"So...I ain't human?"

Goku sat comfortably atop his Flying Nimbus, the unconscious General White having been left with the police of the nearest city, Rose City. Flying close alongside him was Tarble, who didn't seem all that tired even after hours of flying en route to West City. The older boy nodded in response to Goku's question.

"No. You are a Saiyan, from a planet known as Planet Vegeta. You were sent to Earth by your parents about...how old are you again?"

"13."

"13 years ago."

Goku pondered this information for a second before a question occurred to him.

"What's a planet?"

"What's a...uh..." Tarble considered how to answer the question for a few seconds. "A planet is...another world, separate from this one, and far away. These planets get organized into groups called 'systems,' based on the fact that they all spin around a certain...sun." Goku nodded along, mostly understanding everything. "Different systems are really far away from each other. Only spaceships like the one that brought you here can possibly hope to cover the distance between them all that quickly."

Goku thought for a moment. "But why would my folks send me here? Did...did they not want me?"

Tarble hesitated for a second before taking a deep breath.

"On Planet Vegeta, it's customary for Saiyan children to be placed into incubators for three years before being sent on missions to other planets. Over the course of these missions, technology within their ships would provide them with the knowledge they need to complete them and function in Saiyan society upon their return. That's how I know so much about our people."

Goku thought this over before another question came up. "But what did they want us to do here, though?" Tarble was dreading that particular question.

"Ah...well, uh..." he said, not quite sure how to break it to him. Goku looked at him quizzically for a second, forcing Tarble to elaborate. "They sent us here to...test out our combat capabilities on the native population, and programmed us to complete that task as efficiently as possible," he answered, but Goku wasn't quite satisfied with that.

"...Meaning what?" he asked, a bit of an edge creeping into his voice. Tarble gulped before responding candidly.

"Meaning they wished for us to kill every living thing we met."

Goku's eyes widened as he considered what Tarble was saying. "That's...horrible," Goku said, his shock and disgust evident across his features. "H-how could anybody want so many innocent people dead?!"

Tarble sighed, indicating he was likewise appalled at his people's customs. "Saiyan culture is predicated on the belief that strength denotes importance. The weak must have some sort of purpose to justify their continued existence. It is therefore the right of the strong to destroy that which serves no purpose. It is disturbing and barbaric...but it is our people's way, all the same."

Goku found himself growling slightly. "It shouldn't be," he said simply. Tarble nodded.

"It shouldn't be," he repeated, a part of him happy at the prospect of finding another Saiyan who agreed with his worldview. After a moment of reflection, Goku had another question.

"So, you said that we were...'programmed' to do all that stuff, right? What does that mean?"

"It means we were trained to complete that mission."

"Hm...but you haven't gone around killing anyone, right?" Tarble shook his head.

"My pod was originally intended to travel to a planet called Tech-Tech, much farther away than Earth. I believe something happened to the pod's systems that caused it to come here to ensure my safety. As a result, my programming was never completed." Tarble thought on this for a moment. "If it had been...I might have become a completely different person."

Goku stared at him for a second. "Do you think that happened to me?"

"It's a possibility, although...your parents also could have intended for you to come here. Nevertheless, the fact that you were sent so soon after birth is definitely puzzling. I'm admittedly at a loss."

Goku and Tarble flew in silence for a while before Goku spoke up again.

"So what's so special about Saiyans anyway? Besides the tails."

Tarble thought for a moment. "Well...Saiyans are generally stronger than humans, living on a planet with ten times Earth's gravity. Further, all Saiyans, even those who serve as non-combatants, have a certain degree of natural warrior instincts. In practice, this manifests itself as an uncommon proficiency when it comes to all kinds of physical combat, including the ability to learn techniques remarkably easily."

Goku's eyes brightened up slightly, as if something which confused him finally made sense. "Huh. Everyone did think it was pretty weird how I figured out the Kamehameha so fast."

Tarble was slightly confused, but assumed it to be some kind of ki technique. "Yes. Saiyans are naturally adept in the art of ki manipulation-one of several natural traits that has earned their reputation as a warrior race."

"What else?"

Tarble thought about it some more. "Well...there is the zenkai." Goku cocked his head in confusion. "The zenkai is a process which occurs whenever a Saiyan recovers from a critical injury-their body adapts to that experience and grows stronger to overcome it. Some Saiyans have been known to become significantly stronger by this method, although there is a limit on how often such a recovery can occur before their direct impact on a Saiyan's power becomes negligible."

