Dragon Ball: A Better Bulma

Even in the distance, the sound of blows could be heard, and two rather fast figures that would be blurred to the eyes of a normal person were moving steadily around a fighting ring. 

"Stop biting while fighting, Goku!" a girl's angry voice could be heard clearly, followed by a boy's silly laughter. 

The female voice's owner wiped the spit from her left arm in disgust and looked at her wrestling partner in the other corner of the ring. The boy had a strange brown tail that kept wagging behind him. 

Bulma, about ten years old, could only sigh at Goku's attitude, even though he was only three years younger than her, he was too naive! Not stupid, but too childish and playful.

In his training sessions, when he felt he was about to lose, he didn't hesitate to resort to childish tactics like biting others, although he never did it seriously with Bulma; he did it just to annoy her. 

"I'm sorry, but you hit too hard, Bulma," Goku scratched the back of his neck, shaking his long, spiky hair that hadn't changed shape or style since he was a younger boy. 

"I hit you hard so others won't," Bulma replied in mock anger, but the subtle smile on her lips revealed her true feelings. 

"But you won't get any snacks this afternoon," seeing the silly grin on Goku's face, Bulma decided to reveal her 'evil' plan, causing the boy to visibly turn gray. 

"This is not fair! I did my homework, I cleaned my room, and I don't run around naked anymore, why are you taking my snacks?" Goku protested, the tail behind his body visibly bristling like a cat's fur. 

"Because you bit me," Bulma felt better after she had managed to tease little Goku. 

Five years was a long time for a child, so it was enough for the two of them not only to get to know each other but also to think of themselves as a family. Bulma didn't forget that she was technically Goku's 'big sister' because they had the same teacher. 

As a big sister, she felt it was only fair to pick on her little brother, right? Especially if it was a 'justified' punishment to correct misbehavior, like pissing on a girl!

"Because he was about to lose" Goku was adamant at this point, if he felt he was about to lose at any given moment, something in him led to biting the others, he couldn't control it.... well, he did, but it was because he didn't want to lose. 

"I've told you many times, we're not fighting for our lives, we're just training. Save your mighty bite full of saliva and germs for your real enemies, not your precious big sister," Bulma took a towel brought by a droid and began to wipe the sweat from her forehead as she spoke. 

Seeing himself trapped and without a valid argument, Goku could have stood still, but like a good Saiyan warrior who never gives up, he chose the path of bravery, even though others would say it was the path of stupidity, or as Grandpa Gohan sometimes joked, 'courting death', whatever that meant. 

"Tights are prettier," he said without thinking, then he knew he had screwed up big time when Bulma pointed her hand at him and a glowing purple orb of Ki flew straight at Goku. 

"Why are you overreacting?" the boy shouted before striking a now rather classic pose and drawing on his energy reserves.

"Ha!" Knowing that he was currently weaker in terms of power, Goku did not bother to recite the full name of the technique and charged this attack with all the Ki he could emit. 

Sparks of bluish light gathered in Goku's palms and eventually formed into a large ball, and with a forward thrust, a blue-white beam of light collided with Bulma's purple ki attack.

The two energy attacks inevitably met in the air and faced each other for a moment before exploding. Just when Goku thought it was all over, he felt a terrible pain in his head and crouched down with his hands on it as tears fell from his eyes. 

"You are bad, Bulma! Tights are nicer and prettier than you," Goku continued without realizing his mistake, bringing his fate closer to meeting a certain Kaio from the northern galaxy sooner rather than later. 

Well, not that exaggerated, but the nervous twitch in Bulma's left eye indicated that she was annoyed by Goku's comparison. She didn't hate her sister Tights, but no girl likes to be called ugly, even in a roundabout way. 

"Stop calling me ugly!" Bulma shook Goku's body steadily but not too roughly. 

"You took away my afternoon snack, that makes you mean," the logic of a glutton was no doubt impeccable, Bulma paused for a moment, feeling a little sorry for Goku, before remembering that he had recently drooled on her arm. 

"Because you bit me," Bulma complained, shaking the boy again. 

"Because I didn't want to lose!" Goku shouted in defense.

"When do you think they'll realize that they've fallen into a trap?" asked Doctor Brief to Son Gohan, who stood next to him and watched the spectacle of the two restless children. 

"Maybe in 10 minutes, when Goku gets hungry and Bulma inevitably feels weak and gives him back his knickknacks," Gohan replied without hesitation, having seen this scene countless times since years ago. 

"I still can't believe this kid is a giant monkey, he looks too innocent," the Doctor said, lighting a cigarette. 

"Luckily the boy understands that he shouldn't see the full moon, I'm too old to fight an 'Ozaru' as they call him in his race," Gohan touched his back to emphasize his old man status. 

"If a guy with 300 points of power like you can feel back pain, I cannot imagine those monsters that reach 1,000 power units," Brief took a strong puff on his cigarette, feeling that he should synthesize a better formula, because this thing did not relieve his headache. 

And what a headache it was! Thanks to the many blueprints Bulma received from a certain Galactic Patrolman, the technology in Doctor Brief's hands took quite a leap. 

