Dragon Ball: A Better Bulma

"I guess that would be it, wouldn't it?" said Gohan with a small smile as he dissipated his Ki. He was too old to waste something that came from his life essence.

Although he saw Bulma's talent, he felt that he might be able to take up his master's offer to get the 'Immortal Herb', which would allow him to have the strength of a young man even with an aging body. He would let things flow naturally. 

The idea was certainly very tempting, but he had always been more in favor of letting things flow as they naturally are, so when he heard the story of the Dragon Balls from Bulma, he felt no motivation to wish for anything. 

Sure, he could try to wish for something like 'Rejuvenation', it would certainly allow him to take a step forward, but did that make any sense beyond vanity and lust for power? 

Nor did he know the consequences of making a wish, or that he would have to pay for it. He wouldn't believe that something as grand and illusory as 'make a wish' didn't come with some fine print, it sounded more like a demon whisper than something done by 'Kami'. 

Imagine a world where everyone wants to make wishes on Dragon Balls without even trying. Sure, maybe there are altruistic wishes like healing someone, but who can stop greed from taking over humanity?

As a martial artist, he has been able to travel more than many people, he has seen so many things, good and bad, so his understanding of human nature was more than obvious, so he felt the need to advise his new student. 

"Little Bulma, let me give you my first lesson," Gohan sat down again and placed the restless Goku on his lap. 

"Good," Bulma took out a capsule and threw it on the ground, transforming it into a small trunk. 

From the trunk, Bulma pulled out a machine that looked like a laptop and worked like one. She built it herself with the help of her father because she plans to travel a lot in the future. 

Having such a useful tool as a computer would certainly make her travels much easier, as well as collecting and processing data for learning or research.

Now she would use it to record the teachings of her new master. Who says that technology and martial arts practice are unrelated? Before Gohan's astonished eyes, she sat down again and prepared to write. 

"The young people today are really powerful," the old man murmured, making Bulma smile. 

"What I want to teach you is part of the philosophy of my school, Sora, I already told you how the sky embraces everything, but now I will tell you how it allows everything to 'flow'. 

Everything in nature is cyclical and chaotic, but gradually tending toward order, fractal, but with recognizable patterns. Why do you make that face? I went to college," Gohan grumbled, seeing Bulma's somewhat stunned look.

"Science has many truths, you know, I don't want to fill your head with mystical mumbo jumbo that you won't understand, that's the problem of the ancestors. You know very well that I don't just mean the cloud-filled sky, but the universe itself. 

That is why you need to know about thermodynamics, right? Or at least you're going to learn it. Anyway, the energy-matter concept is another example of a cycle. What's the point? I don't know what Dragon Balls will use to fulfill wishes if anything, but there must be a price for everything.

If you want strength, you train, if you want to live, you eat and drink, if you want money, you work. Don't rely on anything you can't achieve yourself, even if you find a weapon, don't use it beyond a tool unless you create it and understand it yourself. 

Life has its cycle, you will grow old gradually, so you may be tempted to rejuvenate yourself. But where does this new vitality come from? You don't know, maybe from the plants around you, maybe from the life of an animal, or maybe from the life of another person. 

Do I make myself clear? I do not deny that you can use the power of the orbs for good, but beware of the obsession and evil that sometimes starts with noble intentions. Many heroes have fallen into darkness because of their good ideals," Gohan's words hit Bulma hard. 

Even though she knew that it was maybe in the continuity that went on to "Super" and had nothing to do with "GT", she couldn't help but think about how trivial the Dragon Balls had become and how unscrupulous they had become.

For the love of Kami, Dragon Ball Super's Bulma could just create some miracle cream for her wrinkles or her butt, but she chose to make wishes to 'rejuvenate' herself a bit, something that may be funny to see on screen but makes you think about the mentality of someone who does such things in real life.

Bulma, not only noted Gohan's words but also considered them. So she decided to limit the use of Dragon Balls, only for really important situations and not for nonsense like wishing for panties. 

"I understand, Master, I will keep your teachings," Bulma was also glad that her future training would not include too 'esoteric' things, if Gohan would suddenly talk to her about the Dantian or the Meridians, she wouldn't know what to do. 

"That's good, very good," Gohan stroked his white beard with one hand while he held Goku's head a little tighter, the boy had become increasingly restless. 

"Master, you brought the boy's ship with you?" Bulma pointed out, causing the older man's eyes to grow excited. 

"Is he a planet-killing alien, but little Son Goku is innocent, I don't see any evil in him," Gohan said, but Bulma shook her head.

"No, I mean maybe his parents left a message for him, his restlessness is because of that... he misses his parents," Bulma then explained her ability to sense emotions to her master, causing him to become serious.

"Bulma, you are too young to be exposed to such power, it would be good for you to control yourself, it would not be good for an immature mind like yours, it could cause serious identity problems," Gohan advised, receiving a nod from the young woman. 