"What about flying? Is that another thing Saiyans can do?" Goku asked, noting the ease with which Tarble could keep up with the Nimbus moving at a leisurely pace. Tarble shook his head.

"The power of flight is a particular technique which anyone can learn with the proper training. Your Saiyan programming should've included it early on, as well as the knowledge of how to produce ki attacks."

Goku cocked his head. "I only learned how to do stuff like that when I learned the Kamehameha. And I definitely can't fly." This left Tarble confused as well.

"Huh...from what I've learned about the position of Earth relative to Planet Vegeta, it's highly unlikely you wouldn't have learned either of those things before arriving. Which means...you must have lost your programming somehow, or never had it implemented in the first place."

Goku thought this over. "Maybe...hm. That might be it."

"What?" Tarble asked, unsure what Goku was getting at.

"My grandpa said that I hit my head as a baby. He said that I was a bit of a handful when he found me, but after that happened, I was kind and gentle."

Tarble pondered this. "Hm...a significant head injury could have eliminated your programming. In its absence, your own natural personality would have asserted itself."

Goku's expression darkened. "If that hadn't happened, I might have..." He didn't need to finish the sentence. Tarble chuckled grimly.

"How ironic-that we both owe so much of who we are today to random twists of fate."

Goku chuckled as well. "Yeah, it's...pretty weird."

After a minute of silence, Tarble decided to ask a question of his own.

"So, you know something of my origins, but I'm rather curious about the life you've lived up to this point. You mentioned a 'grandpa' who raised you."

Goku nodded, his expression brightening once more. "Yeah! His name was Gohan! He was a really strong martial artist who lived out on Mount Paozu, where I guess my ship must have landed."

"Ah. So it was his school that you joined?"

Goku shook his head. "Nah. The Turtle School is run by his master, Master Roshi."

Tarble nodded. "Huh...I feel like I've heard something about him. He won some big tournament decades ago, didn't he?"

"Mhm! He's really strong, but..." Goku leaned in closer, as if he was telling Tarble a dirty secret. "I think I'm a little stronger than him."

Tarble chuckled. "You may well be. Your level of power impressed me during our little brawl earlier."

Goku scoffed playfully. "Nah. I could tell you were holding back in there. If you really wanted to, you could beat me up easy!"

Tarble shrugged. "Perhaps. But, then again, I am the son of one of the strongest Saiyans alive."

Goku's eyes widened. "Really? Who?"

"The Saiyan monarch, King Vegeta III. Only my brother, Prince Vegeta IV, has a higher level of power...and perhaps the renowned warrior Bardock."

Goku blinked. "So, you're...royalty?" he asked. He looked at him with a curious expression, as if he was worried he ought to have bowed in respect or something. He made a motion to that effect before Tarble raised his hand to dissuade him.

"Please. I don't wish to be treated any differently on account of my upbringing. Besides, was it not your own that we were discussing?"

Goku nodded, and resumed his relaxed posture. "Right. Well, do you wanna hear it from the beginning?"

"I would like that, yes."

Goku smiled. "Alrighty then! Well, like I said, I was raised by my grandpa Gohan up until I was..." He counted out the years on his fingers. "Eight, I think? He was killed by a horrible monster." Tarble could tell that the memory brought some discomfort to Goku.

"I'm sorry," he said, although Goku waved him off.

"Nothing to be sorry for. Bad stuff just happens sometimes, you know?"

Tarble nodded before thinking for a moment. "You know...we could try and find a way to bring your grandfather back through the Dragon Balls as well."

Goku nodded. "Yeah, I thought about it. I don't think he'd mind too much, and...I do want to see him again." He sat on the Nimbus silently for a few seconds before continuing. "Well, anyway, after he died, I lived on my own. I knew how to hunt and fish and everything, and he taught me martial arts, so I was okay. I kept the Dragon Ball with four stars in it to remember him by. I...I liked to think he was in there somehow, after he died, but...I'm not so sure about that anymore."

Several seconds passed in silence. "What happened then? Why did you leave Mount Paozu?"

