Chapter 2


"No, Dad, I'm serious!" Bulma cried in exasperation. "I want you to help me build my own gravity room to train in! Come on, it'll only take you a week or so!"

Dr. Briefs laughed. "All right, sweetheart," he said, stepping away from the new hovercycle prototype he'd been tinkering with. "I'll help you. I guess I still can't get over the fact that you're even stronger than my robotic bodyguards. So what d'you think? Twenty g's be enough?"

"Well, I was thinking more along the lines of one hundred," Bulma said, folding her arms. "I don't think it's humanly possible for me to get that high, but it'll give me a goal to keep working towards."

"You always did like to shoot for the impossible," Dr. Briefs chuckled, getting out a cigarette and lighting it up. "Funny thing is, you usually succeed. I've got a good feeling you'll do great things for my company when I pass it on to you," he said thoughtfully.

Bulma sighed. "Dad, put that out," she said. "I wish you'd quit. You're going to kill yourself with those awful things."

"Better to die a happy man, Bulma dear!" He laughed heartily, slapping her lightly on the back. She just shook her head at him and unfolded her arms. He was hopeless.

"Say," he said suddenly, raising an eyebrow. "How are our guests doing? Do they like their new homes? Your mother and I stocked all their refrigerators full of the best bottled water money could buy. Are they getting along pretty well?"

"They say they're very comfortable," Bulma said, shrugging. "But I think they miss their old homes a lot more than they let on. You know, I've been thinking, Dad. They said we could use the dragonballs to wish our friends back. The second time we'll use them to wish Goku back, and then we'll have two other wishes. How about if we used the other wishes to create a new home for them? We could ask the dragon to create a new planet Namek for them, and then we could wish them all there. Do you think they'd like that?"

"The only sure way to know is to ask them," Dr. Briefs replied with a smile. "But I have a feeling they'll like that very much. Just so you know, though, your mother and I both agree that we wouldn't mind having them here forever. They really are remarkable fellows. I only wish that we'd met them under less unfortunate circumstances."

"Yeah," Bulma agreed.

"By the way," Dr. Briefs said, leaning up against his cycle and finishing the last puff of his cigarette. "How's your Saiyan friend making out?"

"Damned if I know," Bulma said tersely, glaring at him. "He's not MY Saiyan friend, Dad. Anyway, he's holed himself up in his quarters right now. Every now and then he goes off to the desert to train, and he only comes back for food and a place to collapse for a day or so. Then he leaves again. At least he's not killing anyone. That's something, I guess. But I have to admit the guy still gives me the creeps. I kind of like it better this way - with him gone most of the time."

Dr. Briefs laughed. "I don't know," he said with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. "Your mother's taken quite a shine to him. It's too bad you didn't bring back an exotic alien woman for me! Then we'd both be content!"

"God, you two are impossible!" Bulma exploded. "It's beyond embarrassing! It's obscene!"

Dr. Briefs laughed, obviously happy that he'd ruffled Bulma's feathers a bit. "Oh, we're just having fun! Lighten up, honey!" He chuckled.

Bulma just growled and rolled her eyes. "Do you wanna get started or what?" She snapped impatiently. She unrolled the blueprints she'd been holding, and spread them out on his desk. "I've made some prelims on the building design, but you're the expert on gravity control, so I need your opinion on the strength of this design, as well as the construction of the machine itself…"

And thus began a five-day long project for Bulma and her father. It would have taken a lot longer, but the Nameks took a great interest in it, and eagerly offered their help. Bulma decided that the past few weeks must have been pretty boring for them, so she asked her dad to think of something that might interest them and keep them occupied for a while. Being the practical person that he was, her father decided that they should try one of his favorite pastimes: golf. Surprisingly enough, though, most of the older Nameks really seemed to like it. Bulma laughed outright when she saw him leading them out to the links for the first time, because he'd made them dress up in those ridiculously goofy outfits he always wore when he went golfing. He assured them that the absurd garments vastly improved his skill, and would do the same for them. The saddest part was how fervently he really believed it, and how he got them to feel the same way.

