Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, and their respective franchises.
Last time, on The Lost Prince…
After Goku and Vegeta made their way to West City to visit Bulma, they discovered that another mysterious party was collecting the Dragon Balls. As the trio headed out, splitting up to track down two of the balls, their new foe – the infamous Red Ribbon Army, led by the devious Commander Red – are eager to finish collecting all seven balls for their own nefarious purposes. The story continues… now!
Red Ribbon Saga, Part 2: The Two Towers
Jingle Village, Planet Earth
Age 750
Vegeta soared over a snowy mountain range, keeping his aura ignited to shield him from the cold. He grimaced as the icy wind swept past his face. Damn… Bulma wasn't kidding about this part of the planet being cold. I haven't felt anything like this since before I came to Earth as a kid.
As the young Saiyan sped over a snow-covered forest, a beep from the handheld GPS that Bulma had given him brought him up short, and his aura flared as he sharply decelerated, coming to a stop with a burst of ki. "This is it," he muttered, peering down at the ground far below him. Bulma said this thing wouldn't be as accurate as her Dragon Radar, but this means I'm at least in the same general area as the Dragon Ball that's up here. His eyes narrowed and he grimaced as he took in the blanket of snow that coated the surrounding landscape for as far as the eye could see. But it's not going to be easy to find it under all of this crap. Something tells me Kakarot and Bulma are going to have an easier time with their search than I will.
As he pondered his next move, Vegeta had been gradually descending towards the ground, and he was only a couple hundred feet in the air when he spotted movement on the edge of a large clearing in the forest. As he watched, a small figure wearing a hooded coat walked out of the trees and began moving along the edge of the field.
"Hmmm…" Vegeta raised an eyebrow. I suppose getting help from a local might make things easier… especially since it's possible that someone around here may have already found the Dragon Ball. To that end, he sped up his descent and swooped down towards the ground, moving as quickly and quietly as he could and touching down a short distance away from the person that he'd spotted. Once he'd managed to land without them seeing him, he started jogging leisurely along the edge of the trees towards them, the snow crunching under his boots with each stride.
As he rounded a cluster of bushes, he found himself face-to-face with the person that he'd seen, a young red-haired girl dressed in dark blue winter clothing. Her eyes widened when she saw him, and she flinched back with an alarmed gasp. "Ah! W-who are you?!" she exclaimed.
"It's all right," Vegeta assured her, holding up his hands to show that he didn't mean any harm. "I'm not going to hurt you; I'm just looking for something."
"Oh!" The girl blinked quizzically up at him, still frowning nervously. "And… you're not with the soldiers?"
Soldiers? Vegeta raised an eyebrow at that. "No, I'm not," he replied. "What soldiers?"
"Well, they…" The girl's eyes suddenly widened as a rumbling noise reached their ears, and she glanced over her shoulder towards the open field. "Hide, quick!" she hissed, before ducking into the nearby bushes.
Vegeta initially had no intention of hiding, but he ultimately decided that stealth would serve him better than openly confronting whoever was coming. To that end, he also ducked into cover behind a large tree, peering out towards the field.
Sure enough, the rumbling sound grew louder, and an armored vehicle of some kind came into view, rolling across the field on large mechanical treads. A hatch was open on top of it, and a human male wearing some kind of military fatigues and carrying a rifle was perched in the opening, looking around warily. Vegeta tensed, ready to spring out of cover and attack if the man spotted him; he wasn't worried about his own safety, of course, but if the soldier fired at him, the girl might be in danger.
Fortunately, the soldier and whoever was driving the armored tank didn't notice anything, and the vehicle carried on, cruising off down a track that cut through the forest and disappearing from view. Once they were out of sight, Vegeta stepped out from behind the tree, his frown still in place as he gazed after the departing vehicle.
"Who was that?" he questioned as the girl emerged from the nearby bushes, brushing some snow off of her fur-lined hat.
"Those were some of the soldiers," the girl explained gravely. "We're not supposed to be away from the village, so we would've gotten in big trouble if they saw us." She looked up at him curiously. "But… if you're not with them, then who are you?"
Vegeta couldn't help rolling his eyes, as he really didn't have time to answer questions right now, but he reminded himself that playing nice with the locals might help him to find the Dragon Ball more quickly. "My name is Vegeta," he replied. "And I'm just passing through." He looked around at the surrounding forest, and quickly came to a decision: going to wherever this girl lived was probably a better strategy than just blindly wandering around these woods and hoping to stumble across the Dragon Ball. "You said you're from a village, right? We should probably get you back there, then."