"I know, the first thing I did was to control this ability, I don't want to be an emotional monster," Bulma's little joke lightened the tense atmosphere. 

Gohan then looked at the child in his arms and thought it would be good to try to see what things the little boy's parents had left behind. Although he loved him like a grandson, he did not want to cut off Goku's true 'heritage', but he took it upon himself to raise him on the right path. 

"Then I'll take you to the place where I found this unruly little guy," Gohan said, standing up and holding Goku by his armpits like he was holding a grumpy cat.

Although the boy calmed down a bit at the sight of Bulma, his negative emotions took a lot of shape on his face, and eventually, he started to cry in the girl's airship, which flew to the landing site under Gohan's guidance. 

"At first, I thought it was just a meteor, you know? And I thought, how cool would it be to make a weapon out of space metal? Like in those legendary stories of the past I read when I was a kid, but I didn't expect to have a grandson at this age, hahahahahaha!" Gohan recounted with obvious joy in his voice as he ignored the crying child, already knowing that Goku would not stop for a good while. 

"If you want a weapon like that, we just have to gather the materials," Bulma shook her shoulders with her answer. 

A weapon with metal from outer space? With her family's advantages and the future advancements they would get from scanning Goku and Jaco's ship, getting asteroids directly from space didn't seem like a far-fetched dream anymore. 

At this point, their family would become as powerful as a country, maybe more, just like in Super, where they could even just use a force shield and no one would ask unnecessary questions because they recognized the crazy stuff coming out of Capsule Corp. 

Soon they arrived at the place where the ship had landed, which was surprisingly in pretty good shape, and after a check by Bulma, she was able to confirm that many of its systems were functional. 

"Checking and cataloging this thing will be a delight, it even has a built-in power meter, but that's not what's important..." Bulma deftly manipulated the ship and obtained a series of records.

"Coordinates of the planet Vegeta.... Why does it seem like the whole northern galaxy speaks the same language? Anyway, I found what I wanted," after some tinkering, Bulma found a video file, which she converted and transferred to her personal computer, along with all the stored records. 

The ship also had a space map, perhaps overdue for other forces like Freezer's army, but a treasure for her. Bulma couldn't help but pat the ship, feeling like it was a gift that had fallen from the sky.

"Wait, if it fell from the sky..." the girl muttered before she approached Gohan and Goku who was waiting for her a few meters away. 

"Did you find what you were looking for?" asked Gohan when he saw the excited face, who nodded and quickly put the laptop into tablet mode before playing the video. 

Soon, the attention of the three was focused on the images presented on the screen, they could partially see what appeared to be someone's armor and some distant voices, and then the camera was properly positioned. 

"I hope you get to see this, Kakarot, my son," a man's voice rang out, the person in the armor stepping back to reveal his full body. 

Tall, with a brown tail on his back that swayed constantly, perhaps from the fear and nervousness he felt, there was a scar on his fierce face, but the smile on his face removed all traces of intimidation. 

The expression on his face, and the way he stood, though they showed that he was a soldier full of blood, also showed that he was a concerned father, the man then looked in a direction from which a much shorter woman, with a similar tail and a kind face, emerged.

"You'll see, Bardock, let's hope so," the woman said with a smile, but her expression showed that she was sad. 

"Kakarot, we are your parents, my name is Gine, and this is Bardock, a proud Saiyajin warrior, just... I apologize for not being able to spend more time with you. I would have loved to play with you when you finally came out of the incubator, but things..." Gine began to cry as she covered her face with both hands. 

Bardock hugged her, put her face on his chest, then looked straight into the camera, as if he wanted to look straight into his son, no matter the distance, no matter the time. 

"Kakarot, you are a proud Saiyajin, I hope you grow up to be worthy of the name, but most of all, I hope you live well. I don't ask you to take revenge for what happened to us, but if you get the chance in the future, make Freezer pay for what he did to us," Bardock knew that even with his power, he couldn't take on an entire army, not to mention that Freezer's strength was unknown. 

But knowing that he would die, he had no doubts, and this fearless spirit seemed to directly affect his son, who watched the images with tears in his eyes, but he no longer cried. 

Bulma and Gohan felt the change in Goku as if the boy had been freed from the sad clouds that constantly weighed on him, and a goofy smile appeared on his tear-stained face. 

Gohan, in particular, felt something else, if the boy in his hand had a restless energy typical of children, now that energy seemed to exude a hint of what he determined to be pride. 

"Grow up well, live well, and if by chance Raditz, your brother, meets you again, I hope you get along," Gine said, smiling into the camera despite her red eyes, and then the video ended. 

"I don't know where you are now, but I will take care of raising your children in the best way, I promise," Gohan said solemnly, while Bulma put away her computer. 

"Now we have to see the Galactic Patrolman," after a few moments of silence, Bulma spoke.

It was time to meet Jaco.