Project Cloud


Chapter 4 — Signs of Difference

That dreadful feeling of digging a grave for your soon to be dead body as your murderer stood right behind you — this is a type of dread that many couldn't even fathom.

However, this was how Bulma, Oolong, Puar, and a few others felt as they drew closer and closer to the headquarters of the Red Ribbon Army.

The copter was so silent inside that the mechanical whirring of its engine rang louder than ever before - so loud that it almost managed to take a few people away from their own thoughts of utter distress.

For the most part, Goku was on everyone's mind - everyone beside Pilaf and his peers. Dragon Balls had been the only subject that their thoughts had occupied their heads with as they tried to figure out how they would manage to eventually collect all for themselves and wish for world domination. Yes, the hidden truth proved that Bulma had a very justifiable reason for being weary of these three. If they were so hell-bent on killing them and taking them down just months ago to obtain such a selfish desire, then what was stopping them now? As far as Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar were concerned, they merely came at the most opportunistic moment, so keeping eyes on them was a definite must.

Goku had done many things for Bulma. No matter how foolish, ignorant, and weird he was, he had came through for the young girl more than once, saving her life on a multitude of occasions. The 16-year old knew for a fact that her body would be off rotting somewhere, unfound for months if it weren't for Son Goku coming to her rescue — well that or waste from a pterodactyl's belly.

Yamcha and Krillin both came off the wrong foot with Goku subsequent to their first meeting - especially Yamcha, who actually tried to kill and rob him of his goods. Because of being forced into a common goal of surviving together and thanks to Bulma, Yamcha saw Goku as a friend and rival. Krillin always saw Goku as a threat to being great like Muten Roshi, but times were changing.

Most of the people in the copter had a strong love for Goku.

But their love didn't compare to the amount that Son Gohan held for the boy. The entire ride, he couldn't do anything else but meditate and pray for his grandson.

Seeing that they were getting close, Yamcha gets up and leans over Launch's shoulder.

"Drop down over there," he points to an area surrounded by nothing but trees and greenland just miles away from the Red Ribbon site. Just as Launch was going to object, all Yamcha had to do was give her a look.

Now any other time, Launch would have did what she wanted, but she understood exactly why they needed to land far away. There was no telling at all of any type of surveillance weaponry that they were up against. Jets could be flying around nearby for all they knew and blow them down on the spot.

Launch did just that and landed safely in the heavily shaded area.

"This is a good landing spot," Mai remarks once the engine to the copter is shut off. "Going in undetected gives us the element of surprise."

Almost everyone had something in hand once their feet touched the soft grass.

Yamcha holds his beautifully sharpened and gleaming willow leaf saber. Oolong and Bulma both have sawed-off shotguns and Launch remains with her trusty Uzi in hand. Shuu has his sword as Pilaf carries a small pistol. Mai had holsters of her own weapons and other artillery she used whenever she prepared for battle. Solely by looking at her, it was easy to tell that she was the marksman of the group.

Gohan and Roshi had the cuffs of their shirts properly rolled up. As did Krillin. None of them had came in with any weapons as they were solely focused on utilizing their skills as Martial Artists to help fight the way through.

Krillin was a nervous wreck, albeit did a good job in playing it cool.

Only Puar, Oolong, and Turtle were all empty-handed.

"Here goes nothing," Yamcha mutters as he begins walking off.

But Mai is quick to stop him dead in his tracks. "We can't just go in there. You do know that, right?"

"The gal's right," Roshi backs Mai up. "We need some form of strategy if we want to go in and come back out alive and with Goku."

"Well, good luck guys," Oolong says with his back turned. "I know for a fact you all will come up with something and beat them."

Bulma gives Oolong a nasty side-eye. "You mean WE, right?"

Oolong goes to clutching his stomach and making pained faces. "I-I don't know...my stomach is really starting to act up right now…"

Bulma and the others all knew Oolong was putting on an act because the chicken little inside him was coming out. Before the young girl could get on his behind and scold him about fighting for Goku because that's what Goku would do, Gohan spoke.

"With all due respect, we don't have time for cowards. Our group is only as strong as our weakest link. If you tag along with the fear constantly eating at you, then the whole operation crumbles. We can't have that."

Roshi had forgotten what it was like whenever Gohan got serious. He knew that this was no joking matter, but his former's pupil attitude had even him tense up a bit.

Oolong puts his head down and agrees with Gohan. Everyone there knew Oolong would be in the wrong for not being apart of helping Goku because if any one of them needed his help, he wouldn't ask any questions, hop on his nimbus and jet out.

