The Long Trip to Namek

The Revelation

This tale begins in the southern ocean on an island that was far out in the sea, where a lone structure stood; a pink house with red letters printed diagonally across the front of it reading "KAME HOUSE". It was home to the famed Turtle Hermit, AKA Master Roshi, and his sea turtle companion, Turtle. Contrary to Roshi's title, he wasn't much of a hermit at all, having one of his students, named Krillin, living with him along with a woman named Lunch, but she had disappeared a while ago.

Master Roshi stood outside of his home, staring at the strange, large, spiked, four legged object that stood on the beach. He scratched his white beard as he stared at the thing, watching the blue haired woman that he had known since she was a teenager inspect it. The woman was a genius, even when she was younger she was performing feats that no girl her age could ever achieve.

She claimed the object she was inspecting was an alien spaceship that the current guardian of Earth had traveled in to get to Earth in the first place. He had come from a planet called Namek long ago, and so the spiked, four legged vehicle, that looked more like a creature than a means for transportation, was a namekian spaceship.

"Bulma," Roshi said to the blue haired woman while he dug his aged toes in the sand, "Are you sure this thing can fly?"

The girl blew an irritated sigh, snapping a glance back at the old man, her recently shortened hair whipping around with her head as she glared at him, "I told you that it can fly, it took me to Jupiter and back within a couple of seconds."

The Turtle Master just raised a hand, patting the air to signal her to calm down, "Now, now, I'm just making sure. I don't want the thing blowing up when you and Son are out in space."

Bulma huffed and whipped back around to continue inspecting the outside of the ship for any hazards. She was in a foul mood today, obviously, having woken up early to inspect the ship in the lab of her home in West City, Capsule Corporation, and then once again here at the Kame House. It was truly a busy, hectic day for her, especially when she had a load of cosmetics and necessities to pack! And now she was standing there in her hot, bulky, yellow spacesuit while she waited for her traveling companion, Son Goku.

The girl finished her inspections and sighed as she thought of her friend that she had met when she nearly ran him over up in the mountains many years ago. He was terribly inconsiderate to be running so late while she stood in the hot sand and did all this work to make sure they were both safe during their trip to Namek where they would wish back to life all the friends who had died in the battle against the saiyans that had arrived a few days previous. In fact, Goku himself had been beaten up pretty badly and almost wasn't able to go with Bulma on the trip to Namek due to his injuries. Luckily, however, the master martial artist, Korin, a cat, had a few senzu beans growing and he was able to give one of the magical healing beans to Goku. His wounds were instantly healed and he was then allowed to go with Bulma to Namek. And Bulma was thankful for that. Despite Goku's immature, idiotic nature, she felt more confident and safe knowing that her oldest (and strongest) friend would be accompanying her on this journey.

Almost on cue, a hover car sped onto the island and parked. Driving was Chi-Chi, Goku's wife, wearing her traditional asian-esque gown, in the passenger seat was Son Goku, wearing his yellow-orange turtle school gi, between them was Gohan, their son, who wore formal school clothes, and sitting in the backseat, taking up the entire back of the car, was Chi-Chi's father, the giant Ox-King, wearing his glasses and usual shirt and suspended pants.

Goku hopped out of the car, his eyes wide in amazement as he looked at the namekian spaceship, "Wow!" he exclaimed, "So that's the ship, huh? It's kinda goofy lookin'!"

Bulma glared at him, looking him up and down, seeing his outfit was so casual. They were going into space! She noted what she wore and began to feel silly for having so enthusiastically prepared for their journey into the cosmos.

Goku walked up to the ship and touched one of its legs, "It's not metal. This really is some alien ship! I wonder what this stuff is."

"Don't touch it, Goku!" Bulma reprimanded, "I don't need you accidentally breaking it before we take off."

"Right." Goku said before backing away from the ship a ways and turning to look at his friends and family.

Chi-Chi cleared her throat to get her husband's attention and then pointed to the suitcase in the car. Goku nodded sheepishly before heading over to the car and grabbed up the suitcase before walking back over to Bulma with a smile. The blue-haired girl just rolled her eyes before looking to everyone else.

"Looks like we're ready," she said as she looked to Master Roshi, "Thank you for letting us use your island as the launch site."

Roshi smiled from underneath his bushy moustache and beard combination, "Of course. I'm happy to see this adventure off myself."

Bulma nodded, "We'll bring everyone back to life and come back right away. Round trip will be about two months, depending on how long it will take to gather all seven of their dragon balls." She looked to Goku, "You ready?"

Son Goku nodded, "Ready as ever!" He looked to his family, "Gohan, take care of mom and grampa while I'm gone."

Gohan nodded solemnly, he had wanted to go into space, but Chi-Chi insisted that Gohan stay home, especially after having been away for one year training with Piccolo, Goku's former arch-rival. Goku agreed with Chi-Chi, even though he too would not have minded his son coming along for the ride, but he knew that Chi-Chi needed someone at the house with her.

