Chapter 17 - Date With Death

…

Going on a date with Bulma was… an underwhelming experience. Yamcha didn't know what he had expected. Despite her obvious stalking tendencies, she was a young girl who had zero dating experience.

But he still took her to different places on the island to try local foods, drinks, and sights. Yamcha gave her a different array of memories in different places.

He ended their first date by talking about their favorite foods, which was a great way to set up a second date. Bulma's was strawberry, and Yamcha used that as a way to lead. "I know a good place that makes delicious strawberry cakes. The best I have ever eaten."

He didn't know any store like that. But this was how these things always went. Yamcha noted in his mind to find a place that made strawberry cakes.

Despite Bulma not telling any interesting stories, just the relief of knowing she probably wouldn't turn into an evil scientist made this the best date ever.

…

Yamcha spent the whole week after the tournament planning his next journey and getting some addresses of the people he needed to visit.

He ended up flying a private plane with Bulma and Tights in it. Yamcha needed to meet a fortune teller and learn about magic from her. Thankfully Bulma's father was rich, so he knew where Baba lived, despite Dr Brief never believing in things like fortune telling.

They arrived in a forest in the middle of the night and landed on their plane.

"We have been flying for hours around here and didn't catch sight of Baba's place," Bulma said. "Maybe dad sent us the wrong coordinates."

"Or maybe someone doesn't want us finding her place," Yamcha suspected it was some kind of barrier. His eyes wandered, and he saw a floating tag getting closer.

[Invisible Man - Lvl 23]

"What are you doing here?" The Invisible Man asked.

Bulma and Tights were startled. The latter took a gun out. In contrast, Bulma used this chance to cling to Yamcha.

This whole thing would have been scarier if Yamcha didn't know exactly where the man was. Because it would have seemed like the voice was coming from around them.

"We are here to meet Fortune Teller Baba," Yamcha explained. "I heard we must pay ten billion zenni or fight against her chosen fighters to have her read our fate."

Yamcha didn't care to learn about the future. Because he knew it in such detail that he doubted any fortune teller in this world knew it at the level he did. Even time travelers like Trunks, a time traveler, paled in comparison.

Baba's magic, on the other hand, intrigued Yamcha. He wanted to learn it as another way of power and versatility Ki didn't usually have.

"The girls can go. You have to complete some test-"

Before the invisible man could finish, Yamcha grabbed onto his arm and looked at him directly in the area where his face should be. "I don't have

the time for useless tests."

"O -Okay," the invisible man sputtered. Yamcha let go of him, as he didn't want to start things with Baba on a bad foot.

Before the next tournament, Yamcha had a lot to do. Wasting time on tests or doing things other people tell him would be detrimental. That's why there is Goku, to do what Yamcha doesn't want to.

In three years, Yamcha needed to prepare everything and learn as much from the earth as he could. After that, he has to set off into space. Mayne takes Bulma with him, depending on how the situation develops. She would benefit the most from learning alien technology.

Yamcha felt the air on his left cheek shifting and leaned back. "Did you try to punch me?"

The invisible man didn't answer and only stood still in front of Yamcha. It would have been a good move if the opponent didn't know exactly where you were. He wouldn't accidentally hit ruffling leaves or make noise by staying still.

"Try learning some other techniques except your invisibility," Yamcha advised the invisible man after punching him in the stomach area. The invisible man fell to the ground in a slump, but no one saw him.

For some reason, Yamcha felt a tickle on the back of his neck. He looked around, but no one was there, yet it felt like someone was looking at him.

Tights sighed and put her gun back in the holster. "I didn't think we would be running through a horror scenario before even meeting Baba."

Yamcha glanced around and thought back on what the Invisible Man had said. 'He mentioned that the girls could go forward. Meaning Baba only had a test for me. But why?'

He tried thinking why Baba would do something like this. Usually, she wouldn't turn someone away, and even those who didn't have money could get a fortune reading by fighting.

Baba would only do something like that if she had seen something with her Divination. Something that made her uncertain about Yamcha. "Bulma, Tights, you two go forward. You heard the invisible man. Whatever test Fortune Teller Baba has for me, it doesn't involve you two."

'Also, you two would get in the way.' Yamcha decided not to say that part. Bulma was useful with her orbital lasers, but he didn't want to make an enemy out of Baba or incinerate anyone.

"Okay, Bulma, let's go," Tights went along with his words. She put a hand in her pocket to take out a cigarette but frowned when she didn't feel; any and turned to peer at Yamcha. If stares could kill, he would be dead by now… just like her, if she continued smoking poison. "You took my lighter again."

"Yeah, I thought you might still keep cigarettes in your capsules," Yamcha showed her a couple of her capsules. "So I took these too."

By now, he was surprised he hadn't gotten a pickpocket skill.

"Are you sure you will be alright?" Bulma asked.

"Of course," Yamcha nodded. Without them here, he could go all out.

Tights and Bulma went away on the plane. They flew up a little to get a better vantage point, and after a dozen meters off the ground, the plane disappeared from sight. "Yep, it was some kind of barrier. Kinda cliche if I'm being honest."

