The sun was still very close to its peak, but now it was slowly sinking towards the horizon. It was early afternoon and the weather was sunny and the temperature was pleasant.
Kael twirled the strands of his greasy hair with his index finger as he looked into the distance, observing the countless rocky mountains.
He was currently in a boat in the middle of a river, moving at a reasonable speed. The water was clear enough to see fish swimming around. The sound of the engine was loud, but not loud enough to bother him.
His gaze moved to Bulma, watching her blue hair blow in the wind. He knew practically nothing about this girl, but between her and the boy next to him, it was obvious who he would place his interest in.
Goku wasn't a normal boy, as they made their way to this river, he had used a golden cloud to fly. This would be impressive normally, but Kael could transform into something that flies, so it didn't seem so abnormal anymore.
Bulma, even though she seemed quite normal, was more interesting to him, and the reason for that was quite obvious...
'She seemed apprehensive about accepting me at first, but she ended up giving in so easily. I wonder if it's that easy to convince her of things...' His eyes slowly wandered over the little he could see of her body in that position.
"Bulma, do you have a boyfriend?" Kael's question comes suddenly.
At that very moment it was possible to see the girl's cheeks go from their white color to a pink color "Where did that come from?!"
"It seems not" He concluded easily "I see that if we're going to rely on smooth talking, it's going to have to be me doing it..." He gave Goku a brief glance and sighed.
"What's wrong?" The boy asked confused "Nothing" Kael's answer was short and simple.
Despite not having many obstacles to worry about on the river, Bulma still couldn't help but focus on piloting and just glance at him out of the corner of her eye, wondering what he had in mind.
Turning his gaze to the girl, Kael said "I was just curious, after all we're similar ages. Besides, don't worry so much about these things, you'll date someone eventually"
*Snort* Bulma glared at him "Who said I care so much about this? I'm regretting agreeing to you coming with us"
"Wow! You're so insecure, I almost feel sorry for you. At least you're hot, so you won't have any trouble finding someone" He said, leaning forward to be closer to her, a smile on his face.
"Shut up..." She said without much intensity, as she looked away, trying to hide her blushing face.
'She's just too easy to read, she can't even hide how weak she is to compliments' His smile deepened a bit.
Suddenly, Bulma felt a hand touching her cheek and she turned around with wide eyes, ready to yell at Kael, but then she noticed it was Goku, and her gaze turned confused.
"She doesn't seem hot, it must be your imagination" The boy said, before removing his hand from the girl's cheek and sitting back down.
Kael started laughing "That's right, it must have just been my impression!"
Bulma's face instantly turned red, perhaps Goku now agreed with Kael, as her cheeks began to heat up quite a bit. The girl didn't have the patience to explain that to the boy, so she simply kept silent so as not to end up exploding.
After a few seconds of silence, Kael said "Changing the subject, now that I'm with you on this, could you explain to me what these dragon balls are? I saw the one the old lady gave you, but why are we after them, are we going to sell them?"
A feminine sigh was heard, clearly Bulma was still quite agitated from the previous conversation, and was regaining her composure before responding.
"There are seven dragon balls, individually they have no use, but when you gather them all, you can summon a dragon and grant a wish" She explained in an excited tone "We currently have five of them, which means we only have to find two more and I will have my wish granted!"
A surprised expression appeared on Kael's face. 'Do these things have that kind of use? I have so many things I would love to ask for, money, eternal life, some super power...'
Despite these thoughts, he said "And you'll be the one making the wish, I assume" His gaze swept over the oblivious Goku, before returning to the girl "Are you going to order something we can share?"
"Of course I'll be the one making the wish, and with my radar we're looking for it!" She said in an irritated tone "And I have no reason to tell you my wish, it's something personal!"
From Kael's position, he couldn't see her expression very well, if he could, perhaps he would understand that the girl was wanting to hide her desire because of their previous conversation.
Bulma might have told the truth if that question had been asked first, but at that moment she couldn't say that her wish was for a perfect boyfriend.
'If he knows the truth now, he'll probably tease me for the rest of our trip, that would be a pain' She said in her own mind.
Despite not noticing that fact, Kael had deduced something "Then it will be something we won't share. You're quite stingy, don't you think? We're helping you achieve this, but we're going to leave with nothing?"
The girl turned her angry face towards him "What right do you have over this? You were the one who invited yourself to follow us, I wasn't the one who asked you to come along!"
Before he could say anything, the boat's engine made a sputtering sound, and it began to lose speed until it finally stopped in the middle of the river.
Bulma stared at the panel and clicked her tongue "Tsk! We're out of gas, what bad luck!"
Looking ahead, there was still a long way to go until they reached their destination. Thinking for a moment, she said "If we can just get to the riverbank, we'll be able to use some land vehicle..." Her gaze focused on Kael.
She didn't want to ask for help, not after his words a second ago, but she knew his transformation ability could help at this point.
Kael noticed the hesitation in her gaze, but even without seeing it he already knew that his help would be needed, which made him smile.
At this point, Goku had already jumped onto his golden cloud "We're going there, right? I'll go first!" He said excitedly, before speeding off.
The boat fell silent as they both stared at each other with almost opposite expressions. The girl slowly realized what was happening, and her expression became less calm as she gritted her teeth.
"Are you really going to make me beg for this?" Her gaze carried anger and a hint of humiliation.
