Dragon Ball: Space Adventures

The Rule of Trees III

It had been at least an hour since they had started flying, the curvature of the earth continued to extend as far as they could see, endless rows of trees that never seemed to end. Although he wondered if he was the only person on the trip who felt that way.

If the previous world was a lovely forestry world then this one was an indescribable maze, the jungle seemed to go on forever, to all directions and in every place, the only thing that stopped it were the rivers that went down the mountains across the land like veins going through an arm, just small relives of water which seemed to give life to everything in sight.

Uub thanked Bulla for the radar, because he had no earthly idea how they'd find her otherwise. He envied birds, how did they always know the way home? it was a mystery no different than the one of how long they were away. Hours? days? months? stuck in another endless–

"Here it is!"

Bulla exclaimed, as she quickly looked into the distance.

The boy looked up, and immediately realized that the latter was probably right, just as he witnessed in mouth-wide amazement at what he had in front. It was a tree, just a single unimportant tree. But there was one thing that separated such a tree from the rest, a tiny little detail that couldn't be missed; the size. It was bigger than the rest, not just big, stupidly immense.

The woods that surrounded were about the same size as the ones they were flying over. The one they were looking at, the main one, seemed closer to a mountain. They could tell that, because the four mountains that were around it rested about the same height. The leaves of the tree (could it be called that at such a point?) expanded above in the same place as the clouds and in the same way a flower flourishes.

The entire area below was in its shadow, and Uub faintly spotted connections as they approached. All the trees were connected to each other, imitating a city with their paved roads, merging and connecting by wooden bridges—but the one that started it all, was the mother tree. They all seemed, one way or the other, to make their way towards it. In a grid pattern like squares.

They both stopped in their tracks, staring at each other like someone just said the most strange string of sentences ever heard by anyone alive. A civilization living above the ground, hanging in the trees like the monkeys that if you weren't careful would steal everything you owned.

He looked at Bulla, hopeful that she would lung straight into the city so he could follow her and be able to explore what was inside, but as the seconds passed he remembered that they weren't probably going to see it. Both had other things in mind, and so the blue-haired girl directed her eyes towards the radar, who marked something to the left, hidden away on the other side of the mountain. With a nimble movement like a silent fart, they turned around and began flying towards it, with the city staring at them from the north like a vigilant hawk.

So many things were going on in his head, the wonder of another civilization standing so eagerly close to them, all the strange colors and forms that morphed in front as they made their way down through the trees, the sheer face of indescribable confusion Pan would have the second they locked eyes.

Quickly, they tip their feet below the trees, carefully making their way across the circuit of branches and trunks that seemed like rocks instead of woods.

If there was one thing that surprised them, it was how quickly the sphere moved. The Dragon Ball seemed to be shooting from one place to another like a tennis match. Quickly, they began to hurry through the dense Wildlands because whatever was going seemed to be escaping them. But that was easier said than done, just slightly pushing down the pedal carried the possibility of face slamming a branch with all its might.

They ducked their heads, jumped over branches that laid near them like bodies in the rain, but it was to no avail. They had to improvise, to create something—"Oh god what's she's doing?"

Uub thought for a moment.

A blue sphere appeared around Bulla, and she went there flying down like a speedboat at full thrust, and like a speedboat creating waves, she tore through the hypothetical ocean of the jungle in a straight line. Uub figured that would do the trick— and There, breaking through, they spotted her, and them— Running.

It was Pan, chasing some animal with a strange blue back. Uub first assumed the worst, but as he saw more closely he realized that for the first time the black haired girl wasn't causing chaos or risking everything in the world. It was simple, they were playing. Chasing each other, using the sphere as a ball where they passed each other and the objective was to catch them.

The boy thought the whole thing was endearing. The animals were clearly having the time of their life, and also for the first time Pan seemed happy, genuinely happy. A large smile outlined on her face, careless of the world and whatever horror it may hold.
It was weird not to see her with those large eyebrows inclined down angrily hating the world, with those impassable dark eyes devouring every emotion like a black hole. The whole thing felt almost like a mistake. To disturb such a beautiful moment, and for what? because she deserved it? His reason told him not to ruin it, to let it go, after all she had gotten what she deserved, he had made sure of that, and the previous week could attest to that.

So in his eyes there was no reason to get involved, furthermore here watching, the boy knew she was alright. Now he could be relaxed, and instead just watch from trees how the girl worked. Hell, and after they were done they could all go search the water.

And it surprised them, how Like a hypersonic missile, Bulla lunged forward towards Pan, and in the second Uub blinked, her clothes had completely changed—Disappeared into something completely new, consisting first of a full-body blue suit akin to a diving suit that went from the legs to her neck, where a red cape stood tied to an oval shaped armor piece of color gold that extended from the shoulders. In her hands, she wore a pair of white gloves and below a pair of cream boots. The armor covered the chest and the crotch, with three golden and wooded colored painted pieces going down the stomach and the thighs, and one covering the stomach itself. Above it, the armor turned white, as it covered the ribs, the sides, the pectorals and chest.

