Project Cloud
Chapter 16 - Itching for Excitement
The Red Ribbon Army had one sole goal that drew them to insane power: control over the Earth. They hoped to be able to use the mystical Dragon Balls and wish for power, but the chances of that happening now were much more...slim. Goku knew that this was the main goal, even after the Red Ribbon Army fell to Piccolo. Gero hoped to be able to carry this on, but he couldn't help but imagine why.
Stuck in Gero's laboratory, with nothing to do, Goku thought to himself much. The thoughts of those he used to be friends with were pushed aside without much difficulty - not because of any kind of regret, but because he didn't have any attachments toward them anymore. Now, he wondered just how exactly Gero intended on taking Earth as his own entire domain. The one thing that Gero loved to do was create Androids, cyborgs, and robots. It didn't take long for number 9 to realize that Gero hoped to take the Earth by storm with his very own army of Cyborgs and androids.
Hoping to be able to be a great aid to this idea, Goku approached Gero from behind as he worked on the unconscious Piccolo Daimao.
"What is it, number 9?"
"I know the most important thing to you is taking the world over and you want to make your own band of creations first, but the process it will take you to do that will be much longer if you work on them and go looking on your own; I think it would be best for me to go recruit people, don't you agree?" Of course, Goku was appealing to Gero's ideals, but this was mainly the child's way of getting the hell out so he could go and seek some form of altercation; he was bored, and despite lacking any form of moral compass, his native blood still urged him to fight something. It was damn near an unfixable itch and he needed any excuse to get back out there. "I know what you're doing - you're making your own family. I can help with that."
Gero didn't respond as he looked into codings on his computer. With number 9 just hanging around did make him a little paranoid as he wondered if the child often thought of stabbing him in the back. To send him out and have him doing something to help drive his mission would be a good service. "First off, it's not a family I'm creating - it's an army. I'm going to reform the Red Ribbon Army and then take over the world."
"So can I go or not?" Goku asked. The boy's patience had already been hanging on by a slight thread. With no answer to his question, Goku got straight to the point. His tail wagged side to side. He felt as if he'd go crazy if he didn't slam his fist into someone's face at least once.
Gero sighed. "You can do your best. If you bring me back someone weak and fragile, you'll just be wasting our time and I'll kill them."
Goku's tail twitched - a hint of excitement. As soon as Gero told him yes, the boy already turned around and started to make his way out.
It was an unfortunate thing for Piccolo to come back, but fortunately for society, his reappearance wasn't bad enough to crumble the entire economy and force people to work from the ground up to make civilization whole again. Slowly and with precaution, people turned back to their normal lives; those who worked hard went to work, and those who simply sat on their butts and let the cash roll in did just that. And as for the anomalies of the world, they continued on with their own routines as well.
Lapis and Lazuli were young adolescents living a life that the majority of teenagers would envy. With their constant scheming and scamming, their recent job with robbing the world martial arts tournament announcer and taking all his money was more than enough for them to live peacefully and lavishly.
Located in one of the most luxurious homes of West City, Lazuli did her make-up in the living room in a mirror as Lapis sat on the couch, tossing a baseball up and constantly catching it, obviously bored. The only reason that they didn't bring any attention to themselves was because of the recent tragedy with Piccolo coming back from wherever the hell he came from. People were so concerned with themselves that nobody cared that a couple of teens bought one of the most expensive homes in West City.
"Do you find it strange we've bought a home that was supposed to get blown up with the entire city by some demon who was running around over 300 years ago?" Lapis asked.
Lazuli, uninterested in talking, replied, "Ahuh."
