Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball
Chapter 05: The little Scientist (Year 743)
Given that neither the Kakarot nor I had left Kami Lockout for more than the occasional visit to Korin and to find some deserted area right before a full moon. So saying today turned out to be rather unusual, was an understatement. Not only did we visit one of the Earth's strongest martial artists for Kakarot to have a friendly sparring match against, but we were now hanging in the sky above the greatest Western settlement. Which I genuinely hoped to be this `West city´ the hometown of the Scientist Muten Roshi said might be able to fix my Scouter. With some luck, he might also be able to help with our Dragon Ball problem.
We were slowly flying over the rooftops looking for any sign that might point us to this `Capsule Corp´. I hoped the habit of companies to advertise their factories I observed applied to Earth. Otherwise, what we were doing would be nothing other than a waste of time. Because my experience with alien culture and planets was limited to killing their population and blowing things up, not navigating a pre-space travel society.
"Fasha-chan, look!" Kakarot suddenly shouted.
My gaze followed his outstretched finger and came to a rest on a large dome-shaped structure with the word Capsule Corp written on it.
"That has to be it," I affirmed. "Let's take a look."
A moment later, we landed in the vast garden surrounding the house near the front entrance. I inspected the door and noticed some small buttons on the doorframe.
"This looks like bells," I said to him. Something I wouldn't have been able to tell a few years back if not for attending the occasional lesson Kami and Mr. Popo insisted on giving Kakarot.
He went on and pressed the button next to the door. We heard some chime sounding throughout the house. A minute later, the door opened, and we came across a blue-haired girl with two pigtails. She was a head taller and perhaps a few years older than Kakarot and half hiding behind the door. Shyly, greeting us with, "Hello".
"Hello, can we talk to your parents?" I asked.
"They aren't here," she informed us.
"That's too bad. You wouldn't happen to know when they'll be back?" I wondered.
"No... What happened to your clothes?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Kakarot looked down at himself, frowning. "Oh this, I fought some old man, and he used this cool technique to shoot out an energy beam from his hand, and I messed up when I tried to block it."
"That's not possible nobody can shoot energy beams!" she stated matter of fact.
"It is possible." Kakarot disagreed, a bit surprised at her denial.
"Liar!" she shot back, raising her voice.
"I'm not lying." Kakarot defended, "I can show you if you don't believe me."
Disbelieving, she goaded, "Sure, and next you tell me you can fly using the power of your thoughts."
"Yeah, I can do that, too." He told her and lifted himself from the ground until their eyes were at the same level. "See -"
For a moment, it looked like her eyes were jumping out of their sockets; she was that surprised at what she witnessed. "That can't be ..." she stammered and slowly approached Kakarot, who by now was levitating cross-legged more than half a meter above the ground. She went down on one of her knees and with one hand-inspected the space between his feet and the ground. "That's impossible ... How do you do that? I don't see any device on your body?" She stood up and, on her toes, tried to reach above his head and gave it up when she noticed the futility of her efforts.
Tilting his head to the side, Kakarot asked. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for a rope." the girl responded.
"There is none." He told her, astounded.
"You think I'm an idiot? I'm not taking your word for it. Fly lower that I can check myself," she demanded.
"Okay," he relented, "but you won't find what isn't there," and lowered himself so that she had no trouble reaching over his head.
This time her tiptoeing was enough to inspect the area surrounding his head. "How do you do this?" she wanted to know.
"I just manipulate my inner energy to fly," Kakarot answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"You what? Inner energy? What's that?" a series of questions gushed out of her.
"Inner energy," Kakarot repeated, "that's the warm thing flowing through your body."
"Blood?" the girl wondered.
"No, not blood, you know the other warm thing. The one you can't see, only feel. I'm really bad at explaining stuff. Mr. Popo is a lot better." At that point, he was looking at me, hoping for some help.
When the girl mumbled, "That can't be..."
"I assure you, little girl, everything Kakarot just said to you is true." To illustrate my words, I lifted myself from the ground too.
Suddenly her eyes glinted. "Can you teach me how to do that?"
"Sure -" Kakarot blurted out before I could stop him.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." I tried to temper their enthusiasm. "Not everybody is as talented as you are, Kakarot. You also should have noticed by now."
It took him a moment to get the meaning of my words. "Yeah..."
She was turning her head back and forth between us. "Noticed what?"
"What's your name kid?" I asked instead, ignoring her question.
