Project Cloud


Chapter 20 - Humanity Heroes

Luckily enough for Gero, he had a myriad of spy robots appointed to Raditz the very moment he and Goku started to fight one another. The evil doctor wanted to soak up as much information as he could when it came to the powers and abilities of these newcomers.

In order for this to work as he desired, Gero ordered Goku to hold back as much as he could without keeping this battle one-sided. Raditz had shown every blast and skill he could utilize in battle, yet Goku appeared to have a perfect counter to it - every single time.

Still, the very thing that excited Gero the most was to have these guys as his new recruits. He could only imagine the power the two Saiyans would hold when he converted them as well. And for nothing but all powerful beings to be under his control was nothing short of ecstasy for him. To be the best and show everyone you're the best, and onto ultimately being recognized as the best, was Gero's goal. Now, the entire cosmos had to know who he was.

The fight with Goku and Raditz had been waging on for a few minutes now and it was starting to become quite apparent that Raditz was slowing down. The more exhausted he got resulted in Goku having to hold back even more power, which he did not like.

After colliding for the umpteenth time, Raditz and Goku hop back. The latter of the two remains with his blank, psychopathic stare as Raditz is seen huffing and puffing. The long-haired elder brother of Son Goku is drenched in sweat and obviously aggravated at this point. It's become apparent to him by now that Goku's been holding back, but he wouldn't dare as much as speak on it in an effort to suppress the humiliation any possible way that he could.

Before Vegeta got the chance to tell Raditz to stop, Raditz powered up in a bright fit of purple aura. Rocketing into the sky, he unleashed a hellfire of chi blasts for Goku below at a superfluous pace.

Goku swats them all away as he rockets over to Raditz. Seeing that his effort in rendering a barrage of blasts wouldn't work out, Raditz flew head on as well, going to give it his all.

"THIS ENDS NOW!" Raditz roared.

Their fists collided.

The sky shook slightly. Vegeta stood with his arms crossed and a smirk plastered on his face. For what it was worth, this indeed was quite the show. Throughout the entire battle, Goku had only been countering Raditz, not showing even a pinch of his own skill set, which deeply interested Vegeta because he knew that he could have some fun out of this due to figuring out how the younger brother of Raditz fought on the battle-field with a real Saiyan elite warrior.

The aftershock of their fists coming into rough contact with one another caused Raditz to bite his bottom lip in pain. His entire right arm had a tingling sensation after the burn, which caused it to go numb.

Not seeing what more he could get out of this, Goku wrapped his tail around Raditz's wrist and swung himself to deck Raditz directly into the jaw prior to uncoiling his tail and rendering his elder brother a downward kick to the top of the head.

Raditz, after taking his first official hit of the fight, plummeted into the town below at free falling speeds. Even hundreds of feet in the air, they could hear screams coming from the people down below.

Vegeta clapped his hands together once every two seconds for a quarter of a minute straight. Sure enough, this was his way of showing that he was impressed, even though it appeared as if he wasn't in the slightest judging by the expressionless demeanor he had.

"Congratulations, you've beaten a weakling. But even for a child, defeating any adult Saiyan is a formidable feat. Unfortunately, that's as far as your reputation goes since I've decided you won't be joining us."

"You chose the right thing," Goku said. Without warning, he flew for Vegeta with his fist cocked. "Because you'll be joining us!"

Vegeta struggled to move just slow enough just to purposely dodge Goku's punch by a hair. A simple side-step gave Vegeta free reign to dig the tip of his knee into Goku's abdomen prior to ramming his elbow into the boy's spine.

Goku shot back at Vegeta as soon as he landed on all fours down in the town below. Showing very little concern for the people in his vicinity, he took off with so much force that cars were blown off the ground and into stores and nearby homes.

Vegeta continued to effortlessly dodge Goku's punches and kicks. Cackling as the boy struggled to lay a finger on him, Vegeta started to taunt Goku. "My, my...look at how the tables have turned."

Vegeta zipped behind Goku, kneed him in the back, then maneuvered in front of the boy to render him a solid two piece combo to the face before gut-checking him with the tip of his boot and ending his assault with a solid roundhouse kick that had Goku spinning all over through the sky. Vegeta rushed in for Goku to try and send him down once more with a double axe handle, but the artificial Saiyan wasn't having it.

