"Now entering Beach City" the sign read as Bulma passed it. The sun sank low as she sped towards the beach town in her tiny car. She had no idea what a dragon ball might be doing here in this quiet little town, but the radar had never been wrong before. It beats trying to search through a jungle for them, anyways.

As she drove down through the town, she noticed the dragon radar was leading her towards the shore. She hoped it wasn't in the ocean...She didn't have a submarine capsule with her and she did not want to go back home to get one. Luckily, as she got closer, it didn't seem to be trying to get her any closer to the shore. She stopped in front of a tall black fence. On one of the posts there was a keep out sign, but part of it was blacked out and replaced with another person's hand writing. She stared at the sign and then back to her radar. It was saying she needed to go over the fence but she doubted if she was caught trespassing she'd really just be escorted off the property. She needed that dragon ball though. She wouldn't be able to make her wish without it! Besides, if she really needed to, she could always just sweet talk or bribe her way out of a situation. With that, Bulma began to climb over the fence. Once she had landed on the other side she began following the radar once again, glancing up every once in awhile to look out for trouble. As she got closer to the dragon ball, she found herself looking up at a giant statue of a giant woman.

"It must be stuck in one of the crevices of the statue…" she thought as she stared at it from the side. "She sighed as she continued, "Well that's just great...I thought this would be easy…" She glanced around before setting down her backpack and pulling out a grappling hook. She aimed it up at the top of the statue and fired. when it landed, it hooked onto some of the stone and clung to it. She tugged on it slightly to make sure it was secure before using it to start her climb. As she scaled the side of the statue, she searched high and low for the orange jewel, but she couldn't find it anywhere. Once she was a story or two up, she began scaling the hair of the statue. As she climbed over one of the curls, she was met with an unexpected sight.

"Hey, whatcha doing?" a voice rang out. She looked up to see a little boy sitting on the stone with a few bowls of food in front of him. She was so shocked by his presence, that she almost lost her grip on the rope! Once she had regained her composure, she got a better look at him. His hair was a mess and he wore an orange gi with a pink star on the chest. There was something brown and fuzzy wrapped around the boy's waist too, but she couldn't tell what it was.

"I uh...I could ask you the same thing!" Bulma retorted.

The boy shrugged. "I live here," he answered simply. "I'm Goku by the way," he said before cocking his head to the side, "Who are you? I've never seen a human like you around here before. Do they all have blue hair where you come from?"

Bulma blinked at him in surprise. "Don't you recognize me? I'm Bulma Briefs, the daughter of one of the most influential scientists in the world!" she said.

"Sorry, but I guess I've never heard of you," he said politely, "I don't know many humans that don't live around here."

"So what brings you to Beach City?" he asked.

She looked the kid up and down. He seemed pretty friendly and didn't look like a threat. Maybe it would be ok to tell him. "Well…"she started, "I'm traveling the world looking for these things called dragon balls. Have you seen one?"

"Dragon balls?" he asked, "Are they orange with red stars?"

Bulma's face lit up. "Yes! That's them," she exclaimed, "Can you take me to one?" Goku seemed to sit and ponder for a second. As he did so, the old stone on which the grappling hook had lodged itself began to crumble. with a crack, the hook came loose and Bulma began to fall. "WAAAH!" she cried as she plummeted. She looked below her in fear as she fell, until the rope suddenly became taught again. She bounced a little as her body suddenly reacted from the sudden stop in free fall. She looked up to see that Goku was holding the rope. Bulma breathed a sigh of relief.

That relief didn't last long however, as the two heard a loud snap as the rope broke. Bulma began plummeting to her doom once again. She screamed and squeezed her eyes shut. Instead of hitting the rocks below, she found herself landing in something much softer, yet still very firm. She opened her eyes to see that someone had caught her…in mid air. "H-how?" she asked turning to look at him as he floated to the ground. He didn't respond, but she got a good look at him. He had spiky black hair and dark eyebrows. His expression was very stern. He wore some kind of jump suit or work out clothes. It was blue with a large, lighter blue star covering the left side of his chest. "Um...Thanks for saving me…" she said as they landed, "Who are you?" she asked.

He didn't answer her question as he set her down. "You shouldn't be here," he stated, "This isn't a jungle gym. The sign is there for a reason. You could have killed yourself fooling around on the rocks like that. Now get out or I will have to force you to leave."

