It's time for the gang to get back on track to the great Dragon Ball quest, but what on earth could this Bulma character want with our party of five? The adventure continues now!
The Six-Star Dragon Ball glowed brightly in Bulma's hands, enveloping the entirety of her top figure in a soft, golden luminosity. Her grin was nothing short of triumphant as she waved the mystical orb, getting a kick out of the groups' shocked, exasperated expressions, say for Goku, who looked excited.
"Hey!" He pointed, surprised and unbothered. "She's got a Dragon Ball, too. Sweet!"
"No, there's nothing sweet about it!" Rias shouted and roughly pulled on the boy's nose, then she angrily stormed up to the smug teenager. The girl's face was red hot, nearly identical in color with her crimson hair. She'd been played like a fool, and by a human being no less. Eventually, she calmed down, before asking: "What do you want?"
Bulma smiled and then returned the orb to her side pouch. "Same as you all, I gather. The seven Dragon Balls; the power to conjure any conceivable wish… something at the edge of my fingertips!" She sighed, almost as if the very thought were so grand it was ultimately exhausting. "But, somehow, in the centuries since, the balls got scattered again! Leaving it to li'l me to bring 'em back together! Amazingly, however, you guys got the jump on me, so I simply needed to catch up!"
"You've been following us? How did you know we'd stop at this town?" Asked Sona, angry yet genuinely curious.
"I didn't. I just made an educated guess by tracking your positions…" From another side pouch, the girl revealed a strange, circular device. "I call this baby the Dragon Radar! It detects the unique energy signatures that Dragon Balls emit, so I can locate each ball with laser precision accuracy. Somehow you guys were able to blackout my frequencies, but after realizing you were going in the general direction of each ball, I simply found the nearest town and waited for you guys to wind up coming to me. Simple." She shrugged like her scheme was common knowledge.
Akeno looked down at Bulma's side. "What about the pig?"
The short swine-like anthropoid, drab in brown uniform and cap, Oolong, frowned. "Y'know… I sorta take offense to that term…"
"Wait," Sairaorg nudged Sona, "I thought he was a Yokai."
"What the heck's a Yokai?" Oolong's ears dropped, a telling that he was unsure whether he should have felt insulted again or not.
Goku, too, had a puzzled expression. "Is a Yokai edible?" Everyone ignored him.
"Yeah, I got stuck because of this idiot, too." She smacked Oolong upside the head, causing him to whimper in pain. "Pretending to be a big, scary monster. What an idiot!"
Rias crossed her arms and continued to stare down Bulma, though her expression remained quite adorable and lovely, even in a stern state. "So… you want in on our quest?"
Bulma shot the young devil a confirming grin. "You betcha! With my Dragon Radar we can find the last two Dragon Balls, easy! Once we collect all seven, then we can fairly decide who gets the wish! Sound good, right? It'll be quicker, plus fair and square!"
Rias pondered over the offer, too, then smiled. Sure thing, lady. I can just erase your memories later, you bimbo! The devil quietly thought to herself, confident the sudden change in plan could actually work out quite well in the long run. "Sure thing… Bulma, was it?"
"""What!?""" Everyone, except Goku, loudly exclaimed, shocked at her uncanny decision.
"Hey, Rias!" Akeno quickly ran up to the devil's side. "Are you sure about this?" She whispered.
Rias nodded. "Yeah. We'll get the last two Dragon Balls faster, then we'll wipe out this girl's memories. I may not have as much power as my other family members, for the time being, but I can still warp and change a simple human's mind."
The young devil finished talking to Akeno, then resumed her conversation with Bulma. "Ok, you're in. But a promise is a promise. We'll fairly decide who gets the Dragon Balls, after we finally manage to collect them all."
A flash of twinkle lit up in both of Bulma's eyes. "Now that sounds like a plan!"
"Okay…" Sona frowned. "But is the pig coming with us?"
"I have a name, y'know!" Yelled Oolong.
Bulma nodded, then pushed the pig's cap down tightly over his eyes. "His transformative quirk could come in real handy on our quest! The Two-Star Ball is at least a three days drive away, and who knows what other craziness we'll run into on this trip!"
Akeno and Sona both exhaled as if already tuckered out from the very thought. "This adventure just keeps getting crazier and crazier, doesn't it?" Akeno shook head.