"Oh, okay!" The girl smiled and nodded. "I'm Suno, by the way." Turning, she headed off into the trees, beckoning for him to follow her. "C'mon, it's this way!"
Sighing and rolling his eyes, Vegeta trailed after her. This is already getting old…
Fortunately, Suno hadn't been wrong: her village was less than a mile from the spot where Vegeta had found her. Her mother, a friendly, middle-aged woman, had been surprised to see him, but she'd welcomed him in after Suno had explained that he wasn't with the soldiers who had apparently been terrorizing the village.
Now, Vegeta found himself sitting in a rocking chair by the family's fireplace, sipping from a hot drink that Suno's mother had offered him. He'd considered asking if they'd ever heard of the Dragon Balls, but for the moment, his first questions had been about the soldiers that Suno had mentioned. And he didn't like what her mother had to say about them.
"So, this Red Ribbon Army… they've subjugated your entire village?" he muttered, his features set in a grim frown as he held the mug between his hands, letting it warm them up after his hike through the snow.
"That's right," Suno's mother confirmed sadly. "They're the world's most feared and ruthless terrorist organization. We'd heard of them before, but they hadn't shown up here. Then, not too long ago, they built a fortress up in the mountains nearby, and since then they've all but enslaved us. Our chief is being held as a hostage in their fortress, Muscle Tower, to make sure that we comply with their instructions, and anyone else who dares to defy them is put down on the spot."
"I see." Vegeta's eyes narrowed, and his hold on the mug tightened a bit. These "Red Ribbon" solders were just like the Frieza Force, albeit on a smaller scale. Terrorizing, enslaving or slaughtering anyone who gets in their way… and to think I used to be just like them! His jaw clenched, and he was surprised that he actually felt sick for a second. Damn… living on Earth has changed me more than I thought. Shaking his head, he focused back on the matter at hand. "So, what is it that they want with your people? Are they taking your resources, or anything like that?"
"Actually, no." Suno's mother shook her head. "All they seem to want from us is a labor force. From what we've heard, they're searching for some sort of rare artifact in these mountains, and they're using all the men of the village as laborers to help in their search."
"Yeah!" Suno confirmed, taking a sip from her own drink as she sat on the rug next to her mother's chair. "Some kind of crystal ball, they said."
Vegeta's stomach clenched at that, and he felt a sinking sensation as he realized what must actually be going on here. "Crystal ball?" he echoed. "It wouldn't happen to be called a Dragon Ball, would it?"
Based on the shocked expressions on both of their faces, he instantly knew that he'd guessed right. "Yes, that's what they said it's called!" Suno's mother confirmed. "You know about it?"
"I do." Vegeta scowled, letting go of his mug with one hand and clenching his free hand into a fist. "There are seven of them in total, and I know one of them is somewhere in this area. My…" He considered for a second, not sure how to describe his relationship with Bulma, before settling on, "…friend… has a device that can detect them, and we noticed recently that someone was gathering them, so we decided to find out who it was. But if it's this army that's doing it, then it can't be for anything good."
"No, I'm sure it's not," Suno's mother agreed soberly. "From what I've heard, this 'Dragon Ball' is supposed to have some kind of magical powers that will help the Red Ribbon Army in their mission to take over the entire world."
Vegeta's scowl deepened at that, and his eyes narrowed. "All right, then. Those bastards can't be allowed to get their hands on any more of the Dragon Balls, so I'll take care of them myself." He looked up at the pair as an idea occurred to him, recalling how he, Kakarot and Bulma had been given a Dragon Ball as payment in exchange for saving a village from Oolong. "Tell me… if I could get rid of all the soldiers who have been threatening your village, and free your chief from them, do you think your people would be willing to help me find the Dragon Ball in exchange?"
"What?" Suno's mother sat up straight in her chair, her eyes wide in surprise. "But… you couldn't! The Red Ribbon soldiers are far too dangerous for one person to take them on alone. Even our whole village working together wouldn't be enough!"
