launch stood there for a moment and glanced around with a soft laugh. "Silly goose! How are we going to have a picnic without any food?"
They all stared at her uncertainly.
"Let's take a walk," Pu'ar offered with a sigh, floating up to the blue-haired woman and pushing her down the path. "I'll fill you in on all the details!"
Yamcha shook his head. "I've seen a lot, but I've never heard of anyone accomplishing what you two just did!"
Kagome chuckled wryly. "You should read more of the old legends, then."
"See, Master?" Goku grinned, turning to Roshi. "I'm a lot stronger now! Just like you, we climbed up Korin's Tower!"
"WHAT!" the old man yelped. "You made it to the top? Of Korin's Tower?!"
The boy laughed. "We'd heard that anyone who drank Master Korin's water would get increased strength - so we asked him if we could have some! He agreed... but only if we could take it from him first, and we had to go one at a time. It took a while, but we did it!"
"You... consumed Korin's sacred water?" Roshi gaped.
Goku nodded, chuckling just a bit. "Yes!"
"Both of you?!" he squawked.
Kagome shot him a look. "Is that really so hard to believe?"
"... I see..." the Master nodded faintly after a second. "That would certainly explain your increased strength..."
"What are you guys talkin' about?" Krillin wondered.
"Hey!" Pu'ar chimed in. "If Korin was in the Red Ribbon Army, what would he be?"
The bald boy blinked up at her. "Uh... I don't know. A general, maybe?"
The cat laughed. "No, silly! Everyone knows he would be a Kernel!" They all stared at her blankly for a moment, unimpressed. She blushed. "Uh... get it? Korin? Corn? Work with me here, folks..."
"Excuse me," Goku spoke up. "Bulma?"
The blue-haired girl turned down to him. "Yes?"
He frowned apologetically, holding the radar up to show her. "The dragon radar won't work! I think it's broken... Can you fix it?"
"Broken?" she repeated, one brow raised as she glanced down at him. "Why are you looking for another dragon ball anyway? I thought all you were interested in was your grandpa's four-star ball."
"We found grandpa's ball!" he assured. "But we'll need all seven if we're going to help Upa and his father."
Kagome put a hand on his shoulder and sighed. "It wasn't your fault."
He shook his head. "I still feel responsible, since the killer was really after me," he argued. "So that's why we promised Upa that we would ask the dragon to revive his father!" he explained for the others.
"Aw," Pu'ar cooed. "Goku, you're swell!"
"Yeah, and I guess Kagome might not be so bad after all..." Oolong admitted.
The priestess blinked down at the pig, surprised. And he'd been so adamant about not liking her before...
"I'll need to run a few tests," Bulma cut in, "but I think I can fix it. You'll have to wait until we get back to Roshi's house; all my tools are there."
"Thanks, Bulma!" he grinned.
He and Kagome got back on Nimbus, and they all flew back for Roshi's.
xxxx
A/N: No more Red Ribbon Army! Until we hit DBZ, at least, but... Yeah. Of course, there's no way I'm ending the chapter here. I like you guys too much. So, onward to the Fortuneteller Baba saga!
xxxx
They were sitting around Kame House, waiting for Bulma to fix the dragon radar. It had already been two days, and the blue-haired girl was obviously starting to get annoyed.
"I don't get it!" she finally groaned. "It should be working just fine!"
"But it won't show where the last dragon ball is," Goku pointed out.
"Maybe the ball is so far away that it's out of the radar's range," Oolong suggested.
"Look, if it's in this universe, my radar can find it," the blue-haired girl huffed.
"Don't jinx us," Kagome teased, lifting her glass of orange juice up to her lips and taking a sip. "It would be just our luck that aliens found out about the eternal dragon and decided that they wanted a shot at a wish."
Bulma shuddered. "Don't even joke about that kind of thing!"
Goku shook his head. "Up until just a little while ago, we could see all seven balls."
"Uh, unless..." the younger girl murmured thoughtfully. "If the dragon ball was swallowed by something, that might explain why we can't see it."
"Uh, swallowed?" Yamcha gaped. "You mean, like... eaten?"
"It's a possibility!" Bulma defended. "Living tissue could disrupt the dragon ball's unique electric wave, making it virtually impossible for the radar to detect!"
"Who'd eat a dragon ball?" Oolong huffed. "Because it's probably bad for the teeth."
