"Huh!? N-No way!" Bulma's face widened in a stretched-out grimace. "Wow, things really got out of hand there, huh? Alright, I'll call Muten Roshi and start collecting the Dragon Balls then. Poor Chiaotzu… Tenshinhan will be crushed. Wait, that's right, there are still the Namekian Dragon Balls, right? I'm sure that the Namekians had selected a new elder and have a new set. Even if they haven't, I'm sure they will soon. Of course, I think of everything, I'm a genius after all! Alright, be seeing you, Goku."
Bulma weighed back and spun around in her chair, processing the vague and rather disjointed retelling of everything that had happened on Planet Vegeta. They haven't heard from anyone there in a while though Planet Vegeta was a fair chunk of the universe away from Earth, pretty much on a whole other side of the quadrant. Frankly, it seemed like the whole thing was rather quick to resolve once everyone hit Planet Vegeta. Taking the journey time into calculation, it wasn't much longer than a couple of days.
Lighting up a smoke, Bulma wobbled out from her laboratory before smacking her forehead and stumbling back, shifting her body weight to fall over the communications table. After turning a few knobs and flipping a few triggers, the scientist picked up the communicator that would have reached spacecraft on the other side of the universe only to reach an old man on the other side of the planet–something for which a common telephone would have sufficed.
"Muten Roshi, hello, hello!" a lively voice of an old-timer rung on the other end.
"Muten Roshi, this is Bulma." Bulma said.
"Oh, Bulma-chan, how are you doing? It's been a little while," Muten Roshi proclaimed with vigor and cheer in his voice.
"Had a few sleepless nights ever since Dr. Puri left Capsule Corp to pursue her own ventures and start her own company. I didn't really consider just how useful that woman was and how much she contributed, honestly…" Bulma sighed, flopping down in her chair and turning around a few times before realizing she was tangling the communicator wire around her chair which prompted the woman to tap the table with her boot and untangle herself by spinning in another direction.
"I see, I see… It is a pity, I haven't seen Puri-chan in a while. She was always a sight for sore eyes, though I suppose time feels like it's racing with you when you're young. It might have been about time for your assistant to branch out to her own work. Still, it's just like you to produce a prodigy of your own image, Bulma-chan, a company owner and a genius inventor in her mid-twenties with a background with Capsule Corps, Puri-chan will be like on top of the world."
"What are you talking about? Dr. Puri was pushing mid forty…" Bulma squinted into the phone as if she could almost see the pervy old man on the other end. "Anyway, I didn't quite call you just to catch up, Muten Roshi. Goku reached out finally."
"Goku? I wouldn't have taken him for the communicative kind. He should have let Piccolo or Tenshinhan do the talking. Have they found Gine yet?" Muten Roshi wondered.
"That's the thing… They've run into a horrible monster on Planet Vegeta and… You know how they are, just couldn't help themselves. Most of them got themselves killed. We'll need to gather the Dragon Balls and bring everyone back." Bulma groaned, stroking her temples and popping out veins around them.
"Is that so? What a horrible tragedy… Did Goku tell who died exactly? I take it that Goku made it out…" Muten Roshi muttered. Usually, news such as these would have been met with a far direr tone, but death has become such an inevitable part of their lives that getting killed began feeling like an extended hospital visit, almost.
"Bardock, Piccolo, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chiaotzu… I think Goku also wanted to make sure we resurrect Vegeta, for whatever reason. Oh… And… Gine, Goku's mother ended up dying too." Bulma recounted with some brief pauses between each name, just letting the weight of the losses sink in.
"So horrible! I suppose it's great that we've rectified Piccolo's life link with the Dragon Balls by switching it out to Dende. Poor Chiaotzu… And Gine too… It all just feels so fruitless now. Wait… Isn't Vegeta one of the Saiyans that attacked Earth? Just what on Earth happened on Planet Vegeta?" Muten Roshi babbled on his side of the line.