"You try putting something like that together, and we will see how 'cliche' it would be," an old voice came from above.

Yamcha looked up, and an old woman floating in a crystal ball stared at him. "Hey there, Fortune Teller Baba. I've been looking for you."

"I know," she answered, floating down. "What do you want, brat?"

"To learn magic from you," he answered. He saw no reason to lie to someone who could see the future.

"Should I teach magic to someone like you?"

'Someone like me?' Yamcha tried reading between the lines.

It didn't take long for him to conclude: Baba had seen something on her crystal ball about him that unsettled her. "What did you see?"

"The quest should be, what didn't I see?" Baba smirked and jumped down the crystal ball, and activated it. "Let me show you your future!"

The crystal shone brightly in a golden color; next, cracks started forming around it. An explosion rocketed the ground as the crystal burst into a thousand pieces.

"That's what I see," she muttered, looking Yamcha in the eyes. "What does this mean for your future? Are you evil? Are you good? For all I know, you could be the next Demon King Piccolo. Why would I teach someone when I don't know their character?"

Yamcha picked up one of the crystal ball's pieces and used Observe on it. There was nothing special, just glass. Was it her powers that made it special? Or maybe when the crystal ball broke down, it lost the magic that made the thing special.

"My future?" Yamcha smirked. "Who cares about the future?"

Baba had made one mistake. Maybe it was due to panic, or she just didn't care. But she revealed to him that she couldn't see his future, read his mind, and had no way to tell what kind of person he was.

'Now, this is interesting. For some reason, she can't see my future. How mysterious. There's nothing in my skills that stops her from doing that. I don't like not knowing things.' Yamcha contemplated, put the glass down, and put on an innocent smile. "Sorry for bothering you, miss. Can I take my leave?"

Baba frowned, but her features softened a little. "Of course, I will give your friends a free fate reading too."

'Bingo.'

Yamcha looked at the older woman as she flew off.

[Baba - Lvl ?]

How do you get someone to do what you want them to? The answer was easy, to become friends, of course.

What's the fastest way to make friends? That was a more complicated question if he wanted to make friends with someone who had a bad impression of him. He got the vibe that Baba didn't like him. Maybe she knew of his bandit past? Just because she couldn't see his future, that might not be the case for his past. His bandit past didn't paint the best picture out there for his moral parameters.

Coming out of the forest, Yamcha met up with Bulma and Tights, both of whom seemed slightly annoyed. They must have had their fates read and not liked it, Yamcha reasoned.

"Bulma, Tights, it seems like we won't be able to continue our journey for a while," he stated. Leaving no room for discussion. Which worked on Tights, but her younger sister was a little more excitable and didn't understand social norms.

"Why?!" Bulma asked, almost about to jump him.

"Something came up, and I have to deal with it," Yamcha said simply. If he saw any of Bulma's little bugs, he would destroy them. What he wanted to do was something he didn't want anyone to know. "It hurts me to be away from you too. But I must do it."

The sweet words made Bulma's eyes into hearts, and she easily went along with it. While they were about to set off on their plane, Yamcha approached Bulma and whispered in her ear. "Can you try making a machine that increases gravity? I promise to pay you back."

"Gravity machine that increases Gravity? Okay?" Bulma's breath quickened, and he noticed it since they were so close.

'This girl gets excited a little too quickly.' Yamcha thought before quickly pulling away. Bulma kept looking at him while walking on the plane and stumbled her steps about three times before getting on.

"Can you give me back my cigarettes now?" Tights approached Yamcha and extended her hand, expecting him to give back her belongings.

Yamcha sighed. "Sure, sure, if you wanna kill yourself. Who am I to change your mind?"

He gave her two capsules that looked like the ones he had pickpocketed from her. She smirked and walked off after putting the capsules in her pocket.

Looking the same didn't mean they were the same. Yamcha waved at them with a friendly smile as they flew away.

After the plane disappeared from his sight, Ki burst around him, and he flew off. He wasn't as fast as a plane, but he didn't need speed. Yamcha flew over green hills and mountains, memorizing certain places. He was looking for trouble, as in darting for something dangerous-looking.

He never thought the day would come when he would go out of his way to look for danger. He hoped to meet some dangerous creature that at least looked cool and had abilities he hadn't seen before.

…

His senses picked up something from one of the mountains after flying until dawn. He was still about two hours away from Baba. It was a mountain with a door with engravings on it. A golden sword with tree branch-like edges held the door open.

Inside, Yamcha could sense dark energy and fiendish creatures within.

He used Observe on the big stone gates.

[Door to the Demon Realm]

[A door held open by the sword of the leader of a band of Demons, Shula.]

Demon Realm? The place where Debura came from? That was a very dangerous place to mess with. Yamcha was about to turn around and leave the area.

But he stopped. This was the perfect chance. Yes, it was risky, but from what he could sense, there wasn't any existence strong in there.

But what if someone was hiding their power? His cautiousness whispered in the back of his mind.

Yamcha contemplated and decided. They say fate favors the bold. That was bullshit said during stories when the main character has the world's fate in his hands and some great destiny.

