On the Hunt

"You don't want to wait for Goku?" Peter scratched the side of his head.

"Nah, he'll catch up. I doubt he'll find the dragon ball without a submarine,"

"And you didn't want to tell him that because?"

"He won't learn if he doesn't experience it first hand," Bulma sighed as she shook her head.

"Did Goku have anyone to teach him? I mean, shouldn't he be in school?" Peter followed up.

"Oh, yeah, you see, Goku was raised by a martial artist in the mountains. His grandfather died when he was just a kid, and Goku pretty much raised himself. The four star dragon ball was one of the few things his grandpa left him."

Peter gave a pained expression as he looked back to the ocean, "Kid's got a tough heart. I don't know if I could stand living alone for so long."

"Tell me about it, City Girl born and raised," Bulma chuckled.

"Me too,"

"Huh, so you're a city girl too?" Bulma snickered.

"You cheeky…he…HAHAHAH!" Peter placed his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter.

"That's for insinuating that I was a bad person," Bulma smiled as she started walking inland.

Peter followed after when Bulma asked, "So what's your story? It's not every day you get to meet a real life comic book superhero."

"Oh…well, that's kind of hard to talk about," Peter rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey, you'll be leaving this world in a few weeks. Why not leave us with your biography?" Bulma replied.

"Maybe over dinner, it's…not the fun story you're probably imagining," Peter showed a downed expression before he suddenly felt his Spider-Senses alerting him.

He grabbed Bulma and pulled her out of the way in time for a series of high caliber bullets to tear into the ground beside them.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Bulma yelled at the Red Ribbon fighter planes that zipped by them.

"They're coming back around," Peter said as he put his mask on webbed a decently sized nearby rock. Then, while he rotated his upper body, he pulled the web line his hand threw the rock into one of the air-ship's windshield.

"Keep me safe!" Bulma shouted as she ran back towards the beach.

"Right…" Spider-Man said as he saw the Red-Ribbon fighter jets coming back around to shoot him.

When they were within 80ft of him, Spider-Man shot his web-lines out and managed to hook on to them both. Then, with a single leaping motion, he pulled himself to the space between the two aircrafts.

"What the hell?!" The Red-Ribbon soldier shouted.

"You might want to land this thing," Spider-Man said as the pilot whipped his head around.

He saw the men from the other ships tied up and stuck to the back seat.

"The hell are you?"

"Land, before you end up like that," Peter pointed to the other ships that were falling to the ground and exploded.

The Soldier tried to grab his gun, but Peter snatched it from him and crushed it like it was made of paper.

"Anything else you want to try?"

The soldier shook his head in fear as he landed the ship next to Bulma.

"Dang, you work fast!" The blue-haired girl smiled.

"What we do with these guys," Peter pointed to the webbed up and unconscious goons.

"I'll call the police, no the Royal Army. Members of the RR army are worldwide criminals."

"Red Ribbon?"

"They're a privately owned army trying to conquer the world," Bulma informed, "Aaaand, since they're wanted criminals, I bet they even have bounties. I'll give what I get for turning them in."

"Appreciated," Peter replied as he saw Goku flying towards them.

"Hey! What happened?!" The boy jumped from the cloud with his body freshly dried by the speed in which the cloud flew.

"We ran into trouble, took care of it." Peter said as he looked at the men struggling to escape his web.

"Cool! Oh, I can't find the dragon ball, but I had a great idea. We're not far from the Turtle Hermit's place. He might have a capsule that can dive underwater."

Bulma looked a bit upset as she sighed and said, "Oh, him…well isn't this just a great idea."

"Heheh! You guys are the only one with smarts!" Goku bragged with an innocent smile.

"Who's the Turtle Hermit?"

"My martial arts teacher! He's a funny old man!" Goku chuckled as they all got on the cloud and took off.

A couple of minutes of flying across the ocean later, they all stopped at an island in the middle of the ocean. Peter had to admit, while this place looked nothing like the Earth he was used to, it had some pretty scenery to admire.

"Hey! It's Goku!" A talking turtle spoke up.

Goku hopped off the cloud and smiled as he saw Turtle, "Heya Seat Hurtle, is the old man around?"

"It's Sea Turtle, and yeah, he's here. Master Roshi, Goku's here!" The turtle shouted out.

 "It's a talking turtle," Peter said feeling a bit flabbergasted, "Well…not the strangest thing I've ever seen."

"Huh? Goku's back!" Roshi popped his head out his door.

"Heya, Master Roshi! How've you been?" Goku smiled.

