Chapter Twenty-Four

KABOOM!

Raditz sheepishly snickered, feeling as yet another of his deranged smirks tugged at his face. Putting his hand to his side, the last of the destructive energy that he'd used to blow entire holes in the building dissipated from his open palm. With an entire floor completely wiped out of soldiers, the Saiyan was now ready to carry on with his assault upon the forces of Muscle Tower –an entire new floor of enemies awaiting him.

As he smoothly floated through the hole that he'd made for himself in the ceiling of the first level and the floor of the next, the smirk never left Raditz's face. His eyes instinctively scanned his environment just as his feet touched the ground, on guard for anything that hoped to ambush him. Not that he was expecting much of a challenge, but even he was smart enough of a fighter to understand that in unknown territory, dropping guard was the last thing you wanted to do.

He could have already saved himself some time and easily blown up the entirety of the building in one energy attack. He could have done that and already be on his way back to regrouping with Krillin and Yamcha at Kame House, but his primal urges had already talked him into rebutting that suggestion just as quickly as it had come. As bad as it sounded coming from his mouth, that was far less painful of a death that these cowards deserved for the acts they had committed against humanity. Call it torture all you wanted –they had brought this upon themselves. It was only right for what they'd done to so many innocent civilians. Bulma would agree with him… she would want it this way, wouldn't she?

Raditz didn't even have to confirm with his Scouter that this would be nothing if not a cakewalk for him. Just like their weakling of a boss, these guys were nothing more than inexperienced weaklings that thought they could best him simply by outnumbering him…

Thought was the key word there.

Yamcha effortlessly ducked underneath a punch and sent out a powerful jab of his own at his opponent's diaphragm. On the receiving end of the strike, the warrior's opponent cried out in pain, dropping his guard just in time for his attacker's foot to smash into the side of his face, sending the grunt flying into the brick wall far on the other side of the room.

"That's gonna leave one helluva nasty bruise, but better you than me," The Desert Bandit said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head as he dropped his guard. 'Hopefully that's the last of those guys. All I have to do is find the Dragon Ball and head back to Master Roshi's place… Mai has to be worried sick.' He said to himself.

"Hold it right there, pretty boy," A feminine voice calmly cried out to Yamcha, catching the Desert Bandit's attention midsentence.

Halfway across the room from the warrior, Yamcha turned to face the source of the voice, another of the Red Ribbon Army's soldiers –this one a girl. She stood to the martial artist's chest and had a head of lavender colored hair with eyes as green as the sleeveless shirt she wore.

"I don't know how you managed to beat all fifty of those pathetic excuses for men… nor do I care." The woman stated as she stepped into the room. With a cocky smirk replacing the scowl on her face, she continued, "But the Commander himself said that whoever brought him your severed head would be given a two-month vacation with pay… and I've been reading up on this nice little condo down in the Bahamas."

Just as quickly as she'd entered the room, the woman let off an entire clip of bullets from the assault rifle she'd carried in with her, with full intent on killing Yamcha without even properly introducing herself.

'Why did me and my big mouth have to say something?' Yamcha whispered to himself, easily dodging the gunfire with his superior speed, kicking the weaponry out of his target's hands before she could comprehend what had happened. Maneuvering out of the way of a well-placed hook, Yamcha asked his foe, "And what might your name be? Or should I call you Ranfan 2.0?"

"If you must know pretty boy, anybody that's gone against me and lived long enough to tell about it knows me as Colonel Violet," The woman said, lashing out a powerful kick to Yamcha's chest… or at least where it was just a split second earlier. "Not that you'll have to worry very much about that where you're heading!"

"Colonel Violet? Is that like your actual last name or is it some sort of codename because of the color of your hair?" Yamcha added on, easily slipping past punch after punch that hoped to take his head off.