Bulma glared at him. "First off, while I appreciate you saving me, I am not leaving. I have spent so much time getting here and I haven't found what I'm looking for yet," she started, "Secondly, Don't talk to me like I'm a child! I'm sixteen and I'm way more mature than you considering the fact that I'm not the one running around with a fake tail strapped to my back!"

The teen glared back at her. "It's not fake, you idiot," he hissed as it lashed back and forth. Bulma's eyes widened as she saw it move. It really wasn't fake…

"W-what are you?!" she stuttered as she backed away.

"I am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans," he stated, taking a step forward, "Now you mentioned you were looking for something. What, or who, exactly are you looking for?" His eyes narrowed at her in suspicion.

Bulma's knees were shaking. "Well, I uh…" she started.

"She want's my grandpa's dragon ball," Goku called. They both turned to see him hop down from the rocks. "That's why she was climbing the temple," he explained.

"Really? That's all she wants?" Vegeta questioned as he relaxed slightly.

"Yes!" Bulma interjected, "So you'll give it to me, right?"

"No," Vegeta responded, "Now leave."

Bulma frowned before smirking evilly. She leaned into him and began twirling a piece of her hair. "Oh please won't you let me see it?" she cooed, fluttering her eyes at him, "Just one look. If you do, I'll do something nice for you in return! Maybe a kiss or a massage or…"

Vegeta's face became flushed as she leaned in close to him. "G-get off me!" he cried, shoving her away. "Vulgar girl…" he muttered, cheeks still flushed as he turned away from her. His tail was curled up and he crossed his arms over his chest.

Bulma pouted. She was sure that would work. "You can see it if you like," Goku stated simply. "I don't want a kiss or anything though, but If you want to see it you can."

"Aw thanks, kid!" Bulma cried, hugging him.

Vegeta gave the boy a surprised expression. "Kakarot, you can't just let her in the temple!" he hissed.

Goku cocked his head to the side. "Why not? You let Vidalia hang around the temple all the time," he questioned.

"That's different! We can trust Vidalia!" he argued, "Besides, I still don't bring her inside the temple."

"Then I won't bring her inside," he explained, "I'll just bring the dragon ball outside!" Vegeta facepalmed but relented all the same. The trio then began walking back to the temple entrance.

….

When they approached the temple door, Goku walked up to it and placed his hand on the pad in the center of the door. "You guys wait here," Goku said, "I'll go find the dragon ball." He then hopped through the magic door and left the pair alone as it closed behind him.

There was an awkward silence between them. Bulma glanced over to the prince, who was avoiding making eye contact with her. "Soooo…." she started, "are there a lot of people with tails in this town."

"No," he stated, "Just the two of us."

"And you two are Sayamans?" she asked.

Vegeta's mouth twitched. "It's 'Saiyans' and yes we are," he answered.

"Is it just you out here? Do you have anyone looking out for you?" she asked a little more concerned, "I don't mean to be rude, but you guys seem a little young to be living all on your own."

"No," he responded, "We have someone looking after is. Her name is Rose."

"Oh, is she your mom?" she asked.

That was a complicated question. She sort of was, though more so for Kakarot, but at the same time she wasn't. She obviously wasn't his mother biologically, and Vegeta had met her late enough in life that he really didn't need her to take care of him. But honestly, she was the closest thing he'd had to a mother since his own had died giving birth to his most likely late brother Tarble. Rose was one of the few people to give him genuine praise and scold him not out of anger, but from worry. She dealt with him patiently when he was at his worst, though never acted as though she was subservient to him like others would have. She listened to him before making a judgement, and while she criticized him, it always felt like what she said was intended to make him better, not to put him down. And he looked up to her and worried about her when she was gone for longer than a few days. He could trust her and depend on her, but he really didn't need to. Really, she was more like a role model or a mentor for him than a mother, and yet at the same time he couldn't fully deny the statement of her being his mother either.

Before he could respond, the warp pad lit up as Rose returned. When she saw the pair of them, her eyes widened for a second before she smiled. "Who's this, Vegeta? Did Vidalia introduce you to one of her friends while I was gone?" she asked.

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "No, I found this girl trying to climb the temple statue looking for a dragon ball," he explained.

Rose's smile fell as her expression became more serious. "Why are you looking for the dragon balls?" she questioned, sternly yet gently.

Bulma almost felt intimidated by the woman. She obviously knew about the legend, but she didn't seem to accusatory. "Well I was going to use them to make a wish…" she explained. "I was going to wish for an unlimited amount of strawberries-"

"An unlimited amount of strawberries?!" Vegeta cried in disbelief, "That's a horrible wish! You can literally grow or buy as many as you like!"

