Another episode I didn't see, so I'm just going off word of mouth, memory of clips, and recap pages. I also removed the filler stuff of the episode. The Bear thief might not be filler as my sister remembered that part, but as a fun note this bear thief is younger so he's smaller. After this chapter they might be more packed. Who knows, we'll see when we get there.
Gine awoke the next morning well rested and ready for what adventure the next day would bring. Her Grandfather was still asleep as was Dr. Briefs. Gine took the initiative to get breakfast for them all. She stepped outside and took in a large inhale of fresh air, stretching her arms and taking in the sunshine. Gine immediately started looking around for good food to eat, enough for a hearty breakfast. During her eyes' search, they landed on a turtle out in the open. Gine considered the turtle for a meal, until she saw how sad he looked. Gine knew things only get that sad when they need something badly or when they are missing something terribly.
"What's wrong Mr. Turtle?" asked Gine crouching down to his level.
"Oh," said the Turtle noticing her. "I'm afraid I'm lost. I'm trying so desperately to get home, but I can't seem to find it; the more I try, the more lost I get."
"Oh, that's so sad," said Gine. "Where do you live? Maybe I can help you?"
"Could you? Can you help me find the ocean?"
"The Ocean?" Gine blinked. Now Gine remembered, this was a sea turtle, as he had flippers instead of legs. The ocean was a giant mass of water that surrounded all land, and where all the water dwelling creatures lived. The turtle must have gone inland for food or something and lost his sense of direction. Of course, she knew she never ran into any ocean when on Mt. Paozu. This called for the power pole. "Hold on just a moment," she told the turtle. Gine ran back inside. The sound of her running awoke her grandfather.
"Good Morning Gine," said Gohan.
"Morning Gramps," said Gine grabbing the power pole and dashing back outside. Gine must have found some food, chuckled Gohan to himself at the thought.
"Power pole…EXTEND!" He heard Gine say from outside. Looking out the window he saw the pole being extended from the ground itself. Okay, maybe Gine was looking for something.
Gine could see it clearly from her perch, a giant mass of water as far as the eye could see, spanning the horizon. It was down the path a ways, past the mountain through the valley and just a short way towards the beach.
"Yes! I found it!"
"Found what?" asked Dr. Briefs awoken by Gine's yelling. "Another Dragon ball? What?"
"Power pole retract," said Gine and came zipping back down. "I've found your home, Mr. Turtle!"
"Hooray!" cried the Turtle.
"Oh so she's helping a turtle, she must have incredible eyesight in order to see it's home from way up high," said Dr. Briefs bemused. He then took another look at that turtle. "By jove, that's a sea turtle! What's a sea turtle doing all the way inland?"
Without another word, Gine picked up the Turtle, and rushed off in the direction of the ocean.
"Let's get you home!" Gine was running so fast she was leaving a trail of dust in her wake.
"Don't tell me she's running all the way to the ocean?!" said Dr. Briefs panicked. "This will put us way off course." Dr. Briefs practically jumped into his jeep and started it up.
"What's going on out here?" asked Gohan.
"Your granddaughter is running all the way to the ocean!"
"Why would she be going there?"
"To get a turtle home! Come in then, we're going to lose her!"
"I guess breakfast will have to wait," Gohan sighed. Next thing you would know, both the older men were racing after Gine in their jeep as Gine dashed towards the ocean.
Somewhere within that valley that Gine would have to make her way through, a young Bear thief was trying to find his breakfast. He was quite new to this area, but he had decided to try a new hunting ground other than the woods. Of course, there weren't too many ungulates as far as he could see. If he was lucky he could get some rabbits maybe, or find a pond and do some fishing. Boy he was hungry.
As luck would have it, his nose picked up the smell of something tasty zooming by. It was going fast; maybe he could spook it into stopping by throwing his sword. He threw it roughly in the direction the fast creature was heading, which caused whatever it was to stop right before it. It turned out the zooming creature was a little girl carrying a turtle.
"Where are you off to, little girl?" said the Bear thief.
"The ocean," said Gine. "He's lost."
"Is he now?"
"Be careful where you throw your sword sir, you could have hit us."
"My apologies, I wasn't aiming for you. I was aiming for the turtle." Gine put the Turtle down and stepped in front of him.
"Why would you hurt an innocent turtle?"
"Isn't it obvious…I'M HUNGRY!"
"He belongs in the ocean, not your stomach. Even if he does seem tasty, I'm sure there's other food around."
"He's the first and I want to eat NOW!" Gine sighed.
"How about this, if you can get past me you can eat him, but if not, you let us go on our way."