The monkey boy, keeping quiet for the majority of the negotiations, suddenly began to feel a shiver of excitement travel down his spine. I can't wait! The strange creature, Goku, excitedly thought in his head. This adventure keeps getting so fun!
A few hours later, the rambunctious crowd finally found themselves out of the mountains and finally onto flatter land… a long, inescapable desert no less! Just what dastardly fiends awaits our heroes out here?!
Bulma sat in the front of the sizable terrain jeep with Sairaorg; Oolong, grupily, found himself firmly squashed in the back seat; and Rias, Akeno, and Sona shared the middle seats with a bored Goku. The boy didn't notice the miniature war being fought by the girls surrounding him, and continued to stare out into the red environment, just through the vehicle windows.
"Aren't we there yet?!" He complained.
"Say…" Oolong awkwardly poked his head out from behind their seats. "Where is 'there' anyways?"
"Still a long way off. We're now in Diablo Desert" Bulma turned and spoke back. "I'd give it another day or so." She began to ruffle around in her backpack, then pulled out a small map. "Umm… Lemme see… yeah… just like the old lady in town told us, right around Fry-Pan Mountain."
"What?! Fry-Pan Mountain?!" Screamed Oolong. "Y-You're g-gonna go there?!"
"You've heard of it?" Asked Sona.
"Y-Y-You guys don't know?! Th-Th-That's the home of the terrible Gyu-Mao, A.K.A. The Ox King!" The pig was turning hysterical, downright losing it.
"Mao, huh?" She frowned, but then smiled. "Hey, no prob," Rias gently wrapped an arm around Goku, "my cute servant, here, will kick his butt for us."
"Oh my, so you're finally playing dirty… huh?!" Akeno, confidently, grabbed onto Goku's other side. "Don't think for a second that I'll hand him over to you!"
"Goku is mine, all mine! Let him go, Akeno!"
"No! Rias, you can't have everything you want!" The half fallen angel cried back. Sparks flashed between both girls' eyes as they enviously glared daggers at each other.
Goku frowned. "I'm hungry—"
"Wow, what is going on back there?" Sairaorg couldn't help but be amazed.
"Hah, you said it, kid!" Bulma grinned.
"Is nobody listening to me!?" Yelled Oolong.
Their journey would most definitely be a long one, but certainly not a boring one.
Out in the distance, hidden atop a tall, natural, sandstone peak, a single speck of light quickly beamed across the sahara, the reflection of a high-powered scope. From his perch atop the bluff, the bandit saw them coming long before they'd ever realize he was there.
"See them, too?" He asked his furry partner, looking through his own telescope.
Though sharing an appearance to that of a rabbit or cat, the small creature was neither of the species. The creature put away his scope and excitedly nodded. "Yes, Lord Yamcha! Game! We've indeed got game!"
The bandit checked his weapon—fully loaded, with one in the pipe. He lay at full length with the barrel resting on a flat stone. He sighted through the scope, putting the crosshairs smack on the driver's side of the windshield. There was someone sitting there… but a sunflash momentarily blinded him, so he drew back. He only saw it for a second, but there indeed was a girl with crimson hair…
Darn, that's kinda creepy that they knew exactly where she'd end up… well, whatever; money is money, and I'm certainly not about to complain about a nice payday!
"Our first catch in a long time… nice." He applied his eye to the scope again, waiting for the perfect shot. "Prepare the Jet Squirrel, Puar, I'll meet you down, below after stopping their car."
"Yes, sir!"
PING! A gunshot rang out, the almost liquid whip crack of a high-powered rifle. One of the jeep's front wheels exploded and tore off from the vehicle's body, hitting the rocky desert and tumbling away like something straight out a cartoon. The car spun out of control, sending a series of brilliant sparks across the dry ground, before crashing into a nearby dune.
A series of screams ran out the car, before Bulma and Oolong clawed tooth and nail out of their seats, nearly falling out the vehicle as they scrambled to get away.
"I'm too young and pretty to die!" Bulma screamed and dove into a small, nearby cave.
"Hah, Hah!" Oolong weazed as he collapsed, trying to fight off an imminent panic attack.
Everyone else jumped out the jeep, then quickly found cover.
"I can't believe someone sniped at us! Humans are so cowardly!" Sona nearly spat, enraged.
"Hey," Sairaorg pointed to their side, off in the distance, "what's that!?"