"Maybe someone will explain everything in great detail. Anyway, I've spoken to Goku about it. We can try reaching out to the Namekians to help us bring Chiaotzu back. I'm not sure why or how, but I guess Vegeta ended up helping us out in the end. I'm curious about the details. They'll let us know, I'm sure of it. Ugh… We have two wishes, right? Man… Formulating them just right will be a pain. Obviously, we'll need to ask for everyone back. I guess the second wish can be to bring them all back to Earth? I don't know, my head's pounding, we'll have to think about that when we get to it."
"Understood, Bulma-chan. I'll get the jet ready and get who I can together. We'll get those Dragon Balls together in no time. Maybe we should fly up and ask Kami to pitch in? Though, I suppose, it's not like those that died did so protecting the Earth so Mr. Popo might not lend us his hand this time…" Muten Roshi pondered on his own fair share of problems.
"Collecting the Dragon Balls can be perilous. Maybe you should ask Chi-Chi for help? I don't know who else we can rely on. Everyone left for Planet Vegeta… Now that I think about it–we've let the Earth become so open after everyone left. Sure, Chi-Chi might have been enough for any demon trying their luck but… Who knows?" Bulma shrugged and shook her head.
"Oh, don't worry, Goku and the others have touched plenty of people's lives. I'm sure I'll be able to find a few who would like nothing more than to repay the favor!" Muten Roshi stretched his old bones. "You just take a nap for once and rest easy. We'll be at the Capsule Corp backyard with the Dragon Balls in no time."
"Let's just hope so… I'm sure that you guys can handle a dinosaur or two and a few natural disasters…" Bulma yawned and stretched out on her end of the line too. Feeling chilly in just a weathered tank top and underwear, the sleepless genius inventor slipped a lab coat on before saying her farewells, hanging up and slipping off her lab and to a warm bed which she needed so desperately.
A colossal dinosaur with a bony, horned head let out a thunderous roar and charged onward. Its flapping tail crumbled mountains while its stomping feet crushed minor boulders into showers of mere pebbles. With a grumble of preparation and determination, a plump yet stout chubby took a drawing stance and charged onward. The swordsman drew his blade in a split-instant, just as his incredible swiftness divided seconds, the plumpy split the dinosaur's skull open.
The roaring, stamping titan flopped down with whited-out eyes and slipped tongue, causing a grand earthquake in its fall. The calamitous descent threw Yajirobe off-balance a tad, causing him to cut his thumb by accident while sheathing his sword. Luckily, the settling rumble drowned out the obnoxious cursing and language that tainted the mouth, which would soon consume the dinosaur's flesh.
"Foul-mouth," an accusatory tone prompted Yajirobe to freeze and turn around, meeting a black-skinned djinn on a magical carpet standing behind him. "And to think someone like you passed Kami's training… We were truly desperate."
"Shut yer trap! Ya magical, rug-riding bastard!" Yajirobe shook his considerable-sized fist over his head. "I know ye've got more mouths ta feed, but this is my kill, and ye ain't gettin' it!"
"Dende is no problem to teach and take care of at all, unlike some people. He serves as a fine Kami's aide and he might become an even greater Kami when Kami's human age catches up to him. You, on the other hand…" Mr. Popo pointed an accusatory finger.
"If ye hate me dis much, what are ye doin' 'ere?" Yajirobe crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out, making mean faces at Mr. Popo even though the djinn continued to no-sell them.
"Mr. Popo came to tell you that Kami needs your help. You need to help find the seven Dragon Balls and help bring back those that died on Planet Vegeta. Goku and the rest need your help." Mr. Popo spilled it like spilling beans.
"Heh, I'm way ahead of ya!" Yajirobe pulled the upper part of his yukata down to flash a Dragon Ball hanging around his neck. "I've started collectin' them a long time ago, hoping to get my massive feast that they promised me fer all my troubles!"
"All… Your troubles?" Mr. Popo scratched his head, confused.
"That's right, ya pudgy marshmallow! It's because a all 'a yer business that my prairie got burnt down ta a crisp and I got stuck up dat damn tower fer years! Den I had ta fight literal demons an' aliens from outer space just ta earn my right ta get back down an' start putting my life back together! I'm sick 'a yer magical bullshit already so just leave me alone!" Yajirobe shook his fist over his head, grinding his teeth together.
