Dragon Ball: Space Adventures
The rule of trees VIITime moved forward, the soft tickles of the burning wood gave away a semblance of comfort, of something known.
But it wasn't enough. God, how horrible it felt to be a failure. To sit on the dirt with your arms over your knees knowing full well that everything is your fault and nothing you can do now will fix it.
Her stomach gurgled again for what it was now the hundred time. She had missed her dinner time, and now an indomitable hunger consumed her, but somehow that wasn't the worst part.
Her dry throat bothered her more and more, and she feared it would only get worse from then on. Not only that, but she felt horrible. She was completely messed up.
Her clothes were filled with that dryness clothes get after you sweat on them, she was filled with mud, her hair had stand up again. And she felt like the stupidest person in the universe.
God, how could she have been so stupid as to not plan for the possibility of the capsules breaking? It seemed common sense to just anticipate such a thing, but that idea had never crossed her mind one moment.
Instead, she'd spent the entire trip planning how to get revenge on Pan. She'd done tactics, fight plans and more, all which had resulted in a measly draw.
Was that all she had to show? Just a draw? God, was there a time in her life where she didn't expend being such a disappointment?
"Why are you here?"
Uub asked softly. The girl slowly raised her eyes attempting to remember how it had all begun, and found herself at shock how everything that she thought had been planned now seemed ill-thought.
"My father told me I should be here."
"You traveled across the universe because your father wanted it?"
"He didn't use such words, but he implied that was something I should do."
"He implied"
He said repeating to himself, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"The reason our world may be destroyed is because he implied something"
Suddenly a spark of energy hit her in the back, because HE was making fun of her dad.
"Careful you dwit. My father is one of immense intelligence and knowledge. When he says something he means it. "
Uub laughed.
"Then what did he say?"
"He said she was right to want to be here, that we were not mere children anymore and we deserved to come as much as you or anyone else, because it would be the only way we'd truly learn."
She looked down, remembering how she had felt seeing those dark eyes of his respond to her words.
"He said that a warrior is not born in a training ground thinking he's the best because they said so, he is born through a myriad of battles and experiences, through scars and injuries, through adventures and meetings of other cultures and people. That's when a warrior is truly born."
The boy shook his head in disbelief.
"Does everything come from the mouth of your father or do you have a singular original thought?"
"Why are you here?"
Bulla replied, annoyed.
"Because my master wanted to teach me humility, because he wanted me to appreciate what I had. That's why I'm in the middle of nowhere dealing with the two of you, that's why my spine was broken in half, why I was chained for a week like a slave, why I put up with both of you childish little girls!"]
The girl stood idly, tilting her head quietly to the right.
"...That doesn't sound like Kakarot."
"I know my master. I know what he sounds like and what he does, and his name is Goku!"
"And my father knows him twice as long as you'll ever know, and if all the things I've heard about him are true, then I sincerely struggle with the idea he'd ever put you through such suffering. Furthermore, you don't strike me as the kind of man who doesn't seem to appreciate what it has, unless you were always a little spurious man."
Uub shook his head, as words struggled for a moment to come out from his mouth. His master had put him some strenuous training before, but a part of him asked if this really was something he'd do. That part didn't got an answer.
"Maybe he's trying new things! And there's always things to learn! And why should I believe your hearsay? I know him, I was taught by him, learned by him, I know what he thinks and I know what he wants!"
Bulla chose not to reply, instead, she limited to watch him. Asking the same question the boy had spent a week wondering about; Why was he here?
"A-and stop changing the subject! This isn't about me or Goku, it's about you and your dumb friend!"
The girl smiled.
"You said it yourself, she's not my friend."
"Of course! Who would want to be your friend?"
Bulla scoffed full of pride and anger, the mere question being as offensive as it could be. The girl struggled to think of a bigger and dumber question.
"Millions of people! Did you know I have the largest fan club on my side of the continent? Did you know there's a list the size of Texas of the amount of kings that have offered their sons hands to me? Did you know I'm an internationally recognized model? Do you even know who I am!?"
"Of course I know who you are! You're the most annoying being who I had the misery of ever meeting!"
"I am a princess!"
"You are a little girl!"
"And Pan hits much harder than you!"
"Sure, and you are a strong and mature woman."
"You wouldn't know, since you were too busy being scared to fight!"
"I was dodging!"
"You were scared!"