The rest of the Nameks found other ways to amuse themselves. The children were taken out to the city almost every day by Mrs. Briefs. She just couldn't get enough of the "sweet little darlings." She took them to all kinds of different places, but their favorites were the amusement park, the zoo, and the botanical gardens. They were the most often visited, but Bulma's mother took them to all sorts of other places besides. It was a wonder they never developed a severe case of culture shock.

As for the rest of the Nameks, they were the most restless, and as a result, the most active. They kept themselves amused by sparring with each other all the time. Dr. Briefs had a huge gymnasium constructed for them after the gravity room was completed, and they loved it almost as much as the elders had grown to love the golf course.

Bulma enjoyed her time in her own personal gravity room very much indeed. She'd invited the Nameks to come train with her, but they kindly refused, saying that they preferred the gym. So instead, she trained alone. So far, the highest she could go was five g's. But she was determined to go much higher than that, so she trained hard every day. It was slow going though, and she didn't make it to ten until a whole month had elapsed. By the end of the next month, she'd only gotten up to fourteen.

In the meantime, Vegita kept up his routine of disappearing for a week or so and then only showing up for a few days to crash. Bulma was terribly afraid that while he was there, he and the Nameks would get into a fight, but remarkably, he kept to himself, so there weren't any real problems at all. For the most part, Bulma avoided him. He still really creeped her out, and she didn't really have much to say to him anyway.

Thus things continued for the next month or so, with Bulma training in her gravity room and making slow but steady progress along the way. She had to hand it to Goku. Mastering one hundred g's in less than a week had been some feat. Bulma was so exhausted at the end of each day that sometimes she didn't even make it to her bed before she collapsed. The days flew by, though, and sure enough, it wasn't long before Muuri came to inform her one morning that the dragonballs had just become active again. It was time for the great dragonball hunt to begin! Bulma called up Kuririn, and he, along with their Namek friends, helped to find the seven orange spheres. Each equipped with his own dragon radar, it only took them just under three days to locate all the balls and bring them together at the Capsule Corporation Compound.

On the day that they called Porunga, everyone - except Vegita - was there for the big event. Kuririn and Kamesennin had made the trip over, and Puar and Oolong had come too. Piccolo had made a surprise appearance, much to the delight of Dende and the other Nameks, and even Gohan was there, having been given special permission from Chichi to come welcome the returning warriors with the others. Everybody was very excited, and very eager to get started.

"You'll have to tell me what you want me to say," Muuri said as they all stepped back away from the group of dragonballs. "Porunga only grants wishes in our tongue."

Bulma stared in surprise at Dende, who winked at her. "Dende, you little scamp!" She exclaimed in fluent Namek. "Why didn't you tell him I could speak your language?"

"I thought it would be fun to see the look on his face," Dende laughed.

All the rest of the Nameks, especially Muuri, gaped at her in astonishment. Piccolo just smirked. The Nail in him must have found this just as amusing as Dende did.

"You don't mind if I make the wishes, do you, Muuri?" Bulma said politely, smiling apologetically at him.

"Er, no!" Muuri said, still quite taken aback. "But how do you…?"

"I'll tell you later," Bulma said kindly, sticking her tongue out at Dende, who did the same back to her. "I hope you're not angry."

Muuri looked first at her, and then at Dende, and then he laughed boisterously. "Will wonders never cease?!" He exclaimed, chuckling, and shaking his head. "Angry indeed!"

Bulma just smiled. She could tell that Muuri at least had a sense of humor. Perhaps Saichorou had made a wise decision in making him the new leader. "Thank you," she said politely. "Okay, everybody, here we go!" She cried, raising her hands out over the dragonballs. She'd waited so long to make these wishes!

"Takkarato po Porunga pupiritto paro!" She called out, grinning at the astonishment that was still lingering on the other Nameks' faces. The dragonballs glowed brightly for a few seconds before they erupted with energy as Porunga shot up and out of them. Within seconds, he was towering over them in all his glory.

