It didn't take the kids very long to cook their fish and hand out parts of it to their guest. As they ate, Bulma spoke about the city, just as she promised she would. She explained cars and roads and how people lived in buildings that could reach the clouds. The two tailed children listened in awe as they let their guest regal them on the different things that could get done there, like getting your hair colored different or changing the color of your skin. Most of it was hard to believe, but the kids enjoyed themselves by listening to just how different it was to live in the city compared to the mountains.
In return, Goku and Ruko told Bulma some stories of their time together exploring these mountains. They explained how they would go and explore the different caves in the mountain, since they hunted the dinos off of their mountain a long time ago. In those caves the kids would find all manner of unusual things, like the glowing green fuzzy animals that liked to hop around and stick to things. To Bulma though, their stories were as much realistic as her stories seemed to them. These two kids hunting dinos off of their land? The royal army had to come by and do perimeter checks around the city every few weeks for that, so two kids, alone couldn't possibly accomplish the same thing for an entire mountain!
When they were done eating, the kids invited their guest to stay with them for the rest of the day. They opened the door to their hut, about to put their things away before showing Bulma around their mountain, when they froze in amazement at what they saw. Their Grandpa was glowing!
"Listen!" Goku said, and Ruko's eyes widened.
"What's up?" Bulma questioned from behind the both of them, still stuck in the doorway.
"Grandpa's trying to say something!" Ruko added in awe.
"But guys, I don't hear anyone talk-" Bulma cut herself off when she noticed the small golden ball on a pillow. "Oh my goodness! It's a Dragonball!" she squealed.
Putting her hands between the two kids, she shoved each one to the side as she went between them and picked up the golden ball. Not even a moment later, both kids took hold of Bulma's waist, making sure that she couldn't get away.
"Hey!" Goku growled as he tugged on Bulma's skirt. "Let go o' Grandpa!"
"Give us our Grandpa back!" Ruko reinforced and tugged at the other side of Bulma. "That was his last possession!"
"Now!" Goku demanded, and tried reaching for the ball. Bulma held it a little higher and faced the two kids with tails.
"Your grandpa...? You mean this?" Bulma questioned as she held up the ball.
"Yeah!" Ruko confirmed and managed to snatch it out of Bulma's hands with a leap before she hid at Goku's side. "This is the only thing that grandpa left us to remember him by!"
"Nobody can touch it but us!" Goku growled as he held out his arm in front of Ruko defensively.
"Goku, look!" Ruko gasped, and he turned to face her. Her tail twitched behind her nervously as she stared at the glowing ball in her hands. "I think grandpa is trying to speak to us!"
"What do ya think he's saying?" Goku whispered to Ruko, the entirety of his attention on the ball as it glowed like a firefly. Then, they both looked towards Bulma cautiously when they saw her move. The blue haired teen exhaled softly, then let a small smile formed on her face as she started to fish in her bag again.
"I hate to do this, but I don't really have a choice." Bulma sighed, and pulled out two more orbs to show them. A beat of silence passed as the tailed kids gawped at Bulma in disbelief. These two objects that she held looked exactly like the one that was cradled in Ruko's arms! "I'll have to let you in on my secret. See? Voila!"
"What?! You've got to be kidding!" Goku eyes went wide as saucers, then he pointed at Bulma as though the teen didn't know what she held in her hands. "More Grandpas?!"
"You've got two Grandpas! No way!" Ruko exclaimed, and held her memento closer at the sight.
"They're not grandpa's, they're called 'Dragonballs'." Bulma chuckled, blue eyes bright as the glow from orbs she held lit up her face.
Goku's eyes went wide, his face turned pale and his tail wrapped itself around one of his legs. "You mean... some poor dragon...?" He whispered, and there was a sort of phantom pain in his voice that girls in the room didn't recognize.
Oblivious to her friend's thoughts, Ruko looked down at her grandpa's treasure skeptically. "I dunno..." she eyed Bulma from beside Goku, and a small frown appeared on her face. "Ya sure about that?"