"Bulma Briefs." the girl declared.
"Okay, Bulma, listen, Kakarot might have been a bit overzealous in offering to teach you. It is not as easy to do as Kakarot makes it sound like. He is a natural, a genius even, who didn't learn alongside others. This is why he wrongly assumed that everybody learns as easily as him. But learning how to fly can take years, especially if your body is not up to the task."
"Oh," she said with an open mouth that turned into a smug grin as she added, "then it's no problem because I'm a genius too!"
I was stumped. "Really?"
"Yeah, I'm super smart." She proclaimed proudly.
"Okay," I drawled, "but that was not what I meant. Kakarot's talent lies in the manipulation of the energy in his body, the requirement for being able to fly."
"Oh," she said, downcast.
"You really don't know when your parents will be back?" I asked, bringing the conversation back to the topic at hand.
"No," she reaffirmed, "why are you looking for them?"
"We are looking for a scientist to help us with something, and someone we met recommended them. Telling us that if anyone can help us, it would be them."
"Help you with what?" Bulma asked the earlier gloom wiped away, making way for curiosity.
Since I didn't think there would be any harm in it, I humored her. After all, depending on how forthcoming her parents are, they might just tell her. "For one to repair a really advanced piece of equipment that broke down and to commission a tool to help us find some artifacts."
"Perhaps I can help you?" she asked, hopefully twiddling with her fingers.
I looked her over. While I gave it to her that she was eager to help, could she? "I don't know..." I started trying to find the right words. As raising Kakarot has taught me, kids were prone to take words too literally and get easily dejected.
"Please," the girl grabbed the hem of my pants and begged, "I promise, I can do it."
"Okay, here." I indulged her and handed over the Scouter. Seeing no harm in letting her try. After all, the Scouter was already broken.
She gave it a close look, mumbling to herself, "What's that? I've never seen such a device." Popping open the casing elicited, "Woah, this is incredibly sophisticated. Where did you get it?"
"My former employer gave it to me." was my curt response.
"What does it do?" Bulma wondered, looking up at me.
"Why don't you tell me?" I challenged.
Inspecting the Scouter from every angle in her hands, she began to analyze. "Hmm, judging by the heads-up display, the primary function of the device clearly is centered around feeding the user information. There are some sensors here..." she hummed, getting lost in her work. "I've never seen the likes of... not sure what they're measuring... ah, that has to be some kind of telecommunication device... it was deactivated as was this tracking device."
I was impressed by what she could gleam by just glancing at it. She might actually be able to repair it.
"Okay, I'm sold," I told her. "You can give it a shot. But," I put my hand on her shoulder, as much preventing her from running off with the scouter as it was to emphasize my next words. "It is very important that neither the tracking nor the communication device gets activated, even for a brief moment, during your repair."
Looking at me strangely with a hint of fear, she asked, "You didn't steal this, right? You aren't some low-life criminals trying to abduct me ..."
The girl wasn't that far off with her guess. Depending on the definition of what counts as stealing and what qualifies as a criminal.
For obvious reasons, I didn't tell her that and instead lied. "No, of course not. Why would we do that?"
"I'm cute, and my parents are rich."
I raised my eyebrows, not understanding what she was getting at. The local currency was worthless to us. Cute - what a strange way for a girl to characterize herself. My best guess, it must have something to do with how humans chose their mates.
Realizing that I couldn't care less about that, she switched the topic, "I need some tools from my lab to get a better look, follow me." sensing a hint of dejection in her words, she turned and led us deeper into the house.
"What is a lab?" Kakarot was wondering, keeping pace with the girl while I trailed behind them a few steps taking in my surroundings and scanning them for any threats as it became a habit.
Not every civilization fought back with only people. Machines and traps were also commonly used against us. At least the technologically more advanced civilizations did. Since Scouters can only detect KI and the sensing ability Kami taught us wasn't much different in that respect. Although speaking from experience, I could say not much ever came from them. The main source of danger on all the missions I went on stemmed nearly exclusively from lifeforms.
If you could spare the energy. It was generally considered less trouble and a commonly used tactic to just blow up settlements rather than step inside and trigger traps. Less time-intensive, especially if the Scouter broke. Hunting down the population only relying on your natural senses wasn't fun.
"A laboratory is a place with tools and spare parts, the place where the magic happens." Bulma fondly elaborated.