He was having none of that. Work smart instead of dangerous. Yamcha charged a Kamehameha in mid-air and shot it down, controlling the wave and shooting it inside.

BOOOOOOM!

The explosion rocked the whole mountain; it should have exploded with that power. Hundreds of creatures had died inside within an instant, and Yamcha felt the earth rumbling. He jumped back and suppressed his Ki, just in case.

A humanoid demon with long black hair, pointy ears, and a "w"-like symbol on his forehead came out of the cave with an enraged look.

[Shula - PL: 240]

"WHO DARES KILL MY COMRADES?!" He yelled out loudly, looking around. Yamcha observed from the sidelines as the demon-looking man threw ki blasts around. Though after a while, he did so sparingly.

'He must have cared about his fellow demons quite a lot if he's acting so reckless. Or maybe he's just that kind of emotional person… demon.'

Yamcha analyzed the terrain carefully. It was a mountain surrounded by forests and deep vegetation. Though the cave entrance stood out, showing that the demons inside hadn't been afraid of being found out.

There was a village nearby where they could go and cause chaos. "Time to go and play the hero."

He stretched a little and followed the demon boss and the small army of demons that started coming out of the cave.

Baba The Fortuneteller, that's what she's known by nowadays. She took pride in the name. There was no fortune she couldn't tell. That's how it should have been.

She sighed while flying on her new crystal ball. Baba had lost some of her pride when she had tried looking into the fate of the new World Martial Arts tournament winner.

The moon rose in the sky, shining down on the lands around her. Baba was reminded of the strange ability the young boy used on her. It sent magic power to his eyes and then washed over her body. No, it flew over her whole existence. She wondered just how much the young learn from that.

That was undoubtedly one of those nonsensical abilities that no one else could use except him. In her long life, Baba had come to know many people with abilities that can defeat any person, no matter how strong they are. Spike, The Devilman on her team, had his Devilmite beam that would kill anyone with even an inkling of darkness in their hearts, no matter how strong they were.

'He was here to learn magic from me, yet his magic power was massive. Something that even experienced Magicians don't have. Maybe his Magic Power was comparable to even me in my younger years.'

If the boy, Yamcha, was telling the truth about not knowing how to use Magic, then he might be the most talented person in magic she had ever seen.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by a fire in the distance. It was where one of the nearby villages was. Baba frowned.

"Devil Man!" She called out to her servant, and within a second, the stereotypical devilish-looking man used his bat-like wings and flew to her side. Baba pointed at the burning village in the distance. "Take the others and deal with such an eyesore. Whoever is causing such chaos, kill them."

"Yes, Baba, but you will owe me some shopping money after this," Spike said before flying off. Fang the Vampire and Bandages the Mummy went with him. The invisible man was still under the weather from the hit Yamcha had given him.

She followed her servants just to be on the cautious side. There was a strong demon nearby named Shula, and if it was that guy who decided to stop his partying and come out, even Devilman would be in danger if he couldn't shoot his beam.

As they approach the battlefield, the sound of cries, yells, and death fills the air, accompanied by a damp smoke smell.

"Who did it?!" Yelled out a mad Shula.

Just as Baba feared, he was the cause of such a battle. The old fortune-teller glanced toward Spike; without talking, he understood what she meant.

He went in stealthily while Bandages and Fang drew every demon's attention by barging in and beating them around.

She noticed Shula about to make a move, and his eyes were on the vampire.

"Fang! Look out!" Baba yelled. Trying to warn Fang, but it was too late as before the vampire could react, Shula had appealed above him and impaled the vampire with a golden sword from the top of his head. The sword exited out of Fang's chin, with blood dripping from it.

"You bastard!" Bandages saw this and charged at Shula. Baba tried to warn him, but it was too late as Shula shot out a beam and obliterated the mummy's head.

"Devilmite Beam!" Spike shot out his beam, and it went straight for Shula. The attack was too fast for the demon to dodge on such short notice.

But suddenly, out of nowhere, a demon appeared in front of Shula, taking the Devilmite Beam head-on. The demon exploded into meaty bits, but that bought Shula a good second he could use to escape.

"Damn, the situation is now dire," Baba muttered and started reciting under her breath.

Shula turned to look at her with hate-filled eyes. "So it was you! Take this!"

He threw a beam at her. Baba quickly created a magic barrier around herself. She felt her magic power shaking when the beam crashed on the barrier.

Before the smoke around her could clear up, another blast hit her, shattering her magic barrier. When she could see what was happening, a golden sword was an arm's length away from hitting her.

But suddenly, a small beam hits the golden sword away, knocking it off course.

"Do you need some help?" A calm voice asked. The source of it was the young champion, Yamcha. He was floating mid-air with ease, which wasn't something any regular martial artist could do.

He looked around and frowned at the situation. His eyes landed on Shula, and he charged toward the demon.

"You want to try me too, human! I will kill you all for-" the demon couldn't finish his sentence as Yamcha suddenly sped up and hit him right in the mouth.

A/N: The crystal ball exploded and showed what it did for a reason. It will be explained later, like a waaay later.