5: Meeting Jaco and Baby Goku.
Kakaroto, a Saiyan son of Gine, a Saiyan much calmer, gentler, and nobler than the rest of her people, if not for the tail on her lower back and the hairstyle that hasn't changed since she was born, many would mistake her for a foreigner or a hybrid.
How could she be with Bardock? Many considered him a living example of the excellence of the Saiyan race, for even though he was born in the lowest class, he was able to rise to the ranks of the most powerful warriors of the species with a not-inconsiderable combat level of 10,000.
It was strange to see a warrior as fierce and aggressive as he was, who must have destroyed more lives than you or I have ever eaten, but there he was, looking lovingly at his little son in the incubator.
He had his arm around the body of his mate, Saiyans do not make a habit of 'marriage', and some are not even good fathers or mothers, so much attention to an 'unqualified' son like Kakaroto was beyond unheard of.
"Do you think he'll be okay without us? He's so... fragile" Even Gine, who worked as a logistics officer and never really left her home planet, had a power of 700 points.
That wasn't much for her species, and not that she needed to fight, but it was a hell of a lot more than the meager amount of only 2 power points her son had been born with.
Sometimes she felt guilty about that. Her son Raditz was born with 300 power points, and because he was Bardock's son, he was accepted as a follower of Prince Vegeta.
What would happen to her weak son Kakaroto? She did not know. Bardock had returned... strangely after his last missions. He told her about a dragon and orbs, and how he wanted his children to have a good life.
Was it a good life to send Kakaroto to a distant world where he might die? Sure, many Saiyans had that habit, except for a few, almost all members of that race had been sent to different worlds to serve as 'initiation' for them.
It was a strange way of filtering out the "weaker" ones, and even if you were lower class, you would be the best of the lower class. How many children did not return home? And while many parents didn't care about that fact, it was a real thing, many of them died and only a few came back.
Now Bardock wanted to send Kakaroto to a remote and supposedly weak planet just because he had a bad feeling. Did Freezer want to destroy their race? He didn't know, she only works with meat products, it's not like she learns many important things.
"Even if he is fragile, he is still our son and a Saiyan. Even I, who was born in a low class with 50 power points, was able to get this far because of my efforts. Kakaroto is a restless child, so he will grow well and become stronger," Bardock said, not taking his eyes off his son, perhaps today will be the last time he sees him.
Soon after, Father and Mother sent Kakaroto to Earth in a rather old spaceship that was no longer in use. A few days later, the entire universe heard the news that an asteroid had wiped out the entire planet Vegeta, killing almost all the Saiyans, and leaving only a few specimens.
The ship may have gone unnoticed by many on Earth, but not by Bulma, who had waited a long time for this moment. She had trained not only her Ki but also her aim.
The use of such a weapon might seem silly to some, but by using it, little Bulma even got used to Ki bursts and was able to improve her control.
She couldn't do them herself for now, but she had a way to defend herself if the situation called for it. Although she had planned to learn martial arts, she had to wait for the perfect opportunity, and now she had it.
Seeing an unknown object fall somewhere on Earth, and after ruling out the usual meteors that were constantly passing through the atmosphere, she was able to tentatively confirm that it could be Goku's ship, or well, Kakaroto at this point.
"I'm not going to let him break his head," Bulma muttered as she took one of her father's vehicle capsules.
She pressed the switch and released it into the garden, revealing a rather advanced aircraft for this time, with the Capsule Corp. logo on the sides. For anyone else, the sight of a child approaching such a vehicle would set off alarm bells.
But who was Bulma? She was a genius! She even learned how to repair these vehicles from her father, so she knew how to drive them. So she deftly launched the airship and headed for the Paoz Mountains.
This was a generally unexplored and wild region, where there were really dangerous animals even bigger than the rest of the area, but she was not afraid of her adventure.
It was only during the trip that she received a communication alert from her older sister, and after accepting it, a video call between the two took place. But things got weird as soon as Tights spoke.
"Bulma! Sis, you really are a genius and a skilled girl, aren't you? Nobody is prettier and smarter than you~" The series of compliments surprised Bulma a lot, but being used to her mother and sister's bubbly personality, she managed to adapt quickly.
"What's wrong!!! I'm driving a plane!" said Bulma impatiently, causing her sister to stick out her tongue.
"Bulma, I am your dearest sister, yes?" said Tights, winking at the camera.
"You're my only sister, you look like you want something, what is it?" Bulma decided to cut her sister off as soon as possible, or Tights could keep her busy for quite a while with her jokes.
"Well, if I hypothetically met an alien, and that alien hypothetically saved me from an attack.
Let's say I accidentally told him about my super genius sister who could repair his ship and give him fuel, would you do anything to me?" Tights began to babble at a rate that astonished young Bulma, but she did tell her several things.
First of all, Jaco had already arrived on Earth and met Tights, maybe a little out of time, but the chronology of Dragon Ball could be changed by many factors.
Having access to Jaco's ship would greatly improve the technological level of Earth, a scan of it could reveal new alloys, materials, and even weapons and power systems, so it would be a very beneficial thing.
Especially since Bulma wanted to explore the universe early on, why be passive and expect everything to happen as in the original story? She wanted to explore this vast universe, learn new things, and visit certain places of interest along the way.
Meeting Namekians or Yadrats would not only be beneficial to her but could help her build a good foundation, as a Chinese reincarnate would say. But they were right, the techniques of those two races were quite good and could serve as inspiration for many other useful things.
One thing Bulma was interested in was the "Clothes Beam," or the transformation magic that the Namek seemed to have mastered. How many cool clothes could she wear? Well, that was her mother's training speaking for her.