"Definitely." Bulma confirmed with a nod of her head, and then handed one to Goku so he could inspect it himself. "I'm positive. Your ball started to glow because it was reacting to the two that I have." Then she held one for herself and smiled at it fondly. "I found one in my cellar and had no idea what it was. No one I asked knew either."
She put her second ball down on the table, and motioned for Goku and Ruko to do the same. Goku put his down easily, since it belongs to Bulma, but Ruko hesitated when putting their Grandpa down. After a moment she sighed and put it down gently, a little bit away from the other two so it didn't get mixed up. They did look exactly alike after all.
"Okay..." Ruko said, and let her grandpa's memento go. "But just for a second."
As soon as she let go, all three balls started to glow. The two kids stared in awe as Bulma smiled and put her head in her hands as she leaned against the table.
"Pretty cool huh?" Bulma smirked at the look on their faces. She picked up one of her own balls and held it up. It didn't stop glowing. "Yeah, these balls can do great things... And not so great too. Lets just say if a bad person got a hold of it, they could really do some damage to the world."
Goku picked up his and Ruko's 'Grandpa' and stared at it curiously. "Well what do these things do?"
"Are you sure you wanna know?" Bulma asked, and looked at the two who stared at the ball Goku held, an air of melancholy about them.
At Bulma's question, the two kids glanced up at her. Then, after a quick shared glance, they nodded. "Uh huh."
A very long way away from our heroes, was an abandoned temple. Three people stood just outside of it. One was a tall woman with raven black hair wearing a trench coat. Another was a beige dog in a ninja suit, who stood on two legs. And the third was a very small blue imp with a red and blue hat on his head. The imp laughed as he opened the doors to the abandoned temple. The dog gulped.
"It's very dark in there sire..." The ninja dog spoke quietly, and nervously wrung his front paws together.
"Be quiet Shoe!" The imp demanded. The dog winced from the tone, then looked down sadly.
"Yes, sir..."
At the very end of the hall in the temple, nestled on top of a little pillow, lay a small golden ball with a single red star floating inside of it. To both sides of the dark halls stood metal knights, outfitted with very large axes at their sides. The metal suits all stood at attention, as though they were ready to come to life the moment they were needed, which made the already dark hall even more eerie. The pillow with the golden ball stood at the foot of a thrown, where a stone statue sat.
The imp laughed happily as he picked up the ball and brought it close to his face. "Here it is!" The imp practically sang as he stared at the small orb intently. "Come to Emperor Pilaf, my sweet!"
At that very moment, one of the knights fell over, and the noise of metal that bounced off stone rang throughout the temple hall. Unfortunately, the imp hadn't moved out of the way fast enough, and the metal rained down on him painfully. With a yelp of surprise, he fell backwards on the stone flags of the room and stared at the metal suit of armor around him. The helmet of the suit landed between the imp's legs and his face turned white when guard fell down and revealed a skull still in there.
"G- get off of me, you...! Bone Head! Here!" Pilaf yelled out as he pushed the skeletal knight off of him. "Eww."
The kinght's helmet rolled to a stop in front of Shoe, the ninja dog. His eyes went wide with fright and his fur stood on end from the sight. Then, two bat's suddenly flew out of the skull's eye sockets, and Shoe ducked as the small creatures screeched, then flew overhead. All three people in the room shivered as the bat's screeches echoed in the temple hall. Only a moment of silence passed before Pilaf cleared his throat and looked back to his Dragonball.
"Well... Enough of that!" He said, and smiled evilly to the ball in his hands. "I am ready to make my wish!"
"Sir!"
"What?!"
"I hate to be the one to tell you, but," The woman said in monotone, and dared to look at the imp straight in his beady eyes. "You cant make your wish with just one ball. You have to have the other's too."
"Wha-?!"
"There are seven Dragonballs in total, sire." The woman continued. "You have to unite all seven of them to make your wish. Only then will a dragon appear to grant you wish."
