Goku waited for a response but was met with only silence. Stopping his climb and looking back towards his friend, he could see Gohan's pale face carrying an odd expression. If he didn't know better, he would've said Gohan looked afraid.
"What's up? Something the matter?" he asked.
Gohan barked out a basic reply. "Everything's fine, just not feeling well is all."
He hardly heard those words leave his mouth, all of his focus was on the two power levels rapidly approaching them. He recognized their eery and sickly signature that chilled him to the bone. The two felt every bit as disturbing as the piccolo android and more. He couldn't hide his nervousness as he eagerly climbed the stairs looking for a cover to use to escape from his father.
As the two reached the top of the flight of stairs, they stepped into a pitch-black room. Gohan held his hands out in front of him searching for a light source when he heard the whistle of shurikens passing by him. He would have been surprised if he didn't already sense the person throwing them.
"Careful Jack someone's throwing stuff at us!" Goku warned.
Gohan heard the whizzing of more shurikens fly by as well as his father jump to avoid them.
"OW!" Goku said as he slid off the cold, hard surface he'd just slammed into. "I think I just hit a rock. Who puts a rock in the middle of the floor?"
More shurikens passed the agile boy, who dodged every one of them, almost instinctively. Quickly, Goku found his way to some cover where the shurikens couldn't find him. He felt the course, uneven texture of the object he now hid behind, he recognized its bumpy uneven form with ease; what he was hiding behind, was a tree. While standing behind it, Goku called out to his invisible attacker. "Hey who's out there? Show yourself you coward!"
Suddenly, as Goku's voice echoed out in the darkness, the two heard the shifting of large rusted gears, and two massive windows opened up on the brick walls beside them. Sunlight poured in and fluorescent lights activated, illuminating an entire forest hidden within Muscle Tower.
"You are trespassing on private property." The hidden ninja said. "You two should feel ashamed of yourselves, making it all the way up to the fourth floor uninvited. You are the first to ever make it past the third floor and enter my sanctum, and I will make sure you are the last."
Goku frustratedly called out, "Who are you, and where are you?! Why don't you come out and fight us for real instead of throwing these stupid darts at us!"
Gohan peaked out from a tree next to Goku's, he knew the man was hidden deep in a tree exactly twenty feet ahead of them, but instead of warning Goku, he decided to use this as his opportunity to escape.
"Hey Goku, let's split up and see if we can find him okay?"
Goku wasn't thrilled with the idea but he reluctantly agreed. "Yeah, all right... just let me know if you see him."
Gohan moved swiftly and dodged a couple of incoming shurikens before disappearing along the edges of the forest. He kept running around the circularly curved brick walls until he found a poorly boarded-up old stairwell. Without much effort, he tore the boards from the doorframe and entered the dark and damp stairwell. Hastily, he flew down the abandoned flights of stairs to the third level only to find the entrance had been bricked up; a halting barrier for normal people, but for him, it was like pushing through styrofoam.
He broke through the brick wall, opening himself up to the freezing cold that had now infested the third floor. He exited the tower through the hole in the wall created by Major Metallitron's fist, it was now slippery, covered in snow and ice. He pushed himself off the tower and flew speedily away from it. He kept going, over frozen lakes and frosted forests, into a desolate snowy plain where he planned to make his stand.
Hopefully, those androids sense me and stop here, the last thing I need is for them to pass me and head straight for dad.
He waited only a moment before being met by Tien and Chiaotzu. Tien looked like he'd been strangled, he was sickeningly pale with heavy bags under his eyes and his lips were deep blue. His posture was slightly hunched which shrouded the discolored scarring around his neck. Gohan felt incredibly uncomfortable looking at him and preferred to look at Chiaotzu who seemed surprisingly normal, except for his sinister dark ki, no doubt from being a flesh and metal monstrosity. He heard Tien begin to speak in the raspy, baritone voice of Dr. Gero.
"Ah, we meet again Gohan. Good to see you are well and still clinging to your father. Getting tired of playing pretend are we?"
Gohan steadied his nerves trying to look as calm as he could. "I'm just fine, and I wouldn't be worried about me anyway. I'd be worried about losing both your brand new androids at the same time."