Goku's expression brightened up a bit. "Well, one day, when I was hunting, I got hit by a car." Tarble's eyes widened a bit as he said this, but Goku's expression made it clear this wasn't a serious issue. "Me and the girl who owned it, Bulma, got into a bit of a fight, but we worked it out. I let her see the Four Star Dragon Ball, and she explained what the Dragon Balls were and offered for me to go with her to gather them all."

Tarble smirked. "I imagine that was an interesting journey." Goku nodded.

"Yeah! We met a lot of really nice people! Like Master Roshi, who we met after a big turtle introduced us. He's the one who gave me Nimbus!" Goku paused and patted the cloud, and for a second, Tarble could've sworn it jerked forward a bit, in some bizarre gesture of affection. "Let's see...oh! We also met the Ox King, who trained alongside my grandpa! And his daughter Chi Chi. She was nice. There was also Oolong, a pig who can turn into other stuff, and Puar, a cat who can also turn into stuff! Not to mention her friend Yamcha, who tried to rob us a couple times but then started helping us! And I guess he and Bulma are...ah, what's the word?"

"Dating?" Tarble suggested. Goku snapped his fingers.

"There it is! Yeah, dating. What else...?"

"You seem to have made a lot of friends on this journey of yours, although I can imagine you ran into a fair amount of trouble as well," Tarble prompted. Goku's eyes widened a bit as he remembered everything.

"Oh yeah, there was definitely some weird stuff we had to deal with. Couple of random thugs and monsters-took them down easy enough. We had to fight Oolong and Yamcha at first, but we became friends eventually. There was also this weird rabbit guy who turned people into carrots, but Yamcha helped me beat him up, and I put him and his gangsters on the moon."

At this, Tarble blinked a couple times. "...You put them where?"

"The moon," Goku repeated, confused. "You know, the thing in the sky that-"

"I know what the moon is, I just-how?! How are those people not dead?!"

Goku thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "I could breathe just fine up there, and so could they, as far as I can tell. I told them that I'd let them back down if they did nothing but make treats for all kids everywhere." Goku became lost in thought for a second. "Come to think of it, I probably gotta bring them back down soon..." Tarble, meanwhile, was left utterly confused, but decided it would be better for his sanity not to question it. Goku's thoughts then returned to Tarble's question.

"Oh! And there was this other guy named Pilaf, and he was a real villain. Henchmen, a castle, all kinds of gadgets-the works! He wanted to use our Dragon Balls to take over the world, but we stopped him with our wish."

"Hm. And just what did you end up wishing for?" Tarble asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Panties," Goku replied point-blank, shocking Tarble.

"W-what?!"

"Panties," Goku repeated. "You know, those things girls wear to-"

"I know what they are!" Tarble shouted back, confused and flustered at the same time.

"I mean, technically it was Oolong's wish. Kind of a spur of the moment thing. No idea what he likes so much about them, though."

Tarble's eyes narrowed as he took in Goku's explanation, before shaking his head. "Anyway, so after that you escaped, beat everyone up, and saved the day?"

"Eh, something like that. I was out for most of it-not quite sure why. One second I was looking at the moon and the next I was lying naked on the sand, the castle was destroyed, and my tail was gone. Nobody seemed to offer much of an answer, either." Goku's words struck Tarble suddenly, and he was left struggling to come up with a suitable explanation of what Goku had undergone. He had just settled on something when Goku added on another detail which threw a wrench into his plans: "You know, my grandpa said that the monster who killed him came out on full moon nights like that. Kind of an odd coincidence, huh?"

Tarble flinched and began sweating profusely. It didn't take much to realize just who that monster was and what had happened that fateful night. He debated whether he should be brutally honest with Goku-after all, he'd already explained that his parents had sent him to Earth to kill everything on the planet. But then again, that was a more abstract realization to grapple with, and not something he had to worry about thanks to losing his programming. In this case, he would be stating plainly that Goku was at least indirectly responsible for his own "grandfather's" death. Tarble gulped, considering his options, which didn't escape Goku's notice.

"What's wrong? You look a little weird," Goku remarked. Tarble coughed a bit before calming himself down as much as he could.

"...Nothing," he said. Goku looked at him for a second before looking back to the course ahead, satisfied with the answer. The conversation eventually picked up again as the two flew ever-closer to their destination.


After a few more hours of flying, the large skyscrapers and domes of West City could be vaguely seen off in the distance. Tarble and Goku, distracted by their conversation, didn't quite notice the sight, but the Flying Nimbus took care to steer Goku, and consequently Tarble, in the right direction anyway.