After catching the baseball one last time, Lapis leans over as he's sitting and sets the ball on the table in front of him. "I'm bored, sis. We have everything we could have wanted and we can do whatever we want, but it doesn't feel like there's any fun in it - it feels like chasing this was the best part of it all. Now it's just like now what…"
Lazuli could tell something was up with her twin brother. For the past week, he had been huffing and puffing out of nowhere whenever he was in the same vicinity as her. It was obvious he was bored, but maybe because she figured that he just sat around all day. She had a feeling that her brother wanted to jump back into the streets, but she wasn't too keen on that idea personally. "Well, this is perfect for me. No more risking our lives and putting other people in danger. We won't have any more unfortunate incidents that can get either us or someone else killed…" she then paused and looked at Lapis through the mirror. "Like that old man a few years ago."
"So? I'm missing excitement - I want to do something fun! Let's go do something, Lazuli - anything."
This caused the siblings to go back and forth. Lapis wanted to go out and more than likely get into trouble while Lazuli desired to do the exact opposite and remain home, getting herself pretty for whatever vain reason. This continued on for a few minutes with Lapis giving her detailed reason after reason as to why they should just do something, even though it was all bullshit. Still, he was the most stubborn person she knew and it was inevitable that she acquiesced.
Lapis and Lazuli's shake ups usually tended to be street work, but Lapis decided to change things up a bit. Instead of camouflaging into the darkness late night on street corners and alley ways behind the street lights, the two of them had drove to a nearby what used to be considered a hunting ground - now a playground for poachers.
It was on the outskirts of the city. With recent events having transpired, many people didn't enjoy going outside as much. The twin brother of the two, while in the driver's seat on a little hill. Lapis, picking up binoculars, looked through, spotting a truck filled with ice chests, bags, as well as weapon supplies. A smirk curled onto his face.
Lazuli, feet on the dashboard as she did her nails, made it quite apparent as to how uninterested she was in this little venture. "So what's going on here?"
"We're gonna bag us some poachers," Lapis told her.
"Poachers?" Lazuli's neck came back as she squinted her face. The stupid look coming from his sister made Lapis scoff. Of course she wouldn't understand.
"One good horn from any animal will get these guys a good bit of money. Now imagine them consistently getting more and more along with other things. I'm sure they're on the road a lot, always poaching, so you know they keep their money with them." He started to rub his hands after he put down the binoculars. "See, we go to their truck, take anything valuable, wait for them, shake them down, and shake out anything else we can before we dip."
"They'll see our faces," Lazuli pointed out.
"They won't even notice us." Pulling the handle of the car door, a click enables the driving side to open. Lazuli follows suit. In her bra is a small revolver as Lapis has a glock holstered. "Let's go."
The twins quietly made their way down, their eyes locked on the truck that held all the valuables. Lazuli let her brother take the lead. After all, she didn't want to do this in the first place and was just going with the motion so that when this was over, she could relax. The closer they got, the more confident her brother grew as they were going by undetected. But for Lazuli, something was off; she had spotted a rifle lying on the ground not too far away from the truck. She knew not much about poachers, but they always kept the weapons they were going to use to poach with them. Someone could have gotten the drop on them already?
Once they were down, Lapis and Lazuli remained crouched down and hurried to the back of the truck. With their noses just poking over the tailgate of the truck, a chuckle came from Lapis. "We've hit the jack pot."
Rustling from the bushes had immediately caught their attention. The two got down quickly. Lazuli, thinking on her toes, crawled under the truck and used her elbows and knees to move further up in order to get a better look at this person approaching them. As for Lapis, he took in a deep, quiet breath as he drew his weapon from his holster and covered half of his face with his bandanna.
Lapis listened keenly. The man took a step every few seconds. Groans and silent mumbles escaped his lips as he drug his feet across the ground. It was initially hard for Lazuli to make out the scene, but the closer the man got, the more visible his situation of terror became. One shoe was torn and soaked in blood as the other was missing. His foot was visibly broken and hanging. Once he reached the front of his truck, the man fell down on one knee, heaving heavily. Lazuli's eyes widened at the scene. Lapis, curious, silently got down as well and looked from underneath the truck. The twins both spotted a small figure slowly approaching the injured man from behind, straight out of a horror movie.
"Your or your friend wouldn't make very good converts," the assailant spoke. "I guess I have to kill you both."