"I'm not going to lie, lover boy… you're actually the cutest out of everybody I've ever had to deal with," Yamcha's opponent barked back through gritted teeth, trying her absolute damnedest to hit the warrior. How hadn't she been able to hit him… she was one of the most brilliant fighters in the entire organization! She hadn't even seen him move or look her way as he dodged strike after strike –it was almost as if he'd simply vanished and reappeared at the last second! "Too bad I'm going to have to take you out!" She said, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

With resurged purpose, Colonel Violet lashed out like a madman at her target, launching blow after blow Yamcha's way in a beautiful combination that would have worked out on any normal fighter. To both her surprise and disappointment, the man before her still seemed to be just much too quick for her –effortlessly staying ahead of each attack that came his way.

"Sorry, that's a no-go Colonel," Yamcha responded as he sidestepped another of the woman's wild roundhouse kicks. Narrowly dodging a desperate haymaker on Colonel Violet's part, the martial artist jokingly added, "You're actually pretty good looking yourself… but Mai would KILL me if she ever found out I let another girl take me out."

Finishing his statement, the Desert Bandit let off a genuine smirk as he disappeared from his opponent's line of vision just as she'd hoped to strike him, leaving behind a cleverly placed afterimage more than capable enough of fooling anybody without knowledge of the Afterimage technique… and that applied to the woman he was fighting.

"She won't be able to kill you if I take that honor first," Violet growled as she ferociously lunged towards the afterimage she assumed was Yamcha with full intent to kill –and it probably would have worked out that way if she'd been facing off against any average fighter. Sadly, she'd fallen victim to the martial artist's brilliant trap and she was just a split second too late piecing together what was happening as the afterimage faded from sight just as she'd made contact with it.

"W-What the?" She called out, the bloodlust grin on her face vanishing in way of a stunned expression as Yamcha reappeared just inches in front of her. Before she could even realize what had just happened, her opponent had struck her dead-on with a mean kick more than capable enough of knocking her out on the spot, a Dragon Ball dropping out of the protection of her satchel as her body met the ground.

"You know… if you weren't working for the Red Ribbon Army and out for our blood, I would totally recommend you to my pal Krillin," Yamcha said to the unconscious colonel as he readjusted his fighting uniform and dropped out of his fighting stance. Picking up the Three-Star Ball that Colonel Violet had been protecting, Yamcha's eyes sparkled as he took in the beauty of the sphere… this was actually the first time he had personally held one! "Oh yeah! Who's the man? The Yamchanator is!" He cheered on as he secured the mystical artifact, stepping over the unconscious bodies of the soldiers he'd beaten to submission only minutes earlier.

As he made his way back to Kame House, all that he could do now was hope that Krillin and Raditz did their jobs and find the Dragon Balls they were looking for. He, however, was definitely in the mood for a beef chimichanga… so maybe he'd have to take a little stop before heading back to where he needed to be.

"G-General Blue… the boy, h-he's just… t-too strong!" The man cried out through his injuries at his superior officer, barely able to form words through the pain he was feeling. How he wasn't unconscious yet from severe blood loss was a surprise. "I-I somehow managed to lose him… b-but he's on his way up here! H-His power… i-it's through the roof… I-I mean he killed Barca with a single hit –punched him clean t-through his fucking chest!"

"So private… instead of dying for our cause, you took the easy way out and ran from conflict?" The other man, General Blue, said with disgust hidden in his delicate voice. "And here I was, thinking that you new recruits would actually be something special…" He commented, turning his attention to the desk behind him –eyes peeled on the pistol resting upon it. Those who fled like weaklings deserved to be dealt with like weaklings.

General Blue, to say the very least, was absolutely disgusted –not only at this lone soldier, but at each of the men that had been tasked at dealing with the boy that had been causing quite the damage already. He hadn't been expecting to get into much of a fray when he'd awoken this morning –but the insolence of the matter forced him to take action. Never once in his entire time as a member of the Red Ribbon Army had he seen his men, highly trained and skilled in their own ways, have trouble taking out a single soldier –it was a mockery of the Red Ribbon Army! Maybe he would have to step in and show everyone how it was done –nobody dared to take on General Blue and lived to tell the tale!

