Chapter Sixteen

Danger Inside the Mountain!

The quartet walked through the cavernous tunnels and their footsteps echoed off the stone walls. As they went further and further inside the mountain, they became increasingly reliant on Bulma's makeshift porno torch as the only source of light. Goku took the lead because she had the Dragon Radar and because she was Goku. Anything bad that could be hiding in the caves would probably break itself running into her. Suno followed behind Goku with Bulma in the middle and Krillin grudgingly brought up the rear. Suddenly, there was a clicking sound as Goku took a step and she stumbled forward as her foot sunk into the floor.

"Goku!" The other three cried out simultaneously. Suno grabbed the back of Goku's shirt and yanked her back as spears burst up from the floor to fill the entire width of the tunnel. They slowly sunk back down into the floor as the group stared with wide eyes. As the spears slid down, their edges glinted in the green light of the torch to reveal a razor sharpness to them.

"Well," Bulma said as she bent down to bring the light closer to the floor, "Now we know there's booby traps." Which seemed strange to her. The civilization who lived here already had the safety of it being a volcano. So why did they need to load it up with traps? Maybe, she thought, some pirates or something drove them out of the volcano and used the booby traps to protect their treasure? So many questions. It made Bulma sad to think that she'd probably never have answers. She sighed and stood back up, holding the torch high. "We better keep moving." The others nodded as they continued their march and kept an eye to avoid any traps.

The marching order changed slightly as they made their way deeper and deeper into the volcano. While Goku and Bulma didn't change their positions, Suno and Krillin frequently shuffled around, more on Krillin's insistence than anything else. He came up with quite a few excuses as to why the order needed to change but Suno got fed up with it pretty quickly.

"If you're going to be so jealous about everything," she said, "We can all walk at the front!" She didn't know what Krillin's problem was but she was getting really annoyed with the former monk. Krillin's face reddened at the accusation.

"I-I'm not jealous!" he insisted as he walked alongside Goku and Suno. Goku, being Goku, wasn't entirely sure what jealousy was so she was just happy that they were all walking together. Bulma huffed behind them.

"Fine," she said dryly under her breath, "I'll just walk in the back with no one to protect me if we're being followed by the Red Ribbon Army. No, really. It's great." Krillin frowned and chewed on his bottom lip.

"I'm not jealous," he repeated quietly, more to himself than anyone else. Okay, maybe he was. Just a little bit. It was just weird to him that Goku seemed as close to Suno, who he couldn't have known for more than a week, as she was to him after they'd spent over a year training together. Did that mean Suno was a better friend than him? He had been a jerk for the first few weeks he and Goku had known each other. Krillin shook his head and tried to think positive. All that thinking like this would do was make him depressed. Goku tried to be friend with everyone, that was all it was. Wasn't it?

Krillin was so wrapped up in his own self-doubt that he didn't even notice that he'd stepped on a pressure pad until the floor whooshed out from under him. He screamed out in shock as he fell.

"Krillin!" Goku cried as she reached out for her friend and Bulma and even Suno cried out in dismay. Until they all noticed that Krillin had fallen a grand total of two inches. Krillin looked down at the floor under him and tapped his foot against it in confusion. What kind of booby trap was this?

"I think you were supposed to fall into the magma," Suno suggested. The idea was so ridiculous and so fortunate that the four couldn't help but laugh. Krillin hopped out of the "pit" and they all made their way deeper into the caverns.

"So," Suno said to Krillin after a while of avoiding booby traps and otherwise silence, "You and Goku are both trained by the Turtle Hermit?" She figured that if she tried talking to Krillin, maybe he wouldn't be so weird about… everything.

"Yeah," Krillin said with a nod. "And we both entered the Tenkaichi Budoukai this year. We even fought each other in the semifinals."

"How'd that go?" Suno asked. Krillin gave a sideways glance to Goku and a look on his face that said "How do you think?" Suno giggled at that while Goku hummed a little tune to herself. She was happy that Suno and Krillin were talking. She wanted all her friends to be friends with each other.

"Before I trained under Master Roshi," Krillin said, "I spent eight years with the Orin Monks. That… wasn't fun but I learned the way of the Orin Temple which works pretty well when I put it together with what I learned from Roshi." Suno's eyebrows went up with slight interest.

"My Master told me about the Orin style before," she said. "That's where you use your opponent's momentum against them, right? It's a very defensive martial art." Now it was Krillin's turn to be surprised.

"You're a martial artist, too?" he asked. Suno's expression was more than a little defensive.

"Why? Is there a problem with that?" Once again, Krillin just looked at Goku. "Oh, right," Suno said with a slight blush before continuing, "A-anyway, yes. I learned the Odori Style from Master Frost back home in Jingle Village," she took a quick look around the tunnel and gave a somewhat bashful smile. "It's a little too cramped here to demonstrate and it's a little difficult to explain with words but maybe once we're out of here, I could show you in a spar?" Krillin smiled at that.