Gero was delighted in seeing his opponent's confidence. "Ah, feeling bold today I see. Nowhere near as easily manipulated as last time." He paused and cleared his throat. "It is good to see you though. You have just proven a theory I've been sitting on for quite a while."
Gohan readied himself for what he assumed would be an attack at the conclusion of the doctor's statement. "And what theory would that be?"
Gero gestured towards Gohans head and hands.
"Neither your hair nor your fingernails are growing which means you have just proven that you don't age. Very intriguing isn't it? Although, I suppose it would be paradoxical for you to age in a time where you don't even exist yet. I know its redundant to say, but I couldn't prove the theory myself as I am an android and thus, as I am sure you know, do not age."
Gohan looked at his hands, his fingernails were just as short as when he'd been thrust into this nightmare. He kept calm at this realization and posed a question that had been eating away at him since the tournament.
"You know Gero, something stuck with me the last time we spoke: You said my life had been nothing but tragedies and that you would have laughed if your childhood hadn't been the same. What did you mean by that?"
The slight smirk carried by the twisted version of Tien disappeared. They both lowered to the ground and Gero attempted to stroke his mustache. He dropped his hand to the side as he again realized the body he was in didn't have facial hair. He reluctantly began to answer. "I see, perhaps out here in the freezing cold is the perfect place for a heart-to-heart with my most hated enemy, hm? Well, if you must know, I... or I suppose the original Dr. Gero, went through childhood with plenty of hardship. Like you, I suffered through much of it and put on a brave face, not letting anyone see my vulnerabilities. But unlike you, my father was always right there to push me down as soon as I gained any shred of confidence."
Gohan, despite every fiber of his being not wanting to, felt pity for the old man. He tried to hide any sort of emotion on his face, there was no way he was letting Gero see any compassion.
"As I grew older I buried myself in my work. I studied robotics, engineering, anatomy, biochemistry, astronomy, every field you could imagine. Sadly it was never enough for my father, so, one morning I left. After all, I am a scientist, I create and build and destroy and have no need for measly personal attachment. I have no need for anyone or anything when I can build it all myself. Which leads me to why I hate your father so much. He destroyed every shred and every ounce of work I had built when he defeated the Red Ribbon Army. My lab, my capital, my resources all gone within the blink of an eye! Imagine losing everything that drives you, everything that you value and hold dear in one single day! It's maddening!" Gero stopped, realizing that he was nearly screaming. He composed himself. "That's what I meant by that remark. I would have laughed, had I not gone through all that myself."
Gohan was stunned, he came prepared for everything except for some semblance of humanity from Gero. In his heart, he felt the same compassion he'd always known his father for. He heard the same internal voice that guided Goku in everything he did and it was screaming 'give him a second chance'.
"I don't have to imagine it, during the battle with Cell I lost my dad. I miss him every day and I struggle to find the motivation to carry on, he's what drove me. Maybe coming to the past wasn't about settling the score between you and me. Maybe it's a second chance. A chance for you to really fix things. You are clearly very smart, and I only know a little about the fields you've studied, but have you ever thought about talking to your past self and leading him in a better direction? Like guiding him to help people?"
The doctor growled, "Don't think I don't see what you're doing; I know what kind of game you play and I won't humor your idiocy. There was no greater pleasure for me than working with the Red Ribbon Army. I was renowned there, unlike any other place I have ever been. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, especially not some false chance at 'redemption'"
Against his better judgment, Gohan made a final attempt to appeal to Gero as he readied himself for a fight. "But why? If you want people to like you then create something that's good for everyone."
"I don't want people to like me, I want them to respect me and the only way I will get any real respect in this world is through my work." Gero grinned confidently as he motioned to himself and Chiaotzu. "I brought you to the past because here you are alone! You're weak! Vulnerable, without anyone to watch over you! And once you are out of the way, I'll make my way back to the present where I will release my new army of androids! When the people realize they cannot stop them, they will become submissive to me! They will respect me because I will force them to!"
Gohan spat back angrily, "People won't respect you, they'll just fear you!"
