Chapter 11: Path to Vengeance
Warning: More deaths (nothing major) and angst in this chapter. This chapter can get kinda dark in some parts.
Dr. Gero sprinted across the corridors of his underground lab, darting left and right and making it harder for the soldiers chasing behind to get a clear shot.
"But you said I have a week Commander Red! I should still have some time remember?" pleaded the old man as bullets whizzed past him, some of them grazing his legs, almost causing him to fall on his face.
"And why should I give you more time after that huge debacle huh? Thanks to you and your poorly conceived plan, the whole world is after us!" screamed the supreme commander of the Red Ribbon Army firing the pistol on his hand as he ran. The obese redhead may be out of shape, but in his rage, he was able to keep up with his troops as they advanced further into the mad scientist's lair.
"How many times do I have to tell you it wasn't my fault? If only Colonel Silver had prevented his men from firing into the crowd, this whole disaster could've been avoided!" complained Gero as he made a sharp right turn just in time for a barrage of bullets to miss him.
"Silence! I...hfff...have had enough of your excuses! The public execution was...hfff...was your idea to begin with re...remember?" shouted Commander Red beginning to pant for breath, his large body unable to endure this chase anymore and had to be helped up by Staff Officer Black, "and don't get me started on...on your three mechanical defects. Let's face it Gero...you are out of weapon and out of chance...so...so just make it easy for yourself and surrender!"
This time there was no response coming from Dr. Gero as the only sound the pursuing army heard was the sound of a door opening and shutting. Soon the pursuers reached the corner too and upon making the turn, found themselves face to face with a reinforced metal door that undoubtedly led to the mad scientist's main lab.
"Hmph, cowering behind your precious door all you want, but it will take more than a simple barrier like this to stop us." Spat the redhead gesturing his men to blow open the door. Immediately, dozens of soldiers carrying rocket launchers opened fire on the barricade, clearing the way for the advancing army that quickly stormed into the lab, their flashlights illuminating the unlit lab.
"Now remember men, I want that old fool alive got it? After all the troubles he has caused it's only fitting for me to torture the geezer to death!" ordered the supreme commander walking through the burning wreckage that was the steel door ready to exact his revenge.
It was no secret that the Red Ribbon Army was made up of some of the most hardened criminals and ex-army veterans in the world and thus no stranger to blood and gore, but what Dr. Gero had in his lab made even the most sadistic of the bunch shit their pants. Inside were glass tubes lined up all over the walls were human body parts of all sorts floating inside some kind of green liquid. Some of the body parts even have mechanical parts sticking out of them.
"Mother of kami, what the fuck has he been doing?" cursed Commander Red trying to force down bile that was coming up his throat, his desire for vengeance quickly turned to disgust and dare he say, fear, fear of what this mad doctor was capable of.
The lab contents kept on getting worse as the troops advanced forward and soon the floor was filled with the soldiers' vomits. By the time they arrived at the half cyborgized humans that looked like they had extra limbs attached onto them, the pursuing party had completely lost their courage to continue any further.
"Perhaps we should retreat for now Commander Red and simply nuke the whole place?" suggested the more rationale Staff Officer Black much to the redhead's relief, for that he had too much pride to order a retreat himself.
"Alright men, you heard Staff Officer Black, we'll head for the entrance now. I'm too important to stick around this shit hole anyways!" ordered Commander Red trying to hide the quiver in his voice.
The order had come too late though, as a horrifying scream suddenly erupted from the where the vanguard was supposed to be before deathly silence overtook the surrounding once again. The entire army froze in fear and pointed their weapons at where the commotion had come from; they could hear footsteps growing louder approaching them and some of the goons even began weeping in fear.
Finally, a muscular figure in black battle suit no different than the one Goku had worn during the demonstration slowly emerged from the darkness. For reasons unknown, the figure bore a strong resemblance to the escaped test-subject Goku, sharing the same eyes, nose, jawline, and even their monkey tail looked the same. The only clearly distinguishable feature between the two being while Goku had medium-length spikey hair, this figure's hair reached all the way down to his waist, making him looked like some sort of human porcupine. A realization suddenly downed on Commander Red, one that he desperately wished was wrong: what if this Goku-like man was just as strong if not stronger than the escaped monkey?
