Chapter Text
The Earth was no stranger to destruction. Alien invaders, androids, interdimensional threats—if it could be blown up, chances were, it already had been. The Z Fighters had seen it all, from the ruthless Frieza to the self-destructive Majin Buu. But there was always something uniquely terrifying about facing an enemy whose power seemed to defy the laws of nature itself.
And right now, they were facing such a foe.
The villain hovered a few feet off the ground, a hulking figure with dark, intimidating eyes that glowed with malice. His energy was suffocating, his presence oppressive. The current issue was that, he had bound Goku’s ki with some sort of mysterious technique, leaving the Saiyan helpless, unable to land a blow on him no matter how hard he tried.
“Grrr, what is this?! I can’t move!” Goku growled, attempting to unleash his energy but to no avail. The more he struggled, the more his power seemed to be drained by the villain’s strange influence.
Vegeta, standing a little ways off, watched with crossed arms. He wasn’t thrilled to be out of the action—who was—but his pride refused to allow him to rush in without a plan. “Kakarot, you’re embarrassing yourself. You’ve got to break free from that trick. Don’t tell me you’re already done for. I’m not here to babysit you!”
Goku grinned sheepishly. “I’m working on it! This guy’s got some weird powers. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” He strained against invisible bonds, his invincible energy flaring wildly to no avail. “It’s like my ki’s been tied in knots! This is kinda new for me!”
“New? More like pathetic!” Vegeta barked. “How can I surpass you if you’re stuck like this?!”
Meanwhile, Goten and Trunks were firing ki blasts from a distance, trying to find some way to distract the villain long enough to give Goku a chance to recover. Gohan, ever the strategist, was calculating their next move, his brow furrowed in concentration. But despite their combined efforts, nothing seemed to land.
“This guy’s a problem,” Gohan muttered, clenching his fists. “His ki is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. It prioritizes defense over offense and restrains others' ki within a specific range around him.
“Whatever it is, it’s annoying,” Trunks grumbled, brushing dust off his jacket. “And he’s got that stupid smug look like he knows he’s already won.”
The villain, of course, did look smug. Why wouldn’t he? He had Goku flailing uselessly, Vegeta gritting his teeth on the sidelines, and the younger generation collectively scratching their heads. He extended a hand, his energy coalescing into a sinister, crackling orb. “Is this all the mighty Saiyans can muster? How... disappointing.”
Goten scowled, his face contorted with frustration. “You’re not the first big bad guy to show up, you know. We’ve got a lot of experience in this department!”
Just as the villain began charging up, the air suddenly rippled with a strange, unfamiliar energy—a surge so powerful it shook the very ground beneath them. The Z Fighters looked up, startled.
“What the—?” Goku began, his voice trailing off as he sensed the energy spike. It was unlike any power they had encountered before. More….Unique than anything they had felt in years, but... familiar.
And then, out of nowhere, a figure descended from the sky, her silhouette framed by the fiery glow of the battlefield. She was a blur at first, the sheer force of her arrival sending a gust of wind through the area, causing the dust to swirl in every direction.
The Z Fighters froze as the figure touched down, landing gracefully on the earth. For a moment, no one spoke. The battle raged on behind them, but their attention was fixed entirely on the mysterious newcomer. She was wearing a striking red outfit—form-fitting, battle-ready, but with a certain glam that made her stand out.
Goku blinked, unable to hide the confusion in his expression. “Bulma? Is that... you?”
Vegeta roared in outrage and disbelief. “Woman, what are you doing here?! Are you out of your mind?!” he snapped, his voice sharp. But even as he spoke, something wasn’t quite right. There was an undeniable difference in her presence. Her posture, her stance... there was something about her that felt stronger than usual.
The woman didn’t respond to Vegeta’s harsh command. Instead, her gaze was fixed on the villain—cold, calculating, and filled with intent. She raised her hand slowly, energy crackling around her fingers, as if preparing for something beyond what anyone could have anticipated.
Still, Goku blinked at her like she was a puzzle he couldn’t quite solve. “Bulma? Wait... how do you look so young?”
The woman didn’t even look at him. She simply powered up, her energy spiking that made the very air seem to vibrate with intensity. The aura around her flared brightly like silver stardust, lighting up the area in hues of blue.
Gohan’s eyes widened. “This power—it’s like that of a Saiyan but way more different than any of ours!”
Vegeta narrowed his eyes. “What is this nonsense? This is no time for games, woman. Get out of here before you get yourself hurt!”
But she didn’t listen to him. Instead, she stepped forward with a fluid motion, her eyes now glowing a fierce, fiery blue. The air seemed to crackle around her as if the very fabric of reality was reacting to her presence. And then, without warning, she screamed, unleashing an earth-shattering blast of energy.
