Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Bound for the Stars

​Two days bled past in a haze of final preparations, quiet farewells, and a lingering, surreal disbelief from 18 when I casually dropped the news that I was enlisting in an interstellar police force. She hadn't yelled, nor had she tried to chain me to the living room floor; instead, she had simply given me that long, assessing look—the one that suggested she thought I had finally lost whatever tiny shred of sanity I possessed—before telling me not to track space mud into the house when I got back.

​Now, standing out in the sprawling gravel courtyard of Capsule Corporation, the morning sun gleamed off the metallic hull of a tiny, egg-shaped Galactic Patrol ship.

​A sharp, hissing hiss of compressed air broke the silence as the vessel’s hatch popped open. A familiar, slender extraterrestrial figure with large, dark eyes and a distinct pink head fin scrambled out, landing clumsily on the manicured lawn. Jaco the Galactic Patrolman straightened his yellow visor, brushing invisible dust off his uniform with an air of self-important grandeur, only to freeze the moment he looked up and found himself staring at my chest instead of my old forehead dots.

​"Wh—whoa! By the stars!" Jaco squeaked, stumbling backward a half-step and frantically adjusting his visor. "Bulma, what kind of genetic experiment did you run on this guy? Since when is Krillin built like a heavyweight prizefighter?!"

​From the veranda, Bulma leaned against a pillar, taking a slow sip of her coffee with an amused, cynical smirk. "Don't ask me, Jaco. He used the Dragon Balls to give himself a mid-life growth spurt and then spent a year playing hermit. Just take him off my hands before he decides to wish for an entire armada."

​Jaco blinked his large, dark eyes, turning back to me with a look of profound skepticism. "Enlist? You want to join the Galactic Patrol? Listen here, pal—the cosmos isn't some Sunday afternoon stroll in a West City park. We deal with space pirates, illegal poachers, bio-engineered monstrosities, and creatures that could wipe out this entire solar system with a flick of their wrist. It’s dangerous!"

​I had to suppress a dry, humorless chuckle. Dangerous. If only he knew.

​Even back when I was three feet tall and serving as the universe's premier punching bag, I could have sneezed and accidentally blown Jaco’s patrol ship out of orbit. Now, after a full year of brutal, unyielding isolation in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, the dense, refined ki humming beneath my skin was leagues beyond anything this self-proclaimed elite galactic cop could even comprehend. But there was no point in bruising his fragile ego right before hitching a ride off-planet.

​I offered a calm, easygoing smile, keeping my aura tightly suppressed so as not to shatter his nerves. "Trust me, Jaco, I can handle myself out there. I'm not looking to cause trouble; I just want a badge, jurisdiction, and a front-row seat to the outer rim."

​Jaco stared at me for a long, agonizing moment, tapping his chin nervously before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, fine! If you’re stupid enough to walk into the jaws of intergalactic danger, that’s on you. But the Galactic Commander is going to have a field day processing your paperwork."

​With that official, reluctant clearance settled, Jaco turned on his heel to exchange a brief, snappy salute with Bulma and the rest of the household gathered on the patio. Trunks watched with wide, awestruck eyes, while Bulma merely rolled hers, offering a casual wave that clearly meant good riddance.

​The hatch of the compact spaceship hissed open wider, revealing a claustrophobic interior packed with glowing analog dials, complex navigation readouts, and a single, cramped pilot's seat that looked entirely uncomfortably designed for someone of my new height.

​"Alright, get in before I change my mind," Jaco muttered, squeezing his way back into the cockpit.

​I ducked my head and climbed inside, folding my long legs into the tight space as the heavy hatch slammed shut, sealing us in an envelope of recirculated air and flashing console lights. The engine let out a high-pitched, mechanical whine, vibrating through the metal floorboards as the ship's thrusters spooled up.

​With a sudden, violent jolt, the vessel lifted off the lawn, rocketing straight up into the clear blue sky.

​The G-force pressed firmly against my chest, but thanks to my newly fortified body and rigorous training, it barely registered as an inconvenience. Outside the tiny round viewport, the vibrant greens and blues of Earth rapidly shrank, giving way to the brilliant, deep sapphire of the upper atmosphere.

​Jaco’s hands danced frantically across the control panel, punching in coordinates and muttering complaints under his breath about bureaucratic red tape. He shot a sidelong glance at me through his visor, clearly still trying to wrap his head around the sudden, dramatic metamorphosis.

​"Say..." Jaco started, his voice dropping into a tone of genuine, unfiltered confusion as the ship broke through the exosphere and entered the black velvet expanse of deep space. "I gotta ask... now that we're out here and the paperwork is practically locked in... who are you, really? I mean, I've seen some weird stuff across the quadrants, but trading in your entire physical identity overnight isn't normal. Are you sure you're actually Krillin?"

​I leaned back against the cramped headrest, letting out a long, easy breath as the starry abyss of the universe opened up before us. The Earth was just a tiny, fragile marble fading away in the distance, but for the first time since waking up in this terrifying reality, I didn't feel like a victim waiting for the next catastrophe to drop.

​"Yeah, Jaco," I smiled, watching the distant stars streak past the viewport. "It's really me."

​He muttered something unintelligible under his breath, shaking his pink head in disbelief as the ship's hyper-drive kicked in, flinging us forward into the dark, uncharted ocean of the cosmos.

​Let the universe throw whatever it wanted my way. Thanks to my new height, my new hair, and the space-survival wish I had locked in with Shenron, even if this little tin can of a ship suffered a catastrophic hull failure right here in the vacuum of deep space, I was going to be just fine.

​My new journey had officially begun.