Goku's eyes slowly opened as he felt himself being wrapped in a blanket, he looked around and saw he was next to a fireplace. He turns to see a redheaded girl around his age and an older woman. "Where... am I? Goku asked.

"Jingle Village, you were frozen and stiff as a board when I found you." The girl explained.

"Here, drink this and warm yourself up." The girl's mother handed Goku a cup of cocoa. "You're lucky to be alive, if she hadn't found you, you'd be completely frozen to death by now.

"You carried me here?" Goku said surprised.

"Yeah! Hey, what's your name?" The redhead asked.

"It's Goku. Son Goku." He answered. "What's yours?"

"I'm Suno, by the way, where were you headed for in the plane?" Suno asked.

"Oh, I just came here looking for a ball called a Dragon Ball, but then the plane..."

"A Dragon Ball?!" Suno shrieked as she ran to her mother.

"Are you from the Red Ribbon Army?" Suno's mother Yuki asked.

"Red Ribbon Army? What's that?" Goku said in confusion. "Those guys earlier were called Red-something or other, too."

As Goku was being briefed on the Red Ribbon Army and their business in the village, Gray snuck his way through the village doing his best to avoid the strange men raiding the people's homes. He then overheard them looking for a kid. "What kind of kid would get these guys all antsy," Gray muttered to himself. "Who are these guys? They were never around the village before."

Gray went to each of the houses to check if anyone was okay, luckily they were unharmed but all those gunshots ruined the interior of their houses. "Oh, it's you, Gray. You sure chose quite a time to come back." The woman said.

"What's going on here? Who were those people?" He asked.

"The Red Ribbon Army, they came about a week ago looking for something called a Dragon Ball." She explained.

"Red Ribbon Army, Dragon Ball, the job request board did say something about an army," Gray said to himself. "I'll be back!" Gray ran off to look for more of the soldiers.

Meanwhile, back at Suno's house, Goku told Yuki and Suno about his plans to look for his Grandpa's Dragon Ball and what would happen if someone gathered all seven. He was then informed that the men in the village including Suno's father were threatened to help look for the Dragon Ball. The village chief was captured as well and held at their base.

"It'd be best if you stopped competing with Red Ribbon to find the Dragon Balls," Yuki said.

"Yeah! You should hand your Dragon Ball over to them!" Suno pleaded. "It's not worth dying for!"

"Okay then. I'll go beat them up for you!" Goku said. "My way of thanking you for saving me!"

"Don't be stupid! Those are grown men! They have weapons and some of them might even use magic!" Suno tried to reason.

The three of them heard a vehicle stop outside and footsteps slowly walking towards the door. Yuki told Goku to hide somewhere but the boy quickly made his way to the bathroom. The two soldiers kicked open the door and walked in. "We're looking for a little boy..."

"W-We haven't seen him! My daughter and I are the only ones here." Yuki tried to lie.

The two soldiers searched the house and came upon nothing until they heard the toilet flush. Once they heard that they made their way to the bathroom door and pointed their guns and started firing multiple rounds.

"Oww, what was that for." Goku groaned in pain.

"What the?!" The soldier said.

"Is this guy your dad?" Goku asked.

"No! It's the Red Ribbon Army! Hurry, run away!" Suno pleaded.

"Why you!" The soldiers were ready to shoot again, but Goku hit them with a few punches and kicks, knocking them out.

"W-What just happened?" Suno asked.

"Let's see, I did six punches and...four kicks!" Goku answered.

"A-Amazing! I didn't see a thing!" She said amazed.

"I'll go beat up all the bad guys and save your village chief!" Goku said before running out of the house. However, it was barely ten seconds before he came running back due to the cold. As he was warming himself up again Suno went to go grab him some of her winter clothes.

"By the way...do you know where the Red Ribbon base is?" Yuki asked. "It's called Muscle Tower, many people have gone there to try to rescue the village chief. But most of them were killed before even getting inside. Some were lucky to get inside, but none have ever come back out alive."

