Frieza was defeated — but that didn't mean the nightmare was over. Part of me wished I could scour the stars, find him while he was still half-dead drifting in space, and finish the job. But that would be like searching for a single needle in an endless haystack. And even though Namek survived this time, it wasn't safe for the Namekians to return. If King Cold came looking for his son, this planet would be his first stop.
On the way back to Earth, everyone fell into their own rhythm. Goku and Raditz threw themselves into training, Krillin alternated between helping me and relaxing, and Vegeta… Vegeta kept watching Goku. There was an awkward tension in his gaze, as if he couldn't fathom how a so-called "low-class" Saiyan had achieved Super Saiyan before him.
As for me, I worked on refining my armor and the energy generator. In theory, I could build a version that pushed me to over fifty times my base power. But the problem was size — it wouldn't fit inside my armor anymore. I would have to mount it as a bulky backpack. By the time we reached Earth, I still hadn't solved the issue.
Life returned to something resembling normal. Goku and Krillin continued helping me in the lab, while Vegeta made himself at home — training on my grounds just like in the original timeline. After watching him for a while, I finally called out:
Bulma: "Hey, Vegeta! You want a sparring partner, or are you just going to glare at gravity all day?"
He looked at me like I'd grown another head.
Vegeta: "Hmph. Don't waste my time. You'll break before I even warm up."
Bulma (smirking): "Try me. I'm not the delicate girl I used to be."
He accepted, and I quickly realized he wasn't lying. Vegeta didn't have Goku's restraint. Even holding back, he pressed me hard enough that I had to fight at my limits. It was brutal — but necessary.
The gravity device I built could now hit three hundred times Earth's gravity. I had managed to push myself to withstand one hundred and fifty. And something strange was happening to me. My body recovered faster than before, almost like a watered-down version of a Saiyan's Zenkai boost. My stamina rebounded in ways I couldn't explain, allowing me to endure longer and longer battles.
It made me wonder — what had really happened to me? Had I simply restarted my life, or was something more at work? My theory was that my soul had fused with the Bulma of this timeline. My body was still adapting to that union, growing stronger, reshaping itself along with my training in ki.
Eventually, after much tinkering, I tried linking two generators together as one unit. The results were better than expected: instead of forty times my base power, I reached fifty times.
Months passed. I sparred with Vegeta often, pushing him further and further. And finally, after relentless battles, I saw it happen — he exploded with golden light, transforming into a Super Saiyan at last.
I wasn't about to let him be the only one surprising people. Activating my linked generators, I pushed myself to my limit. My power multiplied fifty-fold. My ki flared orange, and then — to my shock — so did my hair.
Bulma (panting, touching her hair): "No way… I didn't plan for this…"
Even Vegeta, fresh from his transformation, froze and stared. My body was still human… but different. Stronger. Something in between.
I didn't know what this meant yet, but I could last longer in this form than either Goku or Vegeta could with theirs. My stamina was my weapon.
Speaking of Goku, he already had no need for my generator. But I still handed him a newer version anyway, shaped like a wristwatch.
Bulma: "This one's a failsafe. Your old generator only doubled your power. This one can multiply it tenfold. For emergencies only, got it?"
Goku (scratching his head, reluctant): "Heh… Chi-Chi's gonna kill me if I don't wear it, huh?"
Bulma (grinning): "Exactly. Left wrist, no excuses."
He sighed, fastening it on. Even Goku knew better than to argue with both me and Chi-Chi at the same time.