Chapter Three: A group assembled
Something about writing these characters comes so easily to me, so I apologize if the story is too slow paced for your liking. Writing these people interacting is just too much fun. I do feel like the character driven moments will help to enrich the battles of the story, though, if that helps at all.
They had finally finished the sparring match. It had went on for nearly an hour, and Toshinori was drenched in sweat, as was Goku and Nana. Nana seemed to be pretty proud of her student, judging from the way she looked at him as he took a breather. "You're control seems to be getting better, Toshi," she complimented, a shaky smile on her face as she looked as if she were about to pass out from exhaustion.
Toshinori nodded, a smile on her face as well. He was proud of himself. In the midst of the battle, Toshinori found that he was able to focus more on his strength thanks to the adrenaline coursing through him. In a weird way, being stressed made it easier to control One for All, which was the opposite of what Toshinori expected.
He had doubted whether sparring with Goku and Nana would help, but he had learned to trust his teacher's judgement. She usually had the right idea about most things.
"I'm thirsty," Goku admitted, his breath a little shaky still. He stood up and began to walk to the bridge, or more specifically, the ravine it crossed over. Toshinori, realizing he too could use a drink, decided to follow Goku. Besides, drinking from the river would make him feel more like a survivalist.
Nana stayed behind, working to create a fire from the wood she had previously gathered. Toshinori and Goku didn't say a word to each other, too focused on hydration to care about socializing. Not that Goku seemed to be the talkative sort, from what Toshinori had seen.
Toshinori wouldn't have broken the silence if he didn't hear a thud not too far away. "Did you hear that?" he asked, looking down at his new acquaintance. Goku shook his head, a puzzled look on his face. "Stay here, I'm gonna check it out."
Toshinori took off running and yet Goku followed after him, keeping pace with Toshinori's jog. Granted, his jog was faster than almost any car in existence. "I told you to stay behind! I've got this handled!" he barked, frustrated with Goku's inability to listen.
"I'm going with you! Whatever it is, you might need help!" Goku yelled back, stubbornly sticking close to Toshinori, even overtaking him for a moment.
Toshinori frowned, accelerating to full speed. The ground became a blur as his legs repeatedly slammed into the ground. He was getting close to the noise, which also seemed to be approaching him. Looking back, Toshinori saw that Goku was still not too far behind, though he struggled to keep up.
"Just go back to camp! There's nothing out here I can't handle!" Toshinori called out, not even bothering to listen for a response. Goku wouldn't listen, that much was clear.
Toshinori suddenly stopped when he saw a giant metal robot charging towards them, kicking up the grass in it's wake. It was easily big enough to fit multiple inside of it. Confused, he watched as it stopped in front of the both of them and pointed a finger at Goku. "You, the strange monkey boy!" it yelled, sounding like a kid with a raspy voice. Then again, robots couldn't be kids. "Hand over the Dragon Ball!"
Trying to figure out what the machine was speaking of, Toshinori looked over to Goku, raising an eyebrow at him. Goku shrugged, but then the realization dawned on him. Taking a small ball out of his pocket, which had to be the Dragon Ball they spoke of, Goku showed it to them. "You mean this thing?" he called, to which the robot nodded eagerly. "You can't have it! Me and my friends need them!"
"It wasn't a request!" the robot yelled. "Hand it over, or else you shall feel the wrath of the mighty Pilaf!"
Toshinori and Goku locked eyes, both trying to figure out if they were serious or not. He had never of a villain calling themselves Pilaf, and he quite frankly wasn't intimidated by the machine the man piloted. Goku even chuckled a little, though it wasn't mean spirited, rather, it was a genuine laugh.
"Alright, prepare yourself!" Pilaf exclaimed, and then a hatch opened on the head of the machine, revealing a blue man of short stature with sharp teeth. "Mai, Shu! Come on out, let's teach these guys a lesson!" he yelled.
For a moment, nothing happened, leaving Toshinori rather confused. Then, the chest opened up, as did the hip of the mech suit, revealing both a tall and slender woman with black hair, and a small, anthropomorphic dog-man hybrid. The dog, presumably Shu, wore an outfit much like a stereotypical ninja.
"I'm giving you both one last shot! Surrender the Dragon Ball over or else you both die!" Pilaf spat, a malicious grin on his face. Mai aimed a rifle at Toshinori, who almost laughed. They weren't even threatening him with a Quirk. His skin was bulletproof now, which he found out by complete accident.
"Try me," Toshinori said smugly, smirking as Pilaf looked at him with shock. His jaw was nearly on the floor.
"Are you serious?" he asked, receiving no response. Goku mirrored what Toshinori was doing, shooting them the most serious look he could, which wasn't very imposing in the slightest. Pilaf shrugged, not finding any moral issues with shooting them. "Fine. Mai, kill them both."
"Gladly." The girl, Mai, fired a couple rounds at Toshinori, each crumpling upon impact with his skin like a car hitting against a concrete wall. "What the hell!?" she cried out. "You're such a scrawny kid, how the fuck are you bulletproof?" Toshinori winced, looking down at his body.
