Chapter Thirteen

Little Monkey in the Big City

General Blue listened idly to Commander Red's rantings and ravings as he went through his normal morning ritual. Something about freakish little girls with superpowers. Bah! Such lunacy.

"You have nothing to fear, Mein Fuhrer," he told his commander. "While they may have bested Colonel Silver and General White, I am your greatest General. I will deal with them easily." And with that, he turned off his radio and turned his attention back to his work: practicing his Soudai Bara in the center of a half-circle of full-length mirrors. Completely naked. Blue would never deny it, he was an astoundingly vain man. He loved to look at himself and to watch the way his body performed. He considered himself an exceptional martial artist and could probably have, at least in his own mind, won the Tenkaichi Budoukai easily. However, as he dressed, he corrected himself. He was more than exceptional. "Why should I fear these children? Because they have defeated the Mad Doctor's monstrosities? Bah!" he straightened his tie and looked himself in the mirror. "Unlike the Fuhrer, I place no such misguided faith in machines. I am already more than man. I am Übermensch."

He stepped out of his tent and looked up towards the mountain that their radars had indicated the Dragon Ball was located. General White was a boorish drunk. He would not be missed. Colonel Silver, on the other hand, that was a pity. They had less than nothing in common but the man was not difficult to look at. And seemed to have a personal vendetta against the very concept of wearing a shirt. 'Ah, well,' he thought, 'Such is the life of a superior being. Those who are inferior pass through our lives.' He smiled as the Earth trembled under his boots as the mountain rumbled. If his men could not find a way safely into the mountain, all they would have to do is wait. The girls would arrive with their Dragon Balls and find some way into the mountain. Then he would kill them. "Feh," he muttered contemptuously, "Super girl." Such an undignified idea.

OoOoOoO

Goku and Suno had been flying for most of the morning when they began to come close to West City. Or perhaps it had only seemed like a few hours and it had been longer given the change in time where they were flying. Suno had spent the flight pondering these sorts of things, having not much else to do. Like how they weren't affected by the thin air or the cold temperatures as high up as they were. Every time, though, Suno just came to the conclusion that they were flying on a magical cloud so it didn't have to make sense. Whenever she got to that point, she would just look at the view down below. It was beautiful from up here. There were no armies from up here, no struggle or war. There was just the beauty of the land.

"Goku," she said as they started to drift down towards the city, "How do you do the Kamehameha? Did Master Roshi teach you?"

"Not really," Goku told her. "He never taught me but I saw him do it. And then I just kinda tried to do it." Goku sounded disappointed that she couldn't give Suno something more helpful. "I can tell you how it feels, if that helps. It's like… It's like something's coming out of me. I feel it in my whole body and then I just push it between my hands and it just kinda happens. Does that help any?"

"No, not really," Suno said as she shook her head. "But that's okay! I probably couldn't do it anyway."

Nimbus came to a rest on the sidewalk inside the city proper to let Suno and Goku hop off as people stared at them in bewilderment. They took off their cold-weather outer layers and started walking down the street. Neither of them had ever seen anything like this city. Suno was pretty sure her whole village could fit into one city block while Goku hadn't seen so many people in one place since the Tenkaichi Budoukai. And this was even more people than that!

"So, did this Bulma ever tell you where she lived or what her house looked like?" Suno asked.

"Nope!" Goku told her cheerfully as she stared up at a street lamp. Maybe she could climb up that to get a better look?

"So what was your plan?" Suno asked somewhat awkwardly as people continued to stare at them.

"I was gonna ask people if they knew Bulma," she said. Suno groaned and facepalmed. She really shouldn't have been surprised but still.

"Goku, I don't think that'll work. This place is huge and I doubt anyone we talk to would know her."

Goku frowned, "Really? Then how do we find her?"

Suno hummed and looked around. There had to be a registry or phonebook somewhere. Maybe some kind of information kiosk. With nothing immediately in sight, Suno described what she was looking for to Goku and started to move through the city. It took all of five seconds before Suno had to stop Goku from walking right into traffic.

