"Really now, that kid was goofy." Bulma sighed as she leaned on a chair. Sitting across from her was an old man with a big bushy moustache, large eyebrows and a single patch of hair on his bald head that stuck up like a leaf or root. He was intrigued by what Bulma said.
"Really now?" Dr. Omori mulled over what Bulma said. "He claims to either see the future or be from a completely alternate Earth, were, evidently, by your reasoning, our universe is at least in some parts available to view."
"I want to say it's completely ridiculous, but I did read about similar phenomena in university."
"Oh? Yes, I heard about that from Tights." Dr. Omori smiled, "congratulations on your graduation, Jaco would probably love to recruit you."
Bulma shook her head, looking cross. "Even though I graduated college, they told me I still needed by highschool diploma, isn't that ridiculous?!"
"Huh?!"
Bulma looked mad, "I took the GED in middle school, then I passed and went to university." She sighed, "but they went and lost my GED records, so I have take at least one year of highschool."
"That must be tough." The Doctor leaned his head to the side, thoughts filled with the weird complication of such a situation. He turned to see a man walk over. "Oh? Katayude, thank you!" Katayude, dressed in a stylish yakuta, came out bearing tea and juice, which Bulma and Omori gladly helped themselves to.
"Oh, but I'm not too upset." Bulma smiled, "I was searching my dad's basement when I found something special." She reached into her pack.
"You already mentioned the dragon balls." Omori said wryly, "do you really believe they can grant any wish?"
"Shoot, I did, man, that Jasper kid really threw me off then." Bulma sighed, "well, I don't know if they can, but they aren't made of any material on earth, and the energy they emit is even weirder." She chuckled, "so it's worth a try, and even then, traveling around the world during summer vacation seems fun."
Omori frowned, "isn't school still in session?"
Bulma laughed, "it's Saturday, if anything it would have just been a half day, and the teacher said as long as I don't correct them in front of class again, I can take a Saturday off."
A sweat dripped down Omori's head at her bold declaration.
"Besides." Bulma continued, "I'm planning to leave for the journey fully during August, in the middle of vacation, I already collected the hardest Dragon Ball from East City, so I'll take my time. I'll probably go to Mount Paozu next."
"Will you take Jasper with you?" Omori asked.
"Well…" Bulma smirked, "I don't know if he's telling the truth or not, so I should be able to find his family registry in West City."
"Didn't you check East City?" Omori asked, "that's where he called out to you, right?"
"The people who found him say they just found him unconscious on the side of the road, there's no way he's just from East City, besides, I called my dad to ask around, apparently there's no one with his first name in the city."
"...Wait, really?" Dr. Omori asked, confused.
"I know, I was confused too, I understand not having the full name, but no one in the city born in the last 20 years was given the name Jasper as a first, or family name." She chuckled, "it's like he came out of nowhere, not that I fully believe him yet, but you never know." After a few more moments, she took out a phone, "anyways, I better call him!" She cackled, "you should have seen that ridiculous brick he carried around and called a phone…"
...
"Really now, you got into a fight on your first day into the city? I know you have memory issues, but you really should stay out of trouble. And monks from the Orin Temple?" Sunny sighed in annoyance. "Seriously, you should have just called me for help."
The police had been notified by the onlooking crowd the second a monk started chasing Jazz.
Jazz stifled a yawn as he looked down, attempting to remain remorseful looking. To the left of him, PaoPao was furiously digging in to some bread and chicken wings. In front of him, Sunny and a few other officers were looking at the children sternly.
"I'm sorry, I would have called earlier, but they just attacked so quickly." Jazz said. "If not for PaoPao, I'd have probably been hurt."
Sunny sighed, "look, you two are children, and, there were ten of them, on account of, if your testimonies are correct, they were the agressors and one of them pepper sprayed the girl, then yes, I can let you go with a warning."
He opened the door for them. "You're free to go. I don't know why you're still in the city though."