Vegeta smirked at that. "Oh, don't worry about that. I've fought much worse enemies than a bunch of humans with guns." He held out his free hand and, with a low grunt of effort, formed a glowing yellow energy sphere above his outstretched palm. Both Suno and her mother inhaled sharply as they looked at it, feeling the warmth that it gave off even over the heat of the fire, before he closed his hand around it and popped it like a balloon, smothering the detonation without much effort.
"W-what was that?!" Suno gasped. Her mother looked equally shocked, staring wide-eyed at the smoke rising from Vegeta's unmarked hand.
"It's a long story, but suffice to say, I have access to power that no ordinary human could ever dream of," Vegeta replied with a confident grin. He leaned back in his chair, waving the smoke away and taking another sip of his drink. "So, as I said… if I can get rid of the Red Ribbon soldiers, do you think your people could help me to find the Dragon Ball? That way, I can keep those bastards from getting their hands on the ball, and your village would be free from them."
"I…" Suno's mother shook her head. "I mean, if you could do that… then I don't see why not. Our chief is a just and honorable man, so I'm sure he would be willing to help you with your search if you could help us."
"Excellent." Vegeta's smile widened, and he downed the rest of his drink before rising to his feet. "Then that's what I'll do. Now… where can I find this 'Muscle Tower'?"
In the Land of Korin…
Hundreds of miles to the south, Bulma's upgraded hovercraft sped through the air, flying high above the ground. This time, she'd opted for a personal aircraft instead of the ordinary hovercar that she'd taken on her last quest for the Dragon Balls, which made it much easier to cover long distances in a short time.
"All right, it should be just a couple more miles this way," Bulma murmured as she double-checked her Dragon Radar, before glancing out the window at the expanse of forest spreading out below them. "Finding it in all of this forest might not be easy, though."
"Yeah," Goku agreed, rubbing his chin as he looked out the window. As he scanned across the landscape ahead of them, however, his eyes widened and he pointed. "Whoa! What's that?"
"Oh!" Bulma inhaled sharply as she saw what he was looking at: a narrow stone tower, dark gray in color and so tall that she couldn't even see the top, as if it was dividing the sky itself in two. She'd never seen anything like it before, but she immediately knew what she must be looking at. "That's gotta be Korin Tower! It's really famous; it's thousands of years old, and my dad once told me that nobody's ever managed to climb all the way to the top."
"Wow!" Goku gazed in awe at the massive structure, until his eyes fell on something else: another small plane, dark blue in color, which was circling over the forest near the base of the tower. "Huh… I wonder who that is?"
"I don't know." Bulma frowned as she checked the radar again. "But the Dragon Ball's somewhere over there, so we might as well check it out." She adjusted the controls, sending their plane cruising towards the tower. As they closed in on the other plane, however, she suddenly let out a gasp as they got a better view of it. "Oh my god!"
"What's up?" Goku had been keeping an eye on the radar screen, but he looked back out at the other plane in response to her startled cry, and he shot bolt upright in her seat when he saw what she'd spotted. The pilot of the other plane, a humanoid tiger wearing some kind of military uniform, was holding what appeared to be a young child in one hand, holding them out of the plane as if he was threatening to drop them. He was yelling something and looking down at the ground below, but they couldn't hear what he was saying over the wind.
To his credit, Goku reacted quickly. "Bulma!" he yelled, snapping her out of her horrified trance. "Get above that guy's plane and then open the window, okay? I'll take care of the rest!"
Shaking off her shock, Bulma nodded. "I… okay, you got it!" She'd seen Goku and Vegeta do some seemingly impossible things plenty of times, so she didn't question his request. Accelerating and steering the plane into a sharp turn, she climbed until they were flying above and behind the other aircraft. After making sure her seatbelt was securely fastened, she hit the button to open the cockpit's glass canopy. A blast of wind hit her as the glass slid back, but she squinted against the rushing air and kept a tight grip on the controls to keep them on course.
"All right!" Goku shouted over the wind, grinning as he unfastened his seatbelt and clambered up onto the seat. "Close it again once I'm outside!" With that, he sprang up, grabbed the edge of the cockpit with one hand, and leapt out of the plane.
Despite his outward confidence, Goku couldn't help feeling a little nervous as he dove towards the other plane. Vegeta had begun teaching him how to fly during their time at Capsule Corp, but he preferred using the Nimbus cloud instead since it was faster, which meant that he didn't have much experience with flying on his own yet. Still, seeing a kid in danger had forced his hand, and he didn't hesitate in the slightest. Whoever the guy flying that plane was, no good person would threaten a child like that, and that was all he needed to know.