But the things that could be done with some magic spells or applications would be quite extensive, especially since they were ki abilities, even if it seems a bit strange at first, magic was simply the micro-manipulation of that energy on an absurd level.
As a scientific genius and a budding fighter, learning magic could expand his possibilities, and it would also be a good auxiliary tool since he doubted that he was a genius or a monstrous being based on magic like Majin Boo or an insane one like Moro.
That, and she wouldn't deny that being able to repair her torn clothes in the middle of a battle was something she wanted. She was a woman, she would inevitably have to expose her bare skin when the fight got intense.
Since she didn't want to fight with her breasts in the air, learning the Clothes Beam was more of a necessity. I mean, instead of having her shirt or pants ripped, she could even change outfits during the fight.
That, and to paraphrase the Chinese protagonists, "Looking cool is the most important thing, no matter if the technique is weak, being handsome is eternal.
Third, he might be walking around with a power detector that he could borrow, or at least scan, to create a version of his own and use it to explore not only his strength but also some part of the nature of that energy.
Anyway, Tights seemed to be with Jaco right now, if the somewhat strange movements his sister was making were any indication, so Bulma didn't want to beat around the bush and was direct.
"Put the alien on the screen for me," the girl demanded, causing her sister to smile before handing her communicator to Jaco.
Jaco was exactly what he would look like in the future, holding the communicator awkwardly and seeing that Bulma was only a toddler of about four or five, he made a face and then looked at Tights next to him.
"She's just a little girl! How can a little girl help me? And she seems to be in a flying machine, do people let their children fly such things at such a young age? How irresponsible!" the patrolman complained, but that only made Tights burst out laughing.
"My sister is not like other children! She's a brilliant mind, she can help you, believe me. Besides, we don't let kids fly airplanes, but my sister can fix them, maybe she learned and decided to go for a ride," the blonde said with a proud tone in her voice as if she was the one who performed those feats.
"I'm going to the landing site of what might be a spaceship," Bulma said, not bothering to hide her destination.
Even though real life can be fucked up sometimes, she trusted her sister and, in a way, Jaco's trustworthiness, so she wouldn't hide or lie about her actions, even if they became terrible in the future.
Bulma's words made Jaco and Tights stop talking, and even Elder Omori, the old man who had brought the patrolman to town to buy some supplies, looked out.
"Girls, be careful! That could be the Saiyan I'm looking for. They're a savage, planet-destroying species. They send children into space to wipe out weak worlds like this one and then sell them, though fortunately, this might be one of the last ones left," Jaco said in a serious tone.
If the patrolman took his duty seriously, he was someone responsible, his mission was to check if this child would be a danger to this world, and if so, he had the authorization to eliminate it.
Drastic, but it was true that the Saiyans had a terrible reputation in the cosmos, and behind them was the powerful and ruthless Freezer, the successor of King Cold, they were not pure, calling themselves masters of the northern galaxy, ignoring the authority of the Galactic King and the Galactic Patrol.
"I don't mind you, I just want to find the remains of the ship, and if the Saiyan boy you said shows up, I don't think he's a threat," Bulma showed her weapon, which she would not hesitate to use if Goku attacked her somehow.
Sure, it would be at its lowest intensity, but no matter. Jaco and Bulma talked a bit after that. They would wait for her on Doctor Omori's island and take the young Saiyan with them to be examined, if possible.
Soon, Bulma landed in front of a small house built deep into the mountain. She was able to locate it because Goku's ship had landed nearby and smoke was billowing in the sky.
Bulma turned the plane back into a capsule and stowed it in a small bag that was slung around her waist. She was wearing a navy blue dress and her hair was loose and tousled, but if you noticed, it wasn't messy.
At that moment, the door of the house opened and a little boy, no more than two years old, came running out crying. He was naked and seemed to be covered in foam, with a brown tail wagging on his back, giving him a wild appearance.
The boy didn't seem to make any noise beyond crying, but when he saw Bulma, he stopped dead in his tracks, which the old man who came out right after him took advantage of to hold him. But the boy kept looking at Bulma as if he wasn't sure why this person was calming him down.
"Looks like you're smarter than everyone thinks, kid," Bulma could tell, Goku was irritated and angry, but not because of what everyone thought.
Everyone would think that he was just being wild and brutal like the Saiyan, that he didn't even want to take a bath, but Bulma could sense the emotions of others, so she could feel young Goku's emotions.
There was anger, there was annoyance, but most of all, there was a deep sadness, why, she didn't know, but when she thought about it, the boy must miss his parents, or at least his mother, who always spent time with him. For Bulma felt the thrill of longing in the child.
"Oh, are you lost, child? This place is dangerous for little ones like you," the old man finally said after he noticed that Goku in his arms was not throwing a tantrum.
"I came here in an airship, I have three purposes for being here. First, I came because of the possible crashed spaceship nearby, you should know about it.
Second, I came because of the child in your arms, someone wants to see him for certain reasons, and third, I came to ask for your training, Son Gohan. As a student of the strongest man in the world, Muten Roshi, you are famous among connoisseurs," Bulma didn't want to lie or hide, Ki users as old as Gohan would surely notice her little games.
Besides, why lie? She came with that attitude. She didn't want to get close to Roshi, not because he was a pervert, but because she had the feeling that he wouldn't train her for no good reason.
Gohan could not only help her but also soften her relationship with the currently strongest human in the world. She even planned what kind of 'magazines' to give to the old man so that he would not be so picky.
"Hm... then come in, looks like we need to talk for a while," Gohan noticed the gun in Bulma's hand that the girl never let go of, but sensing no threat in her words or actions, he decided to invite her in.