Gero flew trough the sky, fast like a rainbow, but once he reached the central continent, he realised that he doesn't know shit about Korin's tower and Korin's reserve positions on the map, as on all them, one can only see a huge forest in the center of the continent. He chose to not venture into the central city, and started his adventure from the middle of nowhere, literal boonies. He could see paysans labouring their fields, and was surprised that not even one person welcomed him into the rice fields. Maybe because these were not rice farms.
After a full day of flying and running, he did finally reach the forest. He ventured inside and chose to set up camp for the night, however when he was relaxing in front of the cozy fire, gun-fire noise startled him up. Indeed, literally far away from everything, people decided it was time to start shooting at each other, and he had no other choice but to check what was going on. They must have a good reasons right?
He advanced like a ghost, shielded by the night, not making any noise. Because of his martial training, he didn't need any night vision googles, using Ki he was seeing in this deep darkness like under a bright full moon.
Three burly men, dressed in leather and wearing mohawk haircuts were using machine guns to fire at a woman, who was dodging, rolling away, and riposting with a riffle. As she successfully shot one of her adversary's hand, the mangled man let escape a guttural scream, confirming his position and agony. The markswoman didn't miss the opportunity to deliver a masterful headshot, and it was brutal! Brain's morsels flew in all directions! Unfortunately it enraged another thug who peppered up everything in front of him with bullets, and unfortunately injured the heroine. Two DonDon Pas illuminated the night and it was over.
« Who are you? Do not approach! » Warned the woman.
« Well, you are bleeding out, I can help you or you can attempt to crawl into a hole and die. » He said, approaching her without wariness and fear.
She was hesitating, aiming at him with a gun, but suddenly found herself carried away like a princess. Before she could properly react, she felt the world around her shifting and she saw a conformable looking cottage, standing where it should clearly not be.
« Here we are. » He said, carefully putting her down on the couch. He took a syringe from a tool box that appeared out of a little capsule, and injected her with the solution.
« Sweet dreams! »
One thing Gero did not expect, was to conduct a surgery during this trip. This woman, with long black hair, was wearing a long light-blue trench coat. She looked curiously familiar but he decided to put that feeling away for later. He removed the jacket and shirt, and confirmed the type of injury: three bullets ended up just under the left ribs, and remained stuck in the flesh. Using a mini-scanner he took with him just in case, he confirmed the bad news, a bullet was deeply lounged inside her left kidney, while the others missed any vital organs.
Not lingering on it, he produced medical pincers and removed the three bullets effortlessly, not caring about scaring or further more damaging the flesh and the organ, then injected her with a serum and every damage quickly disappeared. Now the skin looked perfectly fine.
The remaining time he got to sleep was cut short by the morning light, and after freshening-up, decided to prepare a full English breakfast. The lady would probably crave for food, and not long after the meal was ready, timidly, a just barely awake person slipped into the kitchen. Her make up was a mess, and her hair were untidy. The eyeliners leaked a bit and part of the lipstick's red was gone, but it did not diminish her beauty though, and her dark blue eyes were still warily observing Gero.
« The breakfast is ready, are you ok? »
« Euh… yes thank you for rescuing me. My name is Mai, just Mai. »
« Doctor Leonid Gero. Delighted to meed you. »
Mai blushed and sat down, attacking the breakfast with some restrain at first, then was devouring it like a starving beast. No one can resist a full English! Gero was now sure it was the Mai, but not seeing Pilaf and the dog usually accompanying her, he doubted it at first. Maybe she did not accept that work add yet. It was for the better.
« Yesterday's shooting happened for any peculiar reason by the way? » Asked Gero while serving seconds.