"Seven of them...?" The imp muttered sadly, and looked down to the single orb in his hands. Then his expression grew angry and his bared his sharp teeth. "Then what was the point of specifically coming out here to get the ball without my father knowing?! I won't be able to rule the world when he finds out about these things!"
"But just imagine, dear Emperor! That glorious day where all seven of them are finally brought together..." the woman began in flourish, her hands spread out to her sides as she gave the imp a knowing look. "A beautiful burst of energy will come forth from the balls and light up the sky. Then in a blazing surge of fiery power, the eternal dragon will rise before you for the soul purpose of granting your wish! Whatever. It. May. Be. And your father wouldn't have to know about it until it's too late."
Pilaf was quiet for a moment as he thought it over, then grinned, a distant look in his eyes. Slowly he blinked the look away and turned to his two underlings with a smile. "Well, okay. I guess I can handle a little more searching... especially if you two bozo's don't go snitching on me to father."
The imp started to chuckle to himself. "Any wish I want huh?" he mumbled darkly. His eyes then glittered with greed as he suddenly held his arms out, high in front of him, as though to praise the orb in his grip. A mad smile came to his face as he stared at the Dragonball with avidity. "Well then, I want to rule the entire world! And with that, father will have to obey me, instead."
"I did some research." Bulma began, "and I found an old, old story that described them. There were originally seven Dragonballs and each one glowed with the light of tiny stars inside of them. From one to seven."
"An' you're collecting em?"
"Yeah." Bulma held up the five star ball for the both of them to see. "And after weeks of searching in the north valley, I've finally found this five-star ball! I'm almost half way there, but it's no cake-walk!"
"What are ya gonna do with em'?" Ruko asked, and her head tilted to one side curiously.
Goku thought for a moment, then looked at Bulma skeptically. "Are ya gonna make a necklace out o' em?" he wondered.
"But of course!" Bulma answered sarcastically. There was a smile on her face as she then rolled her eyes at them. "No. Listen you goofs; an amazing thing will happen when you get all seven together. You just say the right chant and Shenlong- the great dragon god- will appear before you to grant any one wish! But only one."
"Woah!" Goku exclaimed and looked down to his Grandpa's Dragonball in wonder.
"Ya can make any wish ya want... and it'll come true?" Ruko parroted, an eyebrow raised skeptically as she looked to the Dragonball held by Goku.
"That's right! Supposedly the last guy that had them all became a king!" Bulma said happily, then stood up. "And I've already settled on a wish too!" she hoped in one place excitedly with a glazed grin on her face. "At first I wanted a lifetime supply of strawberries, but now I think I'll just go with a super cute boyfriend instead!"
"Why didn't Grandpa tell us about this stuff?" Goku asked, and Bulma shook her head.
"He probably didn't know. Not many people do." She explained, then pointed at the ball in Goku's hands. "The truth is guys, you and I are some of the every few that even know about the Dragonballs or the dragon." Then a triumphant look appeared on her face as she clenched her hand in a fist. "And I can't believe that I have three of them already! If I can keep this up, I'll be able to wish for a boyfriend by the end of the month! This is so exciting!" A small squeal escaped from her and both tailed kids gave her a blank look. All of a sudden Bulma whirled on the kids with an anxious expression. "So, what are you waiting for?" Bulma held out her hand to them expectantly. "You are going to let me borrow your Dragonball so I can make my wish, right?"
The children blinked, then snarled. "Forget it!" they quipped out at the same time. As though they'd gotten burned, they jumped back away from Bulma and made sure to keep the ball safe between them.
"Grandpa gave us this ball to remember him by!" Ruko hissed, "it's the only 'Grandpa' we have left!"
"And we're not going to hand it over just 'cause ya say so!" Goku growled angrily.
"Common you cheap skates! What are you guys gonna do with it?! Your grandpa said to be as polite as possible to girls...!" Bulma tried again, but the kids just stuck out their tongues at her defiantly.
