Hey everyone, I'm back from the grave. In all seriousness, sorry about taking so long to release a chapter. I was really busy with classes, but when summer rolled around, I was working like 30hr work weeks and just wanted to play video games and watch tv when I got home. My motivation for this had gone down too. I think I've gotten out of the slump and am ready to start writing again. Some things to address before we go forward. After thinking about it for a while, I will not be doing the entirety of the original Dragon Ball. Its just too long and my ideas are more to do with the stories from Z. I'm not gonna abandon OG DB, but I'm skipping over almost all of it. I'll finish the first arc and then skip around between the stuff happening on Planet Vegeta and Earth, and finish DB off with the King Piccolo saga having my full attention. I've only watched the first 10 or so episodes of OG DB, so I need to finish the series before we get to that. Also be aware that I haven't touched this fic for months so expect inconsistencies between chapters (I like to think of it as having that Toriyama touch to it). I'm also going to retcon a few things like that stupid "tribe" system where I was gonna have it be like some pokemon thing where each saiyan tribe had different battle stats, but in the end it became to much of a hassle and doesn't really fit with the DB universe anyway (the manga/tv show I mean, cause it makes sense for the games). I'll still have the tribes be a part of their culture, but it's not going to affect fight outcomes. This chapter is gonna be pretty short, but I'm hoping to make longer ones when we I get to the parts I want to wright about. Thank you all so much for bearing with my lazy ass. Now onto the story.

Chapter 7:

All Rivers Lead Back to the Ocean

Bulma and Goku had been riding on the motorbike for a good few hours. The sun had passed the midday point and was far down enough that the sky had a light orange tint to it. Bulma was getting tired and Goku was getting hungry. The duo would probably have covered more ground if the younger of the two didn't constantly need to stop to grab a snack or relieve himself. Bulma had tolerated the first few times, but after the 12th she decide she needed to put her foot down as the elder. Goku didn't mind this at first, but after an hour his urges began to bug him making him act more like his age. He would wine and grunt and throw small tantrums, which irritated the blunette to no end. She ignored him which made the child realize his fussing wouldn't make her budge and kept his mouth shut the rest of the way; this was 4 hours ago.

Goku had finally decided to speak up, grabbing the female's attention by lightly tugging on her shirt. His tone was tired and slight groggy. "Hey Bulma, can we please stop for a little bit? I'm getting really hungry". His stomach then rumbled and Goku winced in slight pain. Bulma was not annoyed with Goku anymore, but she was exhausted and thus slightly irritable.

Bulma spoke in a manner like a mother who is irritated yet trying her best to still be polite to her child. "You had a squirrel earlier, you can last another couple hours". She was still disgusted by the fact that Goku just ate random animals he found, but she slowly got used to that just being apart of how he was raised. Judging by the position of the sun, she estimated it was around 4pm. The next town would be about 2-2 ½ hour drive and she did not want to make any more stops. If she stopped now to let Goku go pee or hunt something, it would take away from their travel time and she did not want to be on the road as it was getting dark. Sure, she had the capsule house, but she needed to get to the town to restock on supplies and more importantly gas. A gorgeous genius like herself was not about to become subjected to another night out in the wilderness just because this country bumpkin couldn't go two seconds without taking a piss or shoving food down his throat.

Goku was annoyed by this but kept it to himself knowing that making a fuzz over it wouldn't get him anywhere. He sighed and turned his head to take in the scenery. The landscape was different to what they saw when they left this morning. They had passed between forests and river on their way, but now they were back in a plain biome. The difference here was the amount of stones that jutted out of the ground. Back at Mt. Paozu, the fields were open with plenty of space to run around in. At this location, brown boulders peeked out of the earth and peppered the landscape. It was by no means ugly to look at, but it made it hard to see past the horizon. Goku was curious as to why this plain had all the rocks, but the ones by Mt. Paozu didn't. Even though he'd only known Bulma for a few days, it was obvious that she was very smart and knew a lot more about the world than him. The monkey boy lightly tapped the blunette on the shoulder to grab her attention. Hopefully this topic would help him ignore the fact that he was hungry.

"Hm?" she mumbled as she peered back at the tiny warrior to tell him that he had her attention. "Bulma, I've got a question.", he asked nonchalantly. "Ok, shoot.", she responded.

"Why is it that the fields here have all these rocks poking out of the ground? The ones by my place don't look like this.", he asked with inquiry in his eye. Bulma put a small smile on her face. She enjoyed answering Goku's questions as he had a genuine desire to learn more about the world. He was so innocent with his curiosities and it felt nice to be able to share her knowledge with someone who wasn't looking to get something out if it in return, as she had experienced so many times in the city. It was also a sight boost to her ego knowing that she held all the knowledge of the world and that Goku needed her genius mind to relay it to him, but she would keep that little tidbit to herself.

She held her head slightly high and began to explain. "Well Goku, I know you have a river near your house. Did your grandpa ever tell you how that came to be"? She asked this to see of Goku had been taught the principle of change over time by his grandfather. Hopefully he knew about this concept, so explaining tectonic shifts would be easier for him to grasp.