"Hey I said it WAS my wish! It's not anymore!" she cried, "I'm not an idiot! I realized how stupid it was, that's why I changed it!"

"Then what is you new wish?" he asked, folding his arms.

"I'm not telling you now. You'll just find some way to make fun of it!" she snapped at him. Vegeta huffed and turned away. Bulma stuck her tongue out at him before becoming Rose closer so she could tell her privately. Rose knelt down to listen to her. "I'm going to wish for the perfect boyfriend," she whispered, "Good men are so hard to come across. You get me, right?" Rose turned and looked at her in surprise before smiling in relief. It was a childish wish, but harmless.

"Well if that's all you're wishing for, I don't see a problem with you using the dragon ball, but it's ultimately Goku's decision on whether you can or can't," she said.

Bulma's eyes lit up while Vegeta's jaw dropped. "What?!" he sputtered, "You can't be serious!"

"Oh thank you!" Bulma cried, hugging the gem.

"Don't thank me just yet," she said, "It's still Goku's decision in the end." As if on cue, the younger Saiyan walked through the door, holding the four star dragon ball. "There you are!" she called, "We were just talking about you. This young lady was wondering if you would be willing to lend her your dragon ball."

Goku frowned. "No way! It was my grandpa's!" he exclaimed.

"But the other dragon balls won't work without it!" Bulma argued, "Please, I'll get it back to you afterwards."

"Right, and what are we supposed to do if we never see you again," Vegeta retorted, not believing her for a second.

"No I will! I promise!" she pleaded before looking to Rose for assistance.

"What if you went with her Goku," she suggested, "Then you can make sure you get your dragon ball back. Not only that, but you'll get to travel the world and see plenty of new places, go on new adventures, and meet many different martial artist that you can learn from."

Goku and Bulma smiled while Vegeta looked at Rose in surprise. "Why are you helping her?!" he demanded.

"Yeah! That sounds awesome!" Goku exclaimed, his eyes practically sparkling at the thought and his tail wagging, "I can't wait! When can we head out?!"

"How about tomorrow," Bulma said, "We wouldn't be able to get to the next city over before night fall, and I don't feel like staying up late to drive or camping out again." "I'll see you guys in the morning, alright?" she said as she headed out of the temple, "thanks again!"

"Bye Bulma!" Goku called, "This is going to be amazing! I gotta start packing!" He then turned and ran back to the temple door, clicking his heels as he did so.

Vegeta then turned to Rose. "I cannot believe you're condoning this," he said, "You're really going to just let him travel the world with that spoiled brat unsupervised?"

Rose hummed in amusement. "Actually, I was hoping you'd go along with them," she stated, "You need some time away from Beach City, a vacation of sorts."

Vegeta blinked at her in surprise. "No way," he said crossing his arms, "I would be wasting too much time that I should be spending training. The occasional mission to go fight gem beasts is all I need for time away."

"Who said you'd have to stop training?" she pointed out with a gentle smile, "You can still train, it just won't be with me. In fact, I think you need to spend some time training with someone else. You must learn to adapt to your opponent. If you fight others like you fight me, you'll become predictable and stale." Vegeta seemed to think as she continued, "There are some things that I can't teach you. Go out there and diversify your arsenal so to speak. Who knows? You might even be able to bring back the technique to defeat me!"

Vegeta thought for a few moments longer before nodding his head. "Alright," he said, "I'll go with them. If anything, roughing it will help me hone my survival skills."

Rose smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder. "That's the spirit," she said, "Now go ahead and get some rest. I'll see you two off in the morning."

"And what will you do once we're gone?" he asked as he walked towards the door, "It's going to be extremely quiet without us around."

"Don't worry about me! I'll figure out something to do," she said, "I'll probably spend some time with a few old friends of mine like Korin or Kami, maybe even see what Baba's up to."

Vegeta nodded. "Don't have too much fun without us," he said as he entered the temple.

"Trust me, I think you two are going to have more fun than I will," she responded as she watched the door close behind him.

hey everyone! Looks like we're almost to thirty chapters! isn't that amazing? Thank you guys for all of your support. As a special thank you, I made a short comic entitled "We are the Z-Fighters" and posted it up on my deviant art. I go by artdirector123 on there as well. I hope you guys like it! Anyways, have a great day, and let me know what you think!