"Very well." Mr. Popo turned around with his arms crossed behind his back. "You can tell Chi-Chi when she comes here looking for the Dragon Balls to collect them all and resurrect her mother-in-law that you won't give her what she wants. You can do so at your own peril."
"W-Wait just a damn second dere, buddy…!" Yajirobe stumbled forward, all flustered.
"I thought you were sick of "our magical bullshit" already…" Mr. Popo glanced back with a subtle mark of a grin on his face.
"I mean… Chi-Chi's Goku's wife, right? She can make me all da grub I want if I help her out. She's gotta be good at that sort 'a stuff if she keeps dat voracious mug well-fed…" Yajirobe scratched his mushy and soft chin, contemplating on something for a second. "If I get what I want, it don't matter if it's a Divine Dragon that gives it ta me or not…"
"You better find Chi-Chi then. You've been seeking the Dragon Balls for a while now and you've only found one. That's pathetic." Mr. Popo turned around and lifted a few more paces off the ground, preparing to take off in an instant.
"Ey, do ya even know how tough it is ta find and collect dose things without a do-hickey that tells ya where dey are!?" Yajirobe shook his fist, grumbling, and cursing at the flying djinn over his head.
"If only you were as disciplined as your adamant excuses…" Mr. Popo remarked before taking off in a single blast of wind. Yajirobe turned around and crossed his arms, mumbling, and grumbling under his nose for a little while longer before slicing the fallen dinosaur into ribbons with one combination of slashes and gathering all of them into his robe, and flipping the oversized mound of meat over his shoulder.
A jet redirected its engines to point downward as if ceased its acceleration and hovered over a peaceful little corner of nature by the river near Mt. Paozu. The jet landed where it found a spot in a rotating, slow hover while the door to the house opened up and a disgruntled homemaker who may have been the most powerful being left on Planet Earth left with a scoop still in hand, grinding her teeth.
"That's too loud!" she yelled out, shaking her utensil around as if threatening to whack someone with it before the engines died out and stopped, causing the ruckus and blowing dust into the house through the door that dangled open.
As the upper section of the jet opened up, Muten Roshi jumped out and landed with a subdued tap on the grass, only to be met by a strict glare from Chi-Chi with her hands crossed over her chest. A tall man with brown skin that was currently pale, a long face, and small, beady eyes weighed over the side of the open jet and flopped to the ground. He crawled over behind a nearby boulder and belched twice before correcting his turban and crawling out from the corner where he threw up in.
"I… Apologize… I am not used to traveling with modern machinery…" Nam wiped his pale and quivering lips.
"Chi-Chi-chan, how have you been holding up? Sorry about all the noise…" Muten Roshi scratched the back of his head, giggling with a line of subtle blush hanging over his nose.
"Oh, I know that voice, it's Muten Roshi, isn't it?" a loud, ogre-like grumble came from indoors as a massive mountain of a man with an abundance of facial hair emerged from inside the house, laughing from the bottom of his chest as he did so. The human-mountain ran up to Muten Roshi and wrapped his arms around the old martial arts master, lifting him off the ground and squeezing hard to show off his fondness toward the old man.
"Hm… I don't see how a man of this size would have fit inside that small kitchen, let alone left it through such a normal-looking doorway," a strong, somewhat artificial-sounding tone came from within the jet as a towering, stocky man resembling the Frankenstein's monster emerged from within the jet.
"You're the one to talk, Artificial Human No. 8…" Nam placed his fists over his hips. "Somehow you fit perfectly fine inside this jet as well… The whole thing wobbles when you move, though. I now better understand the men that tell tales of nightmarish sea travels back in my home village."
"That's a curious group of guys." Chi-Chi leaned aside to observe the pair of martial artists that Muten Roshi brought with him. "I hope you didn't just bring them here to provide more mouths for me to feed, Muten Roshi!"