That voice. It sent a chill up the spines of Lazuli and Lapis - especially the former. Turning around as much as he could, the poacher began to beg and plead for his life. A bright light of energy derived from the palm of the attacker, revealing his face to Lapis and Lazuli. The voice was enough, but seeing Goku's face - it struck their hearts with fear. They knew only just a sample of what he was capable of in the tournament, though they left before shit hit the fan. They didn't think he'd be some murderer. The best they could hope for was that he was putting an end to poachers, but it didn't seem to be the case judging by what he had said just moments prior.
After being struck by Goku, a short, yet horrible yelp escaped the man's mouth. His body dropped down to the floor. Lapis and Lazuli decided to remain quiet in hopes that he would just leave them.
Goku approached the dead body, grabbed it, and chucked it behind him into the woods to leave him for the scavengers. With his hand cupping the front bottom of the truck, Lazuli covers her mouth with her hands as her other hand nears her hidden weapon.
"I can smell you both."
The truck flipped up on itself from Goku merely flicking his wrist. Lazuli looked back in horror as the screams coming from her brother was because of his feet being crushed by it. She drew her weapon and shot, but the bullet was swatted away by Goku's hand. He proceeded to grab Lazuli and punch her in the stomach to knock the wind out of her. Upon tossing her to the side, the blonde was rendered unconscious.
Goku looked over to Lapis. The adolescent was trying so hard not to scream that he bit his bottom lip to the point of where his teeth was covered in blood. This got no reaction out of Goku. Though Lapis tried to move the truck, it was fruitless. The thought of ending him right then and there came to number 9, but he didn't. Watching as Goku turned around to capture Lazuli, Lapis howled and screamed for him to stop, but he didn't listen. He walked off into the black, which brought tears to the young man's eyes.
He cried, screamed, and groaned until he passed out. With at least one of them appearing to be in proper form, Goku decided to take Lazuli and left Lapis to die under the weight of the truck that flattened a portion of his feet.
Still, that didn't mean he was going to die there.
Someone decided to go against Kami's advice. The young Upa was being told of what Goku was doing and couldn't just sit back and watch. Yes, he was no match, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be capable of saving at least one. With Lapis knocked out, Upa removed the truck from on top of him and decided to carry the twin back to the look-out as fast as his chubby feet could carry him.
As for Goku, he had never saw Gero as elated in a while since he started working on Piccolo. Bringing forth a young, promising woman who could also be converted was just what Gero needed.
Lazuli was strapped down to a metal cold table, sedated by Gero's medicine on a schedule that would render her to practically be put in a coma for as long as he remained consistent with sedating her.
"So, what do you think?" Goku asked.
Gero had his spine pressed against his desk as he rubbed his chin. Lazuli, unlike Piccolo, was just any other normal person. Piccolo, despite being an alien like Goku, was much more complex genetically than any other creation he's ever worked on. Goku was fairly simple due to the fact that his genetic make-up, though while different, is so insanely synonymous to earthlings - like apes. It would do Gero well to take a break from Piccolo and work on Lazuli before he went back to what he considered to be a great creation.
"I think at this rate, the new Red Ribbon Army will be up and running in no time." Turning around to go to his computer, Gero snapped his fingers at Goku. The young cyborg approached Gero from behind with his eyes locked onto Gero's fingers, which were pointing at the screen of his computer.
"I have a task for you; bring him back to me. Now I'm sure you remember this one. He hasn't come back. He, unlike you and the current experiments I am working on, is a failure. I want him brought back to me."
Goku's eyes were fixated on a design that consisted of the android before him - the one he called eighter. His countenance was emotionless; the friendship that Goku used to have with eighter was long gone now, given that the old Goku was gone.
"Consider it done."
"He's the boy from the tournament - the one Chun exposed for cheating."
Lapis was allowed to rest further as a heavy fever started to come over him. He was far too weak to even eat, which prevented him from being able to digest a senzu. Still, Mister Popo made sure to care for him until he was strong enough so that he could be brought back to health. Upa, Kami, Popo, Yamcha, Krillin, and Tien all watched Lapis from a distance.
