Journey to the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai II: A Gem with Two Faces

A bell rang from the clothing shops door opening, turning the women's heads. Morel was entering, his overalls already dirty from work and his sleeves rolled up.

"Good, caught you before you left..." he said with a warm smile, something odd to see on a young Enoki's face. "I wanted to thank you again for everything you did to liberate everyone...I'd tried myself, but ...you know. I think word of the wild hearted women who saved us will spread around town soon, but I had a feeling you'd be gone before they had a chance to thank you."

"Their would be no need." Jewel said honestly, bowing her head in response.

"Nonsense!" Chanterelle chimed in.

"Even so, I thought I might be able to repay you with this..." Morel continued, reaching into an overall pocket. He revealed what Jewel could now recognize as a capsule. "It's a design I'd just finished up before getting fridged. I'd like you to have one before I even start selling."

"You made this?" Jewel responded, lifting up the small device. It was as light as it looked... "I heard your father can build these 'cap-sules', so you inherited the work?"

Morel chuckled, nodding. "What can I say, growing up in a capsuleman's house, you pick things up. I'm not my father though, that's for sure. I made this capsule, inside it you'll find a one room one bathroom capsule home, but my father created the very first one."

Jewel's eyes raised slightly in some surprise, though she had little context for capsules. Chanterelle however jumped in surprise.

"W-WHAT!? Oki never told me that!!"

A sweat drop came down the back of Morel's head. "Really...? Oh Dad...."

He rubbed the back of his head, continuing, "About thirty years ago, Dad was a part of the team that helped the world famous Professor Satin found Capsule Corporation and invent the revolutionary Hoi Poi Capsules. Dad cracked a problem they'd been having, and created the very first capsule home."

"I had no idea!!" Chanterelle responded loudly.

Jewel suddenly remembered the old home Enoki had been staying in. She looked down at the new capsule in her hand, which looked quite different then Enoki's.

"I'm not sure I can accept this..."

"Don't worry about it, I can't much sell this prototype anyway. I heard you were a traveler, but even so, this way you can still have a home..."

Jewel relented, and gave a nod. Chanterelle happily clapped her hands together for the occasion.

"Oh, please do come and visit us sometime!"

"I just might..." Jewel replied...

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Jewel and Opa made it to the edge of the small town in no time, and didn't look back. Jewel suddenly flinched and stopped, Opa stopping as well. She lifted the fabric at her ankles up, and kicked off a pair of spare old shoes Chanterelle had given her. Not because they were old, but because she'd never worn shoes in her life before Howl's little outfit suggestion, and realized she didn't want to change that now.

She happily spread her toes, dropped the cloth, and continued on. Before them was the desert oasis they'd entered from, and beyond it was a place she could find a proper boat to take her to Papaiya Shima, where the Tenkaichi Budokai is hosted every three years. She'd never been to sea before, she'd never seen an island, and she'd never taken part in any similar kind of competition.

She'd left her home to benefit from the same experience that her master Howl had many years ago, countless new opportunities, as many as their were grains of sand ahead of her. She was truly doing just that.

"Say, will you be taking part in the tournament, Opa?" Jewel smiled down to her friend. Opa grunted back in confusion. "It could be interesting..." she kidded.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The whole group known as the Rabbit Mob were headed in the opposite direction. Having returned the vehicles they'd stolen and coerced into their possession, they had no choice but to walk. They'd all removed their mobster outfits as well, mostly in old dingy t-shirts and holey pants.

Carrot's t-shirt had a cartoonish drawing of a carrot on it, and he'd found another pair of sunglasses.

Danvers, his ginger hair glowing in the sun, asked; "So where we headed, boss?"

Carrot waited a moment, before performing one of his incredible jumps onto a nearby boulder, before he looked down and said what he'd decided on.

"We'll head to the nearest city..."

"Won't be able to pull anything there boss..." one of the ensemble spoke back. Their was some murmuring in agreement.

"No, but their are plenty of hungry people..." Carrot responded.

A threw up a delighted v-sign with his fingers, announcing; "We'll get all their zeni the right way!!"



The group seemed confused, but its two senior members clapped their hands together loudly and cheered, and soon the entire group was joining in.