"That sounds fun," he said. Maybe Suno wasn't so bad after all. The two of them followed after Goku with Bulma behind them. They weren't quite friends yet but it was a start.

OoOoOoO

General Blue idly flipped through a magazine while sitting on the case that held Android Nine as two men carried it up the mountain. It was such a strange bit of good luck that a whole stack of these dirty documents had come fluttering down the mountain like a flock of birds. The walk had been so dreadfully boring that he'd welcomed the… "entertainment." He obviously wasn't going to walk and read up the mountain. He might twist an ankle. Besides, if any of his men had an issue with carrying him, he'd… well he wouldn't kill them. He wasn't a mindless savage like White or Silver. There would be paperwork to fill out and they'd have to stop and bury the body and next of kin would have to be notified. Not to mention that training new recruits took ages. He'd never killed one of his men. However, when they were insubordinate, he did beat them into submission. Which was oh so much more fun. It was, after all, how he'd dealt with Teal. He'd been such an arrogant brute when he'd first been assigned to Blue's company and had said just the most hurtful things. Now he was the perfectly obedient little soldier.

Thinking of Teal made him wonder why he hadn't heard back from the man. It had been nearly half an hour. How long could the task have possibly taken? Unless the super girl had far more allies than they'd expected. What if she had an entire army of strange freaks like herself? The thought made him shudder.

"Sir!" called a voice that broke the General from his thoughts. He peered over the edge of his magazine at a barrel-shaped boar man with purple fur. Sergeant… Mauve, was it? Really his fur was more of a Maroon, but Private Maroon was also in his troop. Funnily enough, he was a panda. But such was the lot of the color coordination in the Red Ribbon Army. General Blue hopped off the container with a sigh and rolled up his magazine in one hand.

"What is it, Sergeant?" he asked as he followed the beastman with both hands behind his back. Sergeant Mauve gestured to a luminous green patch on the wall of a tunnel in the side of the mountain. General Blue frowned at it and leaned in to inspect it. There were driplines running down the wall and it smelled of chemicals.

"This," General Blue said while gesturing with his magazine like it was a baton, "Is no doubt the path that our little menace and her accomplices took to search for the Dragon Ball. Now who's going to go in there and get her?" A frogman saluted and charged into the tunnel with flashlight in hand. General White tried to remember the man's name as the other troops waited to see what happened. Then there was a bloodcurdling scream and a horrible… wet sound. After that, General Blue shrugged. The frogman's name no longer mattered. "Someone go in there and fetch his corpse," General Blue said casually as he hopped back up onto the container, "And hopefully the next person is a bit more careful, hmm?" He opened his magazine and turn the page. The picture made his cheeks redden and he let out a naughty chortle.

OoOoOoO

For the Red Ribbon soldiers, the tunnels were nothing short of nightmarish. Without a Dragon Radar to guide them, they would take wrong turns and get lost in endless mazes that lead to certain death. Spike pits, crushing rocks from above, spears from below, and arrows through the sides. Their horrified screams echoed hauntingly off the walls.

OoOoOoO

"Sounds like we've got company…" Krillin said nervously as another dying scream reached them.

"Sounds like we had company," Bulma corrected him dryly. Goku frowned down at the Dragon Radar and shook it. "Hey, hey!" Bulma shouted and went to grab the Radar. "The heck are you doing?!" Goku frowned and showed it to her. She didn't know why Bulma had to grab it, she was going to give it to her.

"Something's wrong with the Dragon Radar," Goku said as she let Bulma take the Radar. Now it was Bulma's turn to frown and tap at the screen. The Dragon Ball was flickering all over the place!

"That doesn't make any sense…" Bulma muttered and chewed on her bottom lip. What could be messing with the Dragon Radar's sensors like this? She ran a finger over the wall and sucked her lips in and pushed them out. "Maybe this area of the volcano has a high sulfur content. That might create some interference." She sighed and looked at the fork in the tunnel with one path to the left and one path to the right.

"Guess we have to split up," Suno said reluctantly. She just hoped she wasn't stuck with Bulma. Not that she disliked her but if there was anything dangerous on their path… the phrase "less than useless" jumped to mind.

"Me and Goku will take the left!" Krillin said suddenly and Suno fought the urge to roll her eyes. She was going to protest when Goku spoke up.

"Okay!" she said with an eager grin. This would be fun! She hadn't seen Krillin in a couple of weeks and wanted to know how his training had been going. Suno fought the urge to groan by clenching and opening her fists.