"Oh, you mean a ritual room. Yeah, I know about that. But why would you call it laboratory?" She stopped and gave Kakarot an incredulous look.
"Why are you stopping?" he immediately asked her.
She opened her mouth to say something but closed it shook her head and continued walking. In response, Kakarot gave me a questioning look, to which I only shrugged my shoulders and followed her.
She led us down into the basement in a huge room filled to the brim with different parts of technology. She walked over to a workbench, placed the Scouter on it, and then, after angling for a desk chair with her feet sat down in it.
She then used a screwdriver to remove the casing of the Scouter in its entirety and with a huge magnifier attached to a mechanical arm that she brought in position over the Scouter to get a better look at it and went to work while sticking out her tongue in deep concentration.
Kakarot was deeply fascinated by what she did and observed it with keen interest. Watching them together, my thoughts, on the other hand, drifted to the future. Not for the first time, I wondered what might become of our once proud race.
With only two of us left, I and Kakarot. While it would be possible for us to restart our race since we Saiyans don't suffer genetic defects through faulty mutation or inbreeding. This taken at face value, means that the minimum viable population of our race is two - A great deal lower than for nearly every other species dependant on sexual procreation - although that doesn't necessarily say anything about the practicality.
Since the growth rate of our species in the first generation would solely rest on my shoulder - limited by the number of children I could bear. Even though Saiyan females produce eggs throughout their whole lives after puberty and our aging process slows down to a crawl after maturity, we still only possess a finite life expectancy.
As a direct consequence, the time frame we would have at our disposal to avert our species extinction was also limited. It certainly didn't help matters that I was twenty years older than Kakarot, who at the earliest could father children when he would enter puberty around his twelfth birthday.
By that point, I would be 32. Barring any accidents, this would still leave me with quite some time to have kids. But since it is necessary for the next generation to at least have one female offspring. Assuming a fifty percent chance for a child to be female meant that there is a 25% chance for the first two kids to be male, 12.5% for the first three to be male, and only after the fifth child, the chance for there to be at least one girl amongst our offspring would go over 95%.
Further complicating matters was the absence of birthing chambers.
Back home, we used them to extract the fertilized egg in the first month of the pregnancy and transferred them into a chamber to harbor the child henceforth. This way, the child would grow up in vitro, allowing the Saiyan women not to lose a single day to bed rest since the procedure took only a few minutes and was minimally invasive. It also protected the embryo from harm it might have suffered if its mothers kept fighting.
Especially the later stages of pregnancy posed a risk to the mother and the child alike. The reduced ability of the mother to protect herself and the baby, chief amongst them. Combined with the time it usually took a woman to recover from the ordeal of giving birth, I estimated around three months probably more of an increased vulnerability – longer if those Senzu Beans wouldn't help with cutting the recovery time short, a time in which I would neither be able to train nor really be able to fight. Moreover, this assessment didn't factor in the risk of giving birth on a backwater planet with all that entailed, stone age medical technology included. Nor the fact that we were aliens and the resemblances between Saiyans and humans might end with our similar appearance.
It would all come down to a large time window throughout each pregnancy in which I wouldn't be able to fight at the Kakarot's side should we be attacked. Given the need for offspring we had, I would essentially be required to be in a near-constant state of pregnancy to reduce the possibility of a Saiyan extinction as much as possible. This might mean that Kakarot after he can father children, would be on his own for up to one-fourth of a year to protect our family from harm.
Admittedly, I couldn't be sure how much use I would be in a fight compared to Kakarot if he continued to grow at this rate. Still, I didn't like the thought of being relegated to the sidelines. I have been a warrior, a soldier all my life. So ending up as a broodmare lying on my back a good part of a year was not where I pictured myself ending up.
The Dragon Balls could be the means to avoid such a situation. Eternal youth would lessen the need to have children in quick succession since our life expectancy, would no longer be finite, barring exceptional circumstances Like illness, or violent death. But they also offer up other possibilities like changing the race of outstanding human specimens to those of a Saiyan for breeding purposes, and the girl in front of me might just be such a candidate.
After all, to recreate a race, an Empire, more than just fighting power is needed, and it seemed that the girl Bulma had those other talents in spades. Considering that her parents created this company, it points to a hereditary trait, which was exactly what we would need.
