Against Odds
Bulma sighed and looked out the window. The deep blue water lapped at the sandy beach of the island and a small flock of seagulls circled lazily through the air. She held her cheek in her hand as she gazed at the small piece of tropical paradise. Well, it would be paradise if it were lacking an old pervert who tried every few minutes to hit on her or touch her breasts. Her mouth turned down in a frown as her eyes shifted over to Master Roshi who was sitting out on the beach reading another one of his filthy magazines.
'I can't believe I'm stranded here! We don't have any way off this stupid island except swimming.' Bulma turned her attention to the kitchen where Launch was humming to herself as she prepared lunch for them. Krillin wasn't around; he was tired of waiting for a ride so he went for a swim through the ocean to go shopping. She sighed again. 'I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for that idiot Yamcha. It's all his fault! Oh, I can't believe him! He – he can be so charming one minute…'
"I have just about had it!"
"Oh, Bulma, please don't say that," Puar said, trying to calm the irate heiress.
"Why not?"
"Because it's always been Yamcha's dream…"
"One week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks. Four whole weeks! And he doesn't even call! He didn't send me a letter or flowers or even a stinking postcard!" The more she thought about it, the angrier Bulma became. She and Yamcha had been dating for almost a year and this was how he treated her. He left her in West City while he went out to the wilderness to train for the World Martial Arts Tournament. Sure, she was proud of him for his ambition. She wouldn't mind trying to fight in the tournament herself, but she knew she just didn't have the strength it would take. Still, that didn't mean Yamcha's training was a good enough excuse to up and leave her for a whole month without any form of contact.
Oolong crossed his arms behind his head. "Face it, baby, by now he's forgotten your name." By now he was used to her complaining and didn't bother trying to console her.
"Well, I would not be surprised!" Bulma growled and didn't notice the orange fall out of the grocery bag she was carrying until it hit the ground. The soft smack caught her attention. Her eyes followed the orange as it rolled out into the street. Bulma didn't glance to the left or right before darting out into the street after it. She was bending over to pick up the renegade orange when she heard the horn of a semi-trailer quickly moving in her direction. She looked up and froze in fear. She squeezed her eyes shut and wished with all her might that the truck would disappear.
Suddenly she felt a rush of cold air flying past her as strong arms wrapped around her waist. When she opened her eyes she could see the same truck that was feet from hitting her drive by on the street. The only thing that gave evidence of her near-death experience was the remains of her groceries smashed on the ground. She swallowed her fear and pulled away from the person who was still holding her. "You saved me." She looked up at his face. She didn't recognize him. Reacting faster than she could think, she drew her fist back and hit him with a hard right hook.
The man, dressed in black, fell to the ground and held his cheek with his hand. "Ow! Bulma, what was that for?"
"Who are you?"
"Come on, look, it's me!" The man lifted his bangs with his free hand and grinned at the blue-haired teenager.
"Yamcha!" Bulma offered him her hand to pull him up to his feet. When he was standing in front of her she crossed her arms over her chest and her smile vanished as a scowl crossed her features. "I was worried about you. For all I knew you were dead in a ditch in a country you can't pronounce!" She drew her fist back and feinted another right hook. While he blocked that punch she brought her left leg around and kicked him to the ground. She smirked when he lost his balance and fell over again.
"Bulma!"
"You deserved it," she spat. "You said you were training. Well if you were so busy training, why couldn't you see that one coming?" Her voice raised until she was screaming. "You're going to have to make this up to me!"
"Ok, sure." Yamcha got to his feet and hugged Puar when she flew over to him. Bulma had already turned her back on him and was walking down the sidewalk with her hands on her hips.
"Now come on," she said, sweetly as ever as if she hadn't just pummeled him. "Let's go get you cleaned up."
'Ok, maybe not charming. But there's something about him. Still, that doesn't give him the right to go around flirting with every girl in school! And then at the amusement park! I can't believe it! He was kissing that fortune teller!' Bulma slammed her fist down on the table. All the mechanical parts she had laid out bounced from the impact and some of it crashed to the floor. She cringed at the noise. Staying angry was considerably easier when she remembered what a cheating, lying jerk her now ex-boyfriend was instead of remembering the good times she had with him or all the little things he did to make her forget all his faults. Coming back to the city right in the nick of time to save her from certain death after abandoning her for a month was one of those things. She scowled at the machine she was trying to create and swept it off the table.
"I can't take this anymore!" Bulma stood up, knocking her chair over backward. "I want to get off this island! I should have gone with Goku to search for the rest of the dragon balls! Anything would beat this! Even if it means going to the heart of the Red Ribbon Army."
It hadn't been too long since the Red Ribbon Army's defenses blew her scout plane out of the sky after she used it to track Goku and see what he was up to. When she nearly died from more than one threat in the pirate cave they found at the bottom of the ocean, she decided she had had enough adventure for one lifetime and wanted to go home. She was seriously regretting that decision now. She was bored. Really bored. Inventing various devices passed the time while she waited for some news of Goku and his attack on the Red Ribbon Army headquarters, but her heart wasn't in it. Her mind kept drifting from Goku to Yamcha to school to dragon balls… she was too distracted to keep inventing. Her best friend was heading into great peril, she still had feelings for her ex-boyfriend (and not just anger), and she was stranded on a tiny island with a crazy personality-changing woman, a turtle, and an old, perverted man when she would much rather be off causing trouble somewhere.
Launch ran into the main room when she heard the ruckus. "What's that, Bulma? Did you say something?"
Bulma groaned and picked up her chair. "No, Launch," she said, "I'm just tired of sitting around doing nothing. I want to help Goku. I'm afraid he's getting into a lot of trouble taking on a whole army by himself." She sat down and stretched her legs out. "I've always hated sitting on the sidelines."
"Oh. Well, maybe we could go help him."
The aqua-haired teenager quirked an eyebrow at the other woman. "I don't know how. We're trapped on this island. We don't have any sort of vehicle."
Launch shrugged and returned to the kitchen to finish cooking lunch. A few minutes passed quietly with Bulma tinkering around with another little invention that had no real purpose while Roshi would occasionally break out into lecherous laughter outside and Launch would clatter pots and pans while working in the kitchen.
"Yamcha! We could call Yamcha!" Bulma shouted. "But we don't have a phone."