"Did I look scared when I sent her KI blast flying away?"
"Yes! Right after you send the blast away! When you started to massage your hands because they were numb, and you stood for a moment realizing that if that had hit you it would have hurt."
Uub quietly looked away.
"Some of us think that the sign of a true warrior is to not come back with a hundred bruises from a fight."
Bulla looked him up and down, examining the state of his clothes, body and face through the faint but powerful fire that they had created.
"Then what a great warrior you are, with your face full of bruises and your eyes red enough to color mars!"
"Go to hell! That was cheating."
"No you were cheating! Some of us don't have a monster inside of us that we can get energy from!"
Uub suddenly stopped in place. His eyes expanded as he slowly but surely stared worriedly.
"W-what?"
"Don't play dumb! I saw your eyes and that evil energy you were emanating. Considering your situation, I performed spectacularly."
He looked around, smacking his lips and appearing as he was suddenly invaded by a wave of all consuming shame. His bravado banished, alongside his interest in arguing.
"That was… A mistake. It won't happen another time."
"I hope not! Unlike you he's actually fun. He doesn't go parroting how much better he is because he doesn't fight women or tries to talk almighty when he's a horrible person. He just punches you.
She turned around and crossed both arms.
"I prefer him."
She said, but Uub fell silent.
Suddenly all the noise watered down until nothing. The fire chirped again, the boy's eyes were focused solely on the burning wood beneath. It was like all his will was gone.
"So what even is that from? Energy from Majin Buu? How's that even possible?"
"How do you know that?"
There was a somber tone accompaniating his words, a sort of demonstration of disdain. A conversation he did not want to have.
"I saw you fighting in the tournament, and I'm yet to see anything like it, and the rest wasn't hard to figure out, I mean, Uub backwards is Buu. I'm pretty sure even Pan figured that one out."
The boy wondered how that was even possible, she had to be at least three, even he didn't remember much of it. Although he knew why that might be.
Bulla continued.
"And you have to be one of a kind to be Kakarot's prodigy. Although I'm not entirely sold on the idea of reincarnation, like how does that even work? energy flows from a host to another and it follows him? It doesn't make any sense."
But she spoke to no one but herself. The boy wasn't paying attention.
"Hey! I'm talking to you."
"Shut up."
He said quietly, cuttingly.
The girl recalled the first time had told her to shut up. It was one of the oldest boys of her high school. Bulla possessed a crush on him at the time, and because he was bad at math she thought of explaining to the teenager how it worked, but he simply did not appear interested for some reason. Eventually, he cut short to the race, and said those words. At first, she was stunned, shocked. Then, anger came, and he ended up ass up in a tree, because who the hell was he to tell the Princess of all Saiyan's to shut up?
"Listen to me you dimwit, we're done when I say we're done."
"I said shut up."
Bulla stopped for a moment. How much she hated when he went on to act so mightily. It was like a more annoying version of Pan. Somehow.
"Uhhhh, look at me, I possess the greatest evil in the universe inside of me uhhh, poor me with this great weight on my back that no one can comprehend, uhhh i'm a tough boy that needs no one."
"What are you talking about?"
"Whaaa, whaaa, whaaa, That's how you sound."
Uub laughed in anger.
"You are the single most annoying girl that has ever existed."
"And you're a terrible person!"
"And you're ugly!"
Uub said assuming that it would do good work on her, but what he didn't know, was that was the second worst thing you could say to her.
"Huh!?"
She said like a rabid monkey.
"You take that back!"
"Ugly! Ugly! Ugly! Ugly! Ugly! Ugly! Ugly!"
Bulla lunged at him, and in seconds both were fighting again. Punching each other, pulling each other's hair, the girl started biting him, and Uub responded by biting too.
They took turns on the ground as they began to wrestle for control. It was then that in horror the boy found out that the young lady was in fact very physically strong, to the point that she grabbed him by the chest, put her leg around his, and judo threw him into the ground.
The boy, seeing how things were developing, saw no choice but to reply by putting his arms around her waist, and suplexing her into the ground.
They were at it for a while, At some point the martial arts were thrown out the window, and the fight was reduced to a couple of children just swinging and pushing each other into the ground that the mere description would be a pretty pathetic spectacle.
At the end, both separated, the fire now lightly lit in the background, and covered in mud, sweat and other planetary substances, they stood watching each other.