Fortunately, Goku had judged his timing perfectly, and he didn't even have to try and fly after the other plane, as he landed right on top of it. Clamping onto the leading edge of its canopy with one hand, he leaned forward and looked down at the pilot, whose head had shot up to look at him in shock. "Hey!" he yelled over the wind. "What do you think you're doin' with that kid, huh?! Pick on someone your own size!"
"What do you think you're doing?!" the pilot snarled. "Get off my plane!" Drawing a pistol with his free hand, he fired several shots at point-blank range, but the bullets ricocheted harmlessly off of Goku's skin.
With a swipe of his free hand, Goku smacked the gun out of the man's grip, sending it tumbling away. Jumping down onto the nose of the plane and using his ki to anchor himself in place, he grabbed the man by the collar and yanked him halfway out of his seat, glaring at him. "Last chance!" he snapped. "Let him go, or else!"
The pilot scowled, grinding his teeth. "You have no idea who you're dealing with, kid!" he spat. "I'm Captain Yellow of the Red Ribbon Army, and I don't answer to the likes of you!" He shifted his outstretched arm meaningfully, shaking the terrified young boy who was dangling from his hand. "Now get off my plane, or I'll drop him!"
Goku's glare intensified for a second, before his anger faded and a faint grin took its place, one which was almost reminiscent of Vegeta's confident smirk. "If you say so!" he retorted, before grabbing the captain's outstretched arm with his other hand and squeezing. A muffled crack was followed by a howl of pain from Yellow, and his fingers automatically went slack, releasing the terrified child.
"Nimbus!" Goku yelled, diving off the plane and catching the screaming boy in his arms. He summoned up his reserves of ki, trying to slow their fall, until a blur of yellow lanced down out of the sky overhead and cut in underneath them, the Nimbus cloud catching them neatly before they could continue falling to the ground below.
"Hang onto my back, okay?" Goku called to the boy, who had stopped screaming when the Nimbus had caught them and was now looking around in wide-eyed amazement. After receiving a confirming nod, he shifted his position so that the other child could hold onto him from behind, while his eyes shifted back to the other plane, which was now starting to veer off towards the horizon. "Oh, no you don't," he muttered, cupping his hands at his side as a blue glow flickered to life between them.
Goku was still a kind and caring person at heart, but growing up with Vegeta had made an impact on him, particularly with regards to how the older Saiyan dealt with his enemies. And, although Goku was certainly more merciful than Vegeta, as a surge of anger welled up within him, the other Saiyan boy's advice from when they'd dealt with Monster Carrot flashed through his mind.
No second chances.
"Headquarters, come in! I need backup; there's another one!" Captain Yellow cursed under his breath as he clutched at his injured arm, trying to fly and speak into his radio at the same time. He'd been so close to getting the Dragon Ball from that musclebound fool on the ground by holding his son hostage, when that random kid had just fallen out of the sky and ruined everything! But he hadn't lost the battle yet; all he needed was reinforcements, and then he could…
"Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!"
Huh? Yellow glanced over his shoulder as he heard the distant yell… and then his eyes bulged in horror as he saw a blue energy beam rushing towards him, a moment before it slammed into the back of his aircraft and he was engulfed in an all-consuming fireball.
Goku grimaced as the distant plane exploded, looking away as he steered the Nimbus cloud into a slow descent. He might understand Vegeta's more ruthless approach to fighting after all the time that they'd spent together, but he still didn't really like it.
"Where should I land?" he called over his shoulder to the younger boy who was hanging onto his shirt.
"Down there!" the boy called back, pointing down with one hand towards a large, open clearing in the trees, where a large teepee had been set up. A tall, brown-skinned man was standing outside of it, looking up anxiously towards them.
"Okay!" Looking up to where Bulma was circling the area in her plane, Goku waved to get her attention and pointed down towards the clearing, before he swooped down towards the ground. Skimming in over the treetops, he descended into the clearing and came to a stop just a couple of feet above the ground, letting the boy jump down easily onto the grass below.
"Upa!" The man who'd been watching from the ground bounded over, picking up the shivering boy and holding him close. The distinct resemblance between them made it clear that he was the boy's father; he was tall, muscular and broad-shouldered, with long dark hair and numerous scars dotted across his torso. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, Father!" Upa hugged him back, still shivering but gradually calming down.