But that made me wonder, could that even work? Changing someone's race would require altering their genome, their organs how their whole body worked. Including their brain, so changes to their personality of the person simply couldn't be ruled out. They might never be the same, and in the case of someone like Bulma, she might very well lose what made her special, in the first place, her sharp intellect. Defeating the whole purpose of this endeavor if it couldn't be inherited by the offspring Kakarot had with her.
No, I didn't think it was worth the risk of losing someone like her and a wish from those Dragon Balls for something that was nothing more than a gamble.
Even without the Dragon Balls to allow wishing for such a thing, I was not sure I could ignore the possibility of Saiyan/human hybrids any longer. Even though I would hate to see the blood of our noble race stained by mixing it with those weak humans. Nonetheless, doing so would solve a lot of those eventual problems.
The question I ultimately had to ask myself - was the purity of our race worth the risk of extinction?
It would probably be best to keep as many options open as possible.
My musing was interrupted when I heard a happily exclaimed "done" from Bulma's mouth. She put on the Scouter and activated it. Her eyes fell on the young master "What does the number 969 mean?"
She really did it. A little girl from a backwater planet repaired some of the most sophisticated equipment Frieza forces fielded in a matter of minutes. To say I was impressed didn't do the situation justice. It also meant the girl's words weren't just empty boasting. She was the real deal, a true genius.
"That must be my power-level with my ripped Gi. It is higher than before." Kakarot noted.
"Power-level, what is that?" Bulma wondered.
"It's a simple numerical representation of someone's battle prowess. The higher the number, the stronger the person you are looking at is," I explained.
She turned her head and looked at me. "So you are stronger then? If not by much." the girl noted.
"No, I'm not." I corrected. "You see, after arriving on this planet, I was made aware of a technique that allows you to manipulate the energy flow in your body. Using this technique it is relatively easy to suppress your energy and as a result, fool the Scouter readings." To remove any doubts she might have had, I reduced my power level by about half while I was talking.
"Wait a minute," she interjected, "what did you mean with arrived on this Planet?"
"Nothing much, just that we are aliens," Kakarot declared, and to illustrate, he unwound his tail that until now was wound around his midsection and wagged it back and forth while he stood there with his hands crossed behind his head.
"Okay ..." she said, getting paler by the second until her eyes rolled in the back of her head. Mindfully, my pupil caught her before she could hit her head on the ground.
"What happened to her? Why did she fall?" he questioned, alarmed.
"She is unconscious," I said. "It can happen when someone experiences extreme stress."
"We just talked to each other." He protested, "how is that stressful?"
"You told her you are an alien." I sighed. At Kakarot questioning uncomprehending look, I elucidated. "This planet's inhabitants lack the means of interstellar space travel. Since they don't know any different, they believe themselves to be the only sentient species in existence. So your words not only destroyed that belief. You, also, in the same breath, told her she is talking to two beings she might have thought of as impossible."
"Hmm," he mulled my words for a moment, his attention returning to the girl only for him to jerk his head around wide-eyed, accusing me, "you told her we aren't from this planet."
"I did, but it's not just a matter of telling her. It's about how you tell her." I lectured. "I did it in a circumspect manner to slowly ease her into it. To give her time to connect the dots on her own to avoid this exact situation from occurring."
"Oh," he expressed his understanding.
"Don't worry, she is fine. If you lie her down and elevate her legs above her torso, I'm sure she'll wake up in no time."
I had barely said those words, when she slowly came to, her eyes fluttering open. Kakarot, while holding her legs up at her knees, was about to lean over her and, in doing so, was getting awfully close to her face. My hand softly placed on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks, and he instead turned his head back to me.
I shook my head, and then his facial expression told me he realized my intentions. The young master instead leaned back and tried his best to keep out of Bulma's field of vision to allow her to fully regain her consciousness before confronting her again.
Her eyes came back into focus, and I could see how she went through a number of different facial expressions. There was what I assumed to be a moment of confusion and surprise followed by anxiety.
So she remembered, she immediately tried to sit upright and let her gaze roam her surroundings, trying to locate the threat. Good instincts for a human girl, I thought to myself.
She didn't manage to sit up even halfway before the young master softly stopped her in her tracks with a hand on her upper torso. "Woah, not so fast." He said, "you should give your body a few moments to readjust."
There was a moment where she just looked at his face, not daring to move a single muscle, but that dramatically changed when Kakarot's tail swayed in the space near his head.
Her state of paralyzation, immediately forgotten, Bulma started to scream. Kakarot was taken off-guard and didn't resist when Bulma freed her legs from his slack hold and scrambled away from him, unadulterated fear, the obvious driving force behind her actions.