"Then I guess that's me and Suno," Bulma said as she fished around for something she could spray her glowing paint on. Eventually, she just picked up a stick from the ground and sprayed half of it. She handed it to Krillin mostly because she didn't trust Goku not to be tempted to eat it. Meanwhile, Goku handed Suno the Power Pole.

"Just in case there's something extra bad in there," Goku said before putting a hand over her mouth to whisper, "I know that Bulma isn't much of a fighter." The fact that Goku was actually trying to be discreet made Suno giggle which made Goku giggle in response.

"And just what's so funny?" Bulma asked indignantly with her hands on her hips.

"Nothing, nothing!" Suno assured her with a wave even as they continued to giggle. Bulma huffed and headed down the right tunnel.

"C'mon!" she urged. Suno nodded and ran after her, stopping at the mouth of the tunnel to wave at Goku and Krillin before she disappeared. Goku waved back before she and Krillin headed down the left path.

OoOoOoO

Goku and Krillin walked down the tunnel for a while. She'd stopped hearing the Red Ribbon Army guys so they'd either given up or were too far away for her to hear. Not that she cared either way. They were jerks! It was nice to talk to Krillin again, though. He told her that Launch was learning martial arts really fast and that made Goku happy. She'd always liked Launch and had wanted to spar with her. Maybe now she'd be at the next Tenkaichi Budoukai! Yamcha was pushing himself really hard, too. He would even get Master Roshi to spar with him! That made Goku so jealous. She wished she could fight Master Roshi. She wondered if he was as good as Jackie Chun.

"I still haven't been able to do the Kamehameha," Krillin said glumly as they walked. "I've been trying ever since I saw you and Jackie Chun do it at the Tournament but I just can't get it to work!" Goku gave her friend a reassuring smile and a pat on the back.

"You'll figure it out!" she encouraged him. She felt kind of bad for Krillin sometimes. He always had such a hard time believing in himself. "If everything was easy, it wouldn't feel good when you got it right!" That made Krillin smile which made Goku smile even more.

"Hey, Goku?" Krillin asked after a minute. Goku had been daydreaming about the next World Tournament and beating Jackie Chun this time when Krillin's question brought her back to the present.

"Yeah?"

"You and Suno seem like pretty good friends," he said. Goku blinked a few times and cocked her head to the side.

"Yeah?" she asked in confusion. Krillin chewed on his bottom lip before speaking again.

"It's just that… you've only known her for a week." Goku nodded but still didn't really see Krillin's point. "I mean, we've known each other for more than a year. So I'm still your best friend, right?" Krillin asked. Goku could tell in his voice that her friend really wanted an answer.

"Well, yeah!" Goku told him, "Just because I have new friends doesn't mean I don't like my old ones as much." What kind of a silly question was that? That seemed to make Krillin happy which made Goku happy, too.

"You're an amazing person, Son Goku," Krillin said with a smile.

"Thanks!" Goku grinned before adding, "But I didn't do anything" in a confused tone. Krillin just kept on smiling.

OoOoOoO

General Blue gave an exasperated sigh as the fifteenth man died in the volcano. This was getting just embarrassing. He hopped off of the container and tossed the magazine over his shoulder to fly back down the mountain. He'd finished with it a few minutes ago anyway.

"I just want you all to know how very disappointed I am with you," he said with a schoolmaster's disapproval, "Your poor showing today has made a ruination of the Blue company's reputation and forced me to use this… thing," he paused for a moment and stared at the number pad while he wracked his brain for the precise numerical combination that would release Gero's latest mad creation. If more than two incorrect guesses were entered, a laser gun would pop out of the container and shoot the person dead. Finally he remembered the code and tapped it in. He stepped back when he heard something rumbling from inside.

The coffin opened with a dramatic hiss and a release of steam as the lid rose and slid away. The soldiers watched with bated breath and even General Blue was somewhat wary. There was a sudden blur of movement, a red-gray streak. It bolted for the cave in an erratic series of movements. One unfortunate man was standing between the Android and the cave and was sliced clean in half.

Android Nine skittered across the walls of the cave before hopping to the floor and then leaping onto the ceiling. There was neither rhyme nor reason to its movements as it charged forward blindly. It haphazardly triggered traps and steamrolled through wooden spears and raining rocks. Android Nine didn't care about protocols or clear thinking. Its sensors searched only for the next warm bodies. Its artificial intelligence understood only one directive: to kill.

OoOoOoO

Bulma and Suno walked down the hallway in relatively awkward silence. It made Bulma uncomfortable. Even after their… incident earlier, it felt like Suno had a problem with her. Add it all to the fact that even with all the times Goku and Suno had told the story that she still didn't really know the girl… she felt like she should fix that.