He didn't wait for Gero to make the first move, he powered up to super saiyan and kicked Tien back before going for Chiaotzu. He attempted to hit him with a ki blast but missed as Chiaotzu's speed was far greater than he expected.
Chiaotzu disappeared, and although he slammed into Gohan's back, the boy wasn't fazed in the slightest. Gohan reached around and, lifting the machine up by its head, he ripped it right off of its shoulders. Oil and blood squirted from Chiaotzu and covered Gohan's winter clothes. He was surprised and disgusted at his own brutality, dry heaving as he threw the head next to the rest of the mechanical corpse.
Gohan averted his attention from the horrific sight that he promptly buried underneath the snow and searched for the Tien android. He rose back into the sky feeling out for its ki, which flew further and further away until it disappeared. Gohan scoffed as he removed his bloodied jacket and winter pants, revealing his purple gi underneath.
Coward
Gohan made it back to the tower and climbed up the stairs back into the fourth floor. Not much had changed since he left except for a few smashed trees, he walked along the dirt path that led through the forest, being mindful to make as little noise as possible.
He continued along the path before being grabbed and pulled into a hollow tree by Goku.
Gohan was relieved to see he was all right. "Goku why are you in here?"
Goku whispered as quietly as he could. "The guy that was throwing that stuff at us split himself into five. I hid in this tree trunk to give me some time to think about a way to beat him." Goku, while brushing the dirt from Gohan's gi off of him, asked, "Where have you been?"
"I got lost after finding another stairwell. I think it just leads to the lower levels of muscle tower." Gohan was surprised at the plausibility of his own lie, the fact that he was getting better at telling them was worrying.
Goku joked, "Well that's good, now we have two sets of stairs if we need them." He waited a moment before taking his power pole out of its holster. "Jack I think we can take these guys. You ready to go?"
Gohan nodded and the two exited the tree. They walked up to a small minka style house and found all five of the Murisakis. They spread out and surrounded the boys before the original spoke to them. "So I see your friend has returned, has he? I figured he ran away after finding that old staircase. No matter, now you two will die together!"
Goku swung the power pole around smacking two of the ninjas into a nearby tree. Gohan knocked out the other three with a couple of kicks and punches to each one.
The two dragged the brothers inside of the home where a pot of soup simmered on a stove, both were incredibly hungry, but they knew that finding the chief was more important than eating.
They walked around the border of the level, looking for the next set of stairs. Eventually, they spotted a flight of thick metal stairs leading up to a balcony that circled the entire floor. The two climbed the stairs and at the top, they hopped onto the railing and gazed at the entire indoor forest, lake, and house beneath them. Goku, spotting a partially covered crate at the other end of the balcony, stepped off the railing and made his way over to it. He couldn't' tell what was inside, but he knew it was something planned for them.
The two heard the intercom activate once more, "Ah, I see you've found Android Number Eight! Well, I-I can assure you he is the last opponent you will ever face! Hahaha! Android Eight, destroy them!"
Gohan raced over to his father as they both prepared to fight the monster that crawled from his cage. Gohan watched as the Frankenstein-like android stood and stretched after being in the container for so long. He couldn't place why, but it looked rather familiar.
The android turned to the intercom and spoke loudly. "No General White I cannot do that...I'm sorry."
The three heard the general slam his desk furiously. "What do you mean you can't do that!? The red ribbon army created you so obey my command!"
The android walked over to the speaker, upset by the tone in the general's voice. "I don't like hurting people and there is nothing you can do to make me."
The general cackled and wheezed before responding to the android "On the contrary my friend. Murasaki has the detonator that makes you self-destruct and if he presses it, you go kaboom, you understand?!"
While Gohan watched the two as they continued their angry conversation, Goku jumped over the ledge landing near the house where the ninjas laid unconscious. He crept in checking the pockets of each one until he found the detonator. He smiled knowing that the mysterious giant he just met was safe. He climbed back up to the balcony holding the device above his head making himself visible to both the Android and to the cameras in the room.
"You mean this thing?" he asked.
