"Oh you should have seen it Bulma," says Puar. The cat sits atop her shoulder. "Oolong thought the best way to get the Dragon Ball from this really rich old man was to seduce him with a pretty woman."
"That's no surprise," says Bulma.
They both laugh while Oolong sits across from them at a round table. He leans his cheek on one hand turning his face away from them in a sulk. They and the rest of the Dragon Team are gathered in an open room at Bulma's home in Capsule Corporation.
"So what happened?" says Bulma.
"Oh geez do we really have to tell this story," Oolong says.
He leans forward over the table on both hands.
"Oh yeah," says Puar. "I told him stealing it would be easier. Yamcha and I pulled off a lot of heists together, and I'd plan it all out. But Oolong insisted on the seduction."
"Only we couldn't find any women to volunteer," says the Ox King.
Bulma turns her full attention to the giant, husky man.
"So Oolong says he'll do it himself and transforms into one. Then he tries to date the old geezer for like two or three weeks. No joke."
"Yeah and then what?" she asks.
"Well…" says Upa. He blushes. "The old man asks Oolong to come home with him to his mansion one night. We all wait outside and then…"
"Then what?" says Bulma scooting to the edge of her seat.
Puar speaks again.
"Oolong comes running out back in his normal form with guards and servants chasing after him. Apparently he couldn't keep up the transformation and just grabbed the Dragon Ball and ran for it."
"So he ended up stealing it just like you suggested," says Bulma. "That's hilarious."
The group laughs at Oolong's expense. Bulma does so the loudest and most joyfully with a hand over her mouth.
"Oh man," she says, "that is really funny. It sounds like quite the adventure. So what about the rest of the Dragon Balls?"
Let's see," says Puar. "Turtle fished one out of the ocean and then went back to his island. Ox King won a tournament in a village treating it like a sacred object."
The Ox King flexes a bicep.
"I've been retired for a long time now, but I can still lay down a wallop, heh!"
"Another Dragon Ball was in the cave of this monstrous creature that looked like a bear crossed with a wolf," Puar says. "It looked way too scary to try and fight, but Upa was able to sooth it and befriend the wild beast. It was awesome."
"Way to go Upa," says Bulma. She reaches over and pats him on the back.
"It was nothing really," he says. "Learning to live peacefully with nature is what my tribe does."
"Don't sell yourself short," says Puar. "You kept us all safe from harm on that one."
The cat gives the young boy a smile, and he smiles back.
"Oh, you won't believe this Bulma. Guess who we ran into?" Puar says.
"Who?"
"Launch!"
"No way! Launch? Really? What was she doing?"
"She actually found one of the Dragon Balls herself," says Puar. "Only by the time we got to her, she had gambled it away in a poker match. Of course she failed to mention to the people she lost it to that there were six more. In fact, the only reason we were able to get them to bet it again was by offering the secret of how to use it. That was a wild night."
"I'm sure. How has Launch been?" says Bulma.
"Oh the same old Launch," says Oolong. "And I've got a bullet scar to prove it. She spent all the money she won at poker for us to celebrate winning back the ball. Then she was gone in the morning before we all woke up."
The pig shrugs his shoulders and leans back in his seat.
"Okay, that's five then," Bulma says. "What about the last one?"
"I picked up the last one by—"
Puar is cut off by a crashing sound. They all turn to see a man in a lab coat skulking at the back of an unlit hall. Next to him is a knocked over cart of used dishes. His eyes flash purple the same way a nocturnal predator's eyes reflect light. Having been spotted, the man immediately dashes into the next room.
"Dad?" says Bulma, getting up to follow.
She rushes after her father. He weaves through doors and down halls. She only catches glimpses of the flapping end of his coat every time he rounds a corner. As they run, lights turn on from motion sensors deactivating their energy saver mode. She follows the lights through the network of chambers and passages.
She comes to a stop in a large room. None of the exits are open. Dr. Brief is hiding somewhere among the lab equipment. She raises her arms in front of her. Her feet make little steps never fully leaving the floor.