"Fine by me," said the Bear thief. He picked up his sword and charged at Gine. Gine retrieved her pole from her back, and used it to block his swing. He changed the direction of his swing and Gine just changed the direction of her pole, blocking each one of his swings. When he let up on his sword, Gine spun the pole around for good measure and then entered a fighting stance.
The bear thief tried to go around Gine, but that did him no good, as Gine just extended the power pole to block his way, pulling it up and down whenever he tried to jump or go under. He then tried to just walk through the pole wondering how strong Gine could even be, but Gine held firm and he couldn't budge her an inch. When he tried to go around the pole, Gine extended it more.
"That pole defies physics," said the thief frustrated.
"It's magic," said Gine.
"Oh, cheating are we," said the Bear thief.
"No, I never said magic couldn't be involved, I just said you need to get past me. So far you haven't, so if you're out of tricks, we'll just be going."
"I still have one more," said the Bear thief, pulling out his sword once again. He then went to throw it past Gine at the Turtle. Gine quickly retracted the power pole, using it as leverage to kick the sword off its course, accidently shattering it as well.
"MY SWORD!" screamed the Bear thief. "You're going to pay for that you little runt!" The bear thief towered over Gine. She bonked him in the nose with the power pole. "OW! My nose!"
"We'll be going now," said Gine, putting the pole on her back, and turning around to pick the turtle back up.
"Why you little-!" the bear thief went to attack her with his claws out. Gine quickly spun around and kicked him in gut, winding him, and making him fall flat on his face.
"Some people don't know when to quit," said Gine annoyed. She then picked up the turtle and continued her dash towards the sea, just as the jeep caught up to her.
"I take it that's Gine's work," said Dr. Briefs, regarding the unconscious bear thief.
"Gine doesn't tend to pick fights; he must have been being a bully," said Gohan.
When Gine and the turtle finally arrived at the beach, Gine took a deep breath and put the turtle down on the sand.
"We made it," said Gine.
"Oh thank you so much!" said the turtle. "I'm finally home again! As a reward for getting me back home safely, I'd like for you to meet my master."
"Your master?"
"Yes, he'll be grateful you helped me get back to him, he'll greatly reward you."
"Oh I don't need a reward," said Gine with her hands up. "I just wanted to help you. I would want someone to help me if I was lost."
"Oh I insist! He'll want to meet you and thank you in person, just wait for me to return."
"Okay," said Gine. She was too polite to turn down a request like that. The turtle made his way into the surf and swam off. Gine sat on a rock for a little bit, then she climbed a tree, and then tried playing with sand and water like she read in some books. After a little bit, the jeep finally arrived.
"Gine!" cried Dr. Briefs. "You can't just run off like that first thing in the morning, without a warning even. You could have at least told us where you were going."
"You knew where I was going though; you were able to find me."
"You should be lucky I knew where sea turtles lived and that there happened to be an ocean nearby. What if it was your grandfather who saw you run off, or what if neither of us were awake?"
"That's why I ran," said Gine. "I wanted to be quick so I could come back and we could return to our journey."
"Yet you're playing on the beach?"
"The turtle asked me to wait for him; he's going to have me meet his master so he could thank me personally."
"For your information," said Gohan. "I wouldn't have been too worried if Gine ran off. She has the power pole to help her find her way back, and as you saw she can handle almost any threat."
"Don't worry Dr. Briefs; I would have remembered to come back to our journey. I'm the one who suggested it in the first place."
"Well how am I supposed to remember that?" said Dr. Briefs. "I've only known you people for a couple days. Is the turtle going to take long?"
"Don't worry about that either," said Gine. "I read sea turtles are faster swimmers than they are walkers. He should be here in no time at all." Gine looked out onto the water. "In fact, here he is now."
Out in the distance was a speck on the horizon, and as it got closer, it looked more like an old man riding on a turtle's shell. As the two were coming closer, Dr. Briefs heard a blip on his radar. He checked the screen, and it said that there was a dragon ball coming towards them.
"There's a dragon ball heading our way. This means that the turtle's master has a dragon ball. Oh Gine, you've done it, you've found us a dragon ball!"
"Ahem," said Gohan. "I think you owe Gine an apology for going off on her earlier."
"No Grampa, he's right. I shouldn't have run off like that, I should have at least told you where I was going first."
"Well I'm sorry for getting all bent out of shape," said Dr. Briefs. "It just surprised me is all. Of course maybe if we listen to your gut instincts more often, we might find the rest of the dragon balls in no time at all."
Gohan took a closer look at who was coming towards them.