"General… you must understand where I-I'm coming from! He can't be human… I-I don't even think that you stand a chance against hi-" The man insisted, his statement… and his life interrupted by the sharp pain he was feeling in his chest. The pain couldn't even register completely before the soldier fell to the ground, dead on the spot –executed for his crimes of treason, according to the cruel General Blue.

Turning his back to the man he had ruthlessly executed, General Blue grabbed his hat off of the edge of his mirror, neatly placing it on top of his head of blonde hair. Hoisting his pistol in its leather holster, the officer gave one final look at his blue-eyed reflection before he walked out of his quarters. Such a nuisance would have to be dealt with by the best that the Red Ribbon Army had to offer.

Raditz felt bones crushing underneath his boot as his foot slammed into his opponent's ribcage. Not even allowing the pain to register on the soldier's part, the Saiyan followed up his brutal kick by firmly planting his fist in the man's cheek, adding on to the damage. Adding fuel to the flame, the long-haired warrior finished off both his combination and the existence of his opponent with an ordinary ki blast, the ensuing explosion adding on to the blood drenched onto the Saiyan's armor.

To say that the showcase that Raditz was putting on was brutal would be an understatement. Being such a proficient fighter –the best on the face of the planet to be exact, according to his title as Strongest Under the Heavens –the warrior was simply too skilled for his foes. Not holding back in the slightest of ways, each punch that the Saiyan threw was more than capable of breaking bones and Raditz made use of that… it was torture to say the very least! Did he care though –sadly, not at all.

He was a Saiyan after all.

Raditz pounced at the next of his victims very much like a starving cougar, launching his fist into the man's gut at a speed unrivaled by any, following it up with another punch in the same spot… followed by yet another and another. Each blood-curdling scream the man on the receiving end let out served only as encouragement to the young Saiyan, his brutality on peak display.

"P-Please… mercy," The man managed to let out in between pain ridden screams. His request, however, fell upon closed ears… Raditz was already far too deep in his desire to take down the Red Ribbon Army. Just as the Saiyan pulled his fist back one final time, his attention was caught with the firing of a gun, the bullet taking Raditz's kill from him as the man's head was blown apart from a single bullet.

"Pathetic, is it not?" General Blue snickered, revealing himself to his Saiyan foe. "Nearly fifty of my strongest, loveliest men… each easily done away with by you. Then he has the nerve to ask for mercy…"

Blue's eyes locked onto Raditz, as did Raditz's lock on to Blue. So, this was the vermin that had been easily doing away with his men? The pest that had disturbed his nap? Now, showering hours would be far less… exciting because of this brat! He was definitely going to pay for this!

"Who the hell are you?" Raditz asked, his tone still harsh and his eyes narrowed on every move that the man before him made. 'A power level of 172… so somebody with adequate power does live amongst these weaklings?' He thought to himself, taking stock of this newcomer's battle strength.

"My subordinates call me General Blue…" General Blue responded, his pistol raising back from his side and aimed directly at the Saiyan. "You though," He added with a sinister grin, his fingers easing to the trigger of his firearm. "Can call me the Grim Reaper."

Raditz simply reached his hand out as General Blue fired his shot, catching each bullet that launched his way. Completely silent and focused on the battle before him, the Saiyan's hand opened to drop five bullets to the ground –astonishing the blonde who had fired at him in hopes of killing. Just as Raditz's frown curled into a smirk, Blue's smirk dropped into a frown.

"What sort of trickery is this?" General Blue blurted, flabbergasted to say the least. Tossing his pistol to the ground, the man dropped into a combat stance with eyes narrowed onto Raditz. If bullets didn't work on him, he'd just have to deal with him the old-fashioned way.

Raditz didn't wait another second, charging his foe as soon as he had dropped into a fighting stance of his own. Dodging a punch from the general, Raditz lashed out with his own punch –barely missing the mark as General Blue flipped out of the way. The raven hair warrior threw punch after punch his blonde opponent's way, a sturdy guard being the only thing saving General Blue from being pummeled.