Turtle looked over at her. "Why don't you just make one? You seem pretty handy with electronics."
"You're right!" Bulma turned to her pile of mechanical parts and started fashioning a makeshift telephone out of them. She didn't know why she hadn't thought of that before. Honestly, being a genius was harder than it looked. She might be ridiculously smart, but she couldn't always come up with the ideas.
Half an hour later she was standing on the beach with Roshi, Turtle, and Launch waiting for Yamcha. He arrived within a few minutes and touched down a few yards away. Seeing him was enough to make her heart leap, but at the same time her fury rose as she remembered what he had done to her only a couple days earlier. Launch was the first to climb in the plane, then Roshi, Bulma, and lastly Turtle. Oolong and Puar were already there with Yamcha. She was apprehensive about going to confront an army, but she was excited at the same time. Goku had already fought some of the Red Ribbon Army and managed to defeat them, so maybe they weren't so tough even if they did have big guns.
"Ok, now which way is this place?" Yamcha asked.
Bulma took out her new dragon radar and indicated with her hand the direction they needed to go to find the home base of the army. "That way. It's a long trip, so let's hurry. And let's pick up Krillin on the way. We might need him."
Yamcha nodded. "Good idea. Here we go!"
…
Vegeta yawned and rolled onto his back to face the next day aboard Frieza's ship. Well, it wasn't as though there was day and night on the ship, just time with light to create artificial days 30 hours long. He blinked a few times in the darkness. It wasn't light yet. On the opposite side of the small room he could hear the growling snores of the older saiyans. He always woke before them, even when he went to bed heavily injured. He didn't know if it was because he required less sleep than the average saiyan or if they were simply lazy oafs. It didn't matter what the reason was. It annoyed him either way. Silently, he rolled over and shifted into a crouch. With bared teeth he leaped across the room and landed on Nappa's chest, hopping away before the bald saiyan could react. He bounced back to his bed while the oldest saiyan launched himself out of bed in surprise and landed on Raditz.
Raditz yelped when Nappa's tremendous weight landed on him. "What the hell are you doing?" he yelled.
"Waking you up, you lazy oaf," Nappa grumbled. He quickly moved away from the low-class saiyan and straightened his armor. Behind him, Vegeta broke out in laughter, again tainted with mockery as he watched his subordinates get up, keeping their distance from one another after their awkward awakening.
"Serves you fools right for sleeping so long. Bunch of weaklings."
Nappa gaped at the prince. "But Vegeta! The lights aren't even on yet!"
Vegeta sneered at him as he pulled on his gloves and stepped into his boots. "Which means it's the perfect time to get busy training. Come on." The saiyan prince led the way out of their quarters and stalked through the pitch black corridors of the ship. No one spoke, so the only sound echoing through the metal hall was the clomping of their boots on the floor. Vegeta didn't normally take Nappa and Raditz with him for his predawn training. He wasn't sure either of them knew he went to train alone every day before they ever dragged themselves out of bed. It didn't matter anyway. He preferred solitary training. But lately he noticed the others slacking off, which certainly wasn't helping their power levels any. Of course they would never compare to him, but he was not going to let the last of his race become the laughingstock of the galaxy as they were surpassed by the rest of Frieza's army.
While Vegeta put in the entrance code to the training facility, Raditz grumbled to Nappa, "Is he really going to make us train so early? This is ridiculous."
Nappa shrugged, though no one could see it in the dark. "Why not? No one else will be training now so we don't have to wait for any open rooms."
"I guess."
"Would you two shut up?" Vegeta hissed. "I don't want anyone else to know we're here!"
"Sorry, Vegeta," they mumbled. The door opened and Vegeta went inside. The others followed him in. Vegeta moved over to the computer console that controlled the conditions inside the room. He didn't turn on any lights, but he did increase the temperature until it was blistering hot and turned on the devices in the room that suppressed the ki of anyone within.
Vegeta sat down on the floor to do his stretches before beginning his workout. "Alright, you idiots, you're going to train alone until the lights come on. Then we're going to spar for an hour before you're allowed to go to the mess hall. Got it?"
"Yes, sir." Nappa and Raditz went through their stretches as well. By the time they started their exercises they had already been listening to Vegeta's grunts of effort as he pushed himself into a handstand and started one-handed push-ups. Raditz was still barely awake and Nappa was reluctant to work himself into a sweat so early, but they did as their prince commanded.
After a while, Vegeta noticed an obvious lack of sounds coming from the strains of a hard workout. He had his suspicions about the reason for the quiet, but he kept them to himself. The lights would come on soon and then he could be sure. Shoving aside his anger at the other two, he lied down on the floor and started his sit-ups. True, his early workouts were boring, but he knew that building his strength from the ground up without ki infusing his muscles was the best way.
The lights came on right as Vegeta was finishing his workout. What he saw confirmed his suspicions. Nappa was sprawled out on the floor asleep, probably losing the battle against his exhaustion in the middle of a set of sit-ups. Raditz was at least sitting on the floor leaned up against the wall. He probably wasn't even exercising when he conked out. Vegeta rolled his eyes. They were even weaker than he thought. He stomped his foot on the floor, making the whole room shake. "Wake up!" he roared. "Right now!"
"Huh? What?" Nappa sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What's going on?"
"Apparently not your training," Vegeta growled. "Get up!"
Nappa scrambled to his feet. Raditz, however, continued snoring peacefully. Quickly losing patience, Vegeta gathered a ball of ki in the palm of his hand and threw it at the sleeping saiyan. "I said wake up!"
Raditz jolted awake and jumped to his feet, looking around frantically to locate his attacker. Instead of relaxing when he saw Vegeta rather than an enemy, his muscles tensed more. He knew he was in trouble this time. "I'm awake!"
"Yes, now you are. Idiot." Vegeta turned away from him. "Since both of you decided to take a nap instead of train, you are going to train here for three extra hours today, which means no evening meal. Understand?"
Raditz groaned. He could stand a few more hours of training, but missing a meal? That was unnecessarily cruel. But there was no arguing with his prince. He glanced to his left and saw Nappa already moving into his fighting stance. With a sigh of resignation, he did the same. He still felt more asleep than awake, but he would have to stay on his toes if he was fighting with Vegeta. He knew he wouldn't hold back, even in a spar.
Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest and waited for the others to make the first move. Surely they would take advantage of him having his back turned to them. A small smirk grew on his lips when he felt the air move as Nappa shot forward to attack. He dodged to the right and caught the massive leg that shot past him. He lifted it, flooring Nappa, and spun him around to knock Raditz into the wall as he charged. He laughed when they hit the wall and fell to the floor with a loud thud. "That was too easy! You obviously need to train more."
Nappa was the first to recover. He clamored to his feet and faced off against the prince. He knew going into this fight that he had no chance of winning. He hadn't beaten Vegeta in a spar since he was a little boy, but regardless there were still techniques he could teach him through their spars. Vegeta was an experienced warrior with unbelievable power, but he was still young. He still had much to learn. This time Nappa waited for Vegeta to make the first move. When he leaped forward, Nappa backpedaled away before jumping high into the air, bouncing off the ceiling, and landing on the far side of the room. Before Vegeta could find him, he rushed him with his fists glowing with ki.
Vegeta anticipated the attack and sidestepped him, but that did not deter the taller saiyan. He whirled around before smacking into the wall and phased out of sight. Stopping above Vegeta, he clenched his fists together and crashed them down on the prince's head. Vegeta stumbled backwards from the hit, but he didn't fall.
"Is that the best you can do?"
Nappa laughed. "You should know better than that, Vegeta."
"You're right." Vegeta flicked his tongue over his canine. "You can do better. So show me!"
"You got it!" Nappa lowered his fists to his sides and started raising his power level. He screamed as his aura lit up around him and sparks crackled through the air. His muscles swelled with his heightened ki until he looked nearly double his normal size. "Alright! Let's go."
The prince scoffed and lowered himself into his fighting stance. "You've been stronger. The computer says your power level is only 7300. Have you even been training between missions?"
"What? That's impossible!"
"'Fraid not, Nappa," Raditz said, having finally recovered. He was standing in front of the computer looking at the readout on the screen. "It's 7300."
"That settles it," Vegeta said, sliding his left foot into a wider stance. "You're going to train extra hours every day until you can at least reach your previous level of 8000." He spat on the floor. "I will not have my race turn into flabby weaklings. Now fight me, both of you!"
"As you wish." Raditz growled and clenched his hands into fists. A three-way brawl was sure to be a load of fun when his opponents were each a few times stronger than him. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'at least it'll make me stronger.' That was the end goal, at any rate. Vegeta intended to whip the older saiyans back into shape if it killed him. He heard the other soldiers talking about how weak they had become, always relying on him to take out the strongest warriors when they went on purge missions. They were rarely given a challenge anymore. It was no wonder they were growing weaker over time while his strength continued growing steadily. His power was already over 20,000. At the rate he was going, it wouldn't be long before he was at the same level as Dodoria. That would be a glorious day, indeed, when he could defeat that pink behemoth. Frieza might be angry, he might beat him half to death – or further – but it would be worth the penalty to watch the life drain from his ugly face.
'Small steps,' Vegeta reminded himself as thoughts of Dodoria's demise flooded his mind and broke his concentration. 'His soldiers, his lackeys, and then the lizard himself. I will keep getting stronger and I will take out his army as I go. Count on it.'
…
"Look, down there!" Bulma pointed out the window as a stampede of Red Ribbon Army soldiers fled from the compound on foot, in trucks, and in helicopters. Their frantic escape could only mean one thing: Goku was there stirring up trouble among their ranks. These were the men smart enough to run instead of trying to fight him. "We shouldn't let them get away."
"Why not? They're not hurting anyone," Master Roshi said.
"Because." Bulma crossed her arms over her chest. "They're evil people! Even if Goku manages to take down the higher-ups, these people might decide to promote themselves and hurt more innocent people in the future. Killing is deplorable, but sometimes it's the lesser of two evils. I say we take this whole army down so we never have to worry about them again."
"So let's go down there and shoot them all in the face!"
Bulma stifled her laughter as Launch got excited at the prospect of killing. At least someone was on her side. "Well, since you're the one packing some serious heat, Launch, why don't you go make sure no one gets away? The rest of us will go on to the main compound and take out anyone still there."
"Now wait a minute! You can't just go killing people like this, Bulma!" Roshi frowned at the blue-haired teenager. "Most of these people are contracted help. They're not necessarily evil. I can understand your desire to annihilate the threat, but it's wrong to go killing everyone here."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Bulma shouted.
"Bulma, calm down," Yamcha said, trying in vain to placate his ex-girlfriend. "Master Roshi's right. We have to think this through. It's wrong to go kill everyone associated with the Red Ribbon Army. Most of these people probably just did it for the benefits. They're not bad."
"Oh please!" Bulma pounded her fists on her knees. "We can at least stop them from getting away. Then we can decide who deserves to live!"
"Everyone deserves a second chance," Roshi said.
"Stop talking and drop me off here!" Launch yelled. "I'll keep 'em from gettin' away. Once you figure out what you want me to do with 'em you can let me know!"
Yamcha gulped when he felt Launch's automatic rifle pressed against his temple. "Alright, alright! But promise not to kill anyone, got it?"
"I won't kill anyone who doesn't open fire on me."
"Oh fine." Yamcha conceded, knowing it was better not to argue with the blonde Launch. He lowered the plane until it was right above the trees growing around the Red Ribbon compound. He hovered in place and opened the hatch so Launch could get out. She jumped out and started firing wildly over the heads of the soldiers.
"Alright, everybody stop right where you are!" she screamed. Everyone around her stopped, too shocked by the madwoman's sudden appearance to even think of firing back.
Seeing that Launch had everything under control, Yamcha closed the hatch and fired up the jet to continue on toward the compound. He saw a huge explosion on a nearby mountaintop, probably the result of a massive missile. He hoped there weren't more where that came from that would aim for an unidentified flying object such as their plane.
"Hurry up, Yamcha," Bulma yelled. "We have to hurry. Goku might need our help!"
"I hate backseat drivers," Yamcha mumbled. Then, speaking so everyone could hear, "We're almost there, but I think we should land soon and walk the rest of the way. We don't want to be shot down."
Bulma growled in frustration. "I don't think anyone's manning the stations! We'll be fine. Keep flying!"
