CHAPTER 2: Mysterious being, the saiyan lowborn :Raditz
The other two walked over , peering to see if Steven was telling the truth, humans weren't exactly known for having tails, after all.
And sure enough, their little friend was right, coiled around the unconscious boy's waist was a furry brown tail."What in the world?" pearl questions, getting closer to the boy ."Hmm, he's alive, we should treat his injuries." she vocalized toward no one in particular.
"Or , we could, you know, we could not have the guy that killed these things hang around Steven." amethyst pointed to the small plant monsters "I mean, with how many dead ones there are, he could be dangerous right?" Pearl seems to think things over for a moment, before something smacked her into a tree,Steven rushed over to his guardian in concern, A woman, also with a tail,was the attacker.
"What are you doing with my son?" the woman asked sternly, staring down the former gems.
"He's hurt!" Steven called from the groggy Pearl's side. "We were going to help him!"
The woman stared for a moment, before blushing in embarrassment "Oh my goodness i'm so sorry! I had no idea." She bowed in an almost courtly manner."But there's no need! We have some technology that can fix him up in just a couple hours, he'll be fine!" She smiles, before looking concerned. "say, there wouldn't happen to be two more of you walking around right? Children?".
Pearl looked at the strange woman suspiciously "Yes, there are, we didn't want them to get tired on the long walk , so we let them rest." the stranger seemed alarmed
"Oh my gosh! You have to find them right away! You must be from a city, This place has some of the most dangerous wildlife in the world!" This obviously, alarmed the three former gems.
"U..Uhm yes! We are from the city, thank you for telling us, we'll be on our way" Pearl nervously stated as she started running in the other direction, along with Steven and Amethyst.
"wait!" the tailed woman called out "I'll come with you, you're not all that strong, even if you do find them, the animals will still eat you alive, I'll even let you stay at our home."
"and what about your son?" Pearl asks , concerned for the boy."And also, how do you know how strong we are ?" Pearl felt she could word that better, but it didn't matter right now, something didn't feel right."
"Oh Raditz? , the animals are all too scared to even get close. besides he's been through worse beatings,"The woman put a finger to her chin. "And as for how I know how strong you are, see this thing on my face?" she pointed to the piece of metal and glass on her left eye."it's called a scouter, it can measure someone's... well let's call it a power level." She explained as best she could.
"Hmm, well whatever the case, thank you for your help" Pearl calmed down, she was feeling vulnerable, she no longer had her weapon, or durability, if she were killed, she'd be gone for good. She had every reason to feel stressed.
"It's no trouble at all! My name's Gine , by the way." The woman, Gine said as she walked past the four. "I can also trace power levels with my scouter, so if they've moved at all I can track them down."
Pearl blinked"That sounds...Useful..."More like slightly scary, the idea of a potential foe being able to measure your strength and then track you down was a nightmarish concept, though Steven seemed curious about it.
"So you can tell exactly how strong someone is?" he asked curiously, running to catch up with gine.
"That's right kiddo! The exact number , right down to the third decibel"Gine smiled at the boy's energy, being reminded of her younger son.
"What's mine?"Steven practically shouted as he ran past her, flexing his small, barely pubescent muscles.
"Four." she giggles"Well, to be more exact, 4.371." she walks past Steven, leaving the boy disappointed.
"Whaaaat?" He pouts, walking behind more slowly. "Only four? Darn."
The woman only giggles"Don't worry kid, you're only half way to human adulthood, you're actually very strong for someone your age." She crouches to his level, ruffling his hair. "you know, I could give you some training that would really toughen you up." She looks at the sky, clouds forming above them.
"Yo, what about me?" Shouts Amethyst almost obnoxiously, giving a wide grin.
"six, two more than your little friend. Just for reference, the average human has anywhere from five to ten"Gine replied, feeling the need to explain some more about power levels.
"Why do you keep referring to us as human?" A confused Pearl cuts in. "Aren't you human too?"
"Oh, no I'm not, but it is an easy mistake to make, see, i'm from a near extinct race of warriors, the saiyans"This caused Pearl to raise a brow, obviously this woman wasn't the most stable of people.
"Oh, care to tell us more about your kind?" She asked, almost condescendingly.
"Well, my people were very strong , and proud, both of these traits lead to their destruction, I'd rather not get too far into things, it's a far-fetched story as it is."The tailed woman waved the question off.
Pearl hummed, she was aware of how strange that would sound at least, and Pearl was absolutely sure if she told Gine she was from a race of sentient rocks, she'd get a funny look as well, so she dropped most of her concern and chose to believe the tailed woman.
-Mt Paozu desert, evening-
Lapis walked alongside her new companions, The strange tailed boy that reminded her of her only real friend, a blue haired girl that, frankly was pretty annoying, and a pig that gave her an uneasy feeling.
The girl told her why they were even traveling together in the first place, they were looking for seven magical balls that would summon a wish granting dragon, lapis was skeptical, but came along anyway considering she might be able to use the dragon to find Steven in the off chance they weren't delusional.
"So Lapis, I have a question."Bulma, the blue haired woman called to her out of the blue."What were you doing in the middle of the desert with no supplies?"
"Why's that matter to you?" Lapis shot back in monotone.
"Well it seems kind of like a death wish, going to a dangerous place with a dangerous guy running around without anything to eat,drink, or defend yourself with."Bulma pointed out "Unless it was your intent to die, there's no reason to do something like that." She sounded slightly worried for Lapis.
"Don't worry about it, it was a freak accident, you wouldn't get it" Lapis said shrugging, though this just gave Bulma more questions than answers. But before she could ask them , Goku cut in
"Hey bulma? Where are we going next?"He cut in , running to catch up with Bulma.
"Goku don't be rude, i'm trying to have a conversation." The teenager grumbled at the little boy.
"Hey, don't worry about it""Lapis told Bulma "I wasn't all too interested in the first place." This seemed to make the blue haired girl upset.
"Well aren't you two birds of a feather."Bulma glares at lapis, and then sighs "But if you must know, it's a place called flame mountain." The pig, Oolong, seemed to go into a panic.
Without saying a word, Oolong started running, prompting Goku to make chase, it was only a matter of time, Goku was, after all, faster and had more stamina than the porker.
Goku brought oolong back to the group, and Bulma started interrogating the pig.
"What the hell's your deal?!" Bulma shouted, Oolong didn't even want to come on this stupid trip, but Bulma felt his transformation powers would come in handy.
"First we go into Yamcha's territory , And now we're going to try and steal from The Ox king?! There's no way you can get me to go!" Oolong shouted back.
"Ox king?" Lapis asks with raised brow, to which Oolong nods.
"They say he's a fierce monster , upwards of fifty feet in height, with an axe that could cut a house in two. Not even Goku or Yamcha could ever hope to compare to this guy! And Yamcha kicked Goku's butt before Lapis came along!" Oolong said in solemn tone.
This had Bulma worried. "M-Maybe we shouldn't go there..." she stuttered. Lapis meanwhile was the epitome of calm and collected
"You know, just because people say he's scary doesn't mean he necessarily is, he could be reasonable."
"Oh? And why do you think that?" Bulma replied with her usual bratty tone.
"A friend of mine said you shouldn't judge someone until you get to know them, and that's what we're going to do, now lead the way." Oolong and Bulma look at lapis is if she were crazy.
"She's right, and even if he is mean, I really wanna see how strong he is" Goku takes Lapis' side.
Bulma huffed, well , she couldn't get the dragon ball if she didn't go. "Fine..." she walked past lapis and Goku, in the direction her dragon radar suggested.