The Real Story of Bulma Briefs Part III: Prophecy of a New Threat

Chapter 1


Bulma didn't know how she had gotten here. She didn't even know how long she had been here. The only thing she was sure of was that she was dead, and that she'd never seen anything like this. She was standing in the middle of a long line of puffy cloud-like things that extended all the way up to a large mansion far in the distance with a sign on it that said "Well Come." Bulma was very puzzled. As near as she could tell, her body was just the same as it had ever been, with the exception of the weird halo above her head. But no one else had his body. They were all simply white clouds traveling along in line. She wondered if that's really how it was, or if each individual person got to be in his own body to himself, but not to everyone else. She wondered if, to all the other souls around her - which is what she assumed these clouds to be - she looked like a fluffy white cloud too.

She was still pondering this when a hand tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to see Uranai Baba, the old witch, floating there on her crystal ball. She was the sister of Kame Sennin, and she was the only non-god mortal who could travel freely between the living and nonliving realms.

"Oh, hi Baba," Bulma said, waving in greeting. "Long time no see, huh?"

"Bulma," she said, frowning at Bulma's rather familiar tone with her. "Do you know where you are?"

"Well, not really," Bulma admitted, shrugging. "I just appeared here, I guess. Where am I?"

"Bulma, you're dead," Baba said, bowing her head respectfully.

"Well, I kinda guessed that," Bulma laughed, pointing to the halo above her head.

"Oh yes, well, um," Baba stuttered, trying to regather her thoughts. "What I mean is, you're in the underworld. Where you are right now is in a line of souls waiting to be passed on to either Heaven or Hell. You shouldn't be here."

"Where else is there to go?" Bulma asked, rather confused.

"I'm getting to that," Baba replied impatiently. "You may have noticed that you still have your body. Well, that's a rather rare occurrence in the land of the dead. But as it turns out, Kami-sama requested that Enma-daiou let you keep it."

"Oh, so I am the only one in this line with a body!" Bulma exclaimed. I was wondering about that. Who's Enma-daiou?"

"He's the judge of the underworld," Baba explained. "He decides who goes to Heaven, who goes to Hell, and for special cases like yours, who gets to go elsewhere. And he wants to meet you. So follow me."

Baba floated up and over the wispy souls toward the entrance of the building ahead of them. Bulma found that she could still fly, so she followed her in. Once inside, she found herself in a big room, facing the largest man she had ever seen. He was even bigger than Saichorou!

"Ah, Briefs, Bulma!" He said thunderously, studying a little black book that said "who's who" on the cover. "You have quite a track record, young lady! I could send you straight on through to Heaven, you know!"

"Heh-heh. Wow," Bulma laughed nervously, one arm behind her head. She found herself rather intimidated by this towering giant. "Hey, wait a minute!" She exclaimed. "Do you get to judge everyone who dies? Everyone in the universe?"

"Yes," Enma said, smiling at her. "That is part of the job description."

"Well, did you process a guy named Vegita recently?" She asked him.

"Ho boy, I remember him!" Enma chuckled. "Had quite a mouth on him, that one!"

"Yes, that's him," Bulma said, nodding eagerly. "I don't suppose you're allowed to tell me where he was sent, are you?" She asked, pretty sure she already knew the answer.

"Sure, it wouldn't hurt anything to tell you that," he said, grinning. "But first I need to tell you something else. Now, I'm supposed to inform you that Kami and Popo have been gathering the dragonballs to make a wish. They're going to wish that everyone killed by Freeza or his henchmen on Namek be brought back to life. They're hoping that this will bring Saichorou back to life too, since they're pretty certain that his life was cut short a little by his grief at having Freeza kill all his children. At any rate, once he's brought back to life, the dragon of Namek will be revived, and they'll still have one wish left. Kaiou-sama is going to tell Saichorou to tell Dende to make the wish. And that wish is that all the people on Planet Namek, except Freeza, be transported to Earth. There. That's the plan. It's a bit tricky, but they think they can make it work."

"But won't Freeza come looking for us?" Bulma exclaimed. "He knows where Earth is! Why just leave him on Namek?"

