2 Chapter 2 - Butterflies 

…

Bulma was feeling a little giddy. Like butterflies were flying in her stomach. She had met a handsome guy which made her blush like a tomato every time she looked at him. He looked like the prince charming of her dreams, with just the right amount of manly edge she liked.

Also, he helped them when they were in a bad situation and didn't ask for any reward from them. Ahhh~ he was such a handsome, nice, and strong-looking guy.

"Why would a guy like that be in a desert? He is some kind of bandit. People don't just choose to be in a desert," the transforming pig said, breaking Bulma out of her daydreaming.

Bulma, who was driving, glanced at her pig companion and sighed. "Oolong, don't be silly. Bandits are rough-looking and ugly. Look at how handsome he is."

"Y… You have some problems," Oolong sighed, it seemed like he wanted to say something but he didn't.

"Also, you seem to know the little cat thing. How bad can they be?" Asked Bulma, trying to sound like she wasn't going along with Yamcha just because he wasn't handsome.

"I knew her from transformation school," the pig smirked. "I had to drop out because of doing a heroic deed. That's why my transformations don't last too long."

Yeah, by the look on his face Bulma immediately knew Oolong was lying. He probably got expelled because of a perverted reason.

"I hope he has food," added a hungry Goku.

.

When they arrived at Yamcha's hideout, it was a place that looked like a sandy dune, with little circular windows and very camouflaged in the desert.

Bulma was a little excited as they put the car and Ymacha's jet bike into capsules, and he took them. Inside, the place had one table, a bed, some jars, and a wooden stair that led to one of the windows.

Bulma looked around. Her heart beating wildly, was this how a boy's room is supposed to look? She didn't know, as she had never been in one. Technically she had been in her father's room, which was filled with gadgets and some flowers their mother liked. But he didn't count. Her father also mostly slept in his lab, so it couldn't even be called his room.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Yamcha went toward one of the jars and looked around. He then took out a capsule and threw it on the ground, revealing three extra beds. "The bathroom is in the back. The shower is in a separate room."

He then went to check something, and Oolong immediately whispered toward Bulma and Goku. "You saw that! He had a jar full of capsules! This guy is clearly a thief. No one has that many capsules."

"What're you talking about?" Bulma looked at him, confused. The way she saw it, Yamcha had too few capsules. In her house, even her favorite mug had its capsule. "Having too many capsules doesn't mean anything."

Oolong looked at her as if she was a fool. "Do you think someone who lives in a place like this can afford that many capsules?"

"What do you mean? Capsules aren't that expensive," she always had them lying around. Her mother often complained to her father about that.

The walking and talking pig, on the other hand, just looked at her with a strange look on his face. What's that about?

***

Yamcha did his best to be more accommodating to the daughter of one of, if not the richest man in the world. Who knew, she might become his lunch ticket in this world. As in literally a lunch ticket, because he didn't plan on working a real job when planet-busting creatures roam around him. He wasn't Gohan. Though he wouldn't mind having his potential.

At that, he chuckled. Yamcha, having Gohan's potential? That sounded like the great lead-up to a joke.

He went around and put some of the capsules in his inventory. From the description of the Observe, they were quite expensive. It didn't seem like a smart idea to sell them, as they were most likely stolen.

Still, Yamcha rummaged through the house and put everything he could into his inventory. Why? Because he won't be coming back to this place again. "Puar, we will be going on a journey."

"Hm?" The weird cat looked confused.

"Because I saw the girl's Dragon Balls on her purse." He hadn't seen anything but was divided to male things up. Also, they were far enough from Goku's group and Bulma so they could talk about this openly. "Those are the magical wishing balls. Legends say that they can make any wish come true. How could a wish compare to any spare change we could get from them?"

In truth, Yamcha didn't care about the Dragon Balls that much. Not like they would be able to return him to his world or anything like that. Because he knew the limitations, the Dragon Balls had, despite them sometimes seeming like omnipotent wish-granting balls.

But despite that, he needed to get along with Goku and Bulma, just in the rare chance that he could get training from Roshi. He even had prepared the necessary material to join the turtle hermit. Though he did wonder when would be the best time to join the training.

"Really?!" Puar looked shocked and then smiled. "We will do as you say, Yamcha."

He couldn't help but wonder what the original Yamcha had done to earn such trust from Puar.

[New Quest: Gather all the 7 Dragon Balls]

[The Dragon Balls are legendary items that haven't been gathered in centuries. You can ask the dragon a wish, and it will complete it.

Rewards: 300,000 Exp, Dragon Slaying Spear (Legendary).]

'Huh, this Quest is quite rewarding. The dragon balls are hard to gather, normally. But knowing the future, it wouldn't be that hard of a task requiring such extravagant rewards. Maybe the gamer interface doesn't know that?' Wondered Yamcha, contemplating the limits of his Gamer ability and if he could use that to his advantage by finding loopholes.

…

The night passed calmly. The only interesting thing is Goku draining a lot of his food supply as he was hungry and Yamcha stopping Oolong from peeking at a showering Bulma.