The first thing he made was a so-called Biological Energy Detector, or Scouter, as Bulma decided to call it. That this thing could measure the 'energy' contained in a living body was not particularly impressive to Doctor Brief, what was important was what those points meant. 

A normal farmer had only five units of energy, while a fighter like Gohan had 300, so at first glance, you would think that the old man was equivalent to 60 men, but that was not the case at all. 

The destruction that a small ball of Ki could cause was equivalent to a small explosive, and when you added the physical bonus that this energy provided, a single person with 300 points of power could annihilate an entire army. 

When we speak of armies, we are referring to the current army of the United Government of Earth. Gohan had become a weapon of mass destruction with abilities that were extremely dangerous to life in this world. 

But the old man suffered from back pain and sometimes struggled to open pickle jars! Brief felt his headache get worse when he realized that even the old man next to him could catch a cold as if the Ki did not serve to protect him from illness. 

Yes, it strengthened his immune system, but it did not make him oblivious to the deficiencies of living beings. The power levels were rare, they were a mix between the total energy a living being could project, not its reserves, that's different, along with its energy control. 

Briefly, Ki tended to strengthen the flesh and even create a small layer around the user's body, but both the ability to project energy and to control it were vital. 

In addition to the fact that the concept of ki reserve was strange in itself, it made the fighters complete nonsense to the scientist. I mean, why could the human body contain enough energy to destroy the damn moon and he could regain that energy just by eating? 

"Are you still trying to figure out the weird kid stuff?" asked Gohan when he saw the doctor's smoky sigh. 

"I'm not going to believe that bullshit about Ki coming from life and everything that would promote it increasing the reserves, it's too illogical. You know about science yourself, you know that that stuff is nonsense," Brief sucked hard on his cigarette as if to release his emotions.

Soon, he lit another cigarette to the uncomfortable sight of Gohan, who didn't know how to react to the doctor's doubts. There was no 'container' or 'core' in the human body, not even pathways for the energy to flow through.

It was simply infused into the flesh and soul of living creatures, depending on a person's physical and mental resistance to improve its quantity and quality. 

High-calorie foods helped, but even a good fruit from the field could solve any exhausted fighter's lack of ki, with the proper time for its metabolism, of course. 

So Gohan didn't know how to tell Brief that the solution was as simple as "that's just the way it is," because he understood the obsession of the scientists very well. 

He only hoped that Doctor Brief would come to this conclusion on his own, and preferring to relieve the tension in the air, Gohan turned his gaze to a strange briefcase lying on the floor next to the doctor. 

"By the way, you rarely appear here, has something happened?" asked Gohan, bringing Brief's sunken mind back to reality. 

"Yes, I wanted to test if you could induce Goku's transformation into an Ozaru, so I brought this thing," Doctor Brief took the briefcase in his hands and opened it, revealing what appeared to be a strange weapon. 

It was similar to those laser beam weapons you saw in cartoons or anime, with a metallic gray color that was not aesthetically pleasing at all; in addition, there was a tablet and a late-model scouter. 

The Earth-made scouters looked more like clear eyeglasses, fortunately quite sophisticated, as Bikini decided that if her daughter ever wore something like that on her face, she would look beautiful. 

"Really? I thought you were against Goku exploring this power before he was more mentally mature?" mentioned Gohan, causing Brief to nod. 

"And I stand by that, but we need to get a good handle on this state of pure wildness, and with you here, no problem. I can hire masseuses for your back pain when it's all over," Brief said, putting the scout on his face. 

"Make them black-haired big-assed, please," Gohan demanded with immense seriousness, causing the doctor to almost fall from shock. 

"Busty blondes are better," Doctor Brief argued when he felt he had to defend his stance. 

"They're both fine," a third voice was heard, and the two men looked back somewhat embarrassed to see Bulma carrying Goku on her shoulder, who kept trying to get off. 

"What is a big ass and a big boob? Can you eat them?" Goku asked suddenly, his stomach growling audibly at the same time. 

"That's grown-up stuff, kid," Gohan coughed several times before he answered.

"Like beer and those channels on TV that I can't watch at midnight?" asked Goku again as Bulma put him down, already dying of laughter and not wanting to drop her younger brother. 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the laughter of the blue-haired girl made the two old men even more embarrassed. 

"Oh Bulma, your power has increased to 70 points, congratulations!" Brief quickly activated his scouter and scanned his daughter, looking for a way out of the embarrassing situation. 

"And Goku, you got 50 points, you are a hardworking little guy!" said Brief with a good choice of words, distracting the ignoring Goku from his constant questions. 

"I'm trying so hard!" the boy shouted before holding his stomach again from hunger and looking at his grandfather. 

"Grandpa, I want to try to eat a black-haired big-assed! I don't know what they are, but something you can eat," Goku's words only made Bulma laugh louder and louder. 

"When you grow up, Goku, when you grow up," Bulma held back her laughter and touched little Goku's head, she will no doubt use this moment to torment the future Goku, especially at his wedding. 

What a good big sister she was!