Her escape under the table came to a stop when her back hit the wall. She then tugged her feet in, mumbling to herself, gaze trained on our every movement.
Kakarot slowly crawled a few dozen centimeters under the table and tried to be as non-threatening as he could manage.
"Huh, what are you talking about?" He wondered, "why should we eat your brain? or build a nest in your intestines. That's Ewww!" Kakarot exclaimed in disgust, retching sounds included.
I could hear a weakly muttered. "You don't?"
"No!" He responded, affronted.
"You've got a vivid fantasy, girl," I told her amused.
"I do not," she argued, with a smidgen heat in her voice.
I raised my eyebrows at her controlled outburst. So she did have a spine. It only took a bit of digging for it to show. Good, I started to worry about Kakarot getting too close to someone as timid as her. He couldn't afford to adopt any of her less desirable traits, weakening him, and neither could I.
"To clarify your misconceptions, we don't build nests. We use houses just as you do, and our procreation shouldn't differ from your own. Given the close outward resemblance between our species crossbreeding might even be a possibility." My words seemed to have a soothing effect on her, but it wasn't quite enough. The last few minutes made one thing clear she was a valuable asset. One I couldn't risk slipping through my fingers. I needed her cooperation. Not only was it what I preferred, but it would also that ensure far better results than forced compliance could ever hope to produce. It also sidesteps the problems accompanying an unwilling asset - sabotage and the need to keep an eye on her to forestall any attempts to be successful.
To that effect, I lied when I told her, "There is no need to fear us. We didn't come here to inflict any harm on you or your family. We just needed a good scientist. So if you want us to leave, you just have to say the word, and we'll do so."
"Really?"
"Of course, I wouldn't hurt my first friend." Kakarot paused a moment, "You are my friend, right?"
"Sure!" She exclaimed, "I always wanted to have an alien friend."
"Great!" He turned his head to me. "I have got my first friend Fasha-chan isn't that great." behind him, I could see Bulma blushing.
When he looked back at her, he offered her his hand, and with a slight hesitation, she took it. After he helped her up from under the table, she inquired.
Leave it to my little tyke to break the hearts of indigenous maidens. Not that I would complain since it would make things easier getting her to cooperate.
"Basically, what you are saying is we aren't that different from each other besides the tail?" Bulma inquired.
"Yeah, pretty much except when there's a full moon." He bubbled.
"Why what happens during a full moon?"
"Oh, we transform into a huge Ape," he emphasized the huge by standing on his toes while reaching as high as he could, "and get many times stronger."
"You are kidding me?"
"No -" Kakarot responded, taken aback.
"That can't be real, right?" She hopefully probed in my direction.
"I'm afraid not. What Kakarot told you is the truth. We call this transformation Ozaru. In a way, it is our trump card, a state which we, unfortunately, can't enter freely."
"Let me get this straight you are saying you can transform in some ape monster, and even without doing so, you are super strong, according to this Scouter thing." Tipping at the casing of the Scouter she was wearing. "How strong is a power-level of 969, exactly?"
"Why don't you measure your power level? To get a reference -" I suggested.
"That's a good idea. Why didn't I think of it?" She lamented, took off the Scouter and activated it, pointing at herself, and then froze the reading before she put it back on again.
"Two," she read aloud, "that makes Kakarot over 484 times stronger than me, and you mentioned this number is not even his real strength."
"That's about right." I agreed.
"How come you both are soo strong?" she asked, "Kakarot looks even younger than me. He can't be much older than six." Contemplating her words a moment, she added unsure, "in case you aging anything like us humans."
"We Saiyans are what is called warrior race," I explained. "This means that the average power-level of our population is way above that of most other races like you humans. In addition, our people loved to fight. We were very combative, unable to turn down a challenge. Combined with the advantages we possess, namely our transformation, our Planet's high gravity, and the possibility of gaining a power boost, called Zenkai. Every time we had a fight that brought us to the brink of death, you could say we are custom-made for fighting."
"Wow, that's great. Your race is amazing," she rejoiced.
"We aren't much of a race nowadays." I dampened her enthusiasm.
"What do you mean?"
"As far as we are aware, we two are what is left our once proud race," I told her.