"I see, but I'm going anyway!" Goku said. He put on the winter gear and got ready to make his way to Muscle Tower. "I'll be off now!"

"Please don't be reckless!" Suno said.

"Later! I'm going to beat them up this time for sure!" Goku said before running off.

Gray trekked his way through the snowy fields doing his best to avoid being seen by any of the army soldiers. He then spotted a tall tower in the distance. "That must be their base," Gray said to himself. He was about to make his way over but stopped. "Should I even be doing this? I'd probably just be making the same mistake I did back then." The boy was doubting if he should go at it alone.

Before he could think of his decision he saw what seemed to be someone running towards the soldiers. On closer inspection it was someone very familiar, "Is that...Goku? What's he doing here?" He watched as Goku easily handled the soldiers and started again making his way to Muscle Tower. "Hey! Goku!"

The boy turned and saw Gray coming towards him, "Gray? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same. But I actually used to live around here with Ur and Lyon." Gray explained.

"You lived here? Did you come back to visit?" Goku asked.

"I guess you could say that...anyway why are you here? You do realize you're heading straight for that Red Ribbon base right?"

"I know, I'm going to go beat them up!" Goku said.

"Are you crazy?! I know you're strong but you can't beat them all by yourself!" Gray exclaimed.

"Don't worry about me I'm more than enough to beat them!" Goku assured. "Besides their guns don't work on me anyway."

Gray stared at how confident and carefree he was. He just didn't want anyone dying because of overconfidence, just like... "Let me come with you! Please!"

"Are you sure?" Goku asked.

"I just can't stand seeing the people in this village suffer because of them! I promise I won't slow you down!" Gray pleaded. "Don't tell Natsu, but I admit you, him, and Krillin are definitely stronger than me, but I can still help!"

"Okay, you can come! Just be careful!" Goku said. Gray's face brightened up as the two began running toward Muscle Tower. "By the way Gray, how are you not cold? You're wearing less than I am."

Gray smirked, "Are you kidding? I basically trained in this kind of environment, this is nothing!"

"Wow! I guess I need to keep training to be like that!" Goku said.

The boys ran towards the tower as they started seeing gunfire, Goku brought out his Power Pole and used it to block all the incoming bullets. Once there was a break in the gunfire, Goku pulled his staff to his side and shouted, "Power Pole extend!" Gray watched as the staff grew in size, easily becoming five times its original length. With a mighty yell, Goku swung his staff and took out all of the soldiers standing guard at the entrance.

Goku hopped to the side, Gray not even half a second behind, as the ground in front of him exploded in cannon fire. Gray brought his hands together as frost started gathering, "Ice-Make: Lance!" A magic circle appeared and multiple ice lances flew towards the tank and caused it to collapse.

The boys continued powering their way through the soldiers once they got close enough, Goku used his Power Pole to pole vault onto the tower's higher levels. "Grab on Gray!" Gray held on to the lower end of the staff as it began retracting. The boys took a minute to catch their breaths before staring at the entrance of the tower. "I wonder that village chief is being held..."

"Can you hear me, kids?" A deep male voice said. "Welcome to Muscle Tower!"

"Where are you talking from?!" Goku said, looking around.

"It's a speaker ya dummy," Gray said.

"By the way, what did you boys come to this tower for?" The voice said.

"To save the village chief you jerk!" Gray shouted.

"Ah, so somebody from the village asked you to come here, huh? Fine, then! Enter through that door and come up here using the stairs! The village chiefs on the very top floor! Think you brats have what it takes?"

"We'll show you!" Goku said.

As soon as the doors opened, Goku and Gray sprang into action. The guards inside rose to their feet as quickly as they could, but they may have been moving in slow motion for the good it did them. In a flash, Goku kicked one into a wall, dug his fists into one's stomach, and launched a third into the ceiling as Gray got to work. The first guard he targeted started to draw his gun but was too slow. He shot him with a blast of ice before nailing him with a palm strike.