"Had Goku caught wind of you, you realized you'd be dead by now, don't you?" Yamcha scolded. "What the hell were you thinking!?"
Upa remained silent. Kami, who was in the corner of the room, made hard eye-contact with him. The two just so happened to be talking and Kami revealed Goku's next move as he kept his eyes on everything. Upa jumped the gun and went down there in an effort to save them. Only he and Kami knew this.
"We've already lost friends," Puar told Upa. "We can't lose you, too."
"Before you go out to make a boneheaded decision like that again, you must tell us," Tien advised.
"I know!" Upa shouted. His fists were shaking as his eyes didn't leave the sleeping twin brother of Lazuli. "I just did what I believe is right - I couldn't just leave him to die! I know I wouldn't take on Goku, okay!? I know, but we can help him help us - to help us bring the world back to what it should be!" Upa turned around to face his peers. "All of us have a reason to hate Goku. You all use those reasons to seek out justice and vengeance. He just witnessed his sister get kidnapped. He's going to want it more than anything in the world. We MUST come through for him."
"Hindsight is 20/20," Kami commented. "Had you not intervened like you did, knowing you could have saved him, you'd be kicking yourself for not doing so. You did the right thing, Upa. But please...just don't put your life at risk ever again. We can't have that."
Upa understood, though he didn't say anything and just left the room. With all the constant pain that was being bestowed upon people, the suppressed anger didn't start to surface until now. He was just a kid; he should be at home, having fun and still learning from his father, but no. The red ribbon army took that away. They also took a great kid and hero away and turned him into the worst possible monster. Upa needed to meditate. He needed to remain focused on the objective - to bring the world back to peace. And even hopefully, bring Goku back.
The fact that Bulma and the others managed to capture a Saiyan would be something to easily boost their reputation in the Galactic Patrol. She just wished she had another sample of katchin to use for her battles, but her other advancements in technology for the patrol proved to be enough to hold a being considered to be one of the most formidable foes in the universe - a Saiyan.
They were just moments away from their destination, nearing the planet's stratosphere. She was just woken up from a little nap when they were in the atmosphere. She did her best to get as much rest as she could because she knew for a fact that her comrades wouldn't allow her to rest with the constant celebration that was sure to come.
Tyber let the ship function in autopilot so that he could get up. Grabbing Raditz's scouter, he looked over it. He knew of such designs, but to actually hold one himself? All the other scouters collected by the Galactic Patrol - though very few - were in inventory and was not allowed to be touched as they were studied on by the top engineers of the patrol as well as scientists.
"Your worst mistake was not crushing that thing to bits when you had the chance," Raditz chuckled. "My comrades are more than likely just minutes behind you all. They will slaughter you all and rescue me, hehehehe."
"That's what we were hoping for," Tyber said as he crushed the scouter to bits. This got a confused look out of Raditz, who didn't expect their now so obvious death wish to be apart of their game plan.
"You're idiots if you believe you can stand up to two superior Saiyans!" Raditz hissed. "If it weren't for these energy sapping shackles, you'd all be under my boot!"
Slain came from a back room of the ship with a cup of water in hand. "If that were the case, then we wouldn't be alive to have this conversation right now; we'd be dead and you'd be on your merry way back to your boss."
Raditz growled. "Our people has murdered enough galactic patrol over the years - you're nothing compared to us."
The back and forth going on between Raditz, Tyber, and Slain is blocked out by Bulma, who notices something is amiss. The planet they're landing on isn't anything like the planet of which the galactic prison was held. As soon as they landed, Bulma rushed to the exit, where she spotted only one person waiting for them.
Bulma waited for Slain and Tyber to arrive with Raditz in front of them both. "You two owe me an explanation. What the hell are we doing here!? And who is he!?"
"That's Merus," Slain answered Bulma. "Our top Galactic Patrol agent."