Uub laid on the tree, out of breath.
"Y-you're, without doubt, the worst girl I had ever had the dishonor of knowing."
Bulla, also out of breath, responded.
"A-and you're the largest imbecile that has ever walked the earth."
"I know that, I'm here with you."
The young maiden grinned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm giving you the reason. I am an imbecile."
She smirked.
"Glad you accepted it."
They stood idle. Hearing the soft thumbs of their hearts. The boy immediately regreted doing all of that, because now he really was tired. Even if he tried to move he simply would fall.
They stood quiet, and once the adrelaine went away, too fast for his taste, The boy's eyes began to feel heavy, and as they closed he did not nor could offer much fight.
He simply fell asleep.
For a couple of moments, the girl looked around. Her throat was really dry now, it was becoming unbearable. Oh what she'd do for a glass of water. Or some food, or a nice warm bed were to slept. Instead, all she had was this cubicule of mud and dirt, spot which she shared with Uub. She looked at him, and saw his sleeping.
How dared he to take a nap while they were in the middle of nowhere?
"H-hey! Wake up!"
She said, Uub's eyes opened tiredly. The weight of a frenetic day had now fully fell upon him. Just by opening them he fought to not close them.
"What?"
He said somnolently.
"Don't just fall asleep!"
"Bulla, I am tired, let me rest for a while."
"N-no! You can't just leave me here while you go off to take a nap!"
"Isn't that what you wanted, For me to shut up?
"yes, but not right now! We're in the middle of unknown lands, we can't lower our guard."
The boy groaned as he adjusted himself upwards. He knew she was right, but god he was tired. If he ever came back to the ship, he would sleep so tight that not even a pissed off Ni Kut would wake him up.
"Try stay up. I know it's asking a lot but we don't know what's out there."
"Even if something is there, I don't think either of us is in much shape to do much about it."
The girl nervously stared. She regretted lunging at him now and wasting whatever bits of energy they had left, but god he had earned it.
"Maybe, but I'd rather you be awake."
Awake, he repeated in his head like a funny joke you finally get. There were a million things he could promise, and remaining awake was too much from him. He couldn't even recall when his eyes closed, and when Bulla spoke.
"Hey! What did I say!?"
The boy groaned in pain.
"Bulla, why do you hate me?"
"I don't hate you, that's Pan."
He smiled defeated.
"I cannot tell the difference."
"The girl sunk her femur into you, at worst I am an unwitting accomplice."
"You're half the reason for that."
The girl blushed in regret.
"I-I was trying to fight her! Why did you get involved!? It was our fight!"
Suddenly a spike of energy got him to raise slightly. God how he bothered him to hear that poor excuse.
"Why? You ask why? Because There's no time to waste! we cannot stop every two seconds because you two have a problem!"
Bulla smirked in anger.
How much she hated being portrayed as the one causing problems.
"And why did you fight her then? Oh right, to teach her a lesson, because surely that was so important, it was so important that you took an hour doing so! An entire sixty minutes of you wasting everyone's time on earth! How time efficient of you!"
The boy looked away, burning in anger, wondering how and when the girl had heard all of that.
"She kept me chained as a slave for a week all for reasons beyond my knowledge, she mocked me and demeaned me, put the lives of everyone on earth in danger because she's an annoying little brat who enjoys making the lives of others a living hell"
"Yes, that's Pan! What's the difference between what I wanted and what you did huh!?"
"Because you're a girl doing childish things!"
"Oh really?"
"Yes! You're a little girl so far devoid from your own knowledge that you think this entire "adventure" is a funny little idea where nothing could go wrong. Have you seen someone die? Have you seen what happens to people who are lost in the jungle? Do you have any idea what you're doing?
"Do you?"
"No! I don't! I have no idea what I'm doing!"
Uub fell silent and reclined into the tree, his heartbeat was fast, he was trembling. He momentarily shook the thought, it was because he was tired, that was all. He looked up to the girl, she seemed in deep thought, perhaps some of the words had reached her brain, but Bulla still stared defiantly, in a way it reminded him of Ni Kut, for better or worse.
"If somebody dies, whether it's Pan or perhaps someone else, Nobody will blame you, It will fall on me."
"Who said that?"
"No one, but that's how it is."
She looked down.
"Uub, are you afraid of dying?"
"No."
The boy lied.