Another tried firing at him, but Gray countered by creating a small ice wall blocking the projectiles. He then retaliated by crashing his foot into his stomach. Gray's form was sloppier than Goku's, but he was still able to pack a punch.

"Great job, Gray!" Goku said now that the area was clear.

Gray scratched the back of his head at the compliment, "I guess so, you're still a lot better than me though."

Goku put his hands behind his head and smiled at him, "Don't worry about it! You'll get better! Man, it's really hot in here. I should get out of this thing." Goku stripped out of his heavy clothing, leaving his lighter wear on. With nothing left to do here, they headed up the stairs and quickly made their way up.

"Judging by their moves, these aren't any ordinary children especially the one in orange." A man in purple said as he watched the camera with General White.

"Seems the news about him beating Silver was true after all," White said. "Do you think he can make it up here?

"Entirely out of the question. Of those who have made it to the 3rd floor, none have prevailed against Sergeant Metallic." The purple-clad man said. "And if by some chance they do defeat him, I will be there for him on the 4th floor!"

"That's too bad. I was really hoping I could give my arms a nice workout." White said as he cracked his knuckles. He then went over to a speaker mic, "Sergeant Metallic, the kids are on their way up as we speak. Crush him and his little friend!"

Goku and Gray reached the top of the stairs to find a large room almost devoid of features. The only thing of note in it was the very large chair in the center and the equally large man sitting in it. Gray couldn't help but think there was something very strange about him. He began to stand up showing how much he dwarfed the boys in size.

"Woah! You're huge!" Goku said while Gray just stared in shock.

"You cannot continue upward unless you defeat me," Metallic said in a strangely unaccented voice. Goku and Gray took a few steps toward him and slid into their guard stances.

"So, you want to fight? Okay!" Goku said as Metallic drew back his fist. When it came crashing down towards them, Gray dove out of the way while Goku seemed to disappear as he jumped to the ceiling. Before Gray could even return to his guard position, Goku had bounded off of it and slammed his fist into the back of his head causing Metallic to crash into the floor.

Gray stayed rooted in place, too stunned to move, as Goku walked over with a big grin on his face. "Well, that was easy!" He said before starting to the next flight of stairs. "Come on, let's go!" Before Goku could get too far though, Sergeant Metallic moved. He slowly pushed his giant hands against the floor and pushed himself back up to stand on his feet. Gray's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as Metallic stalked towards them. He'd seen Goku kick and flip a tank. What was this guy made of?

Goku, by contrast, just smiled at the prospect of a tough opponent. "Okay!" He said as he charged at Metallic. "Here I go!" He leaped in the air to throw a flying kick at Sergeant Metallic. However, in a burst of surprising swiftness, the Sergeant's massive hands grabbed Goku's body and tried to crush him in his grip.

"Let him go!" Gray shouted as he brought his hands together, "Ice-Make: Hammer!" The ice hammer smashes onto Metallic's wrist freeing Goku. The large man tried stomping Gray into the ground, the boy managed to dodge but was then socked in the face by his fist, knocking Gray into the wall.

"Gray!" Goku quickly ran towards Metallic and head-butted his chin knocking him to the ground once again. Goku then grabbed his head in pain, "Ow...! What a hard face!" Metallic rose to his feet once again and shot a rocket out of his mouth. Goku managed to dodge but turned in fear seeing the rocket head towards a dazed Gray. "Gray watch out!"

Gray quickly snapped out of his daze and saw the rocket flying toward him and quickly tried putting up an ice wall to defend himself. Seeing that the wall might not hold up Goku rushed over as fast as he could. The rocket impacted the ice and threw Gray through the wall of the tower. Before he could fall Goku grabbed his leg and pulled him back in.

"That was too close, thanks Goku," Gray said. "This guy is way too tough."

"Don't worry, we can handle it. After all, he hasn't had a taste of Kamehameha yet!" Goku said as he cupped his hands to his side. Metallic stomped towards the boys as a blue-white light gathered in Goku's hands. "Kamehameha!" The beam blasted the automaton's head off and blew a hole in the wall behind him. The boys stared in terror as the sparks arched off the headless man's body. "H-His face is gone! Did I do something bad...?

