RR

The study of androids had been something my parents almost fully occupied themselves with as they saw the creations as something that would revolutionize science. I understand where they were coming from as attempting to make something humanoid that also acts and perhaps thinks like us would be something truly amazing. Though such creations would of course be loyal to the ones who had created them as they would more or less be programmed to follow exact instructions and not disobey the creator. It's a logical thing to do, after all.

After Kakarot caught up to us he had told us how that massive man turned out to be some sort of robot. He had fun in that fight as the thing kept on going even after his head was blown to pieces, which I'll admit to being beyond impressive. Not only does the Red Ribbon have some highly destructive weapons in their possession but they have managed to build fully operational androids to do their bidding. I don't know if I should be impressed or furious, though I'm straying towards being impressed with their creations. Even more so when we run into another android, this one having been given direct orders to end us, only to disobey as he does not agree with the ways of the army. It took me a good minute to understand what was going on and even longer to realize that the android really did not want to attack us as he told us of the things the army had done to the snowy village. He disobeyed direct orders from the people who had created him, meaning he defied what he was programmed to do and has formed his own opinions on these matters.

Kakarot doesn't understand why this is thrilling news, however, Bulma is quick to feel the very same way the longer we interact with Android 8; who has started calling himself Eighter. It's humorous that their creation decided to think for himself and help their enemies further into their territory. It's amazing that Eighter can do this. My parents had been working on such a thing for who knows how long, I could imagine how enthusiastic they would be if they could see my unlikely friend. They would absolutely freak out in their excitement, I could actually imagine it.

They came close to their goals, I'm sure. Because I remember them having created some chip that would serve as the android's mind. I wonder if It's still to be found back home.

"Android 8!" General white bellows through the speakers. "If you do not do as commanded you shall be destroyed with the simple push of a button!"

Did they create such a measure? I suppose they predicted such a thing in their creations. It is always good to be prepared for any possibility so I am once more impressed by the army, however, I still do not like the words that have been spoken. Destroying Eighter would be mighty waste and such a cruel thing to do and I'm not one to watch good people be treated with cruelty.

"I will not fight" Even in the face of destruction the kind android refuses to do us harm, further backing my desire to prevent his destruction.

"You monster!"

I must agree with Bulma here.

"Kakarot, we'll have to skip straight to the top-level," I tell the boy as I look around for a door or some way to get outside the castle. In the background General White proceeds to admonish Eighter, giving me time to do something before he remembers his threat to eradicate the thing. There are no doors in sight, at least none that I can see, which leaves me with a single option.

"Bulma, behind me" I direct as I cup my hands at my side, fully prepared to use the most powerful move I have under my belt. I still firmly believe that Roshi is a genius for this creations, despite all his deficiencies. I focus ki between my palms, forgoing announcing my attack as to draw as little attention from the general as possible. Can't have him pushing the button in a panic and murdering my new friend here. I channel a good deal of energy into a ball, catching the glow of it out the corner of my eye. When I deem it ready to be used I bring my hands in front of me and fire away, marveling at the glowing blue of the beam and grinning at the loud bang of it impacting the hard metal wall. My smile only grows when a massive hole is formed in the side and Kakarot jumps through, landing on his nimbus and shooting straight up to the last level.

I've lost some energy, but it was more than worth it to finally have used that attack after holding it back for so long.

There's another bang from further up and the sounds of struggle coming through the speaker, which is quite amusing to hear. It sounds like a scene out of a cartoon with all the clatter and shouts from the general as Kakarot likely makes a complete fool out of him.

"I'm going up there," I tell Eighter with a gesture. "Wanna come?"

He nods and approaches the hole, which is big enough for him. To my surprise, he activates thrusters and drifts outside the walls with them, and asks if we'd like a ride.

Well, who would I be to turn down the offer?

Bulma seems far more excited than I am to hitch a ride on him.

It doesn't take long for us to reach the top and Kakarot greets us with a simple wave as he tosses me some sort of remote. There's a single button in the middle as it only has one function.

"Since that's been avoided" I hop off my ride, the remote crushed in my hands as I approach the now cowering general White. "Eighter here says you're holding the chief of this town hostage"

Fear does a lot to a man as this one cocky and arrogant man scrambles to a door in the room, pressing a simple green button to have it open. Within is a nice-looking elderly man, who was reading a book before the door had been opened. He had time to get comfortable in his prison, meaning he had been here for some time now already.

"Come out, there are people here to save you"

Likely wouldn't be saving him if Eighter didn't tell us he was being held hostage. Funny how things work out in the end, eh?

Even funnier how general White attempts to make us surrender by holding the chief at gunpoint and threatening us with his life.

"Really?" Surprise is not even the emotion I feel. "You had to pull the classic bad guy move"

He yells something I could care less about, but he goes silent when I find myself a weapon as well, casually reloading the pistol.

"Do you know how to use that?" Bulma asks warily as I push the cylinder back in place and cock the gun.