Once his son had stopped trembling, the man lifted him up onto one of his shoulders, before turning to face Goku. "I thank you for saving my son, young one," he intoned, bowing his head and holding out one hand. "I am in your debt."
"No problem, sir!" Goku hopped down from the Nimbus and allowed it to fly back up into the sky as he shook the offered hand, which completely enveloped his own. "I'm Goku! It's nice to meet you."
"You as well." The man smiled, shaking Goku's hand before releasing it and reaching up to give his son a reassuring pat on the head. "I am Bora, guardian of Korin Tower, and this is my son Upa." He frowned as a shadow fell over them, looking up at Bulma's plane as it came in for a landing. "You came from that aircraft, did you not? Is its pilot also an ally, or another foe?"
"Oh, no, she's my friend!" Goku shook his head and smiled, pointing over at the plane as it skimmed in over the grass and landed a short distance away. "Her name's Bulma."
As soon as the plane had come to a stop and powered down, Bulma retracted the canopy again and jumped out, pressing a button on the side of the plane to return it to its capsule form with a cloud of vapor. "Goku!" she cried out as she snatched up the capsule and ran across the clearing to the others. "Are you okay?! You scared the hell out of me when you did that!"
"Sorry!" Goku grinned sheepishly and held up his hands. "I didn't really have time to explain."
Bulma sighed and rubbed her eyes, before tousling his spiky hair. "It's all right; just don't do that again, okay?" She chuckled. "Vegeta'd be really mad at me if I let anything bad happen to you."
Once Bulma had been introduced to Bora and Upa, she looked up to where the other plane had been. "So… who was that guy, anyway?" she inquired.
"He arrived here about an hour ago with numerous other armed men," Bora explained grimly. "They claimed that they were part of an organization known as the Red Ribbon Army, and that they were planning to establish a military base here."
Bulma paled at that. "Wait, the Red Ribbon Army?! They're the most infamous terrorist organization on the planet!"
"They would undoubtedly have been quite dangerous for most people," Bora agreed. "When I refused to let them infringe upon this sacred ground, they attempted to kill me. I was able to deal with most of them, but their leader took my son hostage and tried to force me to give him this." He held up a small object that had been in his pocket; the sunlight flashed off of golden crystal, and both Goku and Bulma gasped when they recognized it.
"A Dragon Ball!" Bulma exclaimed. "That's the one that my radar picked up!"
"And… no way!" Goku's eyes lit up as he got a closer look at the ball. "It's the four-star ball, the one that my grandpa used to have!"
"You know of this object too?" Bora questioned, regarding the ball. "I found it this morning, not long after that volcano erupted." He nodded to a nearby mountain, which was emitting wisps of dark smoke. "I assumed that it came from there. Those soldiers were apparently looking for it too."
"Wait, that's what they wanted?" Bulma's concerned frown deepened as she looked at the four-star ball. "If the Red Ribbon Army are the ones who are gathering the Dragon Balls, that could be really bad. Of all the people in the world who shouldn't get a wish granted, they'd definitely be near the top of that list."
"Well, if those men came here looking for this sphere," Bora declared, "then I would be happy to give it to you as thanks for your help." He offered the Dragon Ball to Goku, who happily took it. "I have no use for it, and if you take it with you, perhaps this land will be safe from any further intrusions by these Red Ribbon soldiers."
"You got it!" Goku grinned, tucking the four-star ball into his pocket. "We'll make sure they don't bother you guys again."
As added thanks for Goku's rescue of his son, Bora offered to treat the pair to a meal, which they were happy to accept (particularly Goku). After about an hour, they were all seated around a campfire, with stomachs full of fish from a nearby river.
"So these Dragon Balls can truly grant any wish?" Bora leaned back on his hands, frowning as he gazed across the campfire at Goku and Bulma. "Truly extraordinary. I myself have no need of such things, but I can certainly imagine how the greedy and ambitious people of this world would be drawn to a power like that."
"Yeah," Bulma agreed soberly. "Last year, a guy who called himself an 'emperor' tried to use the Dragon Balls to take over the world. We stopped him, but… if the Red Ribbon Army is trying the same thing, they'll probably be much more of a threat than he was."