So Goku looked to Roshi, "Master Roshi, take care!" He waved before looking to Bulma.

The girl turned around, looking up at the circle on the belly of the ship. "Piccolo." She spoke, and the circle hissed before detaching from the ship, floating down. The circular platform landed on the sand and the two friends stepped onto its pink, tiled flooring before Bulma repeated the word "Piccolo". The platform shifted a little before rising up, carrying the travelers into its bowels before sealing itself into the circular hole in the bottom, air tight.

Goku looked around the hull of the ship, his eyes wide. It was like he was already in a different world. The shell of the ship seemed to be the only thing keeping them from the elements, as the walls and ceiling were rounded and made of the same material, but the floor was pink and tiled. At the front of the ship there were three, bulbous windows, one large set at the very front, and two smaller to either side of the large one, but set closer to the floor. Just before the windows was a command panel that was shaped like a snail, the head being where the voice sensors and viewing panel were located. Bulma had installed a comfortable captain's chair in front of the control panel, with a similar chair right behind it, obviously for Goku. Then in the back, just before the door to the back room, was a rounded platter that served as a bed.

The saiyan dropped his suitcase on the floor and watched as Bulma moved over to sit in the captain's chair. "Better sit down and strap in." She said as she strapped herself into the chair.

Goku didn't question her as he moved to the chair behind her and sat down, strapping himself in with some difficulty, obviously not knowing how the harness worked. He had just barely secured himself into the chair when Bulma told the ship to take them to Namek. In but a half of a second, the ship had taken off and was already out of the Earth's atmosphere.

Bulma unfastened her harness and stood up. "We can move around now." She said and made her way to the door in back, opened it and went it, closing it behind her. When she returned to the hull she was in a different outfit. A yellow jacket with a skirt, a belt over it and a tight, black under suit, along with some yellow boots.

Goku had got up from his chair during her absence, but he now looked at her. "Huh, what's with the weird clothes?"

Bulma huffed, "It's space fashion! At least I'm prepared for space!" she shouted.

Goku just shrugged, "Okay then." He then remembered something, "Oh, Bulma, did your dad give you anything to give to me?" he asked.

The girl nodded, having forgotten as well, "Yeah, he did." She walked over to her luggage and pulled forth a capsule. She hit the button on the top and tossed it to the floor where it popped into a cloud of smoke, and when it cleared there was a set of bulky wristbands, an undershirt and a pair of boots that all looked metallic and were connected together by a button that would capsulate them again.

Goku smiled and went to them, detaching the items from the button and tossing it to the side. He pulled off his wristbands and tossed them to the floor before he removed the top of his gi and then the blue undershirt, leaving his muscled upper bare. He then lifted his legs in turn to pull of his boots.

Bulma watched him curiously, "You mean these are for training? It makes sense now, no wonder dad made sure to add metal underneath the floor, those are magnets."

Goku nodded as he pulled on the wrist bands, "Yeah, I asked your dad to make me something that I could use to train. He said the ship was too small for anything too advanced, so he said he'd make me some special training gear! This is perfect."

Bulma nodded, "I just hope you know what you're doing, I don't want you to set those magnets to something too powerful that you drop through the ship and doom us both."

Goku grinned, despite the sheer lack of confidence Bulma had in him, "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. It's the same idea as the weighted clothes training that Kami put me through." He explained as he slipped on the magnetic boots, making sure to strap them tightly to his legs. "But I can set the magnets to whatever strength I need them to be to make them how heavy I need them."

Bulma blinked, "That seems a bit complicated for you to figure out." She snickered.

Goku laughed, "Your dad explained it, but if it has anything to do with training and making myself stronger, I have to know how to use it!"

The girl grinned, "Well, I'm proud of you, Son Goku."

Goku slipped into his magnetic undershirt, "I'm gonna train." He looked at her, "You can stay in here if you want, but you might get in the way."

Bulma rolled her eyes, "Just tell me you don't want me in here. I'll be in the back of ship taking a bath." She turned to head back to the door, but she looked over her shoulder at Goku again, "Don't break the ship, please."

"I won't." Goku said cheerily as he searched for the gadget that would turn the magnets on.

Bulma smirked before opening the door and walking in. She closed the door behind her and turned to look at the tub and shower combo. She went over to the tub and turned the knob for the hot water. Soon the faucet erupted with steamy water and began filling the tub. She and her father had installed just enough water to fill the tub, along with a purifying system that lay beneath the tub. So when she drained the bathwater, it would be purified and be ready for use again.

