The journey had continued, but not for long, the night was already showing signs of beginning, with the sky going from an orange tone to a dark blue.
With the motorhome parked next to a huge rock in the middle of the desert, the group stayed inside protecting themselves from the cold.
As it was still beginning to get dark, everyone was awake, sitting together at the dining table. After all, there weren't many more places around there, there was only one room on the second floor.
Kael was quite thoughtful, so many things had happened in his day, that he almost forgot that he had just woken up in that world. In just one day he had experienced so many things, it was surprising how he was adapting so quickly.
He was ready for death, but now he was on a totally exciting journey, with interesting people by his side, it was incredibly satisfying.
Breaking his peaceful thoughts, Bulma spoke to him "I think I'm going to take a shower, do you have any clothes I can wear while mine wash?"
Kael thought for a bit about 'Oolong's clothes would be too small on her and he only had a few here, I doubt there's a bigger one among them that would fit her... But there's that one...'
"I have one that probably fits you, but it's more of a costume than an actual outfit, do you want to take a look?" He stands up, to pick up the custom.
"As usual?" Bulma was confused and curious "Well, I lost all my clothes, so it might be better to wear a costume than to wear the same dirty clothes. Anyway, it's just until mine gets clean"
Kael went up to the second floor, leaving Bulma and Goku down there for a few moments.
Soon he returned, holding the costume, which was inside a clear plastic cover, so well stored that it seemed unlikely it had ever been used.
"What do you think? It's not proper pajamas, but it'll look really good on you" Kael said, as he showed it to Bulma, with a mischievous smile.
The girl looked at the costume and was in disbelief "You want me to wear a sexy bunny costume to bed?! I knew you were a big pervert!"
"Hey, I might be a little... naughty, but this is really the only clothes I have to lend you. But if you don't want, you can go naked, I support nudism" He smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
"Shut up you perverted idiot!" Bulma said angrily "Why do you have an outfit like that stored in your closet?"
"Who knows... Don't you think I'd look cute wearing something like that?" He said, holding the costume at his side.
At that moment, an image appeared in Bulma's mind, Kael wearing dark fishnet stockings, a black bodysuit and the bunny ears. A shiver ran through her entire body.
"From your reaction, I think you don't agree with me, but I also don't like wearing extravagant things like that, it's too much work to wear and it wouldn't be comfortable on my body. I bought this thing to give to some pretty girl I knew, so you can keep it" He winked with one eye, handing the custom to her.
Bulma was still quite shaken by her own fertile mind, she became thoughtful 'He doesn't seem to be lying and it will only be until my clothes are clean...' She hesitantly picked up the costume.
"What a weird outfit, she looks really uncomfortable!" Goku said with a chuckle.
Suddenly, an evil idea popped into Bulma's mind, and she thought 'I bet this pervert wants to see me wearing this, he probably planned to put some other girl in this same situation, but he didn't count on my great intelligence!'
She then handed the costume back to Kael and said "Actually, I think this would look really cute on you, so how about you wear this, and lend me your clothes instead?"
Even if none of the clothes in the RV fit her, the clothes on his body were only slightly larger than hers, so they would still fit just fine. She didn't mind wearing the clothes he had worn all day, after all it was just for sleeping, his clothes seemed much more comfortable too.
Despite the casual way he had said about looking cute in the costume, Bulma thought that was just him joking, so he would probably be very uncomfortable wearing it, she laughed just thinking about his reaction.
Kael could see the smile on her face, it was quite obvious what kind of thoughts the girl was having, but he smiled back.
He took the costume in his hand and said "Well, I'll make this sacrifice for you, I hope you'll show some gratitude" Then he turned and headed toward the bathroom, which was just past the stairs that led upstairs.
A look of disbelief appeared on Bulma's face, she was even confident that he would agree to that, but to do it with a smile on his face? 'He must have something in mind... Maybe there are clothes for him in the bathroom and he was just lying to me?...'
She saw the bathroom door close, then her expression became more and more thoughtful, trying to figure out why he was so calm about it.
...
A few moments ago, without the group noticing, a figure had appeared outside, peering suspiciously at the motorhome. It was Yamcha and Puar, they apparently followed the group and had some objective.
"It's already dark out here, they won't notice if we get a little closer" Yamcha said as he leaned behind a rock.
Puar's expression seemed less than confident "Lord Yamcha... Should we really do this? You already fought that boy earlier and lost, maybe we should leave them aside, another target will appear soon"
"That kid was lucky to defeat me, but we're not here for a rematch anyway, what I want is the Nyoi-bo, it's a legendary weapon, we can't let go of the chance to steal something so unique!" He replied full of determination.