Approaching the group with quite the speed, a vehicle carrying two strangers continued to cruise ahead, nearing closer and closer to them by the second. Suddenly, the small vehicle came to a quick stop, halting before the sizable group with ease. A man and a small creature hopped off the seat, then stared them down.
"Greetings!" The man was young and handsome, donning a green vest and an orange scarf that tied around his neck. Long, messy, black hair ran down his built, bare shoulders. He carried a large, curved sword at his side and a strapped bolt-action rifle on his back. His pants were loose like a martial artist's, and the kanji for 'easy' was printed over his chest.
"Who are you?" Asked Goku, who seemed to be the only one unbothered by the car crash.
"Me?" The bandit laughed. "I'm the king Hyena in a land of scavengers. The name is Yamcha."
"And I'm Puar!" A furry cat-like creature jumped at his side.
"Apparently you folks are carrying a collection of rare artifacts," his confident eyes shifted over to Rias, "so if you want to leave this desert alive, hand them over. The Dragon Balls, now."
The devil's expression remained fixed and she kept her mouth shut. Rias was certainly young, but far from an idiot, unlike…
"Oh, you've got Dragon Balls, too?!" Goku opened his mouth.
""Goku!"" Rias and Akeno both grabbed the boy by his mouth cheeks and gave him a violent tug.
"OWIE!" The monkey boy whimpered, then clutched at his reddened face. "What'd I do?!"
"GHA!" Yamcha's partner, Puar, suddenly cried out. "Oolong?!"
All eyes, devil and human alike, fell on the cowering pig. "Cry-baby Puar?!" He shrieked.
Yamcha peaked at Puar. "You know this guy?"
"S-Sorta," Puar stammered, anxious, "in my first year at Shapeshifter school, he used to pick on me all the time until he got kicked out for stealing the female teachers' undies! He's a real creep!" The small creature continued to violently flutter his tiny arms out of anger. "Weirdo! Bully! I hate you! You used to always pick on me for using magic instead of a natural quirk!"
"I-It wasn't what it looked like!" Oolong awkwardly tried to defend himself against Puar's verbal lashing, but only came off as even more lecherous.
"You haven't changed much, huh…?" Goku turned to look at Oolong.
"Yes, Goku, I believe you're quite right." Akeno pat the boy's shoulder.
"S-Shut up! Wait!" The pig's eyes widened like he just discovered buried treasure. "You're all tough, right?! Especially you, kid," he pointed directly at Goku, "you're real tough?!"
"Huh?" Goku scratched his head. "Yeah, I guess…"
"Hah!" Oolong victoriously cheered, then turned to face Yamcha. "Listen, Cha-cha, or whatever your name is! If you think we're giving anything to you, you're dumber than you dress! Now get lost before you get hurt!"
"Oh, really?" The desert bandit grinned, then gently unsheathed the great blade hanging at his side. "Well, I still have a job to do… and if you're eager to see heaven…" With quite the noticeable killing intent, Yamcha positioned himself forward into a foreboding stance.
"Yeah! Kill 'em, Lord Yamcha!" Puar loudly insisted.
Sairaorg quickly jumped in front of the girls to stand in as the vanguard, ready to take on the human mercenary. Rias and Sona took notice to his actions and both deployed magic sigils before themselves, prepared to rain down a storm of magical firepower. Akeno, too, began to emit a yellow glow as golden sparks started to form around her delicates hands.
"We've got this," Rias started, "hit him with a blitz and then we can—"
"Hey!" Goku walked right out of formation, approaching Yamcha without worry. "Why do you wanna kill us?! Ain't that considered… dunno, bad manners?! Grandpa always said—"
""What are you doing, Goku?!"" Rias and Akeno shrieked, while Sairaorg and Sona remained speechless thanks to the kid's antics.
"What? He's being," Goku turned around in time, "Whoa!"
Goku jumped in the knick of time, soaring high over Yamcha's attack. "HYAAA!" The bandit screamed as his blade cut through the empty air with a loud, precise YUU!
The boy turned, midair, performing a perfect front flip, then dashed back down to the ground. "DYAA!" He screamed as the Power Pole, firmly gripped in his hands, swung down, hard, straight onto Yamcha's curved sword. GWOK! The weapon violently vibrated in the bandit's hands, causing him to shutter and fall back.
Goku instantly saw that as an opportune opening and landed feet-first, back on the ground. "Power Pole, extend!" Right after lowering the weapon, Goku pointed the ancient staff directly for Yamcha's bottom-half and let the orange pole do its thing.