"Ah… Well… About that…" Muten Roshi wriggled out of Ox-King's hold and laughed it up. "You see… Goku reached out to us. He wants us to collect the Dragon Balls for him and bring a bunch of people that died back."
"Eh! Who died!? Is Gohan-chan okay!?" Chi-Chi grabbed hold of Muten Roshi and lifted him up just like her father, however, unlike it was with her father, the old-timer couldn't quite break out of her hold without answering her questions.
"He's… He's not amongst those that died… Tenshinhan, Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Bardock, Gine… Also… Vegeta…" Muten Roshi wheezed out as with each name he called out he had less and less oxygen in his chest. As Chi-Chi sighed in relief and placed the old man back down to enjoy his new lease on life, Muten Roshi fixed his clothes and regained some color in his cheeks that were slowly turning bluish.
"Is that so… Poor guys. Should have figured they'd get into trouble. I wonder why Goku-sa wants that mean guy Vegeta back. I want he wants to bring him back just so he can fight him again!" Chi-Chi seethed, clenching her fists together.
"It's… Unclear what their relationship is. Though… It doesn't seem like Vegeta was the monster that killed all those fighters. At least Bulma doesn't think so, and she was the one who spoke to Goku on the phone. What do you say, Chi-Chi? We could use your help on the job. Also, how about it, Ox-King?" Muten Roshi leaned to look behind Chi-Chi at the greatly changed man he once helped train into the fearsome warrior he once was before becoming a massive salary-man-looking lump of muscle and facial hair.
"Oh… I'm sorry, Muten Roshi, I haven't trained for over a decade now, not since my own daughter whipped me into shape to get her ready to impress Goku all those years ago." Ox-King laughed it up. "I'm sure that all Hell will freeze over knowing my daughter's gunning for them, though. I'm not sure what type of training she went through in the Other World, but she is incredible right now. My hands grow limp every time I even think about picking a car up for lifting just imagining the gap between us."
"Is that so? This woman is this incredible warrior we've come here to recruit?" Nam wondered, looking surprised.
"That's right, she's Goku's wife, you know." Android 8 pointed out.
"Huh! Wife of… Son Goku… I suppose then she must truly be amazing!" Nam nodded to himself, squashing all doubts. "If she's a woman after Goku's own example, such a delicate appearance hides the skill of a peerless warrior. It's odd, I cannot explain it, but… I feel an aura of majestic divinity behind her. Almost like I'm gazing at a warrior chosen by Buddha himself."
"I cannot get an accurate measure of her strength. She is concealing most of it and, it appears, that Goku and his family have learned to greatly amplify their power further through a divine martial arts technique. Trying to get a reading on her seems impossible. She truly is beyond comprehension." Android 8 recounted in a stoic tone of voice while glaring at Chi-Chi engaging in small-talk with her father and Muten Roshi.
"You can gauge a fighter's potential with just your eyes?" Nam wondered.
"It's one of a few updates Dr. Puri installed while working on me in Capsule Corps a few years back. She was awfully interested in me and wouldn't stop running diagnostics and tests of all sorts, replacing my parts all the time. Nothing in my records indicates that over a half of those updates were necessary." Android 8 shook his head.
"You just let that woman cut you open and look inside you so often?" Nam scratched his head.
"Dr. Puri helped fix me after Dr. Brief removed the explosive device from my body. She helped me with every request I had, almost as if I was her own son or something. I am a machine and yet only Suno-chan has looked at me with those eyes. Loving eyes. As if I'm a human. I've come to love Suno-chan and Dr. Puri back a great deal because of those eyes." Android 8 butt his index fingers together, almost looking embarrassed by the sentiment he had shown.
"Very well." Chi-Chi looked up with her arms still crossed. "If my oaf of a husband and his freeloader father got so many of our friends killed, it only makes sense that I help fix their mistakes and make up for it. Poor Gine-san didn't deserve to die either. I look forward to meeting Goku-sa's mother for the first time even if that means that we have to bring her back to life."
"Wonderful! Things will go so much more smoothly with you on our side, Chi-Chi!" Muten Roshi slammed his open palm with a hammering fist.