A few days later...
Aeris finally arrived on Earth.
Because she had hidden her ki, no one noticed her arrival. At least, that was what she thought. In her mind, she had suppressed her energy all the way down to the level of a newborn baby.
Again, that was what she thought.
Aeris opened the hatch of her ship and cautiously stuck one foot outside first. After all, every planet had different gravity.
And then...
The next second, she lost her balance and rolled straight out of the ship.
To make it worse, the hatch closed behind her with perfect timing, like the ship had just kicked her out on purpose.
Honestly, it was humiliating as hell.
"Oh, for fuck's..."
She never finished the sentence.
The scenery in front of her stole the words right out of her mouth.
"So beautiful... It's nothing like the other planets I've been to..."
Most of the worlds she had visited were either endless rock or endless yellow wasteland. Every now and then she'd run into a place that looked halfway decent, but even those were nowhere near this beautiful.
For a while, Aeris wandered around like a country girl seeing a big city for the first time. She explored everything, touched everything, stared at everything, and tested everything with her hands just because she could. The farther she walked, the more fascinated she became.
Meanwhile, the ship was probably crying in the background, wondering why it had been abandoned so easily.
Still, this was deep inside a remote forest where almost no one ever came. Other than wild animals, there were barely any living things around, and wild beasts weren't about to do any real damage to the ship.
"Hm? What's this? What a weird little ball."
Aeris bent down and picked up a small amber-colored sphere.
Inside it was a single red star.
She turned it over in her hand with curiosity, inspecting it from every angle. Then she dug through her bag, pulled out a pearl necklace, took it apart, and strung the little orb into it.
After that, she put it on.
Standing by a nearby lake, she admired the result.
"Hehe. Yeah, that works. I really am naturally gorgeous. Anything looks good on me."
After a little shameless self-appreciation, she went right back to wandering around.
Then her stomach growled.
"Getting hungry... Guess I should find something to eat first."
And with that, she flew off.
The moment she took to the air, someone in a palace floating high above the clouds sensed it.
An elderly green figure stepped outside. He had a pair of antennae on his forehead and wore white robes marked with the symbol of God.
Kami narrowed his eyes.
"Such... such an incredible power level. Is it Piccolo? Or Son Goku... No, that's not right. This energy feels even stronger than theirs..."
"Kami, what's wrong?"
A short, dark-skinned attendant wearing a vest and a white turban stepped up beside him.
It was Mr. Popo.
"Popo," Kami said, his expression grave, "I just sensed an extremely powerful energy."
"Is it Piccolo? Or Son Goku?" Popo asked.
"Neither. It's unfamiliar. But there's no doubt about it, this ki is stronger than either of them. It only appeared for a moment, but I have a feeling... whoever it belongs to may be stronger than all of us."
Kami's tone had turned completely serious.
Popo immediately grew tense too. If even Kami was saying that, then the situation was no joke. Popo himself might have been stronger than Kami in pure combat, but that only made Kami's concern more alarming.
"For now, we can only wait and see," Kami said, rubbing at his brow. "At the moment, the owner of that energy doesn't seem to mean any harm. Otherwise..."
He didn't finish the sentence.
Popo let out a quiet breath and relaxed a little. In some matters, Kami's instincts were sharper than his own. If Kami felt the stranger meant no harm for now, then that was at least some comfort.
"Phew... I got a little excited and leaked just the tiniest bit of ki. Nobody noticed that, right? Probably not... I mean, if someone sensed something at that level, they'd just assume it was some random wild animal or something."
Aeris nodded to herself, clinging stubbornly to her own nonsense.
Half an hour later...
She sat on the ground patting her stomach with complete satisfaction.
Beside her lay the massive skeleton of what had once been a giant dinosaur.
Once she had eaten her fill, Aeris shot back into the sky and flew off again.
"Ahhhh! Why the hell does this Dragon Ball keep running all over the place?! One second it's here, then it's there, then it's gone again! Why is it moving so damn fast?!"
A blue-haired girl sat in a small aircraft and shouted at the top of her lungs.
Yes, that blue-haired girl was none other than the famous Bulma, future wife of Vegeta.
Bulma had been chasing the Dragon Ball signal all over the place, which meant she was really chasing Aeris around without knowing it. The most infuriating part was that every time she got close, the Dragon Ball would suddenly rocket away at ridiculous speed. Then, once it got absurdly far away, it would stop again like it was waiting for her.
It felt personal.
Like the damn thing was messing with her on purpose.
Bulma gritted her teeth.
"Oh, hell no. I refuse to believe a stupid ball can keep playing me like this. Let's see which one of us gives up first!"