Goku vanished, reappeared behind Vegeta, and kicked him in the upper back to create some space.

Vegeta immediately turned and fired a blast at point blank range, causing Goku to go back even further due to blocking it with his arms. Once the smoke cleared, Goku was gone.

Looking around, Vegeta didn't even bother growing nervous. "There you go, Kakarot, now you're learning; use my inability to calculate your whereabouts to your advantage. The only way you'll survive a few seconds longer than expected is if you use your brain."

Feeling a shadow come from above, Vegeta looked up just in time to get out of the way. With the split second opening, Goku crashed both his feet into the Saiyan's chest. Vegeta flipped over a couple times as he fell, but he started to do so purposely as a way to regain his balance. Once recovered, he landed right in the middle of a street, over to where Raditz lied unconscious.

Goku came down yet again, but Vegeta made sure to block the oncoming punch. As he went on to dodge Goku's punches, a beep came over his scouter.

"You go through all this trouble just to lose on some backwater planet against some weaklings?"

That voice.

"Lord Freeza…" Vegeta smacked Goku's hand away and kicked him into a building from afar. Rushing in, he drove his fist into the boy's stomach, causing Goku to soar through multiple more buildings.

"Please do not bother in explaining whatever it is you have going on. I have already been put up to date; your second-in-command is dead, Raditz isn't answering so I assume he's either dead or will be shortly depending on if you fail or not."

Vegeta, seething through his teeth, continued to battle Goku, who was relentless. Taking pieces of his frustration out on the boy, Vegeta was becoming much more merciless during his conversation with Freeza.

"We figu-"

"I know what you figured and look at the situation you are in right now. A handful of Saiyans have fallen under your command, going as far back as when you were just a child, Vegeta. This was going to happen eventually with your lack of leadership qualities. Just know that if you do happen to fail, there will be no hard feelings. A Saiyan has to face his end eventually on the battlefield, does he not?" Vegeta didn't get the chance to even answer that question in the middle of his fight. "A clean up crew will be there regardless of if you succeed in your task or not. Toodle loo."

Grabbing Goku by his collar, Vegeta slung him into a car that had already been tipped over earlier thanks to their fight. Virtually fuming with a hot red face, Vegeta's power started to surge. "You...you and this entire place will be turned into ashes. Do you hear me!?"

His eruptive aura shattered and split entire buildings in half. Goku, just getting up on his feet, almost stumbled back down. The intensity of Vegeta's power was ferocious, something he had never felt before.

And he liked it.

In a split second, Vegeta rushed for Goku, unleashing a fury of punches and acrobatic kicks. Goku couldn't do anything to dodge. Once he ended his combo with a blast at point blank range, Vegeta just stood there with his open palm.

"Nobody...especially some lower-class scum child will make a fool out of me."

But a sharp pain goes through Vegeta's spine at that moment. Having lost his balance, Vegeta fell over on his knees, grabbing at his back. Using whatever muscles he could, he tried to make his tail move. As he did so, he couldn't feel his tail with his hand.

"Y-You…!"

Taking advantage of Vegeta's state of vulnerability, Goku punted the Saiyan prince in the stomach and continued to elbow him in the chest as to have Vegeta flying across the town. Flying behind him, Goku wrapped Vegeta's own amputated tail around his throat and held him tightly from behind as he rammed his knee into the man's spine repeatedly.

Letting go, Goku maneuvered in front of Vegeta and punched him down.

His back crashed atop a car and he watched as Goku's incoming blast came for him. He flipped over in a nick of time, but the impact blew him away.

Goku descended down onto land, wiping blood from his mouth. Vegeta got back up yet again, twitching in anger.

"No...there's...there's no way...you can beat me...it's impossible." He started to shake with rage. "I WON'T STAND FOR IT!" Vegeta engulfed his body in purple aura and shot up. Goku was already where Vegeta aimed to be by the time he stopped, charging a full on Kamehameha.

Vegeta was redirected back down, crashing face first into nothing but asphalt and drove even further below the ground. Goku made sure to apply only just enough pressure to not kill him.

