The rumbling combination of military machines and an artificial man rolled onward. The holes on his back and the turrets littered all across his massive body spat out missiles glowing with energy from within toward Tenshinhan, who only assumed a proper fighting position and prepared to deal with the onslaught. One snap at a time, the three-eyed martial artist vanished repeatedly, preventing the missile barrage from overwhelming him yet leaving them free to ruin the surrounding scenery.
Tenshinhan swooped left and right, kicking and lightly swatting the missiles aside to detonate far away in the distance. The martial artist kicked off with a ring-shaped shock wave and a layer of dust that drowned out a handful of missiles while he took it to the sky. Turning around, Tenshinhan confused a few missiles following his tail to collide with one another. It was only when he hovered above the entire battlefield that Tenshinhan stopped running and placed his hands together.
"Kikoho!" Tenshinhan yelled out as a bright flash engulfed the entire battlefield. The overwhelming quake of energy drove all the homing missiles out of control and detonated them all at once while the slam of the stream of concentrated energy devastated the landscape and obliterated most of the machinery that One-Six could've used to fuse with.
"Well, well… The Kikoho, isn't it? It's a mighty technique, obliterated all of my missiles at once and all the machinery I could've fused with to add to my power, but at the cost of your own spiritual energy," One-Six glared up at his opponent. The Artificial Human couldn't see his opponent panting or sweating or showing any other signs of exhaustion but then again, Tenshinhan was quite high up and could've merely been hiding those signs for strategic purposes.
"Your power-up might be impressive but your intelligence is outdated," Tenshinhan lowered his hands with a calm look on his face. "Kikoho only consumes your spiritual energy if you don't have finer control over your spirit. Until now, every martial arts master on the planet has thought it to be a perilous double-edged sword technique, but until now, nobody has gone as far toward mastering their spirit cultivation as I have."
"What are you saying!?" One-Six freaked out, leaning back and rolling backward in an eight-shaped formation. "You mean that you've overcome all the disadvantages of the Kikoho?"
"Not quite. Though, for the sake of simplicity, you may as well think so. I will admit, though, your method of guiding and bolstering your missiles by coating them with your Ki was interesting. I have never previously encountered someone that combines technological advancement with martial arts in such a curious manner," Tenshinhan smirked and lowered himself back down. Without warning, he raised his left hand with his index and middle fingers bent by the middle and expelled a powerful Kiai wave.
One-Six grumbled and struggled against the invisible pressure force, trying to wrestle against the overwhelming force, but the lifeless lower body section of his submitted to the push and rolled backward, even when the Artificial Human tried skidding aside.
"I don't think you've yet realized what the Spirit Cultivation Method is. That is why you are still under the illusion that you can win against me. The Kikoho receives its overwhelming might from the fact that the user generates force not only by using Ki but also their spiritual energy." Tenshinhan cracked his neck to both sides before connecting both his hands. "Kikoho!" he yelled out.
A bright yellow beam washed over the devastated landscape as the invisible Kiai pressure wave that had overwhelmed One-Six earlier became a golden flash. Because Tenshinhan fired his attack on a straight angle, the Kikoho beam left the Earth's orbit and spiral out into dark oblivion before fizzling out at its max effective range, dissolving every minor space body it encountered into dust on its way.
"In addition, one might put some of their very own life force to bolster the technique even further," Tenshinhan explained while waving his left hand for some rest while his sparking and snarling opponent struggled to raise his collapsed upper body off of the tank bottom that let out stray explosions where the core systems of the fusion between Android and machine had begun to fail One-Six.
Using just one hand, Tenshinhan allowed it to charge up and sparkle with electric orange energy before raising it and aiming it toward his opponent again. "Soul Kikoho!" Tenshinhan yelled out after unleashing a golden Kikoho that engulfed One-Six and began unraveling the machinery littering over his body. With cracks and dangles, the turrets all over One-Six's body popped and scattered. The radar technology occupying One-Six's left side of the face blew off at once while the dissolution of One-Six's lower mechanic spider-tank body parts left him legless as only a metallic spine hung awkwardly lower than One-Six's chest.
"Im… Possible… You've launched half your entire life force at me… You'll get… Yourself killed…" One-Six croaked and hissed, writhing on the ground as he had no more machines of war or weaponry to merge with and his body had been in shambles. Had it not been for his unnatural Android anatomy, he'd have perished already, though Tenshinhan only struck him with so much power because he knew his opponent was no mere human and could handle extensive bodily destruction as long as the core elements were intact.
