Inside Kael's motorhome, he was driving at a not-so-fast speed, holding the steering wheel with just one hand. The desert didn't have a paved road, so he had to make his own way, which wasn't difficult since it was a practically empty place.
Beside him, Bulma was standing, leaning on the bench he was sitting on "Do you have a driver's license?"
"Are you worried that the desert police will come after us? Because if that's what you're afraid of, I don't think you need to be, since there doesn't seem to be a police station nearby" He said rolling his eyes.
"Of course it's not about that!" She shouted angrily "You're going so slow, it's like you don't know how to drive!"
"You want me to go faster, using a motorhome, in a fucking desert with no asphalt at all?! I don't want to ruin the only means of transportation we have!" As he spoke, his foot pressed down harder on the accelerator, increasing the speed a little.
"You're a pain in the ass!" Bulma said, before huffing and walking away from him, walking to the back of the motorhome, where Goku was.
The girl sat on a padded bench, while crossing her arms and pouting "This jerk doesn't know how to treat a lady, he keeps yelling at me like a caveman!"
Between her and Goku there was a table separating them, and on that table was a set of plates with food.
"You scream a lot too..." Goku said in between chewing "You should eat some... It calms your nerves..."
"Don't talk while chewing, it's disgusting!" She said in disgust.
Bulma looked at Kael from a distance 'He's rude! Couldn't he have just said that politely? Besides, he's also a pervert, taking advantage of that situation to squeeze my thigh...' She remembered the situation from a short time ago.
...
Still in the desert, not far from where the motorhome was passing, there was a cave made in one of the countless white rocks scattered across the desert.
At a small exit, a small blue being, similar in appearance to a cat, used a spyglass to see into the distance. Looking through the lens, he saw Kael's vehicle in the distance, then a smile appeared on his lips.
Entering the hideout, he said in an excited tone "Mister Yamcha! Mister Yamcha! We have a new target, there's a motorhome coming our way!"
Inside the hideout, which was no different from a miniature house, with all the rooms built into one, except for the bathroom. Sitting at the dining table, a young man with long, wavy black hair was eating a large piece of steak.
A faint smile appeared on that young man's face, he used a napkin to wipe the corner of his mouth "A new target? It's been a while, let's see what our spoils will be this time!"
...
Back inside the motorhome, Bulma had grown tired of being stressed out over Kael, so she decided to finally eat.
Getting ready to pick up the food that was almost completely devoured by Goku, she leaned to the side so she could look in Kael's direction and said "Since you're being slow anyway, take advantage of not making any sudden movements, I don't want to end up biting my tongue because of your incompetence"
Kael was grimacing in anger 'This girl is so spoiled, she acts like I owe her something when it's actually the opposite! I won't let her take advantage of me!' His feet pressed firmly down on the brake.
The sudden stop made everyone feel a jolt and Bulma was the first to say "What was that?!"
Kael had slammed on the brakes in anger, but coincidentally, something had appeared in the distance, forming a cloud of dust.
"There's someone coming towards us..." He said, somewhat confused, as he watched that.
Bulma and Goku stood up, then went to the front of the vehicle, looking in the same direction as Kael, they saw the dust formed and the figure coming towards them.
In such a vast and empty desert, it was clear when someone was approaching and it was easy to deduce whether they were heading towards you or not.
Just a few seconds later, the three could see the long-haired young man blocking their path. His vehicle resembled a motorcycle, but it was more robust and had no wheels; it floated a few inches off the ground.
Kael noticed something behind the young man, what looked like a blue cat flying 'Pual?!' An old memory of Oolong surfaced in his mind.
Beside him, Bulma was more focused on the young man, she felt a slight shiver in her body "Who is that handsome guy? Did he come to greet us?"
"Ouch!" Bulma felt something hit the back of her head, she turned around and noticed Kael's hand "Why did you do that?"
"To see if your brain is in there. That son of a bitch is obviously planning to rob us, and you act like he's someone friendly" Kael said, somewhat irritated.
"Who said that? He might just want to talk to us" She retorted without thinking.
"He's holding a sword and smiling like a maniac! Are you fucking blind?!" Kael pointed at the young man outside.
Bulma looked outside again and noticed the change, that young man had actually drawn a sword, and was approaching on foot.