"No, that thing wasn't human at all! It looks like a robot." Gray assured. "I guess we should get going now."

Sergeant Metallic's hand lifted and his fist shot off his body and hit Goku in the chest. The boy slowly got up definitely feeling the pain of that punch. Despite being handless and headless Metallic's body still tried everything to stop the boys. Goku used his Power Pole to pierce its back while Gray used his ice to blow off Metallic's other hand. The machine kept kicking both figuratively and literally. Even when Goku rammed right through its body it wouldn't go down. As Goku prepared another Kamehameha, Metallic's body stopped moving.

"What happened?" Goku asked.

"I think it's finally dead," Gray said. The two nodded and headed up the stairs.

"By the way, where did your shirt go Gray?"

"GAH!" Gray looked around the room for his clothes.

"What the hell's going on?!" General White said in confusion.

"It appears his batteries have run out." The purple-clad ninja said. "We haven't done it since last spring..."

"Damn it!" White clenched his fist.

"Wait General, look at the ice boy's chest it's some kind of mark," Murasaki said. "Looking at it closer it looks like the mark of the Fairy Tail guild."

"Fairy Tail! So, they think they can interfere with our plans huh? Well, their job ends here! Murasaki hurry and guard the 4th floor at once!" General White said.

As Murasaki made his way to the 4th floor, White quickly radioed Red Ribbon HQ, "HQ, this is General White, it seems that the kid isn't our only opposition, there's a chance we might have to deal with the Fairy Tail guild as well!"

Goku and Gray reached the fourth floor to find something completely different. Unlike the normal second floor or mostly barren third floor, the fourth was covered from wall to wall by a lush forest. The atmosphere was surprisingly serene, and the temperature was just right as well.

"Well, this is different," Gray said. "I wonder who guards this floor?"

Just then a bunch of projectiles came towards the boys, Goku quickly tackled Gray out of the way of what looked like shurikens and kunai. More and more came and the boys did what they could to avoid them.

"Where are they coming from?" Goku said trying to track the source of the projectiles.

"I am... the Messenger of Death...Ninja Murasaki..." a voice called out.

"Damn it, where is he?" Gray said looking around.

"You've boys done well to make it to the 4th floor, but your winning streak ends here. Once you've run into me, it's all over. You will die!" Murasaki's voice called out. The next thing they knew Murasaki appeared behind them to slash them with his sword. Both boys quickly jumped out of the way.

"That was too close!" Goku said as he landed. He then picked up a rock and started to focus on being more aware of his surroundings. He tracked the ninja's movements as he quickly moved from tree to tree. When he spotted his target, he threw the rock and managed to hit something. "Got him!"

"Ah, you are more clever than I expected," Murasaki said as he got up, rubbing his forehead. "However, that won't be enough! Now I, Murasaki, Guardian of the 4th Floor shall-"

He was interrupted by Goku speaking up, "Hey, are you going to fight us or what?"

Murasaki growled in anger, "Yes, I'm going to fight you!"

Goku smiled, "Great! Hey, Gray, since I beat the last guy, why don't you fight him?"

Gray looked between Goku and Murasaki. He didn't seem all that threatening, and it would be a shame if he relied on Goku to handle everything. "Alright," Gray said as he took a few steps forward before sliding into a basic guard stance.

Murasaki smiled maliciously at Goku, "So you are just going to sit back and watch your little friend die?"

Goku was unfazed, "Nah, he can kick your butt for sure."

Murasaki fumed at this while Gray had a bashful expression on his face at Goku's encouragement, "Fine then! His death shall be on your head!" He drew the katana from his back and flashed forward with three fast strikes.

The first one caught Gray off guard and barely grazed his cheek, the next two strikes he was able to dodge but not without a few strands of hair nicked off. He then began forming an ice spell, "Ice Make Lance!" The ice shards traveled towards the ninja, but he was able to dodge and deflect each lance.