"You're right, guys. Sorry." He looks back up to them. "What's the plan?"

So all of them huddle up and go over some impromptu schemes, none of which were really ideal. Roshi suggested that they use the ladies as a distraction by them going to the front and stripping themselves naked, but that was shot down as quickly as it was brought up.

After going on for about five minutes, Mai is the only one to take a step back and take in a breath.

"Okay, shut up everyone. How about instead we go over what we're all good at and go from there?"

Just like that, everyone tells Mai their specialty and what techniques they have, which helps her get an idea of their potential usefulness. Once all of them broke down what they could do, Mai cooks up something right on the spot.

Oolong and Puar, using their abilities to shapeshift, both changed into a fly and a small bird respectively with Oolong as the bird and Puar as the fly.

Mai had given everyone everyone small, wireless walkie talkies and gas masks for the plan as well as a small recording device in the form of glasses that brought back footage to all of them as they waited.

Oolong was astonished as to the amount of hovering jets and helicopters that patrolled the area. He was also quite sure that the Red Ribbon had their own satellites as well to look over any potential trespassers.

The pig only had five minutes to scope out and count all of the aerial guards, so he was quick about it. He made sure to show everyone where each jet and copter was and at precisely which location so they all had an idea of where they'd be coming from whenever they initiated their attack.

Puar had all the time in the world to scope everything out from the inside as a little fly since he mastered the shapeshifting technique. He buzzed around all different sectors and terraces, as well as towers, keeping count of all the men guarding the place and telling them the areas as he showed.

Once Puar and Oolong finished scoping out the place, it was time to begin their attack.


Security was every army's biggest concern. There were those who went a few miles out to check for anything or anyone nearby and report on if they were in the clear or if something seemed off.

The gang just got lucky that they were mere miles away from their usual checkpoints so their copter hadn't been spotted in the middle of nowhere.

Four guards chill at the gate with their guns in hand, talking about everyday stuff on the workforce.

"Violet always being so up-tight, ya know? I just ask the chick out to eat because she just keeps getting skinnier and skinnier."

"Aint that the truth."

"Right. She's going to need a bit more meat on her bones if she's going to bear my kids any time soon."

The other three howl out in laughter at the last comment.

"Idiot. Violet is as prudish as they come. She isn't going to come out those pants for you or anyone for that matter."

"I don't know, chief. Haven't you heard the rumors about her and Black?"

"What rumors!?" the other three ask in synch.

Before the man could get into the nitty details, in comes a seemingly lost wanderer.

"Ah, so thirsty, so thirsty…" Turtle says with his tongue out like a sweating dog. "Any of you got some sea water for an old turtle?"

The four men look at one another with silly looks plastered over their faces. Nobody had called in about a Turtle coming nearby. They didn't know if the aerial guards just missed it or didn't care for a harmless turtle, so they took the lack of report as a sign that he wasn't really that troublesome.

Still, they weren't going to go out their way to get sea-water for some talking Turtle.

"How about you turn around and just go back to where you came from?"

Turtle puts his tongue back in his mouth as his forced pout fades. He then smiles happily, responding, "Sorry, no can do." He raises one fin to his mouth and shouts, "GUYS!"

Just then, all four guards are taken down by Roshi, Gohan, Krillin, and Yamcha, as they used their Martial Arts skills to stealthily get behind and knock them out. All four of them then begin throwing smoke bombs right into the heart of the Red Ribbon facility in all areas, building up enough smoke to blind not just the guards on ground, but the ones in the sky, too, just to buy all of them enough time to take down the soldiers inside first.


Black spent most his time by Gero's side for the past few days. The only time in which he ever left his side was to go clean himself up or getting something to eat. Other than that, he's been relying on coffee and other stimulants to keep himself up as he watched Gero do his thing. All Red wanted him to do was stick around for a while to make sure everything was going accordingly before he could ship back into his normal routine as Second-in-command.

Black has his chin resting on his arms as he's seated backwards in a chair. His eyes get heavy and he gets ready to take a little nap as Gero sits on his computer.

But the shaking of the laboratory and following sounds of gunfire and another explosions wake him right the hell up.

It's immediately after this surprise that Black gets a call-in from over the radio.

"Our base is being under attack," Red informs Black in a panicked tone.

Red Ribbon's security has always been top notch. Even if they were to spot a kid coming in on them, they would more than likely attack the child and bring him in for questioning. No familiar face that came near was brought in without being interrogated or killed, so he couldn't help but wonder just how in the hell they had been caught off guard.

