AN: Ah yes, Sakura and that one would make for an interesting interaction, wouldn't it? But that's 12 years away. Anything could happen between now and when they arrive.
Also, Goku's battle with Red Ribbon Army took 4 or 5 days in canon. Here, 11 so far. But, in fairness, the manga utterly ignores travel time usually.
One day we'll say 'lucky Yamcha' instead of 'poor Yamcha'. It'll probably be the day after he gets a wish granted. And only that day. Because he'd end up the one person who got someone else to wish next year 'Yamcha's wish? Yeah, I wish you'd undo it."
The Next Dimension Over
Chapter Fifty-one
How was this in any way fair? It wasn't.
It was not fair at all.
Red Ribbon Army had a wide variety of soldiers, human and nonhuman, of varying size, shape, and toughness. So of course the one female soldier he found had to be coming right at him.
By the end of his quest for the Dragonballs, barely surviving a gigantic monkey out to...eat, trample, or just kill him in some other way and narrowly avoiding getting baked to death in a giant metal pit...wishing away his fear of women seemed like a pathetic use for a wish. In retrospect: why did he think any wish was pathetic after Oolong wished for panties?
"Well, it's not gonna be any fun for anyone if you spend the whole time running and hiding." The woman's voice called out from down the hall.
It wasn't specifically his plan to run away, he'd just...sputtered and stumbled over an appropriately witty comeback for so long that she attacked him, and he'd run away just to get away from her and gather his wits about him again. He wasn't terrified of women. He interacted with them on a daily basis!
Sort of.
The point was, he'd come a long way from when he'd cut and run just by spotting Bulma out in the wilderness while he beat down Goku. He wasn't just running away from the woman because she was an attractive lady.
She was also shooting at him, and that had to count for something.
"Oh come on." She appeared around the corner without warning, expression completely unimpressed. "Weren't you planning to beat information out of me? Now you're not even trying."
Ugh-
Instinctively, he shrank away from her, defensive. "Look...I-I don't want to have to hurt you..."
Her eyes widened in surprise for a few moments, and then she burst into loud laughter.
He...he wasn't really sure what to do. She wasn't being actively hostile. He couldn't just punch her while she was laughing, could he? That was...just...come on!
It was a really, really good idea he'd decided to go alone, and not where Goku could see him. Because! Because, it wasn't like he couldn't interact with women in a...normal and natural way...in day to day ...why the hell was she still laughing at him?
He grit his teeth in irritation fueled by his frustration. "What's wrong with you?"
Her laughter died down to chuckling when he spoke, and she wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye, before she leaned closer to him (uncomfortably so), and pressed the hot end of her pistol to the underside of his chin. "...I guess you're right. Amusing as you are, you're with that kid destroying everything outside, aren't you? And you're in my way. Shame."
Probably even at close range a bullet like the one in the gun wouldn't do him any harm. Probably.
He grabbed the barrel of it with one hand and ripped it out of her hand before she could shoot anyway. As long as he didn't have to think about hitting her, or when he should or shouldn't make that kind of an attempt, at least he knew how to deal with violent threats. "You've got it wrong. You're in mine."
(*)
Two men were present in the room. A tall, darker skinned man, and a short man with so light it was almost translucent in the light of the explosions outside. The shorter one had been hunched over a pedestal that faintly glowed with the familiar light of the dragonballs their own did. For a few moments, both of them simply stared down at her in surprise.
Bulma, wisely, ducked into her shirt and didn't say a word.
She stood once she was sure the woman was well hidden, and brushed off fragments of glass that stuck to her clothes. Chances were, if she tried to, she could grab the three dragonballs from the room and leave before the two men did anything to stop her. A must slimmer chance stood that she might be able to convince them to give up the dragonball in exchange for their lives.
But then, the army would only regroup and try again in a year. or two. Or even three. They'd terrorize more people, they'd slaughter more than Goku would ever be able to find out about to help. Maybe one day after she was long gone, they might even succeed in one of their attempts. That was the danger of having something like that available every year, wasn't it?
She took a step forward and the short, red-haired man immediately grabbed the dragonballs and took a step backward.
The taller man took a step in her way. "You came right here. I wonder how it is you were able to guess just where we kept the dragonballs?"
"Hm?" She lifted her hands and made a show of straightening her gloves. The shorter man continued to back up, toward a set of stairs on the other side of the room. Apparently the building either had one extra (small) floor than it looked, or he expected to be able to jump off of the roof and escape in the chaos. Neither one was possible while he insisted on taking the dragonballs with him. "What makes you think I came for them?"