An explosion and crumbling rubble reverberates mutedly through the building to where she stands deep inside. She turns her head to its source. A strong grip twists one of her arms behind her back.
"You've been a bad daughter."
Her father's voice sounds unnaturally deep. His mustache pricks against her ear.
"Dad, what are you—"
"I told you not to see that boy anymore."
He shoves her to the ground. She watches him walk over to a metal pipe lying on the floor. He picks it up. His glowing eyes shift back to her.
...
"Bulma still hasn't returned my calls."
Yamcha stares at the phone she left him.
"She hasn't been gone that long," says Krillin. "I'm sure everything's fine. She needed a little space. That's all."
"No. She knows how much I work myself into a frenzy with worry. She doesn't like it, but she always tries to keep my mind at ease when I do. I know something's wrong. I can feel it. I need to go see what's going on."
"Woah, you can't leave," says Krillin. "We have training to do."
"Actually," says Kami stepping forth from his temple, "I think you all deserve a break. You've been working hard, and proper rest to recover is just as important as the training itself."
"Wait. Really?" says Krillin.
"Yes, we will resume in three days," says the Guardian. "You may leave my palace if you need to."
"Perfect," says Yamcha. "Thank you. I'll be back in three days. Oh, and I'm taking off these weighted clothes!"
After removing the garments, he goes through some of Bulma's left behind things and finds a Capsule. He throws it making a jet poof out of the inconceivably small container. He hops in, drives it off the tiled floor like a runway, and shoots through the sky.
"Will the rest of you be leaving as well?" says Kami.
"Chiaotzu and I don't have anywhere we need to be," says Tien. "We'll stay right here."
Kami looks at Krillin.
"Oh, uh," he says. "Yeah, I might leave for a day or so."
"Understood," says Kami. "I have some business that I must attend to. I'll see all of you back here in three days."
Kami turns around to return to his temple. As he passes Mr. Popo, they nod to each other. From there he disappears into the shadows of the palace.
…
Yamcha turns the jet back into a Capsule midair high above West City. He free falls as he searches for the Capsule Corporation headquarters. Upon spotting it, a white aura breaks around him as he propels himself towards the complex. The magenta glow of the Mayko Star follows his descent. It shines with the light of the sun as it creeps towards the bright circle in the sky.
His feet hit the pavement in a run. He sprints for Bulma's home now just a block away. A gaping hole in the side of it spurs him on faster. The randomness of its edges are the unmistakable signs of an explosion.
For some reason, the faint impulse to rob the Briefs' business creeps into his thoughts. He shakes his head wondering where the itch of his old bandit ways came from.
"Bulma!" he says, hoping his voice will carry into the building.
He halts to a stop when his way is blocked by a group of people. They seem to be just ordinary citizens. Among them is a pretty lady in a red dress, an old man wearing suspenders, and even a young boy not more than ten or eleven. Yet, the aura they give off is filthy. Yamcha can feel it sticking to him like a sweat from the flu. And their eyes. A fuchsia light encircles their irises
They move in surrounding him.
"You guys don't want to do this," Yamcha says.
The old man lunges first. The martial artist slips by him while tapping the back of his head with an elbow. He drops to the cement, still but breathing.
In a whirlwind of bodies, Yamcha dispatches each one of them as lightly as he can, including the child.
"What the hell is wrong with these people?" he says.
He sprints to the front doors of his destination not slowing to open the glass entryway properly. The latches offer little resistance as he bursts through them.
"Bulma! Bulma where are you?"
He keeps calling her name while checking every hall and room one floor at a time. Debris and burn marks litter the residence. Finally he stumbles across the injured group of his friends. Puar seems okay and is putting a wet rag on the Ox King's forehead. Upa already has one.
"Puar, Puar what happened?"
The cat jerks back to look at him, fear in her eyes.
"Yamcha? Oh Yamcha it was awful."
She flies into his arms, and they embrace. He hears a female voice call his name before sputtering into a fit of coughs. He spins on his heels hopeful to see Bulma. Instead, he finds her mom.
He moves over to her and grabs one of her hands.
"What happened here?" he asks.
"Demons," she says.