"What are you waiting for you numbnuts? Open fire dammit!" ordered the supreme commander. Not needing to be told twice, the entire army began shooting at the figure, fully aware that their lives were on the line.
"Oh please Red, you know full well junks like that couldn't put a dent on my creation," taunted Dr. Gero's voice from the darkness and true to his words, none of the bullets were able to put even a scratch on the figure's form. While his men were busy emptying their weapons at the bio-weapon before them, the redheaded midget took the opportunity to sneak towards the entrance, leaving even his second in command behind.
"And just where are you going my dear Commander Red?" asked Gero once again spotting the supreme commander of the Red Ribbon Army trying to get away. His words didn't go unheard by the troops left behind, and half immediately started running for the entrance while the other half was frozen in fear unable to move an inch.
The mad scientist began laughing like a maniac upon seeing the scene, almost not believing the person he had spent so many years kowtowing to was in reality a wuss. "Goku2, I order you to slaughter everyone before you, especially that fleeing fat guy, I want his head brought before me!" ordered Gero.
The eyes of the warrior designated as Goku2 flashed red before he vanished from sight. The soldiers all stood silent for a brief second wondering what had happened when dozens of them were suddenly bisected by a powerful arm swipe. Next ones to go were two unfortunate souls who got lifted off the ground by their heads before a tremendous force crushed their skulls. The remainder of the troops frozen in fear finally regained their senses and began mad dashing towards the entrance, but this only agitated Goku2 who quickly caught up to them and began tearing them apart limb by limb.
Commander Red was panting heavily, his lungs on fire and his feet about to collapse underneath his weight and yet he dared not slowing down for even a split second, for that the screams of agony sound of getting torn apart kept on ranging non-stop behind him. "Hff...hff...if...if only I was b-born taller...I would've reached t-the entr...entrance by now," panted the redhead.
Just as the obese man could see the light at the end of the tunnel, the screams stopped ranging and was replaced by complete silence. Unable to resist his curiosity, Commander Red turned his head backwards only to find a bloodied corpse flying his way, knocking him onto the ground.
"Kamidammit get your sorry carcass off of me...I'm too important to die here!" yelled the redhead trying to shove the corpse away from him but all he managed was getting more blood on him. Soon the bio-weapon was standing in front of him, his dark shadow casting over Commander Red.
"Okay...okay you win Gero, you...you can have your one week alright?" pleaded the supreme commander of the Red Ribbon Army with tears in his eyes. The pathetic begging didn't seem to have an impact on the hulking warrior before him; however, as the figure reached his bloodied hands towards the terrified man lying on the ground.
Commander Red's terrifying scream filled the unlit main lab for the next few minutes. When the whole ordeal was done, the once proud leader of the largest private army in the world had been reduced to mere fragments of his former self, the look of regret imprinted on his severed head.
"Heh, for an infamous dictator whose powers rivalled the strongest nation on Earth, you sure died like a fly," commented Dr. Gero staring down at what was left of his former boss, a look of utter satisfaction on his face, "follow me Goku2, let's go hunt down that blonde bitch and the runaway Saiyan for what they've done to me."
With it, the mad scientist and his warrior left the facility, ready to exact their revenge. Almost an hour have passed since their departure before a figure emerged from under the pile of corpses.
"By kami, just what exactly have we gotten ourselves into?" it was Staff Officer Black, the lone survivor who had enough brains to fake his death before Goku2 could reach him.
The rescue party's feeling of triumphant had been very short-lived. As soon as their adrenaline rush subsided, they were faced with the reality of what to do with Lapis who, hours ago, had tried to kill his sister and might still attempt to harm the crew. Luckily, Launch seemed to know a scientist who could help with removing whatever mind-controlling device Dr. Gero had implanted inside the younger twin's head and quickly headed towards their destination.