"What'd you do that for?" Goku asked after Suno yanked her back onto the sidewalk.

"You can't just walk into traffic!"

"Why not?"

"Because you'll hurt the drivers if they crash into you!" After Suno explained a bit about the traffic lights and how they worked, they went back on their way.

It didn't take long for the two to find what Suno was looking for but they never managed to reach it due to the sudden appearance of a policeman. "Hey there, you two. What are you doing out of school?" he said.

Suno quickly spoke up since she knew Goku wasn't so good at the whole socializing thing, "We're both home schooled, sir, and have already finished our work for today. We're on our way to a friend's house but we've kinda forgotten where she lives."

"Oh, well then. I'm not supposed to but maybe I can help you out there. What's your friend's name? I'll look her up in my computer."

"Bulma, sir."

"Bulma, eh? That's a pretty rare name. Shouldn't be too hard to find. Let's see… There are three women named Bulma in the city. Is this the one?" He showed them a picture of some obese lady with dark purple hair.

"Nuh-uh!" Goku said. "She has blue hair!"

"Okay then. Is this her?" He showed them another picture.

"Yeah! That's her!" Goku said cheerfully. The officer looked at the picture of Bulma and did a double take. Then another double take. He looked down at Goku and Suno with an incredulous expression as he pointed at the picture.

"H-how the heck are kids like you friends with the daughter of the Capsule Corp president?!" he asked. Apparently, Suno thought, Goku had a famous friend. For her part, Goku gave a small shrug.

"She's just my friend," Goku told the officer as she rocked back and forth on her heels and lightly swung her arms. The officer eyed them suspiciously.

"You're too young to be master criminals," he eventually decided, which made Suno roll her eyes. She could have told him that just based on Goku's original plan. "And being that you're minors, it's my job to make sure you get where you need to go safely, anyway." He opened a capsule that contained a police hovercar and got in the front seat. "Come on, then!" Suno put a hand over Goku's mouth and shook her head. She figured that the other girl was going to point out that she could just summon Nimbus again but she didn't want the officer getting any more suspicious of them than he already was. Suno and Goku climbed in the back and Suno had to help Goku with her seatbelt. Again, not for the normal reason that Goku would be hurt, but for the reason that Goku would probably hurt someone else.

The cop drove them through the city which allowed Goku and Suno to look around the city more comfortably and take everything in. West City was alive and buzzing like a beehive. People were flying around in hovercars and hoverbikes. They were laughing and talking and busying along on their way to their jobs and places to play with their friends. Suno thought that she might like to live in a city. Maybe not one this big, though. As the cop kept driving, the people seemed to get busier and busier. Finally, they came to it: the Capsule Corp building. Goku and Suno stared at it with open-mouthed astonishment. It was an enormous yellow half-dome of a building with "CAPSULE" on the front in giant letters. And the people.

People were bustling in and out of the building and all across the yard, wearing lab coats and glasses and looking very scientific. They were running around using giant robotic legs or running through the air on tracks made of light. Some were flying in jetpacks or bouncing along the ground in huge bubbles. They were flexing the arms of robot suits and making calibrations, shooting guns that froze things solid or changed the color or swinging around swords made of pure light. It was amazing! Suno saw it as an amazing example of science and progress. It was a beautiful contrast to how she'd seen technology used for destruction and terror by the Red Ribbon Army. Goku was pretty sure it was all magic but it looked amazing. Without another word, Goku hopped out through the passenger side window and jumped over the surprisingly low-tech white picket fence.

"H-hey!" the cop called as he and Suno got out of the car and chased after her. "Get back here!" Goku ran up to the building as scientists stared at her with a mixture of interest and confusion. She came right up to the front door and tilted her head back with her hands on the sides of her mouth.

"Buuuuulmaaaaaaaa!" she called out. To put it bluntly, it was loud. Bubbles burst and windows shook as people clung to the ground and the walls. Suno clutched at her ears and stared at Goku with shock. Every time she started to get an understanding of what Goku was capable of, the other girl did something that blew away her expectations. One of the windows on the top floor was flung open before Bulma stuck her head out of the window and waved down at them.

