As the sun rose again, Goku awoke from his slumber. After changing into new clothes, he stood up and immediately sensed something was off.
Without his tail, Goku's balance was a bit off at first, causing him to walk awkwardly and even stumble.
Realizing his tail was gone, he shouted, "Where's my tail? Why isn't it here?" After searching for a while, he confirmed that it was indeed missing.
While Bulma and the others pondered how to explain this to Goku, he quickly accepted the situation, saying, "Well, if it's gone, then it's gone!"
This left everyone both amused and exasperated.
John then asked Goku, "So where are you planning to go? Are you heading to Kame House to train with Master Roshi?"
Goku nodded eagerly. "Yes! Now that we've gathered the Dragon Balls and everyone's wishes have been fulfilled, it's time for me to go train with the old man."
Bulma approached and asked, "Are you leaving so soon? Don't you want to check out West City with us? You haven't been to a city before, have you?"
Goku shook his head. "No thanks. I promised the old man that after we collected the Dragon Balls, I'd go train with him. So I won't be going to the city."
Since Goku had made up his mind, Bulma didn't press further. She pulled out the Dragon Ball radar and said, "Goku, I'm sorry I lost your four-star ball, but it'll return in a year. You can use the radar to find it again then."
"Okay! Thanks, Bulma!" Goku happily put the radar into his bag.
John then told Goku, "You go ahead to Master Roshi's place and say hi for me. I need to take Bulma back to West City first and pack some things before I can join you."
"Oh? So you're also going to learn martial arts from the old man?" Goku realized for the first time that John had also become a disciple of Master Roshi.
"That's right! We'll meet up at Master Roshi's later," Goku said cheerfully as he jumped onto the Flying Nimbus.
"Deal!" John agreed.
"See you all later! Bye!" Goku waved goodbye as he flew off on the Nimbus into the distance.
Watching Goku shrink into a small dot in the sky, Bulma said: "John, you could actually go with Goku to Kame House. I have Yamcha with me; he'll protect me."
Yamcha nodded in agreement. "Yeah! With me around, you can rest assured about Bulma's safety."
"It's not that; I promised Bulma's parents I'd bring her back safely. Plus, training with Master Roshi might take a long time, so I need to return to West City first to handle some personal matters," John explained.
While those were John's thoughts, his main goal was actually to avoid Master Roshi's requirement that any disciple must bring back a beautiful girl.
It might be funny in comics, but John knew he couldn't do it in reality. It would be better for Goku and Krillin to handle that instead. Once they brought Launch over, he could just pretend he arrived at the right moment.
After discussing their plans, they boarded the plane and flew toward West City.
In less than half a day, they landed in Bulma's large garden at her home.
At that moment, Bulma's mother was watering flowers in the yard. Upon seeing their capsule plane land, she guessed that Bulma and John had returned.
Putting down her watering can, she walked over just as the plane door opened. She saw Bulma inside packing her belongings along with several unfamiliar faces.
One of them looked somewhat like John but much more handsome than she remembered him being when he was chubby. For a moment, she didn't know whether to approach him or not.
Bulma spotted her mother standing there and immediately dropped her bag and jumped into her mother's arms excitedly saying: "Mom! It's been so long since I've seen you! I missed you so much!"
Bulma's mother embraced her daughter tightly. Over this past month, she and her husband had worried greatly about Bulma's safety. Now that they finally saw their daughter safe and sound again, she said emotionally: "I missed you too!"
However, there's an old saying: while one can see their daughter every day; handsome men are rare. As soon as Bulma's mother released her daughter from the embrace, she turned her attention toward John and Yamcha.
Before reaching them, her characteristic laughter echoed as she smiled at them: "Are you two friends of Bulma? I never expected that with her temper she'd meet such two charming young men!"
Seeing Bulma's mother approach made John recall his previous fear of being scolded by an auntie. He quickly said: "Hello Auntie! I'm John! I've safely brought Bulma back home; I have some matters to attend to now. We'll talk later!"
After saying this, John greeted Bulma and the others before rushing toward the entrance of her house.
Bulma's mother was taken aback; after not seeing John for over a month, she realized he had transformed from being somewhat plump into someone very handsome. Just as she wanted to invite him for lunch upon his return home—he vanished before her eyes in an instant.
"Well then! I'll let him off this time; after all, there's still this charming young man here." With that thought in mind, she shifted her focus onto Yamcha.
Yamcha remained blissfully unaware of how intimidating Bulma's mother could be; he simply smiled at her while introducing himself.
John stepped outside of Bulma's house with a sigh of relief as he headed home.
He planned to tidy up his place before heading off to Kame House for training under Master Roshi.
The next day, John returned to Bulma's house intending to borrow her plane again. He tossed his belongings into it and waved goodbye before piloting it toward Kame House over the ocean.
Thus began John's formal journey toward becoming stronger.