"There are certain animals that will eat anything," the blue-haired teen argued back. "But something probably swallowed it by mistake."
Kagome turned down to stare into her glass, a frown tugging at her lips as she recalled a few times in the Feudal Era where a shard really had gotten eaten - and that one big time there at the end with Naraku. "You never know. Some people will do just about anything if they think it might increase their power," she sighed.
Krillin shuddered. "So if something did eat the ball, there's no way to find it?"
"That's right," Bulma confirmed. "Without a clear signal, I don't see how we can do it!"
"Uwahh?!" Goku yelped, stumbling back a step. "But we have to find it! And fast..."
"Cheer up!" Yamcha assured. "Maybe that radar's just a piece of junk."
The blue-haired teen glared and growled at him.
"Not a good way to reconcile with your girlfriend, moron," the priestess stated, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, the tech is good. We just have to find out where the problem is."
Bulma shot her a grateful look. "Thank you!"
"We... can't give up!" Krillin insisted, sounding slightly panicked.
"Oh..." Goku groaned, slumping across the tabletop and staring at the collection of balls that they'd managed to find. "We have to find that last ball..."
Kagome put a hand on his shoulder, frowning worriedly. "We will. Don't worry."
Roshi cleared his throat, not even looking up from trimming his nose hairs. "You could visit Fortuneteller Baba," he offered. "Clairvoyant powers would be more than enough to find the seventh ball!"
Everyone turned to stare at him with wide eyes.
The priestess shuddered. "Fortuneteller, or witch?" she demanded. "Because I've had some really bad experiences with witches."
"You've met a real witch?!" Krillin gaped.
"Fortuneteller; it says so right in the name," the old man huffed.
"Who is this... Fortuneteller Baba?" Bulma questioned hesitantly.
"Is that a friend of yours, Master Roshi?" Yamcha asked.
"Whenever I can't find something I've lost or misplaced," the old man stated, "I pay a visit to Fortuneteller Baba's palace." He flinched, apparently getting himself with the scissors (and Kagome was very curious to know where he had gotten them from after that last incident with the bomb). "She always has the answer."
They all glanced at each other, and the mood instantly lightened.
"That's great!" Goku laughed. "So how do you get to her palace?"
The hermit pulled out an old, weathered map and showed them with a magnifying glass.
"This is a nice picture," the tailed boy frowned. "But how is it going to help?"
"It's a map, silly!" Bulma explained. "You read it! Of course, it would help if we could understand the writing..."
"It's kinda weird, isn't it?" Pu'ar murmured.
"That must be the symbol of a lake," Krillin spoke up.
Yamcha also took a closer look, tracing a finger across it. "From the West Valley, it's about... fourteen miles," he interpreted. He looked up with a smile. "Alright, that's it! We know where it is; I'll go with you, Goku."
They all jolted to stare at him with a collective "Huh?"
"Sounds like an adventure!" Krillin cheered. "Count me in!"
"Me, too!" Pu'ar agreed.
The boy grinned at them. "Thanks! Let's go!"
Kagome chuckled, reaching over to poke his forehead. "Sure you don't want lunch first? I doubt we'll get an in-flight meal on the way."
He jumped a bit, eyes lighting with excitement. "Okay, food first!" he shouted, running for the kitchen with a bright laugh echoing behind him. "Then we can go!"
The priestess sat back, stretching just a bit. "Alright, he's going to be occupied for fifteen minutes or so," she stated. "This would be the time to work out all those trust issues you guys still have with me, and I suggest we do it quickly."
They gaped at her for a moment, but Krillin finally shook his head with a smile. "Well, I already trust you," he stated.
She blinked at him a bit, surprised, but shot him a teasing grin. "You're not just saying that because we wouldn't have gotten to keep any of that pirates' treasure without my bag around to carry it, right?"
He blushed. "N-no, of course not!"
"Well, I still have some questions," Yamcha stated seriously.
She gestured for him to continue. "Go for it."
"Where did you really come from?" he demanded.
"A long, long ways away," she admitted. "Think either alternate timeline or different dimension paired with getting tossed something like one, almost two thousand years into the future."
Their jaws dropped, another one of those collective "HUH?!"s rising up.
"Someone made a wish on something similar to the dragon balls," she explained simply. "I got caught up in it."
"What was the wish?" Yamcha questioned suspiciously.