"No way! I think Yamcha's right," Krillin said timidly. "We won't be able to help Goku if we're dead."
"You people are impossible!"
Bulma's complaint fell on deaf ears. It was decided with or without her support that they were going to land a safe distance from the compound and sneak in on foot. Yamcha found a small clearing in the thick forest and landed the plane. They got out and ran to the deserted road that led to the compound. Up ahead, they could see something flying through the air in their direction.
"Oh no! That could be another helicopter!" Oolong screamed. "Run for cover!"
The others ran after him and hid themselves in the trees along the road until they could get a clear view of the flying object. It didn't look much like a helicopter from their viewpoint, but the army might have strange looking vehicles they hadn't seen before. It never hurt to be careful when in enemy territory. It was only a minute before it was close enough for them to see who it was. Goku was riding his flying nimbus, heading straight for them. They ran out into the road and started screaming and waving to draw his attention.
"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" Goku waved and came down to where they were standing.
"We came to help you fight the Red Ribbon Army," Krillin replied. "You haven't taken them on yet, have you?"
"Yeah." Goku grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "It was easy. I got the two dragon balls from them and now I'm going to go find the last one. Oh, that reminds me! Bulma, I think the radar's broken. Do you think you could fix it for me?"
Bulma shrugged and took the radar from him. "I guess so. It shouldn't be too hard. But I thought you didn't want to gather all the dragon balls. Weren't you just looking for your grandpa's ball?"
"Yeah, I was, but I promised someone I would find all seven dragon balls and wish for his father to be revived."
"Oh." Bulma pushed the button on the radar, but no lights showed the location of the dragon balls. That was unusual. It was on, but it wasn't showing anything on the grid. "I don't have anything with me to fix it right now. We'll have to go back to Roshi's island before I can get it working again. But Goku, did you really defeat the whole Red Ribbon Army by yourself? Are you positive there's no one left?"
Goku scratched his head. "I'm pretty sure."
"We should go make sure." Bulma put her hands on her hips. "We don't want anyone bad to get away. I know we can't kill all the soldiers, but if there's anyone else left who was in charge of the whole organization, it might be better to get rid of them. At least put them in prison or something, you know?"
"Bulma's right." Yamcha drew his sword and pointed it in the direction of the headquarters. "Let's go!"
"Well, ok, I guess we can go back." Goku shrugged and led the way on his flying nimbus.
"Wow, this place is a total wreck," Bulma said when she saw the ruins of the Red Ribbon compound. There was hardly a building left standing without any damage. Many of the columns were fallen over, leaving the balconies, raised walkways, and porches to collapse under their weight. The main building in the center was all but demolished, with holes in the roof and walls and it was leaning heavily to one side, threatening to fall any moment. As they walked through the streets they could hear bricks crumbling and falling to the ground and the support beams bending. Fires billowed out of some of the windows of a select few buildings, indicating explosions had gone off inside. What caused the explosions one could only guess. "Maybe no one is left."
"The only way to know is to check each building. Come on, guys. Someone should stay out here to make sure no one runs away while we're inside." Yamcha ran to the door of the closest building and kicked it down. "Oolong and Puar, stay out here. Give a holler if you see anything, ok?"
"Ok!" Puar flew up high to keep watch while Oolong ran toward the compound entrance, hiding himself behind an overturned tank and covering his head. He wasn't going to keep watch for anything. It was way too dangerous.
Inside the building, Bulma, Yamcha, Goku, Krillin, and Roshi split up to search for signs of life. They ran through the halls, looking behind every door and turning over every piece of furniture to make sure no one was hiding in even the smallest nook or cranny. They found no one in the first building. They met outside before running to the next building to check for members of the Red Ribbon Army.
Goku found a large metal door that wouldn't open no matter how hard he pushed it. There was no doorknob to turn. He had no idea how to get through it. "Hey, Bulma! Do you think you can get this door open?" he called. Bulma, who had gone the opposite way down the hall, turned when she heard him and ran back in his direction. She stopped in front of the door and looked it over.
"It probably requires some sort of code." She looked at the keypad next to the door. She grinned. "This is a piece of cake! I can get us in, no problem. She pried the front of the keypad off and started examining the wires. "Oh, I wish I had my pocketknife! That would make this a lot easier."
"Your pocket what?"
"Never mind, kid. Hold on." Bulma fiddled around with the wires until she could figure out what each one's function was. Having deciphered that problem, she easily got the door to open. She cheered for her own genius and ran through the door with Goku at her heels. The hall led to a dark staircase that took them deep into the ground. The lights inside were dim, but they could see that they were in some kind of laboratory, not much unlike Bulma's father's lab at Capsule Corporation.
"Wow! What is this place?" Goku asked as he ran around.
Bulma whirled around when she heard a crash behind her. "Hello? Is someone there?"
"What'd you say, Bulma?"
"Quiet, Goku! I thought I heard something. Is someone here?"
They both strained their ears to hear, but there were no more sounds. Bulma knew there was something amiss. While the crash could be attributed to the place falling apart from the recent explosions through the compound, she didn't think that was the cause. She took out her pigtail and tied her hair up in a ponytail. If there was going to be a fight she didn't want all her hair to be in her face. She wished she were wearing more appropriate clothes for fighting, but when she got dressed that morning she hadn't anticipated a confrontation with the Red Ribbon Army. A tube top and shorts were not ideal for fighting, but it was what she had on.
"Hey, Goku, come here," she whispered, gesturing him over with her hand.
"What is it?"
"Would you be quiet?" she snapped. Then, quietly, "I still think there's someone down here, but hiding. I'm going to go wait by the stairs. I think it's the only way out of here. You go over there and start looking, ok?"
"Ok!"
Bulma rolled her eyes. He failed to understand the concept of stealth. She ran over to the stairs and gave Goku the signal to start his search. Goku ran to the opposite end of the laboratory and started overturning tables, opening cabinet doors, and even pulling out drawers in his search. He was coming closer to a large wooden desk when a gunshot broke the quiet.
Bulma screamed and covered her ears with her hands. "Goku! Are you alright?"