Commanded by the boy's very words, the Power Pole shot out forward at an alarming speed, penetrating Yamcha's stomach with an audible DUM!
"HOOF!" The bandit's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he was thrown backwards into the ground. He crashed, rolling through the sand like a tumbleweed until his body came to a natural stop.
"…GG…" Yamcha slowly, despite the aching pain, pulled himself back up; he was struggling to breath. "…GG…GUH…" His opponent was only a boy, but there was no way he'd underestimate his strength like that again.
"L-Lord Yamcha…!" Puar shrieked.
Sairaorg shook his head, simply amazed. "I honestly can't tell if that Goku takes his fighting seriously at all, just what in the realms is he…?"
Yamcha stood, cradling his stomach, and glared at the young monkey boy. "Where… did you get that staff… boy…?"
Goku stood the staff besides him. "My dead Grampa gave it to me!"
"…Impossible…" As he began to think, an incredible revelation began to pave its way through Yamcha's mind. "I've heard of only one that lengthens on command… the 'Ruyi Jingu Bang' or 'Nyoi-Bó' of Legend. An item said to have been obtained by a legendary human warrior after he bested those of the Sun Wukong Clan. Tell me… what was your Grandfather's name?!"
"My Grandpa's name?" Goku repeated the question out loud, then answered. "His name was Son Gohan!"
The driftor, Yamcha, scowled. "As I thought… Son Gohan was said to be unrivaled in a host of martial arts disciplines…"
"Son Gohan?!" Rias glanced at Sona. Her friend nodded, amazed as well.
"Yeah, even Father's mentioned him before! Just who is your new friend, Rias…?"
"Wait…" The crimson devil's eyes widened in realization. "Those letters were written on Goku's very doorstep… how could I have forgotten!"
Rias remembered her brother and father both mentioning a Son Gohan before… along with another human warrior known as All Might… and even a Turtle Hermit…
"Holy crap." Rias spoke to herself, amazed.
"Eesh… even I've heard of him…!" Exclaimed Oolong, who'd been hiding from the fight. "An that's really sayin' somethin'!"
"Then Son Gohan had a grandson…" Yamcha shook his head, amazed. "Now I will remember not to lower my guard…"
Goku, meanwhile, wasn't paying the least bit attention to the surrounding conversations. "I'm hungry!" He complained, then rubbed his belly.
"Heh… it's been too long since I faced real competition…" Yamcha suddenly crouched down, raising both hands up in a clawed, crane-like stance. He'd end this fight in an instant.
"Fist of the Wolf Fang!" Yamcha shouted, shooting towards Goku with unbelievable speed.
"Huh?!"
DOOM! Yamcha brought a powerful roundhouse kick straight to the boy's head, sending his small body flying backwards. "YAH!" He unleashed a barrage of strikes and chops, scattered over Goku's small body. "YAH!" His palms moved at unfollowable speed. "HYAA!"
BM! Goku's figure soared through the sky. BAKO-BAKOOM! Suddenly, his body crashed through several sandstone elevations until he was buried completely under the natural rubble.
""""Goku!"""" Everyone screamed as they witnessed their friend disappear in the destruction.
"You bastard! You dare hurt Goku?!" Enraged, Rias recklessly fired off a sizable ball of destruction, the utmost of her current power. KWABOOM! The terrifying ball of crimson energy soared towards Yamcha, eating away at everything in its chaotic path.
"What the!? WAAH!" Yamcha yelled as he jumped over the magical attack, barely dodging it.
"Holy smokes! Just what kind of attack was—" Soon as Yamcha landed, Sairaorg leapt forward, determined to get a few hits on the bandit, not willing to give his opponent even a hint of rest.
"Gah?!" Yamcha panicked, feeling a tremendous pressure emitting from the young boy's aura.
Sairaorg swung at Yamcha with all his strength, but missed the agile warrior and struck the ground instead. KABOOM! His fist caused rock and debris to fly everywhere as his incredible strength sent a tremor through the desert environment. Unlike Rias and Sona, Sairaorg had no demonic powers and gained strength through his own physicality.
This kid's ridiculously strong, too! Yamcha shouted his mind. However… He easily dodged another of Sairaorg's incredible punches, just before getting right behind the young devil.
You're way too slow! "YARH!" With considerable strength, the desert warrior brought his fists down together like a sledgehammer, smashing Sairaorg in the head. BONK! The young boy gasped, then fell to the ground.