"Well... Maybe he's just afraid of us, it's normal for him to be afraid that someone will try to attack him suddenly..." With each word, her conviction grew weaker "Or maybe he really is a bandit"
Goku ran to where he had left his staff, then after picking it up, he opened the vehicle's door "I'll fix this!" He said excitedly, before leaving.
Outside, the long-haired youth, Yamcha, held the curved-blade sword in his hand. With a confident smile, he was approaching the vehicle, because of the sunlight reflecting off the glass, he couldn't see inside the motorhome.
When Goku appeared with the staff on his back, the young man raised his eyebrow slightly "Hey, kid, were you the only one with the courage to leave? Or maybe you thought I would refuse to fight a child and end up leaving?"
"Let me tell you, my name is Yamcha, and I am the owner of this desert! Everyone who passes through here must pay a toll, or they will end up dead, regardless of their age, old or young, understand?" He said, as he pointed the tip of the blade towards the boy.
Goku stuck out his tongue, while grimacing, pulling the eyelid of his left eye down "As if I were afraid of a bandit!"
Yamcha didn't lose his confident smile, and said calmly "Kid, you're quite the reckless one, I would let them go as long as they gave half of their stuff, but it looks like I'm going to take everything"
Inside the motorhome, Bulma's expression became more worried "Will Goku be okay?... Kael, go help him!"
"You can go if you want, I'm fine just watching. Do you think I'm an idiot?" He snorted right after.
The girl bit her thumbnail, then said "Come on, you could use some transformation to scare him, that way we could avoid an unnecessary fight"
"When you want to, you can think... But it won't work. See that blue cat over there?" He pointed at Puar, who was a little further away than Yamcha.
When Bulma looked at him, Kael said "He also knows how to transform, we studied together years ago. Even if that idiot bandit believes it for a moment, soon that idiot will turn me in, so it would be useless"
"...I hope Goku can handle him then..." She didn't seem to be very curious about Kael's past, at least not right now.
Outside, Yamcha pulled his blade back, gathering momentum for an attack "Blame your own arrogance for your untimely death" Then he attacked with a powerful diagonal slash.
The blade cutting through the wind made a whistling sound and soon a loud metallic sound also emerged. Goku had pulled out his staff and defended himself from the attack.
Without delay, Goku thrust the blade upward and attempted a kick to his opponent's face, which he narrowly dodged, knocking his head back.
The grip on the sword's hilt tightened and Yamcha took advantage of the opening to attempt a downward slash, aiming for Goku's back, who spun after missing his blow.
At the same speed as the blade descended, the boy lowered himself, to the point where he was almost lying on the ground, then before the blade touched him, he took a sideways jump with the help of his feet and hands, without letting go of his staff.
The blade hit the ground and scattered a large amount of dust "You have good reflexes, I can see why you had the courage to face me" Yamcha said.
"You haven't seen anything yet" Goku pointed his staff in his direction, but since the distance was quite large now, he didn't feel threatened, but he should have "Grow up!"
In the next instant, Yamcha saw the staff elongate at incredible speed, and the target was his stomach. With a clear expression of surprise, he turned the blade of his sword and used it as an improvised sword.
The surprise attack hit the blade making a loud metallic sound, the force was too much, Yamcha had to hold the blade to prevent it from turning towards his chest with the impact, an action that perhaps saved his life, and earned him a cut on his left hand.
Despite avoiding the worst, the young man was thrown backwards by the impact, falling to the ground, soiling his clothes.
"Goku is so strong! I knew he would win!" Bulma jumped for joy inside the motorhome.
Kael looked at the girl's jiggling breasts and let her completely untrue comment pass "He's actually very strong, I did well not to try my luck earlier..."
Despite having the ability to transform, Kael was still no different from other normal humans, his strength was far below those two.
Yamcha got up from the ground, then stared at the staff returning to its normal size "This staff... Is it the legendary Nyoi-bo? Boy, where did you get such a thing?"
Goku slammed his staff on the ground and said "My grandpa gave it to me, don't even think about giving it to you!"
"Your grandfather?..." Yamcha threw his sword to the ground, then struck a battle pose, with his knees bent and his fingers curled into claws "So you're Son Gohan's grandson, I can't go easy on you anymore"
"Is using a sword against a boy being soft?" Kael raised his eyebrows.
Goku put his staff away on his back, then also made a fighting pose. They both ran towards each other, then punched each other.