"Ouch! That really hurt!" Goku rubbed his forehead and winced in pain. "Where did that come from?" There was another gunshot. This time Goku managed to dodge the bullet. "Hey, I saw that!" He ran toward the desk and a man with long, white hair crawled out from under it and dashed toward the stairs where Bulma was ready for him.
While he was glancing over his shoulder to see if he was being followed by Goku, he didn't notice the blue-haired girl waiting around the corner. Therefore, he did not notice the punch aimed at his face. He ran right into Bulma's fist and fell over with a cry of pain.
"Stop right there!" Bulma yelled. The man pushed himself up to his feet and backed away from her. "We've got you cornered. Give up."
"Fools! I don't have to listen to you!"
Goku jumped over a table and landed behind the white-haired man. "Who are you? Are you a member of the Red Ribbon Army?"
The man looked over his shoulder, then turned back to Bulma. "You don't know who I am? I am the great Dr. Gero! The creator of the Red Ribbon Army!"
Bulma clenched her hands into fists and took another step forward, scowling at Dr. Gero. "You sound like a bad man to me. Goku, we should finish him and keep him from creating more weapons and robots that they can use to hurt people!"
Goku rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "I thought that tall man said some guy called Commander Red was the leader of the Red Ribbon Army."
Dr. Gero grimaced as if he smelled a foul odor. "That fool was nothing more than a pawn to me. I am the true brains behind this organization! And I will rebuild it to be even stronger than before, as soon as I kill you."
"I'm not scared of you!" Goku spread his legs and raised his arms to take on his fighting stance. "If you're really the one who started the Red Ribbon Army then you're a bad man."
"And you're nothing more than children." Dr. Gero reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device he could conceal in his fist.
"Like I've never heard that before." Goku frowned and darted toward Dr. Gero with fist raised to strike. He flew backwards when Gero raised his hand and used his device, similar to a taser gun, but much stronger.
"You stay away from me, you brat!"
"Hey, leave him alone!" Bulma ran forward and swept Dr. Gero's feet before he could defend himself. She jumped over his hand as he reached for her ankle to pull her foot out from under her. "Goku, you need to get up!"
"Owie! That hurt." Goku's eyes stung with tears as he sat up. His hair and the fur on his tail were frizzed from the electrical current that swept through his body moments before.
"Foolish girl!" Gero tased her until she fell to the ground. Figuring she was out of commission, he turned his attention to Goku who was back on his feet and readying himself for another attack.
Goku jumped high in the air and stretched his leg out to kick Dr. Gero. He was again shocked with a high voltage current of electricity that completely incapacitated him. He crashed to the floor and convulsed with the shock that didn't stop when he hit the ground. "Stop…it!"
"You will not defeat me, boy." Dr. Gero was relentless as he continued shocking Goku until he screamed in pain and writhed around on the floor.
"Goku? Oh, no, Goku!" Bulma pushed herself to her hands and knees, but she didn't have the strength to make it to her feet. "I have to stop him."
"I suggest you stay back, girl."
"Oh shut up, you old coot! You can only use that thing on one of us at a time." Bulma crawled forward and knelt next to him. She punched his jaw, knocking him to the ground. He lost his grip on the taser and it went skittering across the tiled floor. "Goku, quick, grab it!"
The only response she got from the wild-haired boy was his tongue lolling out of his mouth and some senseless babbling.
"Goku! Hey, Goku! Are you ok?" In Bulma's distraction, Dr. Gero sat up and backhanded her. She screeched in pain and held her hand over her cheek where he struck her. "You big jerk!"
"Oh shut up!"
Bulma lowered her hand and made a fist. If only she wasn't still feeling the effects of that super strong taser, maybe she would be able to fight him better. She snarled at the old doctor and inched away from him. She had to find a way to defeat him or he might get away. But Goku was down for the count and she was hardly up to speed. Well, there was one thing she could do.
"Yamcha! Roshi! Krillin! Somebody help! Hurry!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Shut! Up!" Dr. Gero crawled over to grab his taser from the floor. He raised it and used it on Bulma. She screamed in pain as electricity flowed through her body. After a few seconds she was sure her heart was going to explode. "I'm sure you two will make excellent androids."
"Make it stop!"
"Bulma!" Yamcha bounded down the stairs when he heard Bulma's screaming. He found Dr. Gero tasing her and Goku was lying helplessly on the floor not far away. He twitched every few seconds, but he apparently couldn't get up. Yamcha flew toward Dr. Gero and swung his leg around to kick him in the head. Dr. Gero crashed into a table and groaned in pain.
Yamcha stepped over to Bulma and helped her sit up. "Are you ok?"
She tried to wave him off, but she fell back. Had he not been supporting her she would have fallen to the floor. She slipped out of consciousness, so Yamcha gently laid her down. He turned to where Goku was still lying and rushed over to him. "Goku? Goku, are you alright? What happened? Who is this guy?"
Goku shook his head and rubbed his temples. "What happened? I don't know, he just shot me with some weird thingy that made me feel funny." He was quickly regaining his muscle control and stood up, though he was somewhat shaky on his feet. "That guy's really mean!"
"Yeah, I can see that," Yamcha agreed. "Who is he?"
"He says he's the one who created the Red Ribbon Army."
"What? The creator? Are you serious?" Yamcha stared at the old man and tried to form words, but none came to him. That old man was the brains behind the Red Ribbon Army? Sure, he looked like some sort of mad scientist, but not a mastermind behind a whole army. He shook his head slowly.
While they were busy talking, Dr. Gero got up and stumbled over to a cabinet pushed against the wall and opened it. He pulled out a small object no larger than a tube of chapstick and pushed a switch on it. A high-pitched beeping sound came from it and a red light started blinking. "You will not defeat me! Now die!" Dr. Gero threw the tiny bomb at the group of teenagers and ran for the stairs.
"Oh no you don't!" Yamcha got up and ran after him. He caught his foot and dragged him back into the laboratory. "We're not going to die, but you are!" Yamcha punched Dr. Gero three times in the stomach and shoved him to the floor next to where the bomb landed. He picked Bulma up and yelled over his shoulder, "Come on, Goku! We have to hurry out of here! That bomb's going to blow any second!"
"Right!" Goku nodded and ran after Yamcha up the stairs. They barely made it out the door at the top of the stairs when the whole building rocked with the explosion the bomb made. A great fire and a cloud of black smoke poured out of the open doorway.
