"Bulma, the Dragon Balls aren't toys that you can just use over and over again for stupid, pointless wishes. Do you honestly think I haven't considered collecting them before?" I asked, leaning against the wall.
Currently, Kakarot was stuck in hell… Taste testing Pepper's 'cooking'. His sacrifice was a noble gesture that had saved my life, and would never be forgotten for as long as he lived…
Which meant that I had every right to have completely forgotten about it by the time I got back from talking with Bulma.
Having an idea of what Bulma's wish was, I'd forced the reluctant Zeck to come with me. He hovered near the doorway, doing everything he could to not make eye contact with Bulma. Lynn had come along too, to escape the kitchen before she was roped in.
"It's just one stupid wish, Tarble! Stop being so stingy! I know full well that you've used Dragon Balls before for your own wishes, you hypocrite!" She accused.
I stared a hole into the side of Zeck's head. Someone was telling Bulma things that she hadn't needed to know, huh? He must've really liked Bulma, too.
Dude was just being weird about a four-and-a-half-year age gap. Dude was a genius researcher… but dumb as a post when it counts, huh?
For some strange reason, as I thought that, Lynn gave me a withering glare, and I shivered from head to toe.
"I used the Namekian Dragon Balls for one wish, Bulma. What you're asking is on a totally different scale. These things can revive entire planets full of people, if needed. You want to render them completely useless for the next whole year, just for some pointless thing that you probably don't need. No way, Bulma. Not happening." I told her.
The Namekian Dragon Balls were made to grant three wishes, then be inert for exactly 130 Earth days. They were also more powerful, and the planet itself was bigger, the energy way purer than Earth's. Plus, the locals almost never used them.
One wish on Earth's current set would render our Dragon Balls useless for a whole 365 days and generate an amount of dark karmic energy that'd require a scale of decades, maybe even a century or longer, to be completely purified.
Meanwhile, one single wish with Namek's Dragon Balls? It'd cut the 130 day cooldown to a fraction, somewhere just over a month. The purification process? Larger planet, stronger Dragon Balls, maybe a tenth of the time that the Earth Dragon Balls require, possibly even less by my calculation.
Besides, the Namekians never actually had any reason to summon Porunga, and I'd paid Guru with my memories, intel about Frieza and the future.
"Have you actually tried bringing people back to life with the Dragon Balls, Tarble? You don't even know if they'd be useful in that sort of situation! We should use them! Learn their limitations! For science!"
I rolled my eyes. "I do know their limits. From Guru, who holds all of the knowledge ever collected on these things, including the drawbacks from using them too much." Bulma still stared at me, nonplussed.
Fine. I'd had about enough of this. "Go home, Bulma. I don't care what you do with the other six Dragon Balls, but you can't have ours. That's final."
"But-"
"And stop acting like an idiot, Zeck. I told you specifically that word about the Dragon Balls shouldn't leave this village. You agreed. We all did, even Tater, that the Dragon Balls' power, versatility, and danger is way too dangerous to become common knowledge outside of our village. You told Bulma because you like her, Zeck. So get your butt out of your face and talk to the girl. A five year age gap is nothing, and you should already know that Bulma's not a kid anymore." Zeck spluttered as I made my way to the door, "You guys have a day. If you three are on this island tomorrow morning, I'm going to drop you somewhere random halfway around the world. I suggest you talk while she's here, Zeck. If you just hole yourself up in your lab and ignore your feelings for Bulma, you're going to regret it." Ignoring the chill in my lower back, I gave the now red-faced Zeck a pat on the shoulder and left Pepper's Corner, leaving the door open behind me. No point in confining them anymore. I'd locked the Dragon Ball in a special safe, hidden in my lab. Even if they found it, the only one who'd be able to actually get into the safe would be Kakarot.
Who was unconscious at the dinner table by the time Lynn and I got back to the apartment. I muttered my thanks and slid the plate covered in unidentifiable green sludge into the trash can (I didn't dare try to save the plate by washing it).
…
True to my promise, I kicked Kakarot, Bulma, and Chichi out of the village the next morning. Bulma left willingly and happily. Apparently, her conversation with Zeck had gone smoothly, because he left with her. According to him, he didn't plan on living in West City with the Briefs' family permanently, but he was at least willing to take an extended vacation there, see if things worked out between him and the blue-haired scientist girl.
Unlike Kakarot, who only left because I literally knocked him unconscious and threw him into a boat, letting Chichi drive it, I honestly didn't expect Zeck to come back anytime soon. He'd taken most of his active projects, so he'd probably just move into an empty lab at Capsule Corp, not coming back unless things didn't work with Bulma for some reason.