"Goku! Hey!" she called down. She pointed something at the ground that looked like a weird gun. She fired it and a purple beam shot out that transformed into a huge mound that looked like it was a weird gel foam. Bulma jumped out of the window and jumped down to land on the mound. It made a "fwump!" sound as it absorbed the impact. Bulma climbed out of the foam with a big grin. She was wearing goggles, green shorts and a pink top with a labcoat with the sleeves rolled up. Her hair was sticking out in random directions like she'd been working on something for a while and probably hadn't been sleeping. Goku grinned and jumped up into her arms. "Good to see you, kid! Did you find your four star ball?" Goku shook her head.

"Nah," Goku said as she hopped down. "I had to come back because some jerks broke the Dragon Radar." She handed it to Bulma who shrugged and smiled.

"No biggie!" she said and tucked it into her lab coat, "I built it, I can fix it!" Then she noticed Suno, who'd been off slightly to the side. "Oh! Goku, who's your new friend?" Suno blushed and looked away nervously. Goku had told her about Bulma when they were flying over from Jingle Village but she was still a little nervous about meeting someone new in this big city.

"Uh, S-Suno," she said with a nervous smile as she walked over to join Goku and Bulma. "I was living in Jingle Village when I met Goku and I just wanted to come with her." Bulma laughed and smiled mischievously.

"Jeez, Goku!" she said with mock jealousy. "You go on a new adventure and just because I can't come along you go and replace me?" she reached down and ruffled Goku's hair which immediately settled back into its regular shape. "Sure know how to make a girl feel special!" Suno looked away bashfully and Bulma knelt down to look at her. "Hey, hey! I'm just kidding! I'm Bulma, in case that wasn't obvious. And anybody who can be Goku's friend is my friend, too!" Suno smiled at that but her expression changed to confused as Bulma looked upwards over Suno's shoulder and her eyes went wide. "Look out!" she cried before shoving Goku and Suno to the ground and pressing herself to the ground on her stomach. Not a second later, a white-gray blur streaked down from the sky and whooshed inches over their heads. It zoomed towards the building and rode up the curvature of the wall instead of smashing through it. It shot into the sky like a meteor going in reverse before swooping back down and landing in front of them.

"Oh, hello there!" said the voice belonging to the streak. It turned out that the streak was a middle-aged man with white hair in brown slacks and a blue shirt with spectacles and a lab coat. A cigarette dangled from his mouth and his mustache bounced as he spoke and he had a tiny black cat in the front pocket of his coat that was shivering something terrible with wide white eyes. The three girls stood up and realized that the man was floating an extra two feet off the ground, no doubt due to the dinner plate-sized white discs strapped to his feet. They made a soft humming noise and Goku stared at them starry eyed while she waved her hand under them.

"Magic!" she exclaimed excitedly as Bulma shook her head.

"Daddy," she admonished the older man, "You can let other people test your sonic discs! That's what we have testers for! Young, fit, healthy testers that aren't middle aged men with black lung!" Bulma's father scoffed and clicked his heels together. Somehow, this made the "sonic discs" stop humming and he dropped to the ground.

"Nonsense!" he told her. "I built them and I'll make sure they work! Why waste time on someone else's secondhand accounts when I can get the experience myself?" Then he looked down at Suno and Goku. "Oh!" he said excitedly, "You must be that Goku girl that my daughter has told me so much about!" he said… to Suno. He bent down and stared at her, making soft "hmms" and "put-puts" as he shuffled around her in a circle.

"A-actually sir," Suno said in a slightly uncomfortable tone because he was so close. "My name is-"

"Honestly, honey, red hair isn't that strange!" he told Bulma and cut Suno off. Bulma rolled her eyes.

"No, daddy," she said and pointed at Goku. "That is Goku!" Dr. Briefs spun around to see Goku as if for the first time.

"Ah!" he said, poking her hair and pinching her muscles which made Goku giggle. "So I see." The police officer came up to him suddenly and inclined his head respectfully.