The man's lips curled up into a knowing smile. "No one would be reckless enough to attack the entire Red Ribbon Army over one small village in the middle of a forest. Or the mountains."
So...then she was right. That soldier the general had protected ran back to this base. And somehow, someone survived that tower and told the army of them as well. She'd suspected so from what the General had said. If he looked so confident, though...he either overestimated his forces, or he was much more powerful than she'd seen yet.
"You have no idea how much you're underestimating..." she clenched her fist and started toward the man again at a sprint. "How pissed off I am about 'that village'!"
(*)
He wasn't going to say he was surprised she could hit so hard as a woman. He was just...surprised she hit so hard.
And also she happened to be a woman.
He winced and rubbed at his jaw. For a moment there he'd had the upper hand. He'd broken her gun and beaten back her attempts at grappling him into submission. Right when he'd been about to finish her off, though, she'd stumbled a step backward and given him an accusing, innocent look.
It wasn't like he stopped or anything. He wasn't tricked by something that blatant and simple! He just happened to hesitate slightly, and she kicked really quickly. By the time the stars cleared out of his vision, she was already disappearing around the corridor.
As much as it probably worked best for him to just let her go and deal with all the other soldiers in the army (literally every single one at once would have been preferable, honestly)...she was running somewhere and it wasn't to where he knew the exit to be.
...It was probably the armory.
He ran after her as soon as he gathered his wits back about him, and skidded around the corner. He didn't see her, but at least there was only one path to go, and it was another turn. She might not be hopelessly gone. And even if he didn't catch her, at least it would point him in the right direction toward what he actually wanted.
If he did catch her, he'd...figure out what to do after that.
Maybe he'd just close his eyes and imagine she was a big, fat cat. He'd have no problem at all summoning up the hostility and violence he needed out of himself to take down the woman (cat!) then.
An explosion rocked the building he was in. One which was closer than 'plane just exploded on the roof'. Probably, that was where his prey had gone. Or rather...where his...woman-nope.
He shook his head quickly, ending that line of thought before it could distract and fluster him any further, and raced in the direction of the disturbance. Fortunately, he didn't actually have to go far. Just a short distance from where he was already, stood the woman he'd been chasing. With her back to him, even.
He didn't take advantage of the opportunity to take her down without any further resistance...but at least it was for a good reason this time.
He was too busy staring dumbfounded at the gigantic vault the woman had just blown open.
She whistled (not at him) and strolled forward into the vault. Full, not of weapons and armor and secret trump cards, but of zenni, gold, and other valuables. It wasn't exactly the desperate act of a loyal soldier looking for a way to fight against impossible odds that he'd imagined.
...This...this was not what he expected of attacking the Red Ribbon Headquarters to steal their dragonballs. This was not it at all.
For a little while, the woman didn't even seem to notice he was still standing there, drawing out a large canvas bag and piling things into it with utmost leisure and calm. As if screams and gunshots didn't fill the air from outside, and the building itself didn't shake with each missed rocket or downed plane.
He blinked, and shook himself back to focus. So, maybe she wasn't completely loyal and dedicated like he assumed all of the military force would be. That just meant it'd be easier to get the information he wanted out of her. Right?
...Right.
Come on, man. This isn't the first time you've knocked information out of someone!
It was, actually, when it came to women. But he'd just...just not think of her as a woman and it would work out great! Yeah.
Before he could stall any longer and talk himself out of it, he sprinted across the room and, with a fierce roundhouse kick, knocked the bag in her hands all the way to the other end of the hall. "Sorry, but if you want all that money, you're gonna have to give me something I want first."
Ah-ah damn it!
"I-Information! I want! Ju...Just tell me where the damn armory is and you can go get your stuff!" Why did he even open his mouth at all?
The woman flicked some of the short purple hair that had fallen into her eyes out of her face, and frowned up at him. "And just what are you going to do if I say no?"
"Th...that's obvious!" Obviously he'd just beat it out of her.
Or...wait and kick the money out of her hands again. That worked pretty well so far.
But he'd get violent with her if he had to and she provoked him! He was a martial artist! A very powerful, dangerous, and highly skilled martial artist. He used to be a feared desert bandit. He could fight a woman if he really, really wanted to and she was obviously trying to hurt him or one of his friends.
Mai!
He didn't have any trouble with Mai at all!
...
...Did he?
Her eyes were wide with shock as she stared up at him and she placed her hand to her chest, resting it there almost delicately. "You'll...overpower me all alone here, and let out all of your pent up frustration on my petite and feminine form?"
"WHAT?" He sputtered and choked on his words with such sudden force that he broke into a coughing fit. "N-no! NO! I-"
She punched him in the face.