"You speak as someone bound by the material plane," Tenshinhan smirked as a trail of sweat ran down his temple, but the moment that the three-eyed martial artist opened his eyes again–it was gone. Furthermore, no more sweat formed and Tenshinhan's body didn't show any further signs of fatigue or damage after having just squandered half of Tenshinhan's lifespan on a flashy move. "I've actually spent the equivalent of two consecutive lifetimes of spirit energy and life force fighting you."
"What?" One-Six returned to a stationary position, using his damaged hands with exposed cybernetics where flesh and muscle had unraveled to stand upright, using his hands as a substitute for the feet he was missing. "How is that possible?"
"During my time looking for the Ultimate Dragon Balls, Muten Roshi-sama and I have visited a curious planet called Planet Ephemeris. The unbelievable atmospheric conditions on that planet makes any physical presence vanish, leaving only the spiritual behind. This incredible and humbling experience helped me and Muten Roshi-sama master Spirit Cultivation Method–a way of breathing that cultivates the very spirit energy that is lost. Since proper breathing and focus are so important to the technique, it's only fitting that it functions effectively like breathing spirit energy and life itself. Every ounce of spirit energy and life force you squander fighting, you can breathe back in and recycle," Tenshinhan pointed out by pressing his palms together.
His muscles looked much different from the ease and slickness that they've displayed earlier. The body of the three-eyed martial artist was bulked up and his skin slightly swollen, but the rate at which these signs of excessive loss of life force improved was like nothing else. Even someone who hardly believed in the spiritual aspects of fighting, One-Six was forced to believe Tenshinhan's tall tales upon seeing a man recompense multiple lifetimes spent on fighting beyond one's natural limit and using perilous techniques with none of their inherent drawbacks.
"This… This means… You're effectively immortal…" One-Six coughed up machine oil, realizing that he was now completely at Tenshinhan's mercy. It was that realization that made One-Six seethe. "That's… Impossible. Only a perfect, artificial, cybernetic body can grant you the ability to defy the natural law of death!"
"As a man of firm fists, I've taken you as someone that believes that might proves right. Aren't you yet convinced of your mistakes?" Tenshinhan opened his eyes while his body fully returned to the state it was in before he had launched even a single Kikoho. Just as he had claimed, the entirety of the squandered spirit energy and life force all returned to him. A fearsome fighting style such as this allowed a warrior to use their own life force to augment their strength without fear, as that same life force could then return to their body through proper breathing and channeling of one's spirit.
Tenshinhan was right. There was no way for One-Six to beat him anymore. Even when Tenshinhan had pushed his Spirit Cultivation Method much farther than he had ever done during training, even when he found a point at which all of his squandered life force did not cycle through immediately, eventually he was in a state of serenity and silent, rightful might once more.
"No! No…!" One-Six collapsed on his left elbow as his right arm hammered the ground underneath his dangling mechanical spine. "Only a cybernetic body can grant you immortality! Only a mechanical warrior is perfect and only an upgraded and polished machine of war deserves to be the strongest! The only reason… The only reason I've lost is because… I'm not yet perfect, I'm not up-to-date yet!"
"I didn't wish to destroy you, but you're beginning to feel like a hopeless case to me. You've surrendered so much of your humanity that finishing you off would hardly feel different from pulling the plug of television as opposed to murder," Tenshinhan crossed his arms. He wasn't one to just kill his opponent, no matter who they were. That life was behind him. He swore to himself that he'd never be some assassin like Taopaipai or someone clinging to cheap shortcuts to claim victory like the Tsuru Sennin. And yet… What was he to do with a sad case such as this one?
"You're wrong! You, humans, aren't the only ones that have discovered the higher plane. All your rich talk about spirits, you know nothing! Just like in all things, machines have surpassed you even in your pitiful Spirit Cultivation!" One-Six pushed his neck and face off of the stone and mud covered with a layer of powder snow to fire a hateful stare at Tenshinhan.
Seeing no further use in standing around and being mocked, Tenshinhan drew a sign of half of a triangle with his left hand and crushed the remains of One-Six with a propelled Kiai shock wave, leaving just splatters of machine oil, biological fluid, nuts and bolts and titanium plates scattered across the ground. Had it not been for whatever Dr. Puri used to create the biological replacement for blood in these Androids of hers, One-Six's remains wouldn't have looked much different from the rubble of devastated, heavy weaponry all around.
"See?" a voice rung from behind Tenshinhan, driving chills down the spine of the spiritual warrior and forcing him to jump up with startling jitters and turn toward the Muscle Tower looming on the horizon. The entire militarized structure morphed, its walls that appeared at first to be made from common bricks, slipped to form layers of armor as the 140 meters-tall tower let its ground floors morph into insectoid legs and elevate the entire war-bot.