Throughout the trip, Lazuli held her brother in her arms, tears not of physical pain but emotional trauma dripped down her cheeks. She had merely missed him for a day and the next time they met, he was under the spell of the mad scientist. Was there any place safe for them? Was anyone out of bound for Gero? Place after place, let it be the abandoned factory, the motel, or Lapis's house, they were hunted down like rats.
Goku was channeling ki into his broken arm and Lazuli's back the same time, healing them of their injuries. The knife stuck on the blonde scientist's shoulder had been pulled out and her knife wound slowly sealing shut thanks to the Saiyan's healing, although the bullets remained stuck on her body for the time being.
As he transferred his energy into her and their life energies began reacting to one another, the Saiyan warrior could've sworn he was able to somehow sense her emotions. While not crystal clear, Goku could sense a great conflict within her, a tug of war between her old self and a new emerging side filled with rage just like what he was like when still trapped inside that glass tube. It was anger and frustration of her life being robbed from her by someone's ambition.
It didn't take the transfer of ki to read Lazuli's mood though, as the other occupants had also sensed it and tried to liven up her mood.
"I wouldn't worry too much about your brother sis, this scientist I know is a world renowned scientist on par with Dr. Gero. If there's anyone on planet Earth capable of restoring Lapis, it's him." Said Launch flashing her a smile.
"Thanks Launch, I'm just, a bit out of it that's all. I'm sure I'll be much better soon so don't you worry." Replied Lazuli to the older sister-like figure.
"Yeah babe, your brother will be back to his old self in no time so just relax okay?" chimed in Yamcha, his old playboy-self kicking in as he looked at the beautiful blonde.
The same time Yamcha called Lazuli "babe", the unconscious Lapis began to stir slightly in his elder sister's arms, muttering something along the lines of "who you calling babe you asshole?" and the elder twin couldn't help but to chuckle a bit. Yeah he's still there, hopefully it's only a matter of time before everything returned back to normal. Goku also wasn't amused at the newcomer calling the blonde "babe". Whatever that word might mean, it sounded like it was reserved solely between him and Lazuli.
"Wait sorry what did he say?" asked the desert bandit not quit catching what his unconscious friend had just said and the whole crew burst out in laughter.
"Oh nothing Yamcha, just that I wouldn't want Lapis to awaken yet if I were you." Answered Sixteen.
The crew arrived at Dr. Brief's lab around midnight and immediately, the unconscious Lapis was taken to the emergency room. The rest of the gang also received medical attention with Goku getting a cast around his right arm, Lazuli getting the bullets removed and her wound bandaged, and the rest of the crew having their injuries taken care of.
"Well, I think I'll be taking my leave big guy. Try not to get into any more trouble alright?" said Colonel Violet turning her back on the crew about to make her leave.
"Look Violet, if you are still angry about me disobeying Colonel Silver's command to kill the hostages and dragging you down with me that time, I'm sorry." The gentle giant said with surprising more words than he normally would.
Chuckling to herself, Colonel Violet turned around and put her hand firmly onto No.16's shoulder in a reassuring gesture. "Hey it's no big deal really. Besides, I'm also a colonel now right? So everything worked out in the end. Now if you'll excuse me, I got to head back to the base. People might get suspicious if I'm gone for too long," replied Violet heading for the tank again when suddenly something came to her mind and she spun around to face Sixteen again.
"Oh, and Sixteen," she said with a bit more emotion this time, "if you ever want a job, hit me up. I'll let you join this new crew I'm starting on the side as my second in command." Finished Violet and with it, the Red Ribbon Army Colonel hopped onto her tank and drove out of the Brief compound, leaving the gentle giant somewhat stunned at the offer.
Lazuli sat outside of the operation room the entire night, long after all her companions have went to bed and despite of reassurances from Dr. Brief the operation shouldn't be a problem. When the sun had risen up the following day and Goku had awakened from his peaceful slumber, he was surprised to find the blonde still sitting on the bench, her eyes sunken and her hair disheveled from the lack of sleep.