The next day came, and they set off driving, in a two-story RV van, something Yamcha had only one of. He could feel the hot air of the desert on his skin as he left the window open.

With Bulma having a new set of clothes. Something Yamcha had from his many capsules. He was surprised she hadn't asked him where he got those clothes. But by now, he had noticed that the young girl seemed to lose her IQ around him.

Bulma now wore a capsule corp cap, short pants, and a white-sleeved shirt that showed her abdomen. She kept looking at Yamcha with a smile on her face.

"So, what kind of girls do you like?" She asked, nudging herself closer to him until their shoulders touched. She batted her eyelashes and had a small blush on her face.

The journey might have been quite enjoyable otherwise if it wasn't for uncomfortable questions like this. Also, he noticed Bulma trying to 'accidentally' touch his hand.

Yamcha played his part like any harem protagonist would, ignoring the hints as if he didn't notice anything and giving the most boring answer he could think of. "My type of girl? Well, I think it's a little thick girl who is just a bit overweight and overthinks everything."

This pretty much described 99% of the girls out there. He was going for as much a general answer as he could. Trying to make himself as boring as possible. Also, he didn't want to give Bulma any hints because she might use that against him.

Bulma looked away with a strange smile on her face. Which made him uncomfortable as hell.

"So, what kind of car do you like?" She asked again. Yamcha almost felt the smile on his face crack.

"Oh, you know, as long as it works, I am okay with anything," He again answered with something as boring as possible.

Surprisingly the original Yamcha had a lot of cars. His wealth was only material as he didn't have much liquid money, only around 300k Zenni, which by his calculations was around 3000 dollars.

As he was driving the car, Yamcha could feel Bulma peering at him like he was a piece of steak.

Thankfully Puar was also close by to keep her in check.

"You seem like a strong guy," Goku came from the back and looked at him. Finally, stopping Bulma from asking more uncomfortable questions.

"Glad you think so," Yamcha answered without thinking too much about it. "I dabble in some martial arts too."

The Saiyan's face lit up like a lightbulb. "Wanna spar sometimes?"

"Sure."

They were heading to Frypan Mountain, and these things were usually skipped in the Anime and Manga.

But the journey would take a couple of days, with nothing to do. Yamcha, too wanted to see the difference between him and Goku. Ten points in power level didn't sound that much, but that was like two people's worth of strength and speed difference. Also, Goku had that Saiyan endurance, which stopped bullets.

Also, he planned to use that sparing as an excuse to dodge Bulma as much as possible.

..

"So, Yamcha, right?" Asked Bulma, with a sweet smile on her face.

He looked at her, confused. "I already told you my name. But yeah, I am Yamcha."

"O -Of course. I remember your name! I wouldn't forget it, but I just wanted to ensure." Bulma said, her words jumbled together, and even Yamcha wasn't sure what she was saying. "But yeah, Yamcha, what do you do for a living."

"Bounty hunter, mostly," Yamcha lied through his teeth. He isn't telling anyone what he used to do. Or, more correctly, what the original Yamcha used to be.

Though he felt like with the way, Bulma was looking at him. Even if he told her that he was a bandit, she didn't seem like she would care.

"So… Do you have a girlfriend?" Bulma asked.

'Okay, I need to cut the root before it grows.' he thought.

"No, but with everything going on. I am not looking for one." Yamcha was resolute in his answer.

Bulma looked down, sad and defeated once she heard that.

Seeing this, he sighed internally. Crushing the girl's dreams so early might demotivate her. The last thing she wanted was for Bulma somehow to deviate from her canon self and not become the genius scientist of the future. So he decided to say something ambiguous. "Or I guess maybe I am looking for the right one."

Bulma's face immediately lit up again. "Really~ Maybe the right person is closer than you think."

'No, she's not,' thought Yamcha. He liked girls, especially pretty ones like Bulma. But she was a little too young for his tastes, and despite her beauty… she was a little annoying. Also, with everything going on, Yamcha wasn't sure how prepared he would be for romance.

Dying from a Saibamen also didn't sound like a pleasant way to go for him.

This world was filled with many wonders, including Earth, the Bansho Fan, futuristic technology, alien technology, many planets, and Magic. There was so much to see and do that, in comparison, something like romance sounded almost boring.

Though he doesn't know for sure, even Yamcha himself wouldn't know what the future had on hold for him. Feelings can develop, and many things can change.

.

When the night came about, it was Bulma's turn to drive, and Yamcha couldn't be happier.

"So, when are we going to fight?" Asked Goku, yawning as he looked at Puar playing some video game console.

Yeah, even Yamcha was pleasantly surprised that the internet and game consoles existed in this world too. The technology was a little whacky, with flying cars existing, but also old-style TVs still in use. "We will fight a little later when Bulma gets tired too, and we need to stop the car."

After saying that, he went to the second floor with four beds nailed down and a shower. The first floor was more like a common living room.

Still, he had one thing to do before fighting Goku.

[New Quest: Defeat Goku]

******