Kael shrugged and chuckled "You make me sound like a bad guy, but you were the one who insinuated about me being a gatecrasher..." A large pair of wings grew from his back.
Oolong would normally transform into something completely different from himself, practically leaving his real appearance aside, but Kael felt more comfortable altering details of his body while keeping as much of the original as possible.
He stood on the boat and his black wings spread, then he looked at Bulma "I'll help you, then we'll talk about my compensation, since in the end you'll keep the wish for yourself, it's only fair to give me something for my help"
The girl gives a slight nod, before putting on the backpack where she carries the spheres, and jumping to the back of the boat, standing in front of him.
Kael stretched out his arms and bent his knees, the small space between the pilot's seat and the passenger's seat making it difficult to move freely. Without hesitation, one hand supported the girl's back, while his other grabbed the back of her thigh.
A gasp of surprise came from Bulma, as she felt her body being lifted, the next moment she was being held in his lap, as if she were a princess. She could feel his fingers dig into the soft skin of her thigh, as her shorts were too short to cover her entire thigh.
Facing Kael with a blushing face, she said "Do you really need to squeeze me like that?"
She could feel an obvious discrepancy between Kael's two hands. The arm supporting her back held the side of her arm with a gentle grip, but her thigh was being crushed, just one step away from being painful.
A small smile appeared on his lips as his wings began to move "If you were really bothered, you would have told me to stop, not questioned me"
With the beating of their wings, they began to rise, taking off from the boat.
Bulma's face turned even redder "Shut up! I thought you actually had some reason for this, but it seems like you're just a pervert!"
'She hasn't asked me to stop doing this yet, I wonder which one of us is the more perverted one... Nah, it's me' He thought, staring at the girl.
When they gained some altitude, he started to go forward, but was soon stopped by her "Wait, we can't leave my boat here, let me turn it into a capsule"
Kael then descended again, this time staying above the water and next to the boat. The girl in his arms transformed the boat into a capsule.
As soon as the capsule was in Bulma's hands, Kael gained altitude again and headed towards Goku, who at that point had already reached the riverbank.
The girl felt the wind on her face, despite being carried, she could still feel a bit of the sensation of flying, without being in some plane or ship, that made her lose focus on the fingers sunk into her thigh.
She smiled in such a cheerful way, it was as if she was going on an amusement park ride for the first time. Kael noticed that and his fingers loosened their grip a little without even realizing it.
At that moment, neither of them paid attention to the simple sound of something falling into the water.
Kael's large black wings beat hard, taking them to the riverbank. It was a short trip, but a somewhat special experience for them.
"You guys took your time" Goku said, seeing the two finally arrive at the river's edge.
Bulma, back on solid ground, let out a sigh "Alright, it seems you can be useful in our quest... You wanted money, right? After we fulfill my wish with the dragon balls, I promise I'll reward you"
Kael just gave her a nod as his body returned to normal. He was curious to know how much he would receive for this help, but he was not in a hurry to ask her.
Oolong had some reserves, it was enough to give him a peaceful life for a while, and there were still jewels, which he could sell in the future, so he had the luxury of not worrying about it for now.
Kael was more focused on his transformation, he knew that Oolong lasted 5 minutes, but somehow, he felt like he could achieve more than that, almost as if there was no longer that limitation.
This limitation was a flaw of Oolong himself, most likely because he had not finished his studies on that technique, the natural thing would be for there to be no time limitation, so it wouldn't be too strange if Kael had somehow overcome it.
While he was thinking about this, Bulma was already preparing to continue her journey "It would still be good to follow the river for a while longer, it would save us from having to face the desert, but I think we won't have a choice"
She then reached into her jacket pocket "We'll have to use my bike, since Goku can ride the flying nimbus, so we won't have a problem with that...?" She reached into the opposite pocket and her expression began to change.
"My capsule case... It's gone..." Her gaze was blank for a while, before she widened her eyes and started screaming "What the hell!!"
Kael looked at her in disbelief "You didn't put this in your backpack? Why would you carry something so important in a jacket pocket?"
"Why didn't I imagine that we would have to get off the boat in the middle of the river! I thought it would be more practical to keep it in my pocket, because soon we would reach the riverbank and I would have to get the capsule case again!" She said amid frustration and anger.
"Great, in your haste, you just lost a dozen capsules" Kael said, more teasing than angry, or anything else.
Bulma noticed the provocation, but she was more focused on thinking about what to do from then on "If we go to a city, I can buy some new capsules, but we'll still need to go through the desert for that..."
"Kael, could you transform into a car or something? Just until we pass through the desert?" She asked with her eyes full of expectation.
He half-closed his eyes, almost closing them, somehow the dark circles under his eyes seemed to have become more intense for a moment, as he stared at the girl with an inverted smile.
"We barely know each other, and you want to get inside me?"
Hearing that, Bulma took a few seconds to think about how strange that would be and her face turned red with embarrassment.
His gaze softened and he said "Besides, I wouldn't have the speed or strength of a car, so it wouldn't be any different than me carrying you in my arms or on my back"
While the girl was still completely embarrassed, covering her face with her hands, he said "We can just use my motorhome instead"
Bulma took her hands off her face and stared at him in disbelief, seeing a capsule in his hand "Why didn't you say you had this before?!"
"You went straight to asking me if I would turn a car for you, instead of asking if I had something with me, you imbecile, don't blame me for your mistakes" He replied in the same tone as her.