By the bewildered look on his face, Gero can tell that Black is thinking just who in the hell would dare come in and attack their base like mad-men.

"It shouldn't be that hard to figure out," Gero says to get Black's attention. "The boy's friends have decided to come to his rescue."

Black stands up from his chair and grabs at the guns in his holster. He responds to Red, assuring him that he will get in there and help nip this problem in the bud.

"Take a look at this."

Gero clicks a few buttons and the black screens plastered on the wall in his laboratory come to life, showing footage of nothing but smoke and bullets being fired in the mix. Neither of them were able to tell what was going on because of the smoke-screen.

"Whoever this kid is allianced with sure has their resources," Black keenly observes.

"Meaning that they aren't to be taken lightly. You walking out there right now with no sense of direction is bound to you getting yourself buried with the rest of our men that are being killed right now."

"What are you getting at?" Black asks him.

Gero takes one look over to Goku. "While I am far from done with completing our little project, this would be the perfect time to take him in for a test drive, wouldn't you agree?"

Black's lips curl. Having the boy fight against his friends? Now this would be great to see. This was the chance to have a good look of if Gero was making genuine progress or not with the child. And what better way for him to prove his loyalty than for him to take out one of the ones he more than likely loves?

"Sounds like a plan to me."

"Good…"


Krillin couldn't believe that things were going smoother than he thought they would. Due to constantly dropping smoke-bombs every half minute and running around the place with a gas mask, it was relatively easy to take out those with guns and other weaponry.

Puar, Oolong, and Turtle had done their job so they remained by the copter far out.

Yamcha, Krillin, Launch, and Bulma all focused on taking down the guards that were on foot. Yamcha and Krillin didn't show any mercy whatsoever, as they had no choice to. Bulma, who had shot a weapon or two growing up, was a better aim than one usually gave credit for. Due to having the advantage of not being seen as she wore a mask, it wasn't hard for her to shoot down any guarded men in the area.

Roshi and Son Gohan used their martial arts skills to take down any guards nearby, but for the most part, the two seasoned fighters hopped from helicopter to helicopter and jet from jet, taking down them all one by one.

A simple punch was all they needed to disable the engine, but Gohan decided to get fancy and purposely hopped from each one without destroying them for a bit, just to get a large group to follow.

And just when they thought they had him, Gohan took a giant leap of faith in the heavens. But he was locked on by many missiles, all of which followed.

Right into his trap.

Roshi touched down on one jet and watched as the missiles came toward him. He fell off at the last second and let gravity do its job in forcing him back down. The explosion of the jet he was on just mere seconds ago didn't perturb him in the slightest as he was charging a signature Kamehameha attack.

Gohan didn't afraid in showing just how much of a master of key he was as he maneuvered his Kamehameha to taking down all of the jets in his vicinity one by one. After the last person met its demise in his section, he touched down softly on his two feet.

After taking care of his portion, Roshi ran over to Gohan's side, asking him if he took care of the job.

Gohan claps his hands together, knocking off dust. "All done here. There shouldn't be any more to worry about."

Mai, Pilaf, and Shuu resorted to using their three monster battle-suit to go to war with the red ribbon soldiers. After firing bullets, squashing on people, and blowing up buildings with rockets, many just gave up and fled on the spot, realizing that their demise was inevitable if they kept trying to oppose it.

The entire area was wiped clean in just minutes. The smoke-screen from the smoke bombs had been replaced by the smoldering smoke of debris that Gohan, Roshi, Pilaf, Mai, and Shuu had caused.

Pilaf and his peers then all separated and made it over to Roshi and Gohan, who had just been caught up to by Yamcha and the others. So far it seemed that stage two, which was following through with their plan, had been done. Now all they needed to figure out was how to get to Goku.

"So, what next?" Launch asks.

"We need to find my grandson," Gohan tells her.

"Don't think you can just stand back and take a little break to go over further elaborate schemes," Gero tells them. Bulma, Launch, and Pilaf all point their weapons directly at Gero, who remains seemingly undisturbed about having lethal artillery aimed directly at him.

"Where is Goku!?" Gohan seethes.

"I'm right here."

Through the smoke, Goku shows his face to his friends.

Everyone is surprised to see that the boy looks completely fine, as if he didn't have his back wide open mere moments ago.

Yet there's something different about him now.

Goku is usually always happy to see his friends after a while, smiling so wide that it's a wonder as to how his cheeks haven't turned to literal stone.

But this time, Goku's face was straight and empty - void of any emotion.