Their fists collided midway, stopping each other, then Yamcha attacked with his other arm, but was stopped by Goku's knee.
Yamcha took a small jump back "You're good, but let's see if you can withstand my next attack!" With a glint in his eyes he exclaimed "Roga Fufu Ken!!"
He then ran at a high speed, taking heavy steps, while his hands seemed to form the fangs of a wild wolf.
A barrage of blows were launched at high speed, each blow aimed at a different part of Goku's body, in a very unpredictable way, but each of them was repelled by him, defending himself and dodging with the same intensity.
"Die!" Yamcha yelled, delivering a kick at the end.
To his surprise, his kick was caught and the boy in front of him smiled confidently "My turn!"
The young man, out of breath from the huge sequence of blows, didn't have time to be surprised when he felt a strong blow hit his stomach, then he spat out saliva mixed with blood.
That left him even more open to attacks and Goku didn't ignore that, delivering a series of attacks to his torso and face and finally using both fists for a powerful attack, which sent him flying.
"Yamcha!!" Puar shouted in concern as he saw his friend crashing into a white rock. He flew towards his friend.
"Yay! Goku won!" Bulma jumped up and hugged Kael in a very excited celebration.
'I really don't understand this girl... But I'd be an idiot if I complained about it' He returned the hug, holding her hips, while he felt the girl's breasts press against his chest.
Yamcha struggled to his feet, while Puar helped him up. He was visibly hurt, there was no way he could continue fighting. He glared at Goku with resentment, but said nothing, so as not to increase his own humiliation.
"Are you okay Yamcha?!" Puar's worried voice sounded almost tearful.
"It's okay..." *Cough* A mouthful of blood comes out of his mouth "Let's just leave for now..."
Goku didn't interfere, he had won that fight and didn't care if his opponent left or not, after all that person hadn't done him any harm, despite wanting to.
Seeing that bandit leave, Bulma let out a light sigh, but it was more out of frustration than relief "Still, it's a shame that a handsome guy like that left like that..."
"Are you that needy? He wasn't even that handsome and he wanted to steal us, you should have a little more self-love, you know?" Kael said.
"You kidnapped three girls, where are you better than him?" She said and the answer came soon after "But none of them were you or Goku, so I didn't do anything to you. I don't care that he's a bandit, I care that he attacked us"
Bulma was thoughtful, but he continued "Well, you can do whatever you want with your life, I just think you're too focused on this boyfriend thing, as if it were something so special and difficult to get... Trust me, you can get a boyfriend without any problems, you don't need to go after a guy who tried to rob and kill us, just because he's handsome"
Her expression filled with surprise and she felt her heart flutter, his sincere and gentle gaze warmed her soul somehow. She gave a slight nod "I guess you're right, I'm too pretty to need to go after someone like him, right?"
'She wants me to compliment her?' A smile appeared on his face "Of course, you're the prettiest girl I've seen in months and you have a sexy body too"
The girl was enjoying the compliments when he said "Look, you actually have a nice ass" *Slap* He slapped her ass.
The slap was weak and quick, but it made the girl blush intensely, as she widened her blue eyes "Pervert!" Her voice was full of embarrassment and as much as she wanted to sound angry, it was obvious that she didn't hate it.
Even though it was unusual and took her focus away a bit, she still thought about the compliment, something she herself had asked for. Despite all her self-esteem and even a bit of narcissism, she still really liked it when other people complimented her.
"At least you have good taste, despite being a pervert" She said, her expression already softening to a more smiling one.
Kael smiled at her 'Well, she has her annoying side, but overall she's quite interesting'
"Thanks, I guess" He said with a half laugh.
Soon after Goku got back into the Motorhome "I'm hungry"
"You were eating just now, you only stopped to go fight that guy, how can you be hungry again?" Kael was in disbelief at that, the boy's hunger was more surprising than his strength.
///
[ Author's Note: Just a random comment about this chapter. As I was writing the beginning of this chapter, I was going down a very different path, one in which Kael would be very aggressive towards Bulma... It came out so cringe-y and childish, so I deleted about 300 words and changed course.
I'm glad I changed this in time, or I would probably end up frustrated in the future. So here's a little thought: Mistakes should not be hidden, but studied and fixed. Or something like that. I'm not a philosopher, just a casual writer with no skills ]