"Huh? That was way too careless..."
Water from the showerhead splashed onto his face with a soft patter. Even in this situation, as long as he paid attention, Yamiru could hear Tights's voice from outside.
This was Slob City, the city he passed through on his first journey away from South City.
It was here that he met the alien Jiora, who briefly trained him in combat and gave him a high-tech alien sword.
Unfortunately, that sword was lost after being kidnapped by the Red Ribbon Army and taken to their lab for experiments.
The three of them had temporarily settled in this city.
Son Gohan stayed in the room next door, Yamiru was taking a shower, and Tights, with her wet hair wrapped in a towel, was sitting on the sofa making a phone call to the family.
When Yamiru came out, she smiled at the phone, and when Yamiru asked what was going on, Tights pointed the microphone towards him. Soon, Bulma's lively voice came through the receiver:
"Hello, brother-in-law? Haha."
Yamiru smiled and understood, greeting his sister-in-law on the other end of the phone.
After hanging up, Yamiru asked, "What's so funny?"
Tights replied, "Bulma said the house got robbed. What do you think, is that funny?"
"Would anyone find it funny if their own house got robbed?" Yamiru pretended to be shocked and confused as he sat on the sofa next to Tights. "It's not serious, right? If you need me, I can catch the thief and give him a good beating. After all, I'm a masked hero."
"Heh, no need," Tights laughed. "They just found traces of an unfamiliar person sneaking into the house, but Bulma said nothing was stolen."
Yamiru raised an eyebrow. "Alright, looks like it's not a Robin Hood-style thief."
Tights gave him a look as if to say "What do you think our house is?" They playfully teased each other, clearly still acting like newlyweds, even though they were already married.
"Actually, you could change the conditions of the Spiritual World," Tights suddenly asked as they relaxed together. "Jiora you mentioned could have access, right?"
Yamiru said, "If the conditions are too detailed, it gets confusing for me. Right now, with combat powers between 100 and 200, merging one of your family members into it is already pretty chaotic."
Tights, lying down with her smooth legs crossed, nodded in understanding. "So, the simpler the conditions, the lighter the burden?"
"Pretty much." Yamiru kissed his wife's golden hair, which smelled of shampoo. "After all, I'm not a computer. I don't have the energy to maintain too complex multi-threaded operations..."
---
The next day, their journey continued.
As they passed by the police station, Yamiru glanced over. The police officer who had once been possessed by Jiora seemed to have been promoted to sheriff, looking quite imposing.
Leaving the outskirts of the city, they noticed a group of prisoners in prison uniforms in the nearby wilderness, being monitored by guards as they had some time out.
The bully who had once shot at Yamiru, the devil kid, was still serving time. Of course, he wasn't the kid anymore but a shaven-headed, sinister young man. When he saw Yamiru staring at him from a distance, he angrily flipped him the middle finger...
Yamiru froze for a moment. Tights asked what was wrong, and he briefly explained what had happened before.
"What I find strange is... after all this time, with so many prisoners, I actually recognized him."
Yamiru muttered softly to himself.
"Let's keep going." Son Gohan, with his hands behind his back, strolled forward. "You have to keep exercising, no matter how old you get." Saying this, he started jogging.
Yamiru followed him, picking up the pace.
"I can't compare to your monstrous physiques," Tights said, completely ignoring them as she took out a motorcycle capsule.
With a graceful motion, she mounted the bike, twisted the throttle, and it roared to life. She quickly put on her sunglasses to block the wind and caught up with the two men running ahead.
They passed through the forest where the Rabbit Army had been destroyed by Yamiru.
They crossed the swamp where a Red Ribbon soldier had been killed.
The three of them walked slowly, taking their time. A month passed, and they arrived at a small town.
The town was quite desolate, with very few people around.
"It's impossible... when I passed through here before, this town was full of people..." Yamiru said, confused. He looked at the many clearly abandoned houses on both sides and stopped a thin, young boy who was hurriedly walking past. "Has something happened here? Where is everyone?"
The thin boy was wary, his tone cold: "Years ago, after the Red Ribbon Army attacked, most people moved away. What do you want? Who are you?"
"..." Yamiru let go of the boy. The Red Ribbon Army? He understood now.
Son Gohan noticed Yamiru's expression and then remembered the map's path. He sighed, "You were taken by the Red Ribbon people here, weren't you?"
Some things didn't need to be spoken out loud. Tights squeezed Yamiru's hand. It's not your fault.
"Strange kid." The thin boy walked off.
"Hey!" Yamiru shouted at the boy's back. "The Red Ribbon Army has already been wiped out. I don't know who did it, but they did a good job. What do you think?"
The thin boy turned around, frowned, and stared at the three of them for a moment. Finally, he made a face at Yamiru and left.
"What's that all about?" Tights put her hands on her hips, annoyed. "What's with the funny face?"
Son Gohan chuckled.
Yamiru looked to the northwest and said, "Well, since we're retracing our journey, how about we take a look?"
"Of course, we should go." Son Gohan agreed.
Tights also said enthusiastically, "I wonder if that evil scientist, Gero, is still around? It'd be best to catch him!"
"Gero, huh..."
Yamiru thought for a moment, then, with his master and wife, set out on the road again.
Two months later, they finally arrived at a desolate and cold mountain range.
Tights, wrapped in a thick down jacket, her cheeks rosy from the cold, grumbled, "Are the Red Ribbon people immune to the cold or something?"
Thinking back to when she first met Yamiru, when he had nearly died from a high fever due to a severe cold... she understood now. Given the thin strips of cloth Yamiru had back then, surviving in this cold, harsh place was truly a miracle. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became at the Red Ribbon Army and Dr. Gero.
Yamiru placed his hands, glowing white, on Tights's cheeks.
"Wow, so warm," Tights said, grabbing his hands with her thick-gloved ones. "Martial artists sure have it easy..."
Yamiru asked, "Why don't you head to the Spirit World first?"
Tights, not throwing a tantrum, nodded and vanished into the cold wind beside them.
"Let's go check it out, Master."
Following Yamiru's lead, Son Gohan pushed his power to the max. They turned into two streaks of shadow, speeding through the frigid mountains.
Soon, they jumped high and stood at the edge of a cave dug into the mountainside.
This was the very cave from which Yamiru had desperately escaped the lab so long ago.