"I recognize that man," said Gohan. "I do…it's my old master, Master Roshi! I should have known, seeing as he's called the turtle hermit, master of the Turtle school!"
"You know him Gohan, that's great!" said Dr. Briefs. "Getting the ball from him should be easy if you ask nicely."
"This is your master," said Gine excitedly, "the one who taught you martial arts? I finally get to meet him?!"
"Yes Gine, it seems you will," said Gohan.
"Yay!" cried Gine jumping in the air. She then began to run around with excitement.
The turtle then finally approached the shore and getting off his back was an old man with a bad head, wearing sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt, holding a staff and wearing a turtle shell on his back. Sure enough, he was also wearing a three stared Dragon ball around his neck.
"It's a pleasure to see you again master," said Gohan, bowing to the old man.
"Gohan! Is that you?" said Roshi with surprise seeing his old pupil on the beach. "How many years has it been?"
"Only a couple, master," said Gohan. "I ran into you in town that one time."
"Oh right," said Roshi. "Are you the one who helped my turtle return to me?"
"Oh no master," said the turtle. "It was the young girl over there."
"Young girl," said Roshi with his interest piqued. His eyes scanned the beach and found Gine suddenly stopping in front of the group.
"It's a pleasure to meet you sir," said Gine, with a bow. "My gramps has told me all about you, and how strong, skilled and wise you are. He says you taught him martial arts, and he taught me everything he knows."
"I didn't teach her everything, master," said Gohan. "Just the basics; Gine is not much of a fighter. I just taught her what she should know to defend herself."
"I see, so this is the granddaughter you told me about."
"Yes master, it is."
"She is a bit weird with that tail," said Roshi. Gine grabbed her tail and held it close to her.
"We're all a bit weird master," said Gohan. "I mean you have your thing with the lady magazines, and the lady watching." Roshi turned red.
"Gohan you hypocrite, I know when you were younger you were quite the lady chaser yourself, don't tell me pretty ladies don't make you turn your head these days!" Gohan's face turned red.
"At least I respect their privacy and treat them well master."
"Why would you want to watch ladies?" asked Gine. Both men's faces turned red. "Are you hoping any lady would be your girlfriend? Still, I don't see how watching them would be fun."
"You're young, you don't get it," said Roshi trying to dodge the questions. He then composed himself. "You do seem to be a nice girl though; it seems Gohan has raised you well."
"I did try my best, master," said Gohan also composed.
"You must realize young Gine, that my turtle was lost for quite some time. You have done us both a great service."
"It was nothing," said Gine. "Happy to help."
"I wish to give you a reward."
"No need," said Gine. Meeting you was enough."
"What is the worth of a meeting if we might meet again? No, I'm going to give you something more substantial than a meeting. I will give you…a magic carpet!" Gine was in awe from what she just heard, but after a few moments of nothing happening, turtle broke the silence.
"Master, the magic carpet is at the cleaners."
"Oh," said Roshi, realizing the mistake.
"It's okay I don't need a gift."
"Quite a humble girl, aren't you? That's it, I've got it! I will give something better than a carpet as you have returned my turtle to me! NIMBUS!"
Over the horizon, a yellow nimbus cloud came rushing towards them. It stopped short at the beach, right in front of the group.
"Woah" said Gine.
"This is a magical nimbus cloud, it can be ridden around anywhere you choose, but only if you have a pure and good heart. Like so," said Roshi as he went to jump on the Nimbus. Of course, Master Roshi found himself falling through the cloud.
"Master, don't tell me Gohan was right, have you been lady watching?"
"What's so bad about lady watching?" asked Gine.
"Ladies don't often like being watched," said Gohan.
"Oh, I guess that makes sense. That doesn't explain why anyone would want to though." Master Roshi turned red in the face again.
"Can't an old man have his luxuries before he passes on?"
"Master you were old when I was a boy," said Gohan.
"Yeah master," said the turtle. "Didn't you take a drink from the eternal fountain? You're not going anywhere anytime soon."
"Way to ruin my fun," said the old man. He turned to Gine and the nimbus cloud. "Well, if you can ride it, it's yours." Gine then climbed up onto the cloud without falling through it.
"Hey I did it," said Gine.
"As I thought," said Roshi. "Nimbus, you now belong to this girl; do as she commands."
"Don't worry," said Gine to the cloud, "We're going to be good friends. Let's go for a ride."
Gine and the nimbus then took off over the waves, Gine having a blast with the power of flight.
"I guess Gine doesn't mean harm when she does things," said Dr. Briefs. "Well before you go sir, since you are such good friends with Gohan, I was wondering if you could give us your dragon ball."