White fell silent for a moment before sighing defeatedly. "Yes... I do mean that thing."
Goku wasted no time before smashing it to pieces. The three heard incoherent grumbling and smashing glass before the transmission was cut. Goku walked up to his new friend and said the first thing that came to mind.
"Hi, I'm Goku and this is my friend Jack. What's your name?"
The giant stuttered. "Sorry, how rude of me not to introduce myself, I am Android Number Eight."
Goku rose his brow. "That's a strange name. Do you mind if I call you, hmm..." Goku rubbed his chin as he thought of a good name for the creature "Ah I got it, Eighter! Yeah Eighter! Does that name sound good?"
Eighter smiled as it was the first time any human had ever shown any compassion towards him. "Yes Goku, Eighter sounds like a very nice name, thank you."
Gohan remembered hearing the name Eighter. He concentrated and remembered his father telling him a story once about him being the only friendly android he'd ever met.
He thought to himself, Leave it to dad to find friends in the most impossible places.
Goku sheathed his pole and looked for the stairs leading to the next level. Eighter tapped his shoulder and pointed the two in the right direction. As they began to walk towards the stairs Goku noticed that the android wasn't following them "Hey Eighter do you want to come with us? You look really strong and we could sure use the help."
Eighter smiled, eager to help his new friends he agreed and the three walked up the stairs and found themselves in a massive maze. They stuck together as Eighter led the way. "I have the detailed schematics on the layout of this floor, we should go this way". The three then took a left a couple of rights and went straight until they hit a dead end.
Goku frowned as he tapped the wall. "Maybe they changed it since the last time you saw it Eighter."
The android tapped the wall hard and the three heard a slight echo come from behind it. "No Goku, this is the way but this floor is impossible to get out of if the person controlling it changes the exit point." With that, Eighter smashed through the wall revealing the final staircase that led to the Generals control center.
Carefully, the group walked up the stairs to the top floor of the tower. At the top, they opened a large metal door that led into a circular room filled with monitors and computers. They saw the general stroll in from another room marked 'holding cells', with a magnum pressed against the temple of an elderly man.
"Nobody move a goddamn muscle! Now I am going to leave with the old man and if any of you try to stop me I'll kill him!"
Eighter pleaded with the general. "Please have mercy general, let him go."
White snapped, "The only way I let him go is if you kill the kids and I don't see that happening so no deal!" Finding a way to hurt the creature, even more, White spit at him. "You aren't worth the metal the army built you with, you trash heap!"
Gohan anxiously waited for his father do to something, anything that would save him from getting involved.
Goku yelled, "Stop picking on him!"
White aimed the pistol at Goku. "Ah, a hero I see, well let's see where that gets you!" He unloaded the magnum which knocked the boy to the floor.
Gohan heard the clicking from the empty pistol as the general turned the gun on him, desperately trying to unload a few rounds. Gohan knocked the general unconscious with one punch before turning his attention to his father.
He lifted him up noticing that all of the bullets hit his chest. Gohan lifted up his shirt and saw the six red marks where each bullet had landed. He relaxed, none of them had broken through his skin, but they would definitely bruise, and bruise badly.
"Ow, that really hurt," Goku said. "I'm really tired of those guns people keep carrying with them it's like getting stung by a bee!"
Gohan laughed as he helped Goku stand up.
Eighter seemed particularly concerned. "Goku are you all right?"
Goku smiled as he rubbed his chest. "Yeah, I'm fine." Goku walked over to the traumatized old man that stood frozen stiff. "Hey mister, are you feeling okay? We came from your village to save you."
The old man took off his glasses with his shaking hand and wiped them with a cloth he had kept in his pocket. "Y-yes I s-see. Well, I think we should definitely be off then. I-I would hate to spend any more time in this awful place."
The five walked down each floor until they exited through the battlements at the base of the tower. Eighter stopped and motioned for everyone to back away. He then went to work smashing the outer walls of the tower until the whole thing toppled over onto its side. Smoke and flames engulfed the brick building, keeping any soldiers that had even an ounce of courage, far away from their previously impervious base.