"I met up with an old friend, she says she knows me." Jazz said, recalling his conversation with Bulma. "I'm staying in a hotel as she heads to Omori Island to visit an old friend.
"Oh? Omori Island?" The officer chuckles, "ten years ago there was some crazy stuff going on there, anyways, as long as you have somewhere to go, you're free to leave."
Jasper walked out, but after a few seconds, turned to look at PaoPao, who seemed to be at a loss. "PaoPao?" He called out. She looked up at him, a little hopeful. "Aren't you coming?"
PaoPao looked a little pensive, but after a few moments, seemed to make up her mind, and followed behind Jazz. The officer escorted them out of the office, and from there, Jazz was able to trace his steps to the outskirts of the city, then back to the hotel. Before they entered the hotel however, Jazz spent some money purchasing pajamas and casual wear for the two of them, despite his prodding PaoPao did not try on or look at the clothing he got her, so he had to guess the size based on his general understanding of her appearance. As he passed through the ladies section with her his eyes wandered to the underwear section, but he quickly turned away. If PaoPao didn't want to tell him anything about what she wore, she'd probably kill him for even thinking about underwear. Eventually, they made their way to the hotel. Ignoring the flabbergasted look of the hotel clerk, Jazz took out his key and led PaoPao to the hotel room he rented for the night.
It was cool and dark, with the window showing the clear city evening and sunset, cars zoomed across the roads below, and people slowly began clearing out the city.
"It looks like there isn't a very strong nightlife…" Jasper whispered to himself. After a few awkward seconds he turned to see PaoPao just looking around the room uncomfortably.
"You can use the shower, they have at least three towels and some soap, save one towel for me please, or toss it out here before you shower, I'll go in after you're done." He tossed a bag towards her. "I don't know your favorite color, so I got you the pink one, it should fit, and there's a band in the middle you can manipulate to make it fit." He demonstrated with his own pair of pajamas, a sea-green colored one.
She nodded slowly, picking up the bag and heading into the bathroom. "Thank you," she said quietly. She only closed the door once she saw Pao Pao close the door.
Half an hour later, Jazz's phone began to ring, not his cellphone, but rather, the oversized brick Sunny gave him. Picking up the phone he answered quickly.
"Hello?"
~"Hey, it's Bulma."-
"Oh?" Jazz responded excitedly, "how are you?"
~"I'm good, anyways, I'm going to have to stay the night on this island, I'll see you tommorrow morning, what's the name of the hotel you're in?"-
Jasper answered back 'The Golden Inn'.
~"Eww yuck, that place is cheap, but super not chique, why'd you book such a crummy place?"-
Jazz laughed, "It was only a few hundred Zeni. I didn't want to use it all in case you got delayed, I don't really have anywhere to lean on."
~"Well, alright."- Bulma was silent for a few moments. ~"Anyways… as I'm sure you know, I've got questions, and I don't fully believe you, but if tomorrow you pass my test, I'll help you out for a bit, for a price however."-
"Yeah! Of course, sure! Thanks Bulma!"
~"Don't get too excited."- Bulma tutted, ~"I'm not doing this to be nice."-
"Yeah, yeah, I know." After saying bye to Bulma, Jazz remained standing as he looked out Eastern City. The only time he really remembered the skyline was during the early pars of Dragon Ball Z, during the Sayain Saga where Nappa blew up the city upon arrival. It would be bad when it happened, but he especially felt bad about the chance of someone like Sunny dying, he seemed like a nice guy, so did the Doberman-faced cop.
The crack of the shower room door opening took him out of his thoughts, he turned to see PaoPao, in a pink pajama and with her hair down coming out of the bathroom. In her hand what looked like a strong wire brush weaved through her long straight black hair. She was looking at the ground with half-lidded eyes before she looked up to see Jasper staring at her. "Is something on-"
"No, nothing's on your face PaoPao." Jazz said quickly, "I just wanna take a shower quickly."