She immediately pushed the craft faster and continued after it.
Meanwhile, Aeris flew into the city and landed in a quiet corner where no one was around.
She still couldn't believe how weak the people on this planet were. Even after suppressing her energy, she was still far stronger than all of them by an absurd margin. At the moment, she had lowered her battle power to around sixty.
Aeris let out a sigh.
She really had been chased too many times. Now she acted paranoid everywhere she went. Still, that habit had saved her life more than once, so it wasn't exactly useless.
Her basic survival rule had always been simple.
If she could beat someone, she mocked them.
If they were a little stronger than her, she dragged the fight out until she could still win in the end.
And if she pissed off someone way stronger than herself...
Well.
Run like hell.
Ahem. Anyway.
"Wow... wow..."
Aeris was genuinely in love with this place.
There were so many things she had never seen before. Of course, the way she stood there gawking at everything earned her a fair amount of pointing and whispering from passersby.
Did Aeris care?
No.
Absolutely not.
The only thing she cared about was figuring out how to bring all this cool stuff home without it looking suspicious.
That was all.
"I want to pack up half this city and take it with me... But what excuse am I supposed to use?"
Why would she think like that?
Because that was how she had always lived.
Currency didn't carry over from one planet to another, and honestly, nothing was faster than just taking what you wanted. Besides, most of the people she'd met out in the universe had been unreasonable bastards anyway, which had given her all the justification she needed.
While she was still thinking hard about how to claim all these things in a perfectly reasonable and definitely not criminal way, someone stepped in front of her.
It was Bulma.
Bulma had followed the Dragon Ball signal all the way here, and now she stood there in front of Aeris, breathing hard.
"H-hold on... wait a second..."
Aeris looked at her, confused. She had no idea why this woman had stopped her, but since Bulma was another woman, she decided to be patient and wait for her to continue.
After catching her breath, Bulma straightened up and introduced herself.
"Hi. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Bulma."
Aeris tilted her head slightly.
"Did you need something?"
Bulma looked at Aeris, then at the Dragon Ball hanging around her neck.
"Well... Miss... would you be willing to sell me that necklace?"
Aeris blinked.
Bulma coughed awkwardly and tried again.
"It's like this. The orb you're wearing on that necklace is something I've been looking for, so... would you consider selling it to me?"
She was blushing a little. Stopping a stranger out of nowhere and then immediately asking to buy something off their neck was pretty rude, and she knew it. But for the sake of the Dragon Ball, she forced herself through it.
"This one?" Aeris asked, pointing at the Dragon Ball on her necklace.
"Yes, that one. Please. Can I buy it from you? Name your price."
"I found it by a little river in the forest," Aeris said honestly. "You say you want to buy it, but I have no idea what it's worth. So you decide."
That answer put the problem right back onto Bulma.
Bulma hesitated.
It wasn't like this thing had a market price. It wasn't exactly sitting on store shelves with a label attached.
She thought for a moment, then gave up on solving it here.
"This really isn't the best place to talk," she said. "Why don't we go somewhere else and discuss it properly?"
Her idea was simple. Get Aeris back to Capsule Corp first. The price could be negotiated later. As for whether she could afford it...
Please.
She was the daughter of Capsule Corporation.
Money was not the issue here.
So Bulma led Aeris to a more open area. During the walk, she noticed something interesting.
The girl beside her behaved like an endlessly curious child, touching random things and staring at everything like she'd never seen any of it before.
Bulma wanted to ask about it immediately, but with so many people around, she held back.
Instead, she pulled a capsule from her pocket and tossed it casually to the ground.
Pop.
A car appeared in front of them.
Aeris jerked back in surprise and instantly dropped into a defensive stance.
Bulma found that reaction kind of adorable.
"Relax," she said. "It's not a weapon. It's just a normal vehicle."
Then she opened the door for her.
Still somewhat dazed, Aeris climbed in, but once inside she immediately went back to acting like a curious little kid, touching this, tapping that, examining everything she could reach.
"So weird..."
"You've really never seen this stuff before?" Bulma asked.
"No."
Bulma frowned.
"That doesn't make sense. Capsules may not be something every single household uses, but they're not exactly rare either. And cars are basically everywhere."
"Never seen them," Aeris replied honestly. "Never seen technology this crappy before, anyway. Except for the capsule thing."
Bulma hit the brakes so hard it nearly threw them both forward.
"C-crappy?" she repeated, staring at Aeris in disbelief.
"Yeah. Crappy."
Bulma took critical emotional damage.
It was the first time in her life anyone had called Capsule Corp technology backward.