As he said that, he began to move towards the motorhome, crouching down so as not to be seen so easily and avoiding making too much noise.
The vehicle's windows were closed, but none of them were covered, so it was possible to see the light coming from inside. As he approached, a window that had previously been dark lit up.
Yamcha noticed that, then thought 'Besides the boy there were other people inside the vehicle, I couldn't see them before, but there seemed to be at least two more people, they shouldn't be strong, but they'll be a problem if I try to steal Nyoi-bo...'
Stopping under one of the windows, he overheard a conversation "Goku, do you think he's really going to wear that costume? Or did he just go to the bathroom to tease me?"
'A girl?!' Yamcha wondered worriedly, as he heard the female voice muffled by the glass.
Puar, who was right next to him in total silence, noticed his friend's reaction and knew exactly why 'Yamcha is so afraid of girls, that he must prefer to face that boy again, instead of just facing this girl...'
"He said he'd look cute in that, so I guess he'll actually wear it. But I think it'll be really tight and uncomfortable, worse than that annoying dress you made me wear this morning" A boy's voice sounds right after.
Yamcha recognized Goku's voice, even though they hadn't exchanged many words. His biggest concern was still the girl.
"And in the end it didn't even do any good that you used that" The girl laughed "But anyway we got the fifth dragon ball, now we only need two more and I'll finally get my wish!"
Hearing those words, Yamcha widened his eyes 'Is there something like that in the world?! That would be much more valuable than Nyoi-bo!' He moved silently beneath the window, heading towards the one that had lit up most recently.
'From their conversation, there must be a guy changing clothes in the bathroom, maybe if I kidnap him, I can find out more about these dragon balls and hopefully I can use him to trade for it later!' He thought with a smile.
Puar didn't know about his plans, but he followed him silently. When they stood beneath the bathroom window, Yamcha carefully raised his head, just enough to see inside.
As soon as his eyes looked through the window, his eyebrows jumped and he quickly crouched back down 'They tricked me! There are two girls instead of just one, what the hell!'
...
The bathroom door opened, Bulma heard the sound and quickly focused her gaze in the direction, swallowing hard, filled with curious anxiety.
It had been pretty quick, so she thought maybe Kael was just teasing her. Goku didn't seem to care that much, but he also glanced at the open bathroom door.
Then a leg appeared, wearing black fishnet stockings, stretched forward, visibly being intentionally exposed.
"It's not possible..." Bulma was in disbelief, looking at that.
Soon the leg came down and the foot touched the ground. Without delay, more and more appeared, until the whole figure appeared.
At this moment, not only Bulma, but even Goku was shocked, looking on with eyes filled with disbelief.
In front of them appeared a small figure, around 1.50 meters, with long silver hair parted in the middle, with two high pigtails, emerald green eyes, milky white skin, long, pointy ears, wearing gold earrings with red teardrop jewels.
The bunny costume looked very similar to the one Kael had shown her earlier, but the bodysuit was white as were the bunny ears. Them petite body had flat breasts and almost no curves.
With a calm smile on them face, a mature female voice came out from them lips "What do you think, Bulma? Don't I look super cute?"
Bulma let out a sigh, as she finally let the surprise pass "I didn't even think about that possibility for a moment... But this isn't the same costume as before, did you have another one?"
"Wow, you're not going to give me a single compliment? You hurt my feelings, you know?" Despite them words, they didn't lose them smile at any point "That's not the costume, like I said, it's a lot of work to put it on. Once I transform my body, the clothes also change at my will"
Bulma's left eyelid began to twitch, as her expression formed into an angry grin "If you can do that, why are you wearing a bunny costume? Couldn't you have just created normal clothes and kept your true appearance?"
"Are you jealous of how cute I am? You said I would look cute wearing that costume, even though I made it a little different, it's still basically the same, so don't complain" They said.
"So you're Kael?" Goku suddenly questioned.
Kael's current green eyes narrowed "Were you still in doubt about that? Well, it's me, Kael, this time as a girl, but essentially the same person"
Bulma let out a long sigh, giving up on understanding Kael's logic "Do as you wish, but what am I going to wear?"
"I left my clothes in the bathroom, there's also the real bunny costume, use whatever you like... By the way, now that I'm a girl, what do you think about taking a bath together?" Kael's calm voice sounded, as her eyes curved into a mischievous smile.
"Of course not!!" Bulma shouted angrily, as she slammed her hands on the table. "Besides the fact that this is just a transformation, why the hell would I take a bath with another girl!?"