PaoPao watched as he quickly walked past her into the bathroom, and caught his reddened cheeks as he made his way past her. A faint smile formed on her lips upon that realization.
After showering, Jasper spent maybe 5 minutes on his hair, face, and teeth. 'Just calm down idiot. Dragon Ball is a gag manga, right? There's no way anything vaguely...' He couldn't complete the thought, but at the same time, he couldn't help it, right? It was the first time he'd ever been in the same bedroom as a girl, it had been okay when PaoPao had been covered in grease and smelling of sweat, but when she came out of the bathroom in those pink pajamas, she had just been a girl. Jasper was by all intents and purposes a healthy almost-15-year-old, so the 14 year old PaoPao made him a little uncomfortable, but not in the worst way. After leaving the bathroom, he did a double take as he spied PaoPao just sitting on the bed, leaned back. Her pose was almost inviting as she turned and smiled at him.
"PaoPao was thinking." She began slowly.
Jazz audibly gulped, "y-yeah?".
"You're really weak."
"Oh." Jazz sighed in relief, then frowned, was being called weak by a girl younger than him something to be relieved about?
"Anyways, you are weak, it was by luck that you helped PaoPao, if the monks were healthy, or they hadn't been distracted by PaoPao, you might have died."
"Yeah, I know." Jazz plopped down, "but what can I do? It's not like I can get strong super quick."
PaoPao was silent, "have you never trained?"
"I play sports, baseball, soccer, crew."
"Crew?"
"Erm, rowing, I work with at least 6 other people and we row boats, in a race."
PaoPao twisted her face, "sounds stupid and expensive."
"It is a little expensive, and kinda stupid." Jazz laughed, "but my mom wanted me to learn it, it… it was the sport my dad used to do."
PaoPao's face fell, "oh, PaoPao insulted you, she is sorry."
"No, it's alright." Jazz shrugged.
After a few moments of silence, PaoPao spoke up. "What if PaoPao trains Jazz?"
Jazz looked up at her, 'I do have 7 months before September.' "Would, would I be able to train?" He asked suddenly, "I don't know if I'd be able to use ki."
"You know of ki?" PaoPao asked, surprised.
"I mean, yes, I do, but I probably can't use it."
"Give PaoPao a moment." PaoPao stood up and sauntered over to Jazz.
"Umm, P-" before Jazz could ask, PaoPao hugged him. He felt blood rush to his face and his heart beating like a jackhammer. He tried to breath as lightly as possible, but smelled the scent of lavender and jasmine on her neck. His face flushed even deeper. "Ummm, PaoPao?!" He croaked.
…
PaoPao was confused, 'his ki feels so weird?!'. She sent her ki into Jasper to measure his ki and see the best way to approach training him, a trick she picked up from her sister. But the boy before her had such an odd ki. Ki normally had a specific signature, different for each and every individual, family members would have similar ki, but there would always be a distinct difference, and powerful people's ki would radiate their personality and ideals. Most humans who never trained had tiny amounts of ki, and sick people had lower than average ki, but for some reason, Jasper's ki was tiny and flickering, like the death rattle of a dying man. She felt his heart beat, measured his breathing, and even breathed in his scent, but nothing indicated he was dying, when she pulled back her ki, his meridians, veins, and arteries allowed blood to flow normally, and none of his organs were in a terrible state.
"Hmm…" PaoPao was confused, it was as if the boy spent his life in a world where ki wasn't available to use.
"PaoPao…" The boy squeaked out, she looked up at him, seeing his face was beet red. Realizing the situation, she let go of him and put a hand to her chin.
"Umm… PaoPao thinks she can help you." She began, "Your body seems bad at trying to learn ki, she can give you ki, and if your body accepts it, you should be able to train."
"Really?!" the boy asked with enough excitement to make her turn away, embarrassed.
"PaoPao's not certain, but it is worth a shot."