The force of the blast sent shockwaves through the battlefield, forcing the villain to stagger back, his ki-binding field flickering as he struggled to regain control. But the woman didn’t stop there. She didn’t waste a single moment before launching herself forward with such speed that even Vegeta’s sharp eyes could barely track her movements. In the blink of an eye—like the flash of light, she was standing in front of the villain, her fist raised for a devastating punch.
The villain’s eyes widened in panic. He barely had time to react before her fist connected with his chest, sending him flying backward with a violent crash. The ground shook beneath the impact.
Trunks, Goten, and Gohan stared in stunned silence. Even Vegeta, for once, stood frozen, his mouth slightly agape. It was clear that none of them had expected anything like this.
Goku, still recovering from his own lack of movement, looked at the woman with a mixture of confusion and awe. “Wait, hold on... That power—she’s not Bulma... Is she?”
Just as the dust began to settle, the woman stood tall, her intense aura now subsiding into a gentle glow. The villain, defeated in one fell swoop, was lying unconscious on the ground. And as the Z Fighters stared at her, still unable to fully process what had just happened, only one person seemed to have put the pieces together.
“Bulla?” Trunks finally spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.
The woman—Bulla—turned her gaze toward him, and for the first time, she allowed a small smile to tug at her lips. The same smile that had once been innocent, playful, and childlike now held the weight of experience and battle-hardened resolve.
“Long time no see, Trunks,” Bulla said, her voice outgoing and bright, but with an underlying control.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Vegeta muttered, rubbing his temples like this was somehow worse than the planet being destroyed. “Bulma, I don’t know what experimentation you’ve been up to, but if you don’t leave right now—”
“You’ll what, Dad? Ground me?”
The sharp, sarcastic, and diva-like confident attitude of hers brought everything to a screeching halt. Vegeta froze mid-rant, his brain short-circuiting as realization finally dawned.
“Wait… what did you just call me?”
“Dad,” she repeated, her tone utterly unimpressed. “You know, the guy who spends 90% of his life yelling at people and the other 10% brooding? Ring any bells?”
The others looked between each other in disbelief. Goku blinked and scratched his head, still trying to wrap his mind around what was happening. “Bulla?! You—how? You’re... you're... you were just a kid!”
Bulla sighed, placing a hand on her hip. “Okay, first of all— you’re welcome, for showing up and saving the day. Second, let me break it down for you since I can practically hear your tiny brains struggling.” She gestured dramatically, her indigo hair catching the light. “I spent ten years training in the prototype by-product of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber that mom had been working on. When we were notified about the nature of the trouble, I discovered a method to overcome it using Saiyan abilities. But it’d need extensive training and there wasn’t even enough time to get one of you guys there. So I modified the settings and entered the chamber myself to speed up the time dilation. Now you’re looking at ten years of progress crammed into an hour.”
Goku’s eyes lit up with curiosity. “Whoa, that’s amazing! You’ve gotta tell me how you did that move?”
“I may have mixed a little of my scientific knowledge with my Saiyan blood,” Bulla said with a casual shrug, glancing at her nails. “This guy’s ki-binding ability only affects physical mass. So I figured, why not shed all the mass in my body and merge entirely with my energy? Sure, I lose physical strength in the process, but I gain incredible agility and energy bursts when I shift into this form of Super Saiyan. Pretty cool, huh?” Bulla added with a wink.
“B-Bulla that’s amazing…You learnt all of that alone??” Gohan, the scholar, spoke with his eyes wide.
“Well, the training was hard and it took me way too long to master it. But as you can see, it paid off.”
Vegeta’s expression softened, but only slightly. His pride was too strong to fully let his guard down. "You’ve grown... rather impressive."
Everyone stood in stunned silence. No one knew what to say. It was like looking at Bulma, yet not. She had the same features, the same confidence, the same fire—but there was an edge to her now, a power that radiated with an intensity none of them had expected.
Goku, ever the curious one, grinned widely. “Well, whatever you did, it worked! You’re stronger than most of us now!” He scratched the back of his head. “I feel like I’ve missed something huge...”
Vegeta shot Goku an irritated glare. “Don’t act like you could have done anything with that villain anyway.”
“Hey, I was trying!” Goku protested, putting his hands up innocently.
Bulla glanced at them briefly, a smirk playing on her lips. “Relax. You’re all safe now cuz of me. You can thank me later. And Dad, unlike Goku, whose ki was actually bound, you didn’t even bother approaching the villain, so you’ve got no room to talk, alright?”
Vegeta stood frozen, torn between pride and indignation. “She... she gets that attitude from her mother,” he muttered, though no one believed him.
“Sure she does, Dad,” Trunks said, rolling his eyes.