"My my, you have quite the power behind those punches," General Blue grumbled as he dropped back a few feet clear of Raditz's assault, his forearms having taken quite the beating from blocking blow after blow. 'Dammit… my mighty forearms are already badly bruised?'

"So I've heard," Raditz replied, teeth gritted as he lunged back at his target with reenergized passion. Ducking underneath a kick aimed for his head, the Saiyan bounced up with a mighty jab to his opponent's face, his fist firmly planting against his nose. As bones were broken apart by the single blow and blood spewed from his nose, General Blue staggered back –left unbalanced by such a powerful strike on Raditz's part.

"M-My nose… my beautiful nose," General Blue said, regaining his composure. How had his opponent been able to connect with such a mighty blow? His nose had been broken in a single blow –not even he had been expecting that kind of power! It definitely could not go unpunished though! His teeth clenched, Blue pierced daggers at his Saiyan opponent. "Alright brat… my turn!" He spitefully growled, his muscles tensing and a blue aura surrounding his body.

Raditz's guard stayed up as he remained focused on General Blue, locking eyes with the man's flashing eyes. He attempted to charge back onto the offensive, but found himself unable to do that… or even move at all! Gritting his teeth, Raditz looked back up to see the general smirking diabolically at him, teeth bared and nose leaking a constant stream of blood.

'Just where I want him,' Blue said to himself, letting out a battle cry as he charged his paralyzed victim. Hoping to go on the offensive and strike his immobilized opponent, just as soon as his fist gained contact with Raditz, he was in for the same shock so many of the Saiyan's opponents had dealt with as his fist whizzed through a mere afterimage. 'W-What the hell is this? W-Where did he go?' The psychic pondered, both confused and on-guard –but not on-guard enough.

Raditz suddenly reappeared right in front of the general, quickly taking control of the fight with a swift kick to send his foe hurling through the air. Not letting up in the slightest, the Saiyan charged after his foe with deadly intent, lashing out with a ferocious roundhouse kick to the back –sending General Blue to the floor with a loud thump.

The wounded of the two was about to question just how his opponent had overcome his paralysis, an attack that he'd perfected and used to do away with foes all the time when his opponent once again disappeared from view. Picking himself up to one knee, the man groaned and rubbed his back in an attempt to ease the soreness such an assault left on him. Just as he did so though, his Saiyan opponent reappeared just inches in front of him –both hands open and palms touching General Blue's chest. Unable to retaliate in time, the last thing that the mighty general saw was two beams of light glowing in Raditz's hands before that source of light and heat overtook his entire body.

The frown on Raditz's face disappeared as the light died down. Where General Blue previously had stood, full of life now lay the bruised, bloodied body of the late general. While he had been the strongest of the soldiers that Raditz had faced, not even he had stood a bit of a chance at beating the Saiyan Warrior in combat.

"H-He defeated General Blue! I-I never thought that it would be possible, but he actually did it," Murasaki stutteringly commented, his own eyes peeled on the charred remains of his fallen comrade in battle.

While seeing the lifeless body of the defeated General Blue did in fact bring up sympathy and remorse towards his fellow commander… the purple-attired ninja was in fact more terrified for his own wellbeing. With the third-floor guard defeated, that meant that the boy would soon be making his way to the fourth floor where he patrolled –and being completely honest, Murasaki wasn't feeling very confident about the outcome of the situation.

"And you're still in my face for what reason, Sergeant Murasaki?" General White barked through gritted teeth. His fists were fully clenched, slammed onto the keyboard before him as they quivered in terror. "T-That brat… how in the hell he managed to come so far already, I have no idea. I thought that General Blue would have at least halted his progress but now I see that isn't the case. Before you go face the child, may I ask a question?"

"Of course, sir…" Murasaki answered through clearly false courage.

"Do you believe that you actually stand a chance of fending off this threat to our organization?"

"Why would you even ask such a question, General?" The ninja answered in utter shock. "O-Of course I'm confident in my abilities –never before has any person that has faced me lived to tell the story… and this brat doesn't change that! There is a reason that I am called the Messenger of Death, after all!"