"Demons?" says Yamcha.
He turns to Puar who nods.
"They came for the Dragon Balls," she says in a whisper. "They took all of them. But when we only had six, they took Bulma and Oolong as hostages."
"Those monsters kidnapped Bulma?" Yamcha says.
The woman groans out an affirmative.
"Where did they go?"
She shakes her head.
"They said something about finding the last one," she says. "Then they flew off."
Yamcha punches the nearby wall sending cracks branching out like lightning.
"Damn them," he says.
He laments not checking in sooner.
"Wait!" he says. "If they have the Dragon Balls, then I should be able to find them with the Dragon Radar!"
He rushes off to search for it with Bulma's mom calling after him.
"Please Yamcha. Find my daughter."
Yamcha enters a lab room he has seen Bulma store the device in before. He starts tugging on drawers like a madman pulling them straight out of their desks and cabinets. He dumps their contents on the floor and kicks his feet through whatever lands there.
"Looking for this?"
Yamcha turns his head to see Dr. Brief holding the Dragon Radar. He starts towards the professor who holds up a hand.
"Eh, eh," says Dr. Brief, wagging a finger. "One step closer and I'll smash it on the ground."
"Dr. Brief, what are you doing?" says Yamcha. "Bulma's in danger."
"Yes. And rightfully so for not listening to her father."
"What?"
It is then that he notices the same sickly stench coming from Dr. Brief as the people outside and the thin line of magenta encapsulating his irises.
"Since Bulma won't stay away from you," Dr. Brief says, "I'll take care of you myself. You broke her heart, and I won't let you do it again."
The man puts a hand into his lab coat. Yamcha rushes over at a speed he knows the doctor cannot react to. He reaches for the Dragon Radar. It disappears before him as the elder moves with unexpected agility.
A burning burrows into his right shoulder. Yamcha grabs the spot as his eyes follow the doctor moving by that same side to stand several yards behind him. A laser gun points at him from the scientist's other hand.
What's going on? Yamcha thinks. Where did his sudden power come from?
"Don't try that again," says Dr. Brief.
He raises the radar and gives it a squeeze. It deforms a little in his grasp. Yamcha glares over his shoulder at the show of control. He slips his hand off his injured shoulder, pulling it to his chest.
"I'm going to conduct an experiment," says the doctor. "I want to find out how many shots it will take to kill you."
He pulls the trigger firing another laser. His target zooms far to his left. He watches the foe and follows him with the gun. At the same time, he sees a yellow orb floating where the man just stood.
Yamcha gives a flick of his fingers, and the sphere darts straight into Bulma's father, knocking him against the wall. The gun and the radar clatter to the floor while the doctor lands on his stomach.
"Thank you Sokidan," says Yamcha picking up the device. "Sorry about that old man, but you'll thank me later."
From there he sprints back to his friends to check on them. The Ox King is up and moving, albeit with a limp. He and Puar have gotten Bulma's mom and Upa to their own couches to rest.
"Are you guys going to be alright without me?" says Yamcha, poking his head through the door. "I'm going after Bulma."
Puar looks at the Ox King who nods.
"Then I'm coming with you," says the cat.
"Are you sure you're feeling up to it?" says Yamcha.
Puar flies over and latches onto his shoulder.
"You're going to need an extra set of eyes," she says.
Yamcha smiles and takes off again.
…
Korin stares out from the railing atop his tower. Chichi and Yajirobe stand behind him. She grips the Power Pole in both hands while he keeps a hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Do the two of you feel that ominous ki?" says Korin.
"Yes, it feels worse than I imagine Piccolo's would be," Chichi says.
"It makes my skin crawl," says Yajirobe. "I'm not sure I like having this ability."
"Can either of you tell me how many there are?" says Korin.
"Three, I think," Chichi says.
"Yeah, what she said," says Yajirobe.
"Good," says Korin. "They are coming straight for us so be on your guard."
"What could they want with us," Yajirobe says. "I don't have anything of value."
"I can't say for sure, but we need to be ready," says Korin.
He watches as the Makyo Star draws near the sun, ready to start eclipsing it.