The Soul and The Flesh Part VII "So, you really believe that you are dreaming or something?" Roshi asked Raimi as they headed back to the Kame House. She thought about it and then shook her head.
"No, no of course not. I mean, when Goku pinched me, it really hurt. And Raditz pushing me around wasn't pleasant either. So I must say, this is real. So the real question is, why? How? I mean, I know almost all of what's supposed to happen, and there doesn't seem to be room for change. So, what am I to do here?" She seemed disturbed, and didn't notice the looks of amazement the others gave her. "I think that for some reason I'm here to help somehow, but how and when do I do this?"

"You know everything that's gonna happen? Like what's gonna happen when the Saiyans get here!!" Kurilin said with excitement. Raimi snapped out of her reverie and glared at him.

"My advice to you is to live you own life, and don't spend your time looking for an easy way out. I can't change things. I won't even try. So, please forgive me when someone hits you or kills somebody, okay?" They glared at each other for a moment, then Kurilin grinned.

"Okay, I guess that's that. So what will you do for us?"

Raimi smiled weakly at this. They were confused, and she couldn't blame them, but she wasn't a Kami. She was as confused as they were. But, despite what she had said to Kurilin, she did want to help somehow. But how? And how much, that had to be considered too.

"Well, we can definitely use her strength though. So I say, let's go for it. It can't hurt. So can you fight?" Roshi said. She shrugged.

"I don't know. I did alright against Raditz, but that hardly counts. Do you think I can get ready in time?" The old man was silent, then nodded. Kurilin laughed.
"He got me an' Goku ready for the Tenka'ichi Budokai in eight months! You have a whole year!"

"Actually, I have ten and a half months; the Saiyans are most anxious to get here for those Dragonballs. And boy are they tough too." She said. Kurilin and Bulma looked at each other in dismay. Ten months! That was so soon, too soon…

"So, what all do you know about us from the past, something to convince us that you are genuine?" Bulma asked. Raimi smiled mischievously, and laughed.
"Like how you had to wear that bunny suit of Oolongs, and the Usagi-san turning you into a carrot, then some of that nasty Emperor Pilafs plots to get the Dragonballs? Or how that's the first time anyone saw Goku transform into an Ozura-monkey? You guys have seen wild stuff!"

"You know about Yamcha too then?" Bulma asked, somewhat miffed.
"Yeah. See, I read about how he wanted your Dragonballs for himself, and all that…"

"Enough, enough! I believe you! I believe you so much, that I'm willing to trust you. Besides, it's about time we had a girl who can fight in this group already!" Bulma said, and they laughed. (No one mentioned Chi-Chi) Raimi's stomach chose this moment to growl loud enough to wake the dead. She flushed as red as her hair while the others laughed.

"Well, that's definitely familiar, isn't it Roshi? Goku could eat you out of house and home with his stomach. Let's eat and figure out our next move, OK?" Kurilin said.

They moved into the Turtle house, where Bulma went to whip up some lunch. Raimi looked at her hands, and realized that she had no idea of what she looked like now. She asked for the restroom and closed the door. Nervously, she peered into the mirror. She gasped at her reflection, the reflection of a stranger. A Saiyan stranger, that is. To her eyes, she looked very similar to Goku and Raditz, and to a lesser degree Gohan. Her face had the same shape as Goku's, and she had a fierce widows peak, a true sign of Saiyan blood. Her eyes were dark green, and while wide were almond shaped. She had to admit that she was beautiful, easily equal to Bulma.

She looked down and ran her hands down her body. Nice bonus, being stacked like a brick house! She giggled, and then turned her attention to the fluffy red tail around her waist. She had to learn how to control it; it had been moving about on it's own on the battlefield earlier. And why were it and her hair red? Every Saiyan tail was brown, and their hair black or maybe dark brown as well… all these mysteries that had to wait for later.

"Hey Raimi, I thought you were hungry?!" Bulma hollered. Raimi bolted out of the restroom and was at the table in seconds. It was loaded with food, enough for ten people.
"Hey, where's you guys' lunch?" Raimi said, teasing. They quickly grabbed some food for themselves nonetheless.

The next morning, after a restless night and still no idea of what to do, a very tired, very grumpy Bulma awakened Kurilin, Raimi, and Roshi. She had stayed up all night working on the scouter. She fired one of Ranchi/Kushami's old Tech-9's at them, knowing they wouldn't get too hurt by the bullets. Sure enough, they leapt awake, blurry-eyed but ready for battle.

"Ohhh, I hate it! I ALWAYS have to work while you MEN get to sleep!" Bulma yelled.
"Uh, what about her?" Kurilin said, nodding to Raimi, who was fingering a bullet hole in her dress with wonder.

"She helped Goku fight, remember? She was probably tired because of that, Kurilin! What did you do?" Kurilin sighed and gave up, as usual.

"Okay, time to test this baby out. I switched it over to our numeric system, so let's give it a try." She set it over her ear, and it sucked onto her head like a living thing. She punched the button to turn it on.

"Okay, you. Turtle Lover. Stand up and be scouted." Bulma pointed at Roshi.
"Turtle Lover?" He grumped as he stood and flexed his seemingly withered muscles.

"You're at 139, I think that's not too bad." Bulma looked at Raimi for confirmation.
"The average man is at level 5, so that's not too bad at all. Besides, we all know that Roshi can power up to an even higher level." She remembered how she had seen Roshi do some serious powering up when Goku was only a child, back in her old life.

"You are so scary when you talk about things you shouldn't know about!" Kurilin said. "Hey Bulma, what about my level, huh?" He leapt up on the table, so she could see him better, though he could have been half way across the globe, and it could have found him.

"Let's see, Kurilin is at…209! Pretty good!"
"Hear that! I could beat you around the block!" He gloated at Roshi.
"I think it's busted. No way Kurilin is stronger than I am…" Roshi mumbled, unwilling to admit that his student had surpassed him.

"Okay. Now then it's Raimi's turn." Bulma pressed the button, and stared as the numbers went higher and higher. "Wow, it's…345! That's so high! Why, you must be as strong as Goku!"

"No way! Piccolo is at 322! I can't be that strong…" Raimi gasped.
"If you and Goku are of the same race, then you probably are that strong. Do you know how strong Raditz was?" Roshi asked, curious.

"Well, sure. Once I saw a chart, and he was at 1,200. He also kind of told us, when he said he couldn't block Piccolos beam when it was at 1,330." Kurilin stared at her, amazed at such a power level, even in an alien.

"Man, that's wild! 1,200? And Piccolo powered up to 1330? Wow…" Kurilin mumbled.
"Eeek! There are more readings, all over the place!" Bulma squealed.

"Yeah, that's the others; Yamcha, Tien, Chauzu, and Piccolo. See one that's around 700?" Raimi asked thinking of Gohan.
"No, the highest is you and that 322 over there…" She pointed west. They all turned their heads, and then Raimi laughed.

"We can't see him from here! But that's Piccolo all right. I wonder why we don't see Gohan, unless he's not all that upset." She tilted her head to the side as she heard and sensed something coming towards them...