Although the words were meant to have come out confident and reassured, the tone and obvious stutters in the man's voice spoke otherwise. The abilities of Raditz showed that he couldn't be stopped by anything that the Red Ribbon Army threw his way –and although he wouldn't flat-out admit it, Murasaki was fully aware of that realization. Was he scared of losing and dying though? No. It would be an honor to die for the Red Ribbon Army… and he would go out giving it his absolute all. The end was near –whether that meant for him or for his opponent though, he would have to see.

As he watched the purple-cladded swordsman walk out of the room, General White felt a sigh escape his mouth. He knew that Murasaki stood little to no chance at besting the ruthless martial artist they had on their hand –but he knew that the man would go out and give it his all to protect the beliefs that the Red Ribbon Army upheld. 'Murasaki, my oldest lieutenant… I thank you for loyally serving under my command for all these years.'

Raditz nonchalantly walked through the dark hallway that his path had led him to. If darkness was all that the Red Ribbon Army had left for him to face on this level, General White had to have been sweating buckets full. The Saiyan still kept his guard up however… one would never know what to expect from a desperate opponent.

"General White, don't tell me that you've run out of grunts to send my way? Just when I was actually starting to have fun piling up the bodies, too?" The Saiyan snickered to himself as he walked further into the darkness.

As if on command, Raditz sidestepped out of the way of incoming projectiles –a barrage of kunai narrowly missing their target thanks to the warrior's keen reflexes. Well, that was one way to answer his concerns.

Just as he'd dodged the daggers, Raditz's eyes shot forward as the area around him lit up. His surroundings finally revealed to him, the Saiyan found himself in the middle of a forest. This must have been where his next opponent awaited him –now all he had to do was find them –and then, yet some more bodies would unremorsefully litter Muscle Tower.

"I am the messenger of death," A voice called out from the cover of the forest as the Saiyan dodged another wave of shurikens. "Swift as the wind, the only time you will catch a glimpse of me is right before your life is taken from you in one swift motion."

'Whoever he is, he's closeby… I can feel it,' Raditz continued to pace forward until he raised his guard, throwing up a forearm to block the slashing of the sword that had tried to slice him from behind.

Not even saying anything, Raditz followed up his parry by striking out at the ninja before him. Just as Raditz had avoided damage, Murasaki slipped past the Saiyan's punch with his own quickness. While he knew that he was severely outclassed in pure strength, the ninja was very confident in his own speed and agility –he had trained to hone them to their greatest capabilities for the entirety of his life.

"Impressed by my speed you brat?" Murasaki remarked as he avoided yet another of his opponent's punches. Drawing his sword, the ninja drew his blade back with a scowl on his face, "Oblivion awaits you –once drawn, my blade has never before tasted defeat…"

So this was going to be a swordfight? Raditz felt his energy burst to life as he fell into a combat stance of his own –extracting his ki to his right hand to form a blade of his own out of pure ki. Electricity cackled around the young warrior's palm as his energy condensed itself into a bladed form fit for combat.

Keeping a steady footing, Raditz leapt towards his opponent with unrivaled speed, gracefully swinging his energized Spirit Sword at his foe. The skilled ninja before him narrowly avoided being struck by the attack, using his own katana to parry each of Raditz's intended strikes with well-timed swipes and blocks of his.

"T-That technique is quite a beautiful one, young swordsman…" The purple-clad Murasaki exclaimed as he rolled out of the way of a slash more than capable enough of slicing straight through the boulder that stood where he once had. "But nothing is more powerful than a blade that has been molded for its wielder and has bonded with him, and that is exactly what my blade and I represent." He continued, getting to his feet and bracing his sword for whatever move his fellow swordsman had for him.

With a cocky smirk on his face, Raditz retorted the ninja's remark with, "Oh is that true… how about we even out the matchup then?" As he said that, just as he had done with a single Spirit Sword, the Saiyan warrior harnessed his energy into his other palm, allowing another bladed manipulation of his ki to form. Falling down into his combat stance, Raditz let out a fierce battle cry as he charged his opponent with killing intent.