"Hang on," Tarble said, confused. "So, his whole gimmick was just...being disgusting?" Goku nodded.

"Yep! Good thing Krillin don't got a nose, or he would've been knocked out!"

"He...doesn't have a-okay," Tarble responded. Far too many details about Goku's experiences were too strange even for him to fully comprehend. The fact that he was an alien from a distant warrior race seemed to be the least strange thing about him. As he looked away to try and process everything, however, he noticed the city coming up straight ahead, and called Goku's attention to it.

"Huh. Yup! That's definitely a city alright!" he replied, awed by all the hustle and bustle of the people below.

"Come on, let's touch down," Tarble said, and Goku guided his Nimbus towards the ground to match Tarble's course. When Goku jumped off, the Flying Nimbus floated around him a bit, almost playfully, before taking off into the sky and waiting for its master's call. Several onlookers paused to regard the two, particularly the boy who seemed to be flying for a second, but ultimately dismissed it. They had places to be.

"So...where can we find Bulma...?" Goku wondered aloud, completely missing the weird looks. Tarble was likewise confused, but had a better idea of how to proceed.

"You said she's 17, right?" Goku nodded. "It's unlikely she'll be in the phone book. And you don't know her last name?" Goku shook his head. "Blast. Alright, well...she's probably in school right now, so our only option is to look around all the high schools and hope we find her."

Goku groaned. "That'll take forever, though!"

"I know, but it's the only choice we have. It's not like we could just randomly approach people and ask-"

"Have you seen a girl named Bulma?" Goku asked the first person he saw, a traffic cop, stopping Tarble in his tracks. The woman just looked back at the child quizzically, so he decided to elaborate. "She's about as tall as you, she's got blue eyes, her hair is...kinda green, kinda blue? I dunno, it's weird. You might have seen her with a tall guy with black hair?" Tarble paused, wondering for the briefest second if Goku's blunt approach might actually yield results, but the woman just shook her head apologetically.

"Sorry, hun, but lots of people cross this street every day. I couldn't tell you any of their names."

Goku's face fell, and Tarble quickly walked over. "Of course, ma'am. Sorry for bothering you, we're just looking for a friend of his."

"It's quite alright, dear," she said.

"Come on, why don't we keep looking around? If we don't find her at a high school, maybe one of the capsule store owners will recognize the description," Tarble suggested, to which Goku eventually nodded. The two began to walk off, while the woman's brow furrowed in thought.

"Capsules...Bulma..." The connection hit her like a bolt of lightning.

"Wait!" she called out, stopping both of them in their tracks. "Are you boys looking for Bulma Briefs?"

The two looked at each other, their surprise evident, before Tarble replied. "Uh, I'm assuming?" The name seemed familiar to him, although he couldn't quite remember why. "Can you tell us where she lives?"

The woman laughed. "Everyone in West City knows where the Briefs family lives, hun! They're the owners of Capsule Corp!"

Suddenly, he remembered where he'd heard the last name-after all, even the people of Jingle Village had heard about the invention of capsules by a man named Dr. Briefs. He simply didn't know that he had a teenage daughter.

"You can find them at the Capsule Corp building near downtown! You can't miss it!"

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Tarble called out before taking Goku and flying off, not bothering to call for the Flying Nimbus. The woman stared at them as they flew away, before blinking.

"Yeah, okay."


It didn't take them long to find the Capsule Corp building-the traffic cop had been correct in saying it was hard to miss. Not quite knowing what to do, Tarble elected to simply ring the doorbell of what they assumed was the front door upon touching down. After a few minutes, a blonde woman whose eyes seemed to stay perpetually closed opened the door to greet them.

"Oh! Hello, there! Can I help you with something?"

Before Tarble could speak up, Goku interjected. "Hey, Bulma, you in there?" he called out into the facility. Tarble groaned while the woman's eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Oh, are you Bulma's friends? I'm sorry, dearies, but she's at school right now. You'll have to come back in a couple hours."

After a few seconds, however, a young girl's voice could be heard from upstairs. "Goku? Is that you?"

Tarble and the woman were left shocked while Goku nodded. "Yeah! And I brought a friend! We were hoping you could come fix the Dragon Radar!"