Looking at all these teary eyed faces doesn't do as much as make Goku's facial expression budge. Looking at Gohan and everyone else, the kid pinpoints all their faces and names together, as well as the memories he had associated with them. Of course, most of these memories were all in fun and high-spirit.

But oddly, he couldn't just feel that anymore.

The attachment. The sentiment.

All gone.

And to say he currently missed it would be a lie.

Because now, he honestly didn't care all that much.

"Just let Goku go and we won't kill you," Launch orders Gero.

Right from behind, Gero, Commander Red, Colonel Violet, and a few other soldiers show up to rally on behind in support.

"Goku," Gero says to the child, "Why don't you do us the favor of forcing the last Dragon Ball out of them? We know that they have it."

Red cackles on in the background. All of this just felt too good to be true.

Goku glances at Gero before looking back to his friends, all of whom begin to grow in confusion. The Goku they knew wouldn't dare listen to such an order, much less stand by his side.

They knew something was amiss.

They could feel it.

"Why should I hurt them?" Goku asks Gero. "My memories of them...we always got along. What's the point?"

Gero frowns. "Of course, you're not entirely complete yet. I still have to tweak your docility a bit, won't I?"

"Come back to us!" Yamcha bursts. "Together we can take down these freaks and they won't every harm a living soul ever again!"

Goku, looking at Gero, recalls how he treated him upon their first meeting, prior to getting his amygdala removed. "If anything, I should beat you up for doing what you did to me. Shouldn't I?"

Now Red and the others begin to grow a bit concerned.

Gero, however, remains cool and collected. "Yet here you are still, standing and not laying a finger on me. Why is that?"

Goku looks away from him.

Gero then laughs out loud as he raises a remote in hand. "See this?" he demonstrates to Goku's friends.

Goku recalls being shocked a few times before by the old man and tried to prepare himself for the feeling.

But it wasn't him being shocked this time. He was having oxygen sucked away from him.

With the click of the button, Goku's hands instinctively go to his throat as if he's being choked. The feeling of his throat and nose being swelled up with no air coming in causes him to fall over his knees as his body trembles.

"Bastard!" Yamcha rushes in for him.

"Yamcha, no!" Roshi calls out.

Black steps right up and parries the punch that was aimed for Gero. Yamcha immediately follows with a swipe, but Black elbows Yamcha in the kidney, comes back up with a left hook, grabs the man by his face, rams his knee into Yamcha's nose, and head-butts the young man to send him over on his back.

"Any sudden moves and the boy dies," Gero says as he looks over to Goku, who's eyes are wide in panic.

Gero felt a great pride in being able to take the purity away from someone and having them as his own tool for his own means as an affiliate of the Red Ribbon Army. It was part of the reason why he was so well-respected in the organization despite having no particular brawn. It was his brain that people feared and because of it, he was looked up to by many. He couldn't help but explain precisely just how he managed to bring the all-mighty Goku to his knees.

"See, with my procedure of the removal of Son Goku's amygdala, he's probably forgotten a few things, but overall, he's kept his memory. There is no doubt in my mind that seeing all these familiar faces brought a lot of moments back to him, but now it's just hard for him to associate any feelings with you or any of those said memories. The pro is that he's a bit more docile, though the con is that he doesn't have any fear of anything or anybody, not even me...but one thing." He wiggles the remote in his hand. "Asphyxiation. It still makes any fearless person without the amygdala feel a sense of panic, believe it or not. This is the closest that those without a vital part of the brain will ever get to fear." Thinking on just how genius he is, Gero can't help but let out a devious giggle. "Understand that I am building the perfect soldier. And soldiers still need to respect their masters. So by implementing a microscopic machine inside the body that renders him an endless supply of oxygen, which correlates to his energy reserves being infinite, I have all the power to remove said oxygen from his body with the simple click of a button. Whoever holds this power has control over him and they are the ones he has no choice to be loyal to - for it's either going through that sense of panic or getting to breathe."

Gero said all this without even mentioning that he still had a long ways to go as far as tweaking Son Goku perfectly to his liking. If they were shocked solely by that, then he could only imagine their faces by them seeing the final product.

Many were into Gero's explanation for the beginning half of it, but whenever Son Goku started to flop around like a fish out of water gasping for breath, everyone grew greatly scared that the kid could just drop dead at any second.

Gero finally stops the torture and allows Goku to catch a break.

"You are loyal to me - to the Red Ribbon Army," Gero tells Goku. "You disobey, then you pay the price by experiencing the only sense of fear that you have left. I know it doesn't feel good, but surely you understand what's at risk here. You don't wish for this to happen again, do you!?"