"Neyah!" Ruko taunted and she pulled at her eye lid for extra measure. After a moment of shock, the teen seemed to get an idea.
"Hey, how about I trade you?" This got the kids attention. Bulma got a weird look on her face as she wagged her finger in front of them. "You naughty boys, you want something in exchange don't you?"
What could Bulma have that they could possibly want? The kids shared a speculative glance before they turned to watch the blue-haired teen. Bulma then lifted up the back of her skirt, showing the both of them her frilly white underwear underneath. They stared, confused.
"You let me have your Dragonball, and I'll let you have a look~" She said, and the kids gave her look as though she'd just grew two heads.
"What do we care about seeing your dirty old fanny?" The two said together, looking puzzled. Why would she think that they would want that?
"IT IS NOT DIRTY, YOU RUDE LITTLE BOYS!" Bulma yelled out at them, making Ruko jump back.
Her tail bristled and wrapped around her middle, as though it were trying to get her away. She never liked getting yelled at. With the ball balanced easily in one hand, Goku put his other in front of his friend defensively, between Ruko and Bulma. It made Ruko feel better that she knew Goku was with her. Suddenly Bulma took a breath, her face morphed back to normal, as she pondered to herself and didn't really take notice how the kids had reacted.
"Well, shoot. There must be a way, the hunt must go on!" Bulma said to herself as she put a finger on her chin. Realization seemed to hit her as she snapped her fingers excitedly, her eyes wide with anticipation. "Hey I know!"
Bulma turned back to the kids with a large smile on her face. She ignored the odd way they stared- as though she were a small fuse that was attached to a bomb, which was liable to be lit at any moment- and winked at them happily, sure they'd like this compromise better. "Why don't you kids come with me on my quest? We can be partners! My little helpers! What do you say?"
"Oh... go hunt balls?" Goku asked, disinterested.
"Your... quest?" Ruko asked, confused.
"That's right, why not! It's not like you boys have anything better to do, do you?" Bulma questioned as she put a hand on her hip. "Kids like you are supposed to love quests! You'd get to see lots of new places, learn new things, your grandpa would be very proud of you guys!"
At the mention of their grandfather, their postures straightened and their attentiveness sharpened. "Really?!" They asked together, eyes bright and hopeful.
"You think grandpa would be proud if we went?" Ruko asked, rather eagerly.
"Of course he would you guys! Seeing the young grandsons that he raised, venturing out into the world... And all on your own!" The two kids glanced at one another with a smile as Bulma continued. "Learning all about the great cities, and crossing the dessert, and seeing the ocean!"
"Yeah!" Ruko and Goku exclaimed together.
"That sounds like a lot of fun!" Ruko agreed with a smile on her face.
Goku took one look at Ruko's excited expression, and smiled. "I guess we'll go." he complied with a nod, and looked away from Ruko to glance down at his grandpa's Dragonball.
"This'll be great!" Bulma exclaimed, snapping her fingers again. "So we're partners?"
"Alright!" Ruko agreed.
"But we still get to keep our grandpa's ball!" Goku reminded sternly as he looked to Bulma. He didn't want it to be stolen. "We're not just gonna give him to ya!" he warned.
"You kids drive a hard bargain, but have it your way!" Bulma conceded, and the kids smiled. "I'll just borrow it at the very end."
Ruko then went towards the single bed in the hut and began to rummage around as Goku waited with Bulma. The girl let out a small noise of triumph before she returned, a small brown bag in her hands. Draw string bag held open before Goku, he carefully placed the Dragonball inside of it and they discovered that it happened to be the perfect size for the ball- as though it were made for it. With a quick pull of the drawstring, the bag closed shut securely, and Ruko tied it onto her belt.
"Alright! Ready to go!" Bulma suddenly exclaimed as she walked outside of the hut. The kids hadn't seen when she had picked up her two Dragonballs and put them away, but they were no longer on the table top. Goku and Ruko then followed behind Bulma, their pace a bit more lax than her hurried one.