"Well, alright! Bring it up here!" Goku happily complied, moving past the older woman towards the sound of Bulma's voice. Tarble simply looked at the woman apologetically, while she seemed to seethe with a quiet fury.

"So...she's home, is she?" she said after a second before marching after Goku, Tarble awkwardly trailing her. When they arrived in Bulma's room, they found Goku talking excitedly with Bulma about recent events while she sat at her desk, examining the broken Dragon Radar.

"Hang on, you're an alien?!" Bulma asked, her surprise evident.

"Yuh-huh!" Goku asked, surprisingly cheery about the Earth-shattering revelation.

"Huh...I mean, between the tail, your superhuman strength, and...other things...I suppose I always suspected, but...man. That is quite the bombshell."

Only as the older woman made her way into the room did Tarble get a good look at the young girl Goku had described. His description was mostly accurate, but failed to account for something Tarble noticed immediately. Something about the way her eyes examined Goku as he told her about his origins, looking at every detail of his appearance with a new understanding, struck him as remarkable. He realized that he was dealing with a highly analytical mind-a girl likely every bit the genius her father is, perhaps even more so. More than that, he could see her weighing the implications of everything she knew about Goku, and everything she was hearing. He could practically hear the gears in her head spinning frantically as she took it all in. For some reason, this one detail about her fascinated him, and he found it difficult to look away.

"Oh! There's the friend I told you about! Hey, Tarble!"

Until she looked directly at him, and his composure shattered.

"Uh, h-hello," he said, meekly waving and blushing slightly. The older woman, meanwhile, was fairly irritated.

"Young lady," she said sternly, but Bulma ignored her, making straight for Tarble as soon as she noticed the tail.

"Oh. My. Stars. This is amazing! Not one, but two living members of an alien species, standing right in my room! Completely alien physiology..." He felt those analytical eyes of hers scanning every inch of him, and suddenly felt a peculiar discomfort. It wasn't unlike a sample being studied under a microscope. After a few seconds, she chuckled a bit, revealing the teenage girl she was at heart. "Tough looking..." she remarked off-handedly, "But kind of a shrimp." Tarble blushed a bit. It was true-she was almost half a foot taller than him. "Are all of you guys short?" she asked him, calling his attention back to her.

"Uh, no. We kinda, uh, shoot up around 17 or so."

"And how old are you?"

"...17."

"Figured," Bulma said, giggling a little, although Tarble noticed her spare a second glance at him, slightly more furtive than last time. The older woman cleared her throat.

"Young lady, why are you not in school?" she asked sternly.

"Sorry, ma, but school's boring," Bulma replied off-handedly. "Tarble here is way more interesting," she added, in a tone which made Tarble blush a little more. Her mother scoffed.

"That doesn't mean you can just leave when you please!" she replied. Bulma smirked.

"As it turns out, I can," she replied, holding up her watch and pushing a button. Before anyone could react, she had seemingly vanished, before a squeaky voice called up to them from down on the floor. After a second, she reappeared, seeming to have grown back to normal size. "Made this bad boy so I could fly around in Goku's shirt when he needed to use his flying cloud. Or so I could become a crime fighting superhero. Haven't quite decided."

The older woman sighed and began to walk away. "I swear, both you and your father are too smart for your own good sometimes," she said as she left the room. Bulma laughed.

"Yeah, probably," she said before returning to examining Tarble. "So," she asked, "The tail's prehensile, right?"

"To an extent," Tarble replied. "I can use it to wrap around objects and move it around like a more loose approximation of a limb."

Bulma's eyebrows shot up a little. Evidently she wasn't expecting him to know what that word meant. "And what about the, uh..." She spared a quick glance at Goku, who seemed preoccupied with all of the various gadgets on Bulma's desk. "...The other thing?" Tarble knew what she was talking about.

"I knew to stay indoors on full moon nights. My programming informed me of much of my Saiyan attributes, including the danger of looking at the full moon," he said. At this, Bulma's eyes widened.

"Programming?" she asked a little louder, to which Goku decided to respond.

"Yeah! Apparently the spaceships we came in put all sorts of stuff into our brains about how to fight and junk. I forgot all of it, though."

Bulma's eyes widened. "Spaceships?!" she asked excitedly, turning back to Tarble. "What shape are they? How fast can they travel? What method of propulsion do they use? Where is Goku's? Where is yours?!" Each question came out in rapid-fire, to the point where Tarble had to take a breath before responding.