"What? How? You are super strong. Surely the others were too. How come you are the last? – Don't tell me it was a disease," she wondered in a sudden bout of unreasonable fear, "a killer virus. Oh, my goodness, are you ill? Am I infected?" and obsessed over, nearly worrying herself into a panic attack before I could interject.
"Calm down, and I'll tell you. First of all, we aren't ill, and there was no disease." Her sigh of relief was placable when the agitation left her body, and it slumped for a second hand over her heart. Since it was short-lived and she straightened herself nearly immediately, I just continued saying. "Like with everything in life, there is a flip side to being strong. In our case, an organization called The Planet Trade Organisation took notice of us. With their business model consisting of conquering inhabitable Planets to either sell, take the resources they offered, including the population, to make use of it in other ways, we were a dream come true. A warrior race that could be used as soldiers to do the PTO's biding."
Noticing Bulma's interest as she hung on my every word, I decided to elaborate further. "Regrettably, it didn't take the PTO long to conquer our Planet. Their Elite forces were just that much more powerful that despite our best efforts and us Saiyans having more than earned the right to call ourselves a warrior race, we hardly were a challenge. From then on, our people were forced to do to other Plantes what was done to us. Conquer them, kill their population if need be so that the guy in charge, Frieza, could take what he wanted to further the goals of his Organisation."
"That's hideous," she commented with barely disguised disgust written on her face. Her reaction was in line with what I expected from someone originating from a Planet not practicing slavery. Which was exactly what I was hoping for. To get her to emphasize with us, and our situation.
"You have to understand fighting is our nature, many of us didn't care for what cause they spilled blood over, they only cared about the thrill of the fight, the joy it brought them. And the PTO provided us with what many craved, constant conflict, fights as much as they could possibly take. But there were also others who bemoaned being slaves, having to kill the weak just because they were in the way, staining their honor while doing it. In any case, it came as no surprise that not many of us retained our beliefs. Those few who did, tried to change things, but in order to do so, strength was a necessity, a lot of it." Bulma nodded along, sitting cross-legged on the floor anxiously biting her nails immersed in my tale.
"Frieza had his Elite troops with guys several times stronger than what our race was left with after being conquered, and that was not even considering the power Frieza himself could bring to bear. He's a monster, said to be the most powerful being in this part of the galaxy."
" you tried to get rid of this Freezer person?"
"Frieza," I corrected. "In a sense, our goal was to accumulate strength to be able to do that eventually. So we did our very best to come off as his most devout followers, working our assess off, doing his every bidding, taking every damn job. Somehow that backfired. Our squad, led by Kakarot's father, Bardock, was ambushed by Frieza men trying to kill us, to kill Bardock because he was getting too strong. Frieza started to fear his potential.
With luck, Bardock and I managed to survive. We went back to our home-world Vegeta, and when we arrived. Bardock was convinced that Frieza would kill us all, so he sent me away with his son. We had barely left the Planet when I could see Freezer troops descending upon it and without a doubt killing every single one of us. So you see, we Saiyan are about to become extinct."
"I'm sorry." Bulma said as she reached for Kakarot's hand and squeezed it, trying to console him, "That must have been so hard for you losing family like that."
"Not really." He reassured. "I was still a baby. I can't even remember my father or my mother. The only family I have ever known is Fasha-chan. She took care of me since I was little."
"Oh," she faltered and withdrew her hand, pondering. "Wait -" she suddenly burst, "does that mean this Frieza guy is hunting you and might come here to Earth?"
"It's possible," I conceded. "He might be hunting for Saiyan, but I went to great lengths to conceal the fact that we managed to escape and are still alive. So he probably doesn't know about us. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean Frieza might never take any interest in this Planet. If the price is right or he comes to covet something this Planet has to offer. He is sure to come and take it."
"That is a lot to swallow." she gulped, "Is that why you are training so hard?"
"Yep, we want to be ready when that happens." Kakarot said and added with a dreamy expression, "Imagine fighting someone as strong as him."
"It is a bad thing when he finds you. You know that right?" Not getting the reaction out of Kakarot she wanted, she turned to me pleading, "he knows that, right?"
"He does," I reassured her.
"Does this mean you would fight to protect the Earth?"
"Yes, Kami-san wants to make me the Guardian of this Planet since I was little, and protecting something is what Guardians do, right?" He told Bulma, unaware that I held a very different view. Because I certainly wouldn't allow him to die for this backwater Planet. He was far too important for that, Kami be damned, for getting into his head.