"Let's get out of here!" Yamcha headed for the exit with Goku following close behind. "Roshi! Krillin! Get out of here right now, the whole building is coming down!"
All of them ran out of the building and kept going when it came crashing down behind them. They didn't stop running until they were halfway across the compound. When they reached another entryway to a building, Yamcha laid Bulma down on the steps. She was starting to regain consciousness by that time and groaned when she felt the pain ripping through her body.
"What happened? Yamcha? Did you get him?"
"Yeah, don't worry about him, Bulma. He was still in his lab when a bomb exploded down there. There's no way he lived through that."
Bulma heaved a sigh of relief. "Good. If he's gone, then hopefully the Red Ribbon Army will be gone for good."
"You got that right." Yamcha smiled at her. "Think you're up to searching for more soldiers or do you want to wait here?"
Bulma sat up, a little too quickly. She felt dizzy for a few seconds. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. That taser thing was really strong. Man. Ok, I can get up now." Bulma slowly stood up and leaned against Yamcha for support. "There's no way I'm letting you guys go in there without me. This is my operation, got it?"
"Sure, Bulma."
They spent the next few hours meticulously searching through each of the buildings left at the compound and destroying all the weapons, robots, and vehicles they found to make sure they couldn't be used for evil purposes ever again. It was a long day, but when they were sure there were no leading officers of the army left, they left the compound. They found Launch on the only road leading out, still holding several dozen soldiers hostage. All of their guns were removed and she had them at gunpoint if they made any wrong moves. They learned the hard way that she was a woman not to be toyed with. After picking her up and reprimanding the former soldiers, they flew back to Master Roshi's island where Bulma could fix the dragon radar.
Except it wasn't broken. "I don't know why I can't get this stupid thing to work! Maybe there's nothing wrong with the radar. Maybe something swallowed the dragon ball so the radar can't detect it."
"What do you mean swallowed? What kind of animal would eat a dragon ball?" Oolong asked.
"I don't know, a hungry one?"
"Hm, that is interesting." Roshi stroked his mustache and set aside the magazine he was flipping through. "Well, if the radar can't locate it, maybe you could ask Fortuneteller Baba where it is. She could tell you."
"Fortuneteller who?" Bulma turned the radar off.
"Fortuneteller Baba." Master Roshi stood up and left the room for a few minutes. He came back holding a rolled up map and spread it out on the table. "See, her palace should be right about here." He pointed to a strange-shaped lake on the map.
"So you mean to tell me this woman can tell us where the dragon ball is?" Oolong asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Then why'd we waste time with the dragon radar?"
"Why, indeed?" Bulma asked. She slammed the dragon radar down on the table. "We could have asked her a long time ago where the dragon balls are and saved ourselves a whole lot of trouble!"
"It's not that simple," Roshi told them. "Anyway, if you go there you can find out where the dragon ball is."
"Alright, sounds like another adventure!" Goku jumped into the air in excitement.
"Count me in!" Krillin said.
"And me!" Yamcha stood up and thrust his fist into the air.
Bulma crossed her arms and looked away from them. "Oh, and I suppose you're just going to run off without me? I don't think so. I'm coming with you."
"But Bulma," Goku said, "I thought you said you tired of adventures and wanted to go home."
"That was yesterday. I realized I get too bored when I'm not out saving your butts."
"Whatever you say, Bulma."
"Alright, then let's go," Yamcha said. He pulled his plane capsule out of his pocket and went out the front door with Krillin, Goku, Bulma, and Puar.
The trip to Fortuneteller Baba's palace took several hours, and when they got there they got stuck in line behind a bunch of rough-looking thugs. They waited impatiently for their turn to see the fortuneteller, and while they were waiting Goku left to bring Upa with them since he was the reason they were trying to find the last dragon ball. Eventually the men who went in before them came out, looking the worse for wear. They had obviously been in a big fight, but why people would be fighting in a fortuneteller's palace was a question they didn't have the answer to. They soon found out, though, that fighting was the payment if they didn't have ten million zeni.
"Fighting five of your fighters, eh?" Krillin asked the little fortuneteller. "Well, that's not so bad. We can do that."
"Are you sure about this, Krillin?" Bulma asked, pulling him aside. "I don't think we can trust her. Something about her gives me the creeps. This is probably a trick."
"Relax. Who could she possibly have fight us? If you haven't forgotten, three of us fought in the World Martial Arts Tournament. We're experienced fighters."
"Yeah, great kid." Bulma crossed her arms and sighed. "Whatever, I guess we can try."
"Well, then, let's begin," Baba said. She cackled with glee as she led them to a small fighting arena surrounded by water. "The rules are simple. If you pass out or fall in the water you're out. You will have to get through all five of my fighters and then I will give you your fortune."
"Sounds simple enough." Krillin stepped forward, eager to take on the first opponent. The rest of them stood off to the side to watch.
The fight started with Krillin facing off against a vampire. Krillin was cocky at first, thinking his opponent was nothing but a bad dancer who could transform into a bat at will. But he soon learned that he needed to take the vampire seriously when it latched on to his head and started sucking his blood.
"Krillin, shake him off!" Goku shouted.
"You know, I think it's awfully strange that this is a real vampire," Bulma said, rubbing her chin. "I always thought they died in sunlight."
"That's just an old wives' tale," Baba told her.
"Oh. Does that mean all the other stories about vampires are made up too? Like their aversion to garlic and crosses and stuff?"
"No, no, those are all true."
"I see." Bulma turned back to the fight and saw that Krillin finally managed to get the vampire off him. Unfortunately, his head was bleeding quite profusely, making him feel weak and dizzy. He wouldn't be able to keep fighting at the rate he was going. "Krillin! Give up! You're going to bleed to death if you keep fighting!"
"I don't feel so good." Krillin stood, wobbling to and fro, until the vampire kicked him from behind, landing him in the water. There was a brief reprieve in the fighting while Krillin's head was bandaged up and given a blood transfusion to replenish him with nutrients.
"Ok, what we need is for someone to eat garlic," Yamcha said as they huddled together to discuss tactics.
"Do you think she'll let Upa and Puar fight together?" Krillin asked.
"We can ask." Goku waved over to Fortuneteller Baba. "Hey, Baba! Can Puar and Upa fight as a team since they're so small?"