When they arrived at the village it was already nightfall. Suno, her mother, and her father, who had returned from forced labor for the now fleeing army, greeted them warmly at the door and were ecstatic that the chief was with the boys. It was clear that Suno had missed Goku very much because as soon as he stepped into the house, she seemed to cling right onto him.
Gohan and Goku explained everything that happened while they all sat down for dinner.
Suno's father questioned the two. "So you kids are looking for the dragon balls are ya'?"
Goku nodded, "Mmhm, but we're only looking for my grampa's four-star ball. Did you guys ever end up finding it?"
Eighter cupped his hands on the table drawing attention away from the conversation. "I did." He released his hands revealing the two-star ball. "It's not the one you are looking for but when I found it I had no choice but to hide it. General White said he was going to kill everyone in the village once he'd found it. "
The village chief stood from the table in amazement. "My friend, you mean to tell me that you endured living in that cage just to protect us?" he asked rhetorically. "You are a genuine hero and for that, I would be honored if you would stay with us here in our village."
Eighter blushed and thanked the old man, accepting his offer. As he did so, he could see the look of disappointment on Goku's face. "I'm sorry it's not your grandfather's ball Goku."
Goku rolled the ball around on the table. "That's okay, but I think Jack and I should take it with us. These Red Ribbon Army people keep coming after them and I don't want these guys coming back here."
Suno's mother interjected, "Well you two can't leave now, it's much too late. Why don't you stay tonight and leave tomorrow?"
Goku smiled as he gave the woman a hug. "Sure that sounds great! Thank you so much for all your help."
The mother patted his head and replied, "It's no trouble at all dear, not after all you two have done for us."
Later in the evening, Gohan and Goku were shown to the guest room once more, and they laid down on their mats and covered themselves with their wool blankets. Gohan thought silently at how grateful he was to just have somewhere warm to sleep instead of a cave, like the one they'd slept in a couple of days ago. But at least he was there with his father.
He sat up and reached over to pat Goku's shoulder. "Goodnight Goku, sweet dreams."
Goku sat up and scooched over to hug Gohan. "Sweet dreams, Jack"
Gohan felt a little confused, he sensed a tinge of sadness in his father's ki as he embraced him.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just really want to find that dragon ball. Grampa didn't have much, but the dragon ball was the one thing he made sure I had. I didn't understand why he made such a big deal out of it at the time but I do now. He wanted me to protect it from people like the Red Ribbon Army or Pilaf."
Gohan tried comforting him. "We'll find it Goku, there are only seven balls and we have two now which means we're a little over a quarter done!"
Goku smiled, "Yeah, that's a good way of looking at it. Thanks, Jack, you really knew just what to say."
Once morning came the two threw on some new snow gear and the whole village gathered to send them off. The chief was particularly grateful as he opened his capsule container and offered them his Dynocaps.
"Take this as a token of my thanks and gratitude. It contains many vehicles, but you'll want number six, it's a snowmobile."
Goku closed the container. "No thanks, Jack and I will be faster on foot." His shoulders slumped a little as he spoke. "Too bad I lost my flying nimbus then we'd get to the next dragon ball super fast."
The elderly chief gasped, "Did you say you had a nimbus cloud?"
Goku frowned. "Yeah, but it got blown up."
The chief patted the boy's shoulder. "Ah, I remember those nimbus clouds, they used to be everywhere but now there are practically none left. If you really had one then I should let you know they can't be destroyed. Have you tried calling for it?"
"No" he responded.
The chief smiled, "Go ahead and try it"
Goku, feeling hopeful, nearly jumped in excitement as he held his hands to his mouth and screamed. "FLYING NIMBUS!"
It only took a moment for his cloud to appear in front of him. He ran over and hugged the cloud which hummed, seemingly happy to see him again. "Nimbus I can't believe it, you're okay! It's so good to see you again! I missed you so much, and now that your back you can help Jack and I find the dragon balls!"
Goku leaped onto the cloud and extended his hand helping Gohan up as well. The two sat on the nimbus and waved to all of the villagers. Eighter lifted up Suno and they both waved goodbye to the boys as they flew east, continuing their quest for the dragon balls.