"Is that what this thing is called," said Roshi, regarding the orb around his neck. "I just thought it looked nice."
"So, in regards to my question…"
"I already gave you a gift, it was the Nimbus."
"You see sir, I'm gathering the dragon balls for research purposes. I want to see if the legends about them are true, but to do that I need to gather all seven."
"Also master," said Gohan pulling him to the side and whispering in his ear, "there's an affliction Gine has that I'm trying to treat, and it can't be helped with modern medicine. If the legends are true about the orbs, they may be able to help."
"Gine looks healthy," said Roshi.
"It's more of a lifelong ailment," said Gohan.
"Alright you convinced me," said Roshi.
"Thank you sir," said Briefs.
"Halfway," said Roshi. "You gave me something and I gave you something, so if you want something else, you'll have to give me something else."
"What would you like; I have almost everything at my disposal."
"I would like to see some pretty ladies' underwear." This made Dr. Briefs fall flat on his back.
"Seriously, I don't carry that on me."
"What about those magazines I saw in your glove box?" said Gohan. This made Briefs turn red in the face. He rushed back to the jeep, pulled something out of his glovebox, came back and sheepishly handed it to Master Roshi. When Master Roshi flipped open the gossamer he saw his ladies in scanty clothing causing his nose to bleed and his mouth to drool.
"You got yourself a deal," said Roshi taking off the dragon ball and handing it to Dr. Briefs.
"Please don't speak of this again," said Dr. Briefs.
"Sure thing," said Gohan with a chuckle. "Gine, we're leaving!"
The three of them then made their way back towards the capsule house.
"Whelp," said Dr. Briefs. "We did spend a good portion of the day driving to and from the beach. However, we did get a dragon ball from the trip so that's a win in my book. Of course, if we want to make headway on this journey, we should probably get going. We might be able to get some traction before the end of the day."
With that, Dr. Briefs hit a button on the house and it turned back into a capsule in a puff of smoke.
"I still think it's magic," said Gine. Dr. Briefs regarded Gine's nimbus cloud.
"If I pack up my jeep into a capsule as well, we could all just ride the nimbus on the journey, and that way we could cover a lot more ground faster."
"Master Roshi said that only pure and good hearted people could ride the nimbus," said Gine.
"Are you implying I'm not?" said Briefs. Gine raised her hands in self-defense.
"Just reminding you," said Gine.
"I'll remind you I'm gathering the dragon balls for research purposes, not anything nefarious, and my capsules have helped thousands in the world." Dr. Briefs went to climb on top of the Nimbus, and he fell right through.
"It seems the magazines did you in," said Gohan.
"Well how about you try," said Briefs.
"Well unlike you I don't look at such magazines. I respect women, give them their privacy, I'm a gentleman." He went to climb on top of the nimbus and fell flat on his face.
"Is that why you never got married?" asked Dr. Briefs sarcastically.
"Grampa, have you been bad?" asked Gine.
"I guess fantasizing is enough," said Gohan.
"What fantasies?" asked Gine.
"Nothing important," said Gohan hastily. "Gine can just ride the nimbus; she's been impatient in the jeep anyway."
"If that's settled," said Briefs. "Let's get on the road…or cloud."
As the jeep started off, Gine took off on her cloud. Her nimbus cloud could travel quite fast, so much so she had to fly around some mountains just to wait for the older men to catch up.
"I bet you regret reading those magazines, eh Brief?"
"So what if Gine is more pure hearted than us, it's the benefit of being so young and unversed."
Some fun quirks: Goku's thing is he could not tell the difference between guys and girls unless he checked their privates. Gine does not understand the birds and the bees and lust.
I debated whether Master Roshi would give them the ball because Gohan was there or not, seeing as he did not realize that Goku was his grandson until later in the original. I decided to make it transactional, besides Roshi can't ride the nimbus, I can make him shady.
Dr. Briefs I gave the magazines for just that purpose, as well as not being able to ride the nimbus. I wanted that to be a Gine only thing.
Of course, in Dragonball all of Goku's family can ride the Nimbus. I debated whether Gohan could, yes he's a kind old man and great grandfather, but he's also a chivalrous pervert according to tropes. It seems according to Toriyama, anyone who is a pervert can't ride the nimbus. I flipped a coin to decide it, and it told me he wouldn't. It also makes Gine special to be the only one who can ride it for a while.
Next Chapter: they run into Ooolong. In the Journey to the west and Dragon ball it was the monkey man pretending to be the bride. This time it won't be a monkey man, but it will still be an impostor. How will the story change? How will it stay the same? You'll have to stay tuned!