"Excuse me, Doctor Briefs," he said, "I know it's probably a waste of your time but my hovercar is going a little slow these days. And, well, it's a Capsule Corp model. So I was wondering if you wouldn't mind taking a look at it?" Briefs grinned and the glint of the sun hid the manic look in his eye.

"You want a fast car, do you?" he asked. "Oh, I'll give you a fast car!" Dr. Briefs grabbed the capsule out of the cop's hand and ran into the Capsule Corp building with the cop trailing after him. Bulma smiled and shook her head.

"Come on, let's head back to my lab!" she said. "I can fix it from there." Suno walked over to the purple foam and gave it a poke. It jiggled at her touch and she couldn't help but giggle.

"Did you make this stuff?" she asked Bulma. Bulma grinned and nodded.

"Yup! I'm designing a super-powerful foam that can absorb just about any impact. It can be used to save people from falling out of a building or stop car crashes, even hold up buildings!" she grinned wider and rubbed her hands. "And it can do this!" she ran and jumped onto the gel foam. It buckled and wobbled before it shot her up into the air. She grabbed the window ledge and pulled herself into the room and then stuck her head out again. "Try it!" she encouraged them. Suno took a few tentative steps before running and jumping onto it herself. She let out a gleeful whoop of surprise as it shot her up into the air, right into Bulma's hands who pulled her inside.

"That was fun!" she told Bulma before leaning out the window. "Your turn, Goku!" she called. Goku ran up to the gel and jumped onto it… and was disappointed as it burst apart from the force of her jump.

"Aww…" Goku muttered. How come they got to have the fun? Stupid weak foam. Bulma sighed and shook her head as Goku jumped up to the window normally.

"Guess it wasn't Goku-resistant," she said in a resigned tone as Goku climbed in the window.

"So this is your lab?" Goku asked as she looked around.

"It looks… busy," Suno added. Busy was definitely the right word for it. There were equations and schematics scribbled all over the walls and half-finished projects scattered the workbench. Chemicals bubbled in test tubes and instruments blinked and flashed with activity. Bulma set down the Dragon Radar on the bench and popped open the back of it to expose the circuitry inside. She pulled on some goggles and pulled a magnifying glass over it as she grabbed her tools to get a look at the problem. Suddenly, the door swung open and a woman walked in carrying a tray with a pitcher of iced tea and a glass on it.

"Hello!" the woman said in a high chipper voice. Goku stared up at her, mouth agape. Her yellow hair was huge! Suno also stared but that was due more to the way the woman was dressed. She was wearing what Suno was pretty sure they called "hot pants" and a yellow "tube top." She was not dressed for her age. "I've brought some refreshment for my little scientist!" Bulma rolled her eyes and did her best to ignore the woman.

"Thanks, mom," she grumbled. Goku grinned when Bulma said that. This was great! She was meeting Bulma's whole family! Bulma's mom looked down at Goku and Suno and smiled.

"Oh, hello there!" she said cheerfully. "My name's Panchy. Are you two Bulma's little friends?" Goku nodded eagerly and Suno decided to just go with it. Panchy reached into her pocket and produced two pieces of chocolate and handed one to each. Goku's eyes went starry as she bit down on the chocolate. She'd never eaten chocolate before. Now she needed more of it. She stuffed the chocolate into her mouth as Suno nibbled hers. It was pretty good. Probably really expensive.

"Hey, Bulma!" Goku said as the thought came to her suddenly. "Where's Yamcha?" They'd been really happy the last time Goku had seen them at the Tenkaichi Budoukai so it seemed strange that she hadn't seen him. "Is he training? Did your dad fix the gravity room?" Bulma huffed as she picked out a computer chip and replaced it with a new one and soldered it into place.

"Oh, he's training all right!" she snapped. "He's training with that Master Roshi and Krillin and that stupid hussy Launch!" Goku gasped.

"Launch is learning martial artes?" she asked excitedly. Bulma fumed and let out a sharp exhale between her nostrils.

"That's not the point!" she grumbled. "The point is that Yamcha is on an island in the middle of nowhere with a girl who isn't me!"