Goku put his finger to his chin and thought about all the lessons his grandpa taught him as a boy. He in fact did recall asking Grandpa Gohan about where the river that flowed down the mountain came to be. He looked up at Bulma and relayed his memories. "I remember one time when we were following the river down the mountain to get back home and I asked him about hit. I think he told me that after a long time, the rain that fell on the mountain dug into the dirt a little bit every time it rained until it became the river."

"Good, that makes explaining this much easier", said the blunette with slight relief. "So, it's actually the same principle, but in this case the Earth itself moves little by little, smushing continents together and the making the crust poke up. This can result in the landscape forming great mountains or the rocks jutting out around us", she responded.

Goku gave a grin to show the he understood what Bulma was trying to teach him. "Oh, I see, that makes a lot of sense actually". He was awestruck with how this girl was such a genius and could answer any question he threw at her. "Man Bulma, you sure know a lot about everything, how did you get so smart?", he asked starry eyed.

If Bulma didn't have a swollen head before, she certainly had one now. She slyly put her hand to her mouth and chuckled in fake embarrassment. "Oh, Goku you little charmer you. You sure know how to make a lady feel special, you've got me all flustered."

Goku rolled his eyes as he could tell that she was being sarcastic about his compliment. One thing he quickly realized about his female companion is that she liked to have her ego stroked. Hopefully he could use this in the future when she gets mad at him as she usually does. The boy refocused on the road and saw a large object begin to move perpendicular to their path. Bulma was still acting flustered and was not giving her full attention to the road. The Monkeyboy, tugged on the blunettes shirt to ask her another question.

"Hey Bulma?", he quietly asked. The teenager soon regained her composure and looked back at the fighter, "Yes Goku what is it?". "I know you said the rocks move slowly, but like how slowly", he asked as he continued to stare at the object moving in front of their projected path. "Oh, they take thousands to hundreds of thousands of years to move anywhere significant, you would never see it in your lifetime", she responded coolly. "Oh OK, I was just wondering if that rock in front of us was moving because of the smushing", Goku stated nonchalantly.

Bulma had to process what Goku had just said before she responded and decided to look at the road in front of here, which she had been ignoring up to this point. "Rock, what rock?", she questioned. When her eyes finally caught gaze with the road, it was almost too late. She saw a large brown hunk of mass sitting in front of her motorcycle. She panicked and let out a scream as she pulled on the brake lever. She didn't brake early enough though and their current trajectory had them rushing straight into the object in front of them which she could have thought she heard scream back at her. As this was happening Goku broke out of his panic and equipped his power pole. He commanded it to extended, "Power-Pole, extend!" and quickly struck it at an angle into the dirt in front of them in hopes of applying some extra force to slow them down.

Luckily for the duo, Goku's quick reaction time stopped them from crashing into whatever the object was. The two panted and let out sighs of relief. After regaining their composure, they were able to get a better look at what was blocking their way. At first glance it certainly appeared to be a rock, but closer inspection revealed what looked to be scales, and a shell, and flippers, and a head; "Hey is that a turtle?!", Goku quickly blurted out. Bulma examined the object and recognized that it was indeed a turtle. Said turtle had its flippers covering its head, hoping to lessen the impact it was expecting to take, after a few moments passed the reptile realized it hadn't been hit by the vehicle and let out its own sigh of relief.

"This is what I get for leaving the water", said the turtle with a sulky tone in a nasally voice. "Oh wow, it can talk", exclaimed Bulma, "I've only ever met a few nonhumanoid talking animals"! The turtle now seemed to be calm and lowered its flippers from its face. "Well it's a hard skill to learn so most animals don't bother trying to, but I've been around for a while, so I picked it up over time", he responded with slight trembling, obviously still shocked about almost being ran over.

Bulma realized that she had almost hit this creature and immediately went to bow in apology. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I almost hit you with my motorbike!", she said while repeatedly bowing. The turtle was a forgiving soul and responded warmly, "Oh don't worry yourself over it, I should have been paying attention to the road". Goku decided to chime in with one of his lack of awareness comments, "That's OK, cause Bulma wasn't paying attention to the road either. She was too busy gushing over how smart she is, right Bulma", the boy said as he looked up at the teenager. Bulma was not keen about Goku throwing her under the bus like that and hissed at him. The Monkeyboy was able to pickup that she didn't want that brought to attention and he lightly scratched the back of his head with an awkward grin. The turtle was not one to hold grudges though and thought nothing of it.