A few moments of silence passed as they all walked away from the small red hut. Then, Ruko tiled her head to one side and eyed the teen in front of her curiously. "How do we know where to start looking?" Ruko asked Bulma.
"How are we gonna find them when we don't know where they are?" Goku added before Bulma could answer. He crossed his arms in front of him in thought as they walked. "The Dragonballs can be anywhere in the whole world right?"
Bulma came to an abrupt stop, and laughed boisterously. The teen put her hands on her hips proudly and she straightened her back as her laugh died down to a small chuckle. Ruko and Goku blinked, then came to a stop behind her.
"Just who do you think your dealing with here, kids?" she asked in a cocksure way, a smirk on her face. She looked over her shoulder at them. "I'm no amateur!"
Bulma put her hand in the bag at her waist again, only to pull up the round device that she had taken out earlier. She pressed a button and then showed the screen to the two of them. "Feast your peepers on this! Check it out, guys!" On the screen were three yellow dots in the very center. Four more yellow dots appeared scattered around the outside of the screen, farther away from the three dots in the middle.
"Huh?" the kids wondered, not sure at what they were looking at.
"It's my Dragon Radar! It's a special radar that tracks the Dragonballs!" Bulma said proudly. "I noticed that the Dragonballs gave off a faint electromagnetic pulse and so... I made this myself! You see these three dots in the middle? That's us!" She pointed to the three yellow dots in the center of the radar. Then Bulma pointed to each of the individual yellow dots that were scattered around the edge of the screen. "These are the other balls. The ones we have to go and find. Looks like the closest one is here: about seven-hundred and fifty miles to the west."
"I... don't get it." Goku said, and gave the device a strange look.
"Is.. is that far?" Ruko asked as she looked up from the radar and to Bulma, almost blankly.
"Let's just say it's out of our walking range..." The teen answered simply, and tapped a finger to her chin in thought. With a sigh she put her radar away and fished for something else in her bag. That small bag seemed to hold everything in it, and Ruko wondered if she could fit a fish in there too, to save for later. "And since you guys destroyed my car, I'll be in need of a new set of wheels."
She pulled out a metal box of some sort, and opened it up. Colorful capsules were inside, all numbered and color coded. "Let's see, what am I in the mood for?" Bulma muttered, until her eyes brightened when she spotted a certain capsule. "Oh, I know!"
Picking out the capsule, Bulma smiled and put a hand in front of the tailed duo to pushed them back a bit. "Stand back, kids, stay there." she warned before a small click was heard. Bulma then tossed the capsule in front of her as though she were to lob a soft ball.
Goku and Ruko watched curiously as the small capsule sailed through the air in front of them. Before it could hit the ground, a loud 'boom' resounded around them and a large purple cloud of smoke exploded from the device. With a surprised yelp, Goku jumped back and he covered his ears. Down on all fours, Ruko let out a frightened growl. Her tail had poofed up as she glared at the object that had appeared. It was very similar to the one that that Bulma had appeared in, only it had two wheels this time.
"Wh- whoa... Bulma!" Goku muttered shakily, and took a step back in fear. Ruko growled towards the machine from Goku's side, and planted herself in front of her friend protectively. His tail was just as poofy as hers. "H- how did ya do that?!"
"We knew it! Ya are some kind o' witch!" Ruko accused, her voice was gravelly since she was growling and this only seemed to show off her canines menacingly. Bulma didn't seem to notice as she calmly went over to the object that had appeared and looked over at the two disbelievingly.
"What? Nonsense!" She dismissed as she mounted the strange object. "Witch craft has nothing to do with it! Everyone in the city has Dinocaps! How can you travel without them?"
The red rod now in Goku's hands, the tailed boy slowly approached the new machine with Ruko at his side. Goku poked at Bulma's machine with his stick, and found that it had just as hard of a shell as the car did. Just as Ruko was about to swipe at the black wheels, Bulma called out to them.