"Did you find your grandpa's dragon ball already?"

"Nah, we ran into some trouble. I'll let Peter explain," Goku held his hand out to introduce his new friend.

Roshi looked at him with a interested expression, "That's quite the power I feel coming from you."

"Pardon?"

"You've found quite the strong friend. I'd say he's even stronger than me. Who trained you?"

"Shang Chi, a master of countless Martial Arts. He helped me develop the Way of the Spider Art," Peter gave a bow to show respect.

"Hahah, and he's quite polite. You've found a good friend, Goku," Roshi complimented.

"Yeah!" Goku agreed.

"We came here because the next dragon ball is at the bottom of the ocean and we need an underwater vehicle," Peter explained.

Goku suddenly pulled out his stack of money and said, "I can pay for with this, right?"

"Goku, I don't think that's enough for a vehicle," Peter slapped his forehead.

Roshi smirked as he patted his head, "I'll let you rent it for 10,000. You should ask what things cost before you pull out your money."

The old man then faced Peter and said, "Forgive the boy, he's not educated about monetary issues."

"No, it's fine. I understand. I heard about his upbringing," Peter waved his hands.

"So, why you gathering the dragon balls?" The turtle hermit asked.

"To be honest, it's to get home. I'm not from this dimension, but a parallel Earth. They think the dragon can take me back and fix my whole…age issue. Just so you know, I turned thirty not too long ago. Whatever sent me here…did this to me…"

"Hoho, that's quite the story. Well, if the dragon balls can't get you home, maybe nothing will," Roshi smiled.

"You, believe me?" Peter's jaw dropped.

"Kid, I'm over 300 years old, I've seen a lot of stuff," Roshi laughed.

"So where is the capsule," Bulma's voice called out.

"I heard, Bulma? Where is she?"

"Down here, you old pervert!" Bulma yelled out from Goku's shirt.

"You shrank!"

"Yeah, so where's the capsule,"

"Er…Krillin's out shopping with it right now. He'll be back in a bit,"

"Alright! I can spar with Peter until then!" Goku cheered.

Peter sighed and got ready to let Goku have his fun. Roshi was interested as he watched Bulma return to her original size.

"How'd you do that?"

"Tech," Bulma stuck her tongue out at him.

"Heheh, well, let's see how far Goku's come since the tournament," Roshi saw his student dash forward.

Once again, Peter effortlessly dodged all of Goku's blows. Roshi showed an impressed expression as he watched Peter weaving and bobbing.

"Come on, just hit me once! How am I supposed to know how strong you are if you don't hit me with everything you have?" Goku shouted as Peter dodged a barrage of punches and kicks.

His mind drifted to the teaching of Shang Chi and his lessons, Peter sighed realizing that he was seriously disrespecting Goku as a Martial Artist, "Put your guard up."

Goku's hair stood on end as Peter punched him while he was in the middle of a jump kick. He managed to block in time, but was sent flying into the ocean a good 60ft away.

Everyone's eyes widened as they saw Goku come up for air and started swimming back.

"That was awesome!" Goku shouted as he hopped around.

"Good enough for ya?" Peter smiled after breathing a sigh of relief.

"I know it wasn't your full strength, but now I have something to go off," Goku grinned happily.

"How'd you do that without raising your Ki?" Roshi showed a stunned expression.

"Again, what's Ki?"

"It's life force that flows through all living things. Martial Artists learn to harness and hone their Ki to become warriors capable of incredible things. But I didn't feel any rise in fighting spirit," Roshi looked at Peter with interest.

"So, wait, can anyone learn to use this Ki-stuff?"

"Yes, but it requires hard training and for you to constantly break past your limits. It's the melding of mind, will, and spirit, life energy in its rawest form."

"Oh, I think I've heard of this before. My teacher uses something similar called Chi, but he said it could take decades to learn to use it and that it's better to start when one is young."

"Hehehe, well, maybe for others. But with a good teacher, you could learn it months," Roshi bragged.

"Wow," Peter showed a surprised expression.

"I can teach you what I know!" Goku said, getting excited at the thought of Peter getting even stronger.

"Well, I'd like to, but I'm only going to be here as long as it takes to get the dragon balls," Peter sighed, "Besides, I can't stay long. I have people that I need to get back to, people I need to protect."

"Oh…okay! It wouldn't be right to keep you here against your will," Goku pouted as he looked down with a loose lip.

"Well, come on, I can keep going," Peter said while holding up a hand and waving at Goku to bring it.

