Goku was on edge. Their plan so far seemed to be working well, but Goku couldn't help but think that something was wrong. Neither of his friends seemed to notice. If he was being honest, however, there wasn't actually anything to notice. Nothing seemed to be wrong.
He shrugged it off as his nerves, he hadn't liked the part of the plan that involved leaving Chi-Chi's side. However as much as he'd rather stay with her and get to know his son better, he wanted to personally make sure any threat to them was ended.
He probably wouldn't be as twitchy if he was on the Nimbus, there was something about being on the cloud that always made him feel a bit more secure and sure of himself that flying in a car never did. Also using the Nimbus meant he could have stayed with Chi-Chi for a little bit longer before having to follow after the Ox King. However they'd agreed it'd be better to stick together until they were able to confront Chi-Chi's kidnappers.
There wasn't anything for him to do at the moment, other than worry about that bad feeling and wait until Krillin or Yamcha decided they were in a good spot to start attacking. A part of that feeling might be because they were going to ambush the other air car and that felt wrong to Goku, but none of them had had any other ideas about how to make them land so they could fight.
It felt like forever before Krillin spoke up. "Hey, look at that symbol on the wing," Goku leaned forward. That must have been the thing Chi-Chi had talked about yesterday. He couldn't help but feel like he'd seen it before. Thankfully Krillin continued, "isn't that what the Red Ribbon Army used?"
"Yeah, it looks like it, but didn't Goku take care of them years ago?"
He scratched his head as he tried to remember. "I think so? Were they the ones who killed Upa's dad for the Dragon Balls?"
Krillin nodded, "yeah, looks like they're still around."
"But why would they kidnap Chi-Chi?"
Yamcha shrugged, "revenge maybe?"
That idea didn't sit well with Goku. The thought that the pain and panic his wife had gone through was his fault made his heart hurt with guilt. A part of him knew there was nothing he could have done to prevent or expect anything like this to happen, but that did little to diminish his guilt.
Goku was jarred out of his thoughts when Yamcha cursed and Krillin gasped. He had just enough time to notice that the car they'd been following had turned around before it shot at them.
Thankfully they'd been able to escape from the car before it sunk beneath the waves, what was even better was the small island nearby that they'd been able to get to. The car they'd been chasing landed not far from them and the five people Goku had sensed piled out. Most of them were large and bulky and although they looked strong their movements were too stiff and rigid for them to be actual fighters.
Keeping in mind what Chi-Chi said about the guns they had, Goku noticed that three of them had the green guns while only one had a purple one. The last one was far smaller and skinnier than the others. He wore green gloves, had a funny green hat and apparently couldn't find half of his glasses, considering there was a lens over only one of his eyes. Goku couldn't help but notice how friendly and amused his eyes were.
Goku and his friends were ready to spring into action, before the gloved man began clapping.
"Impressive that you managed to survive. Not many could say the same." Goku didn't think it was that impressive, having survived similar things when he was younger. Krillin and Yamcha didn't look like they'd had to try hard to get out safely either. "All the more reason as to why it is imperative that you join us."
Krillin and Yamcha made noises that sounded as confused as Goku felt. "Join you? What do you mean?"
"I mean with someone as strong as you on our side, nothing will stand in the way of the Red Ribbon Army!" As he spoke the other four began to shift, trying to subtly surround the three of them.
"Why would you want to recruit Goku?" Krillin asked as he and Yamcha began gathering energy.
"His power, why else. His performance at the 23rd World Martial Arts tournament was exemplary. If we could harness that for ourselves the Red Ribbon Army would be unstoppable!"
"You kidnapped Chi-Chi because you wanted me to help you?" Goku couldn't help but snarl. He wouldn't have helped them anyway, but the knowledge that they'd hurt his wife just made him all the more resistant to the idea.
The man waved a hand. "Simply insurance. Unfortunately many are far too simpleminded to understand our General's great vision for the world. But I-" He was cut off by a beeping noise from somewhere around his waist. "Hold on one second." He pulled a bulky rectangle thing from his belt. "Doctor Midori here."