Enma frowned. "A lot of things have happened on Namek since you died, Bulma," he said gravely. "Goku's become incredibly powerful; powerful enough to defeat even Freeza. Freeza knew this, so he just tried to blow up the planet. Fortunately, his attack wasn't quite strong enough to destroy Namek right away, but it's still as good as gone. The planet has less than five minutes left before it explodes."

"Damn that Freeza!" Bulma exclaimed, balling her hands into fists.

"Don't worry," Enma said with a wry smile. "He's already done that to himself."

Bulma almost smiled back. "So what am I here for?" She asked.

Enma-daiou leaned back in his chair. "Well, Kami asked me to let you wait this out at his lookout," he replied. "You'll be brought to life again too when Shenlon grants his wish. And I didn't see any point in sending you on the plane to Heaven either, considering you'd be alive again before the ride was over. I'll have Baba take you back to the living world and guide you to Karin Tower."

"Thank you," Bulma said, bowing respectfully. "That really is very kind of you. But I still have a question to ask you. Since Freeza killed Vegita, he'll be brought back to life too. So where did you send him in the meantime?"

Enma grinned. "I sent him to Hell to cool off for an hour or so," he replied. "That boy's got a real mean streak in him, and I figure a little taste of Hell will do him some good."

Bulma shook her head. She didn't know what Hell was like, but she doubted that a couple hours of it would change Vegita all that much. Still, stranger things had happened, she supposed. She thanked Enma-daiou again, and followed Baba through a hall on the right. When they came to the door at the end of the hallway, Baba stopped and turned around.

"This door leads to the room I use to travel back to the corporeal world," she said without smiling. "Without a knowledge of my magic, no one could make the jump into the living realm from here, let alone navigate through the vast expanse to find the location of the place in the universe they want to end up in. In other words, you're not allowed to enter here unless you're accompanied by me. You couldn't do much harm to yourself if you did, since you don't know my magic, but it's forbidden just the same. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Bulma said, her expression very serious indeed. "I understand completely."

Baba nodded approvingly. "Good," she said, turning around. "Now follow me, and close the door behind you."

Bulma followed her into a small, empty room and quietly closed the door. She watched as Baba got down off her crystal ball. She motioned for Bulma to come forward, which she did.

"Now," Baba said, getting herself settled. "I want you to kneel and place your hands on the crystal ball. I'm going to channel my magic through it."

"Will I be able to see the trip?" Bulma asked, doing as Baba told her.

Baba shook her head. "No," she answered. "The journey is made instantaneously. What happens is that I cause space-time to fold over a bit, so I shorten the distance between where we are and where we want to go. It's not like your form of teleportation at all. That technique alone wouldn't guarantee you a successful journey of this nature anyway. You can't begin to imagine the enormous distance you would have to travel!"

"Oh," Bulma said. She halfway wondered if Baba had discovered this magic on her own, or if Enma-daiou or Kami-sama had shown it to her.

"Now close your eyes and clear your mind," Baba said. "We're about to go through!"

Bulma did as she was told, and suddenly felt a peculiar floating sensation. But it ended as soon as it had started, and she found herself kneeling on solid ground again.

"You can open your eyes now," Baba said, pushing Bulma's hands off of her crystal ball so she could sit on it again.

Bulma did so, and she found herself looking at the neat and tidy courtyard outside Kami's palace. She got up and glanced around. Kami and Mr. Popo were nowhere in sight.

"Kami and Popo are still out getting the last dragonball," Baba said, floating up into the air. "You should just wait here for them. They'll be back soon." She began to disappear as she floated away.

"Thanks, Baba!" Bulma called after her, waving goodbye.

Bulma, now alone, sighed and looked around. She wondered how long Kami and Popo would be.

She got her answer when they suddenly appeared on Popo's magic carpet. She'd never met Kami face to face before, but she recognized him immediately.

"Hello Bulma," Mr. Popo said, smiling at her. "It's good to see you again."

"Hello," she said, smiling and waving at him. "It's good to see you again too, Mr. Popo. And it's nice to finally meet you in person, Kami-sama," she said, bowing respectfully.

Kami smiled. "I would have met you at Enma's, but Popo and I were in a bit of a panic. We've finally gathered all seven dragonballs, so now it's time to call Shenlon."

Bulma nodded, and Kami set the seven dragonballs in a group on the ground. They glowed brightly as they always did when they were brought together.