Goku smiled as he jumped right back into fighting. He threw out flurries of kicks and punches all done as an expert martial artist.

"You focus too much on attacking. If you take a more defensive stance, you can look for gaps in your opponent's moves," Spider-Man said as he swung the back of his hand up like a crane taking flight. His hand bumped into the bottom of Goku's wrist and threw the boy's whole arm into the air.

"Just one change in your stance and I've left you completely open," Peter announced as he used his open palm to lightly tap Goku's stomach.

The boy flew onto the ground before he back flipped and landed on his feet. Rubbing his tummy, he stared at Peter and said, "That was fast!"

"Kick to your knee, then I'll hit your side with a punch, and I I'll finish it with a chop to the side of your neck."

Goku tried to keep track of hero, but his eyes couldn't follow. Before the spikey haired youth knew it, Peter tapped his knee to make him lean into the punch to his side. Once his neck was exposed, Peter gave a gentle chop that stopped short.

"See, you have to dodge without thinking, see your enemy's movements before they happen and move before they attack. Master Shang taught me that if you pay attention to a person's muscles, you can see what they're going to do before they do it."

Peter then stepped back, "Look at me Goku, keep my entire body within your sight and look for any subtle movements from my muscles. Start at the shoulders and slowly pull back until you can view everything."

Roshi grinned as he said, "This Shang Chi fella must be quite the master."

Goku focused on Peter, trying to keep every last part of his body in full focus.

"Rising uppercut to the jaw," Peter said as started to lean down close to the ground.

Goku strained his eyes, and then he saw it. That slight twitch of his muscle revealed the stance he would take. However, that's when it ended.

With a dash of intense speed, he saw Peter right below him, his body crouched on the ground like a wolf spider that was about to leap. Then with a lightning fast jump, Peter's body twisted into a rising motion, showing off how flexible his body was.

"Upper cut!" The thought passed through the boy's head as he raised his arms to block.

Goku's palm caught the uppercut, but he was unable stop the blow as the bottom of his hand pushed into his chin. The punch knocked him back a bit and didn't do much damage thanks to how much Peter was holding back.

"If you're not strong enough, dodge, don't waste energy on excessive movements, and only take the shortest route to avoiding the blow. If you do it right, it opens up your opponent for a counter," Roshi instructed.

Goku took his stance again and jumped at Peter. He followed up with a punch that Peter dodged by slightly moving his head. While still in the air, Goku tried to use a spin kick, but once again, he was dodged by Peter slightly tilting his body.

Goku didn't stop and used the momentum of his first kick to make a second.

Peter responded by slightly leaning forward while invading Goku's space. He bumped his chest into Goku's side and made him fall on his back.

Goku grinned as he looked at the sky and said, "Wow, there are so many strong people out there. This is the best!"

The kid hopped up and sprung back into action. For almost twenty minutes, Goku pushed himself to the limits and failed to land a single punch on Peter. When Peter hit back, it was always softly and with the least amount of power he could put into it, but with plenty of tries, he was able to gauge how much damage the kid could take.

By the end of their fight, Goku was left a panting pile of sweat while Peter had shed a single drop.

"Ohoho, I learned a lot from your fight. It appears that our worlds have more in common than I thought. I saw many similar styles to those that exist here. However, I think you haven't had this style for very long, am I correct?"

"Yeah, I learned when my Spider-Senses went on the fritz a few years ago."

"Spider-Sense?" Goku, Bulma, and Roshi questioned at the same time.

"Oh, um. It's a buzzing feeling in my head I get that alerts me to danger. One of my best powers, really."

"Danger Sense, quite the unique power you have," Roshi couldn't help but feel a bit jealous.

"Yeah, it's saved my bacon from being cooked more than a couple times," Spider-Man chuckled.

Goku started to drool, "Bacon sounds perfect."

Both Peter and Goku's stomachs growled.

"Why don't you all stay for a meal. Krillin's getting groceries, but I still have some rice I could cook up," Roshi chuckled.

They went inside and ate until they were full. When Krillin arrived, Goku immediately jumped over to say hello.

"Hey, It's Goku!" Krillin shouted as he hopped out of the flying vehicle.

"Heyo!" Goku gave a piece sign.

"Oh my, it's been a while," Launch said as she exited the craft with groceries.

"Yeah, that's a submersible alright," Bulma smiled as she approved of the sting ray model.

"Huh? Oh yeah, you must be uh…Bloomer," Krillin said as he looked at the blue haired scientist.