"Nice try kid, but it'll take more than simple parlor tricks to take me down!" Murasaki said before sending out two shuriken and disappearing into the foliage of the trees once again. Gray was prepared and dived out of the way. "Let us see how well you do when you cannot see where I am!"

"Damn it! Come out and stop hiding coward!" Gray yelled. He and Goku looked around to try and detect any trace of him, unknowingly Murasaki was a few meters away ready to strike with three kunai. As they came towards him Gray quickly put up an ice wall to protect himself. Unfortunately, that left him wide open from behind and he was hit with the blunt end of Murasaki's katana.

"Now die!" Murasaki was prepared to impale the boy with his katana, seeing no way out Gray quickly put up his arms to block, but the hit never came. He opened his eyes to quite an amusing sight. Goku had held his Power Pole in place and caused Murasaki to land right on top of it, that definitely hurt.

The ninja was screaming out in pain as the red staff was lodged right into his rectum, luckily his pants helped cushion the pain somewhat but it was still like hell.

General White couldn't believe what he was watching, he had full confidence in Murasaki, but these kids were making a fool out of him. He continued watching and things just got more ridiculous, after the one in orange pulled out his staff, he was able to overpower and break the blade. Once he started to run away the other boy turned his running path to ice causing Murasaki to crash into a tree. The next thing he knew the boys just started toying with him by using his shuriken against him, the last straw came when Murasaki thought he could avoid them by going to the other side of a pond full of piranhas. The boy with the tail just jumped over it at an incredible height while the other froze the pond to walk over it.

"MURASAKI ENOUGH OF THIS FOOLISHNESS!" White yelled into the microphone, "KILL THOSE BRATS NOW!

Murasaki glanced at the intercom, "Right, I'll get to that in just a moment-"

"So what now mister?" Goku cuts off. "Are you still going to fight? Or do you surrender?

Murasaki growled at the boy for interrupting him, "Foolish imbecile! I would never surrender to the likes of you!"

"So what are you gonna do?" Gray said. "After all you've done is run like a coward."

That was the last straw, he, Murasaki, a coward? No, he would show these foolish kids, "You've forced my hand boys, I didn't want to have to use this ninjutsu technique..." He brought his hands together and began focusing as a purple aura enveloped him. "The Split-Image Technique!"

As the glow faded four more Murasaki appeared and stood next to each other. Goku and Gray were shocked as they were surrounded by five Murasaki. They stood back to back trying to figure out which one was real. "They all look like the one, what an amazing technique!" Goku said.

The five Murasaki attacked with their assortment of weapons ranging from kunai, a katana, a chained mace, and even a gun. They were doing all they could to dodge each of their attacks. Goku took two steps forward and a half step to the left and slightly back. He brought up his staff to sweep aside the first Murasaki's sword as it came down at him. Two more came towards him and as they struck their attacks phased right through Goku. Gray seeing them tricked by the afterimage made his move, "Ice Make: Hammer!" The ice hammer nailed the clone right on his head. Goku then appeared behind the other and delivered a strong kick.

"Just three more to go," Gray said. The boys ran towards the three other clones, they then had darts fired at them but Gray formed an ice wall which then allowed Goku to jump and attack from above. He extended the Power Pole and struck one of the clones, Gray then quickly brought his wall down and hit the last two with his ice lances. They both finished by striking the last clone in the stomach knocking him out as well.

"W-What speed and power!" The real Murasaki said as he began backing away. The two boys chuckled as they began walking towards the frightened ninja. Murasaki then made a run for it, dashing up the stairs towards something. He up towards a cage that seemed to house something large, "Hey, Android #8! It's your turn to play! Take care of these little brats!"

The figure inside the cage began standing up its eyes glowed causing the boys to stop in their tracks, as Murasaki opened the cage the figure began to walk out, it was a man, he was almost as big as Sergeant Metallic. He wore a pale blue sweater covered by a navy blue suit, he had short dark blue hair and a few stitches across his forehead and cheek.