"Sairaorg, no!" Shouted Rias, anxious for her cousin's safety.
"RGH!" "What a stupid delay…!" Yamcha growled, then spun around to face the remaining girls. Rias, Akeno, and Soan were all still ready to fight.
"Don't even think for a second that we'll be easy opponents!" Akeno shouted.
"L-L-L-Lord Yamcha!" Puar started to panic.
Rolling out of the rocky debris, Goku stood up and dusted himself off. "I said… I'm hungry!" He angrily strolled back on over, annoyed with his opponent. "And hittin' me didn't help!"
"Goku, you're okay!" Akeno cried out in joy.
"Thank goodness!" Rias smiled, glad that he was okay. Then again, Goku was a toughie.
"Huh?! Still alive is he…?" Yamcha, first shocked at the boy's quick recovery, suddenly grinned. "Do you want to feel the fist of the Wolf again, boy?"
Goku, for the very first time, scowled. "How 'bout my fist of the rock, scissors, 'n paper?" He dropped back into a martial arts stance, edging Yamcha on to attack.
"Fine, have it your way!" Yamcha dashed forward, his first raised to pummel Goku into the dirt again. "HYAHH!"
"Rock!" Goku struck Yamcha's fist with a well-aimed punch. KRAK! Yamcha nearly screamed as their fists collided. The boy's strike was hard as a rock.
"Scissors!" Faster than anyone Yamcha had ever met, Goku jabbed two fingers straight into the bandit's eyes.
"GHAH!" He wailed from the extreme pain.
"Paper!" Goku struck Yamcha in the chest with his palm. FWAA! The bandit went flying back, crashing into the ground with a loud GOOOM!
"What a… strange yet effective technique!" Sona blinked, incredulous that such a fighter existed.
Pushing himself up, Yamcha clutched at his swollen eye. "Y-You… Little…!"
"He's still kicking after all that?!" Cried out Akeno, shocked.
Goku suddenly yawned, cradling his stomach. "I gotta stop. I'm too hungry t'fight anymore."
"RRAAAR!" Yamcha shot off the ground like a wild beast and charged the hungry Goku, ready to throw everything he had at the boy. This time he'd show no mercy.
"Rias!" Shouted Sona.
""Right!"" Both Rias and Akeno got ready to finish off the formidable desert wanderer.
"Guys, is it all clear…?" Suddenly, Bulma, peaked her head out from the cave. "Huh?"
In that very moment, time froze. The enraged Yamcha stopped dead in his tracks and stared back at the pretty, blue-haired teenager. A hard, red blush encompassed the entirety of his expression, and the hardened bandit nearly fell over. It was perfect timing.
"Now!"
Suddenly, Sairaorg appeared from behind the frozen, awestruck Yamcha. "This is payback, jerk!" BAM! With a single, mighty swing of his fist, Sairaorg sent the bandit cruising into the midday sky like a baseball batter hitting a homerun.
"GHAAHHH!" Yamcha screamed as he continued to fly higher and higher in the air; his body lost all feeling after being walloped by Sairaorg. Goku might've had superior technique and skill, but the young devil definitely had far greater strength.
"Take this!" Not taking any chances, Akeno raised her hands above her head, then fired off a bolt of golden electricity. ZRAPP! The fluctuation struck the airborne Yamcha like a cruise missile, sending him even further away into the distance.
His screams soon died out as his body disappeared over the horizon.
"Lord Yamchaaaa!" Not wasting any time, Puar ran and hopped right back onto the desert vehicle, the Jet Squirrel, making a hasty retreat back towards his fallen comrade.
Bulma made her way out the cave, then promptly turned around to face the devils. "Who was that?! What a babe! Did you get his name?! His address?! His…"
As the teenage girl continued to ramble on, lovestruck, the devils, plus present company, scowled, unsure of what to say. "…" Bulma was smart, but oddly hopeless, too.
Goku sighed. "I'm hungry…"
So the formidable Yamcha has finally made his appearance… and his weakness is Bulma?! But will it be enough to save Son Goku and present company? Just because the master of the Wolf Fang Fist has been beaten for now, doesn't mean he'll be back later to complete his task! Tune in next time, on "Gotta Heed The Call Of Magic Dragon Balls!", as our adventurers near closer and closer to Fry-Pan Mountain!