"Hey, stop that! Get over it ape-boys." she exclaimed, and the two kids looked up at her then at one another. "Just swing your tails over here and hop on. The bike wont bite you."
Ruko stood slowly and Goku put the red rod back in its holder strapped to his back. Goku hopped on first, then Ruko sat down behind him as the machine that they were on roared to life. The sudden noise made Ruko grab tightly to the top of Goku's blue gi and Goku held tightly to the seat that they were on top of.
"K, hang on!" Bulma said, and Goku then grabbed Bulma by the waist instead. "Here. We. Go!"
And the motorcycle that they were on, shot off, shocking both new passengers. But then they smiled, amazed as their surroundings became a blur that passed them by.
"Neat-oh!" Goku laughed and smiled big. His hair was whipping about his head crazily.
"It can go faster than we can run!" Ruko shouted over the wind, astounded.
"Yup, yup!" Goku agreed, nodding his head.
"No duh, squirts." Bulma dead-panned, looking back at them over her shoulder. "Get with the program!"
The kids, not really understanding what Bulma was trying to say them, simply laughed. Ruko held up her hands above her head and felt the wind push against her. She could get used to this, she thought, despite the loud noise.
"Wee!" Goku cheered gleefully, waving to a monkey eating an apple in a tree as they passed. Before Ruko knew it, they had already left the mountain range and were now traversing a large grassy plain. She and Goku had never ventured so far away from their home before. As Ruko had outstretched her hands to her sides to feel the wind resisting against them, Bulma suddenly gasped in pain.
"Chill out, Goku! Your squeezing the life out of me!"
"Oops." he responded sheepishly, and loosened his hold. "Sorry!"
"It's okay, I happen to be an expert driver. I've got this under total contro-" Bulma began to say, but ended up yelping the last word in surprise as the bike suddenly shot up in the air.
The two kids yelled out in glee as they flew. Their stomach's flipped about as they became weightless for all of a moment, until gravity kicked in and the bike descended. The front wheel bounced as the bike landed on it heavily, then the entire ride rolled to a stop. Bulma gasped, her eyes wide in fright, and held onto the handles until her knuckled had turned white. Behind the teen, Ruko squealed in delight and Goku laughed happily.
"Wow that was great, Bulma! Let's go back and do it again, I wanna do that with no hands again!" Ruko exclaimed her fluke as though she had planned it all along for when they had gone up in the air.
Goku let out a small gasp, then turned to Bulma with pleading face. "Let's go back and do it again! Bulma? That was so much fun! Common, please! I wanna go with no hands too! Just one more time, please!"
Bulma didn't say anything. Instead she got off her bike and set the stand so that it wouldn't fall. The teen then made an odd noise as she shuffled back from the duo on the bike, an almost nervous look on her face. "S'cuse me for a minute, Goku, Ruko. It's time for a pit stop. You guys watch the bike, I'll be right back..."
"Huh?" Ruko asked, and tilted her head to one side slightly.
"What? We'll just go too!" Goku proposed as he hopped off the bike.
"OH NO YOU WONT!" Bulma yelled, and Ruko's tail suddenly wrapped around her torso again. That was three times today that she had been yelled at for no apparent reason... "DON'T THE WORDS 'PIT STOP' MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU?! Stay. Right. There!"
"Pit stop?" Goku yelled out as Bulma ran behind a large boulder in the distance.
"What does that mean?!" Ruko called out, finishing Goku's thought.
"I need to pee, you lame brains!" Bulma yelled, and the two kids glanced at one another as they stood in front of the bike.
"Huh?" Goku wondered, tilting his head. "I don't get it. Why doesn't she do it right here?"
"Maybe she's shy." Ruko supplied with a shrug, and Goku blinked.
"Maybe..." but Bulma didn't seem like a shy person to him.
Ruko looked to the handle bars of Bulma's bike, then began to scooch forwards on the seat. "How long do you think Bulma will be?" she asked as she tried to reach for the handles but found that she was a tad too short.