While the tub filled, Bulma started to undress. She unclasped her belt and let it drop to the floor; she then unzipped her yellow jacket and pulled it off. She folded it nicely and set it off to the side, kicking her belt over to join it. She stepped out of her yellow boots and then peeled the tight, black under suit off of her now naked form. She folded the under suit up and grabbed up her boots and placed them with her other clothes. She then knelt at the side of the tub and grabbed up some bubble soap from her assortment of bathroom necessities and dumped a bit into the hot water. She dipped her arm in and stirred the bubbles up, the top of the water now being overrun with sudsy bubbles.

When the water had filled up the majority of the tub, Bulma turned the water off and then stood up and dipped her feet into the water. She grinned, the hot water just what she needed as she lowered her body into the tub. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the tub. She found herself smiling wide as she thought about this journey. She and her best friend were in space; on their way to a planet they knew nothing about to find dragon balls. It was exciting, and it was strangely nostalgic. But as she thought, the less strange it was. She'd bumped into Goku many years ago when she was looking for the dragon balls on Earth. It was just the two of them for the longest time until they ran into Oolong, the transforming pig and then Yamcha, the desert bandit and his floating cat companion, Pu'ar. This journey they were on now felt almost exactly how it had been back then, just the two of them together searching for dragon balls.

After her bath, Bulma changed back into her "space clothes" and walked back out into the hall, holding a book in her hand. Goku had finished his training and was now sitting cross-legged on the floor, meditating. Bulma smiled a little bit and walked over to the platter shaped bed so she could sit on it and watch Goku. He looked to be at peace, sitting there as he meditated. It affected her as well, she felt comfortable while Goku was in his meditative state.

Bulma lay back on the bed and rested her head against the pillow, opened her book and started reading. About halfway through her second page, she noticed a shadow hovering over her. She shifted the book down a ways to look up and see the curious face of Son Goku looking down at her.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm just wondering what you're reading," he said with a smile.

"It's a romance, nothing you'd be interested in, Son." She said as she lifted the book again to continue reading.

"Romance? What's that?" Goku asked.

Bulma paused for a brief moment before slowly lowering the book to stare at him skeptically, "Really?"

Son Goku nodded innocently.

Bulma sat up, which forced Goku to back off. She stared at him; "Romance is like…" she trailed off, trying to think, "If you took Chi-Chi out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, a lit candle in the middle of your table. You'd be dressed in something nice. You'd ask her what she'd like to eat, and you'd order it for her. Maybe you'd share a bottle of wine, sipping from each other's glass. Then share a bite of each other's food."

Goku's nose wrinkled in distaste, "Why would I do any of that?"

The girl stared at him, "Because you love her."

"I love everyone, though. I'm not gonna take Krillin to a nice restaurant and feed him my food!" Goku exclaimed.

Bulma blew an irritated sigh, "No, Goku, that's… That's not what I meant!" she tapped her chin as she thought of a good example, "I mean you love Chi-Chi because you married her, and you had a kid together, right? She means something special to you. You'd do anything for her."

Goku blinked, "I don't get it… I'd do anything for all of my friends, especially you, Bulma."

The girl went to complain and try to explain her side of the argument more, but she looked at him curiously, "Why especially me?"

"Well, you're my oldest friend, if it weren't for you I never would have met the Turtle Hermit, or Oolong, or Yamcha, or Pu'ar, or Krillin, or any of my friends!" He smiled at her.

Bulma felt a blush coming to her cheeks, "Yeah, but I only needed you to be the brawn of the journey." She nodded, trying to get the blush out of her cheeks. "Even if I got used to you and decided to keep you along!"

Goku grinned, "Aw, come on, Bulma. Give yourself credit! If it weren't for you I probably wouldn't be here!"

Bulma thought about that. After a moment she realized it was true; had she not ran into Goku that day, the fate of the earth may have met a terrible end, even she may have been killed on that journey. Piccolo would have ruled the earth, and the saiyans would have destroyed the earth. Suddenly she felt a great weight on her shoulders; she had been the catalyst of these events being avoided. She had introduced that powerful little boy to the world, and now he had become a powerful man that strived to defend that very world.

She looked to him, "I guess you're right."

Goku just grinned a toothy grin, not understanding that his words had affected her so deeply, "See? If anyone deserved bites of my food, it would be you!" He laughed.

She just smiled at him weakly, humoring him. He hopped up and announced he was going to do some light training before taking a rest, and Bulma saw him to it before falling back onto the pillow again. She stared up at the ceiling of the ship, truly feeling like she had a lot on her plate.

A/N: Hey! I'm back! Um, I am sorry that I haven't been working on The Saiyans, Still Meant to Be and The Mad God, but I ran out of creative juices for those stories. But this one I have many, many ideas for and I am hoping to see it through to the end! I'm trying really hard on this one, so I hope y'all like it! Also, I'm going to be posting some original work on 's sister site in the fantasy section! So if you like elves, sword and sorcery, orcs and goblins and trolls and stuff, check that out soon!