From that point on, Bulma barely heard a word Aeris said. The word backward just kept echoing in her head over and over like a curse.
By the time she finally snapped out of it, they were already back at Capsule Corporation.
She found herself sitting there in silence, staring at Aeris while Aeris stared right back.
Bulma cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Sorry. I spaced out for a minute. Anyway... I just realized I still don't know your name."
And just like that, the awkwardness returned. They had talked this long and she still hadn't asked the girl's name. Rude as hell.
"Aeris."
Bulma coughed again and sat up straighter.
"All right, let me introduce myself properly one more time, Miss Aeris. I'm Bulma. Bulma Briefs. Second daughter of Capsule Corporation. But you can just call me Bulma."
Aeris smiled at her.
"Okay. I'll remember you, Bulma."
For a second, Bulma froze.
That gentle smile hit her straight in the face and locked up her brain.
What could she say? She appreciated beauty.
A lot.
"Miss Aeris, let's go inside and talk," Bulma said at last, then grabbed her hand and led her into the house.
As they walked, Aeris kept glancing around.
Some of the things inside were genuinely beautiful. She really liked them.
In fact, she was already thinking about how to get her hands on them.
By the end of that train of thought, she had arrived at a bold new plan.
Take over the whole planet.
That way everything on it would belong to her.
Honestly, she didn't even mind that the planet's technology was primitive. Earth was still exactly the kind of place she liked.
But then she quickly came back to her senses.
If this planet had such a good environment and its technology was this underdeveloped, then why hadn't anyone conquered it already?
That was suspicious.
Very suspicious.
While Aeris was still in the middle of that mental storm, Bulma's voice pulled her back to reality.
"Miss Aeris, now we can talk about the price of that orb."
Bulma's whole vibe had changed. She sounded serious now.
Aeris was a little surprised by the sudden shift, but she answered anyway.
"Just call me Aeris. I picked that orb up off the ground, so if you want it, Bulma, then you can name the price. If it sounds acceptable, we can make the deal right away."
Bulma slowly raised two fingers.
Aeris tilted her head.
Bulma hesitated, then added one more finger.
Now she was holding up three.
Aeris frowned.
Bulma took that as dissatisfaction and carefully said, "If you're not happy with that number, we can keep negotiating..."
Aeris was even more confused now.
No, seriously.
Sister, what the hell are you talking about?
Aren't we discussing a price?
Why are you just holding up fingers at me?
Don't bully me just because I haven't read enough books.
"Fine. We'll go with the number you said."
She had no idea what Bulma meant, but whatever. The thing was something she'd found for free anyway. No matter what it sold for, that still counted as profit.
Look at her.
What a genius.
Bulma let out a relieved breath.
"Then our deal is settled. So, how would you like payment? Check or transfer?"
Aeris went blank.
Every word in that sentence made sense on its own.
Put together?
Not a damn clue.
Bulma stared at her for a second, then carefully asked, "You... don't have a bank account, do you?"
Aeris didn't really understand what that meant either, but she still nodded.
Bulma's expression instantly became very complicated.
After asking some questions about Aeris's situation, Bulma called her parents and arranged for Aeris's identity documents to be handled. Naturally, most of the background story Aeris gave her was made up on the spot. Still, thanks to that, Aeris somehow ended up legally existing on Earth before she even fully understood what was happening.
She couldn't be bothered to overthink it.
Honestly, this was fine.
Far better than wandering around space every day with no home to return to.
Who wouldn't want a stable life if they could get one?
Aeris took off the necklace and handed it to Bulma.
Bulma accepted it, then removed the Dragon Ball from the string.
But instead of looking only at the orb, she found herself studying the pearls. They weren't like any pearls she had seen before. They seemed to be some unfamiliar type, and before she knew it, she was staring at them in fascination.
When Aeris noticed that Bulma seemed interested, she simply offered them to her.
Bulma immediately shook her head.
"I can't accept that. I only bought the orb I needed. The necklace itself, I..."
"I've got plenty more like this," Aeris said casually. "Take it as a gift. But don't refuse too fast. I do have one condition."
"What condition?" Bulma asked.
"Can you help me get some books? As many as possible. There are a lot of things I'm not familiar with, so I want to learn."
Bulma blinked, then laughed.
"That's it? I thought it was going to be something serious. We already have a ton of books here. If you want to read, you can just use the ones in my house."
Then she looked Aeris over again and asked, "Aeris, do you know martial arts or something? It took a ridiculous amount of effort for me to catch up to you earlier."
"A little," Aeris replied.
Bulma nodded slowly.
"That explains it... I was wondering how you were moving that fast."