"He's so huge!" Goku said.

"Looks like his maker wasn't feeling very creative," Gray said pointing out the similarities to a certain monster.

Murasaki laughed in triumph, "This guy's strong... really strong! Let those brats realize just how terrible you are!" He told the android.

"Can you unfasten me?" Android 8 said referring to his chained wrists, ankles, and neck.

"Oh, right. Hold on a sec." Murasaki tried checking his clothes for the key to the chains.

"No need." The large android then easily broke apart each of the chains on his body.

"Haha, did you see that? His amazing strength!" Murasaki told the boys. "Now pulverize them, eliminate them!"

"I rather not." The android said in a basic tone surprising the other three. "Killing living things is bad. I hate bad things."

"W-What nonsense is this?! Your time to work has finally come!"

"I know that you are all doing bad things. Holding the old man from the village hostage and worrying everyone." Android 8 spoke.

"Enough of this impertinence!" Murasaki yelled. "We, the Red Ribbon Army were the ones who built you! Are you refusing to listen to those who gave you life?!"

The android looked down in shame, "I cannot do it. I am sorry. No matter what you may say, I cannot do it."

Murasaki reached into his shirt, "Alright, if you're not going to listen to me, then I'll just have to force you to obey." He then pulled out a switch, "Listen up, Android! A bomb was placed inside your body for use in case of an emergency! If I so much as tap this button... you go boom and become a scrap heap! If you don't wanna wind up that way, you'll unquestioningly obey me! Got it!?"

Android 8 pondered his decision, he didn't want to hurt those two kids so, but Sergeant Murasaki was going to blow him up if he didn't. He then spoke, "I cannot do bad things."

"W-What!" Murasaki blurted in disbelief.

Goku smiled at the situation that was happening while Gray was looking in confusion, after all the fighting they did was it really that easy?

"Sergeant Murasaki! Blow that fool up immediately!" General White yelled from the intercom.

"Yes, sure, General White!" Murasaki said before running to the other side of the room. "Now I'll explode you just as you wanted!"

"Stop it!" Before Android 8 could accept his fate Goku leaped towards Murasaki and used his Power Pole to whack the switch out of his hand before stepping on it, breaking it. He then glared at the ninja.

"Y-You brat! How dare you destroy the remote control?!" Murasaki yelled before getting his face slammed by Goku's fist.

"Jan-ken-gu!" Murasaki was launched to the other side of the room leaving a huge crack on the wall and knocking him unconscious. "That's what you get!"

Both Gray and Android 8 looked on in shock, "Damn Goku, why the hell didn't you do that earlier?!" Gray asked as Goku walked up to them.

"Thank you for saving me. I am happy." Android 8 said.

"No problem, but you should've taken care of that guy yourself..." Goku said.

"I don't like fighting."

"But if you don't fight bad guys, won't you wind up getting killed instead?"

"I am... afraid of fighting."

"Really? You look really strong though." Gray said.

"What are your names?" The android asked.

"Me? I'm Gray Fullbuster."

"Son Goku. And you?"

"I am called Android #8."

"That sounds complicated. What does that mean? It sure is a weird name." Goku said.

"It might've called him that 'cause he's the eighth one they made," Gray told his friend.

"Are you two going to save the old man from the village?"

"Oh, yeah! Come on Gray!" The boys ran towards the next flight of stairs, "Well, take care!" Goku called out to Android 8. As they ran up the stairs Android 8 pondered what he should do now. Since the self-destruct switch was destroyed nobody could force him to do anything, and Goku and Gray might need his help knowing where to go. Maybe he should follow them.

Thank god, I finally finished this chapter, I kinda rushed through the fight with Murasaki cause it wasn't too interesting for me. But now Goku and Gray have met Eighter and are now heading to the final floor.

Since I knew Jingle Village was involved in this arc I decided to make it the place where Ur trained Gray and Lyon. They didn't live directly in the village but a few ways out. I'll go into more detail in the next chapter, but this is it for now.

See ya!