One for All granted immense power, yes, but it didn't grant the body of a Greek god like one might expect. Sure, he was muscular, but he was mostly lean muscle. Maybe one day he would be built like a professional bodybuilder, but that was a blessing he had yet to receive.
"Call it a fun surprise," Toshinori remarked, appearing in front of Mai before she could react. He grabbed her rifle from her without any effort and bent the barrel into a U shape. Shock was all that was visible on her face as Toshinori then tossed it away. It landed in the brush of a bush nearby. "Now, either you all run or I make sure each one of you is brought to justice."
They didn't need telling twice.
Pilaf and his goons scurried back to their mech suit. "C'mon guys, let's get out of here!" came an unfamiliar voice, most likely Shu. Rocket boosters kicked into gear in the legs, sending it flying into the sky and far away.
Looking back down, Toshinori looked at Goku. "So, that Dragon Ball thing wouldn't happen to be why you're on a journey, would it?"
Bulma woke up early, all things considered. She could see the sun barely rising over the horizon, providing a dim light for the ground around them. Even though she was up literally at the crack of dawn, Bulma felt well rested after such a long day. Of course, the first thing she did after she ate some cereal was to stand in front of the bathroom mirror for ten minutes to make sure her hair was completely perfect as always. After all, beauty like hers needed to be maintained.
After making sure everything was in order, Bulma decided to leave the house to prevent herself from waking the sleeping Inko. Rather surprisingly, upon exiting she saw both Nana and Toshinori sitting by a fire that had been made in her absence, laughing over old stories of Nana's.
"Mind if I join?" Bulma asked, to which Nana agreed.
"You're up extra early today, aren't you?" Nana asked with a laugh.
Bulma nodded, though she did believe it to be a little hypocritical of her to say that. "I could say the same for you two. It's like five in the morning, what are you both doing up?"
"Truth be told, neither one of us really need all that much sleep," Toshinori stated matter of factly. "Both our Quirks involve physical enhancement of some sort, and as a result, we can both go weeks without sleep if we really needed to."
Bulma's eyes widened, never having heard of a physical boost that strong. What were the odds that such a cute guy could also be so strong? Whoa, Bulma thought. Calm down, you barely know the guy. But you do make a good point, me.
Nana saw the face she was making and laughed loudly, her high voice echoing throughout the vast forest around them. "You aren't the only one who's been surprised to hear that," Nana said lightheartedly.
Bulma smiled, hoping to find another subject to speak on. "So, how long are you guys planning on staying here?" Bulma questioned, saying the first thing that popped into her head.
"We're actually staying here all weekend, assuming everything goes well," Nana answered, staring out to the sun slowly rising. "Toshi, have you ever just taken the time to admire the world around us?" she asked.
Toshinori rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Truth be told, my life's been too fast paced to really stop and smell the roses, y'know?"
Nana nodded, turning to lock eyes with her student, black staring into piercing blue. "You can find something worth fighting for anywhere you look. The sanctity of a calm forest," Nana said, gesturing around them with a big wave, "Or even the small ants crawling around on the ground. Life worth saving is everywhere, you just have to seek it out."
Even if Bulma wasn't the one the message was meant for, she admired Nana's perspective. She had recognized her nearly immediately as a pro hero, having seen her face on a few posters at a merchandise retailer.
"Bulma?" Inko came from behind her, yawning loudly, which then forced Bulma to do the same. "What're you doing up so early?"
"Having a party, by the looks of it," Bulma said, causing a tired chuckle to come from Inko. "What woke you up?"
Inko shrugged as she sat near the fire, kept burning by a new pile of wood that had been gathered at some point. "Nothing, really. Actually, I think I had a nightmare, but I can't remember about what."
Inko then found out about Toshinori and Nana's lack of a need for sleep upon asking why they were up. Her reaction was less intense, though that was largely due to the fact that she was drowsy.
It wasn't long before Goku too was awake. Oddly enough, he had chosen to sleep on the hard ground instead of the comfort of the house, or even one of the tents set up. Granted it would be odd for him to sleep with Toshinori, or Nana for that matter.
"Man, that weird monster we fought was wild! It even spat out a girl and two little monsters!" Goku said plainly, his mind still somehow on something that had happened before he had fallen asleep.
"What do you mean?" Bulma asked, her concern growing rapidly. Could she not leave for a few hours without something ridiculous happening behind her back?
"Oh, you'll love this," Toshinori butted in. Great, so it wasn't just Goku attracting trouble to them. "So, Goku and I ran into this robot last night. Fairly weird enough, right? Well, turns out there's a group of people looking for the Dragon Balls."
"How do you know about the Dragon Balls?" Bulma asked, trying her best to hide her panic. First there was the guy with wings and now there was mech suits to worry about?
"Goku told me," Toshinori said as Goku admitted to it simultaneously.
"Was I not supposed to?" Goku added, tilting his head like an animal would.