Shrugging, Goku hummed his opinion as he looked at Ruko's increasingly mischievous expression. The girl stood on the seat and leaned forwards precariously as she tried to figure out how to get the machine to do what she wanted it to. But then, both kids jumped in surprise when Bulma's raised voice suddenly shouted out to them.
"GOKU! RUKO! COME HERE QUICK!" Bulma suddenly shouted. Her voice echoed in the distance and sounded rather worried. Both children turned towards the noise, their eyes wide in shock.
"Why can't she make up her mind?" Ruko wondered aloud, which made Goku smile in amusement. The girl then glanced at her companion seriously. "You go ahead, Bulma said to watch this this right? I'll make sure it stays." she gestured towards the bike as she hopped down beside Goku. The boy nodded quickly, then ran off towards where Bulma had called from.
"COMING BULMA!" Goku yelled back a moment later, and dashed off towards the rock.
Tense, the girl waited patiently for something to happen. It was rather quiet, other than the silent noise of the bike's engine left on, and Ruko found that she didn't much like to wait for others. Her tail began to lash around behind her impatiently, until the distant yell of 'sucker!' caught her attention. What did that mean? Did someone get hurt? Was it Goku?
Even though she knew that hurting him was very hard to do, that single thought made Ruko narrow her eyes in concern. Then, a large figure took to the sky, and Ruko watched it go in shock. A very distressed-looking Bulma yelled her lungs out in protest as a flying dinosaur held onto her tightly in it's claws. Open mouthed, Ruko stared disbelievingly. How had Bulma let herself get captured by that vulture?
"GET. ME. DOWN! YOU IDIOOOOOOTS!" Bulma yelled out as she spotted Ruko gaping from below, and glared down at her. Ruko looked away and frowned. Did Bulma really need to be calling out names?
"Maybe if we knew how to fl-..." Ruko began, but stopped as her eyes landed on the bike.
At that moment, Goku ran over from behind the rock that he had been called to.
"Ruko!" Goku called as he got onto the bike and began to look at the handle bars curiously. Happy that he was okay, Ruko followed his lead and hopped onto the bike behind Goku. Then she pointed up at the dino bird that held Bulma.
"How did that get her?" Ruko questioned, and Goku sighed as he tried to figure out how to get the bike to roar like Bulma had.
"I think that guy was lying to me. He told me he was Bulma's friend." Goku admitted sadly.
Ruko gasped. "He lied?!"
"Yeah. Now we have to go get her." The boy replied determinedly. And Ruko nodded just as the bike started to move. "Hey, it's moving!" Goku had to stand on the seat just so that he could reach the handle bars.
"Common, whatever you are, I know you can go faster than this! We've got to get moving, Bulma's in trouble!" Ruko encouraged as she gave the bike seat a pat then stood up on the seat behind Goku.
Suddenly the bike shot forwards, surprising both young children. Ruko wrapped her arms around Goku's torso in fright and Goku held onto the handlebars for dear life. Goku's tail had instantly wrapped itself around Ruko's waist as her own tail reached up to grab at a metal bar that was holding the glass dome above their heads. After a few seconds, their surprise died down and they got used to the new speed. The kids heard Bulma yell out their names from above them and spared a glance at one another determinedly.
The bike raced forward at top speed, and Goku pointed out a large hill that was up ahead. "Ya got us, Ruko?!" he shouted over the wind, and the girl nodded her head. Her tail tightened it's hold on the bike and she gripped the boy's gi tightly.
"We're good!" she confirmed, and the bike shot up the steep hill.
Small gasps escaped the children as the bike left the ground, and for a thrilling moment they registered just how high they now flew.
"H'yeah! Fly monster!" Goku yelled out in triumph, and the bike went so high, it was just beside the dino that had Bulma. Ruko climbed out onto the bike's domed windshield and bent herself low against the wind that was determined to push back against her. Bulma had stopped yelling as she reached down to try and grab Ruko's outstretched hand, but the bike had begun it's decent again and Ruko wasn't tall enough.