The girl extended her left leg forward and like a P falling, she screamed.

"Present kick!".

Pan didn't have a second to reply before the impact smashed face first into her head and sent her flying down, quickly disappearing as if she were never to be seen again. The proof that it happened was the rough impact that resounded like a bullet's sound wave moving across the skyscrapers, as the Young Uub stared in pure horror at what had just occurred.

There was something unearthly in the whole thing, like a sort of influence from beyond that tangled the strings of life with a singular purpose; to make sure he suffered. Why had Bulla done that? What was wrong with her? Why couldn't things be simple? Nothing made sense anymore, it was like life was doing it on purpose.

Hurriedly he stopped right in front of Bulla, seeing in those blue eyes a stare of pure satisfaction, like someone who has been working on a project for a long time and can now safely say the first step is done.

"What is wrong with you!?"

He screamed dumbfounded.

"Hmp!"

She humped with pride.

"Forgive me Young Uub, but it had to be done."

As confused and upset he was, he could not nor did not want to blame the girl for that, however;

"And!? You know what's going to happen next!?"

Internally, he wished that'd be enough to put that girl down, but if she really was related to Son Goku, then there was a non-zero chance that did the trick, girl and all. Zero chance was also the possibility of avoiding a fight, one that for the first time he couldn't blame Pan.

"I know, it's what I want."

"Can't we postpone it!?"

As cathartic it had been, this was going to be another waste of time, one he really did not want to go through. They'd already done the same thing, and their planet didn't need these unnecessary risks, furthermore, something in the girl's eyes didn't make him feel comfortable, it was a grin, a very simple grin of disagreement that spelled doom to whatever he held dear.

"I'm afraid not, young Uub, this play is just getting started."

His face contorted downwards.

"I don't see how that's a problem".

he turned around and pointed at the blue-backed animal that really reminded him a lot of someone he had seen before.

"The Dragon Ball is right there, we can take it and go home!"

—And let her go just with that? Never!"

She exclaimed full of anger.

"She tarnished my pride and honor,"

The girl raised her left arm and clenched her fist.

"and her debts must be paid."

"Don't you think the universe matters more than your meaningless pride?"

He said calmly trying to put some sense in her. He even said with the tone of a concerned mother he had taken from some of the women of the village, but that didn't result in anything good, and he regretted saying those words almost instantaneously.
Suddenly, it was happening, again. Bulla's ki shot off into the skies like a rocket rising towards the stratosphere. The wind began to flow and like a typhoon it began to screech outwards.

"Meaningless, huh!?"

She screeched like a deer getting skinned alive. It was like a bomb had gone off, suddenly a violet fire engulfed her whole, and Uub swore her muscles grew, her thighs and legs and back grew, almost like a piece of dough growing. The animal did the smart thing, and jumped out the tree towards below.

"What do you know about meaningless!? She made a fool out of me in the eyes of the whole world, punched me as if I were a helpless child!"

The girl looked at him with fire in the eyes, visible veins had popped out her forehead. It was like a demon had taken ahold of her.

"I even had to see you defeat her without breaking a miserable sweat!"

"Bulla, what in Kami's name are you talking about!?"

But a part of him knew that whatever he was trying was pointless, an experience that only those who have brothers can understand.

"You're not involved in this anymore, move out the way or become a part of it."

That threat was the last thing Uub needed to hear. Quickly, he rushed towards Bulla and grabbed her by the arm. She replied by lunging a fist, but he dogged and put his two left fingers in place, and before those two fingers connected to his forehead, something stopped them, and as a matter of fact, something held him tight from the neck and below, holding him hostage.

Immediately, he started trying to shake them off, but Bulla instead rushed and held his arm tighter and got a hold of his hand dropping it even further from his face. He was locked, completely and totally by something much stronger than him. Something that he really didn't want to have on his back.

"What's wrong, Uub? seems like you got yourself in quite the pickle."

"Oh no." He thought with genuine fear.

"I'm deeply sorry, young Uub. But this is a matter that needs immediate resolving, and your intrusion is the opposite of helpful. So I want you to know, that what is going to happen next, it's merely just a means to an end, and the opposite of a personal
revenge."

Uub, for the first time ever since he had gotten on that ship, felt true horror.

All he heard was a laugh, a hyena's laugh. The one they made before eating you alive. Suddenly, his body inclined upwards, looking into the blue skies above through the hole the girl had done, and realized that whatever would come, would hurt more than anything before.

It lasted for a moment, a mere second, but the pain burned, and he shut off.