"Spherical with a hatch around the center that doubles as a viewport, 1575 times the speed of light, an FTL drive designed to warp space around the ship in order to enable FTL travel, somewhere near Mt. Paozu, and at the bottom of your planet's northern ocean." It was almost relieving to speak to someone who understood every word of what he was saying, although a part of him felt guilty when he saw the disappointed look in her eyes.

"Hm...systems are probably fried by now," she said before brightening up. "But we've still got one other ship to work with! Let's go looking for it!"

Goku cleared his throat. "Uh...what about the Dragon Radar?"

Bulma's face fell slightly as she remembered what she had pledged to fix. "Right. That! I'll

get right on that so that you can find your grandpa's four star ball! After that, though, we can be on our way!"

This time, Tarble raised a finger to speak. "Actually, our priorities have shifted somewhat." This piqued Bulma's interest, and she motioned for him to go on. Before he could, Goku cut in, as per his usual fashion.

"We're going to round up the Dragon Balls to revive everyone the Red Ribbon Army has killed. Then we're gonna beat them up!" he said cheerfully, causing Bulma to flinch.

"You're gonna what?!" Bulma cried out in panic, while Goku was confused, Tarble slightly less so.

"I take it their names are known far beyond Jingle Village," Tarble began. Bulma nodded frantically.

"Goku, you're pretty strong, I grant you, but you're talking about the most powerful military on Earth! The world government has only been able to slow them down! No one martial artist could stop them, not even you!"

Goku thought it over for a second before replying, "But what about two martial artists?" Bulma facepalmed.

"What difference does it make?! They're too strong for you to handle-they'll kill you both!"

"Not necessarily," Tarble cut in. "I believe I tasted the worst of their capabilities while I was in captivity. They possess powerful war machines and skilled warriors, but Goku and I can dispatch both easily." Goku spoke up to back his friend's point.

"Yeah! He doesn't like saying it, but Tarble is way stronger than me! We'll whoop these guys no problem!"

Tarble blushed slightly, embarrassed by Goku's praise, while Bulma looked back between the two of them frantically, panic in her eyes. Tarble sympathized-he knew full well how terrifying the Red Ribbon Army was to the humans of his village, and their own reputation for cruelty. He wanted to comfort her, to find some way to assure her they were not likely to be in significant danger, but the words escaped him. However, Bulma moved the conversation forward all the same.

"I don't know, I just-I think you guys are way in over your heads here!"

At this, Tarble nodded before taking a deep breath and responding frankly.

"They invaded my village, held me captive for a month, murdered my mother and sister, and would've murdered my father if Goku didn't intervene. At this point, I don't give a damn how dangerous they are." The serious tone from what had appeared to be a relatively calm person swiftly silenced Bulma's objections, and left Goku looking slightly concerned. Seeing that no one was going to interrupt him, Tarble continued, "More than that, however...they appear to have the means required to seek out the Dragon Balls."

At this, Bulma was even more perplexed. "What?"

"They didn't pick my village at random. They knew that one of the balls was located in the vicinity of my home. They invaded because they needed men to comb through the area."

"Plus, they were looking around near where I found the first ball," Goku added. "They might've found it if they had a while longer to look. Good thing I beat 'em all up!"

Bulma's eyes widened. "Obviously imprecise, but...with the resources they've got, even a vague radar could be enough to find the Dragon Balls in a couple months. Maybe less!" This knowledge only intensified Bulma's own internal debate, and after half a minute, it resolved itself with a cry of frustration.

"Agh, alright, I'll go with you guys!"

Goku blinked in surprise. "You sure? You seemed pretty worried."

"Oh, yeah, no, I am absolutely terrified and about 90% certain we're all going to die," Bulma cut in. "But at this point, the stakes are looking pretty major. I definitely don't want to be known as the person who didn't step up when the fate of the world was at stake because her mom would get mad at her for missing school. Besides, if you're going to bring back everybody the Red Ribbon Army has killed anyway..." She trailed off, not wanting to get into the more morbid details of her argument. "Well. Just give me an hour, and I'll have us ready to sneak out of here." She took a deep breath as she returned to her desk. "Let's just hope that I don't end up regretting this."