Goku, meanwhile, seemed to be distracted by something else. "Hey, Mr. Bora?" he questioned. "If you don't mind me asking… what's the story with that really tall tower?" He nodded towards the center of the clearing, where the great stone spire of Korin Tower rose up towards the heavens.
"The great Korin Tower has existed here for as long as anyone can remember," Bora explained, indicating the tower with a wave of his hand. "According to the stories of my ancestors, a wise and powerful hermit known as Korin lives at the very top of this tower, high above us. It is said that for centuries, the strongest and bravest martial artists in the world have come here to seek the guidance and training of the mystical sage. If you can climb all the way to the top using only your own strength, he will give you a holy water which can magnify one's strength many times over."
"That's so cool!" Goku's eyes gleamed with excitement as he peered up towards where the tower seemingly disappeared into the sky, high above them. "Have you ever climbed to the top?"
"I tried, once," Bora admitted, a rueful grin flickering across his normally-stoic face. "Sadly, my attempt ended in failure, but that is the norm when it comes to Korin Tower. As long as I have lived in the shadow of this tower, no one who has attempted to make the climb has ever succeeded in reaching the top."
"They say that one person did manage to get up there a long time ago, though," Upa chimed in.
"True, but that is merely a story," Bora pointed out, smiling at his son before turning back to Goku and Bulma. "Our people have protected these lands for generations, ensuring that only those who were pure of intent would set foot upon this sacred ground or attempt to climb the tower. That is my sacred duty, and one day it will be my son's as well." He inclined his head respectfully towards Goku. "However, despite your age, I can tell that you possess a pure heart and have the honor of a true warrior. As long as you mean no harm to this place or any who dwell here, the two of you are welcome to remain here for as long as you wish."
"Thanks!" Bulma smiled as she leaned back, gazing up at Korin Tower. "Well, we've got one of the Dragon Balls now, so that's a start. At least the Red Ribbon Army won't be able to make any wishes, even if they do have the three that were all in one place. And if Vegeta can find the one he went to the Arctic for, we'll have two." She considered for a second. "I told him that he should meet us here, and I put the coordinates for this area into the GPS that I gave him, so he'll be able to find his way here once he's ready. In the meantime, I'll see if I can locate the rest of the Dragon Balls, so we'll be ready when the time comes for us to find them."
"Sounds good!" Goku's gaze kept shifting back towards the base of the tower, and he finally couldn't sit still anymore. "But we don't know how long it's gonna take for Vegeta to get here, right? So, while we're waitin'…" He grinned eagerly as he looked up towards the distant top of the tower. "I think I'm gonna try and climb this thing."
"What?!" Bulma inhaled sharply. "Why would you do that? You heard him; nobody who's tried to climb this thing has ever made it to the top!"
"Yup!" Goku's grin only widened. "Which means it's exactly the kind of challenge I've been lookin' for! This'll give me a chance to really test my limits and get stronger… maybe even enough to catch up to Vegeta." Hopping to his feet, he stretched his arms over his head and clicked his neck. "And if it turns out I can't do it, I'll just call for my Nimbus cloud and come back down. Simple."
"I mean…" Bulma wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but she had to admit that Goku had a point; it wasn't like there was anything else for him to do until Vegeta showed up. "All right," she conceded with a shrug. "But be quick about it, okay? We'll need to go after the rest of the Dragon Balls as soon as Vegeta gets here, so we don't have time to play around."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Goku nodded in agreement. "Okay, then! I'll go as fast as I can." Stretching again and hopping lightly from foot to foot, he made his way over to the base of the tower, with Bulma, Bora and Upa trailing behind him.
"Be careful," Bora advised him. "Climbing this tower is an extremely difficult and strenuous challenge. And be prepared to summon that strange cloud of yours if you become too exhausted to continue climbing; if you run out of stamina and fall off the tower when you're too high up, the fall will be fatal, even for someone as strong as you."
"Good idea! Thanks, Mr. Bora." Goku smiled and sank into a crouch, adjusting his Power Pole where it was slung across his back. "All right… let's do this! Korin Tower, here I come!" His eyes narrowed in concentration as he looked up at the tower, and then he kicked off the ground and leapt high into the air. He soared straight up, easily rising thirty or forty feet with a single jump, and grabbed one of the small ledges that jutted out from the sides of the tower before using it to launch himself up again. With this approach, he began rapidly gaining height, scrambling up the side of the tower as easily as a monkey climbing a tree. Before Bulma knew it, he'd climbed so high that she could barely even see him anymore, except as a slowly-dwindling dark spot against the gray stone pinnacle.
