Post by Bulma on Oct 29, 2010 23:25:27 GMT -5
It wasn’t common for Bulma to sleep over at anyone else’s house. The girls she had went to school with were not smart enough to keep up with her so they shunned her. The boys, well, were boys. They didn’t understand what sleepovers were supposed to be.
But here she was, sleeping in a super tall tower. Her sleepover buddy was a talking cat. Such a strange world this was that she lived in. The more she learned about things outside her city the more interesting things got.
She need only take a walk on the outskirts to find a fighting partner. Her first master was a talking turtle that lived with a hermit on a tiny island. Her best friend was from the future. Life was so strange and yet so good.
Now here she was, facing the talking cat and planning her next move. Maybe ‘cat style’ was a fighting discipline she was supposed to learn from this. If she mimicked his movements maybe it would help.
As Korin raised his paw and rubbed his face she did the same. When he got distracted by a passing fly so did she.
“What are you doing?” Korin asked when he caught on to what Bulma was doing.
“I’m mimicking your movements, trying to find a pattern.” Bulma tilted her head to the side as Korin did so.
“Ah, well, you’re not going to find one.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I’m unpredictable.”
“I see, well, I’ve pretty much got the slight nuances of your presence down. I’m sure I’ll find a pattern soon enough.”
“Well, while you’re looking I think there is a trick you’ve been wanting to learn, a certain skill that results in shooting beams of light out of your eyes.”
“Yeah! I’m very interested in learning that one.”
“Then pay close attention because you’re only going to see this once.” Korn got up from his chair and walked over to a part of the tower that was open to the sky. His usually closed, or at least appearing closed, eyes opened and bright rays burst from them into the open sky. He closed his eyes and then returned to his chair.
“That is going to take some practice.” Bulma said as she contemplated what she had seen.
“You better believe that will take practice. It took me a full year to perfect that.” Korin’s nose twitched.
Bulma tried to imitate the movement and failed, “Yeah, I think I’ll work on that.” She walked over to the opening as Korin had done and attempted the same move. Nothing happened.
“I told you so.” Korin laughed, “Want to know a trick that helps?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Don’t try to do it how I did it. Do it how you can make it work.”
Bulma thought a moment. How could she make it work without getting a headache or sore eyes? Maybe the trick was to make it weaker and allow the rods and cones in her eyes to make it stronger like the sun through glass or a mirror. Scientifically it was unproven but it was a theory she didn’t mind testing.
“Try it again, Bulma, it isn’t that hard.”
Suppressing a giggle she focused her energy to the back of her eyes. After a deep breath she released her energy and breath at the same time. A small burst of red energy shot from her eyes and fizzled in front of her. “Hmm, what did I do wrong?”
“You didn’t focus it enough.”
“How much am I supposed to focus it?”
“You know how you focus for a ki blast? Like that.”
“I won’t melt my eyes or something?”
“No, you won’t because you are strong enough to take it.”
“How do you know?”
“I just know, trust me.”
Bulma frowned, could she trust the cat? I mean he did agree to train her and he probably wouldn’t have if he was a bad guy. After a moment of thought she took a deep breath, “I’m going for it.”
She focused her energy to the back of her eyes and felt it as it worked its way from there to the front and then out of her pupils. The blast was much larger this time, which made Bulma very happy.
“I’m like something out of a science fiction book!” She squeed like a fan girl at a convention and jumped for joy.
“Cut it out!” Korin yelled and then lowered his voice when she had stopped, “That hurts my ears.”
“Oh sorry.” Bulma laughed and rubbed the back of her head.
“So what do you want to learn next? Never mind, I know just the thing. I’ll teach you some other time, but for now keep practicing that and your other skills, you’ll get better in no time. Also, just because you are up here that doesn’t mean you should stop your daily workout.”
“How do you know about…”
“Your workout? Masters talk, honey, don’t ever forget that.”
“Right, I should have known.”
“Yeah, well, now you do.”
Bulma noticed back behind the cat that the jeweled bottle of water was sitting unguarded. This would be the perfect chance if only she could get over him fast enough. If only she knew a distraction technique for situations like this.
“Don’t even think about it. I know what you’re planning.”
“How do you know?”
“Your breathing give you away.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If you don’t know that then you should go meditate.”
Bulma sighed and trudged off to a corner for meditation. A slight breeze hit this spot just right and it brought her a sense of peace. The wind seemed to carry away her worries and problems to some unknown location where they were destroyed humanely.