"You need rest Lazuli. Your brother wouldn't want to see you like this, not even for him," said the Saiyan warrior sitting beside her and wrapped his left arm around her shoulder.
"Thanks Goku, but tell me, if it is your brother undergoing the operation, would you just leave him there and go to sleep yourself?" asked the blonde woman resting her head on his chest, trying to let their physical closeness calm her nerves.
Brother, the word resonated through Goku's mind as he pondered the question. Brother as in your sibling, your family member and companion since birth, what would he have done if his brother, if he really has one, was having a brain surgery after getting screwed over by a mad scientist? Closing his eyes, the Saiyan began searching through his memory, trying to put a face onto this brother figure he may have. Gradually, the image of a boy with an almost comically large porcupine-like hair emerged from his mind. Whether this child was his real memory or simply a construct of his imagination though, the Saiyan couldn't tell.
So instead, Goku began to picture his friends lying on an operation table with people in white coats operating on their head. "What if it was Yamcha on the table, or Launch, or perhaps Tien?" thought the Saiyan, his facial expression growing darker as he went down the list, which didn't go unnoticed by Lazuli as she took in the change of emotion on his face.
"What if it was Sixteen, the always supportive friend who had helped him out of many situations? Or what if it was, no kami forbid, what if it was Lazuli?" the Saiyan's eyes snapped opened with a mix of sad and murderous look, no longer able to stand the mental image he had conjured.
"I don't know if I have a brother, Lazuli," began Goku with some difficulty, the images still fresh in his mind, "but if it were you inside that room, I know I wouldn't move an inch from your side."
The blonde woman's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this while slight shivers ran down her body. "And I probably wouldn't leave your side if it were you in the room, Goku," thought her to herself but refused to speak the words out openly and kept her head resting against his chest.
It was another hour before the door opened and doctors began coming out of the emergency room. Lazuli popped up from her seat the moment she saw movements from the inside, her head almost bumping into Goku's.
"Did, did my brother make it out okay? Tell me he's doing fine!" the worried sick sister asked the surgeons, unable to help it but to raise her voice. What she got were worried looks as no one was able to answer her question.
Just when the blonde couldn't take it anymore and was about to run into the emergency room, a completely drained Dr. Brief appeared. "Lazuli, I'm looking for Lazuli," he announced with a tired voice.
"I'm here doctor, just tell me Lapis is alright!" pleaded the elder twin holding onto the old doctor's shoulder and began shaking him.
"Easy, easy there girl, we'll chat more about this inside alright?" said the doctor beckoning her to go into the room.
Goku also stood up and walked towards the room when Dr. Brief held out his hand stopping him in track but Lazuli quickly grasped the elder Brief's hand and lowered it, "It's alright doctor, Goku's a friend of mine."
Lying on the operation table was Lapis sound asleep, he looked normal, peaceful even, except that his hair was completely gone and had bandages covering the top of his head. Lazuli was about to let out a sigh of relief when contents on an operation table nearby caught her eyes. There were blood, a lot of blood underneath the semi-transparent cover and within the crimson liquid were things gleaming underneath the fluorescent light.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" shouted Lazuli angrily as she lifted the cover before Dr. Brief could stop her, revealing dozens of computer chips and machineries, "don't tell me you found all these inside my brother's head, tell me they were from somewhere else! I mean for kami's sake, that's enough junk to double someone's brain size!" almost screamed the blonde losing it.
"Yes all these are pulled from your brother's head," said Dr. Brief with both hands raised in front of him, trying to calm the angry woman before him down, "but he's free of the machines completely now and should wake up in two or three days." Quickly finished the doctor but the blonde woman's piercing blue eyes showed no signs of relaxing.
"Now if you will excuse me, both me and Lapis need some rest...but of course you can sit beside your brother if you want..." added the poor doctor, his energy spent from long hours of operation and didn't have any reserve to deal with an angry sibling of his patient no matter how justifiable her emotion may be.