"No! Don't fall now!" Ruko yelped, then growled. "Guess we have to do this ourselves!"
"Ruko, Goku, help!" Bulma cried out and tried to reach father. Goku joined Ruko on the glass and tried to reach for Bulma too, but he was shorter than Ruko by a few inches and couldn't reach much farther than her.
"Hang on!" Ruko said and used the bike as a platform to jump up towards the dino. She didn't jump far enough though, and couldn't reach Bulma's hands. A second later, Goku had followed her actions. He managed to jump a little higher than Ruko had, but couldn't reach Bulma either.
Just as he started to fall back, Ruko called out to Goku and he looked over at her. She twisted her body so that her feet were facing him, and he seemed to get her idea. Goku twisted in the air so that his feet were planted against hers, and their tails intertwined loosely to help keep each other close.
"One!" Ruko yelled, and they both bent their knees.
"Two!" Goku shouted, and unsheathed the rod off of his back with a smirk.
"Three!" They cried together and pushed off from one another as hard as they could, tails untangled so that they wouldn't be pulled.
The ground rushed up at Ruko ten times faster than it had been before, but this didn't deter her. She easily twirled in the air with the help of her tail and her feet faced the ground. With a look up, Ruko could see that Goku had been launched high above the flying dino- who looked on in shock.
"Power Pole extend!" Commanded Goku and the red rod in his hands extended to great lengths. "Take this ya mean o'll bully!" With a swing of his arms, Goku brought the power pole down on the back of the dino's head. The rod whacked where the dino's neck connected at the base of it's skull, and it's reaction was immediate.
The creatures eye's rolled to the back of it's head, it's body fell limp, and Bulma was released. She screamed out in fight as she began to free fall.
Goku watched with amusement as Bulma flailed her arms about and kicked her legs as though it would help her somehow. Apparently, she had never fallen from such a height before. The Power Pole shrunk back to it's original length, and Goku gave Bulma and Ruko a piece sign as they fell.
Ruko grinned back at him and tucked her knees to her chest. Twirling in the air a few times to slow her fall even more, Ruko landed safely on her feet with her arms out stretched beside her. She looked up to see Goku laugh as he threw the Power Pole like a javelin. It caught Bulma by the back of her shirt and lodged itself- and Bulma- to the side of a nearby cliff.
Goku twirled a few times in the air with his knees against his chest, and landed on his feet just beside Ruko. They grinned at one another happily as they watched Bulma struggle on the cliff side. The dino had fallen past them and landed in the ravine below. The kids frowned, watching as the dino hadn't woken up on time to save itself.
"That's too bad..." Ruko said, and Goku nodded.
"I really don't like to hurt anybody, but he gave me no choice." Goku replied with a shrug.
"No, I meant that it's too far down to fetch. And I don't think Bulma would want to go down with us either." Ruko shook her head sadly. "Could have saved it for later."
"Ruko, that one could talk. Remember what grandpa said about the ones that talk? We can't eat those." Goku reprimanded.
"Mmmn. Oh yeah."
Their names were suddenly called and they both looked up. "Goku! Ruko! Aren't you going to help me...?!" Bulma called out. The two kids sheltered their eyes from the midday sun so that they could see her properly.
"I'm in a bit of a crisis up here...!" Bulma cried, and they could see that she had been so scared that she had let go of her bladder. They smiled, finding it a bit funny that she was so stressed out about the fall. They had survived it just fine, hadn't they?
"Be right there Bulma!" They yelled up cheerily as mischievous smirks grew on their faces.
Remember your Chinese fairy tales? You don't? Not even the impish Monkey King with his magic staff? Oh, well... You'll learn... As Goku, Ruko and Bulma continue their quest, what will befall them next? The race is on, as both good and evil forces plot a crash course... Who will be the first to unlock the mystery of the seven magic Dragonballs?