Ninja Murasaki tried his best to stay ahead of each strike that came his way, but even he fell far too short of the skill and power Raditz showcased with not one, but two bladed energy conjurations compared to his one. As the Saiyan before him pressed forward with relative ease, ruthlessly swaying his own swords and leaving behind nasty cuts on the ninja, Murasaki felt a tense growl escape him as one of the blades struck his knee –causing him to fall to a single knee. His entire body sore and his body all but limp already, the ninja cursed himself as he saw Raditz approach him with a sadistic grin on his face.

"… y-you have bested me in combat, do away with me just as you did my fellow men," He grumbled in self-loathing, only for Raditz to cockily snort as he crossed his two energy blades as a sort of guillotine on either side of the man's neck (think the Count Dooku death scene of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith).

"Oh, I was already planning on doing that," The Saiyan countered, eyes locked onto his paralyzed victim as his head laid in the path of two blades. A part of him wanted to spare the immobilized man, he really did want to… but it was as if the dark, ruthless side of himself was begging for him to end his life in just the simple motion that it would take him to do so. He had the man beat in combat, all that he wanted to hear was a little begging for his life –but it seemed that Murasaki wasn't going to offer him that pleasure. "Don't worry though, your commander will be joining you soon enough in the afterlife," Raditz snapped as he gave in to his inner lust and pushed his Spirit Swords inwards, neatly decapitating the ninja general in ruthlessness. Raditz saw the body fall limp as his swords faded back to nothing just as Murasaki's head touched the ground and rolled behind him –the life of yet another high-ranking Red Ribbon officer taken away.

'Dammit, even Sergeant Murasaki has fallen to the might of this nuisance of a child…' General White said to himself, watching on in disbelief as his second-in-command was brutally decapitated on the screen. 'If only the Red Ribbon Army had a warrior capable of such feats as this child –the world would definitely be in our hands!'

With the majority of his men already wiped out by Raditz, the general knew that he had very little left to fall back on. He had thought that Murasaki, one of the entire army's strongest soldiers, could at least stall the boy long enough for Project Cybernetic Soldier to be completed… but through an impressive display of whatever it was that Raditz had used to defeat the ninja, he had effortlessly made his way through yet another of the Red Ribbon Army's officers. He had to see how much longer the doctor needed to complete his creations –the mechanical menaces surely were the last hope for the survival of everybody who hadn't already fallen at Muscle Tower.

"Doctor Gero," General White exclaimed. "I'm afraid that time isn't on our side… the intruder has already slain Ninja Murasaki and should be making his way up to your level as we speak. How is that project of yours?" He added, the scientist he was speaking to turning around to face the camera.

"General, don't even worry about this little intruder," The cold, stoic voice of Doctor Gero started. "Luckily for the lives of your pathetic excuses for soldiers and yourself, Project Cybernetic Soldier is fully functional… and trust me, not even this warrior you speak of is capable of going toe-to-toe with not one, but two mechanical men." The man continued, flicking all sorts of switches as electricity cackled throughout the room he was in.

Just as he said that, two sets of eyes came to life behind him, two enormous beings coming to life as they stood up behind their creator. The stoic look on their faces showed that they were ready for business and Doctor Gero gave up a sadistic snicker of his own as he turned to face his children.

"Androids 8 and Null, I am your creator, Doctor Gero…" He said. "There is an intruder in our establishment and your orders are simple. Eliminate Raditz."

"Orders are clear master," The bigger of the two droids, Android Null, answered as he turned to his comrade. "Aren't they number 8?"

With obvious hesitance, the second mechanical man, Android 8, nodded in agreement. It wasn't that he was scared –he had a flaw in his design that unfortunately made it so that he didn't necessarily like the idea of causing mayhem and spreading violence like his fellow Androids. But he was eternally grateful for his creator and would do anything to please him so he'd have to put aside his own beliefs.

Power Levels

Raditz: 415

General White: 74

Murasaki: 58

General Blue: 172

Doctor Gero: 7 (Detectable Power Level)