"Video games" My only reply as I aim at my target. "Pair that with a good understanding of how guns work and insanely good aim, and I'll say that yeah, I can use this"

"You've gotta be beyond stupid if you think you can get a clean shot" General white affronts as he presses his gun even closer to the terrified chief. "Who's to say you won't shoot him instead of me?"

The big question here is; why has he not shot the chief yet with all the time he had on his hands? It took around twenty seconds for me to reload the gun, ten before that for me to locate and grab the gun, giving him thirty in total to pull the trigger. Add into the mix the time he wasted trying to insult me.

He could have killed the man a long time ago.

"I suggest you put the gun down kid" General White glares. "You still have a chance here"

Did he take him hostage for no reason?

"Don't worry about me!" The old man pleads with us. "Just get this guy and get out of here!"

Typical old people trying to save the youth, no?

Welp.

The bang of the gun is far louder than expected and the recoil as much as I had assumed. The shot fires without issue and my aim is as true as I had promised as General White is forced off the old man with the impact of the bullet into his shoulder.

"It's that easy to pull the trigger, General" Because apparently, he had not realized he could do it so swiftly. "You could have shot that old man a long time ago, or perhaps you were planning on shooting one of us?"

Either way, it could have happened within the blink of an eye, I have no idea why he didn't do it.

Stupid man he is.

He's grasping his shoulder tightly and struggles to grab his gun that had slid just a few centimeters from his reach.

"Should I demonstrate once more" I wonder as I aim my gun right at him. All color drains from his face when he is now faced with death and with no other option he begins cowering and begging for mercy.