Jazz couldn't believe his luck, he hadn't known what would happen if he were to train, but he knew the type of training the z fighters did was impossible for most normal people. While Gohan taught Videl how to sense ki, she was already a talented fighter, and, like Tien, Yamcha, Chaotzu, and Krillin, had ample fighting and training experience from their youth. Face still flushed he excitedly asked. "So, what should I do?"
"PaoPao needs you to remove your shirt, she needs to inject ki as directly as possible."
Without hesitation he shed his pajama shirt and turned around. He eventually felt two small but very calloused warm hands on each shoulder blade.
"Now," PaoPao began, "this will be somewhat painful, but as long as you remain awake, it should be alright."
Jazz nodded, or at least, he tried to nod when an electrifying force held him in place. An explosion of pain filled every fiber of his being as his instincts and desire to move fought against the sudden paralysis he found himself in. He began to breath in and out rapidly, but even that brought new waves of agony throughout his body. It felt as if he was on fire, but he could also feel something stirring in his gut. If he could put it into words, it would be as if someone inflated a balloon, but filled it with kerosene. As the balloon filled up, someone set fire to the kerosine, and the balloon had to somehow keep it all in without melting or bursting immediately. Jazz began to feel extremely sleepy, but he fought against it with all his might. Remembering PaoPao's warning, Jazz, with an almost superhuman level of will, bit the inside of his cheek, the physical pain giving him the extra jolt to remain awake. After what felt like an eternity, Jazz felt the energy that had been overflowing within him dissipate, and he fell to the floor like a puppe with cut strings. Sweat dripped off his body as he shakily looked around. Everything felt, clearer, he could make out the pockmarks on the drywall that surrounded the hotel room even though it was past sunset, he could hear PaoPao's breathing, a surprising orderly, fully stable set, and he could even hear the tenant in the room next door meditating, the quiet 'oommms' somehow touching his ears. He slowly stood up, examined his hands, then clenched his fists. He turned to PaoPao, face flushed with excitement, and said, "holy crap, I feel amazing!"
...
Jasper(Jazz) Duncan
Age: 14 (and 8 months), physical appearance, 14
Hair color: Brown
Skin color: white
Race: Quarter Caucasian(White American of English-Irish decent), Quarter Aisian (Korean), Quarter Black(African-American), Quarter Hispanic (Cuban)
Height: 5ft 6inches | 167 centimeters
Weight: 140 lbs | 63.5 kilograms
Skills: Average Sports Talent for Age, Semi-Above Average Intellect for age, below novice/horrendously low ki control, basic understanding of ki
Powerlevel: 6
...
Afterword:
A shorter chapter, but a relatively substantial one I feel. For any who don't know, Omori, Katayude, and Tights are all character who appear in the gag manga Jaco the Galactic Patrolman. If you watch Dragon Ball Super you should know that Jaco is a space alien, who had originally been tasked with finding and destroying Goku's saiyan pod, with child Goku inside of it. Tights is Bulma's older sister (weird how Bulma didn't mention it for literally 30 years.) At the end of that series, Omori monologues that Bulma visits him to catch up and to tell him about the dragon balls, then after he wishes her luck, she leaves for the journey. In that manga, it says Bulma graduated from university, but in original DragonBall, she says she's in highschool the entire time, and actually returns to highschool in the story. So, I made this half-baked excuse for her, which I also used to justify her coming to visit earlier, as she wouldn't have much free time after this particular weekend. Also, Jazz has gained a huge boost in power, 200%! Of course, the 200% doesn't matter as much as the original amount, which was a measly 3, but now, it means that he's stronger than the average human adult. This should be somewhat helpful when it's finally time for the journey, not to mention that it should give him the opportunity to train a bit under PaoPao's tutelage. Oh, but also, not everything about this situation is good, just as he's gained great power, his life has been made more difficult in more ways than one, but we'll see his journey progress soon.