With that done, there's nothing but silence.

Once he came back down onto land, Goku noticed there were nothing but dead bodies surrounding him. People had been victims due to their fight; squashed by buildings, cars, or tossed into various objects because of the shockwaves that came from their fights. Disappointing it was going to be for Gero, but Goku couldn't care any less.

There was, after all, one more thing to take care of.

"You can come out now, Bulma!"

Goku's eyes were fixated on the black dot in the sky. Sure enough, it slowly started to descend toward him. Once Bulma came into view, she had her battle-suit surround every inch of her body prior to igniting the rocket boot sequence that enabled her to take flight.

As she slowly got down, she stood away from the boy she once used to consider a close friend, with a stern look on her face blocked by the armor that covered it.

"You wanna join them?"

Bulma scoffed. "Not happening. Any attempts to try to make me fall into your fold and I promise you that I'll embarrass you even more than I did back at the world tournament."

Goku's face twitched. Yes, he remembered that, every second of it. Despite having an infinite amount of stamina, Bulma's suit at the time just outranked him in every other way; he couldn't do anything, block, attack, dodge - nothing. If it wasn't for that, he wouldn't have been able to beat Vegeta today given how much of a boost in power he had received afterward.

"I wasn't gonna let you anyway," Goku told her. "Because of that, unlike these two, you won't get to see morning after today."

Bulma swung two pistol looking guns around her fingers prior to taking them off safety and aiming them at Goku. "I'd love to see you try."


One by one, they all gather around to turn in the Dragon Balls. Oolong had been the first to show, and soon Puar. One by one, they were coming with a Dragon Ball in hand.

Kami remained quiet as they all announced to one another that they've managed to get one. Mister Popo had noticed this and was curious as to why.

"Is everything okay, Kami?" Mister Popo spoke to him telepathically.

All Kami could do was shake his head. Upon being asked why, Kami sighed deeply. As a Guardian of an entire planet, stress had always been something he's held. The thing was that Mister Popo knew the difference between Kami stressing and him actually being frightened.

"I'm afraid my time has come, Mister Popo. This is the last wish we will ever make with these sets of Dragon Balls.":

Before Popo could respond, Kami blocked him from his mental passage. The distraught look on Mister Popo's face went unnoticed by everyone else as they were all so excited having gathered the Dragon Balls together.

Kami smiled softly. Raising a finger, all of the individual Dragon Balls had been lifted. Using his ability of telekinesis, Kami had set the Dragon Balls down in the middle of the look-out as they were meant to be set up prior to any wish. Everyone in front of him split to allow him to walk.

"Shenron, come and grant your creator's first and final wish!"


The fight between Goku and Bulma was short-lived. The young woman used every resource she had just to be able to stay in the game. Though given the fact that she had lost horribly, none of it was for a naught. Biding time in order to allow the others to gather the Dragon Balls and wish for Goku to get his amygdala (his consciousness and sense of emotions back), she knew that her pain wasn't going to be for nothing.

Bulma was unable to move.

Her armor...

in pieces.

Tools...

shattered.

Spirit...

gone.

As she lie in a puddle of her own blood and dismembered parts of what used to consist of a battle suit, she started to cough up her own blood. The woman's face was unrecognizable at this point. Each strike Goku rendered her was suppressed enough just to not send her over the edge and into the afterlife. He did this with the intention of her feeling every punch and kick as much as possible. The screams and cries didn't give him pleasure, for this fight was too one-sided for him to enjoy. Regardless, he felt just a tad bit relieved. After all, Gero created him to be the perfect soldier. That was exactly what he wished to be.

Towering over her, Goku looks down at Bulma. Knowing full and well he had the option to kill her, he didn't. He wanted to stand there and watch her take her few last breaths away.

Much to his surprise, the skies suddenly started to darken. Full aware of what this meant, Goku looked back down at Bulma, curious. "What are you wishing for?"

Bulma, unable to even form a word, just smiled. Slowly, she raised her bloodied hand and used her fingers to point at her head. Goku was slow to catch on but the pained chuckles coming from Bulma's body showed that she had an ace up her sleeve, even at the expense of her own life.

But then it hit him.

And all at once.