The entire Muscle Tower had merged with One-Six, somehow, and become a titanic insectoid machine with an arachnid base of a body, a long and slim body that matched the appearance of the tower that it had been born of and the elongated, oval-shaped head with a black ring lighting up with illuminating searchlights for eyes up at the tower's crown. All across the tower's body, metallic frames took the shape of arms, and walls of steel plating disguised as common bricks slid across them to bolster them.
"It appears you may not have been kidding about discovering immortality. Yours may truly be superior to mine, as a master of Spirit Cultivation is only spared of dying of natural means," Tenshinhan quietly admitted to himself even though he addressed his opponent in a way.
"What you pathetic humans only now stumbled on to, us machines have already known for centuries–it's called artificial intelligence. To one such as myself, a body is but a hammer to smash with. At the end of the day, my intelligence, our own kind of spirit, can be simply transferred to any hammer that's developed enough. Your spirits and breathing tricks are fun and all, but you're nothing to us. That's because while you've realized the folly of clinging to your pathetic body, you haven't abandoned nearly enough of it!" One-Six's voice boomed through the megaphone speakers atop of the tower's crown as the entire super-sized structure rose from the snowy hill and, accompanied by severe avalanches began moving toward Tenshinhan.
Tenshinhan crossed his arms up and stayed to weather the washing blizzard of snow that passed his way. He knew that the moment he'd rise above the avalanche, One-Six would unleash a hell of Ki-guided weaponry on him, and this time he had the entire Muscle Tower technology to play with. A seemingly infinite supply of turrets, wall cannons, and Gatling guns and rings upon rings of missile-launching holes and indentations on every inch of this walking tower of war. There was not a dot on it that hadn't been designed to shoot, blow up, and destroy.
What was the worst of all–Tenshinhan had realized where One-Six was actually right. Even if he destroyed this entire Muscle Tower, which certainly didn't seem impossible, One-Six would merely escape elsewhere, retreating by using networks of wireless communication waves that Tenshinhan could neither see nor intercept and transfer his consciousness to just about any machine of war present on the planet. As long as weapons existed, One-Six would be there to take sanctuary inside one of those tools of war.
Tenshinhan roared out and emerged from the avalanche with a rampant shock wave blast that split the rush of snow as deep as an ocean apart as the spiritual warrior charged toward his opponent. The bullets that the Muscle Tower fired were all glowing with a blazing coating of energy and felt hot to deflect, let alone take. They were as many as there were raindrops during a downpour too, yet Tenshinhan breathed in and hunkered his body down to persevere. The enhanced bullets all bounced off of his body. A slam from a hammering arm pressed Tenshinhan back down into the soft layers of snow.
"Got you now! That's yet another incredible thing about machines! We can learn like nobody's business! For example, I now know that to stop your ridiculous spiritual awakening I merely need to disturb the rhythm of your breathing!" One-Six pronounced through booming sound waves filling the entire north-western part of the continent. "Once you get winded in battle, returning to peaceful breathing must be pretty tough, huh?"
One-Six's arm felt significantly easier after a snapping noise echoed under it. Tenshinhan dashed in from up in the air and kicked the tower on one of its plates. The resounding impact left a deep indentation in it while the martial artist vanished repeatedly, spreading deafening impacts across the entire structure, devastating its gun systems and leaving behind widespread devastation and system failure over the entire tower. Even at the cost of letting this insufferable Android escape and failing to avenge the little village he loved and settled down in, Tenshinhan had to destroy this tower and cease its function.
"Heh, for someone so enlightened, you've got peas for a brain!" One-Six mocked his enemy with a rough cybernetic voice, suffering through some interference. "Don't you understand that now that I've merged with this tower, once you destroy it, I'll transfer its function to any other tower or any other computer I move on to?"
"Damn it, how did he turn the tables against me?" Tenshinhan cursed, vanishing a few times in rapid succession before taking a defensive fighting stance as a declaration that he was thinking of fighting defensively until he could figure out a better plan.
"In that case… It's a veritable fortune that we've come here as fast as we have…" the voice of an elderly man spread across the tranquil ruins of a settled avalanche. Tenshinhan's startled glare turned toward the duo he had somehow missed entirely while the One-Six fused with the entire Muscle Tower struggled to be just as fast to scan these intruders.