"No, you weren't!" Bulma yelled. "But if there was someone to tell, at least it wasn't someone we couldn't trust," she said, taking a couple deep breaths, an effort to calm her self down, though she still struggled to do so.
"So, you know what they can do?" Inko asked, to which Toshinori nodded.
"More or less," Toshinori answered. "If you guys are gonna try and find the rest of them, I'm sure you'll run into those guys again," he said, his tone growing more serious.
"Those guys weren't all that tough!" Goku exclaimed. "I'm sure I could handle them on my own!"
Toshinori shook his head. "I wouldn't feel right if I just let you guys go without offering to help."
Bulma and Inko shared a brief look. She knew what Inko would say, that they could use all the help they can get and that they didn't really have a reason to say no. Bulma also knew her answer.
Not seeing a reason to say no, Bulma nodded. "I bet Goku and his freakish strength could handle them but it wouldn't hurt to have an extra pair of hands."
Toshinori's eyes widened. For a moment, Bulma thought he was surprised but then he snapped his head to Nana. "Wait! Is it okay with you if I help them out?"
Nana laughed, shooting him a thumbs up. "Of course! This is exactly what a real hero do in your position!" Nana cheerfully replied. "All this really is helping those in need, so go give it your all, Toshi. I'll be back in Tokyo when you're ready to return, because I doubt you'll be done before my camping trip is done."
Toshinori nodded. "Right. Thank you, Nana!" The tall boy, who was no doubt the size of a professional basketball player, walked up to them. "So, when do we head out?"
"I figured we'd stay a bit longer before we left to fully wake up. I'd rather not risking driving right now," Bulma said as they walked away from Nana, heading towards the house. "Besides, I'm sure you're pretty hungry."
Toshinori laughed and nodded. "I wouldn't object," he joked, opening the door for both Inko and Bulma.
"What a gentleman!" Bulma whispered as she walked by, Inko thanking him simultaneously. Goku even followed after them, and then Toshinori shut the door as he walked inside.
The house looked a lot bigger on the inside. There was a kitchen with a table to eat at, a living room, and even a bed. If Toshinori hadn't been so eager to camp for a night, he wouldn't have minded spending his night in here. Bulma went to the fridge and grabbed a carton of eggs. "Here, let me make you some breakfast. It's the least I can do since you decided to help us."
"Oh no, I couldn't," Toshinori refused, but his true feelings were revealed when his stomach growled at the thought of food. Bulma laughed as she took out a skillet and cracked an egg, letting the yolk spill out onto it.
Inko sat across from him while Goku walked around, in awe of the technology around him. "So, since you're gonna be coming along with us, it's probably good to get to know you," Inko said.
"Alright. Well, my name's Toshinori, obviously. I'm a hero in training, you've already met my teacher. My Quirk is a strength enhancer."
"That's not what I mean," Inko said, shaking her head.
"She wants to know the more personal stuff," Bulma interjected. "Like, what kind of stuff do you do in your free time?" The sizzling of the skillet filled the air as Bulma set it onto the stove.
"Oh," Toshinori said awkwardly. "Well, most of what I do nowadays is exercise," he admitted. "I never really have the time to do anything else. My Quirk requires a very capable body to handle it."
Bulma smirked. "I'd say you're plenty muscular already."
"Yeah," Goku agreed. "You're pretty strong!"
"Not strong enough," Toshinori said, "I still can't control my Quirk very well."
"How come you can't?" Bulma asked. "You've gotta be in high school, and Quirks usually show up when you're four, right?"
"I was a late bloomer," Toshinori said. It wasn't technically a lie, it was just that he had been given it instead of it always being there, dormant. "It didn't awaken until my body could handle the power. It's kind of like having the power of a top pro but the control of a kid."
"How do you even practice with it then?" Inko asked, sounding genuinely worried about his circumstances.
Toshinori shrugged. "Usually I have to wait until Nana has the time to," he admitted. "But Goku seems to be able to take hits from me decently well. Better than most, at least. So I'm hoping that he can help me control my Quirk before we've found all the Dragon Balls."
Goku smiled at him. "Grandpa would want me to help someone who needed my help, so I'd be glad to do it!"
Toshinori nodded as a form of thanks just as a knock came from the door. Bulma brought the eggs over to Toshinori as the knocking repeated. "I'll see who it is," she said, approaching the door.
Toshinori had no idea who could be knocking. Nana would be welcome anywhere Toshinori was, and she knew she wouldn't even need to knock. As he stuffed his face he tried to get a look around Bulma, though he couldn't see a person.
Bulma looked around, unable to see anyone. "Who the hell ding dong ditched us?" Bulma asked, craning her neck to see down the road. She was too distracted to see who, or better yet, what, had walked in.
Behind her was a brown turtle, one with sagging eyelids. He seemed to be quite old, which was clear in his slow movements. Bulma turned around and shrugged, still not looking down. Toshinori pointed down at the floor, causing Bulma to finally see who had knocked.
"Hello."
The words had not come from any of them, they were all too surprised to say a word. The turtle had been the one to speak.
Bulma screamed.