Clutching his head with wide eyes, Goku fell down to his knees, groaning in a pain that he had never felt before. Physical hurt was one thing, but mental? No. Unable to endure, Goku let his head go and unleashed a ferocious cry that split the heavens up above, bringing the light back onto his face.

Tears streamed down the boy's cheeks as his cries shook the ground beneath him. Just when Bulma thought his cries couldn't get louder, her eardrums became shot and blood started to leak from them.

Goku kept screaming for an extra three minutes. Birds miles and miles away heard him. His hair stood up on end as his pupils continued to flash away. His body shook so much that one could believe him to be possessed.

He stopped, albeit briefly. Only to catch his breath.

And with one more final shout, everything surrounding the boy crumbled to pieces. Whatever debris was left of the area due to the aftermath of his battle with the Saiyans was no more. Bulma's body was sent away with the strong winds surrounding Goku, who got up on his feet, whimpering like a little boy who just lost his toy.

Everything that happened...he thought about.

His lack of mercy toward Launch. The carelessness he showed for Bulma's parents and other people. But what hurt most of all was his brutal nature toward the man that raised him. '

Goku knew what this wish did to him.

They gave him back his humanity.

But that felt like nothing but punishment.

Once calm, Goku's head lowered. His heart felt as if it was at the bottom of his feet. All of this. His fault. Every single bit. Out of the corner of his eye, Bulma's body was under a bunch of rubble.

Unable to barely even walk as his emotions overwhelmed him, Son Goku pushed through to be able to pick up Bulma's stiff body and place her in the middle of the area, where she would be found if ever looked for.

Goku couldn't keep his eyes open just to close hers as respect.

The words sorry escaped his mouth, yet no audible came of it.

Then….

Silence.


Gero remained at his lab, having lost all forms of surveillance during the fight between Goku and Vegeta. Suffice to say, the Saiyan was strong, far much stronger than Goku ever was prior to being turned. Gero realized that he was the one. He had to be.

Hearing metallic doors open up after a specific code was put in caused Gero to turn around with a bright smile on his face.

But upon seeing that Goku didn't drag any of them back, his eyebrows arched and his voice came stern. "What happened!? Where the hell are they!?"

Goku remained silent. The boy's face was clouded by the darkness that was this laboratory once he shot out the electric socket with the mere tip of his finger without notice. Gero asked what the meaning of this was, but Goku didn't answer.

"This. It all ends now."

"WHAT!?"

Gero couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was his most loyal creation truly going against him? At a time like this? There could be no way! He had to have been hit in the head too many times! Sure enough he could rectify this!

Gero went to grab for the remote he hadn't needed to touch in a very long time - the very device he knew would set Goku straight.

But Goku was already one step ahead. The boy, with pure willpower, used telekinetic energy to harbor the remote to him.

"YOU DARE!"

"And don't think about going for that suit either," Goku warned him.

Gero's body was shaking. The dream he was in was something he had now been sucked out of.

Goku was still. Like an absolute statue. Or so it seemed like.

Gero didn't realize that Goku was concentrating his internal energy all into one single place inside of his body. He wasn't aware of what was coming next.

The very moment Gero quickly turned around for the suit, Goku's body lit up a bright golden color prior to him screaming at the top of his lungs.

After that...darkness.


Everyone had been in search of Bulma, unbeknownst to her fate, as well as the fate of Kami. The very thing that did get their attention was the sudden explosion out in the distance.

Everyone marvelled at the sight of what used to be a little narrow road on a mountain. It was all blown up - to absolute bits. Nothing of it remained - solely debris and a barren wasteland.

It didn't take long for everyone to realize precisely what it was that happened.

What Goku sacrificed to be able to save his friends and keep his home safe.

Despite the horrible actions he committed that was against his own will, he went out to be a hero. Everyone knew it. Maybe it would take long to acknowledge this fact considering the pain he's caused, but it was the truth nonetheless.

It was thanks to Bulma and those who still cared enough for him to save him.

After all, in the real story of Dragon Ball, Goku doesn't always win on sole strength alone all the time. His friends have always been the reason he wins.

So it's thanks to them that in this story, the true Goku was able to be brought back for just a split moment enough to do what he does best: help save the day.