"Ultimate power," the priestess stated. "Let's just say that this wish-granter is a lot less straight-forward than your dragon. I... didn't really get it at first, but we ended up in the desert at that point. Right in front of Goku."
The others gaped.
"But none of you are going to tell him that part," she huffed primly. "He's getting a bit too cocky even without knowing about it. He's going to keep getting stronger, that much is obvious, but... he'll be happier if he decides to keep training for the sake of improving himself, and because he enjoys it, rather than if he thinks he has to be better than anyone no matter what. That's what I think."
They stared at her for a long moment in stunned silence but slowly, one by one, they started to laugh.
Bulma grinned at her. "I was just a little jealous at first," she admitted. "You coming in and taking up the role of his partner out of nowhere, when I was the one to travel with him before that. But... I think it's a really good thing now. I think maybe you were supposed to find each other like you did."
Kagome gave her a soft smile. "That might be true," she chuckled.
"Though," the blue-haired girl's grin turned impish, "he might still be a little young for you! Didn't you say you were twenty?"
The priestess groaned and slumped, even as the others started gawking over her age - and what Bulma was suggesting. "Ugh... even you?" she whined. "Seriously, what is it with everyone always assuming that I'm a pedophile! It's getting old!"
"Well, have you considered that maybe there's something to it?" the other girl teased. "I mean, you guys are really close!"
Kagome smacked her forehead. "So?! He's still twelve years old!"
They just laughed at her.
xxxx
"Alright!" Yamcha announced once they were all out on the beach. "All aboard! Next stop is Baba's place!"
"Yamcha," Bulma spoke up, drawing their attention to her. "I need you to give me a plane capsule," she requested with a sigh, her expression almost apologetic. "I've decided it's time I go back home."
"What's up?" Krillin asked, glancing over from climbing into the jet. "Don't you wanna go with us? It'll be fun!"
"Fun, is that what you're calling it?!" she screeched. "Well no thank you, I've had about all the 'fun' I can stand for one lifetime! Humph!"
Kagome shook her head at the girl. "Until you start missing it, at least."
"Like that'll ever happen!"
"Oolong? You're coming, right?" Goku asked, trying to get a final head-count.
The pig squealed. "What do you think I am, crazy?!"
The boy blinked at him. "Huh...?"
"Don't worry about it," the priestess sighed. "Adventure's not for everyone, right? Even if all it is is going to see an old woman and asking for directions."
"Hey!" Oolong and Bulma both growled.
"Let's just get going," Krillin laughed nervously.
They all climbed up into the jet, Goku suggesting that they give Nimbus a bit of a break since it had been working so hard lately, and started it up.
"This'll be some good training!" Yamcha announced with an arrogant laugh.
"Good!" Roshi called back. "You'll need it!"
"Bye bye!" Goku shouted, waving at everyone, their own farewells overlapping almost into one, and they were off.
"I don't know why they were afraid," Krillin snorted once they were in the air.
"Who knows?" Pu'ar chirped. "I guess we're just a weird breed. Not everyone can stand living life on the edge the way we do! Right, Yamcha!"
"Yeah, sure," the older boy agreed distractedly. "Master Roshi didn't tell us much about this Baba character... Wonder what she's like..."
"If Master Roshi knows her, I'm sure she's nice!" Krillin assured. "He would've told us if she was dangerous."
"You got a good point there," Yamcha laughed.
"I guess there's a first time for everything!" Pu'ar teased.
Kagome, though, snorted. "Yeah, we'll see when we get there."
"What do you mean?" Goku wondered.
She just shook her head. "Nothing. I hope she's as nice as everyone's thinking, though - from my experience, old mystics are usually of the grouchy variety."
The boy decided to go ahead and not worry about it for now. It only made his brain hurt, and the scenery was too amazing to be distracted by concerns of what was to come. Even the priestess herself relaxed to join them in oohing and ahhing.
Finally, they landed in a small town on the way to get more gas.
"Corn..." Goku frowned, confused. "But Korin is a cat! Maybe it would be funnier if I didn't know him."
"It's a pun," Kagome explained. "Word-play - because 'Korin' sounds like 'Corn'."
He still didn't understand. "Sorry," he frowned. "I don't get it."
The cat slumped.
The boy looked up, getting distracted, and perked up excitedly. "Hey, look! Ice cream!" he called, hopping from his perch on one of their plane's wings.