Mai hesitated but finally chose to explain. « I've accepted a contract to hunt a dangerous bear, but soon enough I've discovered that I wasn't the only one who took the job. I've avoided the fight in the East-Hill village, but the three brutes ambushed me yesterday when I was about to set camp. I was lucky you were there. Thank you. What about you? Are you researching the local fauna? »
« I am not that kind of searcher. I have business at Korin's Tower, situated at Korin's reserve, but I strictly have no clue where to find it. Yesterday I've barely set up the camp here before I was hearing the gunshots. »
Mai's expression lit up and asked: « I remember there were two beams of light when you took down the thugs yesterday, do you have a special weapon? »
« No, it was a Ki attack called the DonDon Ray, it is a martial arts technic belonging to the Crane's school. »
« Oh I see I see… let's make a deal : I help you find the tower, and if we encounter the bear, we can dispatch it together, and split the gains? It's a win win! »
« Wait, you know where to find the tower? »
« Yes it's a notable place around there, maybe it was forgotten by many, but the local villages are still full of stories about martial artists trying to climb it up to get more power. I believe it is also your case? »
« Indeed, I accept the deal. I'll be waiting for you outside, no need to tidy, just don't leave anything in the house. »
It didn't take long for Mai to tidy up and get ready, her make up was done perfectly once again, and Gero could't help but be briefly mesmerised by her beauty. She was really surprised when he stored the cottage inside a tiny capsule, and was impressed when he explained what a hoi-poi capsule was.
They walked for many days, and camped in the cottage every night. His self-made scouter was useless, the animals around them were not notable, and it wasn't getting Korin's power signature, xeno-tech was definitely garbage. During the journey, they found common discussion themes, fire arms at first, then surprisingly robotics, food, flowers and plants. Mai was particularly enthusiastic about disguises and make-up. Gero, even remembered that Pilaff's plans relied a lot of time on machinery and human controlled robots, but didn't expect that these were probably built or set up by this woman.
During the trip, none of them assumed the position of leader or subordinate, they kept making decisions together, and some point were even cranking jokes, becoming more and more familiar with each-other. In dragon ball, both Chichi and Bulma were showed as bossy and overbearing, and Launch was the pure representation of a hysterical woman with a constantly changing mood. C18 was much better, but her personality seemed to vanish entirely, emerging rarely after she married Krilin. It was surprising but also amusing that the most normal woman in the series, was the archetype of an evil intelligence agent.
« Look we can see It from there! It's indeed very… » As she was speaking, Mai's enthusiasm died and was replaced by fear. Even though she rushed to Gero, and tried to shield him from something. That something was a giant brown bear that charged him with all it's power. Gero wasn't surprised though, by the time it started to stalk them he was aware of it's presence, but just let it be as it was not threatening him at all.
He put his left arm around her waist, pressing her against him in a firm hold, and it took less time than needed for Mai or the bear to realise what was going on when he delivered a reverse talon kick on the animal's head effortlessly with his right leg.
Mai needed a bit of time to understand what was happening, but the happiness she felt for remaining alive was quickly extinguished as she finally got aware that she was pressed against Gero's chest, and when she looked at his clear blue eyes, she was completely lost in them. Mai's face turned red but at the same time she could not find any way to react, or the force to move, she was happy but at the same time her conservative education kicked in and screamed at her that this situation was inappropriate.
Gero, had already noticed the signs that Mai had fallen for him a long time ago, but there was never a chance to officialise and clarify the situation. As he looked at her watery eyes, and was feeling her hand on his right cheek, he knew this was it, and a strong feeling of attraction pulled his lips to hers like a strong magnet. He had the best girl in his arms, why should he hesitate?
Their passion was flowing like a broken dam, and she started to run her hands around his muscular and soft body, Mai felt conformable and protected, while Gero felt her melting in his embrace. It was like something that was missing returned back to him, with her by his side he was complete. As their lips finally separated, she surprised herself thinking: « And what now? What came over me? Will he abandon me? » Unexpectedly Gero caressed her cheek and pressed her harder in his embrace, whispering: « Let's forget about the bear ok? After I finish my business at the tower, I will take you home, alright? » She nodded, and for the first time in her life she was feeling a kind of warmth she never expected to discover, and a tickling sensation of butterflies flying in her belly broke the redundancy and solitude she was facing all alone until now. Mai cried, not caring about ruining her make-up, but these tears were of happiness and not sorrow.
They abandoned the beast and advanced tranquilly toward the immense tower, that kept growing more and more as they approached. Mai was happily embracing Gero's left arm, still immersed in the new feeling. Soon enough they saw Karinga Tribe's camp, and after explaining their visit's purpose, a tribesman escorted them to the tower. Finally, he was there. His plans were changing more and more as he kept encountering unexpected events and developments, but at least until now, the change was only positive.