"Come forth, Shenlon, and grant our wish!" Kami cried, after they had all backed a safe distance away.

The sky began to turn black, and the dragonballs glowed intensely. Shenlon, in his energy stage, shot up from the pile of dragonballs and grew in size and length. Finally, he hung suspended in the air above them, coiled about in all his glory.

"Whatever your wish," he said in his low, rumbling voice. "Whatever it is, I will grant you, provided it be within my powers. What is your wish?"

"We wish that you restore to life all those who Freeza and his men killed on Namek," Kami said loudly. "And I must ask you now, will this include Saichorou, the Namek elder?"

Shenlon's eyes narrowed. "Yes," he said finally. "But only for a very brief amount of time, o my creator. Ten minutes at the most. His life was nearly over before Freeza ever arrived on his planet."

"That is enough then," Kami sighed, nodding gravely. "I have given you my wish."

Shenlon's eyes shone red, and Bulma's halo suddenly disappeared. She felt up above her head, where it used to be, and Popo smiled at her. She smiled back. She was glad to be alive again.

"My task is complete," Shenlon rumbled. "I bid you farewell!" And with that he disappeared, and the dragonballs shot off in all directions.

"So now what do we do?" Bulma asked.

"Kaiou-sama is conveying the plan to Saichorou as we speak," Kami replied, turning around to face her. "The rest is all out of our hands. But I did want to talk to you about something, Bulma. I was hoping you could do a favor for me."

"When God asks you for a favor," Bulma said with a grin, "it's bound to be important. What can I do for you, Kami-sama?"

"Well," he began, turning away a bit and looking up at the sky. "Now that all the people from Namek have come back to life, they're going to need a place to live. Their planet is on the verge of exploding right under their feet. So we have to have Porunga take them here, to Earth. And I was hoping that it wouldn't be too much of an imposition to ask you if you might be able to… well…"

"…invite them to come stay at my house?" Bulma finished for him with a smile.

"It would only be until we could relocate them to a new planet," Kami persisted. "But that could take a while."

Bulma smiled at him. "Kami," she began. "My family is the richest family in the world. I have no doubts that we can take in a couple hundred refugee Nameks. You have my word that for as long as they want to stay, they'll have a very comfortable home with me and my family, and they'll want for nothing. We'll see to that. They'll be very well taken care of, but I can't promise that they won't have to put up with a few absurd questions from my parents!"

Kami smiled. "Thank you, Bulma," he said, turning back around to face her again. "It means a lot to me to know that my people will be taken care of."

"It's not as if they'd be expensive to feed or anything anyway," Bulma laughed. "All they consume is water! Now, if you had asked me to house a hundred or so Saiyans, I probably would have balked a little. I'm sure you've seen how Goku can eat!"

They all laughed at that. Suddenly Bulma remembered something. "Say, what's going on with Goku, anyway?" Bulma asked. "Enma-daiou said that he'd gotten stronger than Freeza! What happened?"

"Goku has undergone a tremendous transformation, or so Kaiou-sama tells me," Kami said. "He said he's become a Super Saiyan, whatever that means. He said it was your death that triggered the transformation."

"Woah," Bulma said quietly. "Vegita tried so hard to become one. And if Goku's being one is enough to beat Freeza, it's no wonder Vegita wanted the transformation so badly."

"Kami, they're here!" Popo said excitedly. "They've appeared in a forest just on the other side of South City!"

"You might want to get going," Kami said to Bulma. "It won't be a good idea to leave them with Vegita for long. As I understand it, they don't like him much."

"Right," Bulma said. "Well, I guess I'm off then. Thanks, Kami!" And with that, she hopped off the edge of Karin tower and flew off toward South City. She couldn't wait for Kuririn, Gohan, Goku, and Piccolo to fill her in on the details!

When she finally located everybody, they were all standing in a big clearing near the edge of the forest. Bulma was so happy to see Gohan and Kuririn that she didn't even think about Vegita.

"Bulma!" Kuririn cried as she landed in the center of the clearing. "We were getting worried that you hadn't been brought back to life! Where on Earth have you been?!"

"At Kami's place," she replied, "or at least after Baba brought me there. It's a long story, and I'll tell it to you later." She looked around a little, but didn't see Goku. "Where's Goku?" She asked. "Kami said he became a Super Saiyan!"