"It's up to you, I was just trying to help you wash up, but if you're embarrassed about your body, that's fine" Kael shrugged.
"Why don't you let Kael help you? You said that boys shouldn't help girls bathe, but now he's a girl, right? It shouldn't be a problem" Goku said.
Kael turned to the boy in surprise and smiled "That's right kid, you know your stuff, but call me she while I'm a girl, okay?"
"But how do I know if you're a girl?" The boy asked confused.
"... You have a point, well just forget I said anything" Kael didn't waste her time with that, the pronoun issue was just a whim for her in the end.
Bulma stood up and walked past Kael "Don't even think about following me in the shower, seriously!" She said, fed up with that conversation.
"It was just a joke, I'm not that desperate to see a naked girl, if I wanted to, I could just use myself as a model, don't you think?" She said, as she looked at Bulma approaching the bathroom door.
...
Away from the motorhome, Yamcha was back in his vehicle, hidden behind a large rock.
"This is going to be very complicated... There are two girls, if it was just one, we could try to somehow get her away somehow, but two?..." His voice was filled with a thoughtful air.
"Shouldn't we just wait for them all to fall asleep?" Puar said "Once they're all asleep, we can break in there and steal everything without them seeing us!"
Yamcha looks even more thoughtful than before "If it was just about Nyoi-bo, that would work... But those dragon balls, they have five of them, but they need seven to grant a wish and we don't know where to find more of them"
Taking all of their dragon balls was possible, but that wouldn't be enough "They must have information about the location of the other two, but finding that information will probably be impossible, if we search the place too much, they will wake up and we would lose our chance"
After some time thinking, an idea came to his mind "I think I know how we can make this work much better than stealing them now, but before anything else, we need to get some things from our hiding place" A confident smile appeared on his face.
Puar didn't know exactly what his friend was thinking, but he smiled along with him "Alright, Yamcha, let's go!"
...
Bulma came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her head, while she put on Kael's clothes, which were loose on her, which was quite comfortable for improvised pajamas.
"So that's why she can't climb up that golden cloud of yours?" A soft laugh sounded "I don't blame her, there must be few people with a truly pure heart in this world"
Bulma heard that conversation and looked over at the table, only to find Goku and Kael talking. The boy was as usual, no change, but Kael was now wearing a white nightgown.
Obviously she hadn't changed her clothes, she had only used her transformation to change her clothes, but her appearance was the same as before, from her pointy ears to her voice.
Kael noticed Bulma staring at her "Did you have a good bath? Don't forget to wash your clothes, I have a washing machine in the bathroom, in case you didn't see"
"I already did that... I'm not even going to waste my time asking why you still look like that, just tell me where I'm going to sleep, I'm tired already" Bulma said with a sigh.
"There's a large bed up there, we can share if you want, or you can sleep right here" Kael pointed to the bench where she and Goku were sitting.
"You've got to be kidding!" Bulma said irritably "This bench isn't comfortable to sleep on at all, and it doesn't even fit my body completely! And the other option is to sleep with a pervert!"
"The choice is yours" Kael's calm voice sounded, as she stood up "I won't deny that I'm a little perverted, I teased you a lot, but that doesn't make me a piece of human trash, I would never do anything to an unconscious girl, that's totally out of the question"
Kael slowly walked up the stairs "I'm going to sleep, if you're coming, come quickly, I don't want to be woken up to make room in the bed"
Bulma was thoughtful, she looked at the bench and could already feel the pain in her back the next morning 'Kael doesn't seem like a complete pervert, he was very serious about that, maybe I should trust him...'
Against common sense, the girl decided to trust the person she met that same day, the one who had kidnapped girls, someone who openly said was a pervert. This would undoubtedly be one of the most stupid and dangerous decisions, but luckily, that person was Kael and not Oolong, or someone similar.
"I'm going..." She said, heading towards the stairs.
///
[ Author's Note: Well, I intend to get through this first arc in search of the dragon balls pretty quickly, but I still felt it necessary to make a chapter that was practically in place. If everything goes as I intend, we'll end this arc in chapter 6 - 8, which would be very little for an arc, but it's not like I'm following a formula.
A small comment about the end of this chapter, Kael is supposed to be a bad character, like someone evil, but if you compare his attitudes with those of Oolong at this time, he seems like a good guy. I can't take it as a joke that he wants to drug Bulma to do something with her, that's way beyond something simply naughty.
Maybe I'm taking a comic character too seriously, I don't know ]