Man… every time I think these Saiyans can't surprise me, one of them pulls a new crazy trick out of nowhere. Bulma couldn't suppress an amused grin as she watched Goku's distant form disappearing from view, before she turned and headed back towards the campfire. "So, it's okay for me to stay here until he gets back down and our other friend shows up here, right?" she questioned. "I don't want to impose on you two or anything."
"Of course!" Bora assured her. "As I said, young lady, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you'd like. You can use our teepee if you need a place to rest."
"Oh, no, that's not necessary!" Bulma shook her head and smiled, fishing another capsule out of her pocket and tossing it over into an open section of the clearing. "I brought my own resting spot." With an explosion of smoke, the capsule trailer that she'd used on her previous road trip with Goku and Vegeta appeared, already stocked with everything that she might need. Knowing that this new search for the Dragon Balls would probably take a while, she'd planned ahead this time.
As Bulma walked over towards the trailer, she idly checked the screen of her Dragon Radar, hoping to see if any of the other Dragon Balls' positions had changed. Her expectations quickly turned to confusion, however, when, instead of homing in on the locations of the seven crystal spheres, the handheld radar merely let out a noncommittal beep and its screen remained blank.
Huh? She frowned and tapped the radar's screen several times, trying to make sure it was set properly, but as far as she could tell, it was working normally. Yet the screen still remained blank, devoid of any signals which would represent the location of a Dragon Ball. The one she now had in her pocket, the one that Vegeta was going after in the Arctic, the three which had all been in the same place, and the other two… not a single one of the balls were anywhere to be seen.
"Okay… that's not normal," Bulma muttered, her frown deepening as she headed for the trailer. This thing's never glitched out before, but there's gotta be something wrong with it. And I need to figure out what, because otherwise we're going to have a lot of trouble finding the rest of the Dragon Balls.
Red Ribbon Army headquarters…
"What?!" Commander Red scowled, almost biting through his most recent cigar before he stopped himself. "The hell do you mean, someone got there first?!"
"That's what Captain Yellow reported," Staff Officer Black reported, reading the message from his clipboard. "He and his soldiers had finally located their target again, and they were about to secure it when they encountered several unknown hostiles. Whoever these people were, Yellow claimed that they possessed some kind of superhuman abilities, enough to make short work of his entire squad. He requested that we send reinforcements at once, but then we lost contact with him."
Red's scowl deepened as his single eye narrowed. "You've gotta be kidding me," he growled, his free hand clenching into a fist as he held his cigar in the other. "Well, even if Yellow's still alive, I sure as hell won't be giving him another chance to get that damn Dragon Ball. He's failed to secure it twice now, and I don't tolerate that kind of incompetence."
"Fair enough," Black agreed. "So who should we send to take over in his place?"
"I can think of at least one guy," Red replied, tapping his chin contemplatively. He gestured towards Black with his cigar. "Send word to General Blue, and have him take a full strike force to Korin Tower. He's already retrieved one of the Dragon Balls for us, so he should be able to get this one too. And whoever this 'superhuman' is, Blue's unique talents mean that he'll have the best chance of taking them out."
"An excellent choice, sir." Black nodded as he made a note on his clipboard. "Also, I've arranged for that long-distance call that you requested." He produced a slip of paper from his jacket pocket and placed it on Red's desk. "According to our agents, this was his last known contact number."
"Good!" Red's anger was tempered by that, and he smiled faintly as he took another puff of his cigar. "Getting some extra muscle should help us out when it's time to launch our campaign against that ridiculous king… and there's no hired muscle that's better than him."
As Black left the office, Red picked up the note and dialed the number that Black had written on it into his desk's phone. Despite his previous confidence, he couldn't help but feel nervous as he punched in the final digits. The man he was contacting had an infamous reputation for a reason, far more so than even the deadliest and most ruthless soldiers in the Red Ribbon Army. But that was exactly why the army needed him, to ensure that nobody could stand in their way when the time came for them to carry out Red's master plan for global domination.