"It's Bulma!" She shouted in anger.

"Huh, it's a flying type too?" Peter questioned as he looked at the craft.

"Who's this guy?" Krillin asked as he inspected Peter.

"That's Peter, he's a strong fighter I met!" Goku said with his chest puffed out.

"Uh-huh, well, I'm Krillin, a student of the Kame school like Goku!"

"How's it going?" Peter shook his hand.

"What are you guys doing here? I thought you were out searching for your grandpa's dragon ball?"

"Well ya see, the one we're closest too is underwater, so we came her to borrow that," Goku pointed to the multipurpose craft.

"Huh, cool…think you'll find any pirate treasure?"

"Treasure?" Bulma lifted a brow.

"Come to think of it, a hundred years ago or so a group of powerful pirates used to roam that part of the seas. Legends say that they left all their treasure in one location," Roshi confirmed.

"That'd be cool if you found them both…Oh, hey! Can I come with?" Krillin asked with a hopeful expression.

"I'll give you permission to leave," Roshi nodded his head.

"Sure! The more the merrier," Goku replied as jumped in the air-craft.

"See ya later, pervert!" Bulma waved as she jumped in the front seat.

Krillin and Goku sat in the ship while Peter was sandwiched between them.

"Little small in here. Kind of glad I was shrunk down to my teenage years," Peter mentioned.

"Huh?" Krillin looked at Peter like he was crazy.

"Hi, name's Peter Parker, 30 year old dimensional traveler. Nice to meet ya again,"

"Is this guy crazy?" Krillin whispered to Goku.

"No…" Goku looked genuinely confused as to why Krillin would ask that.

"I should have expected that," Krillin gave a dry expression.

"So, about that story," Bulma said as they flew off.

"Well…there's a lot of personal stuff in it, but I'll give you the abridged version. I got bitten by a radioactive spider that was augmented with a super-soldier serum. The venom from the spider was a delivery system that managed to augment my DNA and completely transform by body. I went from super nerd to super man in a single night."

"Get out of here! You telling me you got your powers from a spider-bite," Bulma chuckled.

"Yeah, laugh it up. At least I have powers, amazing ones at that," Peter smirked.

"Well, I would have used a cold virus to augment human genes, but I suppose venom can work too," Bulma smirked, "So, you got powers and decided to become a super hero?" 

"Not exactly, to be honest, I could have cared less back then. I was 16, and was more worried about impressing a girl, my studies, and getting money for my family. I was pretty self-centered when I think about it."

"Nah, you're a teenager like me, we don't have to put the whole world on your shoulders. Wanting those things is perfectly natural," Bulma replied.

"I thought there'd be more fighting," Goku sighed with a board expression.

"Yeah, well, I decided to abuse my powers and become a pro-wrestler. I made some money here and there doing talk shows, and it seemed like it was going to be an easy job taking down normal humans. However, one night, I got ripped off by the stadium owner and he just so happened to get robbed by a thug shortly thereafter."

The group listened in on what he was saying, "I had the chance to stop him, but I let the guy go. Told the owner that it wasn't my problem."

"Well, I can see the self-centered now, but I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing," Bulma sighed.

"Yeah, well, I should have. Letting that guy go was the biggest mistake of my life, it cost me the life of my uncle Ben. Of all the people in New York, the robber shot my uncle and stole his car was the same guy I could have stopped."

"That…took a dark turn," Bulma made a grim expression.

"I ignored my responsibility and I was punished for it," Peter looked at up at the moving clouds above their heads.

"Sorry you lost your uncle," Krillin offered his condolences.

"Well, that's how I got my start as a hero. I promised myself that I would never abandon my responsibilities ever again. I was given this power, and with that power, comes great responsibilities. Great Power Great Responsibility is kind of my motto."

"I see…well it couldn't have all been bad, there must be some fun stories you could tell," Bulma tried to change the subject.

"Oh, I have plenty of those. I been at this since I was 16, I've had plenty of run in with villains, aliens, and plain old weirdoes that can make you jump in laughter."

"Seriously, who is this guy?" Krillin asked.

"I know it sounds weird, but once you travel to a couple different dimensions, it loses its shock and awe factor," Peter chuckled, "I too was like you when I met someone from an alternant earth."

He spent the rest of the flight regaling them of his adventures and bad guy catalog. He told them about his friends, the Avengers, and the wife he had waiting for him back in his universe.

Around an hour and a half of flying later, they had entered a subterranean cave that was deep beneath the surface of the sea.