Lazuli was completely quiet on her way to the patient room. Goku meanwhile was walking behind her, keeping a safe distance least he disturbed the distraught woman. Something had changed about her, something much deeper than just a darker side and for the first time in his life, the Saiyan warrior was scared, well, scared for her wellbeing.
"Goku," suddenly said Lazuli stopping in her tracks and the spikey-haired Saiyan stopped too, "please leave me alone. I...I want some time alone with my twin brother." She said politely and he had no option but to obey.
A day passed, then another, and then another. During this time, the gang residing in Dr. Brief's compound rarely saw Lazuli at all, who had locked herself inside her brother's room, refusing to see anyone. The blonde scientist would only come out once a day to get food and then lock herself back in her self-made prison. Her friends had tried talking some senses into her and many times even knocked on Lapis's room, asking her if she was all right, but the only answers they got were obvious lies meant to send them away.
"She needs to get a hang of herself. I mean have you see how frail and sunken her face had become? I mean I'm about to lose my favorite sister!" shouted Launch angrily banging on the cafeteria table on the fourth day
"I agree, at this rate we'll lose her before her brother wakes up," chimed in Tien looking at Goku and Sixteen as if expecting the two to come up with a solution.
"Don't look at me Tien, I've already tried her door too many times to count," said the gentle giant with a tired expression on his face while looking like he had lost several pounds from worrying about his friend.
The three then all turned towards the spikey haired Saiyan who seemed to be getting the most interaction from Lazuli out of the group. Goku was eating small bits of food silently, not really having much of an appetite since his romantic interest had isolated herself inside the patient room when he sensed the sudden silence and looked up to find his audiences expecting an answer from him.
"Sorry?" he asked dropping the food to the table, an odd behavior for the Saiyan who had been known for clearing dishes at record speed.
"It's your friend Lazuli, or should I say girlfriend. Is she telling you anything?" asked the always straightforward blonde commando too emotional to ask nicely. Tien tried shooting her a glance hearing his partner's phrasing of the question but the curly blonde didn't bothered even glancing his way as she kept her gazes on the Saiyan.
"Not much really. She wouldn't talk to me except giving me these," Goku replied reaching inside his pocket and pulled out several empty injection devices.
Launch took a breath of relief seeing the medical devices. Well at least her favorite new sister was still sane enough to create medicine for the Saiyan warrior. Hopefully she was also spending time to care for herself.
Suddenly, Dr. Brief panting heavily rushed into the cafeteria, interrupting the small conversation they were having, "Lapis has awakened!" the gray-haired doctor announced excitedly and everyone immediately rushed to where the twins were.
The sight that greeted the gang upon entering the patient room was Lazuli crying profusely on her brother's shoulder, who had woken up and was now sitting on the bed.
"Thank kami you are awake Lapis! I thought Gero had taken you away from me!" sobbed the blonde twin hugging her younger sibling tightly.
Rather than responding to his sister though, the younger twin looked dazed and confused, his expression completely devoid of any expression as he stared straight ahead towards the wall.
"Lapis? Gero? Who are they?" asked Lapis not having a clue of what the blonde hugging him was talking about.
"What...you are joking right? Tell me this is one of your stupid jokes brother!" asked Lazuli beginning to shake her twin brother but a puzzled look was all she got in return. "No...no this isn't happening," thought the blonde.
"Alright, okay listen brother," began Lazuli again determined to make this work, "I am Lazuli and I am your sister," said the elder sister as slowly as possible, "and you are Lapis, my younger brother. There, easy enough?"
The bandaged younger brother frowned hearing this, clearly trying to process what he was hearing but just wasn't able to connect the dots. Taking his eyes off from the troubled blonde woman sitting beside him, Lapis looked up and studied the group of people who had just came barging into the room. There was a curly blonde with red bandana tied across her forehead, a bald guy also with red bandana on his head, an orange-haired giant who was at least a head taller than everyone else, and finally a spikey haired guy that for some reason made him a bit uncomfortable. Staring at the last guy in the line, Lapis couldn't help but to focus on him harder than the rest, knowing he was missing something vital but for some reason just wasn't able to remember what he had missed.