"Woo, did he ever!" Kuririn said. "It was incredible!"

"Freeza made a big mistake when he killed you," Piccolo said quietly. "One that he's paying for right now."

"What? Isn't it over?" Bulma said suddenly, looking around again. "And where IS Goku? Didn't Porunga bring him back with you?"

"Goku wasn't done fighting Freeza," Kuririn said, lowering his eyes. "He chose to stay behind and finish him."

"You mean that when Namek explodes…" Bulma said, covering her mouth.

"Then your precious Kakkorot will be blown to bits along with it," Vegita interjected with a smug grin. "Too bad for him."

Bulma turned around to glare at him. "Well, I can see the time Enma-daiou made you spend in Hell didn't do anything to improve your tact," she said crossly.

Vegita just smirked at her. Gohan glared at him.

"You just watch what you say about my father," he said threateningly. "I won't just stand here and let you insult him like that."

"Is that a threat?" Vegita said, grinning evilly at Gohan.

"It's a promise," Gohan said with a snarl.

"Will you two cut it out?" Bulma snapped at them. "You're acting like children! Vegita, you should have more taste than to celebrate Goku's death in front of his son! And Gohan, you should know better than to egg him on like that!"

But neither one were paying any attention to her. "Why don't you make me stop?" Vegita said tauntingly to Gohan. "Or are you afraid to fight me, just like your idiot father?"

"My father was never afraid to fight you," Gohan snapped. "And neither am I! If you want me, then here I am! I'm gonna make you take back what you said, you stupid jerk!" He flew at Vegita then, and everyone jumped back to give them room.

"Well, so much for being civil," Bulma sighed angrily to Kuririn and Piccolo as Gohan and Vegita began to fight. "Should we break them up?"

"No," Piccolo said. "I think Gohan needs to do this. I'm not very much given to emotion, but Gohan is, and this is something he feels very strongly about. I say let him defend his father's honor if that's what he feels needs to be done."

"Heh," Bulma snorted angrily. "So much for good sense too then," she muttered. "I say they're both just being childish. Fighting each other isn't going to accomplish a damn thing."

Piccolo didn't answer her. He was watching Gohan and Vegita. Gohan was losing, of course. He was a lot stronger and faster than he had been before, but so was Vegita, and the smug prince was landing quite a few more blows than Gohan was. Suddenly, Vegita smashed Gohan into a nearby tree, nearly succeeding in uprooting it. Gohan, stunned, didn't get up right away.

"This is something you've learned all too late, my dear boy," Vegita said with an evil grin, poising to attack. "I play for keeps!" He began to charge at him, but suddenly Piccolo shot in between them, making Vegita screech to a halt.

"Get out of my way," Vegita growled at him. "The brat has this coming for challenging me."

"That's enough for now," Piccolo said quietly. "Maybe some other time you two can finish this, but not now. If you so much as lay a hand on him now, you'll have to deal with me."

"That may not be such a bad idea," Vegita remarked with a sneer.

"Okay, okay," Bulma snapped, stepping in between them and pushing them away from each other. "That's enough of that. We all get the picture, Vegita, all right? You're not scared of anything. Now back off!"

He glared angrily at her, but she glared back at him just as fiercely. Finally, he relented. "Fine," he said, walking away and leaning up against a tree with his arms crossed. "I guess I should expect as much from a planet of weaklings. I don't know why I waste my time with you degenerates."

Bulma rolled her eyes. Earth was definitely going to be interesting with Vegita around. She sighed, and - glaring angrily at Vegita - walked over to Dende. "Hey, kid," she said, smiling at him. "What did I tell you? They're all here! I had no idea we'd get it done so soon, though. Kami had this planned all along!"

"Not ALL of us are here," one of the elder Nameks said, bowing his head sadly.

Bulma looked around. "You're right," she said, suddenly afraid she knew what had happened. "Where's Saichorou?"

"He, he died just before you got here," Dende said, sniffing a little. "But he told me to tell you thank you for all your help."

"He's dead already?" Bulma exclaimed, very much upset. "That's terrible! Shenlon said he'd have at least a few more minutes!"

Dende didn't look at her. "I'm sorry," he said dully.