"So… Suno," she began slowly. Suno just gave her a sideways glance and Bulma decided that was the most she was going to get for a reply and went with it, "What was it like in Jingle Village?" Suno's expression brightened ever so slightly as she spoke.

"Well, it's pretty cold most of the year but the snow is beautiful and we get a couple really nice months of spring," her smile widened as she went on, "And I got to see the Northern Lights! Those were so amazing. I know other people see pictures and stuff but you really have to see it in person." Then Suno shifted in a heartbeat to a level of biting sarcasm that surpassed even Bulma herself. "Oh, and then the Red Ribbon Army showed up and started oppressing everyone. That was fun." Bulma winced.

"Well, I mean, okay, yeah," she sucked on her lip and tried to think of something else to talk about. Usually when she was at school with her friends, one of the things they'd wind up complaining about were their parents. "So! Uh… what are your parents like?"

"My mom is a great cook," Suno said, "and she can be kind of a huge worrier. She didn't want me to get into martial arts but I did anyway." That made Bulma smile. A little bit of rebellion to her. So maybe her and Suno could have something in common after all.

"Did you run away from home to go with Goku?" Bulm asked.

"No," Suno said with a shake of her head, "Mom let me. She knew it was something I had to do." Well, so much for that. "My mom says I'm a lot like my dad. He was strong and friendly and strong-willed. And he had a big, scratchy beard."

"Well, what happened to him?"

"He died fighting the Red Ribbon Army."

"Oh." Well that killed the mood. It certainly explained a few things, though.

After a few minutes of even more awkward silence, they came to what looked like a dead end. Bulma walked towards it and held up her torch to discover that it wasn't a dead end at all. It was a stone double door that had been cut into the rock. She even found grooves for handholds. Bulma grabbed at the handholds and pulled. Nothing happened so she pulled harder. Still nothing.

"Let me try," Suno said and pushed her way to the doors. Bulma smirked and cocked an eyebrow.

"What, are you stronger than me?" she asked sarcastically as Suno reached up to grab the handholds herself.

"Yes," Suno said bluntly before pulling on the handholds. Just as much nothing as Bulma had gotten. She grit her teeth and groaned with the effort and pulled harder. Some dust fell off the wall which made it barely more than nothing.

"Maybe there's something we have to do get it to open," Bulma suggested. "Let's look around the room for some clues." The tension between the two slowly dissolved or was at the very least put aside for the time in the face of some good old fashioned sleuthing. The two girls scoured every inch of the area around the door and found… nothing. Nothing but a hieroglyph over the door that looked a little bit like two people dancing.

"What, are we supposed to dance the door open?" Suno asked incredulously. There was a minute where the both of them clearly expected the other to do something. Finally, Bulma gave an exasperated sigh and began to do a very reluctant Twist.

OoOoOoO

Goku gave an aggravated groan when they reached the end of the hallway. There was nothing in the whole hallway. All that walking for nothing!

"I guess we need to go back and find Bulma and Suno," Goku said and started to walk.

"Hold on, Goku," Krillin said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe there's a switch for a secret door or something!" 'Hopefully,' Krillin thought, 'It's a switch that won't kill us.' Krillin started to feel along the wall when something made him stop. There was a sudden change in the air, a tension. Like someone was staring at him. Slowly he and Goku turned and discovered that something was blocking their way.

To say that the thing standing between them and the rest of the hallway was something out of Krillin's nightmares would give the things in his nightmares too much credit. It was a tall, humanoid machine, bigger than one of them standing on the other's shoulders with spindly limbs and long, sinister fingers. The thing looked like some kind of awful puppet. Its face seemed to be permanently frozen in a horrified expression with a gaping mouth and two sunken black eyes. A red light came from the center of its chest that bathed the whole room in an unnerving glow and even overpowered the light from Krillin's torch. From the way that the light reflected off its own body, Krillin could tell that whatever this… thing was was a machine.

The machine stood completely still as they stared at it. For an infinite second, the only sound was the strange hiss that the robot made that sent a fear deep into Krillin's bones. Finally, and perhaps inevitably, Goku took a step towards it. Whether she was going to attack the robot or greet it would forever be a mystery. With that one step, the robot threw its head back and raised its hands to the sky as it let out a terrible shriek that blared like a siren. Goku backed away and grabbed at her ears in pain. The sound seemed to bother her even more than it did him, Krillin thought before he screwed his eyes shut. Even that siren was drowned out by the bizarre sound of… chainsaws?! Krillin slowly opened his eyes and the pair of young martial artists stared agape as every inch of the hellish marionette's body was covered in screaming, whirring chainsaw blades. Krillin swallowed nervously as he and Goku slid into their guard stances. This was nuts.

SSV/N: So yeah. Bit of a snafu last week. Here is chapter sixteen as originally intended, separate from chapter fifteen.