"So that was...intense," Twilight said slowly.
"Eh, I've seen crazier," Bulma said. "With the crowd we run with, this kind of thing is...pretty normal."
"Yeah I want off this world now," Ron said, shuddering. "No offense, but—" He was cut off by a beeping alarm from the control console. Bulma began punching controls furiously, frowning at the screen.
"What the heck—?"
"Is something wrong?" Kim asked.
Bulma frowned. "Some idiot's tailgating us," she said. "Who'd be that stupid, in a wide open sky? I mean..."
A gleaming shape suddenly shot out in front of the plane, turning around and rising up in front of it. It was a white saucer with a fin on the back, a clear dome in the center, and an emblem emblazoned across the front which looked like a stylized letter N with a dot over it. Red lights strobed on either side of the emblem. In the cockpit sat a purple-and-white humanoid figure with large, pupilless yellow eyes, a round, hairless head, and the same emblem across its chest. Bulma bit off a curse, throttling back to slow the plane.
"HOLY CRAP IT'S AN ALIEN!" Ron exclaimed, eyes bugging out.
"Is that...is that a real UFO?" Twilight asked, eyes wide.
"Oh hey, he looks kinda like that goofy suit guy from that Neighponese show!" Sonata said.
The alien waved to Bulma, then made a series of hand gestures conveying the universal "follow me and land". Sighing, Bulma trailed in behind the saucer, which made a beeline for a long strip of rocky terrain some miles away, losing altitude as they approached.
"So, we're...we're just gonna follow an alien and land," Kim said. "Just like that."
"Just like that," Bulma said tersely. "And then I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind for...ARGH! For whatever it is he wants that's so DAMN important!"
As soon as the plane landed, Bulma killed the engine and got out, stomping down the ramp just as the alien jumped out of his ship. She stormed right up to him and grabbed him by his chestplate. "JACO!" she snarled. "What's the big idea, flying so close like that! Next time, just use the radio!"
Jaco disengaged himself from Bulma's grasp and looked at the group of stunned onlookers that emerged from the plane, frowning. "Why is it every time I meet you you're with a different pack of weirdos?"
"Look who's talking," Sonata muttered.
"Wait. Bulma...knows an alien?" Kim asked, tilting her head.
Roshi scratched his head. "Huh. Girl gets around."
Bulma pinched the bridge of her nose. "What are you doing here, Jaco?" she asked.
Jaco's frown deepened. "I'd think you'd be a little more grateful about my delivering a warning!" he said. "Just FYI, the Galactic Patrol detected another Saiyajin spacepod headed for your world and sent me to investigate! I got a little sidetracked by a meteor shower that damaged my engines, but I calculate I got here before the Saiyajin could cause too much destruction—"
"We already know about the Saiyajin," Bulma said. "We have several months to prepare for their arrival, which is kind of what we're in the middle of doing."
"Huh?" Jaco asked. "No, his ship's already here on Chikyuu, I picked it up on my scanners—"
"Oh, THAT Saiyajin," Bulma said dismissively. "Yeah, he's already dead."
Jaco took a step back. "Dead? But how?"
"Goku and Piccolo," Bulma said. She spent a few minutes summing up the events of Raditz's arrival, the truth about Son Goku, and the battle which claimed his life.
When she finished, Jaco stroked his chin. "Huh," he said. "Well that wraps up the case I was sent here for in the first place," he mused. He scratched his head. "Gosh, it's hard to believe that was over twenty years ago. I always did wonder what ended up happening to that Saiyajin."
"Well, since you're here anyway, you might as well hang around a few months," Bulma said. "Tights is turning forty pretty soon, we're gonna have a big party. I'm sure she'd love to have you."
"Forty, huh? That a big deal on your world?"
"For a woman it is," Bulma said. "And you can help out when those other two Saiyajin arrive."
Jaco took a step back. "T-TWO?!" He shook his head. "But..." He began sweating. "But wait, Planet Vegeta was destroyed, almost all the..." He looked back and forth between Bulma and his ship. "Uhh...you know what? I just remembered, I've got a ton of paperwork to do, so uhh..."
Bulma folded her arms. "Jaco," she said in a warning tone.