"I'm ok with that if he is," Baba answered, looking to the vampire.
"Two heads is better than one."
"Alright, great. Ok, Upa, eat this garlic." Yamcha pulled a clove of garlic out of his pocket and handed it to the little boy. "You just have to breathe in his face and he should stay away from you. Puar, you'll transform and make sure he falls into the water."
The fight continued, and as planned the vampire was completely knocked off his feet by the smell of Upa's garlic breath. When the vampire tried to attack Puar, she transformed into a hedgehog, repelling him easily. He changed into a bat and tried to fly away to safety, but Puar chased after him, changing into a giant hand and smacking him into the water.
"Alright! I'm going to fight next," Yamcha said, stepping into the ring.
"Hey, I don't think so buddy!" Bulma climbed onto the ring and shoved Yamcha off the edge. "They're probably going to get stronger as we go and I want my chance to fight too. I know I won't be able to take on the later fighters so wait!"
"Ok, Bulma, ok," Yamcha muttered, waving his hands defensively. "If you want to fight this next guy you can."
Bulma smirked triumphantly and went to the center of the ring. "Ok, where's my opponent?"
"He's already here," Baba said.
"What? Then why can't I see him?"
"Because he's invisible."
"What?" Bulma shouted. "An invisible opponent? That's not fair!"
"Fair or not, you have to fight me!" A voice, seemingly without a body, came from behind her and kicked her in the back. Bulma fell into a somersault and bounced up to her feet, looking around in a panic to locate her unseen adversary.
"Ok, where are you?" she hissed. She closed her eyes and listened for him since she couldn't see him. She learned better than to rely solely on sight. "There!" She punched the air to her right and struck something solid. While her opponent was still stunned, presumably, she took her opportunity to kick him down.
"Way to go, Bulma!"
"Good job!"
Bulma held her finger to her lips to get her friends to be quiet. She wasn't going to be able to hear the invisible man if they were cheering for her. They quieted down, but Fortuneteller Baba started singing an awful song in her terrible, screeching voice that set Bulma's teeth on edge. "Would you shut up?" she yelled.
In her moment of distraction she was knocked to the floor again. Bulma rubbed her head as she stood up and turned around in a circle, listening for his footsteps, but she couldn't hear anything over the fortuneteller's song. It was driving her crazy. Her feet were swept away and she fell again. She growled and glared at Fortuneteller Baba.
"This isn't fair! Shut up! I can't hear a thing!"
"Bulma, concentrate!" Yamcha yelled from the sideline.
"I can't with that old hag's ululations over there!"
"Hey, invisible man, go get her!" Krillin yelled.
"Why thank you."
Bulma turned to her left and threw a right hook that caught the invisible man right in the jaw. She caught him with a roundhouse kick and jumped on him. She could hear his sharp exhalation. "I don't care if I can't see you, I'm still going to win."
"I don't think so, little girl!"
Bulma kicked forward, hitting his jaw once again. Bulma dropped down to straddle his chest and started punching his face until he screamed in pain.
"Stop, stop! I can't take it anymore! I give up!"
"Ha, yeah! I win!" Bulma jumped to her feet and danced around the ring.
"Yeah, Bulma! Good job!"
"That was great!"
"Save your accolades, children," Fortuneteller Baba grumbled. "You haven't beat all five of my fighters yet. The next match will be at the devil's toilet. Follow me."
It took them almost an hour to get started with the next match after going inside and ascending over a thousand stairs to get to a dark, reeking room with a pool of thick, green acid at the bottom and only a narrow floor to fight on high above.
"Hey Yamcha, I think I'll let you take this one, ok?" Bulma said when she saw the boiling pool of acid far below.
"That's fine. Wish me luck." Yamcha went to the entrance and waited for his opponent to come and fight.
Not that he had much of a chance against Baba's third fighter. The mummy proved to be more than capable of holding his own than anyone would have given him credit for. Someone a few thousand years old definitely shouldn't be so immeasurably strong and fast, but he was. Yamcha lasted a decent amount of time, but in the end he couldn't defeat the mummy and was only saved from falling into the acid by Goku's power pole.
"Go get that freak, Goku!" Bulma yelled as the young fighter made his way to the devil's toilet.
"Yeah, get him!" Krillin shouted.
The fight against the mummy lasted a while, with Goku put in incredible danger over and over. The mummy certainly wasn't concerned about fighting fair, but in the end Goku defeated him and moved on to fight the fourth fighter Baba had in store for them. He was a tall man, dressed in a devil costume. He tried to use Goku's evil thoughts against him, to make him literally explode, but he soon found that Goku didn't have an evil thought in his head to use against him. He found defeat at Goku's hands and finally it was time to face off against the fifth and last fighter before Baba would find the last dragon ball for them.
The masked fighter requested they fight outside again. Fortuneteller Baba agreed and they went outside to the same ring they started in. The fight was brutal, with neither fighter pulling any punches. They were practically mirror images in fighting style. But in the end, Goku's one weakness, his tail, was used against him. The masked fighter smacked him against the ground over and over until his tail ripped off from the force. Goku screamed in pain and ran around, slightly off balance, but when he regained control of himself and took his fighting stance opposite the fifth fighter, he was surprised by a simple concession.
The fighter took off his mask and revealed himself to be Goku's grandpa Gohan, back from Otherworld for a day. Goku and Gohan had a heartwarming reunion, but they were interrupted when Fortuneteller Baba used her crystal ball to locate the seventh dragon ball. It was in a car heading south only 200 miles away. Gohan bid Goku farewell to return to Otherworld and Goku jumped on his flying nimbus to retrieve the final dragon ball.
"I still don't understand why this won't show where the dragon ball is," Bulma said, shaking the dragon radar in hopes such a simple action would get it to work properly. She returned the dragon radar to her pocket and put her hands on her hips as she gazed up at the sky.
"So, Bulma," Yamcha said, drawing shapes in the dust with his toe, "do you think we could talk about what happened a few days ago? It's not what you think."
"Oh, really?" Bulma quirked an eyebrow. "Then tell me what did happen."
"What you saw, that fortuneteller at the amusement park was a thief after the dragon balls. I was holding them for Goku while he went after a couple of her cronies and she was trying to get them from me. You know how I get around girls!"