"Things aren't fun when you're at the end of the barrel"

~~~~~~~~

And so the journey continues after the whole Muscle tower incident. Eighter had the two-star ball and happily handed it to us. I offered for him to tag along but he wanted to stay and help the villagers as he felt somewhat guilty for the things they had to go through under the tyranny of General white and the army. I'll stop by to see him every once in a while as I'm still quite fascinated with his existence. As for now, we're following the signal for the next dragon ball, Kakarot now in the car with us instead of riding on the nimbus. He's very content as he eats the sandwich I had packed. One turns to two which turns to three, but luckily for him, I had prepared a ton of them.

"Sure you don't want to go home" I'm asking Bulma once again, perhaps for the fifth time since we set out once more. She has seen the danger we got ourselves into, she knows we'll likely run into the army again, and yet she insists on coming along and she has been incredibly stubborn about it.

"I'm sure" There's some sort of determination in her words as she says this so I leave her be for the moment. I'll circle back to the question in half an hour or so.

It's warm again as we enter an area with some nice sun and I bask in the warmth while sipping on some lemonade. Been a while since I had some good lemonade and this is perfect. Incredibly cool too, works well against the heat.

Soon we're flying over the ocean, the surface of the water shimmering as it reflects the sun. It is nice to look at and even more beautiful at night when the stars can be seen within and the moon looks like it's touching the water. If I could paint, I would have multiple canvases of that one scenery alone.

We find a beach to land on and the car is reverted to its capsule. Turns out the next dragon ball is underwater and Kakarot is eager to attempt to find it through swimming. He's gone before we can protest so we're left to wait for his inevitable return. Does he not understand how deep the ocean is and how it would be near impossible for him to find the thing without the radar to guide him?

"That idiot," Says Bulma as she kicks sand in his direction.

"Who knows, maybe he'll find it" He's Kakarot after all, it wouldn't be too far-fetched for him to have found the ball.

Bulma doesn't deign to reply as she walks off into the island. I watch her go for a moment, debating whether or not I should follow or wait for Kakarot. The former wins the debate as I'm reminded of the threat of the army and how easily they could hurt Bulma compared to Kakarot. There are ki signatures nearby which only backs my concerns. They could just be the presence of natives, but I could never know now we're on the hit list of an entire army.

"Do you think people live here?" I'm asked as soon as I catch up to her.

"Definitely"

And as if to prove my point there are two planes overhead, planes that could have been mistaken for random passersby until they suddenly nose dive toward us and blasters become visible. For a moment I can only stand and watch this attempt, a bit annoyed at the fact the army is here as well and looking to cause another problem.

"There are people here alright"

People who want to kill us.

"You've got to be kidding me!"Bulma screams from the distance she has already made between us. She's surprisingly fast on her feet and I follow as the soldiers begin to fire at us. Bulma is fast, but not fast enough to avoid being blown up as the planes quickly catch up to us.

"Up we go" It's easy enough to situate her on my back when I catch up.

"Why are you slowing down!" Bulma exclaims in fright when I slow and turn to face our enemies.

"I need to take care of them"

If I don't they'll just keep following us and causing problems. So I treat them as I did all their other companions by sending two ki balls in their direction. They try to avoid but I steer the attack towards them until they hit their target and their plane goes up in an explosion that sends pieces flying everywhere.

"Now we run"

Because if we don't we could be hit with stray metal.

As we go, we run into Kakarot who is soaked to the bone and as expected, without a dragon ball.

"I guess you guys were right" He admits as he lands next to us. "What were you guys running from?"

"Red Ribbon attacked again" I set Bulma down as I explain. "It's been handled for now"

"Those guys are a pain"

Truly.

"But hey, maybe we can get Krillin and Yamcha to join us now there's a fight in it for them" Kakarot suggests. "They wanna get stronger, and what better way than to test your strength against an army"

There is no point in them coming along, but I'll indulge. We're already close to Kame house as is.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Wait, wait, wait, back up"

Yamcha requires a moment to process what had just been said to him as he has interrupted the conversation the second I explained the whole Red Ribbon army situation. Krillin looks flabbergasted next to him, glancing at Kakarot as if waiting for him to tell him the punchline to this joke, only to have the boy shrug in reply as he munches on the brownie I had given him as a snack. Old man Roshi has put down his magazine at the mention of the army as well, and is looking at us with his brows almost in his hairline.

"The Red Ribbon army is looking for the dragon balls as well" Yamcha recalls, watching me until I nod in confirmation. "And you guys ran into them, three times now and each time they had attacked you?"

"Yes, that's what I just told you" Why is he spouting the same words I just said to him? The army is after us now because we're getting in their way, it's not that hard to understand.

"And you came for us, why?"Krillin is the one to speak now, having been utterly silent the entire time.

"Because you guys wanna get stronger so why not face an army," Says Kakarot around a mouthful of brownies. "It's good training"

"I doubt anyone other than you would see this as good training," Says Bulma.

"It is" Another mouthful of brownies. "We might run into someone strong"

"It's your choice" I remind them.

"A whole army" Yamcha mumbles, sounding in awe. "Well, I never thought I'd end up in such a situation"

"You said it" Krillin agrees

"I'm in" Yamcha grins this brave thing as he says that, confident all of a sudden.

"Me too" Surprisingly Krillin agrees as well and does not look nearly as frightened as I had expected of him. He has become incredibly brave through his training it seems. "I always wanted to go on one of these adventures"

"Too bad Chichi isn't here" Kakarot muses in slight disappointment. "Then the whole group would've been together"

"Some other time maybe" Bulma pats the boy on the head as a form of reassurance before turning her back to us all, likely to find the submarine capsule she made sure to pack. She had double-checked all her capsules before we left, only because I had asked her to make sure she didn't grab one of mine. Good thing she checked the things otherwise she would have left with a capsule full of dirty magazines.

That would have been embarrassing, I'm sure.

With the machine on the water, everyone pours themselves into the vehicle, with me taking the front seat once more. Perfect view after all.

And we're off.

It's been a long time since I enjoyed a ride underwater and it feels a bit odd now. The oddness does not take away from the sight of colorful marine animals swimming by and plants decorating the seafloor.

One day I'll wrangle one of the big fishes, just like I used to when I was a kid. It was always fun to taunt that one fish that always tried to eat me and it felt even greater when I finally caught him and brought him home to my mother who happily cooked my catch. We had all sorts of fish dishes for days and I never got tired of it.

"Durian" Bulma pokes me in my side to get my attention. I look at her and she's watching the radar, which indicates that we're just above the ball. "It's right below us"

Well, there's nothing there.

"Someone has to go out there" Bulma then says, handing me some equipment. Apparently I'm the one going out there.

Alright then.

It takes some moving around from everyone before I'm standing in.....well I'm not sure what the thing is as I have forgotten the name, but it's supposed to let me out without letting water into the submarine.

"One question before you go" Bulma fixes the mask on my face and helps settle the oxygen tank on my back, securing it with some straps around my waist. "Are we being followed?"

"Definitely"

I don't wait for her reply, which is sure to be a scolding as I shoot myself out of the submarine, waving at her as she glares

"Durian, that's important information, why do you do this?" Her voice enters from the speakers of the mask and I must laugh.

"Heh, I'm not the only one this time"

I'm not ashamed in the slightest at having thrown the others under the bus.

Bulma makes a rather cold remark but doesn't say much else and simply tries to direct me in the right direction of the ball. If it was right under us, how come I haven't seen it yet? I'm deep enough that I'm able to walk on the ground and there's no magical ball in sight.

Walking across the surface I notice a crack in the ground, big enough to fit my hand, which means it's big enough for the dragon ball to have slipped through.

"There's a crack here, check to see if the dragon ball isn't simply deeper than you had thought"

There's a moment of silence as she does as suggested and I entertain myself by following a school of fish that were swimming nearby. They're not frightened by me in the slightest and barely give me any attention. There is one that leaves the rest to inspect me, likely curious about the human who started following them. It's smaller than the rest, so it must be one of their young. Of course, it's a kid that approaches a possible threat, it wouldn't know any better.

"Durian come back, I found a to the ball"

I guess that cuts my little exploration short. Before I go, I usher the young fish back to his school so it can be safe. Can't have him being eaten by a bigger fish or something else entirely.

After that, it's straight back to the submarine, soaked and all.

"Good thing I packed a change of clothes"