"Me too," she sighed, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I know how much he meant to all of you."

"Bulma!" A voice said in her head all of the sudden. "Bulma, can you hear me? It's me, Yamucha!"

"Yamucha!" She cried. "Is it really you?"

"Yeah, isn't it cool?" He laughed. "I'm talking to you telepathically through Kaiou-sama!"

"Wow!" She cried. She looked at her astonished friends. "It's Yamucha!" She cried. "He's speaking to me through Kaiou-sama!" She beamed at them, and then walked off a little bit so she could concentrate more on him. "Wow, Yamucha," she said softly. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, it has," Yamucha replied. "I've missed you so much, Bulma! I really wish I could see you right now! There's so much I want to tell you."

"Well, you can start by telling me how much you've improved," she laughed, putting her hands on her hips. "If you even dare to come back to life without having any new techniques to show me, you have another thing coming!" She laughed, but suddenly, a terrible realization occurred to her, and she gasped in horror.

"No!" She cried. "Oh no! This can't be happening!"

"What's wrong?" Yamucha asked, sounding concerned.

"I just realized something," Bulma said, her face pale. "We can't wish any of you back! Kami used the dragonballs just today to wish all the people Freeza killed back to life! The dragonballs won't be back again for another year! But by then, it'll have been more than a year after your deaths, and the dragon won't revive someone who's been dead for more than a year! This is terrible!"

Yamucha laughed, surprising her. "That's what I'm supposed to tell you. You don't need to use the Earth dragonballs to wish us back! Not when the Namek dragonballs are right there under your noses!"

"What?" Bulma said. "The Namek dragonballs?"

"Yeah!" Yamucha cried. "There's three wishes, right? One for Tenshinhan, one for Chouzu, and of course, one for me! Isn't it great?"

Bulma almost let herself believe it, until she remembered one thing. "Yeah, but there's a problem," she said, her spirits sinking. "Saichorou's dead, Yamucha. Those dragonballs are gone."

"No they aren't," an elderly, portly Namek said, looking up. "Saichorou passed the responsibility of Namek elder on to me. When he did that, he also transferred Porunga's mortal link to me. The dragonballs are still in existence, but it will be 120 days before they're active again. You're welcome to use them," he said, smiling at her. "I'm sure none of us would object to that." All the Nameks nodded in agreement, smiling in unison. Bulma clasped her hands together and bowed in gratitude.

"Did you hear that?" She asked Yamucha. "It'll work after all!"

"Yeah!" Yamucha laughed. "Then we'll all be back together! Just like always!"

"Well, not all of us," Bulma replied, frowning a bit. "Goku's dead now too. But we can't wish him back yet. We'll have just enough time to make it for you guys alone. We'll wish you guys back first and get Goku on the second time around, I suppose. If," she added, smiling at the Namek elder, "you wouldn't mind, that is?"

He smiled back. "We are at your service," he said simply. "You may use the dragonballs as often as you like."

"Well, I guess that's all I was supposed to say, I guess," Yamucha said. Bulma could detect a hint of reluctance in his voice.

"Okay, Yamucha," she said. "Can I ask Kaiou-sama something real quick before he closes me off?"

"He's nodding," Yamucha said. "Bye Bulma. I'll see you in a few months!"

"Goodbye Yamucha," she said, smiling. "I'll see to that."

"You want to know about Goku, don't you?" Kaiou-sama boomed in her head. "I can sense it in your thoughts. Well, all I can tell is that Namek is completely obliterated. I can't sense a single living thing out there where it used to be. I'm assuming both he and Freeza are truly dead."

"Thanks, Kaiou-sama," Bulma said, nodding. "That's what I wanted to know. Be sure to say hi to Chouzu and Tenshinhan for us, will you?"

"Don't worry; I will," he said, chuckling. "Goodbye, Bulma. Oh, and just so you know, if you ever wind up dead again, feel free to drop by. Any friend of Goku's is always welcome."

"Thanks," she laughed. "I'll do that. Bye, Kaiou-sama!" She didn't hear anything else after that, so she figured he had cut off the connection. She sighed.

"So?" Kuririn asked. "What's up?"