"Who are you guys?" the young man finally blurted out, his head in pain from using his still healing head too much.
"Oh Lapis, these are..." Lazuli was about to introduce the quartet when suddenly an idea popped up in her mind, one that she wouldn't dare try on her potentially lethal brother under normal circumstances.
"So these two are Launch and Tien, they are a happy couple," began the older sister making Launch and Tien arch their eyebrows wondering what's up with the unnecessary detail. Lapis seemed to be trying to process the information though, and nodded his head slightly.
"And this is Sixteen, a very good friend of mine," she continued pointing at the orange-haired giant who smiled at her brother and Lapis couldn't help but to return the smile.
"And finally, this is Goku," said Lazuli mustering up her courage before standing beside the spikey-haired guy called Goku and took his hand in hers, "he is my boyfriend!"
A silence like no others filled the room as Lapis glared at the "couple" holding hands, his eyebrows twisted and his brain working overtime trying to find what was causing such an emotional uproar from deep inside him. The always calm and stoic Sixteen was fidgeting a bit hoping Lapis wouldn't do anything explosive seeing how he had reacted towards Goku helping Lazuli back at his household.
"Goku, my sister, boyfriend, Goku, my sister, boyfriend," Lazuli began repeating these three phrases over and over as if doing so will give him an answer but still found nothing. Finally defeated, he looked over at Lazuli and Goku and gave them a nod too.
"Okay," the younger brother said just like what he had said to everyone else without any emotion.
The world collapsed onto Lazuli, her mind went blank and her feet gave up on her. Physically she was still at her brother's room but mentally, she was free falling through the hospital floor, her feet shattering the tiles as an invisible force sucked her deeper and deeper into the darkness and looking down on her was the darned blank stare of her brother. The last thing she knew before losing consciousness was her friends calling out to her and a pair of strong arms wrapped around her overtaxed body.
In her dream, the young boy with porcupine-like hair and her raven haired brother were walking away from her, their backs turned towards her and no matter how hard she called out to them, the only responses she got were their idiotic laughter. These were not laughter of joy, of celebration, or even troubled self-ridicule laughter, but pure emotionless laughter with no substance or content. If a human sized doll with no history could laugh, she'd imagine this was exactly what they'd sound like.
Then she woke up to the pitch-dark room with cold sweats dripping down her forehead.
"Whe...where am I?" asked the blonde weakly trying to get up but with how little food she had consumed these past few days, she couldn't even lift a finger. Strangely though, during all this time, Lazuli could feel a strong and steady current of life energy flowing into her body, keeping her warm.
"Hey Lazuli, you are awake!" a voice came from beside her and even in the darkness, she could make it out to be Goku who was holding onto her hand.
"H...how's Lapis? Has he awakened yet?" asked the concerned older sister.
Goku wished he could relieve her of her suffering, that he could simply tell Lazuli that her brother had indeed regained all his memory and was now cursing at him for holding hands with her. Instead, all the Saiyan could accomplish was to give her more of his life energy and the helplessness angered him, for what kind of Saiyan would let their girl down like this?
"I see," said the bedridden Lazuli receiving her answer from the silence the Goku was giving her, "well, I'm sure he'll be back to his usual self in a few days."
The days passed and her brother's condition didn't improve one bit. Not even Yamcha, who had been a drinking buddy of the younger twin was able to make any progress. After several careful diagnoses, Dr. Brief concluded that Lapis's memory might one day return, but how many years of decades it may take, he couldn't answer.
"Launch, do you know any Red Ribbon Army hideouts around here?" asked the older twin the evening Dr. Brief told her about her younger twin's situation, her voice, while still sounding the same, now had a biting icy tone to it.