"But honey," Panchy said as she returned with two new glasses for Goku and Suno, "That nice Yamcha boy calls you every day!" She poured tea into the glasses and handed them to Goku and Suno who sipped at them gratefully.

"That's the problem, mom!" Bulma said as the she snapped the Dragon Radar closed and gave the button a few taps to make sure it was working. "He's being too good!" Suno blinked.

"I'm not sure I understand," she said. How could the fact that this Yamcha was calling her every day and seemed to care about her be bad?

"He's obviously covering something up out of guilt!" Bulma said as she shoved the Radar into Goku's hand. "Come on, Goku! I'm going with you!" She strapped the foam gun across her back and put a handful of other gadgets into her fanny pack. "This time, I'm going to wish for what I should have gotten in the first place: The perfect boyfriend!"

Suno couldn't believe her ears as she stared at Bulma in disbelief. "You're going to waste a wish on that? Why can't you just, I dunno, talk to this Yamcha if that's what you're worried abou-" Bulma ran out of the lab with Goku following behind.

"Come on, Suno!" Goku called over her shoulder. Suno sighed in defeat and pinched the bridge of her nose. What did she get herself into? Ignoring that, she chugged the iced tea down before handing the cup back to Panchy and bowing thankfully before following them.

"Wish for a handsome man for me too!" Panchy called after Bulma.

"Mom, you're married!" Bulma answered back as they took the stairs down to her father's lab.

"So?" her mother asked. Bulma groaned and rolled her eyes as they entered her father's workshop. It looked a lot like Bulma's only bigger. And Suno was pretty sure she saw the skeleton of a space ship.

"Hey dad!" Bulma called as she and the others ran past her father with half of his body inside the police car's engine, "I'm borrowing your sonic discs! Me, Goku, and Suno are gonna look for the Dragon Balls."

"If you're gonna wish for a boyfriend," Dr. Briefs said, his voice echoing inside the car, "Wish for one that won't ruin my inventions!" Bulma snickered as she grabbed the sonic discs off the workbench and strapped them to her feet before grabbing a box of capsules that she shoved into her fanny pack. "Oh," Dr. Briefs said as he stuck his head out of the car, "And if you can, wish for a hot young lady for me!" he said with a cheeky smile. Bulma groaned and rolled her eyes as she ran out the door.

"What is with you and mom?!" she asked before shutting the door. She sighed and clicked her heels together to activate the discs as Goku summoned Nimbus.

"Have you ever used those?" Suno asked as Goku helped her up onto the cloud. She doubted it with the shaky way Bulma was standing on them.

"Nah," Bulma admitted with a bizarre amount of confidence as she pinwheeled her arms. "But I remember what he said about using 'em. You control it with your feeeeeeeeeeee-!" With the accidental movement of a toe Bulma was shooting down the street before launching up into the sky.

"Come on, Nimbus!" Goku said with a laugh and gave the cloud a tug to fly off after her.

OoOoOoO

Dr. Briefs wiped grease off his hands with a rag and closed the hood on the police car. This was probably his best automotive work yet.

"There you go!" he told the cop. "You should have the fastest car on the force." He put it back into the capsule and handed it to the officer. He nodded gratefully and smiled.

"Thank you very much, Dr. Briefs," the officer said. "You're a brilliant man." Then he headed out of the lab and back outside. Dr. Briefs smiled to himself and started putting his tools away. A few seconds later, he heard a terrified shriek and the sound of the sound barrier breaking.

"I don't get it," he muttered to himself as he scratched his cat's head. "The officer told me his car was slow. So I made it fast!" The fastest car in the world, in fact. The only car that could break the speed of sound. "I just don't get some people, Scratch," he shrugged said to the cat who offered a "meow" in response. Dr. Briefs looked at his workbench and stroked his mustache. "Huh. Looks like Bulma took my capsules…"

Z/N: Soudai Bara should be Japanese for "Magnificent Rose". It was originally going to go unnamed but then I recalled that one pupil of Mr. Satan from the Cell Games filler and couldn't resist.