Bulma filled them in on everything that they'd talked about. Everyone - with the obvious exception of Vegita - was really sad to hear about Goku's death. But they were still relieved that they had a chance of bringing him back later on. Of course, they were all glad to hear that Freeza was dead. Even Vegita gave a smirk of approval when she told them that.

"I'd really like to meet this Goku," Muuri, the new Namek elder said thoughtfully. "And you know that our dragonballs are at your disposal. I just wish there was more we could do for you. We owe you our lives."

"I wish you wouldn't think of it like that," Bulma said, frowning. "The whole reason we came to your planet was to ask for the use of your dragonballs. But just look at what happened! Over half of you had already been killed by Freeza when we got there! Did you ever wonder how he found out about your planet? Well, I'll tell you. It was from hearing about the dragonballs we had on our planet. Once ours were gone, he put two and two together, just like Vegita did. So, in a way, it's our fault that Freeza even went to your planet. And then, on top of all that, he destroyed it!"

Muuri shrugged. "We assumed that he would have come to take over our planet eventually," he said. "At least this way the universe is rid of him."

"Well, anyway, since your planet IS destroyed," Bulma continued. "Kami and I decided that you needed a place to live. So here it is. I want all of you to come live with me!"

They all shared a huge gasp of surprise. "No! We couldn't possibly impose such a great burden on you!" Muuri cried. "There's over a hundred of us!"

Bulma laughed. "Don't be silly!" She said, waving it away. "It'll be no burden on me at all, I can assure you! It just so happens that my family and I are the richest people on the planet! We could take in an entire metropolis if we had to. Besides, you guys are friends! You're welcome to stay for as long as you want!"

Muuri consulted the other elders on the matter for a few minutes. Finally, they seemed to have reached a consensus.

"We accept," Muuri said, smiling broadly. "With all the thanks we can ever give!"

Bulma smiled. "Oh yeah," she said, turning back toward Vegita. "I almost forgot. You don't have a place to stay either, do you? Would you like to stay at my place too? That is, if you think you can behave yourself," she added, grinning playfully at him.

"Feh," he said, looking away from her. "Surely you're joking."

"Not really," she said, shrugging. "I realize that we commoners must be dreadfully boring to a prince as exclusive and refined as yourself, but you might want to consider developing a bit of tolerance, at least for the time being. Anyway, you won't find any better living conditions. Not without any money. But it's your choice, of course. You do what you want." She turned toward Piccolo, Kuririn, and Gohan.

"I guess it's time we headed home," she said, waving goodbye. "I'll bet you can't wait to see your mom, Gohan!"

"Heheh," he laughed, putting his hand behind his head. "Yeah. But I'm not looking forward to the huge pile of homework she's going to have waiting for me."

"You've got to take the bad with the good, I guess," she laughed. "Say hi to Kamesennin for me, would you, Kuririn?"

"Sure thing!" He said, floating up into the air. "Call me when the dragonballs are active again, and I'll come help you find 'em!"

"You've got it!" She said, and he flew off for the Kame house.

"Goodbye Piccolo," she said, shaking his hand. "I hope you'll grace us with your presence again soon. Don't get too lost in your meditations, okay?"

Piccolo smirked. "Goodbye, Bulma," he said. He looked down at Gohan. "You ready to go home, kid?"

Gohan just beamed. "Bye everybody!" He cried as they flew off. Bulma smiled as she watched them go. Those two really did look like they belonged to each other. Chichi wasn't going to like it, but it looked like Piccolo was going to play a big part in Gohan's life from now on.

Bulma turned around and smiled at her new houseguests. "Can you all fly?" She asked them. "My house is within flying distance from here."

Yes, we can all fly," Muuri replied, nodding. "Lead the way, Miss Bulma."

So she took off, and led them toward the Capsule Corporation Compound. She wondered how her parents would choose to embarrass her today.

As they flew over South City, Bulma suddenly sensed Vegita's ki behind them. Apparently he'd decided to lower his standards and come with them after all. Poor guy. She grinned. She wasn't altogether thrilled that he'd be living nearby, but at least this way she could keep an eye on him. Setting him down in a random spot with a bunch of other people might not be such a good idea. He wasn't exactly a people person.

Bulma sighed and tried to forget about Vegita. She needed to figure out what she was going to tell her parents. She had a lot of explaining to do!



On To Chapter 2 ~~~>