"No, really, I'd love to help, but I can only intervene if I'm under orders, and I'm only under orders to deal with the one Saiyajin who's already dead," Jaco insisted. "Since I know he's dead and so is the one they sent me here to stop the first time around, I need to get back to HQ and hand in my report on both incidents. It could take, I dunno...a whole year, maybe? Umm...I'll stop by and wish Tights a happy birthday before I leave though!" He jumped back into his spaceship and, with a blast of engines, took off into the sky.
"AUGH!" Bulma screamed. "THAT LITTLE...!" She stormed back onto the ship; the rest of the group looked at each other in confusion, curiosity, and a hint of terror before following her. They found her angrily punching frequencies into the radio, the headset jammed haphazardly on her head and the hand mic clenched in a death grip. "Oneesan? Oneesan! This is Bulma! Listen, Jaco showed up just now. I tried to get him to stick around because we could really use his help right now, but he's about to take off again like a little coward, so—"
* * * * *
"Oh, I know."
A blond woman with brown eyes smiled as she looked through the scope of a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. A gleaming white saucer passed through her sights. Her smile tightened. "And..."
She pulled the trigger.
* * * * *
An explosion in the sky rocked the plane. Everyone jumped, startled, and rushed back outside. Bulma stared out the cockpit windscreen, eyes wide.
Jaco's saucer spun back around toward them, crash-landing violently on the rocks, flames trailing from its engines. Jaco himself leapt clear of the wreck. "WHAT THE HELL?" he yelled. "WHO DID THAT? YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!"
"Don't look at us," Oolong said.
Bulma rushed back outside, stomping down the ramp, alarmed. "JACO! Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine, but when I get my hands on whoever blew up my ship—"
The roar of an engine drew everyone's attention to an approaching cloud of dust. A jeep rumbled over the rocks, approaching the wreck and the plane. As it drew near, a blond woman wearing blue overalls, a black T-shirt, and a red neckerchief waved cheerfully at everyone, smiling brightly.
Jaco paled, taking a step back.
There was a massive rocket launcher standing in the passenger's seat next to her.
"Hi, Jaco!" she said as she stopped the jeep and jumped out. "It's been a while, ne?"
BAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Never liked that little coward, so I'm probably enjoying this more than I should.
...and I no longer have any idea what's going on. Who is Tights? Who is Jaco?
8560832
i think tights is launch's manga name. as for jaco, your guess is as good as mine. though i do remember seeing him in the 'Resurrection F' movie.
8560832
8560904
Jaco is the title character of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, a prequel to Dragon Ball. Tights is Bulma's older sister.
I've never even read the work in question, I just entered the names into a search engine along with "Dragon Ball".
8560832
You're not watching Dragonball Super, I take it. Although that's not where they're actually from, they're from Toriyama's prequel manga Galactic Patrolman Jaco. Jaco is an alien police officer who was sent to Chikyuu in Age 739 to stop a Saiyajin from destroying it, only he never actually found said Saiyajin--who grew up to be Goku. Tights is Bulma's older sister.
8560904
Maybe use Google to double-check before you offer up misinformation? Tights is Bulma's sister. She has nothing whatsoever to do with Lunch.
8560956
This, folks, is how you're SUPPOSED to find out things you don't know in this modern age of the Internet. Well done!
Tights, though
Woman knows how to make a entrance.
8561121
They're the Briefs Family. The author is quite fond of name puns. Bulma (bloomer), and her future son Trunks.
I thought that was Launch. Jaco got what was coming to him, though.
8561513 I already know that, dude. I was commenting on how she blew Jaco out of the sky
8561513
Don't forget her future daughter Bulla (bra)
Oh, so THAT'S who Launch is.
8568465
*sigh*
Launch isn't in this story. This is TIGHTS, Bulma's older sister.
8568668
...Then who the hell is Launch?!
8568670
Launch is the sneezing girl who changes appearance and personality whenever she sneezes and is such an unimportant character Toriyama forgot how to draw her after several years.
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonball/images/f/f8/Launchgh.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20120114192656
^ THIS is Launch. Both of her.
orig00.deviantart.net/d070/f/2017/228/d/4/tights_briefs___dragon_ball_super_by_irminzull-dbkahog.png
^ THIS is Tights.
8568673
Ah. Sorry, one of the previous comments led me to believe that Launch and Tights were the same person.
8568668
I'm sorry, who is Tights, because she certainly never appeared in the anime.
8612920
She's appeared in Dragonball Super, you might want to get caught up. In any case, she was introduced in another Toriyama manga, Space Patrolman Jaco, which is a prequel to Dragonball.