Taking a deep breath and bracing himself, Red hit the CALL button, and put the phone on speaker as he leaned back in his chair. He was tempted to take another puff of his cigar, but decided against it. When it comes to this guy, the last thing I want is to annoy him by having a coughing fit during my recruitment pitch.
After several rings, the phone call was finally accepted with a click, and a crisp, cold voice echoed out of the receiver. "Who is this?"
Not the kind of guy who makes small talk, eh? Red suppressed a chuckle. "I'm speaking to Mercenary Tao, right?" he questioned.
"That is correct," the other man's voice replied dryly. "But you will not be speaking to me for long, unless you explain the purpose of this call quickly."
Red's amusement was replaced by a flash of annoyance at the disrespect in Tao's voice, but he shook his head and made an effort to keep his temper in check. Getting into an argument with the deadliest assassin in the world wasn't a good idea, even for him. "This is Commander Red, leader of the Red Ribbon Army," he replied coolly, tapping his cigar against his ashtray. "And I have a proposition for you."
Jingle Village…
Now wearing a long, dark-green winter coat that had belonged to Suno's father, Vegeta set out from Jingle Village and started running towards the nearby mountains, moving along the ground in leaps and bursts of super-speed instead of flying so that he could hopefully stay under the Red Ribbon soldiers' radar. It wouldn't really matter if they saw him coming, of course, but he still wanted to catch them by surprise if he could.
Before long, he spotted what he was looking for: the distant outline of Muscle Tower, the Red Ribbon Army's fortress. The tower bore a vague resemblance to a chess rook, as it was cylindrical in shape and had larger top and bottom levels than the ones in the middle. Made of dark reddish-orange stone and bristling with defensive weaponry, it loomed tall over the surrounding landscape. It was impressive enough by Earth standards, but it paled in comparison to the Frieza Force military bases that Vegeta had visited on other planets as a child.
A tank like the one that he'd seen before was rolling towards the base, but it changed course when the soldier riding on top of the vehicle saw him sprinting across the snowy landscape towards the tower. Since they'd spotted him, Vegeta slowed down to a walking pace and allowed the tank to cut in front of him before it skidded to a halt, blocking his path.
"Hey!" the soldier on top of the tank yelled, swinging his mounted machine gun around to bear on the approaching figure. "You there! Where do you think you're –"
Vegeta didn't even break stride: he just raised one arm and fired a bolt of yellow energy that punched straight through the tank and then exploded, blowing off its hatches and incinerating the occupants in a blazing fireball. As he reached the tank, he pivoted on one foot and casually punted the burning hulk aside with a swing of his other leg, sending it tumbling away across the snow as he carried on walking towards the base of the tower.
The explosion had alerted all of the other Red Ribbon soldiers who were on guard outside the tower, and all of their guns were trained on the young Saiyan as soon as he came into view. It didn't matter, of course; as soon as he was within a few yards of them, Vegeta yelled and flung out his arm in a wide, sweeping arc, unleashing a powerful kiai in its wake. The wave of invisible force swept across the snow and plowed through the soldiers, scattering them like bowling pins and knocking them all unconscious.
"Tch!" Vegeta scoffed and shook his head, glaring at the fallen men who were now scattered across the snowy ground before him. "Pathetic." He looked up at the tower and folded his arms across his chest as he took it in. "Well, this is a nice little setup that they've got here. I suppose I may as well pop in and say hello."
Vegeta could have just gone through the door on the ground level, but he decided it would be a better idea to catch the soldiers inside the tower off guard. To that end, instead of simply breaking through the front door, he crouched slightly and jumped effortlessly up onto the next level of the tower, bypassing whatever traps or defensive measures might be in place on the ground floor. Without any preamble, he stalked forward and easily kicked open the nearest door that led into the tower's interior.
This floor of the tower appeared to be a cafeteria of some sort, as evidenced by the half-dozen Red Ribbon soldiers who were eating lunch at various tables, all of whom looked up in surprise when the door slammed open. Realizing that they were facing an intruder, they all scrambled to their feet, one drawing a combat knife and the others simply balling their fists.
Vegeta smirked as he stepped into the room and pushed the door shut behind him. "So," he spoke up, idly cracking his knuckles as his eyes flicked around the room. "Who wants to go first?"
Notes: Now we're getting into it.
Next time, Goku begins his ascent of Korin Tower, while Vegeta launches his assault on Muscle Tower. Stay tuned!