"I don't understand what a baseball game is. Can you explain it again?" Val asked Bulma as they walked towards the stadium. She looked around at the crowd, surprised by how many humans were there, milling about on their phones, in various shapes and sizes. They still kind of all looked very similar though. It was a bit hard to get used to after being on a spaceship for years on end with different races from different planets. She looked down at the outfit Bulma had insisted she wear, which looked nicer than some of the other outfits people wore. If the dressy flat shoes on her feet were nicer than what others wore.
"It's like a fight, but between two teams who try to hit the ball and score runs around the bases," Bulma explained again. "Just have fun and watch the game. And cheer for Yamcha's team only, okay," She nodded over to others in the crowd. "Look, there's the others."
Val looked up and saw Krillin standing with Tien and Chiaotzu. She felt a bit cautious yet about the two who were strangers to her. The smaller one reminded her of a vampiric like fighter Raditz once dragged her in front of in hopes to get her to grow up. When the fighter had tried to bite her neck, she struck it and ran away. The memory gave her the chill.
"Are you cold? It's warm out here," Bulma said next to her, noticing her shiver.
"No," she said back, shaking her had.
They reached the three others with Bulma greeting them in turn. Then she turned and gestured at Val, "this is Val, the one who was adopted by the Namekians, but stayed here on Earth." Val gave a quick wave, not sure what else to do or say. "And this is Tien and Chiaotzu," she added, gesturing to the two of them.
She studied the taller one, thinking she might have met someone like him, with a third eye, but none that stuck out to her from the parade of those Raditz put her in front of. He was taller, more physically fit than most of the humans she had seen before. She wondered at it.
They walked into the stadium, with Bulma holding the tickets leading the way. She shuffled them though as they sat down with Krillin on the outside, then Bulma, then Val, then Tien, and then Chiaotzu. Val sat down stiffly, thinking she would have preferred to have sat on the outside of the group, but said nothing against it. It felt odd when each of the others struck conversations with the others next to them. She looked around at the stands they were sitting in, waiting for the game to start.
When the game did start, Val felt confused from the get go. "Whose the man standing in the middle?" she asked Bulma, watching the man throw a ball towards a man standing with a long stick, swinging it towards the ball.
"The pitcher," Bulma answered without taking her eyes off the game.
"And the person with the stick?" she asked.
"The batter," Bulma answered.
The batter hit the ball and then threw his bat down and ran kind of slowly across the diagonal dirt path towards another man standing on top of a white square.
"Can't he run any faster?" she asked.
Bulma pulled her close, whispering in her ear, "ask Tien these questions." She pulled away and answered louder, "humans can only run so fast." She shrugged. "Not everyone can fight like you can," she added, elbowing her in the side.
Val hummed, looking down at the game quietly. She clammed up, not wanting to ask the stranger next to her any questions. However, after the next two batters, one man stopped running around the bases and was tapped by other man from the other team who had the baseball in him brown mitt. "What just happened?" she blurted out. Bulma gave her a side nod. She looked over at Tien. "Why did he stop running around the bases?"
"He's out. Have you never seen a baseball game before?" he asked, not looking away from the game.
She shook her head. "I hardly leave Capsule Corps. Beyond going to the Lookout to train," she answered kind of shyly. "He's out of what? The strength to run?"
He smirked at that but she was unsure why. "We humans aren't all that weak," he responded. "He got tapped by the ball, so he's out."
"Oh," she said, not quite sure what he meant. "You're not fully human though, are you?" she blurted out, looking up at his third eye. She winced slightly when she felt Bulma step unexpectedly on the side of her foot. She looked over at Bulma, who just shook her head slightly.
"Triclops ancestors," he answered simply, eyes still watching the game.
She shifted through her mind, the name sounded familiar. "Weren't they all extinct. A long time ago?" she half guessed. She tried to remember if she had ever heard of them before.
"Some settled down on Earth. A lot stronger than most humans though," he explained.
"Oh, so like Goku did then?" she asked. Suddenly there were several people around them yelling and cheering. She jumped, looking around the area in alarm. "What just happened?"
"That's one of the more famous players from the team," he explained. "And, yeah, kind of like Goku did." The cheering ramped up after the player hit the ball hard and sprinted off in a rush towards the first base and rounded to the second base and finally the third before he stopped himself. When the cheering calmed down, he commented. "What about you? You don't exactly look Namekian, but then I thought they were all men."
"I adopted in, rescued by them from Frieza more or less. The Demon Clan used to, but not the Dragon Clan like those who were at Capsule Corp before you were wished back, but all but one from both clans died in the Cataclysm that nearly destroyed the whole planet," she explained. "But I am an Anthromorph born on the Planet Aviary."
"How does that work?" he asked.
"Well..." she explained it to him while he tried to explain the game to her. She found the game boring compared to the fights Bulma said it was equal to.
In the middle of the game however, Bulma's phone rang loudly. She answered it, stepping away from them abruptly and out of the stands. Val watched her go, standing up partly, half debating to follow after her. When she came back, she looked worried.
"I have to go, I'm sorry," Bulma rushed out. "My dad thinks there's been a break in the medical lab," she answered. "Do you think you can find your way back to Capsule Corps without me?"
"I'll go with you," Val countered, standing up.
Bulma hesitated, looking at the others they were with. "Are you sure?"
Val nodded. "I can help with sensing after whoever the thief was," she volunteered. "Maybe I can find them."
"Ugh, we hardly watched Yamcha play yet, and I promised to stay for the whole game," Bulma griped.
"He'll understand," Krillin said.
"You don't seem to know him that well..." Bulma complained. She looked over at Val, saying, "well, if you're coming with me, let's go."
"Uh, bye," Val said with a quick look at the others before she and Bulma took off.