"Hahahaha," Raditz roared with laughter as he was pushed off the railing. "This is obvious bait for Vegeta and Nappa! This such an idiotic move! Your disappointment will be immeasurable when they don't get their cheeks pierced by the bait you've got hooked for them! None of you will live to tell the tale of what's going to soon be your inevitable demise!"
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Tyber said. "Merus is the top patrolman for a reason. He's managed to use the little free time he has on his hands to help Bul- I mean, us out."
"He can be a god amongst your platoon for all I care," Raditz sassed. "He's still going to die."
Merus ignores Raditz's supposed prophecies and speaks to Slain, who has Raditz in custody. "The capsule building here to set him in is 8 kilometers west of here. You'll see it after a short moment of flight."
Slain nodded and gripped Raditz by his unruly hair as he flew over to where he was meant to place Raditz. Out in the distance, Raditz laughs like a mad man, expressing how once they're all dead, he'll gladly pay his little brother a visit on Earth, which immediately caught Bulma's attention.
In an attempt to ease her, Merus placed his hands on her shoulder. "Everything will be fine, Bulma."
"Please explain what's going on here."
Though Slain and Tyber were the ones acting as oblivious as possible, Merus didn't see the reason in lying, so he told the truth. "The higher ups of the Galactic Patrol pretty much knows your situation on Earth - we've just been trying to devise a plan to save it. Truth be told, it's one of our members' fault that a Saiyan is still alive there, wreaking havoc on your world. One mistake of a member is our whole mistake. We're doing everything we can to do right by your people - even if that means not following proper protocol. The Galactic King's given us the thumbs up. I promise you we'll help you make this right." He knew, after all, despite their efforts, and regardless of success or failure, she would appreciate them doing this not only just for their past mistakes, but just for her as well.
That was the last thing Bulma expected to say the least. All of this training, going after the Saiyans...they were undoubtedly mentally and physically preparing her for the hell that was awaiting her back on Earth. It was too clear to her now. Before she could respond, Slain called out to Merus on the line.
"Two ships spotted; expected to land 1,500 kilometers south east."
"That's our cue," Merus said. "Let's go." He didn't waste any time and activated his rocket boots to propel him in the direction of where the Saiyans were expected to land. Bulma, feeling a bit more at ease, followed suit from behind.
As for the two Saiyans, one of them had the thought of slaughtering a group of Galactic Patrolmen on his mind. He wanted to give them a true taste of Saiyan power.
But for Vegeta, he didn't see this as anything but a clean up job - a way to clean up his reputation. The fact that Raditz allowed himself to get captured by a weakling of the idiotic Galactic Patrol was embarrassing for not only Raditz, but his crew. He already pictured the banter he'd get from those such as Cui and any other fool that believed themselves to be on equal footing with the Saiyans.
As Vegeta and Nappa land, they get a call over the scouter from Dodoria. Once their doors hatch open, Dodoria is already speaking.
"Remember, your goal here isn't to have fun. It isn't to bask in the glory of what you claim to be Saiyan power - it's no monkey business. You are all a vital representation of the Freeza Force. Not ensuring Raditz is brought back alive is an insult to not only the organization, but to Lord Freeza. Failure is inexcusable. Fail...and the punishment will be severe. I promise you."
Vegeta scoffed once the message was cut. Nappa, on the other hand, didn't appear to be worried in the slightest. He pounded his fists together with a toothy grin. "All this talk I've heard about the galactic patrol. I believe it's about time we've humbled them anyway, Vegeta."
Though Vegeta couldn't care less, he understood where Nappa was coming from. "Agreed. They do need to be humbled. The fact that they captured a Saiyan from the Freeza Force has more than likely gassed their heads up. It's time we pop the balloon of confidence."
The two Saiyans spot a few people flying their way. Vegeta's expression remains nonchalant as Nappa grows more excited. "It's about time they pay for all the Saiyan children they've slaughtered!"
Vegeta simply crossed his arms. "Hmpf!"
Not like he cared anyway.