The Muscle Tower was a prominent military facility belonging to the Red Ribbon Army housing a few hundred soldiers. Their influence in the area was so strong that no law enforcement units dared stepping foot on their turf, which consisted of a few dozen neighboring towns. This would all change a little more than a week after the failed public execution that brought the Red Ribbon Army under the scrutiny of the whole world as a band of militias raided the notorious tower.
"Report soldier, what exactly was happening down there? Why in kami's name am I hearing explosions?" barked General White, the commander of the Muscle Tower, as the tower he was in charge of shook violently as if being hit by an earthquake.
At first, all the general heard was static noises but then, he heard a click and a woman's voice came through the line.
"Hello General White," the unnamed female said in an icy tone that sent shivers down his spine, "we are coming for you!" finished her playfully.
No sooner had the woman hung up on him did General White heard his personal guards stationed outside of his room screamed in agony before the door got kicked opened.
"Who, who's there and what do you want? Don't you know you are screwing with the Red Ribbon Army?" shouted the white-haired officer trying to sound unafraid when in reality he was shaking in his boots, never in his life had anyone dared touching his men, let alone mounting a direct assault on his tower.
Gradually and as if taking their sweet time, a spikey-haired man and a shoulder length blonde walked casually through the door way and immediately General White knew who he was dealing with, it was those blasted runaways from Gero's lab.
"Heh, I've been waiting to take a shot at you two traitors," exclaimed the general as he pressed a red button on his desk and a door on his right opened, revealing a hulking man with spikey purple hair wearing shades that made him looked surprisingly like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Meet the strongest soldier under my command, the one and only Major Metallitron! Major Metallitron is so tough he can fire rockets from his mouth and lift a tank with each of his hands, there is no way you two scrawny little shits can hope to defeat him cause he's simply invin..." General White was in the middle of a rant when the unimpressed spikey-haired intruder extended one of his palms forward and blasted a hole through Major Metallitron's midsection, revealing the mechanical parts inside the major and causing it to collapse onto the ground.
"Holy crap son of kami!" yelled General White not expecting the instantaneous defeat of Major Metallitron, his shaky hands trying to reach for his side-arm but the blonde assailant was faster and fired two shots, each striking the white-haired man's hand incapacitating the officer.
Gracefully, the beautiful blonde began strolling towards the downed officer like a lioness stalking her prey. If General White wasn't screaming in agony over his wounded hands or scared to death, he might have fallen for her beauty but instead, all he got from her was a bullet to the head.
"Is this, is this what you wanted Lazuli?" asked the spikey-haired man that was Goku looking at the woman before him, unable to decide whether he was liking this change or not. His Saiyan side told him this is how a proper Saiyan woman should behave and applauded her for taking the fight to her enemy but his other side, the side that had grown accustomed to her warmth and caring personality knew better.
"Yes Goku, thanks for the help. This ought to send a message to that Dr. Gero and Commander Red that we are coming after them." Said Lazuli, her voice icy cold and devoid of compassion.
Meanwhile, hiding in the shadows observing the burning tower was a humanoid figure, his skin semi-bluish in color while orange spikey hair could be seem slowly growing from his still mostly bald head. On a closer look, one could also discover his lower body still trying to regenerate itself as new mechanical muscles slowly formed on his mostly bare bone legs.
"Enjoy your victory while it lasted you dirty monkey boy, cause once I've regained my strength I'm putting you to sleep permanently." Said the figure.
Author's Note: And here's the new chapter. I hope this chapter isn't too heavy for my readers. Also hopefully, this chapter answers some of the questions raised in chapter ten.
Special thanks to Dizzystrogg for the reviews. I did consider the bar scene actually as it would be a good breakaway from the tense chapters but with where I want to take this story forward, I've decided to postpone any celebration chapter till much later. Also thanks for letting me know about Launch being forgotten by Akira Toriyama, I've always wondered why the legendary mangaka simply dropped such a good character myself.
Take care everyone and until next time and as always feel free to let me know what you think about the story development.