His pants ripped, followed directly by his shirt.
"Goku!" Krillin yelped.
"Your clothes are ripping, like... real bad!" Yamcha declared.
He looked down at himself. "Aww... Boy, I guess they got worn out by all the fighting..."
The bald boy huffed. "You're sloppy."
"Well," the older boy sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head, "I guess it's time we buy you a new outfit! I doubt this Fortuneteller Baba would even let you in the door looking like that."
"And while you're at it, buy some underpants!" Krillin and Pu'ar barked at once.
He stumbled back a step. "Huh?" he looked back down at himself with a frown. "Well, okay... But I hope they fit this well!"
"Tell you what," Kagome offered. "Let them measure you, and I'll get you some of that ice cream you were just drooling over."
The boy beamed up at her. "Well what are we waiting for?!" he laughed excitedly.
They found a tailor quickly and went inside. While Kagome was talking with the man about maybe remaking something similar to his current clothes, the other three got him to try on something else - and it was really uncomfortable.
He stared down at himself, tugging at the vest unhappily as the trio laughed.
The priestess glanced over at them, her eyes going wide, and she shot them a glare. "Oh come on! What are you trying to do, make him look like an elementary schooler?" she scolded, bustling over and pulling the hat from his head. "If he's going to try street clothes, they'll have to be something easier to move around in. Like a teeshirt and maybe some jeans!"
"Huh?" he blinked up at her as she tugged off the bowtie.
"Ignore them," she instructed with a huff, pushing him towards a small curtained-off area. "Go take that stuff off and I'll hand you something to change into, okay? Sir, would it be alright if I purchased some different clothes as well for him to walk out of here in?"
"Of course, miss," the shopkeeper smiled pleasantly.
The other three pouted at her.
"Spoilsport," Krillin mumbled unhappily.
Goku did as he was told and went into the other area, Kagome quickly pulling the curtain closed behind him when he started to undress. After a couple of seconds, she passed some other clothes - a surprisingly soft shirt and a pair of shorts - through to him with the instructions to try them on.
He walked back out a second later, a bit surprised at how comfortable the new garments were when the last ones he'd tried out were so itchy.
"Much better," Kagome sighed. "How's the fit?"
He grinned up at her. "Much better!" he echoed.
She nodded and turned to the tailor with a pleasant smile. "Excuse me, could I please borrow that pair of scissors?"
"Certainly," the man agreed, handing her the shears.
"Thank you. Goku, come here so I can cut a hole out for your tail," she told him, waving him over. "We'll come back in an hour for the other set. You're still going to need something to fight in, after all."
"Yeah, but he's still going commando," Pu'ar grumbled tiredly as he scurried over.
"Maybe," Kagome waved her off, doing just what she had said she would and cutting out a small hole to pull his tail through. "But we can work up to changing that as he gets older. I mean, there's no real reason to rush him into something he's not comfortable with. Okay, Goku, tell me if that's wide enough for you."
He reached back and pulled his tail through, frowning just a bit. "It's still a little tight."
She nodded and snipped a bit more, and he gave a sigh of relief.
"So," Yamcha spoke up as they walked outside a bit later, Goku jumping around a bit to test the different sense of mobility in his new clothes. Kagome had even gotten him a new pair of shoes just like his old ones! "Seeing as we've got some time to kill, you wanna grab a bite to eat?" the older boy suggested.
"Good idea!" Krillin grinned up at him.
Goku laughed and hopped off the railing he'd been walking on. "Sounds great! But I'd rather take the time to go get Upa," he admitted. "This way he won't be alone, and he can go with us to get the last dragon ball! It won't take me long. Kagome, do you want to come too?You've been really worried about him."
She smiled down at him warmly and shook her head. "I'll let you go alone this time. That way I can have that ice cream I promised waiting for you when you get back."
"Sure, why not!" Yamcha agreed. "Sounds like a good idea to me."
The tailed boy grinned widely at them and called Nimbus.
"Don't take too long!" Kagome shouted after him.
"Okay!" he called back over his shoulder, laughing as the cloud sped up the higher up they got.
Of course he'd be back soon; ice cream was on the line!
xxxx
A/N: So we finally get to the last dragon ball! Updates might start getting a little less frequent in this saga because it's up to where I've already got things written out, so I apologize in advance. Thanks as always for reading!
Edit: 8/27/16