Goku and his friends exchanged glances. Should they start the fight? He really wanted to punch that guy's face off, but it didn't feel right to do it when he was talking with someone else. Krillin was charging some energy behind his back while Yamcha was settling into his wolf fang stance. He himself was more than ready to start fighting, as soon as that guy got done talking.
"What?! What do you mean he's the one that destroyed the main base?" In an instant that friendly look in the guy's eyes was gone, replaced by a glare. "Take the woman and the child then, I don't care what condition they're in!"
Goku's heart lurched. They were going to take Chi-Chi away again! They were going to take his wife and his son away! For the first time he could recall Goku felt frozen.
"Goku, hey, it's fine." He half wanted to scream at Yamcha; how could it be fine? They were going to take his wife away, they had taken his wife away before. "They're with her dad, right? He won't let anything happen to them."
What? No she wasn't. What was Yamcha saying? Puar was the one with Chi-Chi's dad, it just looked like it because- Goku blinked and breathed. That's right, as far as that green guy knew, Chi-Chi was near the mainland.
The guy tisked. "Did you really think we'd fall for such a trick? As if we'd allow a flight risk like her to run around without a way to track her down."
Goku barely had time to understand what that guy was saying before Krillin blew up their car. "Goku, go! We'll take care of things here!"
He wasted no time calling for the Nimbus before taking flight, meeting the cloud halfway to the sky. Goku zoomed back towards Kame House, his thoughts a mass of worry, fear and anger.
Chi-Chi and Gohan were in danger. They were in danger and he left them! How could he have left them? Yes they had a plan but he should have stayed with her regardless!
The trip to the island felt like it took forever, even with the Nimbus going at top speed. In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have even let that guy talk for as long as he did. If Goku had started fighting as soon as they touched down, they could have been on their way back by now. Then again, they could also still be fighting, not knowing that Chi-Chi, Gohan, Bulma and master Roshi were in danger.
Goku cursed as soon as his master's house was in sight. Two large machines were parked at opposite ends of the island. The name escaped him at the moment, but they looked a lot like what Bulma used when they were hunting for Dragon Balls the second time. No wonder he hadn't thought there were more than the people in the ship; he'd assumed that the underwater ki was the ki of some curious mermaids.
As he got closer he saw something that made his blood boil and his heart freeze. Chi-Chi was being dragged out of the house, covered in some purple gunk and screaming as someone else went the other way carrying his son. He couldn't see Bulma or master Roshi but he could sense them and a couple of others inside the house.
More importantly, the person carrying Gohan was almost at one of the underwater machines and Chi-Chi was being dragged to the other. If he saved Gohan Chi-Chi might be shoved into the underwater car, if he saved Chi-Chi Gohan would without a doubt be taken away.
His thoughts flashed back to the night before, when he'd been thinking of some similar things happening. Trying a new technique in such a desperate situation wasn't ideal, but he's figured out trickier things under worse circumstances before.
Leaping off the Nimbus and aiming between his wife and son, Goku gathered his ki in the way Tien had before and focused.
Four Gokus landed and stumbled on the sand. One managed to roll with his momentum and the action caused another one to tumble over. They all felt the coarse grains against their skin and in their shirt despite the fact that only one had gotten sand there. A third shut his eyes to center himself and the other three suddenly felt like they could see despite knowing their eyes were shut.
It'd only been a second or so but Goku already felt sick, dizzy and so done with this technique. Was this how Tien felt when he did it? Why would anyone want to do a technique like this?
Chi-Chi screamed his name and he heard it four times at once. Gohan was screaming too. That's right, he needed to save his family. Half of him needed to go to Chi-Chi and the other have had to go save Gohan.
At first they all started to move towards his wife, before he realized he had to consciously choose which self had to go where. Then the two closest to Gohan continued on to save his wife while the other two lunged towards the man taking his son away.
He had a bad feeling that this wasn't going to be easy. Even if his opponents weren't even a quarter of his normal fighting strength, every move he made he had to focus on moving just one Goku in that way or else they would all try doing it. However he also couldn't focus on one of them at a time, he didn't have time for that. Why the heck did Tien even think this was a good idea when they last fought?
Strange confusing techniques aside, he prepared all four of himselves for a fight. Even split into four, he was not going to let his family down!