"I don't know much about Earth. We don't get around much with all the training we do, but this Planet is all the only home I have ever known."
Beaming at his response, she said. "Good, I have decided; I'm gonna help you guys every way I can."
"That's Great" Kakarot exclaimed, "Isn't that great, Fasha-chan."
"Yes, it indeed is." I gave a noncommital answer and threw the Dragon Ball at Bulma. She had trouble catching it and nearly let it drop on the ground if she wouldn't have been lucky in her flailing around.
"You're really bad at this," Kakarot teased with a smile.
"Excuse me, not everybody of us comes from a warrior race." she bit back.
"This is a so-called Dragon Ball. It is one out of a set of seven. If you manage to collect all of them, you can summon forth a Dragon who has the power to fulfill nearly any single wish. I need you, to help us find them. Can you do that?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "I have to look into it, find out what is special about them, what it is that sets them apart, and hopefully when I do. It might allow me to create something to locate them."
"How long do you think that might take?" I asked.
"Hard to say – a week – Yeah, give me a week, and I might know more."
"Good – Kakarot and I are trusting you with this. You are smart, so I don't think I have to tell you how those Dragon Balls could help our cause if it's true what's said about them." Even after all those years, I still wasn't fully convinced they exist and weren't just a made-up scam by Kami to stop me from killing him. Seeing is believing, I guess.
"Don't worry. I won't let you down," she promised.
You better not - I thought.
"Come, Kakarot. Let's go back home."
"Fasha-chan, can't we stay a bit longer?" He pleaded. "I only just met Bulma."
"No, we've got some training do, and if we were to stay, you would only end up distracting Bulma from her task." I stressed, "Tell you what, if she succeeds, we will go on an adventure collecting all the Dragon Balls, and Bulma can come along."
Authors Note:
What you saw here was a Bulma around 6-7 years younger than the one we first meet in canon. So she hasn't gone through puberty yet and therefore has no interest in boys and as shown in this chapter is fascinated by the prospect that she might be able to learn how to fly using only her own power.
Something, it took quite a while for her to come across in canon – In addition, in canon, her course in life was already set. She had strong opinions and had a certain expectation of what she wanted it to be. (Perfect boyfriend – I think telling Goku she wants a lifetime supply of strawberries was a lie – in order not to have to explain what a boyfriend is or something along those lines – Since I can't imagine her family having problems with just buying her all the strawberries she might ever eat) So some might disagree with what I did with Bulma here, but I found it reasonable and allows Fasha to be able to shift her just in the right direction where Fasha wants her to be.
Regarding the abbreviated version of events that Fasha told Bulma of the Saiyan race -
I'm aware that in canon the events played out a little different ... I'm not exactly sure atm what I'm gonna keep and what I'm gonna change to something more to my liking. For example, the Scouter being something that came from the Truffles seems strange to me – I never got the impression that the Saiyan provided the PTO with them more the other way around (there are even contradicting pieces of information about this on the Wiki – one saying Freezer gifted the Scouter to them) ... furthermore it wouldn't paint the Saiyan, in the best color... So for now assume Fasha is deliberately holding information back to get Bulma support or doesn't know any better herself. Propaganda is a mighty tool and Fasha wasn't a scholar.
Additionally, I should mention there will be some other AU elements in this fic - Both Kakarot and Bulma are only children for one. With this, I don't need to find a reasonable explanation why Kakarot is the Legendary Super-Saiyan when Raditz is just a low-level. I don't have to handle Tights in any way.
Then there is Bulma and her sister meeting Jaco their first extraterrestrial contact that did not happen here...
I watched GT, but everything I saw what was done after in Super is even more inconsistent than pretty much everything we see in Dragonball, which already didn't satisfy my need for consistency in a story. So at best, I will cherry-pick elements from there, at worst, I will ignore it completely.
Regarding a human, wishing to become a Sayian - Fasha contemplation is not a dig at stories that use that premise. For the most part, I do enjoy them. (Some of IMO best Dragon Ball fics use that premise) To give Bulma or in some cases Chi-Chi, more relevance is a good thing in my book. I just felt compelled to point out problems that could come from this. Since atm, my mind isn't made up about Bulma's future this gives me a convenient out in case I decide to fade her more in the background, and when one door closes another might open - since I also entertained the idea of Cyborg Bulma ... we will see ...
Unfortunately, so far this is all that I have written for this story - meaning I will focus on Tsuchigumo for the time being.