As the young woman focused on her own inner thoughts Korin made his way back to the living area of the tower. Bulma was unconcerned with this, she was thinking about what he meant by her breathing gave her away.
When she was a little girl she used to watch martial arts movies in the theatres. They usually had enough romance and guys with shirts off to keep her entertained. The men in the movies claimed they could tell what a person’s intentions were from their heart beats. Maybe it was something like that. Bulma knew that when a person felt stressed their heart rate raised and their breathing would speed up. When people were relaxed their breathing and heart rate would slow. She would have to watch the old cat a bit closer.
Bulma didn’t stop meditating when she had her answer. She continued on looking within herself for answers to questions she had not yet asked but others had asked her. ‘Why do you want to get stronger?’ the voices echoed through her memory, one by one, and she always gave the answer, ‘to be better than men who think I’m weak’. That in itself was a stupid answer. Truth was, she wanted to be strong enough to get what she wanted.
The thing she wanted the most was a boyfriend, someone who fit her description of the perfect guy. Strong, smart, good looking, would listen to her, and wouldn’t talk too much, lots of money wouldn’t hurt either because then he wouldn’t be after her money. Bulma knew there was a guy out there somewhere that matched her description.
Silently the legend of the dragon balls recited itself in her head, every word was crisp and clear as the wind that whipped her hair about her face. That was it, she would summon the dragon of the legend with the seven balls and wish for a boyfriend. But what if someone else found out what she was up to and tried to get the balls from her before she could make a wish?
Before she could find her answer the smell of cooking fish and rice drifted up from the living space below and brought her out of her perfectly focused meditation. Her eyes jumped open and she looked for the water bottle. It was gone. Korin must have it with him then.
Bulma stood and stretched, she must have been sitting there for some time because she was very stiff. Slowly, the young woman walked down the stairs and into the living area where Korin was cooking some fish and rice. It looked and smelled good.
“Wow, you must be a really good cook,” Bulma said as she joined Korin by the cooking fire.
“Well, this is nothing compared to what I could do. This is just a fast simple dinner.”
“Truthfully, I never really learned to cook.”
“You’re kidding right?”
“Not at all, I‘m serious.”
“It seems to me that is another skill I’ll have to teach you.”
“If I can cook anything that smells this good by the time I am done with my martial arts training here then I’ll be a pro in no time.”
“Good, you next set of lessons start tomorrow.”
Bulma sat down to a nice dinner with her new master, perfectly content for now.
Word Count: 1518
But here she was, sleeping in a super tall tower. Her sleepover buddy was a talking cat. Such a strange world this was that she lived in. The more she learned about things outside her city the more interesting things got.
She need only take a walk on the outskirts to find a fighting partner. Her first master was a talking turtle that lived with a hermit on a tiny island. Her best friend was from the future. Life was so strange and yet so good.
Now here she was, facing the talking cat and planning her next move. Maybe ‘cat style’ was a fighting discipline she was supposed to learn from this. If she mimicked his movements maybe it would help.
As Korin raised his paw and rubbed his face she did the same. When he got distracted by a passing fly so did she.
“What are you doing?” Korin asked when he caught on to what Bulma was doing.
“I’m mimicking your movements, trying to find a pattern.” Bulma tilted her head to the side as Korin did so.
“Ah, well, you’re not going to find one.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I’m unpredictable.”
“I see, well, I’ve pretty much got the slight nuances of your presence down. I’m sure I’ll find a pattern soon enough.”
“Well, while you’re looking I think there is a trick you’ve been wanting to learn, a certain skill that results in shooting beams of light out of your eyes.”
“Yeah! I’m very interested in learning that one.”
“Then pay close attention because you’re only going to see this once.” Korn got up from his chair and walked over to a part of the tower that was open to the sky. His usually closed, or at least appearing closed, eyes opened and bright rays burst from them into the open sky. He closed his eyes and then returned to his chair.
“That is going to take some practice.” Bulma said as she contemplated what she had seen.
“You better believe that will take practice. It took me a full year to perfect that.” Korin’s nose twitched.
Bulma tried to imitate the movement and failed, “Yeah, I think I’ll work on that.” She walked over to the opening as Korin had done and attempted the same move. Nothing happened.
“I told you so.” Korin laughed, “Want to know a trick that helps?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Don’t try to do it how I did it. Do it how you can make it work.”
Bulma thought a moment. How could she make it work without getting a headache or sore eyes? Maybe the trick was to make it weaker and allow the rods and cones in her eyes to make it stronger like the sun through glass or a mirror. Scientifically it was unproven but it was a theory she didn’t mind testing.