Goku focused back onto the turtle. He had seen plenty of them back home swimming in the river and crawling around the mud beds, but this one seemed strange. What stood out most was that this turtle had no legs but "fins" instead. "Hey Mr. Turtle, why don't you have any legs like other turtles?", Goku asked innocently. Bulma lightly flicked Goku across the head, "Its not polite to ask people, errrr… beings about their appearances like that. Would you like it if people brought up your tail when they met you?". Bulma was hoping to teach Goku a lesson in manner, but he unintentionally spat it back in her face. "Why would I? You're the one who is missing their tail", he responded. The blunette was infuriated by this and was about to smack him across the head until the turtle spoke up and interrupter her. "Oh it's quite alright miss, nothing wrong with the lad being curious, and please call me Turtle, Mr. Turtle was my father". The reptile then looked to the Monkeyboy and lifted his right flipper up, "You see young man, most other turtle lives in freshwater and can still move around on the land. I however am a sea turtle and live only in the saltwater oceans".

Goku's expression lit up when he heard this. "The OCEAN?! Oh, grandpa used to tell stories that took place on the ocean. He said he would take me one day, but he never got the chance! Oh Bulma, can we go see the ocean please!?", he yelled with absolute excitement. "Actually, I would appreciate if you could do that for me. I was sent out by my master to collect some mushrooms from the mainland for a dish he was making, but I go lost and haven't been able to find my way back for weeks."

"Oh great, now its gonna be even ruder when I tell him no", Bulma thought to herself. "Oh well… I'm really sorry about the predicament you're in right now, but we're on a very important quest and we don't really have time for sightseeing. I'd be glad to point you in the direction of the ocean", to which she then pointed to her right.

Goku was not happy about this at all and furrowed his brow and began throwing a tantrum. "We're not in a rush, it's not like the Dragon Balls are gonna go anywhere! He needs our help and I wanna see the ocean?!" Goku knew this wasn't true as he had an encounter with the Pilaf gang trying to collect the other Dragon Balls and hadn't told Bulma yet, but he was confident that he could get any back that they grabbed first. Grandpa Gohan had always told him stories of pirates and Vikings battling on the high seas and the monsters that lurked under the waves. He wasn't going to pass up this chance to finally see this amazing place, and this poor turtle also needed their help getting home. Bulma was not going to budge, she needed to remain in control and not let Goku's whims distract the from their mission. "Look I'm sorry Goku, but we can't stop and help every stranger who needs our help, if we do that, we'll never get the Dragon Balls! Its also late in the day and I don't want to spend another night in the woods!", she said as she crossed her arms to show that this decision was final.

Goku being the child that he is decided the best way to handle this would be immaturely. With his unknown to him saiyan speed, he quickly snatched back the 4-star ball. "Well if you want the other balls so badly, you can go get them by yourself. I'll stay here and bring Turtle back to the ocean along with my 4-star ball. You can come back and get it when you get the rest of them.", he said as he stuck his tongue out. The blunette had to take a double take and she realized that the young warrior had snatched his Dragon Ball from her pouch. She was fuming and beet red with anger, "Stop being such a baby and give the ball back! I don't have time for these stupid games!". Goku knew that there was the potential of being hit, but besides some stinging, she had no real. power over him. "I don't have to give you anything, its my ball and I decide what to do with it.", he then pointed his index at the girl as he continued, "if you want this ball back, you either help me bring Turtle back to the ocean or you get this ball when you get the others, but good luck getting them without my help!".

Bulma's lips puckered as she wanted to scream, but she held it in to keep from embarrassing herself. Her face faded back to its peach color and she released a sigh as she lowered her head in defeat. "Fine, we'll take the turtle to the ocean.", she sulked. Goku gave a grin and handed back the dragon ball to the blunette. "You have to carry him there though, I'm not carrying all that weight on my bike!", she exclaimed hoping to punish her male friend somehow. "That's fine, he shouldn't be too heavy", he said as he lifted Turtle up like a piece of paper. The teenager wasn't even surprised at this point and just ignored her lack of justice given.

"Oh, thank you so much, I really appreciate this!", exclaimed Turtle gratefully. Bulma waved her hands, "Yeah-yeah, you're welcome. Let's just get this over with", she said with an annoyed face. The girl genius hoped on her bike and turned back at the duo, "Well…lets get going, I don't have all day". Goku then slid Turtle up his back and began to jog with him, albeit his speed of 20mph would not match what most to consider jogging. Bulma then scooted off and kept pace with the two as they went in the direction of the sea. "I can't express how grateful I am to you both, I'll make sure to repay you when we get to the ocean!", exclaimed Turtle. Bulma sarcastically replied, "I'll take one Dragon Ball to go then". Little did she know that she may get exactly what she asked for.

Well there is the end of this super short chapter that really functions more as a filler than actual story content. I was going to write about them meeting Roshi in this chapter, but I think I've left you waiting long enough for new chapters. My semester is ending soon, so when I get the free time, I'm probably going to watch OG DB. Hopefully this reignites me to want to sit down and type. I wanted to start some other fics, possibly a MHA x DB story and a few JoJo stories, but with my track record for not posting consistently, don't expect them anytime soon (but do expect them at some point). Thank you for being loyal to this story, knowing that you all want to read this has kept me from completely giving up on this, so thank you for the support. See you in 2025 if we haven't been bombed by then.