About an hour later, after repairing the Dragon Radar, packing some essentials, and coming to an arrangement with her mother, Bulma stood in front of Goku and Tarble as they prepared to head out from the back outdoor area of the facility. Goku sat on top of his Flying Nimbus, eager to depart, while Bulma's mother, Panchy, watched them prepare to leave.

"Alright!" Bulma said, doing her best to get everyone's attention. "The radar says the nearest ball is out in the ocean, not too far away from an unexplored island. My dad has a submarine capsule in his case, so we'll use that to dive down and retrieve the ball. Got it?" Goku and Tarble nodded. Without a word, Tarble began hovering a couple feet above the ground, preparing himself to take off. Goku simply looked back and grinned while Bulma's jaw dropped. Panchy simply chuckled.

"Oh, how intriguing!"

"Hold up, you can fly?!" she asked in a mixture of confusion and shock. Tarble chuckled sheepishly.

"Why, yes. The technique was included in my Saiyan programming, and I've had plenty of time to perfect it."

"You're gonna teach me how to do that when we're done here, right?" Goku asked. Tarble chuckled.

"Of course."

Bulma continued to stare at Tarble in awe before an idea entered her head, causing her to blush a bit at the thought. She quickly looked down at her Micro-Band and made a show of inspecting it. "You know...I did whip this thing up in the middle of Home Ec. And like, yeah, it worked the last few times, but, uh, you never know with these things, you know? Plus, there may be certain health risks I didn't know about when designing it, you know? So, I think that, uh, in the interest of safety, it would be better if someone could, um, carry me over there." By the end of her statement, she was struggling to maintain her composure.

Goku simply looked back at her, confused, while Tarble's cheeks began to redden. "W-well, I mean, I'm sure Goku would be happy to-"

"A-hem," Panchy coughed, loud enough to be heard by Tarble's keen senses. He blushed further.

"Of course, I-I'm also happy to, uh, carry you over there," Tarble replied, more nervously this time. Panchy smiled.

"Aw, how gentlemanly of you!" she remarked, causing both her daughter and Tarble to blush even further. Goku was more confused than ever.

"Really, guys, I'm cool with-"

"A-hem!" Panchy coughed, louder this time. Goku's attention was quickly diverted.

"Whoa, are you okay, Mrs. Briefs?" Goku asked, concerned.

"Oh, just a slight cough, dear. Thank you," she replied, winking at Bulma, who simply got worse. The gesture went completely over Goku's head.

"Well, feel better!" he said before turning to the others. "So, are we gonna go, or what?"

"Uh, yeah, just give us a sec," Bulma replied, turning her head to look at Goku as she walked over to where Tarble was hovering. As such, she failed to notice a large rock in her way, which she promptly tripped over. Without even thinking, Tarble swiftly moved to catch her before she hit the ground. Bulma took a second to regain her composure before looking up at Tarble, who looked down at her at the same time.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Bulma chuckled awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Sorry, I'm not usually so...clumsy," she said, lost in thought for a second. Tarble blushed even more intensely, and the two struggled to say something further before Goku yawned, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand. "We're, uh, we're good," Tarble said, causing Goku to brighten up immediately.

"Alright, then! Let's goooo!" Goku cried out excitedly, the Flying Nimbus picking up speed as he took off, leaving Tarble and Bulma to trail off behind him, flying as fast as he could towards the first stop on another remarkable journey.


Whoo! And done! It sure has been a while, huh?

I'm going to go ahead and post this one early just to get ahead of the fact that I'll be busy tomorrow morning. Sorry if this seems like a bit of a filler chapter compared to previous ones, but I figured we could use some down-time to develop Goku and Tarble's relationship as well as bring in some of the key players. I promise Chapter 5 will get more interesting as far as fights go. Still, in this we get some interesting developments-Goku learning of his true origins much earlier, Tarble learning about Goku's life on Earth and meeting Bulma. Fun stuff-a bit sappier than usual, but hey, I like sap sometimes.

Once again, not gonna bother with any kind of power levels, but you'll know soon enough the extent of Tarble's power. In the meantime, responses!

Lord Martiya says:

"So, now Tarble is going to meet someone who knows about Saiyan, even if they have missed their description... Can't wait for this trainwreck."

Eh, went pretty well, all things considered, although Goku is still missing a few key details...

Wolfsblood13 says:

"This is a really great story, I cant wait to see what happens next."

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it!

With that said, thank you all for reading, have yourselves a fantastic night, and take care.