"Now that's a dragon!" Piccolo breathed in amazement. Bulma laughed at him. She couldn't help it. Maybe Nail had less of an effect on Piccolo than she thought.

Bulma knew exactly what she wanted to say. She'd already learned from their mistake on Namek that she needed to be very specific.

"Greetings, mortals," Porunga rumbled at them. "I will grant thee the first three wishes asked of me, and no more. What are thy requests?"

Bulma grinned at Kuririn and then looked up at Porunga. "Our first wish," she said in loud, clear Namekian, "is for you to resurrect Chouzu and bring him here to us!"

"A simple matter," Porunga said, his eyes flashing red. Suddenly Chouzu popped out of thin air and landed on the ground in front of them.

"Wow!" He cried, the first thing he saw being Porunga. "Oh my goodness!"

"What is thy next request?" Porunga asked.

"O Porunga!" Bulma cried. "Our next wish is for you to resurrect Tenshinhan and bring him here as well!"

Porunga's eyes narrowed. "A simple matter," he rumbled, and his eyes flashed again. Suddenly Tenshinhan appeared next to Chouzu, and they looked at each other in surprise.

"That was fast!" He cried, smiling excitedly at Chouzu. He then looked up at Porunga and did a double take. He was just as impressed at the size of the great dragon as Chouzu was.

"You have one wish remaining," Porunga said restlessly. "What is thy last request?"

"Finally, O Porunga," Bulma said, closing her eyes in anticipation. "We ask that you please resurrect Yamucha and bring him here."

"A simple matter," Porunga said again, and once again his eyes shone red.

Just as the others had done before him, Yamucha appeared before them. He looked at Bulma and smiled. "It's really good to be back," he said, gazing at her affectionately.

"My task is done," Porunga rumbled. "I bid thee farewell!" And with that, he disappeared, leaving only the ring of dragonballs high in the air, which suddenly flew off in all directions.

"It's good to see all of you back!" Bulma exclaimed, choking up a little. "I'm really sorry that it tooks us so long to wish you back to life!"

"That's okay, Bulma!" Chouzu said cheerfully. "We had lots of fun at Kaiou-sama's!"

"But some things we couldn't help but miss," Yamucha added quietly, gazing at Bulma softly. Bulma blushed a little, and turned away from him. He was making her uncomfortable.

"Yamucha!" Puar cried suddenly, flying forward and tackling him. "Oh, Yamucha, I've missed you so much!"

Yamucha laughed and hugged Puar tenderly. "I missed you too, Puar. I'm sorry if I made you worry."

"I'm just so glad you're back," she cried, sobbing. "Don't ever leave me again!"

That night there was a big party at the Capsule Corporation in honor of the revived heroes. Everyone was in a good mood, including Piccolo, who remarkably stayed for the fun. Everything was running smoothly until somebody unexpected showed up.

"What the Hell?!" Yamucha exclaimed all of the sudden, rising quickly from his seat.

"What's the matter?" Bulma said. She was on the other side of the table, and he was staring angrily at something past her. She turned around to see what he was staring at. So did everyone else.

"It's Vegita!" Tenshinhan said, getting up too. "What's he doing here?!"

"Oh, him," Bulma said disinterestedly, turning back around as Vegita went into his quarters after shooting a quick glare at them. "He's living with us, more or less," she explained, shrugging. "I'm sorry I didn't warn you sooner. I know you guys must not think too much of him, after all."

Yamucha scowled angrily at the small Capsule house that Vegita had disappeared into. "Would you guys mind if I crashed here for a while, Bulma?" He said, looking back at her and sitting down. "I don't have any money yet, and I'm pretty sure that my landlord has cancelled my lease by now."

Bulma laughed. "I'll bet he'd jump at any chance to toss you out anyway," she chuckled. "Sure, we have plenty of room, Yamucha. At least now maybe I can have a sparring partner in the gravity room!"

Yamucha grinned at her briefly, but returned to scowling at Vegita's place. Bulma sighed. She could tell those two weren't going to get along.



On To Chapter 3 ~~~>