Before the living Muscle Tower could turn around, a thunderous thud shook its very foundations, spreading wild fissures underneath it while cracks littered the entire robotic formation that spat out machine oil that promptly ignited upon reaction to the incalculable spouting sparks all over the titanic system of warfare machinery. It was a hulking, stocky man with short, dark hair and a massive, cylinder-shaped cranium that seemed stitched together, small, beady eyes and a subtle nose, contrasted by a massive, square jaw, that was tearing the fused Muscle Tower apart with its bare hands as a meek old man with puffy blue hair, tanned skin and a yellow overcoat stood behind his monster while he devastated One-Six. One punch at a time.
"Who are you two?" Tenshinhan muttered. Despite having immense power, the giant with bright, glowing eyes emanated no Ki signature, suggesting that he was an Artificial Human even though he was fighting one of his own and tearing him apart. "Wait, you don't know what you're doing!" he tried to stop the hulking man from destroying One-Six but it seemed as if though he was too late. With a few more resounding punches, the Muscle Tower fell apart.
"It's over… One-Six escaped…" Tenshinhan's chest deflated.
"Don't worry, boy. Artificial Human No. 8 knows exactly what he's doing. Artificial Human No. 8 may just be the only guy in the entire world that can help you guys out in this predicament…" the scientist with extravagant hair pointed at his hulking companion that seemed to stare at the rubble with glowing eyes and a bright, electric aura emanating around him. The aura then sent stray jolts of electricity toward the rubble, extracting a handful of microchips from it and sending them hurtling toward the giant.
Instead of bouncing off of him or even penetrating him like razors, the microchips seemed to make the body of Artificial Human No. 8 ripple-like something illusionary or liquid. Upon absorbing the microchips, Artificial Human No. 8 bellowed out a wild roar as the electrical aura grew out of control. It began shooting off stray upward lightning bolts that tore the clouds in the sky asunder, meanwhile taxing the entire Earth to form a new batch of storm cumuli as their replacement. The mechanical warrior became surrounded by a bright cocoon of pure, azure energy as he assumed a cradle position and began spinning in various directions. Then, with a roar of a cybernetic pitch, Artificial Human No. 8 broke his fetus position by expanding his arms and legs in both directions and sending stray, slicing jolts of force that ripped glaciers and stone apart all the same.
"What's going on here?" Tenshinhan demanded answers. "Why is your companion an Artificial Human and why did he just transform? Why are you talking as if you've just defeated One-Six?"
"Because we have, dear boy. My old partner, Dr. Gero, and I both imparted our Artificial Humans with the ability to absorb the parts of their destroyed kin and upgrade themselves with their information. We call such upgrades–Super Androids. Of course, at the time, we had no idea this name wasn't all that original, though I don't think the Saiyans settle their quarrels in court…" the meek scientist with curly hair let out a light chuckle. He acted rather aloof, almost as if Tenshinhan was his cohort of sorts.
"Your old… Partner?" Tenshinhan muttered in confusion. "Dr. Gero?"
"I know you… You're a friend of Son Goku and Chayote, right?" Artificial Human No. 8 pointed at Tenshinhan. "Suno-chan and I saw you on TV, competing in martial arts tournaments and fighting Goku. Most people he fights become his friends one way or another. It's the kind of person Goku is."
The monstrous brute had entirely changed his appearance, though a lot of it remained the same as well. Super Android 8 now adopted the same style of mohawk that One-Six had in his most human-like appearance, though pitch black. His skin became a murkier shade of green while even the clothes of the Super Android had changed into black, leather pants decorated with steel skulls of fallen cybernetic soldiers and a standard cybernetic soldier's steampunk uniform with a tattered brown fur coat on top.
"I am a friend of Son Goku's. Though, if you were at one point an ally of Dr. Gero's, I must ask who you are and what exactly are your goals here? You've destroyed One-Eight and stopped his expansion, it seems, though I'm not sure if you don't have some ulterior motives and if it's not a power-play against Dr. Puri," Tenshinhan raised his right hand into a Kiai blast position but refrained from attacking immediately.
"Settle down, dear boy. My name is Dr. Flappe. As I've said, I used to work with Dr. Gero and then with his wife, yes, but Artificial Human No. 21 is too blinded by her sentimental revenge plot and is making a huge mistake that is bound to get the entire world destroyed," Dr. Flappe declared as he pulled the lapels of his coat closer to better protect him from the elements. "It's long since stopped being about saving the world for her. She's gone mad with grief and vengeance and I've been a blind, senile fool... This family she clings on to... It's all about to implode on her and I'm worried about the impact it might have on her once bright and kind mind."