"How you get around girls? You seem to be just fine around them at school, you jerk!"
"I can't help it that they like me!"
Bulma's rational mind told her he was right. Why wouldn't all the other girls at school be interested in him? She was attracted to him first because of his cute face and amazing physique. She wouldn't be the only girl to take notice of that. Still, it was frustrating when every girl in the world seemed to be chasing after him as if he didn't have a girlfriend. She couldn't even remember how many times she had been walking alongside him and got shoved away from him by his fan club of screaming, drooling, flirting girls. It was enough to make her blood boil.
"Well," Bulma said, trying to come up with a good retort, "You don't have to encourage them! You put on that shy boy act and they eat it up!"
"But Bulma, I am shy!"
"That's – that's irrelevant." Bulma crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at him. She spared him a glance and saw him pouting at her, begging for forgiveness with those big, brown eyes. She felt herself cracking. He was just too sweet and adorable, really!
"Come on, Bulma," he said, "You're the only girl for me."
"You promise?"
"Hey guys, I'm back!" They looked up and saw Goku flying down to them on the nimbus cloud. He was waving to them and Upa wasn't with him anymore. Apparently things had gone according to plan and Upa's father had been brought back to life by the eternal dragon. Strangely enough, he was wearing a different gi than he had left in.
"Hey kid, what happened to your clothes?" Bulma asked.
"Oh, that's a long story."
"I bet."
"Well, what do you say we all go back to Roshi's island?" Yamcha suggested. "It's time to start training again, don't you think Goku? And I want to ask him if he'll take me as a student."
"Alright, let's go." Bulma led the way out of Fortuneteller Baba's palace and got in their plane when Yamcha threw the capsule on the ground.
"I'll meet you guys there," Goku said. He took off on the flying nimbus and disappeared in the sky.
The plane touched down on the small, sandy beach of Master Roshi's island and they got out. Goku ran out of the house to greet them. "Hey, Roshi's not here!"
"Then I guess we'll have to wait for him," Bulma said as she hopped out of the plane. They went inside and reclined in the living room. It was a while before they heard Roshi's plane outside. Launch, Oolong, and Roshi came inside and were shocked to see everyone sitting around.
"What are you doing here?" Oolong asked. "I thought you went to the fortuneteller's place."
"We did," Goku replied. "We fought her five fighters and then she told us where the dragon ball was. I found it and took Upa back to Korin's tower and then we wished for his father to come back to life. Then we came back here. It's time to start training again."
Roshi came over and sat down. "You're right. It's time to train for the next World Martial Arts Tournament. It's in three years. But I have nothing more to teach you, Goku. You need to go out into the world and learn your lessons there."
"What do you mean you don't have anything to teach me?"
"Just go, travel! Got it?"
"Ok then."
Goku ran out of the house and called his flying nimbus, but Roshi yelled out the window, "Don't rely on that cloud to get around! You need to go on foot!"
"Huh? What? Don't use nimbus? Well, ok. I'll see you all later! Bye!" Goku jumped into the ocean and swam away.
"You mean it's going to be three years before we see Goku again?" Krillin asked.
"Yeah, looks like it," Bulma said.
"So, Master Roshi," Yamcha started, "I was wondering, you know, since you're not training Goku now, if maybe you would take me as a student?"
"Sorry, but I only take two students at a time."
"But Goku's training on his own!"
Master Roshi was unmoved. He was firm about only having two students. It wasn't that he couldn't handle training more than two, but he wanted time to himself to watch exercise videos and read magazines on the beach. Three or more students would really cut into his personal time.
"You know," Bulma said, "it really is a shame you won't take him as a student. If you did I might come visit, and your house is right by the water. I have this new bikini I've been wanting to show off…"
"Alright! I'll train you!" Roshi yelled, standing up and pointing at Yamcha.
"Thank you, Master!" Yamcha shot Bulma a look of gratitude.
"One more thing, Roshi," Bulma said. "I want you to teach me how to use ki. I might not ever be able to do that kamehameha wave thingy, but I want to at least know the basics. But if you say or do one perverted thing, I will make you sorry!" Bulma turned to Yamcha and smirked. "And I want you to teach me how to fight with a sword." She was going to spend the next three years training as much as she could too. She didn't have any plans to fight in the World Martial Arts Tournament with the boys, but she wasn't going to let them completely outclass her. Besides, she'd been wanting to learn about ki for years. Knowing a master of martial arts like Roshi was her perfect opportunity to learn, as long as he would keep his hands and eyes to himself.
'I can't wait! I'm finally going to learn to use my ki. And fight with a sword! This is going to be great! Maybe I can learn some new fighting techniques too. Too bad I can't stay here with the others. I still have to finish school. But as soon as I graduate I'm spending all my time here.' She nodded to herself, happy with her ability to get what she wanted from the men.
A/N: Well, there's some major deviation from canon. Gero is dead, thanks to Bulma. If you're wondering how strong she is, I would say her current power level is probably around 50. But now she's going to get ki training, so it'll go up even more. How high? I'm not sure yet. It's irrelevant right now anyway. I'm kind of running on the assumption that my readers are all familiar with Dragonball. I'm sorry if you're not. I hope it makes enough sense anyway. I'm rushing through it and changing a lot anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter if you know it well or not.
I'm almost finished writing chapter 42, which is the chapter you're all waiting for. So if you can suffer through a few more chapters of this kind of stuff, you will be rewarded. There's a few twists and turns before then, so get ready. I've almost reached the end of the story in chapter outlines. If all goes as planned, it will be over 70 chapters total. Can I be the first to say that's absolutely ridiculous? That's absolutely ridiculous. But here's a problem: Despite having chapters outlined, I'm having difficulty actually writing them. I'm sort of losing interest in the story. This happens when I've been writing a story for too long. I'm trying to force myself to keep writing, but the quality might be lacking. I may end up taking a break from writing this, which means I would also take a break from updating. I'll let you know if it comes to that.
In the mean time, I would appreciate reviews about, well, everything concerning my writing. I haven't even been editing much because I'm kind of tired of this story right now. Is there anything specific I need to work on to improve the story? Anything you particularly like? Let me know. It helps a lot when I'm writing.
Vegeta: 19
Bulma: 17