“Try it again, Bulma, it isn’t that hard.”
Suppressing a giggle she focused her energy to the back of her eyes. After a deep breath she released her energy and breath at the same time. A small burst of red energy shot from her eyes and fizzled in front of her. “Hmm, what did I do wrong?”
“You didn’t focus it enough.”
“How much am I supposed to focus it?”
“You know how you focus for a ki blast? Like that.”
“I won’t melt my eyes or something?”
“No, you won’t because you are strong enough to take it.”
“How do you know?”
“I just know, trust me.”
Bulma frowned, could she trust the cat? I mean he did agree to train her and he probably wouldn’t have if he was a bad guy. After a moment of thought she took a deep breath, “I’m going for it.”
She focused her energy to the back of her eyes and felt it as it worked its way from there to the front and then out of her pupils. The blast was much larger this time, which made Bulma very happy.
“I’m like something out of a science fiction book!” She squeed like a fan girl at a convention and jumped for joy.
“Cut it out!” Korin yelled and then lowered his voice when she had stopped, “That hurts my ears.”
“Oh sorry.” Bulma laughed and rubbed the back of her head.
“So what do you want to learn next? Never mind, I know just the thing. I’ll teach you some other time, but for now keep practicing that and your other skills, you’ll get better in no time. Also, just because you are up here that doesn’t mean you should stop your daily workout.”
“How do you know about…”
“Your workout? Masters talk, honey, don’t ever forget that.”
“Right, I should have known.”
“Yeah, well, now you do.”
Bulma noticed back behind the cat that the jeweled bottle of water was sitting unguarded. This would be the perfect chance if only she could get over him fast enough. If only she knew a distraction technique for situations like this.
“Don’t even think about it. I know what you’re planning.”
“How do you know?”
“Your breathing give you away.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If you don’t know that then you should go meditate.”
Bulma sighed and trudged off to a corner for meditation. A slight breeze hit this spot just right and it brought her a sense of peace. The wind seemed to carry away her worries and problems to some unknown location where they were destroyed humanely.
As the young woman focused on her own inner thoughts Korin made his way back to the living area of the tower. Bulma was unconcerned with this, she was thinking about what he meant by her breathing gave her away.
When she was a little girl she used to watch martial arts movies in the theatres. They usually had enough romance and guys with shirts off to keep her entertained. The men in the movies claimed they could tell what a person’s intentions were from their heart beats. Maybe it was something like that. Bulma knew that when a person felt stressed their heart rate raised and their breathing would speed up. When people were relaxed their breathing and heart rate would slow. She would have to watch the old cat a bit closer.
Bulma didn’t stop meditating when she had her answer. She continued on looking within herself for answers to questions she had not yet asked but others had asked her. ‘Why do you want to get stronger?’ the voices echoed through her memory, one by one, and she always gave the answer, ‘to be better than men who think I’m weak’. That in itself was a stupid answer. Truth was, she wanted to be strong enough to get what she wanted.
The thing she wanted the most was a boyfriend, someone who fit her description of the perfect guy. Strong, smart, good looking, would listen to her, and wouldn’t talk too much, lots of money wouldn’t hurt either because then he wouldn’t be after her money. Bulma knew there was a guy out there somewhere that matched her description.
Silently the legend of the dragon balls recited itself in her head, every word was crisp and clear as the wind that whipped her hair about her face. That was it, she would summon the dragon of the legend with the seven balls and wish for a boyfriend. But what if someone else found out what she was up to and tried to get the balls from her before she could make a wish?
Before she could find her answer the smell of cooking fish and rice drifted up from the living space below and brought her out of her perfectly focused meditation. Her eyes jumped open and she looked for the water bottle. It was gone. Korin must have it with him then.
Bulma stood and stretched, she must have been sitting there for some time because she was very stiff. Slowly, the young woman walked down the stairs and into the living area where Korin was cooking some fish and rice. It looked and smelled good.
“Wow, you must be a really good cook,” Bulma said as she joined Korin by the cooking fire.
“Well, this is nothing compared to what I could do. This is just a fast simple dinner.”
“Truthfully, I never really learned to cook.”
“You’re kidding right?”
“Not at all, I‘m serious.”
“It seems to me that is another skill I’ll have to teach you.”
“If I can cook anything that smells this good by the time I am done with my martial arts training here then I’ll be a pro in no time.”
“Good, you next set of lessons start tomorrow.”
Bulma sat down to a nice dinner with her new master, perfectly content for now.
Word Count: 1518