Goku couldn't as much as describe the panic he felt when the literal breath was being swept away from him. If he had to decide between going through that or hurting those he calls his friends.

He'd choose the latter.

Every. Single. Time.

"No," Goku answers honestly. "I don't." He continues to wheeze for air.

"THEN DO AS I SAY, WHEN I SAY, AND HOW I SAY IT!" Gero barks.

Red howls in laughter at how much of a pet they've made this unstoppable force. "That's right, boy! Go get that Dragon Ball!"

Catching his breath, Goku's focus relocates over to Roshi and the others. "Which one of you have the Dragon Ball?"

"No, no, don't do this, Goku!" Krillin begs him. "Come on, man! Please...you can still fight with us. We'll protect you."

"I won't ask again," Goku tells him sternly. "Tell me who has it."

"Oh," Gero adds. "And you can kill them all whenever you do get it."

Goku paid attention to every word Gero told him.

Just because he said he could didn't mean that he would.

Unless told otherwise.

For the consequence to not listening would be dire.

Gohan could see this was all spiraling downhill at this point. These guys had Goku wrapped around their fingers and he couldn't even recognize the boy anymore. He understood that Roshi and all the others had a lot to lose, so he didn't show any fear in stepping up.

"I have the Dragon Ball," Gohan tells Goku. "Come and get it."

Everyone asides the Red Ribbon knew that Gohan was lying the moment he said those first four words.

Yet nobody objected to it.

They understood what Gohan was doing. He was protecting them.

Goku, without warning, rushes in for Gohan.

The old man tells them all to run right before he's punched directly across the face.

Gohan used the momentum being sent backward to place his hand on the ground and flip back over onto his feet. He immediately gets into a battle-stance and blocks a punch aimed for the stomach, though is caught off-guard by the kid's tail wrapping itself around his legs and causing him to lose balance.

Goku proceeds to kick Gohan's shin and follows with a brutal elbow across the face with enough force to send him sliding on his side.

None of the others saw the speeds at which Goku moved.

It wasn't as if they could keep up with him in the first place, but the biggest and most shocking relevation came from Roshi when he even admitted to not being able to grasp Goku's movements.

"Marvelous!" Gero exclaims as he claps his hand.

Gohan, while on his side, wipes the blood from his hands. Seeing Roshi and the others standing there just infuriated him. "What are you all still doing here!? GOO!"

They all hesitated for the most part, but acquiesced.

Most of all, they hated leaving Gohan in this situation, but what were they to do really? Goku's even more powerful than before and the only one who even remotely stood a chance to him was Gohan - a dead man.

"I'm already deceased so killing me is futile," Gohan says as he gets back up on his feet.

Roshi was the last to decide and leave. "So long, old friend."

"Don't think that you'll just be getting away!?" Red yells. He tells Violet and the other soldiers to go ahead and kill them all right now.

"No," Goku tells Red. "We can worry about them later. Right now we have to worry about Gramps, the one who has the Dragon Ball."

"Remember," Gero informs Red, "Goku knows everything about every single one of them. They're friends. He knows where they eat and where they sleep, so finding them wouldn't be much of a problem for any of us later on at all."

"That's a good point," Black says. "Let them live another day for now. No matter how far they run, we'll get them eventually. World domination is our first priority, not a few amateur heroes."

Gohan had one shot - one shot to bring Goku back over to his side.

"Goku, you could have killed all of them when you had the chance to, yet you decided to spare their lives. I know this isn't you, so stop being like this!"

Gohan had always been a patient man with Goku, ever since he was a little boy. No matter the temper tantrums Goku had thrown prior to bumping his head, he never fussed, spanked, or argued him. He remained patient and did his best to instill other parenting techniques - those he believed would be most beneficial in the long run.

But desperate times called for desperate measures.

Hot in the face, yelling, fussing Goku about being good because it's right and that's just who he is was his last resort, that above fighting at least. He didn't want to fight his grandson. He'd hate himself forever for it.

Goku didn't acknowledge Gohan's speech at all, each word coming through one ear and directly out the other. As far as he was concerned now, his current mission was to get the Dragon Ball. And according to Gohan, he had it.

Son Goku got into his turtle hermit fighting stance.

Gohan, gritting his teeth, mentally cursed himself with every second it took to get into his battle stance as well.

"Kill this one," Gero tells Goku. "That's an order. I don't care if he's already dead. Make sure there's nothing left of him."

Goku follows with a brief pause before telling Gohan himself.

"I'll end you."

Gohan sighs. "Wouldn't be the first time, kiddo."