"Whoa, it's dark!" Krillin called out.

The lights from the submarine only lit up a small portion of the cave, and all that one could see from that point forward was pitch blackness.

"Stay close, I'll lead since I see better than you guys in the dark," Peter announced before recalling the light on his belt.

After turning it on, they made their way cavern. They open space grew more narrow the deeper into the cavern they traveled. The group continued following the pathway when suddenly, Goku found a light switch and pressed it.

"Hey! The electricity still works!" Bulma smiled.

Peter suddenly put his mask on said, "You know we're being followed, right?"

The group looked backtracked to see other underwater vehicles popping up in the same opening they traveled through.

"Wow, how'd you know?" Goku asked.

"I listened…the sounds of the water being breeched, the footsteps that followed, and they aren't exactly being quiet," Peter saw the RR symbols and jumped into action, "This will take me just a second."

Spider-Man took off in a flash of intense speed and webbed up the group within seconds. Everyone that was part of the pursuit found themselves webbed to the walls and unable to speak.

While they let out muffled screams, Peter looked at their vehicles and said, "Hey! I can take these, right?"

"Sure! We taking the bounty too?" Bulma asked with an impressed expression.

Spider-Man gave a thumb up and said, "Web Fluid is cheap, but it still cost money,"

"Holy, how are you this fast?!" Krillin shouted.

"Believe me now?" Peter smirked under his mask.

"I told ya he was strong?" Goku grinned.

"Right, the webbing will hold for about 2 to 3 hours. So we can drag them all back in a couple of Subs, the rest…argh, Bulma how do I turn them back into capsules?"

"I got it," Bulma said as she pointed the buttons out. After they changed back into capsules, Spider-Man noticed a man glaring at him. He looked at him, but before his eyes made contact with General Blue, his senses went haywire and he reacted by covering his eyes with webbing.

"Phew, that was close. I almost had a Cyclops event happen again," Spider-Man shivered as he recalled being shot with the X-Men's laser eyes.

"Why'd you web his eyes?" Bulma asked as she watched Spider-Man knocking the Red Ribbon members and peeling them off the wall.

As he stuffed them inside two subs, he looked back to Bulma and said, "My spider-sense alerted me to danger. I knew a guy who could shoot plasma from his eyes, and I got that kind of feeling from this guy."

"Oh, some people in this world are born with unique powers. It's my first time meeting one," Krillin commented.

"Oh, man, guys like him are a dime a dozen back where I come from. The last time I checked, roughly 30% of the populous were mutants," Peter replied as he closed the hatch and took 5 capsule cases from the army members.

"Come on! Let's get the dragon ball!" Bulma cheered.

They made their way through the underground tunnels and came across a spear trap. Thanks to Spider-Man leading the way, he stopped them and stood on the roof before saying, "I'll carry you across."

He carried Bulma and Krillin over when Goku suddenly jumped and said, "We could have done it this way too!"

"I guess so," Krillin laughed as Spider-Man dropped down beside them.

They continued along the pathway until they came into a large open area with buildings and a sub. It looked like a tiny town.

Peter was a bit awed by what he saw when his senses suddenly went off. He dodged out of the way just in time to avoid a robot smashing through a wall to try and stab him.

Goku jumped into action and kicked the robot in the head while Krillin snapped its sword with a chop of his hand. Peter finished it off by jump kicking the monster-like robot's head into the water beside the sub,

"Huh, that was easy," Peter commented as Bulma cheered them on.

They eventually made it to the treasure room and opened the chest to see a pile of gold and jewels.

"Huh? With this much, I could live really well back in my world. No more worrying about rent,"

"So, we split this four ways, right?" Krillin asked.

Bulma shook her head, "Nah, I have plenty of money. Finding the treasure was the fun part," Bulma giggled.

"Cool," Krillin smiled as he closed the case and watched Spider-Man web it up before strapping it onto his back.

"The dragon ball should be in that pool," Bulma pointed to Goku who jumped in and found it rather quickly.

They swam back and returned to the entrance and saw that there were some guys trying to open up hatch that had the villains webbed up inside.

"I guess they're the backup," Peter commented as he ran forward and added more to his catch, "Like flies to the web."

"That wasn't funny," Bulma gave a blanched expression.

They got inside their sub and before they closed the hatch, Peter strung a line to the other subs to tow them behind.

"I think the Royal Army should still be on that island we left the other guys on. We should drop them off and get you the bounty."

"Right. Mind taking a detour?" Spider-Man looked at the kids.

"Fine with us!"