"Bulma?" I called out as I walked through her chosen domain while we were on the island: her workshop.
Of course to any sane and rational person this was no garage or basement work area. It wasn't some small little room with bits of lumber lying about and table saws covered in wood dust. Nor was it a table next to some clunker car where one puttered about with engine parts, seeing if they could get them back to working order.
No… Bulma's workshop was more like Tony Stark's underground lab in Iron Man. Dull white surfaces so it didn't hurt the eyes but still allowed one to notice even a single lost screw. Tables and cabinets all over. Though it was pretty open there were still different rooms for whatever she might want to work on; as Isco and I walked through it we spotted rooms set up for all manner of different testing, including a dunk tank and a fire box. There was a glass room with computers in it with a temperature gauge that showed it was rather frosty and a large area with a massive 3d printer that sat silent.
In fact much of the lab was silent.
"Isco, she here?" I asked.
"She is sir," Isco said, scanning the room; one of the first things Bulma had done when we'd arrived on the island was upgrade my buddy with all sorts of bells and whistles. To allow him to 'better capture the action without fear of destruction' she'd said though a part of me wondered if she still believed I was only sticking around for the documentary. "And before you ask per my scan she is still awake."
"Lovely," I muttered. "We need a fucking doctor on this island."
"Goku would only allow that if the doctor was a fighter who punched broken bones back together."
"Not true… if he could get healed up so he could train more then he'd be all for a new arrival." I shrugged and allowed Isco to lead me over to Bulma who was leaning against her hand, half in a daze but sadly awake. "Hey Bulma?" I said softly, doing my best to not startle her. I had purposely made my footfalls louder than they needed to be in hopes that she would hear me coming but she still gave a little jump and turned around, forcing a smile on her face.
"Oh! Kayos!" she chirped. "How are you? Documentary stuff? By the way, you don't mind that we all call you Kayos, right? I mean, that is your last name, not your first, but it just sounds better than Avo… no offense though! I mean Avo is a fine name its just that Kayos rolls off the tongue. Kayos. Kayos."
"Its fine," I told her, bemused by her rambling. Though they had given me an idea. "And actually yes, I do want to do some documentary stuff. Figured today would be a good day to check on you… I think I'll kind of do a rolling schedule thing, checking in on everyone as the months go by so we can see their growth."
"That sounds like a good idea," Bulma admitted. "Though you might need to be ready to leap down here if I hit a breakthrough… you never know when inspiration is going to strike!"
"Right," I said. "You have someplace comfortable where we can talk? Not sure you want to be perched on that stool the entire time."
"Right… right right right," Bulma muttered to herself, standing up and grimacing as her back cracked. "Ugh, I know how bad that can be, trust me! Yeah, come to my lounge."
She gestured for us to follow and about five minutes later we were in a small soundproof room. It was the only one with carpeting and it had two couches and a chair stationed in it. There was a TV on the wall that was currently off and a minifridge filled with food and drinks like you'd find at a hotel. Very impersonal but also far warmer than her lab had been. I settled myself in the chair while Bulma got on the couch.
"So, what do you want to ask?" Bulma asked.
"Well…" I said, knowing I needed to word this careful. "I'm thinking maybe at first I should take stock of what is going on in the lab, so I ask the right questions. While I do that maybe you can squeeze in a nap… want to be well rested before you go on camera?"
"Oh?" Bulma asked before looking up at the TV… and shrieking. "Oh my god!" She screamed, leaping up and shoving me out of the way, causing me to pinwheel my arms for a moment before I crashed to the ground. Bulma, for her part, stared at her reflection in the dark tv screen, tugging at her face. "Look at me! My hair is a mess, the bags under my eyes, and… oh, is that a ZIT?!" She began at touch a spot on her forehead that I honestly saw as nothing more than normal skin but in Bulma's eyes must have been a massive red mountain with a huge white cap on the top. "No no no no!" she squealed. "I can't be interviewed like this! How will I ever get a boyfriend looking this way?"